Who knew that 4x800m runs could kick your butt so hard?? I surely did not plan for such an unfun track practice last night.
Just a bit of history of my athletic experience to date:
I am not athletic in any traditional sense whatsoever. I made an effort to be a member of my middle school's cross country team and after the first meet, in which I came in 2nd to last, I called it quits. In high school I stuck to the books, excelled in math/science, and joined the debate team; but I most definitely stayed clear of the sports world. Personally, I would go to the gym and work my butt off for the upcoming prom season and to reach the unattainable summer bikini (have yet to accomplish that goal in life). In high school, size was the prize and limiting my calorie intake and sweating up a storm in the afternoon gym session was how I trained myself to reach my silly goals.
But, as I entered college, I realized what a ridiculous thing I was doing to my body. I was essentially starving it of what it needed to really reach my weight loss goals. So after living with some of the world's most wonderful roommates/running fanatics, I gave into the fact that I need to eat a healthy and balanced diet and I need to workout regularly. I celebrated with them the night I ran 3 miles WITHOUT stopping, such a huge achievement in my world; meanwhile they were prepping to run their first half marathon. I participated in a Halloween 5k with them and finished somewhere in the realm of 36 minutes or so, which isn't bad, but isn't great. But I celebrated nonetheless. But then college ended and the real world kicked in, where roommates aren't around anymore to serve as a motivator and self-reliance came into play (boo to self-reliance).
Soon after college ended, I landed a terrific job that demanded relocation often which I didn't mind because I love to travel. I soon found out that this "travel" involved deserted small towns with little to do except find a gym to waste away the afternoon. In 2007, on a project just south of Houston, I joined a huge gym that had indoor/outdoor pools and I fell in love with swimming. I was good at it! Within a few weeks of starting to swim, I was swimming a mile 2-3 times a week followed by weights and yoga sessions. It was also at this gym that I learned about SPRINT Triathlons.
Side Note: I have failed to mention that I am also not minus any injuries, despite my lack of activity in my younger days. At the age of 15, while on a study abroad program in Japan, I climbed 3,000 steps to a Shinto Shrine that was absolutely beautiful. But descending those 3,000 steps proved hugely detrimental to the health of my right knee. It hurt and it hurt badly for weeks after this fun and beautiful outing. I knew I should have gone to the doctor upon returning to the States, but I didn't. I had to lose weight for my Junior prom, I didn't have time to be injured. So I worked out and ignored the pain. I was dumb, what can I say. College didn't prove to be very nice to my knee either...I fell off a rope swing and slammed my right knee on the bank of the river. My right knee found a liking to a curb in NYC during the 2003 blackout when I was making a mad dash to Port Authority to get the hell out of dodge and had tripped on something mid-dash. Since then I have been to a knee doctor that has informed me that I have an extremely thin meniscus and I would eventually need to get a knee replacement. Well at the age of 22, that was completely unacceptable so I went to another doctor, who said if you build the muscles around the knee I should be able to do most things that I would want to do. I took that diagnosis and ran (literally).
Back to Topic: So I found out about Triathlons and realized that these hurt less than long distance running. Additionally, being multi-sport, I get a ridiculously awesome full bodied workout. So in 2007, I made the decision to do a Sprint Triathlon. In 2009, I made it happen. I participated in the Santa Barbara Sprint Triathlon and finished in 1:05 after having self trained for 8 weeks following an online training regiment. I was so proud of myself and I was determined to do it better next time around. But life took hold, job changes and relocations going down forced me to wait till 2011 to perform any type of training. Meanwhile, I analyzed how I could improve on my Triathlon. My swim was great and all I needed to do was follow my swimming schedule from the previous training program. My bike wasn't too bad, but I would need to train some more on hills. It was my run that needed improvement. 2 miles took 25 minutes, which is just ridiculous. I'm not a speed demon, but I knew deep down that I could do better. The SB Tri isn't till August and I had time to fix my running habits. I found the San Diego Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon would fit my timing situation, so I signed up. Congrats! Now what do I do to actually run this half marathon, seeing as the longest run I've ever done in my life was 4 miles to date. So I hunted for a training program. I knew this program would have to be a group style program, because running is different from a multi-sport training I could do on my own. It was a single focus effort on something I don't enjoy doing so much. So I found the SD Track Club's Rockin'n'Runnin Marathon/Half Marathon training program. And this takes us back to the original point of this entry JACK DANIELS 800M training.
We are at the half way point of training. My longest distance to date is 10 miles in 2hr 11 min. My knee has not proven to be an issue, but my LEFT Achilles has decided to turn against me. So I'm nursing that injury with a very slow paced warm up into my long runs. Our track trainings are on Tuesdays and have been going up until last night. For some reason running 800m at 10k speeds followed by a 400m rest four times proved to be too much. I walked away with my first side stitch since high school. And I felt like I hadn't run in ages. I did nothing out of my normal routine the past few days and I really could not explain why I was feeling so bad. But I have vowed that this will not deter me from my goal. One bad night does not mean I'm not on track to finish this program and have a successful race in June. The bad runs are the ones with the most lessons, its just a matter of figuring out those lessons...
I have a 20k this weekend and another set of JDs to look forward to next week. We'll see how those go.
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