Make a record, break a record
Fresh from my triumph at track practice on Thursday, I was eager to get up this morning and see what I was going to be able to do at the coached run this morning. Despite that eagerness, I was a little slow getting out of bed, (not unusual for me by any stretch!) and so ended up arriving at the Alameda Ferry Terminal right at 8:00 instead of being 15 minutes early, like I normally am. And, of course, this was the ONE day that the person giving our pre-run clinic actually started on time, so I missed the first few minutes of her presentation on nutrition for an endurance athlete.
I shook off the frustration and tuned into the nutrition presentation as quickly as I could, and found that most of it was stuff I was already familiar with, from Weight Watchers and the work I had done with a nutritionist back when I was living in Dallas. The biggest difference to me was the percentages of carbs to protein.
As usual, we had announcements, warmups, stretching, and then it was off to run. I started out at a nice comfortable pace, and before I knew it I had run about 15 minutes straight! Coach Al rode up to me on his bike and checked in with me, congratulating me on Thursday's victory once again, and officially dubbing me with the nickname "21 minutes" for my running stretch Thursday night.
As he biked away, I shouted out "Do I get a new nickname if I go longer today?" to which he grinned and shouted back, "You bet!" I was still chuckling when I saw him turn around on his bike and head back towards me. "You know," he said, when he reached me again, "Pretty soon we're going to be calling you 'All The Way!'" We chatted a little bit more, and then he biked off again, to check on some other runners.
I kept running along, up to 20-something minutes, excited, and conscious of the fact that I was about to break my brand new record already. Mama Lisa then came up running beside me, and complimented me on the fact that I'd been able to run so long today. I told her briefly about track practice on Thursday, to which she exclaimed, "So YOU'RE who he was talking about!"
I nodded, blushing a little bit because although I was pleased to hear it, I had no idea that Coach Al had been talking about me to the other coaches. We continued running and chatting, off and on, past a group of folks doing water aerobics in a nearby pool (we cheered for them as we ran by), by several families taking their kids out for the afternoon, all the way up to the water stop which was just short of mile 2!!! I hadn't even seen the mile markers for 1 or 1.5....
I ran on ahead, while Mama Lisa was chatting with the folks running the water stop, going up over the bridge, then down under it on the other side to go to the path on the other edge of the water in that area (think of the overall trail as an upside down "J" or backwards "r"). I was even able to run up the incline of the bridge! At this point, I had reached over 45 minutes of running non-stop.
Mama Lisa caught up with me again after the bridge, and before I knew it, we were at the 2.5 mile marker, which was my turnaround point, having run the whole way out! Mama Lisa gave me a few last encouraging words as we came upon the mile marker, and then I turned around to head back while she continued on to check in with some other runners.
The bridge on the way back was harder than it was on the way out, but I ran it anyhow, keeping the principles of running hills in mind that Coach Al had talked about with us on Thursday night. Then it was back to the water stop (still running!), down along the path by the water aerobics folks (still running!) and into the home stretch.
After 75 minutes of running straight, I was having some serious achy muscles in my legs and back. After all, it was WAY longer than I had used any of those muscles in that set of motion before! I finally felt the need to drop into a walk, to stretch out a little bit to see if I could get my back particularly to loosen up. Once I was done with that, about 2-3 minutes, I began running again.
I had to stop and stretch again one more time before the end of the run, another 2-3 minutes, but the victory was clear - I had actually run the vast majority of my 5-mile training run!
On my way back in, Coach Al was at the finish line, positively beaming. He and Coach Gary both gave me high-fives on my way through the gate, and Coach said my new nickname was "91 minutes" - the time it took me to run today's 5 miles.
I've no doubt I'm going to be stiff and sore for the rest of the day today and probably tomorrow too - but my muscles will be the ONLY part of me complaining!
I shook off the frustration and tuned into the nutrition presentation as quickly as I could, and found that most of it was stuff I was already familiar with, from Weight Watchers and the work I had done with a nutritionist back when I was living in Dallas. The biggest difference to me was the percentages of carbs to protein.
As usual, we had announcements, warmups, stretching, and then it was off to run. I started out at a nice comfortable pace, and before I knew it I had run about 15 minutes straight! Coach Al rode up to me on his bike and checked in with me, congratulating me on Thursday's victory once again, and officially dubbing me with the nickname "21 minutes" for my running stretch Thursday night.
As he biked away, I shouted out "Do I get a new nickname if I go longer today?" to which he grinned and shouted back, "You bet!" I was still chuckling when I saw him turn around on his bike and head back towards me. "You know," he said, when he reached me again, "Pretty soon we're going to be calling you 'All The Way!'" We chatted a little bit more, and then he biked off again, to check on some other runners.
I kept running along, up to 20-something minutes, excited, and conscious of the fact that I was about to break my brand new record already. Mama Lisa then came up running beside me, and complimented me on the fact that I'd been able to run so long today. I told her briefly about track practice on Thursday, to which she exclaimed, "So YOU'RE who he was talking about!"
I nodded, blushing a little bit because although I was pleased to hear it, I had no idea that Coach Al had been talking about me to the other coaches. We continued running and chatting, off and on, past a group of folks doing water aerobics in a nearby pool (we cheered for them as we ran by), by several families taking their kids out for the afternoon, all the way up to the water stop which was just short of mile 2!!! I hadn't even seen the mile markers for 1 or 1.5....
I ran on ahead, while Mama Lisa was chatting with the folks running the water stop, going up over the bridge, then down under it on the other side to go to the path on the other edge of the water in that area (think of the overall trail as an upside down "J" or backwards "r"). I was even able to run up the incline of the bridge! At this point, I had reached over 45 minutes of running non-stop.
Mama Lisa caught up with me again after the bridge, and before I knew it, we were at the 2.5 mile marker, which was my turnaround point, having run the whole way out! Mama Lisa gave me a few last encouraging words as we came upon the mile marker, and then I turned around to head back while she continued on to check in with some other runners.
The bridge on the way back was harder than it was on the way out, but I ran it anyhow, keeping the principles of running hills in mind that Coach Al had talked about with us on Thursday night. Then it was back to the water stop (still running!), down along the path by the water aerobics folks (still running!) and into the home stretch.
After 75 minutes of running straight, I was having some serious achy muscles in my legs and back. After all, it was WAY longer than I had used any of those muscles in that set of motion before! I finally felt the need to drop into a walk, to stretch out a little bit to see if I could get my back particularly to loosen up. Once I was done with that, about 2-3 minutes, I began running again.
I had to stop and stretch again one more time before the end of the run, another 2-3 minutes, but the victory was clear - I had actually run the vast majority of my 5-mile training run!
On my way back in, Coach Al was at the finish line, positively beaming. He and Coach Gary both gave me high-fives on my way through the gate, and Coach said my new nickname was "91 minutes" - the time it took me to run today's 5 miles.
I've no doubt I'm going to be stiff and sore for the rest of the day today and probably tomorrow too - but my muscles will be the ONLY part of me complaining!
Labels: Training
posted by Erin at 12:39 PM
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