track

track workout 2008 07 01

Book page Posted by kitt at 21:30 on 1 July 2008 
warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

plyos:
2 sets of 12 pushups
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets of 15 tuck jumps

intervals:
4x200
4x100
8x40

cool down lap
abs

track workout 2008 06 17

Book page Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 12:39 on 17 June 2008 
I've thrown in some of the Snertz exercises during the plyos for fun.
As the season progresses and we drop down to shorter distances, we'll
probably see more.

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching
4x100m strides (50% effort... take it easy)

plyos:
15 push ups / 75 crunches
4x15 "ground jumps" + 40m sprint (touch the ground then jump as high
as you can reaching for the sky 15 times then immediately sprint)
4x15 tuck jumps + 40m sprint (jump and tuck knees towards chest quickly)
15 push ups / 75 crunches

interval:
3x400m (around 90s rest)
3x200m (head back to start and add 20s rest or so)

cool down lap
abs

track workout 2008 06 10

Book page Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 19:16 on 10 June 2008 
warmup:
800m jog
stretching
form running

plyos:
2 sets 12 push ups
2 sets 15 lunges
25 single leg calf raises

interval:
400-400-400
4 laps of 200m fartlek (run 200, jog 200, repeat)
400-400-400

cool down lap
abs

mischief track workout 080603

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 09:57 on 3 June 2008 
warmup:
800m
stretching
form running

plyos:
2 sets 12 push ups
25 single leg calf raises
2 sets15 squat jumps

interval:
2 sets of 6x200m

cool down lap
abs

mischief track workout 080527

Blog Posted by kitt at 17:23 on 27 May 2008 
warmup:
800m
stretching
form running

plyos:
25 single leg calf raises
2x20 squats
2x15 lunges (each leg)

interval:
2 sets of 100-200-400-200-100 pyramid run

My own footsteps

Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:21 on 27 July 2007, kitt created this:

I ran track in junior high school (sorta), high school and college. I wasn't particularly fast, and kept running shorter and shorter races (the mile in junior high, the 800 in high school and the 400 in college).

Going to a small, division-III school meant that, well, I could still rack up the points at tournaments coming in second or third against a lot of other small schools. I wish I had been stronger mentally, so that I could have been a better runner, but I did okay.

I and three of my teammates held the 4 x 400 relay record from 1991 until it was broken in 2003. Not too bad, actually. Even had our names on the big record board in the women's locker room. Ooooooo, warm fuzzies!

Today, I was goofing off online, randomly googling for friends, when I stumbled across Andy's 9th overall triple jump distance in the Caltech records.

I immediately went to check out the women's top performance's, too. I recognized a lot of names of classmates and teammates on the list, though many of them were lower on the list. The relay times weren't listed, which disappointed me a little bit, until I realized, holy crap! one of my times was listed! I was the 8th fastest 400m female Caltech runner. Holy crap!

I showed the times to Kris, and his first comment was, "Hey! You were fast!" I was always disappointed that I never broke 60 seconds, but he commented, "I don't know that I could run that fast now. I'll have to try."

Almost makes me want to train to try again, now that I know how to be mentally tougher.

Almost.

I actually remember the race, which is funny. The meet was the last one I would run in for Caltech, might have been the Division 3 qualifiers or something. I lined up in a lane just inside of a runner who, quite honestly, looked like a chump to me. I remember thinking there was no way I was going to lose to this woman. The gun went off, around the first curve we went, and I passed her, as I should since I was in the inside lane.

Coming around the last curve, I remember hearing her footsteps. I remember thinking again, "No way," and starting to run faster, as hard I as I could on those last 100 meters. My focus was on staying ahead of that woman, not on the finish line, on that woman.

I beat her, coming in 4th or 5th in the race. My team's assistant coach's daughter came in first with a time around 59 seconds.

After the race, I walked back to the bleachers to sit with my team, as my coach was jumping around all excited, and my boyfriend was laughing. Both were excited to see me. What happened, I asked. Why was everyone so excited?

Coach showed me my time, which was 3-4 seconds faster than my previous season's best, which was great. However, Rob (the boyfriend) told me about how the woman I had heard had been starting to catch me around the back curve, but, come that back straight, I had clearly run as I had never run before, the gap between us growing dramatically with every step.

By the end of the race, the only footsteps I had heard were my own.

Today's track workout

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 20:56 on 5 June 2007

Stupid girlie tears.

At today's track workout, I ran pretty much by myself. The warmups and the plyometrics were in a group, but the rest of the workout was "at your own pace." On our way to the workout, Kris warned me again, "don't overdo it." Although this is really good advice in general, it essentially gave me permission not to finish the workout, and giving me permission to slack is never a good thing.

The full workout was supposed to be:

For those not at homestead, here's the track workout:

Warm up 800m

Form running/dynamic stretching

Plyos:
squats (x30, x25, x20)
lunges (x15, x15, x10)
ankle hops (x25, x25)
squat jumps (x10, x10)

4 lap fartlek (sprint first 50m of straights, jog rest)

2x400m (90s rest between)

4x200m (60s rest between)

... but the rest between sets was actually much shorter for the 200s and longer (to 120s) for the 400s. I ran the first 400 in 96s, beating my goal by 4s. The first 200 of that 400 I ran in 46 seconds, much to my pleasure when I realized how consistent I was in that 400.

After the first two 200s, I was thinking UGH, my legs are beat. I considered just being done with the workout. Then I thought about two weeks ago at the Stanford workout, and how I hated not finishing the workout. I then realized my legs were tired, but it was the achy sort of tired that I really like.

Suddenly, not finishing was no longer an option. Stupid of me to think it was ever a possibility.

When I crossed the finish line after my final 200, I looked down at my watch. Before running the 400s, Doyle told all of us to pace ourselves: we wanted to be running the 200s as fast as the 400s, and not jogging them.

Well, sure, 46s is a crappy 200 time (a VERY crappy 200m time, in fact), but it was certainly quite consistent.

I even cried with joy when I realized I managed to finish my first Mischief workout this season. Only took me long enough.

Consistency

Blog kitt decided around 16:07 on 23 May 2007 to publish this:

Last night, we had another Mischief track workout at the Stanford Dish. Instead of running the Dish loop, however, we ran up one particular hill.

Up. And up. And up. And up. And up. And up.

The workout was three sets of six sprints up the hill. The hill wasn't particularly short, nor was it unnecessarily long. But it was hard. After the first set, my legs were moosh. After the second set, I wanted to puke. Apparently, I'm not the only one who wanted to puke: several others admitted to the desire, though no one actually vomitted.

Kris commented to me, "Don't overdo it. You get injured when you overdo it." My response was something like, "I need to overdo it, I have a roster spot to hold onto!" Unfortunately, the thought of stopping was appealing, and I stopped.

After about 10 minutes, my heartrate had dropped to normal, I had rested, walked around, and relaxed, and was completely regretting my decision to stop.

This morning, as I was half asleep, but rolling out of bed anyway for our morning workout at VS, Kris commented to me, "Consistency. As long as you're working out hard each day, you'll improve."

So, that's my new motivational word for the next few months. Consistency on my way back from injury.

Fartlek, my foot!

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 23:11 on 1 May 2007

Tonight's track workout was all of forty minutes of fartlek running: around the track for forty minutes sprinting the first forty yards of each straight and jogging the remaining 320 yards of the track. I managed fifteen minutes before my insides turned to intense jelly balls of pain. I stopped for a minute to let the balls disappate before running around the fields and finding a couple dogs to chase for my sprinting - much easier and far more fun to chase.

I'm not sure what's so special about the first fifteen minutes of a long distance run. I had a very similar problem last week, running the dish: bad cramps at the beginning of the run, only to have them disappear after a minute break, and a good run following. This has to get easier. I can't keep running like this and not have it get any easier.

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