Wow! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of workouts and well-timed wisdoms. I'm excited about a few breakthroughs - mentally and physically and in the next few days, I'll try to share them all.
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| Beautiful Carolina Blue Track & Field |
My most fun event was a track workout with Stacey Richardson and my Raleigh 70.3 training buddies. I traveled to Chapel Hill on a chilly, breezy, partly sunny day. I arrived with butterflies in my stomach and left with a big grin on my face. First off, I loved the people. I loved the workout and I loved being back on the campus that I love so much.
I was admittedly nervous about the track workout. I do them almost weekly, but they are self-coached and in the darkness just before dawn. There is a new expectation and accountability when there is an objective set of eyes watching your gait, your effort and your performance in the light of day. Also, I didn't want to puke.
My favorite thing about the workout was that Stacey coached us all - and I think there were close to 20 on the track - right where we were that day. We did a progressive run and set our paces by our last 400 (one lap around the track). We didn't have to aim for a race pace or pre-set goal - we based it on where we were at noon on a Sunday in January.
For you workout junkies, here was my target: run 3 x 800s at a 6m55s/mi - 7m00s/mi pace. Here were my results:
No. 1 Lap 1 - 1:46 (6:44/mi pace)
No. 1 Lap 2 - 1:52 (6:45/mi pace)
No. 2 Lap 1 - 1:54 (7:23/mi)
No. 2 Lap 2 - 1:51 (6:58/mi)
No. 3 Lap 1 - 1:45 (7:01/mi)
No. 3 Lap 2 - 1:42 (6:40/mi)
No. 1 Lap 2 - 1:52 (6:45/mi pace)
No. 2 Lap 1 - 1:54 (7:23/mi)
No. 2 Lap 2 - 1:51 (6:58/mi)
No. 3 Lap 1 - 1:45 (7:01/mi)
No. 3 Lap 2 - 1:42 (6:40/mi)
Stacey gave me some great feedback on my form (practice my toe-off) and offered a ton of new ideas for dynamic warmups and cool downs. Did I mention I loved the people? I met Jess who is rebuilding this year from a scary collision with a bus (and is already falcon fast). I met Jen and two Kims and another gal like me who married a boy from high school.
After the workout, I cooled down by walking through campus. On the way back to the car, I walked by Carmichael gym and realized that the Carolina women were playing the dookies. I decided to pop in, change clothes and watch a bit of the game.
It was a Duke blowout, but I was simply glad to be enjoying some Tarheel spirit. Plus, I got to see Sylvia Hatchell in action once again. [A lifetime ago, I went to her basketball camp. Plus, I did a photojournalism project on her back in 1993!] I visited the student store and rode down Franklin Street just for old times sake. [Dude, Linda's is still there.]
That same weekend, I attended a multi-sport expo in Durham, NC. I love input and information and so six hours of listening to tips and techniques in the sport I love was a dream for me. There were a few highlights and plenty of lessons learned.
One of my favorite moments was meeting Tim Deboom, back-to-back champion of Ironman world triathlon in Kona. I happened to be sitting back-to-back with him on a bench during a break. I was checking my phone and he was speaking about to someone else about retiring and I recognized who he was. I realized I had a chance to say hello. I turned around and said, "I know who you are! Would you mind signing my shoe?" [I'm such a geek. It felt kind of like a Dirty Dancing moment and later I thought: I carried a watermelon?]
He obliged and we talked for a bit about his keynote address that he was going to give, what he was doing in his retirement and what a crush he has on his one-year-old daughter. I admitted that I had been a fan of his wife before I knew who he was! She created SKIRTSPORTS and I wore one of her outfits in my very first tri!
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| SkirtSports Skirt and Swim Top at my First Tri |
Here are a few of the notes I took from his message:
- In Ironman, especially Kona, you just don't know you can win until you win.
- Make sure that when you're in the heart of it, you can still see the heart of it. Don't make this sport a job.
- It's okay to take a day off, three days off a week off.
- He counted the ten decisions that got him to where he is right now. You can do the same.
- Like a surfer who looks at a wave and says, I've got to ride it or a skiier who looks of a ledge and says, I've got to ski it; I will always look at a road and say I gotta be on it. I'll always be an endurance athlete.
- Always finish.
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| Tim Deboom |