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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Jun 1 - v - p

Crossed something off my bucket list!!!  But more on that later…

FIT:
PRINCETON!!!!  REUNIONS!!! GRADUATION!!! 
It’s good to be back “home”.

Ohhhh man…
Friday, my last full day in Mexico, I had my usual breakfast, but this time, it didn’t sit well with me.  Lunch was okay.  However, dinner was when the real trouble began.  It could’ve been the ice (expected it to be made out of bottled water, since it was what should’ve been a nice hotel), but it could’ve been the salad, washed in the tap water.

Saturday, I woke up at 3:30am EDT to get ready for my shuttle to the airport, plane to Atlanta, plane to Philly, and 4 trains later, PRINCETON.  It was about 14 hrs of traveling.  The tricky part was that by the end of the day, I couldn’t keep any liquid or food in me for long.  I woke up Sunday, and the issue was still there.  After a few days without keeping in liquids, there could be a problem, so I contemplated getting a morning flight back home so that my parents could help me take care of this.  But I ended up going to the ER instead to see what they could do.  They gave me IVs, ran tests, and told me to just try to eat and drink and let it run its course. 

Glad I stayed.  So my reunions wristband for 2011:

Fireworks, a cappella reunion, baccalaureate (Michael Bloomberg), step sing in Blair Arch, class day (Brooke Shields), PEF senior dinner clean-up crew, commencement, reception… and I still missed a bunch of events from Thursday-Saturday evening.

This morning, went to the track, to run for the first time in 6 days.  I was going to run on Monday, but with some serious rain and an already tight schedule for my friend, we called it off.  Tuesday, too much going on already, and it was hot and humid by the evening.  So today, finally got to go.  The morning is the time to go.  I had 2 meetings for work scheduled for the morning, so it worked out well that I woke at 6:30 to get the cool part of the day.  I went down to the track, so that I could stay on campus, but also to get in speedwork while my legs were still fresh.  I may do an LR or at least a famous Wholefoods mid-distance run later. 

I started with the mile.  My PR of 5:59 was from 2 yrs ago, so I would’ve liked to renew that membership in the sub-6 club.  I did a half-mile warmup, then a bit of dynamic stretching and 2 striders.  Coming up to the starting line, I was fearful.  How would I do?  How much was it going to hurt?  I paced around a bit and just prayed that the run would glorify God, no matter what.  Whether I reached my goal or not, I would give it everything I had for him.  Then, off.

Ohhhh yeah… the shoes… as far as track shoes go, I only packed Steeplechase shoes, so that I could play with that this year.  Its built-in spikes (metal ones can be added as required) raise up the toe part, so it’s like a negative-drop shoe, the opposite of normal running shoes.  The spikes are there to grip the beam, which is important for the water pit jump.  It felt different but okay during the warmup (0.5 in 4:08).

Ok… so off.  The first lap felt like the second lap… a bit too difficult.  The warmup in those shoes, which require extra muscle activation of muscles that I don’t normally need to use as much, maybe took a little power out of me.  Beyond that, I hadn’t had breakfast (nor was I particularly in the mood), which may not matter much, although a little sugar probably would’ve helped, I hadn’t run in almost a week, which could go either way in terms of help vs. hurt… maybe a little bit of hurt, I probably lost a little bit of weight (lean muscle, and maybe some of my normally high hydration status) from the tummy issues, which helps as long as the lean muscle was excess for running purposes, and I may be slightly malnourished right now, which hurts energy-wise.  In summary, I guess most things balance out.  It was relatively cool for a summer day, but it was humid.

The first lap of the mile, you do a little bit extra to round out the mile, starting from the waterfall.  So when I saw the 1:33 split, at first, I was like… noooo… not my day… but then, I remembered that I had done a bit extra… not 3s extra, though.  But I went on.  Second lap, I was still off-pace, so I knew that I’d have trouble… 1:33.  Third lap, I guess I wasn’t pushing as hard as I normally do, since I was not in significant pain.  I was still feeling okay… giving a good effort, but not pushing too hard… 1:32  Maybe it’s good, in that I was pacing well, or at least not burning out, which is to be avoided most of all.  Final lap, I was still not pushing (over-pushing) yet, so I could speed it up.  Definitely far less painful than it usually is.  Kicked a bit more with 100M to go… 1:27. 

6:04 final time.

I think I could’ve given it more.  Negative split is the way to go.  The max I could do for a lap is 1:17, which is the fastest time I’ve done a single 400 (I’ve only timed myself once), so I can’t expect too much more from that last lap.  Cooler temps and a sugar rush would’ve helped.  So hard to say. 

Maybe I can try again later this week J

FUN:
Afterward, since the big job was over, it was play time.  Doing the steeplechase water pit has been on my bucket list for 2 yrs, and the timing and the shoes I brought worked out this time.  And I videoed it. 

The pit was intimidatingly deep and long for someone as short as me.  But, you just have to dive into it.

It was actually okay… no falls.  I got farther in the pit than I thought I would, since jumping from the beam gives you extra distance.  I usually stepped onto the beam with both feet before jumping (for stability, I guess), although you’re not supposed to.  I also landed with two feet, since I don’t really have the strength to land with one and go on running.  It was fun, though.  So I went a few times and got pretty wet. 




Then, I did part of a pyramid… only the first quarter of it… 4x100 w/ 100 jogs in between, then 4x200 w/ 200 jogs in between.  It was a good opportunity to let the wind dry my clothes and my shoes off a bit. (1.5 mi in 10:37).

Then, I discovered that I wanted pictures, and not just video, of my steeplechase attempt, so I got wet again.  I got some nice shots.






Then, a little more playing around.

Like a little kid in a million-dollar playground, I was having soooo much fun.

Total mileage & time… 3 mi in 4:08 + 10:37 + 6:04 = 20:49, 6:56/mi, non-continuous.

1 comment:

Lindsay said...

so fun. i've always wanted to jump in the water puddle.

glad your ER stay was non-drama!!!