Training

I have been conditioning by myself for about two weeks now and was getting harder every day. I think today though I may have gotten past a breaking point. I was out for a run by 830 this morning and it went much better than the past few weeks. Today I started off at a pretty smooth speed and noticed about 5 minutes in that had increased my endurance. Whew! this is a relief because I don't know how much longer I would have survived this FL heat when Im out of shape gasping for air. My breathing was much more controlled, showing improved conditioning. This allowed me to worry about other things like form and concentrated breathing. I only went for a short loop run around a few main roads, but felt really good endurance-wise. I did however start to catch a little soreness in both of my calfs, the left a little more than the other, and ended up stopping to stretch out near the end so I wouldn't catch a cramp.

The past two weeks have been pretty rigorous for me physically since I have been off doing absolutely nothing except working, enjoying the summer, and spending time with friends and loved ones for about two and a half months. I thought back to the past few years of conditioning that we went through before starting practice at Howard and didn't think I struggled this much. I had a good group of hard working guys right with me on those runs which made them more than just work. Im realizing how much your team, even in a primarily individualistic sport like Track, can really help you out, or through workouts for that matter. Im sure if I had a few people to go on the runs with I would be a little ahead of schedule as far as the training.

We're nearing our first practice so Im going to have to start getting in the weight room pretty seriously. This will be to keep the muscles fired for when we get into the real action with Coach Mitchell next month. I will only be doing some light excersices and heavy stretching at the guy to keep limber and strong. I am going to look for some places to lift in the area here, but will probably start tomorrow. Im looking forward to practice in a few weeks, but also hoping I don't "call Earl" the first day. Surprisingly, I've never threw up at any of my practices in the past (threw up after a few of them when I got home, but not at practice). Im hope Coach Mitchell is not going to break my streak, lol.