I am fascinated by all people that are fast. I love watching all of the events in which speed (human) counts. I can probably name more track-n-field athletes and endurance athletes than I can football players right now.
So, a question that I have been asking more of myself recently. Why do I not try harder to increase my speed, to PR each race that I do? Because in all honesty, I really don't try that hard on speedwork; on the run, on the bike, or in the water. Is the potential there? Yeah, I would like to think that it is, but the reality of it is that I don't want to push myself that hard.
It's funny how things have come full circle. I can remember when I was young that I loved to run, bike, and swim. I would run just for the sake of running, my mom can attest to this. I loved to race my friends on the bike and in the water in the summers. And, I was fast. I can remember being one of the two fastest girls in gradeschool. Tiffany and I often tied in alot of the races that we did. Then something weird happened, I grew and got taller and Tiffany didn't. With this growth came alot of awkardness and suddenly all that speed that I had seemed to disappear.
Around the same time I started to become more involved in team sports, in particular soccer. Which has alot of running. As I got older this included alot of conditioning and speed workouts and drills. It also came with the realization that I was no longer fast. In fact, on my highschool team, I was one of the slowest runners. And I struggled with all of the runs that we did, particularly the long ones. I can remember many mornings, after these runs, puking and dry-heaving in the bushes as everyone started practice. At some point I came to HATE all of the conditioning and even quit the soccer team my senior year because I didn't want to do the conditioning anymore.
Although I quit soccer in highschool, I did continue to play rec leagues in college and then after a graduated. Again, as I got older I started to feel my slowness and also my poor conditioning. So eventually I started to run again (on my own) so that I could keep up with everyone when I played co-ed soccer. Then a strange thing happened. Somewhere along the way I actually started to LIKE running. And slowly, I have built up my endurance so I can do longer distances. And now I love running, biking, and swimming.
So, I think one of the biggest reasons I don't push myself to do speedwork is because of the memory of puking in the bushes and the frustration at feeling so slow and hating it. I am afraid that if I really push myself that will happen again. And now that I actually enjoy what I am doing, I am reluctant to let that go.
So, in keeping with the theme of speed, check out this speed work-out we did last week in swim class:
300 warm up
200 kick
200 pull
(10x25 on 30 sec, 25 ez) x 6
drill: 3 x 50 choice
150 cool down
My stats since last the last blog:
Mon: 60 minute run
Tuesday: 2700 swim, 30 minute strength train with a personal trainer
Wed: 60 minute run
Thurs: 2600 swim, 40 minute run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 17 miler on snow covered trails
Sunday: rest
Monday: 60 minute run
Tuesday: rest
Wed: 60 minute run
Thurs: 35 minute run, 30 minutes strength
No comments:
Post a Comment