Day 1 - speed day!

Speed day.  Here's the drill from my brother Jon.

Warm up with an 800 meter run and then sprint the following:

1 x 400M
2 x 200M
4 x 100M

Cool down with another 800 meter run.

and of course stretch, stretch, stretch.... before, after, during!

Here are the results from day 1:

Got to the track around 5:30PM.  Nervous.  Can't believe I'm doing this shit.  Too late, I'm here.  I head to the 100M finish line extension and start to stretch.  Jimminy Cricket I'm old.  I can touch my toes, but I can't hold it.  So I do the best I can knowing that if I pull a hammy, my brother will torture me for months! 

I started to get into it.  The sights and smells of the track.  It brought back a lot of truly wonderful memories!  I recalled all of the stretches and I did them all, counting them out, and switching legs just like the old days. 

I finished stretching and started for the starting line area.  All the time I'm thinking... just don't hurt yourself.  Feel your chest and left arm.  If there is any pain stop IMMEDIATELY! 

Here I go.  The worlds hardest race, the dreaded 400M...  the first ten steps or so were foreign.  I wasn't feeling the rhythm.  Then it started to come back.  I started coaching myself… Use good form!  Get on your toes!  Reach with your arms!  Yahoo!!!  I'm actually sprinting again! 

So there I am flying down the back stretch and head for the 200M curve.  I can’t believe how good it feels!  The wind in my face, the… wall.  My hams burn, my ankles hurt and my lungs are on fire.  Holy shit what just happened?  A little dizzy.  Checking the heart and it seems okay.  The left arm doesn’t hurt and despite the burning in my lungs, an elephant wasn’t sitting on my chest.

I walked to the 100M finish line and repeated a set of stretches while I caught my breath. 

I consoled myself saying that the 400M was always the hardest.  I should be able whip out a 200M with no problem.  So after I can breath a little, I trundle on toward the 200M starting line and walk slowly ensuring that I’d fully caught my breath. 

As I hit the 200M start, my mind flashed back to those starting blocks from way back in the day and I launched into the race.  I worked my outside arm faster than the left and drove my line along the inside of lane 2.  It felt great!  I didn’t think I would ever run that fast again.  I actually felt a bit cocky and was really going for it.  Down the 100M stretch I went and I was holding it together and thinking to myself that I could do it!  Just about 20 meters remaining and I had a weird thought flash through my mind “green onions!”  What the hell?  Anyway, the thought coincided with the wall and I stopped just short of the finish line and ended up walking through it.  I leaned at the imaginary tape just to be sarcastic with myself. 

I was a little upset that I almost made it and then collapsed at the end, but I was also a little encouraged because I almost made it!  So I walked back to the starting line and stretched again.  Then I took off again.  This time I only made it 100M before I crashed.  Whew, this is going to be harder than when I was a 17 year old kid.

I was so exhausted that I decided I would skip the 100M races and move onto the cool down 800M and then head home before I hurt myself, but at that point, I didn’t even make 20 yards of the cool down before I had to give it up.

Overall, I consider day 1 a success.  I made it to the track as I promised and I actually did get back to sprinting, albeit for short bursts.  I will keep posting my results and hopefully by the end of July I will at least be able to run the 100M.