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First Meet Back: Glory Days Workout

October 12, 2019 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
So I am finally able to compete in meets again now that my shin has heeled enough that I am not in constant pain, so that’s good. Being back was weird but sooo fun. I knew I had missed it as I had to sit back and watch everyone run throughout the season, but actually finally doing warmups and strides at the beginning is a whole different world. Benji was in the same position I was so he was going through virtually the same thing I was. Was really nervous to come back because I had 0 idea what level of fitness I would be in. This race would be the first time getting up to any kind of speed in over the last month.
The plan for the race was that me and Beni would run together in the JV race and pace Akshay to his first sub 20. (Breaking 2 2.0). Right before the race went off we were told to pace Akshay through the first mile in about 6:10 and then go do our own thing and see if he could hang on. The second mile was supposed to be a medium effort tempo and the last mile was supposed to be a hard tempo.
The warmups went well, no pain in the shin, and they were honestly really fun because I had never run or warmed up with most of the people in that group ever. It was also my first time doing the warmup routine in over a month. We rushed through striders and got quick speeches in as we were a bit late and before I knew it I was on the start line waiting for the start gun to go off. It went off quicker than I expected and I quickly found myself in the middle of the pack, jostling for position, alongside Benji and Akshay. Benji yelled out jockingly, as we were surrounded by runners “when you get boxed in at a JV race” to which I laughed and got stressed. So we picked it up a bit but quickly locked into a decent pace. We were definitely way ahead of pace for the first 800 but we slowed down enough. Me and Akshay continued to pass runners as we maintained our pace, with Benji trailing slightly behind. We ended up at mile 1 in about 5:57 which was ahead of schedule. However, at this point Akshay and Benji were enough behind me that I decided to start my workout. So, using the downhill, I began to pick up the pace. Over the next 3/4 mile I can’t tell you how many people I passed but it was ALOT. By mile two I had gone from the middle of the pack to 18th pace, to which Mark recommended that I “go and get myself a medal by passing 3 more people”.
My breathing was pretty good at this point as I could breathe out of my nose for a couple seconds if I wanted to. My legs, however, felt like lead weights. The last mile was a struggle. My breathing was normal for a workout but my legs were soooo heavy. It was also really hard mentally and I thought about slowing down more than I should have. The one thought that kept my legs moving was “go and get yourself some hardware”. I have almost never gotten a medal so, despite being in JV, I really wanted one. The finish and last 400 was really hard as I just couldn’t get the legs to move and I had 0 kick in me. Ended up in 14th, so not bad, but I could have gone faster if I had had someone near me to take me with them.
As I received my medal I didn’t really feel like I deserved it. I was even disappointed by a time that was faster than the time I had predicted I would be running right before the race. I was so conflicted and I couldn’t decided whether to be happy or sad so I was very meh right after the race.
Then in thinking and talking with others about my race I remembered that not only was this my first workout in over a month but also this was the first time I had run over A MILE straight in over a month. I had worked out muscles that I haven’t used in a long time which explained why they felt like lead weights. Although watching Corbin and Satola run speedy and beautiful races made me envious to be right in there with them, I realized I was just grateful to be finally running even if it’s not nearly as fast as I would have been if not for the injury.
Post race my legs were in an immense amount of pain including my knee (which really bugged me during the race) and my calves. Sorry for the really long log but this was a pretty confusing and complicated meet for me.
Overall I’m glad to be back but I’m still lost as to whether I’m in the shape I need to be in or not. We’ll find out at Third Battle I guess. The time isn’t where I want it to be but now that I’m back running and that it was a workout, it should drop down next weekend.