Tues track practice

Today we met at Soquel High School Track, and if you haven't noticed yet, every
Tues we meet at the same track with the coaches. Today we mostly focused on are walk technique.
We did some lunges( I know I'm going to feel the lunges for the next few days) lunge hold, lunge hold, lunge hold, that was fun. The coaches have us doing some sprinting and recovery time and a lot of exercises to help with the walking technique. There are two that are especially fun to do, one is the girlie walk and that is where we are walking kind of like Charlie Chaplin with our hand in front of us swaying them back and forth, I know I look too funny. And the other is with are arms in straight out in front palms facing up in a cup position, looks like we are walking holding an egg, that is where we all are cracking up, and so is everyone in the bleachers that is watching us.
At the end of every workout the coaches will have us do stretches along with some leg, arm and stomach exercises.
It's all about the walking technique and stretches this week....
Practice, practice and more practice.

Saturday 6/27/09 8 miles

Training started @ 730 am at Dominican Hospital, we started in back of the Hospital and followed a chalk marked route down Soquel turning by Harbour High School, making are way up to DeLaveaga Park, and let me tell you it was UP!

The uphill was a lot more than I ever expected and there were times when I thought what the heck am I doing, this is crazy!! there is now way I'm going to make it up there. but I just kept treaking a long and kept thinking that I can do this, no sweat.... ha ha ha and boy was I sweating.

The uphill finally came to an end and we started back down and that eventually came to the paved streets and headed back towards the start, I kept telling myself, Almost there, it's just around the bend.

I was really lucky to be walking with one of my coaches Haley, who is soooo Awsome. She really helped me to keep up the pace and than some. She would make me pick a focal point way a head of us and then we would sprint to that point, we did this all along the trail on our way back and before I knew it we were sprinting back to the start and I Finished !!!
My time for the day was a little over 2 hours.
I felt pretty good right after i finished, it was probably the addrenalin still kicking in.
That all changed when I drove home and it hit me like a ton of bricks!! Felt like a Mack truck hit me and I could barely keep my eyes open, Nappy time for me. I was pretty useless for the rest of the day and pretty crabby. But come Sunday I felt more human, I have to tell you I had some pretty achy muscles though but not still feel lively and ready for more!!!!
So ready for Tuesdays uphill training. GO TEAM

Tues. Track Training 6/23/09 Back from Camping.

I know I haven't made a entry in a while but we had a family camping trip planned. So we packed up and headed out to Kern River for some much needed rest and relaxation and some river rafting, let me clarify that for you I didnt do any rafting just relaxing ;-) relax ;-)
Came Back on Monday evening and back right back to training at the track Tues. Right off the bat coach Terry has us start doing laps. So she has us doing the straight part of the track sprinting and the round parts just Race walking, oh she had us do about a dozen of those or so, seemed like but honestly we did maybe 2 miles. She than had us doing lunge exercises and a variety of others, than we finished off with some more racewalking laps. I felt pretty good after we were done and I have to tell u it was a great workout!!
So a couple days have passed before I made this entry and you know I was not sure if I would be able to get the energy up to make this entry or ever walk again!! Those lunges killed me and I think the other exercises may have caused some of the pain I am experiencing. Getting up and down from any kind of sitting position is very difficult and causes some pain and the toilet at this point is my enemy to try to get up and down from. I am feeling every muscle these days and walking pretty funny looking so much so that, when I was leaving the grocery store a bagger came running up to me asked me if I was ok and just started pushing my grocery cart for me ;-O
It turned out to be the start of a great conversation and maybe a great lead to a donation woo hoo.
Can't wait till Sat Training...Bring it on

6/16/09

Today Training turned out to be really fun and A LOT of hard work.
I have never racewalked before, so learning all these new techniques is very challenging.
I felt like a cross between a salsa dancer moving my hips and a clown with big feet trying to walk like a duck. So many things to remember to do, Coach Terry telling me " Michelle take shorter steps"," swing those hips more", "make sure your heel comes down first"," lift those toes up Higher"," relax your shoulders", um how do you relax while walking like this? You just keep on practicing!!!!
Our fantastic Coaches had us do several laps back and forth, all of which were different drills to help you perfect your race walking skills. We did a good hour and a half workout and finished up with some really good stretches.
Still can't wait for the nest training on Sat.

6/13/09

We all met at Henry Cowell Park.
The weather was a moderate drizzle. I loved it!!
The Schedule for today is 4 miles.
We set right out and followed the marked trail through the park. We pretty much all stuck together and kept up a steady pace through the beautiful park. I have to say it is a really great park to run or walk through, it has the best views and it makes the workout a lot easier!! I think that's what got us through the brutal uphill ;-)
I finished my 4 miles @ 9:15am and I was home about 10:00.
All in All it was a great workout.
Can't wait till Tuesday Training

6/09/09

The Coaches started us with some new stretching and walking techniques,( and I thought how hard can walking be, just put one foot in front of the other and away we go WRONG!) a few laps around the park with my new walking technique, how hard is that? ha ha ha. We did some fast paced than slowed down then back again to faced paced and back again to slow down ( make up your minds already I'm thinking). We continued for a few more laps using the new race walking technique. The coaches are so awesome!! they really keep you motivated and moving, and just when you think "ok I'm done now" they're right there motivating you with just the right words to keep you going. I stayed with it although about half way through the 2nd to the last round my shins were screaming at me and I almost gave in and listened to them, but i didn't and kept on going.
I'm way to stubborn and no way was I going to give up...NEVER.
Bring it on. Still can't wait till Sat. we will do 4 miles.

The in between 6/08/09

Well as instructed I took Sunday off, but come Monday I jumped right back into schedule and walked started doing a mild 1 mile and worked my way up to a fast pace, total 3 miles. I really felt it more this time and was a little sore after. I think just walking around in a circle on the High school track seems a lot harder and longer.
Still can't wait for training with my coaches tomorrow...GO TEAM

June 6th 1st day of Official training

Training started @ 7:15 bright and Early Sat. ..I was so excited and ready to go!! We met up @ Soquel High with all the Santa Cruz Team N Training runners and race walkers, Wow there were a lot of members, that was so great to see! It looks like we have a more runners than race walkers, but, I was impressed to see so many people involved.
We met with are 2 awesome race walking coaches. They started off with basic stretches that led to some stretches I have never used before. We slowly started doing laps around the track (not so bad) than they started teaching us a whole new way of walking. It involved arm muscles, hip muscles, shin muscles ouch!! and I think I have a whole new muscle in my heel I never knew about. Walking has become a whole new adventure for me, I love it and yep I can feel it!! We started off mellow and started to progress in speed and worked are way up to 3 miles. The last mile they timed us and I came in at 16 minutes, not to bad for the 1st day.
I can't wait till my next training which is Tuesday.