hoo boy, what have I done?
I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. I'll be training tomorrow night with the Mcgill Triathalon club at the track tomorrow night. I'm defnitely going to have my ass handed to me on a silver platter as I watch young 20 years old whiz by me while I'm gasping for air. If that wasn't bad enough, they are training for a shorter distance so there is no way I'll be able to match their intensity.
I just need to prove to myself I still have it before next week. One week from tomorrow, things change. I look at myself and realise that I'm no longer young. I don't know how much longer I have it in me to go as hard as I have. It's scary when you look in the mirroir and all that you see is just the memory of who you once were as opposed to the future.
It's sad. People want to celebrate with me but I've always seen myself alone. Perhaps that's the way I'm meant to be. That'll be the only way I survive tomorrow's onslaught of insane drills. Just tune everyone out and run for myself ignoring everyone and everything else. Perhaps that's why I enjoy running. Despite being able to run with company, in the end, you're all alone. At some level that must resonate well with my solitary spirit.
posted by Turtleboy @ 8:48 PM
2 Comments:
How did it go?
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would turn out to be. In melomdramtic fashion, I thought I would be surrounded by a group of kids who would whiz by me in a flash. Trying to keep up with them, I'd pictured myself tripping and crashing to the ground. If that didn't hurt, what would crush me would be these young kids coming to my aid and saying, "Are you alright sir?" Do I look like a, "sir" to you?
The last time I trained there was two years earlier. Daichi invited me there. My memories from that session were of heavy fatigue. Then again, I was heavier then.
I found myself in good company as not all the members were young kids as I imagined them to be. I was part of a small asian group of guys who oddly enough looked like me and laughed heartedly when shared with them my paranoid concerns.
It had been at least three months since my last speed workout and I was definitely rusty. I was fortunate that I went to the gym earlier for some drills and a warm up. Good grief, yes I trained for a training session.
There were many people at the track. Apparently Denis' group ran prior to the tri group. It would have been interesting to see what drills they perform. As for the tri group. Drills that sounded like letters of the alphabet were on the menu. A's, C's, lunges. and accelerations. It's a 200m track so we would practise drills on half the track and run the other.
Speedwork was fun. I remember running faster yesterday was less difficulty than I did my during my previous visit 2 years earlier. That satisfaction was my source of encouragement for the evening as I was surrounded my faster runners. I knew the deck was stacked against me. Firstly they are younger and secondly the distance that they have been training for all season is shorter, so there was no way that I would be able to match their intensity.
It was fun chilin' with the guys. Labelled the MAA namby pamby kid, being ribbed by them was fun. They were trying to imagine wha the MAA is like, I just told them, picture the this locker room with a fresh coat of paint. Daichi interrupted and retorted, "yeah right... The lockers are wooden for crying out loud." To which I quipped to everyonoe. "okay okay, picture this place with a fresh coat of wooden paint.." Echoes of laughter filled the squalid industrial locker room.
Mind you Mr Namby Pampy was able to keep up with the asian boys. I was able to keep up with them (that basically means that they were just as slow as I) for the majority of the session. This was protracted session as it was open house at McGill this week. What was funny was that Simon (the sub run coach as Richard was away) told us to run on a level 8 intensity. However did we listen? Oh no... Everything turned out to be a mad dash to the finish. It felt great! Just feeding off the intensity of the others. Gosh, it felt great to be young again. Mind you, the aches and pains I felt this morning needed attention.
What I found disappointing about the training session was the cooldown session. There wasn't any specific regiment of stretches that was followed. People just peformed whatever strectches they felt like. With Dorys, we would spend at least 10-15min peforming a series of specific dynamic and static stretches with an order and duration. For a triathalon club, I found it bemusing that for a group that trains so hard that they would not be more structured. Okay, that's just Mr Nampy Pampy speaking. I guess in my old age, stretching plays a more significant role in my training than it does for the young, "whipper snappers" out there.
I woke up stiff this morning. I didn't stretch for as long as I needed as everyone was breaking for the evening. I spent a good half hour at the gym this morning stretching. My aches and pains melted away and I feel ready and pumped for another run session. Okay. maybe tomorrow. Today is rebuilding today. Weights and stretch class.
In summary. I am satisfied with my performance. Naturally many of the runners whizzed by me but I was content to frame myself from the perspective of not having performed any speed work in over 3 months, just coming off an injury and training for a different distance. Best part of it all was I was never referred to as, "sir" just Namby Pamby :)
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