As all of you know, I made a guest appearance on the track 3 weeks ago and it went very well. So well that I have been talking with some of the people at Athletics Ireland (Irish Track & Field Federation) about making a mini come back. Yes, we (as in Ireland) are going to try and get a women’s 4 x 400m relay team qualified for the Olympics. And since I had a very encouraging first race back after 2 little years of retirement and 2 even little'er weeks of training, I said “Yes” to extending my guest appearance and running as part of the team to see if we can get ourselves qualified for Beijing.So in a effort to get myself back in sprinting shape, Husband, who use to be my coach, and I sat down and put a together a training plan and I’ve been training hard to get my speed and power, which has been dormant for 2 years, back.
It’s been rough going I have to say. The step back into all the hard training has been intense and growling. I get my ass handed to me (means the same as “ass kicked”) on a weekly basis. I’m trying to get my muscle power; lactic tolerance and sprinting abilities back up to par. So that means plenty of sessions that have me pushing through my pain barriers and plenty more where I do the painful rolling on the track. It’s been quite the shock to the system; I have to, really, have to say.
But just to see where we’re at with our training plan, I decided to jump into another race.
And even though its not easy to share, cos no-one likes to talk about the bad stuff, so let me just cut to the chase. This one did not go well. It was slower than my first race. I was slightly pissed and frustrated. How could this happen? I had 2 weeks training before my first race and ran fast. I had another 3 weeks training before this one and ran slower. What the eff? An emergency call to Husband, who is in Doha, Qatar right now, to ask the “What the eff?” question was needed.
He quickly switched from Husband mode to Coach mode to help give me some perspective. Apparently my body is in an adaptation phase. It’s trying to get use to intense training and some muscle beat down again and as a result, it’s going to take a little step back, before it takes a great leap forward towards competition toughness. And since I need a good reason to keep the faith and power on, I believe him.
So there you go. I’ve shared the not so good news. Lets just hope it is in fact VERY temporary.
4 comments:
You are not really talking about the bad stuff unless you post A TIME!!! :)
I have a feeling you will be more than fine...you're as tough as an ox!
Damn girl, don't call me out on the time like that. Was trying to cleverly side-step that old thing.
I'm delighted to hear your decision to prolong your track return. Best of luck with the training and I hope you are successful in your Olympic quest with the relay team.
P.S I don't know if you've heard (you probably have) of the 'Project 400' initiative by your male Irish quarter miler counterparts, but it would be a nice idea if they could add their Female counterparts to the initiative so ye could publicise yere efforts to qualify a relay team for the olympics on their website just like they are, and fans could keep track of both the Men's and Women's efforts to qualify simultaneously. Just an idea, although you probably have your fill of blogging already from this site! Here's their website anyway: http://www.project400.net/
Cormac.
Well done Karen.With u and Joanne, Michelle and fiona or Marion there is a good chance. The Europa cup will be a good opportunity. Have followed your career since your European medal year and you always seemed a very honest athlete. Will have my fingers crossed for you all.
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