racing | Day With KT

I decided to do another burpee for my 44 today. I tried a new one – a burpee jack. Jump back to plank but jack your feet out as you do your push-up. Jump in and do a standing jack. Repeat x 44.

This was a great move for really getting my heart rate going!!!

I followed the burpees up with 100 jumping lunges for the February challenge with Taylor.

Then I did a 10-minute Solution DVD – Kickbox Bootcamp. I know that I haven’t been doing Michelle Bridges every day – it just works better for me to do it a few times a week!

I don’t race much anymore for a couple of reasons.

I have trained for a few marathons and every single time I ended up with a DNS because of a stress fracture.

The 2nd reason I don’t race much anymore is more because of the changes that have taken place in the past 20+ years since the time when I did race a lot.

During grad school and for a couple of years after, I raced all the time – mostly 10Ks but I did other distances, too. The longest was a half marathon.

I used to pick a race almost every week and just go run on the weekend. There was no true training, no taper, no fuel plan – just me and my running shoes!!

If you won (sometimes just 1st place, sometimes top 3) overall male or female you got a medal –

The top finishers in age groups usually got a ribbon –

I have a box of medals and ribbons from those days but that was never why I raced. I just did it because I loved competing and pushing myself to go faster each race.

I think we usually got a T-shirt as part of our entry fee – just a basic T (usually they were men’s – ugh).

The good news – I think that $20 was the most I ever paid for a race. Most of them were only $10-$15!!!

Now, I don’t think any race is under $30 and most are MUCH more!!

Truthfully, I enjoyed the act of racing and didn’t need any swag or even a medal at the end.

It has been interesting to watch the evolution of racing from what it was 20ish years ago to what it has become. Racing is very expensive and all finishers get an award.

I would still prefer to have races be relatively inexpensive and not receive a bunch of stuff just for signing up. And, I don’t need a medal just for running. (Don’t hate me – it’s just my personal thoughts!!)

I think I mentioned that Hunter wants to run a half marathon this spring since he is turning 13 in April. I’m all for him running (of course) but I asked him if he wants to just train and run the distance or run a race.

He wants to run a race so he gets a medal –

We are going to do a race because this is his thing but I don’t totally get the idea of running for a medal as opposed to just running to run. (BTW – I know that I’m in the minority and I’m not trying to stir anything up because this is just my personal running opinion and I’m not trying to judge anyone – just sharing my thoughts on racing.)

Why do you run?
Would your run a race if you knew that only the top finishers would get an award?

Happy Monday!!

Kim

Thanks to Nellie (Brooklyn Active Mama) for another great Thursday 44. Today I did arabesque raises (single leg airplanes!).

I started with my left leg as the balancing leg –

From the start position, I hinged forward and lifted my arms to the sides.

I tried to make the moves very slow and not just fall out of the position. (some times weren’t as successful as others!) After completing 44 with my left leg as the supporting leg, I switched sides.

I decided not to use weights for the second set. Even though I just used 5 pound DBs, I knew that if I tried to do 44 more with them, my form would really suffer.

This was a fun move – balance, core, control, hamstrings, butt, lats – all kinds of work being done!!!

Today we did the 100s Bootcamp. The goal is to do 100 reps of 10 different moves – we did 90 today which is an improvement from the 80 we did last time we did this workout!!! I told the ladies – next time we will get 100!!! (time constraint is part of the problem)

OK – so maybe I’m not talking about horses – but, anyone who runs knows – NOT ALL RUNS ARE GREAT!!! And – NOT EVERY RACE WILL BE YOUR BEST RACE!!!

Hunter learned that lesson the hard way on Tuesday. His final cross country meet of the season and he went in with high expectations of himself. Their coach had them doing sprints for 15 minutes before the race (and it was 90 degrees) – not sure why they did so many but….

The gun went off and Hunter took off – he shot straight to the front. He has never tried that strategy and I was worried (with good reason). There was a point a little before the half-way that we could see the runners again and he was still running strong near the front.

I told him to settle in for a couple minutes and then push hard at the end.

I ran down to a spot about 200m from the finish chute so that I could tell him to go for his final kick. When I saw him I could tell that he was done. Usually when I tell him to pick it up and kick in he really increases his speed. Not this time – he had nothing left.

He was so disappointed at the end!!!

I told him that he tried a new strategy and he just needed to work on it – it’s a fine line between going out too fast and hard and being able to finish strong.

He still ran a consistent time for what he has been running this season but not the race he hoped for and he was completely bummed for the night.

It was a good learning experience – I told him that every single runner has races like that and you have to deal with the disappointment and move on.

One of my worst races ever was the Regional track meet my junior year in high school. I was running the 2 mile which I had won in every race all season. I started off in the lead but went out way too hard – in the end I was 3rd (only the top 2 advanced to the State meet). I was crushed because I knew that if I had run a smart race I could have won and qualified for State.

Thankfully, Hunter is 12 and bounces back quickly!!! Now he is looking forward to wrestling, basketball and track – fun stuff ahead!!!

What was your most disappointing experience (racing or otherwise)?

Happy Thursday!!!

Kim

Fitness – Food – Fun