May-day!
Mayday! Mayday! 24 days until the combine! The days just keep dwindling down. I've get three weeks to get bigger, faster, stronger, and then a week of recovery. It's not that far away. I was having a conversation with a friend from church two weeks ago about the upcoming tryout. After I explained how the combine worked, she said, "Wow! You're whole life could change on June 18." Her remark wasn't anything special during our conversation, but it really stuck with me. Later that week I started to panic. "My whole life could change! That's crazy! What am I going to be doing in a month? Where will I be? I have no idea what happens if I do well. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here..." This went on for about five minutes, then I finally calmed down and started to think rationally. Making the team is the goal; that's the whole point of all this work. Life will change, yes, but that's part of the deal. I have to say thank you to Hannah for listening and giving me a great new perspective!
I've been meaning to write for a few days now because so much has happened in the last few weeks, but now that I'm here to write, it doesn't seem very exciting. It was just life. I've had some crazy Zoom workouts. I've had two more bungee run workouts since I last posted that video of the kid getting snapped. (Still funny every time I watch it.) Last week I had to run 9 times with those stinking cords attached to my legs. I just kept thinking, "This has to be the last one." And then Vince would hand the bungees back to me, and I'd step down off the treadmill, sling those bungees over my shoulder and prepare for another round. I asked Vince early on in my training at Zoom never to tell me what the workout was unless I asked. I'd rather not know and just do it. I tend to dread workouts and get all worked up if I know what's coming. Once I feel like we're getting close to the end, sometimes I ask. Typically though, I just keep dragging myself up there until Vince says, "Last one." Who knew those two words could bring such great relief? In all my years of sports and endless practices, that has to be one of my favorites phrases. You know that last one is going to be horrible, but it's the last one. Somehow, if you can just survive this last little bit of torture, freedom and relief await you on the other side. Gotta love that feeling. Knowing you survived, you finished a tough workout, and you can go eat without feeling any guilt whatsoever!
I have to include this clip I came across this week. I recently became a Biggest Loser fan, and I'm always impressed with how far the contestants come. They change their entire lives in 5 months. This clip comes from a Season 6, way before I became a fan, but it made me laugh. I want you to pay special attention to what Bob has to say about treadmills.Obviously he wouldn't enjoy coming to Zoom and running at a 45 degree incline! If Bob, the fitness expert, doesn't even like running on an incline...no wonder I don't like it!
Speaking of hard work and finishing that last one... One of my workouts two weeks ago was particularly brutal. By the end, I'm not sure my legs were really coming off the treadmill. I was beat, and I had just one more sprint. I hopped on determined to finish. Let me tell you, it wasn't pretty, but I finished. It was a flat sprint at a speed I typically handle very easily, but my legs just weren't keeping up. My eyes kept getting bigger, and my brain was screaming at my legs to move faster. They just wouldn't comply. Let me paint the picture I was imagining at this point. Legs getting farther and farther out behind me. Falling forward onto the treadmill whizzing around at 15 mph. Major road rash. Just save your face! Arms and legs flailing as I went airborne, shooting off the back of the treadmill. Landing in a sad, bloody heap on the floor, unable to move because my legs just wouldn't listen to my brain. It wasn't a pretty picture, and I'm sure glad it did not become a reality! I felt a lot like George Jetson in this clip. After I got off, I was not feeling so hot, despite my survival. My head was kind of spinning, and I kept telling myself to swallow. I made it this far without puking, I wasn't going to start now.
I've also been working on my lifting. My rowing girls will be proud to know that a few of my callouses are back. Nothing like our rowing hands, but I've had a few bloody blisters here and there. I've been trying to explain to the trainers at Zoom how bad rower hands are. I don't think they'll ever believe me without seeing the pictures. This was taken during one of the first days of spring training. Three-a-days in humidity after a long winter of not rowing in a boat is a horrible combination. You can just feel your skin ripping off, but since there is no stopping in rowing, you just keep going. I remember days of getting back in the boat and having trouble just gripping the oar, let alone pulling for an hour. It was so bad I took plastic gloves on training trips because it hurt so bad to wash my hair. I really don't miss that part. I'll take my lifting callouses, but I don't regret leaving those rowing hands behind.Anyhow, there are 8 categories at the combine, and I've heard you need about 600 points to have a shot at the team. That would be 75 points per category. I need to be able to squat and power clean 155 lb (70kg) to get those 75 points. I am hoping that I can score a little higher in these categories, as a buffer for the running (just in case). This week I lifted after a hard day of running, and I still got some pretty good numbers. I power cleaned right at 70kg and squatted 72.5kg, so I'm on the right track. At the combine, you are only required to do 1 or 2 reps. Thank goodness! I haven't maxed out yet, so I'm not sure how heavy I'll be able to go. At least I know that I'll get at least my 75 points. I hope I make it look as easy as this girl.
I just had to include these guys too. Ridiculous! I'm so glad I'll never even have to think about this much weight on a bar at one time.
Are you kidding me?!?
Moving on from these super-human race of lifters... If you know me, you know I do not, in any way, shape or form, enjoy long distance running. I don't like to watch or participate. It's not that I can't go for an hour run, I just don't find anything about it enjoyable. At all! Well it just so happens that my church hosted a run for charity on May 7th. When they announced the Make-A-Way 10K a month or so ago, my bible study girls sitting around me got excited. They love to run, and were all encouraging each other to sign up. As I was sitting there thinking about supporting such a good cause, they started asking me if I was going to run with them. And as much as I really don't like running, they talked me into it. We were all going to run together. So, the day of the race arrives and guess how many of those girls showed up? Three including myself. Shout out to Hannah and Chennel for following through and finishing the race! So, I am now official. I have the finishers medal to prove it. I ran it in 1:09:33 without any training, so I was pretty proud. I even ran the first three miles without any walking. Needless to say, I was pretty sore the next day, but it was definitely worth it. Despite our small turnout from GLOW, several of the guys from our singles group ran. One of them got second place. Arturo ran it in 34 minutes, and still got beat. That's crazy fast running!
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| Hannah and I with our pre-race happy faces |
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| Brandon, Chennel, and I doing some post race calf stretches |
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| It looked like we were about to take off for another lap.Yeah right |
After the race, I went home to shower, ate at Vinnie's (greatest authentic Italian food around!), and headed off to walk around an arts festival. I encourage you attend the Richardson Art Festival next year if you live anywhere near Dallas. It was amazing what crazy and beautiful art people can create. I took Sunday off, and hit it hard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Zoom. By Wednesday morning I was exhausted. I have absolutely no idea how I did two or three-a-days for five years and went to school. I really have no idea how I survived, especially with the sleep deprivation. After just a few intense days, I was wiped. Wednesday morning I trudged up the stairs to my office, flopped down in my chair, flipped my computer on, and laid my head back. I didn't want to talk to anyone or even have anyone look at me. I just didn't have the energy to muster a conversation. Luckily, I rallied during the day and survived my last Zoom workout of the week. (I just realized this was the day I described above. The day my legs would not cooperate.) It was quite a week! I'm glad I'm back to my regular routine this week. I realized I'm definitely going to have to work my way into intense daily workouts. Apparently my workouts aren't as brutal as John's. Let's just say I won't be giving Apolo Ohno a run for his money anytime soon.