Every breath felt like my deflated lungs collapsed and refused to take in air; the sweat poured to cool my body but it refused to be consoled; when do I get to stop, when do I get to rest? With wide, desperate eyes I looked at the ticking seconds and imagined the final 100 meters stretched out in front of me. I can hear nothing over the noise of my own breathing. And finally it was over. Finally the turn over slowed and my head lowered as I heaved inward to get oxygen. The heart rate monitor read 170. How many more can I ask my body to perform. Twelve were on the schedule but each one was its own journey to hell. Midway through each one I began to fight with my mind. "I can't finish this one. I'm going to slow down. How many more do I have? Ah, I want to cry."
And so it went this morning for the first portion of the workout. The positive take away: Intervals ... finally!!! The negative take away: they were performed on an elliptical machine in a gray, dingy, smelly gym. Do they NOT believe in air?
After I finished with the elliptical, or as it were, after it finished with me, oh, and that little stretch of planks and crunches, I skipped along like a little girl in pigtails (only I had a ponytail) to my waiting bike. Hopped on, clipped in and rolled along to the second portion of the day's workout. Oh this is so fun, but my backpack weighs 50 pounds. I'm a girl, I don't pack light. What can I say.
After I slipped into my Dolfin Ugly suit (note that mine is not ugly, it is the most fabulous combination of blues and purples, kind of like a bruise), I walked the cold pool deck under thick marine layer. Do I really need to warm up for 600 meters after what I just did? Yes, apparently. Oh, my arms were not happy. They thought their work was done for the day, but you see they never listen. They are always shocked when I hit the water and ask them to pull me forward. They think their only job is to swing by my side. It's an ongoing issue. One day they'll figure it out.
So coach, really I have already done my workout today. Maybe this can be sort of a nice slow pace, kind of like a long warm down. Sometimes I think that coach has hidden little horns on his head and a red thin triangle tipped tail tucked away somewhere. You would think that the fact that I'm his wife would have some pull, but it doesn't. As my sorry arms dragged my body through the water at a pace I hoped NOT to have to do, I began listing things in my mind he would soon be deprived of.
Our set was impossible ... literally. How many 200's can I do at base minus 5 without substantial rest. Need I remind him that I already worked out. So here it is. The main set: a merciful 4 x 100 at base +10 followed immediately by 3 x 200 at base -5, a short rest (I emphasize short), then another 3 x 200 at base -5. Then we got another merciful set of 4 x 100 at base +10, but that went directly into a final 400 all out. Well let me just say that I was truly "all out" by then. Then it was off to the deep end for vertical kicking. I don't think I've ever heard so many F bombs dropped in such a short amount of time. One of my lane buddies couldn't control his verbalization. I almost drowned because it is impossible to laugh and keep your head above water at the same time while vertically kicking.
So came the end of my workout. This is what I did to replace what would have been my magical long run but the doc says no running. For two weeks now I have again laid off running because I am finally in the care of a great doctor who is fixing me. With a left leg one inch shifted longer than the right leg, I have been grinding my Achilles tendon against the edge of the sheath through which it should go straight and smooth. For a year I have dealt with an enflammed knee that has been at best questionable. My hips have been torqued and running puts pressure on everything and the natural compensation that occurs has been injury inducing devastation. Sooooo ... the doc said no more running until I get this straightened out. The good news is that my knees are level now, my hips are tracking properly, my knee is significantly better, I have absolutely no more pain in my Achilles even when I squeeze it to death. Doc says I have made rapid progress and I have responded well. I have been running for at least two years, if not more, inefficiently because of these issues and I've fought through to the extent that I could, achieving PR's late in my running career, but the doc assures me that when I return to running, I will finally be running efficiently. I anticipate feeling more freedom in my stride as if a wall has been removed, but we will see. Maybe he'll let me go back to running next week. Maybe not yet, but I will wait for his green light and then nothing's keeping me back after that!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Mileage Club
For the past year I have been coaching PE at the elementary school level. I get to work with Kindergarten through 6th grade, and attempt to remember the names of all 450 students I see each week. Rarely a day goes by that I don't ask myself, "What was I thinking??!!"
The drive to be involved in Physical Education comes from my lifelong passion for athletics, my lifelong involvement with running, and my own observations of childhood obesity and childhood weight/diet related disease. Some years back, when my sons were in elementary school, I worked in their classrooms and spent a lot of time hanging around their school. I noticed way back then how many children seemed to be overweight, and it wasn't long before it came glaringly into the public eye. Thankfully many schools have instituted a more structured PE program to help address the issue, as well as improved upon the types of food they serve during breakfast and lunch.
Priority one for my PE program is to get the kids moving around and to teach them skills that can keep them active all the time. I want them to know and experience how many different activities they have available to them and for them to discover what amazing feats their bodies can accomplish.
Let me just state at this point that getting kids moving and teaching them new skills is much easier said than done. Of course there is always going to be that 15% who love to run, love PE, love to learn, love to try, love to give their all ... but the remaining 85% of elementary school students pose a huge challenge to me in one way or another. Because they often don't take personal ownership of their own fitness and abilities, they decide to walk the lap instead of run, chat with a neighbor instead of focus, defeat themselves with crippling words like, "I can't," choose not to try, not to give their all, they complain incessantly and I am left scratching my head wondering how am I going to make PE matter to them.
To make matters worse, at our school, sometimes my PE class has to compete with breakfast, and when students are given the choice, breakfast usually wins. Because there is not time to fit PE into a school day, in some cases I conduct PE during recess time. For whatever reason, the school offers a "second chance breakfast" during recess and it is available to any student and is free at our school. Mind you, this is the second offering of breakfast for the day and comes only a short time before lunch. Kids who had eaten during the first offering of breakfast (before school) or had eaten before school at home can simply eat again and if they are in my PE class they have to be permitted to leave so they can consume these additional Calories. That means, not only are they not exercising, but they are in most cases eating when they don't need to be.
It is flawed and makes no sense from my perspective and after 6 frustrating months of less than productive recess PE, I made a change in my approach. I started the Mileage Club.
The Mileage Club is basically what it sounds like. It is an optional program, not required, whereby kids accumulate mileage in the form of walking or running laps during recess. The program I use includes gentle incentives in the form of Toe Tokens (a little plastic foot shaped charm). For every 5 miles accomplished, a student is awarded a chain necklace and their first token (they choose the color of their token). Additional tokens are awarded for every 5 miles thereafter. It's nothing fancy but those necklaces have proved to be highly coveted and intangibly valuable.
I thought this club would perhaps help students to take some ownership of their fitness (that's why the fact that it's optional is important) and their recess time and give them a goal on which to focus that might take their mind off of second breakfast. It seems I was right. Our Mileage Club is hugely successful as dozens have already earned their necklace and first toe token, and did so within 2 weeks and a few have already earned their second toe token, and around 80% of the students who have the option to participate, have logged laps.
When a student reaches a 5 mile goal, they are awarded their toe token during their afternoon PE class so that their classmates can celebrate with them and be challenged and motivated to follow their example.
Since beginning the Mileage Club in January, the enthusiasm has continued to increase. When the bell rings to signal recess, I smile when I see a herd of little feet running out to me. Something about the idea that "they don't have to but can if they want to" has the PE haters out on the field doing laps on their own time, and those who won't try or put forth effort during our class are now smiling and asking me to hold their water bottle while they run. Every time they come around for a lap, I punch their foot shaped card with a heart shaped hole puncher, remind them that they are making their heart stronger and that I am proud of them. Thirty laps equal 5 miles and they are so focused on those heart holes, how many they have, how many they need, that they decide to do three more laps instead of heading in to the cafeteria.
And you would not believe how many students are going to participate in our track and field program this Spring. It will be the first for our school and oh how it makes my heart swell when I hear the words, "Coach Cindy, can we run another lap?" What they don't realize but I know is that running can change their life.
The drive to be involved in Physical Education comes from my lifelong passion for athletics, my lifelong involvement with running, and my own observations of childhood obesity and childhood weight/diet related disease. Some years back, when my sons were in elementary school, I worked in their classrooms and spent a lot of time hanging around their school. I noticed way back then how many children seemed to be overweight, and it wasn't long before it came glaringly into the public eye. Thankfully many schools have instituted a more structured PE program to help address the issue, as well as improved upon the types of food they serve during breakfast and lunch.
Priority one for my PE program is to get the kids moving around and to teach them skills that can keep them active all the time. I want them to know and experience how many different activities they have available to them and for them to discover what amazing feats their bodies can accomplish.
Let me just state at this point that getting kids moving and teaching them new skills is much easier said than done. Of course there is always going to be that 15% who love to run, love PE, love to learn, love to try, love to give their all ... but the remaining 85% of elementary school students pose a huge challenge to me in one way or another. Because they often don't take personal ownership of their own fitness and abilities, they decide to walk the lap instead of run, chat with a neighbor instead of focus, defeat themselves with crippling words like, "I can't," choose not to try, not to give their all, they complain incessantly and I am left scratching my head wondering how am I going to make PE matter to them.
To make matters worse, at our school, sometimes my PE class has to compete with breakfast, and when students are given the choice, breakfast usually wins. Because there is not time to fit PE into a school day, in some cases I conduct PE during recess time. For whatever reason, the school offers a "second chance breakfast" during recess and it is available to any student and is free at our school. Mind you, this is the second offering of breakfast for the day and comes only a short time before lunch. Kids who had eaten during the first offering of breakfast (before school) or had eaten before school at home can simply eat again and if they are in my PE class they have to be permitted to leave so they can consume these additional Calories. That means, not only are they not exercising, but they are in most cases eating when they don't need to be.
It is flawed and makes no sense from my perspective and after 6 frustrating months of less than productive recess PE, I made a change in my approach. I started the Mileage Club.
I thought this club would perhaps help students to take some ownership of their fitness (that's why the fact that it's optional is important) and their recess time and give them a goal on which to focus that might take their mind off of second breakfast. It seems I was right. Our Mileage Club is hugely successful as dozens have already earned their necklace and first toe token, and did so within 2 weeks and a few have already earned their second toe token, and around 80% of the students who have the option to participate, have logged laps.
When a student reaches a 5 mile goal, they are awarded their toe token during their afternoon PE class so that their classmates can celebrate with them and be challenged and motivated to follow their example.
Since beginning the Mileage Club in January, the enthusiasm has continued to increase. When the bell rings to signal recess, I smile when I see a herd of little feet running out to me. Something about the idea that "they don't have to but can if they want to" has the PE haters out on the field doing laps on their own time, and those who won't try or put forth effort during our class are now smiling and asking me to hold their water bottle while they run. Every time they come around for a lap, I punch their foot shaped card with a heart shaped hole puncher, remind them that they are making their heart stronger and that I am proud of them. Thirty laps equal 5 miles and they are so focused on those heart holes, how many they have, how many they need, that they decide to do three more laps instead of heading in to the cafeteria.
And you would not believe how many students are going to participate in our track and field program this Spring. It will be the first for our school and oh how it makes my heart swell when I hear the words, "Coach Cindy, can we run another lap?" What they don't realize but I know is that running can change their life.
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