The real practice started today. For those who were new to cross country, today was literally a test of survival and mental fortitude. For any of those from other sports or were cross country returnees were put against each other on the battlefield.
I wasn't too sure of my condition for today's practice. I had just run two miles that morning because I was feeling depressed and went to volunteer straight after, so I was pretty tired, although the hour nap had definitely helped right before practice. Since Coach Boppell (Sp?) was coming back I was not sure of what kind of work out to expect. If I had to guess it would have most likely been a Hard Del Amo run. To my surprise (and others) we were in for a treat. Rynerson, anyone?
Rynerson. When you go there you know you're in for a speed work out. The course consists of three rings that are connected that look kind of like this OOO, just imagine them connected, now. If you run the perimeter of the course it totals to one mile. So if you run one ring it's about 1/3 of a mile, which is around 530 meters. Two rings? Well, you can probably do the math. I hope.
So, while we're at Rynerson we pretty much know the basic work out. You run the mile as hard as you can, then you run two rings as hard as you can, and last but not least, you run one ring as fast as you can. Sounds pretty easy, right? Not too much. Everyone is organized into groups, or sometimes single file, from fast to fastest. This means that there's usually a faster person behind you. . . trying to catch you. . . and beat you. Some times the gap in between each person is so short that you can basically hear their foot steps and, in some occasions, their breathing, which is very nerve wracking because you know he's right behind you the whole time.
In addition to doing those rings around the park, the run to Rynerson Park is around 2.2 miles. After the work out you're going to have to run back! On the run back I experienced my first leg cramps during a run. I won't lie, I was physically spent. I could barely jog and I felt extremely disoriented. I was basically on what I call a "life support" jog. I was jogging the bare minimum to get myself back to school. Anyway, not even 400 meters into the jog back my calf cramped up. It didn't cramp up fully, but it cramped for a second and then loosened up again. This was definitely not going anywhere good.
The cramp wasn't too bad, but my leg felt pretty weird after that. I continued my jog slowly, carefully assessing my right calf as I strolled along behind the tail of the group. Right before I hit Del Amo I could feel my right Quadriceps beginning to cramp. I was hesitant, but I kept jogging anyway. Once I felt that there was a high possibility it would cramp, I stopped and stretched it. That did not help at all as I continued to jog, but began to walk because the feeling of a possible cramp would not go away.
Once my legs felt better I tested them out and jogged a little. Boom. My calf cramped up, again. I immediately stopped, started rubbing it and stretched it. This definitely was not good at all. One guy offered to stay with me, but I told him to go on ahead. I made a slow, attentive walk up a small, gradual hill after Del Amo Boulevard. As I came over the top of it, I noticed that the closest runner to me was at least 300 meters away from me (That's about one time around a track, if it's a 400 meter track). I rubbed my legs one last time and stretched it before I attempted another jog. I felt pretty good for about a minute into the jog, then my calf ended up cramping again. I was pretty sure I was done for if it had happened three times, so I settled into a walk.
I was hesitant to attempt another jog. There were no other runners near me, so if I had gotten injured I probably wouldn't be able to make it back, or it would have taken awhile for help to arrive. I noticed while I was walking there were a group of guys waiting at Liberty Park. I continue my walk, this time with a little bit more purpose than to just to survive, but to reach them. One of the runners was walking towards me, it was Zachary Summers. He asked if I was "Okay" and I said that I was fine, just that my leg had cramped. I apologized to him and he replied that, "It's okay".
I decided to take a couple sips of water in hopes that it would help with the cramps in my calf and quadriceps (I ended up getting side cramps, but much better than cramps in my calf or quads!) Anyway, as a group we continued our run back to school. The group consisted of five people: Donavan, Zachary, Brandon, other Brandon, and a guy whose name I don't know. I'll probably ask him tomorrow what his name is. From Liberty Park we took a nice easy jog back to school. Luckily, my legs didn't cramp!
This was the first hard practice of the summer. I don't think I've ever hurt so much doing a Rynerson run until today. Overall I think I did very well running to and at Rynerson. The run back to school was horrid, though! This week I will be extra attentive with my body. I will probably ice my legs a few times.
Good job to all cross country runners that ran today! Reward yourself with a nice, big dinner! And maybe for dessert a little treat, like chocolate or some ice cream. I know I treated myself to one doughnut. It was an old-fashion glazed doughnut, yum! Happy running to everyone! ;)
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