A Rant, A Rave and We Are Athletes Racing Team

TGIF!!!  

My week started on a our note but by Thursday everything was looking great!  I am excited that a new month is here that will be filled with new opportunities and adventures.  I kind of lost sight of my June goals but I am ready to start July with a clean slate and many new goals which I will post about on Monday.

I am so ready to start the weekend but first let’s go back to the beginning of the week which just did not start out that great.  Monday I just wasn’t feeling myself and my day started with me getting stuck in my car for a good 40 minutes during a major thunderstorm.  I was on my way to my second patient of the day when the storm started and by the time I got to the parking lot near the apartment building I needed to go to it was raining and lightening so bad I couldn’t get out of my car to get to the pt’s apartment.  I ended up holing up in my back seat of my car and doing paperwork until the lightening let up enough and I felt safe to make a run for the pt’s apartment.  Well I ran and my whole lower body was soaked completely and my sneakers had a puddle in them which made the rest of my day very uncompfortable.

Rain drenched and all I survived Monday but Tuesday didn’t start out much better.  During the course of my visits I was blatantly insulted by someone which just ruined my day.  Details aside this was just a remark that really upset me because I felt it was highly inappropriate to speak to someone the way I was spoken to especially considering I was providing a service during the time of the insult.  I am not sure why I got so upset (hormones) but the remark made me both sad and angry that some people speak without regard to other people’s feelings.

I find as I go through life that some people just have no filter and they say exactly what comes to their mind without regards to anyone but themselves and they don’t seem to care if they hurt someone in the process.  I am all for being honest but to blatantly insult or be hurtful to someone is just plain wrong.  We all need to be more considerate of others and to think before we speak because our words and actions can be potentially devastating to someone.

While I am on the subject another annoyance of mine is all the people that cannot be happy for others and celebrate their successes and opportunities.  It does not help you or anyone else to be hurtful or negative toward someone that has accomplished something just because you are jealous of that person’s accomplishment or success. I find it very sad that there are people in this world that feel they need to bring other people down to make themselves feel better, this is a very sad way to live life.  We should all celebrate each other and if you are feeling jealous by someone’s opportunity or success instead of bringing them down let that motivate you to get out and do something to make yourself successful!

Sorry, now that my rant is over I want to tell you a little about Tuesday night which actually lifted my spirits and turned my whole week around, for the better!!!

If you read my blog you may have noticed this logo in my Wordless Wednesday post this week and was wondering what in the world it meant.  We Are Athletes is a local racing team that meets every Tuesday and is coached by Frederick Benlein who is the only USATF level 3 Endurance Coach in the NY Metro area!!!  This racing team is open to all no matter what level you are currently at with your running and meets every Tuesday night, if you live on Long Island you should check it out.

I have been wanting to check out this team since I met Fred at the Long Island Marathon expo in May.  I spoke to Fred for about 10 minutes at the expo and I was intrigued by his knowledge of biomechanics and the prospect of practicing with him as well as other runners.  Unfortunately the weather had been else than cooperative by raining almost every Tuesday night and I didn’t want my first time going to be in the rain.

The weather was looking promising this past Tuesday night so I had checked out their web site that morning, got directions and liked their Facebook page.  I recruited my friend Crystal and we headed to Farmingdale Tuesday night for what turned out to be an awesome workout!

We arrived at the track (no pics because I forgot my camera 😥  )  and saw some people from the team setting up.   I immediately introduced myself and to my surprise everyone seemed to know who I was already which was strange.  Abby, who was our “welcoming committee”  told us what to expect during the next 2 hours and then she said,  “Oh, you are Toni, the one who liked our Facebook page.”  This same sentence seemed to follow me throughout the night as I was meeting new people from the team.  What had actually occurred was that the president of the group saw my like and sent out a mass email asking if anyone new this Toni Church, then someone actually googled me (I got the alert) and they found my blog and Facebook page!  You have got to love social media!!!

The workout starts out with about 45 minutes to an hour of drills which to me resembled more of a bootcamp rather than a racing club but each and every exercise that they do is to help improve your running.  My friend Crystal and I took it easy but I couldn’t help but ask if they actually expected us to run after doing all these drills and of course the answer was yes!!  I knew it was going to be a long night!

After the drills Coach Fred arrived and we started on our 400s around the track.  He split us up into to groups: newbies and  everyone else. The newbies only did 400 x 1 while everyone else did 400 x2 and while they were running we were learning about running form and biomechanics.  My first lap around the track was 95 seconds but when I got back Coach Fred immediately said we have to work on my form which was exactly why I was there!!

After learning about improved form my second lap was 151 seconds……much slower but I definitely felt the difference for the better.  We repeated the 400 a couple of more times including a lap where we ran slow, medium then fast to get a feel for our form at different speeds.   On the last lap Coach Fred instructed us on how to use our arms along with our legs to propel us forward and he said he could almost guarantee this would be our fastest lap around the track.  I ran this lap in 92 seconds which was my fastest time and everyone else also ran their fastest time too!!

After the track workout we then went on to some strength movements like lunges, planks, up and downs and reverse planks.  We repeated this routine 4 times and if you think that was the end of the night you would be wrong!  Last up was strides on the football field which was basically sprinting to the 50 yard line and then walking back to the beginning on your toes, heels, or the sides of your feet and we repeated this I think about 12 times.  After the strides the workout was finally over and I can tell you that I was high off of this experience.

This was an enlightening experience that helped me really understand what improved form can do for my running!!!  I spoke with Coach Fred for about 40 minutes after the end of the workout about marathon training, running form and his background.  I could have stayed and talked to him all night but unfortunately the mosquitoes were biting and my friend Crystal was getting antsy so we said goodnight then headed home.

The rest of my week was pretty uneventful and I have been pretty sore since the track workout so I haven’t run since Tuesday.  I was planning to run today but between the heat and the soreness I think I will actually rest today.

Saturday I am hosting a big BBQ for all my friends and family and Sunday I am supposed to run the Queens 10K.  When I supposed to I am hoping I can have fun at my BBQ and still be able to get up at 5:30 am to get to the race on time……..

I will be posting the winner’s to my virtual run on Monday and the results post will be up by the end of next week.  I will also be adding all the pictures to my Facebook album which will hopefully be complete by Monday!!!!   I want to thank everyone for participating and also for your patience!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!