Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What KNOT To Do At Track Practice

...more on that in a minute. But first a recap of the last week or so.

Okay. Let's see. Team track playoff last Wednesday went decent. There's four sites with four teams each. You need to win your 'pod' to move on to the final four. Each meet is scored as a dual meet. The girls finished 2nd and the boys had a three way tie as the three of us went 2-1 (and the other 0-3). So, the tiebreaker is total points scored. We ended up 4 points short, so the team part of the track season is over and now the focus is individuals going to the district meet and (hopefully) the state meet.

Our meet Friday night was nice. We split our team and I went with the group to Pine Richland (where they have a GREAT coach's spread up in the press box - yum!). The weather was decent unlike the deluge we had last year. Saturday morning back at West Mifflin (again) was a whole different story. I've never been at such a windy meet. The weather channel had steady winds in the upper-teens/lower 20's with gusts into the 30's and 40's!!! I was knocked off balance a couple of times when I wasn't paying attention. In spite of this, a decent day for the jumpers.

Tuesday back to West Mifflin (again) for the district qualifier. The top 8 join 16 others from the two qualifiers next Thursday for district (WPIAL) bragging rights and a chance to go to the state meet. It was a nasty day. 50's and rain. I devised a multi-layered system of long-sleeve shirts, jackets, hoodies, and more jackets....and it worked pretty well. Things went well for the jumpers. On the boys's side, one guy qualified in the LJ and another in the TJ. On the girls' side, one girl qualified for the LJ and TJ, another snuck in as #8 TJ by 1/4", and a HJ made it.

Okay, so back to the "knot." In our preparations for the qualifier, a couple of the senior girls were harassing me about how I needed to do a long and triple jump at practice before they graduate (the same requests that I managed to avoid last year). Knowing that my quick-fire muscles have long left me, I still gave them an incentive of "if you make it to WPIAL's, I'll do a long jump and/or triple jump." I was pretty sure at least one of the girls would make it, but figured this would put a little carrot out there to provide entertainment.

Today was the day. I warmed up (a little), did a few run-throughs and pop-ups, and then it was time. First jump was okay, but I needed to get in a second one for the multiple qualifiers. On number two, my approach down the runway was feeling great, I hit the board right on, lifted into the air and WHAMO! Yes, the same feeling as back on Philly Marathon day back in November came back again. I think I caught it before it was too bad, but it's still a little sore tonight. Lesson taken away. No more athletic endeavors that involve fast-twitch muscles!!

Before today's debacle at the sand pit, the training's been going well. Between Sat-Sun-Mon, I racked up 33 miles and felt good. Next race is a 5k on Memorial Day, so hopefully all is well with Mr. Hammy between now and then.

In the sports world, Pirates are floundering (after a nice sweep of the Cubs) and it doesn't look good for the Pens in game 7.

2 comments:

Steve said...

I was so hoping for a Chicago/Pitt final. DANG!!

I think the Pirates would be much better if they stop losing games 100-0. They need to stop that. :)

hope the hammy is better, and you can start training again quickly.

Beth said...

Heal hammy heal! Your hammies don't like you very much. Mine don't like me either. Perhaps they've been talking... ;)