The day finally came! I raced my first OCR race ever. And it was not so bad as I thought it would be. Have no clue about my time. I forgot to wear a Polar watch and I was under the assumption there was a time registration. But not ☹ We left in a hurry that Saturday morning. It is more than a 2 hour drive and ofcourse I needed to incorporated some road-pee-time. After parking the car at the Strong Viking event terrain, we could already hear the death screams from the Fjord Drop. One of the secret reasons I’m going for the 7k. . . Racing I was still not nervous, not even at the start. But I noticed straight away, this is a two-persons game. I’ve consciously choosen to go alone, as I don’t want to hold anyone back. Even after some training, I am a very slow runner. The first high wall at the start, was very high . . . no chance for me to go over that without a hand. Ofcourse everybody is very helpful, but the whole idea was actually do to everything by myself. Well that idea I left at the Start.
Here my lack of technique is definitely showing. Within perfect circumstances it all goes perfect, but when tired and muddy, it’s a different story and at the end technique is what counts. Luckely the snake and monkeybars went well. My guy was cheering me on from the side line and filming bits of my race. Which was very confronting, as I truly felt I was giving it my all, for as far thats possible with no reward at the end. But watching back the video’s, I saw a completely different energy going on. I already knew, it would not be my next life goal, but a little bit more spice would have been nice. But I did participated and I did finish with all my limbs on my body. Oke so we can establish I would never be the OCR queen, but the whole training sure brought me something.
Looking back The race wasn’t that tough as I expeted it to be, but it did made me muddy and moody. But after a thorough shouwer and some homemade food, I was brand new again. The next day my guy would race the OCR series, so we had to get up the next day at 6am! What a cool race! He did amazing 😊 At this moment I look forward to join my other sports again and to invest more time in my Pilates education. The only thing what keeps running through my mind is, I didn’t feel that euphoric sensation of accomplishment when I walked up the Walhalla steps. And I didn’t feel one painful thing in my body the next days, besides a blister. Not one little muscle was aching! It makes me wonder if I even pushed myself . . . So maybe I should do a rematch next year and go for the 13k. What do you think?
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As running is my devil, I tried (and that took some time) to make it more acceptable. So I tried a trailrun instead of the city streets. And guess what, that helped enormously! I’m even planning my next run. Also because I don’t want to lose this gained stamina and process. So who knows, a new hobby has born. Sometimes trying it in a different way can help. Race prep So Saterday I’m going to actually race! Luckely in the afternoon so I have time to have a proper morning and get myself ready and awake. In the morning I will have my regular breakfast with coffee. As it’s a 2-3 hour drive to the race terrein, I will have “lunch” in the car. It will contain white bread with probably some hummus and a smoothie. This smoothies will have all the ingredients to help me over the obstacles :). Next to that, I need to be keen on drinking enough water during the day. For some reason I hardly ever am thirsty, so it’s kinda important to make sure I have a water bottle with me the whole day leading up to the race. My only worry is I need to stop along the road a couple of times to pie. But Maybe I should do that anyway as the so called “toilets” at the Strong Viking terrain is truly horrible! At the start I hopefully have an empty bladder, tied shoes, boosting energy and some sense of fun. I going to start slowly and trying not to get pulled into a madrace by all those sprinters. Running off too fast will just cost to much energy straight away. And I just don’t have that stamina. I also discovered that after 5k I’m starting to feel a flow coming and even a certain spark of fun. Maybe it’s because at that point I can sense the finishline. However, finishing with a great time will not be my aim anyway, as it’s just not realistic. I haven’t been training that well and I know that. So it will be a participation race. But thats fine too right? 😊 Finishing I hope I will finish it within 2 hours. My cliffbar and warm huges from my man will be waiting for me at the end. So running towards that reward! I have no clue how my mental and fysical state will be like after a race. I just hope not too f*cked up, because the next day I need to me chasing my guy when he runs the first race of the OCR series season again! So in a nutshell, a very exciting weekend! And there is just way more to come after this! Last week my weary training forms itself into a fun activity. On a sleepy evening I impulsively agreed to participate in a 10k trail run. I never ever ran 10k’s and as the city girl I am, I never ran in hilly environments before. Besides a bridge maybe. Before the start I was not even scared or nervous. Cap time was 2 hours, so my thoughts, I can even walk and will make that time. Oke I was not fully aware of how many “climbs” were on the trail, but still. I decided to just have fun and enjoy the scenery. I’m not making myself any illusions to even have a chance to set a incredible time. I just need to be able to finish it. Then I will have more convidence in finishing the Strong Viking race. At the start I felt like a outsider, but everyone was truly so nice. Maybe that broke down the last bits of nerves if I even had them. Exactly at 1 pm we all ran into the forrest. I started slow, because hi! We need to run 10K’s! But everyone was in a hurry and one by one runners passed by me, leaving me behind. I was totally alone dangling at the end. But my only worry was not making a wrong turn! And not having to pie. After a steep climb, about 4k’s in, I arrived at the top of a hill and looked over a beautiful valley. I even stopped to make a selfie. Notice I need practice? :/ During the race For some reason I got more comfortable and was just enjoying the run. And well there you go, I even had the first two runners in sight again. They were walking up the hill and who knew, I like running up hill! Not making any speed with it yet or anything, but its so much fun, fighting the hills and be rewarded with hopefully and probably a beautifull view at the top. So there I passed the first two in front of me. After 6k’s I was getting tiered. My feet were hurting and I started to breath heavier. But I was walking in on another person in front of me. Slowly but surely I past her up hill. Around the corner I saw my next prey while we were going down hill and I just let gravity do it’s work. Another person passed! I saw many runners holding back down hill. They were still maintaining the same pace. I don’t know anything about running, but I think it’s easier to just let go if you go downwards. Curious what the idea behind that technique is. (forgot to ask) Finish! At a certain point I was so tiered, my pace decreased majorly. And I was hallucinating the finishline was nearly in sight. I almost wanted to walk when I heard someone say “Just one more Kílometer! Only down hill from here so go full out!” That was my cue. I had a one K "free fall" and opened my last energy tank. With huge steps I past two more folks and heard everyone cheer. Scanning the finishline to find my boyfriend and passed the Finish banner. I may not complaint. I love the warm weather! There is nothing better than summer in the city, but there hasn’t fallen a drop of rain since 4 weeks. And thats more than strange for this country. Everything is dried out, nothing green left. And at this point it’s getting the best of me when it comes to training. The weather makes me lazy and thats not very productive with just 4 weeks to go to the race. Another thing that’s holding me back in training is festival season! The best festivals are now on in Amsterdam and some of them I just cannot skip. So during the week and when the temperature is at a more acceptable level, I’m throwing on my running shoes. OCR This week I had my fourth official OCR work-out and lord it contained a lot of running again. The warming-up already worn me out! We started the warm-up with 3 round of: a 200m run, 15 push ups from a pick position. Then 10 burpees and finishing it off with 10 some kind of weird abdominal worm movements. Anyway, The workout has yet to began at that point and I was already done for the day. Because it contained some much running I decided to go for a scaled version of the WOD. Instead of twice a 800m run, it now comes down to twice a 400m run. WOD it takes We started with the 400m run and with, oh wait! A jerrycan filled with water! Then you had to rush back in for a 360 plank, meaning staying static with the feet and walking the 360 circle with your hands, maintaining the plank position. Just one circle for the scaled version, so that was fine. Followed by 10 burpees, where you have to jump over a plate, instead the air. And when you cannot walk or crawl anymore, you need to run up the ramp and straight after the incline wall. Finishing this part, a jerrycan was waiting for you to be carried for another 400m run. And at that moment you really just want to fall face forward on the concrete floor, you had to climb over the high wall and finishing the whole workout with a monkeybar. Note to self: read the work-out carefully and read it again during the workout. I made a mistake by doing the whole sequence of 360 circle and burpees again before hitting the wall. That cost me a major minute. Secretly I was so pissed I barely made it faster than the other lady, I couldn't care less if my name and time were registered on the WOD bord. Thats why this kind of sport aren't for me. The non existing competition in training is too present for me. And yes, maybe just for me.
So I went that evening. A 7k run in one go and guess what, 10 minutes faster than the last time. Something tells me that in the heat of the moment, I will be alright.
And then it's time for my big small race. I'm kinda holding on to my schedule, but because of the excessive heat during the day, its mostly evening trainings. This monday I kicked off with an OCR training at Toughground. Sadly I didn't win 😞 What WOD? Again, the abbreviations! Can't we just stop that! Anyways, 12 rounds for time (this term also has his own abbrev but I lost that somewhere between round 7 and 8). What we needed to do: - 8 push-ups - Ramp - Incline wall - Rope pulls After 4 rounds I started to feel my arms pumping and my lungs hurting. And I wasn't even half way yet! So I decreased my tempo and just tried to take it obstacle by obstacle. So 27:48 later I finished. . . . 😒 Leave this Shieldmaiden behind. My endurance needs major improvement and at this point I'm not sure if I will be able to improve it within this short periode of time. When I made that commitment to participate in the Strong Viking race, I wisely choose a race far in time. But procrastination is the thief of time. And here I am, 5 weeks before D-day. I know the Viking races for the "normal people" is very open, friendly and everybody is helping each other. With the whole "Leaving no Viking behind" and all. The thing is, I want to try this on my own. See where my mental and fysical limits are and set an amazing terrible time. So no rescuing this lady here. If I fail, just leave this shieldmaiden behind and we will drink beer in Walhalla later. Restdate The following days I felt my arms! They were stiff, I couldn't contract my biceps, couldn't lengthening my arms either. Ah well. Thats done, up to the next. But first scheduling in a restdate, on the couch, with my man. Next time, my anatagonist: lousy stamina, shoulder injury and bad technique will meet again at the battlefield of Toughground. |
Archieven
September 2018
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