Pneumatised!

Wednesday, August 17

Today, I went to the do jang. It was a small class for patterns and I got to spend some time practicing my pattern and techniques. I ended up taking the next class which was loads of kicking, bouncing, and hopping again. Nathan and I made plans to meet up after I was done at the do jang so we could go and do some track running.

My hamstrings are a little sore. My shins aren’t that sore now – they were sore for a few days after the trail run on Sunday.

The track running today was specifically to time my run on the 400m and to start to increase my top speed. This should help make the trail runs easier as I won’t be using my top speed. When we got to the track (I’m using Central Technical School’s track), we stretched out a bit and warmed up, then did a lap around the track. It was a bit tiring at first, but we did another run trying to pick up the pace a bit. We did this lap in 1 minute 55 seconds. Next, I did a lap by myself just concentrating on maintaining a decent pace. I finished the lap in 1 minute 48 seconds. Not bad. Not extremely fast, but not a turtle either. Not bad for someone who didn’t like running to begin with. Now, I have a base to work up from. I still need to work on the endurance though because I could feel the fatigue in my body (but still pushed it for the last little bit).

After my lap, Nathan did one fast one by himself. He did well with a time of 1 minute 34 seconds. I’m sure he’ll get better soon enough. I keep saying he’s got runner’s (and cyclist’s) legs because his quads are so huge! Then he did another easy lap by himself. I had enough of a workout and I did what I needed to do tonight (find my top time so far), so I didn’t do another lap. I tried to keep my legs warm though by doing some knee-ups and taekwondo-style bouncing.

Now, here’s the fun part. Assuming I can keep up a pace of 1 minute 48 seconds for 400m, I should be able to do 10k in 45 minutes. Not bad, I could live with that. So this means that if I can pick up the speed for the short 400m making the 1 minute 48 seconds an easy pace for me, the endurance shouldn’t be an issue for the 10k.

So, I’m happy about tonight. I feel good. It’s nice to get air in my lungs and I know the muscle soreness in my hamstrings, quads, and calves will only make them stronger. The other thing that felt good was the wind in my hair while running. It’s a nice feeling. Almost like flying. 🙂 It’s like that feeling going downhill skiing (when I was much younger!) Maybe I’ll learn to love running. Hm… at this point, I’m wondering if my taekwondo training has made running easier.

Tomorrow, I’m going to take it easy. I have gumdo class and I need to practice for the test on Friday. Saturday, I have 3 hours taekwondo training (black belts only). Thinking I should do more track work on Friday night if there’s time and the trail run on Sunday (assuming I’m not too tired from 3 hours of taekwondo training, not sure what the Master has planned for us).

Well, time for lots of R&R.

Cassandrah
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