Sunday 20 May 2012

Oxy Race Recap

Here is a race recap for Oxy High Performance race. 

My legs/body felt really good going into the race and mentally was ready to run.  My energy levels were improving each day, along with my allergies. I still had a bit of congestion but it was much better. I got out well in the first 100m but going into 200m I didn't maintain my position and I got pushed back to the back of the pack. Through 400m I was 52 and felt good, through 600m i was 1:20 and felt good as well. In the last 100m I started to make a move but my body just did not let me go and I ended up running 1:49. I did not go lactic and at the end of the race and felt fine afterwards.  I definitely had some race rust as I did not position myself well or commit to the kick. If I just fix those two things I think i easily could have been in the 1:47 range. Overall i am okay with it. If I fix those two things I feel like I can run a pb. The race did make me more motivated to race again, feels good to get the race rust off. I realize now that I could have kicked in harder.I have to teach my body to get into race shape again. The body will reward you if you push it to a certain level. I didnt push to that level, I went there and backed off. If i where to commit to the kick I think that 1:49 could have been a 1:47 high even though I put myself in bad position for the kick. 

Lots of good things I learnt and good things to come. Overall not a great time but a great building block to build on and for that I am thankful!


Quick turnaround as I am in Phoenix and racing tomorrow night! Hopefully I can learn from my mistakes and run blazing tomorrow!


Night y'all and God bless!




JD

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Upward and Onward

Howdie.

It has been awhile since my last post. As most of you know already, I decided to stay home from going to Payton Jordan at Stanford University. My coach and I decided to stay home to rest and recover from the sinus infection/allergy hiccup I have had the past previous weeks. These current two weeks have been great! I am finally healthy and have done some great 800m specific workouts! I am finally feeling healthy, energetic and mentally ready to go! Seems like it has been forever since I have had no physical aliments and for that I feel very blessed. I am heading to LA on the 16th of May and racing at Oxy High Performance on the 18th. Then I am off to Phoenix on the 19th and racing there on the 21st. Hopefully I can get some good times out there and move forward with my progression and this years season! Ill keep y'all posted..

God bless!




JO.



Tuesday 24 April 2012

Race recap

Well the result in California was definitely not what I was looking for.  I did not realize how much toll my allergies where taking on my body. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was trying to tell myself I was healthy and ready to go but in reality I was not. For the two days before my race I was stuck in my hotel room trying to sleep off my head congestion/pressure/allergies. My symptoms for the last 2 weeks are ear pressure, stuffy nose, red eyes, sore throat and headaches. I thought by going to California my allergies would slowly go away but that was not the case. So when I took the line on Saturday I felt like I was running on 5%  body energy and that definitely showed. I got to 600m and just felt dead. I could not get in oxygen and therefore my body went into oxygen debt way earlier than I should. But all in all there are still some positives to take out of this weekend:
1. First race jitters are out of the way.
2. Mentally Im still confident as my workout results have been the best ever.
3. I can cross off "getting last in a race" of my bucket list.
4. Worst is out of the way after the first race.
5. The Canucks are eliminated.

So even though, right after the race, I wanted to be frustrated I realized that it would only lead to negative feelings when in reality I ran as fast as my body could let me go on that day so I need to be content with that. It is a quick turnaround as this Sunday I am at Stanford to race again. I am doing my best to reboots my immune system and get healthy. Hopefully I'll be healthy to finally get a productive time out!


Over and out,
JD


Thursday 19 April 2012

California State of Mind

On Tuesday night I arrived in LA and on Saturday I will be opening up my season at Mt Sac relays. I spent the last few days getting accustomed to the weather (and the beach) and to get some much needed track work in on a full size 400m track. Obviously due to the snow I was still training on the indoor 200m track in Edmonton.  The race can be seen on Flotrack.org at 12:30 pacific time.

 The last few weeks of training has been good. I finally feel that I am on the upswing of my injuries. I was able to do some much needed over distance work with little to no pain. Some people have asked what does my average week of training looks like so I will give you a brief rundown. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do a morning run (which ranges from 15-30 mins) and then a track session at night.  Tuesday and Thursday consist of a weight session and long run (40-60 min) and then Sat or Sun I do a long run of 60-90 min. Obviously my weeks do not always look like this but it stays close to this format throughout the months of training.

Currently I am struggling with some allergy problems but I am excited for what this season to start on Saturday! I have not raced since August and I am excited to get this race rust off! My strategy going into races is too just go out and have fun. I found that it does no good to stress/worry/doubt as that does nothing but hinder your performance. I can only control what I do and the biggest thing is to run free and to run because you love it!

Oh also a big shout out to Dr. Rick Rana (Chiropractor, acupuncturist and IMS practitioner) and Janice Kalyta  (massage therapist) and to all those who have helped support me! I would not be here if it were not for  y'alls help.

Ill post this weekend on the race. God bless!

Stay classy.

Jaden


Thursday 15 March 2012

Welcome to the Madness

So these last two weeks have been quite a roller coaster. Literally, well almost.


I went from training the best I have all year, as we finally started some 800 specific workouts, to then tweaking my hamstring the next practice. This injury served as a blessing in disguise as I finally got to give my body a break for a few days.  So it was back in the water (water running) for my workouts and long runs. For all those who have never water ran, it just consist of running in the water. For me water running consist of two choices: turn over as fast as you can an stay afloat or drown. (Its quite the motivation to keep going.)  I came back on this Monday feeling recovered and ready to rock a speed workout, thinking I was fully healed, but ended up re injuring my hamstring. I made the mistake of being over zealous and coming back when I wasn't fully healed. So now I am once again in the pool for training. 

Injury is a funny thing. It takes you on a mental roller coaster. You go from thinking your getting better to then thinking your not in a matter of moments. After finally getting over my calf injury from the summer, I was excited to finally be healthy and get in some quality training. But I guess that was not meant to be. I am firm believer of everything happens for a reason so I choose to stay positive. Maybe my body needs some more time to finally get over this injury spell, maybe not?  But its a journey and for every athlete that journey consist of obstacles that must be overcome. The key is too stay positive and focused on the goals ahead. 

So whats next for me? Well I am getting therapy everyday for the next week and continuing to do my workouts and runs in the pool. Hopefully in two, plus or minus a week, I will be back on the track. I know some people have been asking when I my first meet will be?  I was planning on opening up in early April but with this injury that may or may not be pushed back a bit. 

On the positive side, I am currently 13/14 in my March Madness bracket. I love the madness. 


One love. 


God bless!






Saturday 25 February 2012

2011 Review

Hello blogging world, friends, supporters, and family!

With this being my first blog post ever, I will give you a short update on how last season turned out.

Last winter I ran for the University of Alberta and had a great indoor season. I won the 1000m at CIS and was excited for what outdoors was going to bring. I started outdoors well, opening up with a 1:48 and 1:47 in my first two races of the year and then finished 4th again at the Canadian Nationals. After just three events of the year and having good results I was excited to head to the West Coast to hopefully build on my previous success. Unfortunately though at Harry Jerome I got tangled up with a pack of runners and injured  the lateral head of my right gastrocnemius.  At the time I did not think it was that bad but I soon realized that I had torn part of the muscle. After this I came back to Edmonton to try and recover as much as possible as I had qualified from my previous performances to represent Canada at the FISU (World University Games) in Shenzhen, China. Going into FISU I was feeling a lot better but not 100%. I had my best day of training two days prior to my qualifying heat but the day before my race I aggravated my calf again and thus had to run injured. Coming home from China I committed to completely healing my injury and therefore decided to forego the upcoming CIS season. I took two full months which consisted of just rest and therapy. My third month consisted of water running, cross training and weights before finally running again in late November. From then on I have been slowly increasing my mileage and training intensity each week. Lately training has been going well and my calf is 90% healed. I look forward to what this outdoor season has in store as I feel motivated and more fit each week!


Stay tuned for more posts!

One love,

jaden