Friday, November 30, 2007

"They can come down to me!"

Today was one of those days. If you are a fellow athlete, no further explanation is needed. If I didn't need food to survive I probably wouldn't even move from the exact spot I'm in now for the rest of the day, that's how tired my soul is. Yes, my soul. It's not just my physical body that is hurting, it goes waaaay deeper than that. When I saw my workout for today on the sheet at the beginning of the week, I knew I was in for an unpleasant day come Friday. The last time I did a similar workout, I had half the intervals I had today. But like coach always says, "you're better today then you were last time you did the workout." Yea, whatever. Personally, I prefer to let my body adapt slowly, but he very rarely agrees with me.

As I finished my last 300 of the workout, I immediately dropped to the ground and sprawled out on my back. You could have outlined me in white chalk right then and there because I had the silhouette spot on. Anyone who knows me or has ever practiced with me knows I'm an on the ground kind of person. Always. Some people say you shouldn't do this. Why? Well for starters because it's hard to recover like this. You need to keep moving and keep the blood from pooling and letting the lactic acid build up...yadda, yadda, yadda. But it's also because it might make you look weak and like you're broke down. Well guess what?! I'M BROKE!!! I happen to not care if every single competitor I'll ever race this season sees me in the fetal position after a hard workout, whimpering to myself and crying out to Jesus. I'm a beast when it comes to competition, but practice--I'm more like a cub. So be it.

So as usual, Coach comes over in his entirely too chipper voice and tells me to get up. I usually ignore the first two or three times because it's possible that I've also developed a bit of deafness during this ass-kicking of a workout. I groan and grunt a couple of times, then I open my mouth to actually protest and tell him that I actually can't move just yet because it's just not physically possible. Let me be! He then proceeds to ask me what I plan on doing after the Olympic Finals when they come to interview me after my race. My response: "They can come down to me."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So basically what you're saying is YOU'RE A BRAT?
Great! Tell me something I don't know!
haha

t.v. said...

lol @ brittany...the better looking sister. Well she probably is and many other things, but that's the great thing about her. :)
Bri, you are not afraid to share your weaknesses with us and the way you present it just makes me laugh at times. I know your pain and "BROKE" soul is not funny, but your writing style sure is. I must admit that it would be funny to see the camera man lying down just to get his shot right.. lol.

Brianna said...

I only let her "think" she's the better looking sister because she's pregnant and her hormones make her on edge!

Black Wombmyn Chat said...

Hell, I feel broke sometimes just getting out of the bed. And yes, I do crawl back in when I can!

Very funny post!

Mes Deux Cents said...

Briana,

I just discovered your blog. I'm a huge track fan so this is a great find for me.

I used to run the 400 when I was in high school, I wasn't very good. But I remember those darn work outs. I hated track practice more than anything!

But I will admit that it was really nice to be able to 'run' the last 100 meters of the race in a competition, so all the pain of practice was worth it.

Thanks

melanie said...

aw breeze...i'm sorry, pal. i suppose i can't really relate so well, it's not like i kill myself with vocal workouts or something. my coach won't push me past an hour and a half :o) i hope you know though, that when i get back in the gym this week (i've taken some time off...) i will push myself harder than i want to, and run longer than i think i can, all because i'm inspired by the fortitude of my best friend. love you

Liz Dwyer said...

I LOVE your response! That's right, they can bring the mic down to you!

I've never done the fetal position myself, but I've seen my husband roll into a ball and shiver after some of his hard runs.

I am so amazed by the fact that you know it's coming but you still go ahead and do that tough, painful workout!