My Track & Field Training Trip to West Palm
Updated: Feb 21, 2022
'Twas the week before Christmas and... I'm in 80-degree weather!
Before you think that's not impressive: my original home is the tundra of upstate NY and I currently train in Washington D.C.—which isn't too warm in the winter itself.
Sooooo, my Twelve Days of Christmas gifts this year was each day spent in the Palm Beach area of Florida. My trip was actually only 11 days long...but let's just count that purse I bought myself as the 12th gift.
Merry Christmas to me.
I was very excited to get out of the cold for a bit (duh), yet travel is not something I am naturally good at, so I really struggled to get myself into the training trip spirit.
I don't care what anyone says, vacation/travel is stressful.
A break from regularly scheduled programming. Planning for yourself and others. Separation from your normal crew (in my case, I just may be talking about my dog...)
It always freaks me out. However, this training trip was so good for me and I'll tell you why:
Why My Training Trip Was So Good For Me
I got a lot of good things out of this training trip. And I'm not just talking about the warm weather!
Although, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to go to the beach in December.
There are two main reasons why it was really good that I decided to go for it and take this training trip.
1) Speed Training
I got to run fast!
I'm by no means saying you can't run fast in colder weather or that I refused to do any speed workouts until I stepped foot in Florida.
However, it is easier to run fast in the warmth and I definitely practice better in it. So I was really excited to run short, fast reps in the sun and do some speed endurance workouts.
My training for these 10 days was oriented towards getting back into some speedier workouts and ultimately I was able to gain a lot of confidence from them.
While some days rained, the temperature never dropped below like 69 degrees, and I wouldn't have been that lucky at home.
Some Example Speed Workouts I Did On My Training Trip
Two Short Speed days (both Thursdays I was there):
2x3x25m with exercise rest between sets (ab drills, lunges, toe touches, overhead back med ball throws, forward med ball throws)
2x2x50m with walk-back rest between reps,
Speed Endurance Workout day
2x300m all-out speed with full rest between
2x150m all-out speed with walk-back rest between
This workout burns!
My takeaways: don't underestimate how strong you are and try to go all out from the beginning!
I tend to freak out by overthinking it and regret holding back earlier on.
2) Reflection On Training And Life
Alone time!
It's my least favorite thing ever.
Perhaps this is why my bond to my fur baby is so important to me—when I'm alone, I'm never really alone.
However, this trip forced me into a bit of alone time and for once I'm actually grateful for it.
Competition season is approaching quickly and in my first meet, I'm going to run an event I've never attempted before.
Lots of thoughts are in my head and with my normal busy days, I do a really good job of ignoring them.
Since I work remotely, I still kept up with things while on my trip. But most days left a decent amount of time for other stuff.
I visited the beach
Met up with an old friend
Did a lot of driving (everything was really spread out)
And still had more time to myself than I normally do.
Not worrying about rushing home to walk the dog or working out on a team's schedule resulted in more reflection after hard workouts.
While I took this trip to prepare physically, it did wonders for my mental state—which is just as, if not more, important as we head into the season.
Three weeks out from my first race means that I need to keep up with physical training, but also evaluate where my goals are and remember to stay confident.
My Training Trip To West Palm
I had to keep this post brief, as I'm in the airport on the way home.
But I wanted to check in for myself and really think about these great blessings that being a professional runner have given me.
Thank you to my team and Under Armour running for making this possible! Plus the large group of people who helped me navigate Florida. It was such a joy.
Back to the cold.
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