It has been so much fun being back on the track! Since graduating in 2011 I raced on a track only two times. Now I’m back to what I love – the 3k Steeplechase.

Not anyone can run the 3k Steeple. You have to have guts to run two miles over 35 immovable barriers (5 each lap, one of which includes a 12 foot long water pit). It takes hours of training too… strength training, practicing hurdle form, speed work, stretching, tempo runs, practicing water jumps, intervals, ladders, not to mention still getting in the right amount of mileage… enough said. But it’s totally worth the effort.

To top it off, anything can go wrong in a race like the 3k steeplechase. That’s what happened to me five weeks ago when I sprained my ankle coming off of the first water jump of a race. Let’s just say I was lame for the rest of the ordeal. I should have stepped off the track mid mango but it had been so long since I had been able to run a steeplechase that I wanted to finish.

Well, that experience put me out of order for about two weeks, but it made me smarter. I realized I hadn’t prepared well enough for that race. The big wake-up call came to me when I read one of my former teammates’ articles in Runner’s World magazine that emphasized strength training. Lois Keller was an awesome mentor for me when I came to ISU in 2007. She was a veteran of the steeplechase and I was a naïve freshman hoping to follow in her footsteps. I trusted every piece of advice she gave me and it helped me improve by leaps and bounds. Now, eight years later, I still trust in her advice. Her article helped me realize that strength training was not on the top of my priority list where it should be.

Simply put, it all comes down to the nitty gritty details. When one is striving for success it is easy to plateau if they are only focusing on one or two facets. It’s easy to forget about the little things that improve performance other than just mileage and workouts. So I intensified my strength training efforts, spent more time stretching, and I focused my attention on improving technique over the barriers.

Amazingly, all that hard work has already paid off. I attempted another steeplechase last weekend and – Voila! I was able to cut my splits down by 3 seconds per lap simply because my technique and muscle strength were significantly improved.

Granted, adding in an extra workout each day hasn’t been the easiest adjustment to make. For all those mothers out there (and Happy Mother’s Day by the way) who know what it’s like to keep the house clean, make meals, do laundry, run errands, keep kids happy, etc… you know it’s hard enough just to get a run in, let alone another hour of strength training. But as I’ve mentioned earlier in my blog, don’t give up!!! Because…

 

The best part about all the hard work before each race is the fun time that I can have with my family when the race is over: playing in the steeple pit!!! My kids get so excited to go to track meets now because they get to “play in the water”. If I’ve taken anything away from this experience, it is: make sure there is still fun involved in the hard work.