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My summer training modifications

September 8, 2009 02:50 PM | Posted by   Heather Moyse  

Okay, like you, I can’t believe it’s already September! Where did the summer go?

My summers are always fascinating because I’m a bit of a gypsy.

Sometimes I’m not exactly sure where I’m going to end up. This summer, I was in Calgary to train and test with the national team, P.E.I. to be back home with my parents, and Toronto, where I’ve been ‘based’ since starting my masters degree in 2004.

Sleds or cars ... whatever is available!

It means my training has had to vary a bit depending on where I am. For example, part way through the summer, the Ice House opens in Calgary to practice pushing a frame sled. This is a building that has a refrigeration system that allows us to practice the push start of a race with timing eyes to test the 50-metre start. The frame sled can have weights stacked on it to practice with more resistance. When I’m in Calgary, that’s an integral part of my training.

When I’m in Toronto, I use a Prowler – a sled with runners that goes on grass/turf, with the chance to have weights stacked on it for resistance. This also allows for the resistance to be applied with my muscles in the same angles as when I’m pushing the real sled down the track.

When I’m in P.E.I., everything is just a bit different because we don’t have those facilities or equipment. So to get a similar type of resistance training (in the same position that I would be pushing the sled), my program says to push a car! I know I blogged about my car-pushing adventure in the potato warehouse, but this summer my trainer actually scheduled it into my program!

So yes, I have pushed cars this summer. Let me tell you, an Echo is much easier to push than a Malibu! And no, I have not graduated to SUVs!

My brother likes to think he’s contributed to my training. He puts the car into neutral, rolls the windows down and blares Eye of the Tiger for inspiration. He’s very supportive! (In all seriousness, he has occasionally helped with training. For example, he let me pull/drag him down the track as resistance!)

There was also one day when I went to the gym and found that it was closed. It was an upper body day, so again I modified. I did not want to take the easy way out and have a perfect excuse to relax and sit on my couch, so I went to the playground at the school up the street (and Mom followed with the camera). There’s actually a lot more you can do on a playground than I thought. Dips on the parallel bars, horizontal pull-ups on some other bars, and even chin-ups!

Unwanted stress

The volume of training was pretty heavy and I wasn’t doing my sprint training on a traditional supportive surface. I was feeling a bit of pain when I was running and jumping – nothing major – but I decided to have a bone scan to rule out a stress fracture in my left shin. I wanted to know for sure that I was dealing with shin splints. Then the results came back. It wasn’t shin splints. I had a stress reaction – the early stages of a stress fracture.

I had been feeling so good – strong and fast – and then I had to stop running and jumping for about five to six weeks. With all of the rehab that I’ve done and have been doing for my shoulder, this was not what I had wanted to deal with this summer!

On the upside, it was caught extremely early and I didn’t have to stop the lifting part of my training. I also did some speed workout in the pool and the river.

My shin’s feeling great while I’m running now, although it’s followed by some pain later in the evening or the next day – muscular re-adjustments, I’m told. My training has been going well, but I’m a bit nervous for testing next week, as I’ve only just starting doing track workouts again and haven’t yet fully sprinted or put on my spikes.

Oh well, gotta trust the process. I guess we’ll just see how it goes!

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