The beginning of an amazing transformation..

As I sit here in Starbucks with my venti latte, I recall the past year and everything that has happened to me during that time. What I have learned, and where I have grown.  I'm sure most of you can relate, but I've been waiting to come here to write and drink this coffee all day. There is something quite magical about coffee, maybe it's the way the hot liquid streams down your throat and heats up your insides. Or the way it brings an over all sense of calmness to you. Mmmm yes, that would be it. Before I recall the last year, I want to recap the rest of the Florida camp, and go over my major accomplishments that occurred.

The 27th was a nice fun tempo workout on the grass with no shoes. I focused on pelvic neutrality and keeping the shoulders back and relaxed. 2 sets of 10x100m's. 45 seconds rest between each rep and a 100m walk back rest every 5 reps. It was good, a special kind of endurance. It's an interesting feeling being able to ground yourself. Every time your foot touches the grass it's quite lovely. It's as if things just.. work. Neutral grounding. 60 minutes of pool.

The 28th was a nice day off, but we know that a day off isn't really a day off. I decided to do some pool tempo work on my own, just to keep things interesting, and to keep the fat loss continuing.. Copious amounts of butter is still tickling my fancy daily.

The 29th....... Can we just pause here and not continue? This is too grand of a day to even talk about. No words can describe what happened on this day. I woke up to the sun shining and delectable breakfast food tantalizing my nostrils. I don't think I have ever enjoyed breakfast more than I have being on this camp. The sun is to reach a high of 27 Celsius on this day, and I am counting the hours to my allotted training time at the track. The time passes with music and the hype up. You know what I love about the hype up? Nothing else can get in my way. It's me time, I'm prepping my brain to perform, and I'm harvesting all of my feelings about running in to one stock pile of energy. The time comes, YES!   We swapped workouts, wasn't feeling quite up to 250's and 200's... How about some quality speed on your last day in the sun, he asks. YES, YES, easy answer. We worked on starts and proper spinal alignment. What an improvement. After plenty of starts and a lot of speed up to 100m, we decided to do a good piece of quality....

"I want to see what my 150m is."

......I go, I fire out, and boom, it looks beautiful, it feels beautiful. I feel like a goddess attacking the track.

19.23 WINNNNNINNNGGG. Over a second off of my personal best this whole year. Fantastic. This little ball has some speed left in her still! I am excited to see where I can actually get to with quality speed work, and some explosive work. We capped off with a 110m. Great, good way to end the trip, great way to end the day.. Got in to the pool just after 10pm and did a quick 30 minutes of pool time..

So check out the accomplishments of this trip.. 

-Running great speed over the hurdles, with average flight time of 0.32-0.34 (keep in mind with only a 60fps camera on that analysis)

-19.23 150m SB

-I LOST 10 POUNDS IN 10 DAYS. WOW. WOW?!

HA on to the next....

New Year's Eve was a warmup on the grass day.. Can't do too much after flying.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Okay, let's get in to the important conversation here... I hit the track today for my first workout of 2015. The sun was hitting the track perfectly. Despite the fact it was only 1 Celsius, the sun was heating things up just the right amount for me to get some decent speed in. My brain was pretty occupied for this work out. Of course things shut "off" when it's time to go, or do a rep.. But the time in between, not so much. It wasn't a bad thing, a lot of self reflection happened, and I was lucky to recall my entire year.

2014 was a long year.  The last 2 years have been an interesting struggle for me in all aspects. I think I have discovered more about myself during this time, than a good portion of my time on earth. A big time on self discovery, and a lot of lessons. 2014 came quick with a gentle reminder not to trust people so easily. It began this way, and was subtlety reminded before the year came to a close. People can say things all they want, but until their words match their actions, it means nothing. ABSOLUTELY nothing, remember this. It's a little push to keep to yourself a bit more. I'm speaking of different relationships. People you are interested in, and people you want to have in your life as a coach or friend.  Trust yourself on all occasions. Don't second guess yourself, and don't be so keen to give away your friendship so easily. People can mean well, but you need to set heavy structure and boundaries. 2014 brought me renewing friendships, and bringing a few ladies close in to my life. I cherish these relationships so much, and I'm glad I worked hard at getting these people to where they are in my life today. They mean the world to me and I'm grateful for that. Quality, not quantity, my friends. I'm glad I can be there for them..

2014 was a big year on self discovery. Figuring out who I am and what I'm looking for. Of course I still have questions, and I imagine I will always have questions... But things make a lot more sense to me now. Things still get to me, but I'm learning how to exude control of these feelings. My biggest step in the last 7 days was controlling my impulsive eating behaviours.  Do you feel something right now? Give it 20 minutes, do you still want to say the same thing? Do you still want to eat that piece of cake? No. Control your impulses, and give it time. Ask yourself.. What do you really want? Do you want that for the right reasons, or are your feelings trying to control you? This will be my major work for 2015. Every day seems to be showing me ways to exercise this, and even a little "lesson" here or there.

It's truly amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it. YES YOU CAN.

Injuries plagued me in 2014, and many tears of frustration were had. Having patience was the most difficult part, and so much running was filled with tears of pain as well as I tried to fight through achilles tendinopathy. I pulled out of my first race, 200m in to it. I was ready to roll these girls and get a new SB. But it happened, and it was the strangest thing watching people finish the race and knowing exactly where I would've placed and what time I was going to run. That race changed the game, and I became more aware of pain. I started to learn that pain was no longer an acceptable thing to happen to me. Pain wasn't going to get me to the next race, pain was going to keep me OUT of the next race. My time is short, and I'm not about to kill my chances of running ever again (tendinopathy can last for a year if bad enough.) 

I met an amazing person in 2014 that helped me realize my true potential as a person, and as an athlete. He made me realize that there is so much more than just "running." Mechanics are everything. He boosted me and helped me to get where I am today. I don't think I could be getting to my potential without him in my life! Another grateful, and quite random meet up that happened in my life.

So to 2014, thank you for teaching me things. Thank you for showing me that I need to push myself to the limit. Thank you for teaching me to be more careful with my heart. Thank you for bringing my friends closer in to my life, and also my parents.  Thank you for teaching me so much about people. The more people I meet, the clearer I can sense people and their energies. I am working with my intuition still, but it only gets stronger at sensing people.  Thank you 2014 for teaching me about my personality type. Thank you for teaching me that no, you don't have a disorder, you're just a unique individual that needs to self reflect and self improve always. Thank you to my friends for always being there for me, letting me cry on their shoulder this year. Letting me rant to them. Thank you for letting me be close to you!

My words to you to close this lengthy blog write up... Never change who you are for anyone.. Remember what your values are, and stick to them. You're not here to make other people happy.

Thank you 2014.

Love always,

Melissa xoxo

Florida day 7

It's been a fantastic few days. Today being the highlight of the week by far.
http://youtu.be/i0VGcLpMXcM
The hurdle workout video.

Day 5, December 24th was easy tempo.. 10x 100 ' s with 45 seconds rest on the grass.

Day 6, December 25th was a MUCH needed rest day.  That was a hard day in which I struggled to be 100% sugar free. Not even an apple!!! I was quite grumpy when we were having our team Christmas dinner at Golden Corral until to continuously pass the dessert buffet.. The golden fountain of warming chocolate wafting through the air.

Can I have some fruit?
No.

What about?
No.

Kind of pathetic now that I think back on it. I need to internalize the ability to not eat sugar. Everything else is so easy to cut out, it's amazing. Sugar is the baaaaad addiction.

Today is day 7. Today was dun dun dunnnn HURDLE DAY!! I was super ready to go this morning and food energy levels were perfect.  I had my fast pants on. Lululemon wunder under pants in Beachscape, but of course. My focus levels were pretty high, could've used some work, but was acceptable for me today.

We started with some quality speed. I ran these in spikes, first time since June/July in spikes.
10m
20m
30m
30m
A few minutes rest between. It felt good to drive. I proceeded with hurdle drills. Still have that hip tightness, but we have worked out a lot through massage this week. Not to mention the warmth makes a big difference.

Although the weather hasn't been optimal.. No sun. It's still a lovely 17c today.

Off to do endurance hurdles!
6 x 100m hurdles at 110m spacings. So each hurdle will be alternating legs. They were pretty good. I skimmed a few when I started to get tired, but they all turned out pretty nice. On the 6th one I stopped just over half way. Why? Sometimes something doesn't feel right while you are driving.  It's a pretty big brain explosion trying to hurdle and make sure you keep your speed AND push off powerful. If you don't run fast enough and push off hard when you touch down after the hurdle,  you won't make it to the next hurdle.. It's fun also trying to put new hurdling skills in to this. Ha, work in progress! Hard to get rid of the old dog's bad habits!

Hurdle time = brain switch.

The focus comes on and nothing else matters except that hurdle.

Very happy with today, and the weight seems to be just melting off here. I'm doing things right :)  I'm very happy here, and life is fantastic. Always look up, be positive, and achieve your dreams.

I'm currently in the pool for my thermo therapy. Have a good night world.

M

Florida day 2

It's day two in the state of oranges. As I speak I've got my post workout 2 fried eggs in hand... Ice water in the other. You ask how I am typing? That will be a mystery my friends. We have a "hen share" here in Florida. The state doesn't look too kindly on buying eggs from farmers. This is a minor bypass on it, and we were even instructed we could visit our hens at any time!

We bought 6 dozen.

Let's see how long that will last. I myself have all ready polished off 6 eggs alone today. We will be buying more free run, organic eggs soon. Does it make a difference you ask? YES, YES IT DOES. I have learned that very quickly on this trip, some of the differences in your health by choosing poor quality products. Plus, even if it says it is organic, the title can be loosely used. Especially in the USA. I'll have to find a quality farm back home in Vancouver.

Fried eggs like they are going out of styyyylllleeee baby!!! Whole organic butter = amazing.

fat = AMAZING

I can't believe I'm allowed butter. Copious amounts make the fact I can't intake sugar okay.

So, the premise eating this trip:

NO: SUGAR, WHEAT, DAIRY.

Sugar is limited to very little amounts of fruit, usually in our green shake and Mel's killer oatmeal. Yeah ya'll love my recipe, I know. It's been an interesting adventure on this diet, but so far I love it. There is research to back the no wheat diet, this also includes no damn gluten free bread, cut that crap.  Wheat means inflammation. Inflammation = not what a sprinter athlete needs at all.

Sugar= Just bad on all accounts.  I learned that even stevia and sucralose (we all know how I feel about that devil item called "sucralose") aren't good items because it still tastes like sugar, so you will get cravings for sugar. JUST CUT OUT ALL THE CRAP!! You will survive much better without sugar. This will be a long haul, and I may have to slap a few people, but I am doing this. It's another sacrifice I can add on to the list.

If you want to be world class, every day, every single thing you put in your body is affecting you. Time to smarten up.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not home for Christmas dinner? har har.

This morning was a lovely pool tempo workout. My calf is very happy that it had no impact today.  essentially it was 3x 45s pool running with 15s rest. Before hand we did mobility work and I did 10 min of cool down at the end. We just finished intense core and working on pelvic neutrality, that is... Working on proper neutral placement of the hips where as to get the best form out of your sprinting. Bad mechanics = slower sprinter. Will be great to carry these things on to the track.

I'm getting excited about hitting the track tomorrow. The National Training center (NTC) woo! I received workouts from my coach back home, it looks like there are some pretty tough times in there, and i'm not exactly sure how I get some of the times done with 3-4 minutes rest running pyramids at 95% ack. We'll save that near the end of the week. Same with the endurance hurdles.

TOMORROW WE ROLL OUT.

M Dawg

Florida training

It's that lovely time of year where the work load increases. In all manners of the expression: work, training, and of course Christmas "errands." With the hustle and bustle of the daily life, and Christmas being added to this, the anxiety can be over consuming. Saying no to the treats being brought to work is a hard concept to swallow. HA.

The last two months have had a lot of anxiety.  I've switched teams, started working seven days a week, and have brought a lot of new things in to my life. It's not just having one thing, it's having all of them be  cumulative.  With my need for control it makes things a tad bit interesting.

I struggle with anxiety. Okay I said it. I think a little bit differently than your average person. I work constantly at doing my best to control it. Sometimes it slips through.  You need the right people in your life who know how to handle you and this minor issue for it to flow easily.  More work to be done, always of course. 

My point that I was sliding in to.. I am currently in Florida for a training camp with Tyrone's group. I was getting burnt out with the busy schedule I was keeping. I have faith that January will be less stressful, especially coming in to it from this camp.  It's going to be a great trip to learn some new things, and having all the time in the world to do it. 

This camp will encompass great biomechanics, healthy eating, the perfect warm weather for sprint training, and hopefully a safe return from a level 1 calf strain from almost three weeks ago.

The strain put a big hamper in my training, but It's better it happened now and not in March. The last thing I need is to be plagued by another injury. Speaking of which, the achilles have held up tough.. Gerry Ramogida is the best physical therapist! I can't say enough about him and the rest of the Fortius Institute. 

I flew in yesterday, and today was a shake out day with warm up and drills. We are heading into tomorrow with likely some light tempo RAWR.

I'm very happy to be here, and I am slowly unwinding from a very busy December.  This is super good for me.

M out