My right Achilles was acting up yesterday. I surmised that it was from the hurdles workout last Thursday or from wearing leather shoes all week long. I felt crappy during warm-up. I wanted to err at the side caution and simply go home. I can ill-afford another injury.
But lo and behold, the pain disappeared once I wore my spikes! During my hurdling warm-up, the pain was totally gone. My weekend Rizal workout was saved.
Rizal was almost devoid of people. The pole vault guys were competing in the Filipino-Chinese meet in Ultra, so I was left training alone. I must admit that it was an eerie feeling, having the stadium all to myself. In the middle of my hurdles workout, a few training pool members and a national team decathlete hung around the 1st hurdle mark, to kill time before their training.
I’m not used being around real track and field athletes anymore since I train around fitness enthusiasts and recreational runners most of the times! I was quite dazed and distracted by the national team guys. After all, they are much better athletes than gym buffs and joggers! Since a couple of those guys also do the hurdles, the pressure to perform well naturally built up.
I shrugged off those irrational emotions and buried the my inferiority complex underneath a new-found confidence in myself. I told myself that hell, I was once one of the top hurdlers in the Philippines. It’s just right to walk with some swagger. Putting my game face on, I had my best hurdle workout to date.
I was satisfied with my starts since I didn’t slow down before the first hurdle. Again, I had some difficulty transitioning from hurdle clearance to sprinting. More importantly, I’ve found my hurdling rhythm albeit a considerably crude version of it. It was a decent effort altogether.
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