I must say, most civilians (those not obsessed with track and field) love combined events. They don’t always know what the heptathlon is, nor do they know how to respond after I recite the list of events. But they are always so enthusiastically and genuinely interested in learning more about the training, the mind state, the challenges, and the rewards.
The 100m race, on the other hand, needs no introduction. While chucking a spear or hurdling over obstacles may not be relatable to the average person, arguably everyone with legs has sprinted as fast as they can at some point in their lives, and many people around the world eagerly tune in for the 100m events at major championships.
Ladies and gentlemen, I now join the legions of people in love with the 100m race! I ran my first 100m race (since grade 3 or so) yesterday at the AO National Standards Meet at York University.
My time of 12.03s beats my coach’s and roommate’s predictions of 12.4 and 12.35 respectively (my own coach!!!) and puts me in the top 20 in the country. More importantly, it was a blast!!!! I felt like I was right back in elementary school, racing the boys.
Which reminds me of a story:
My roommates Caro and Amanda and I were doing some shopping at the local grocery store a few weeks ago when a group of 4 or 5 guys stopped us. “You look fast. Are you guys fast??” they asked. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was on the starting line, or rather, behind a crack in the pavement in the grocery store parking lot. My heart was racing and my legs were tingling. Go time.
Needless to say, that night they had the privilege of being beaten by a girl.
I’m looking forward channeling this newfound 100m gal while running the 200m in the heptathlon at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Moncton next week! Hope to see you there!
In Zen archery it’s been said that if you hold the bow correctly, notch and pull back the arrow correctly, and aim correctly, you must hit the target. There is no hope or fear involved. The target becomes something to simply align oneself with along the journey, instead of an all encompassing destination to be reached.
Actor Will Smith said something similar (watch his interview): when asked to build a wall, you don’t think solely about the wall. In fact, beyond planning you don’t think about the wall at all. The task of building a wall is in truth a task of laying every single brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. When you’re finished you’ll have your wall, and it’ll be a glorious wall.
The more I think about this prospect – that a goal merely offers direction and the steps along the way are the true objectives – the more it rings true to me. There is no hope that you will accomplish your goal, or fear that you won’t. If you do every single step to the best of your ability, you will reach your goal.
Have a goal in mind.
Make a creative plan to get there.
Focus 100% on each and every step of the way.
Presto.
Time to jump far and hurdle fast tonight at the Bob Vigars Classic! Come on down to TD Waterhouse Stadium tonight starting at 4pm to see a host of great talent from far and wide competing with qualifying standards in sight…who are intently focusing on every step of the way!
Last week Damian and I had a great time talking to the students and teachers at Springbank Public School in Woodstock. My aunt is a teacher at the school and invited us to speak during Education Week about following your dreams, and our experiences in track and field.
I got goosebumps when I asked the kids to close their eyes and think about their dreams…it’s incredible to think about the potential that lies within each one of us, let alone collectively within a couple hundred children in a single gymnasium, and within the world at large!
As someone who was very set in listening to the music of nature while running, it has been a huge step for me to listen to conventional music during my warm up jog.
Don’t get me wrong, I love music. I grew up playing the piano and later the baritone, and I still regularly hum a tune on my kazoo. I love belting out the hits while in the car, and usually whistle my way down the sidewalk to the track.
But while running I’ve always just preferred the sounds around me, probably in case an otherwise camouflaged animal in the woods snapped a twig or rustled some leaves. Now that I think about it, I would have missed out on some of the coolest experiences I’ve had in the woods had my hearing been distracted. One such experience came as a result of hearing some rustling and crashing approaching me in the underbrush. I stood stock still as two very young deer came bounding toward me through long grasses…coming as close to running into me as possible without actually touching me! However, those experiences could very well have just been happy consequences of not owning a running size personal audio device…
An ipod shuffle changed that! I haven’t gotten into a habit of using it every day, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the times that I have. It is no secret that music is therapeutic (makes me want to finish Dr. Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain On Music that I began a couple of years ago – revealing the processes in the brain that make music so awesome to us!). But listening to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture while warming up was life changing.
1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky
This piece is great for warming up. The music begins so softly that it seems to be settling in as background music for the wind and the birds that are still audible. The music you do hear is all gentle harmonies, calming you as you begin your jog, when your body perhaps doesn’t feel the greatest. Any urge to rip off the headphones, fearing you are missing something while in the alternate world of Tchaikovsky, quickly falls away.
The tune picks up a bit with a few ominous low brass tones accompanying a quivering lone oboe that raises the tension, and perhaps the pace of your jog. The brass clearly have a strong contingent and make a big pompous show of their arrival, taking over the tune (for all of you with band experience – yes, classic brass behaviour!). You take the brass leaving you in a dramatic cliff hanger as the perfect cue to stop jogging (or running, as your pace has evolved into) and catch your breath.
Then come the snare drums and the classic instantly recognizable melody, brought to the forefront of popular culture in recent years by the fascinating movie V for Vendetta. You do some stationary stretches and mobility drills to test the main muscle groups in your body, while the high strings and french horns dance for a while letting you know that all is okay and that you’re not as out of shape as you feel from that “jog”.
Now come the strings’ turn to show off their dexterity. In my mind’s eye I can see the classic video footage of the strings sections in an orchestra, the instrumentalists deep in the zone, bows synchronized in lightning fast, precise movements, with the musicians’ entire bodies working to create each note.
As I start to focus more on my body and the movements I am trying to master throughout the remainder of my warmup, the music takes a back seat in my consciousness. I am only vaguely aware of the low brass’ buildup to the trumpet’s bright fanfare of the classic melody, comfortable in it’s familiarity, and the ensuing conflict portrayed between the brass and the strings. The back and forth squabbling reminds me of a hawk being mobbed by aggressive crows. With the unanswered brass calls at the end of the clash, the hawk appears the victor…although the low, pacing strings suggest the crows are not rolling over yet!
Soon I am on to my faster paced drills. The next slower section of music doesn’t quite fit my activities, and the more aggressive movements prove too much for my bouncing headphones. Hey World, I’m back!
But here’s where the piece of music gets interesting! It turns out the 1812 Overture depicts Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. The recurring brass tune is in fact from La Marsailaisse, the French national anthem, and much of the wind/strings parts take their origins in Russian folk music, with segments from God Save the Tsar.
Just as it appears that the French have taken over Moscow (the brass calls go unanswered, as mentioned above), the Russian people’s prayers are answered and God steps in with a bitter winter with which the French cannot contend (listen for the wind sweeping the landscape and the struggling brass motif). The Russians capture the artillery of the retreating French, and turn the guns on their owners.
Call me an army brat, but now for my absolute favourite part – the big guns. Tchaikovsky literally calls for cannon fire, music to a daughter-of-a-gunner’s ears! I am teleported back to my childhood, sitting in the bleachers facing a big field. The ground starts rumbling and several M109 self propelled howitzers roll past in a noisy line, the tracks clacking over the deep thunder of the engines. They park in a row and on command fire an echoey blast, the last blast they are ever to fire, to signify the retirement of these impressive guns from the Canadian artillery.
The version in the video above uses recorded cannons…if you’d like to hear and see an awesome version with real cannons click here. It is missing the opening chorus, but I, for one, think the cannons make up for it. The guns continue to fire in celebration, and the final minute of the song reverberates with what sounds like one hundred church bells, pealing triumphantly across the land. Sorry Napoleon, not this time.
The bottom line is that this song oozes triumph…and the battle takes place in Moscow, the site of this summer’s World Championships. Looks like this song is going on repeat!
In biology, stress is simply a response to a stressor, or a perceived challenge in the environment. While chronic stress has been known to generate some unhealthy side effects, short term stress is absolutely necessary for survival. The fight or flight stress response in organisms (including us!) facilitates making snap decisions to encourage survival.
Survival isn’t often on my mind, but stress is still integral to everything I do. Track and field, public speaking, riding my longboard down the hill, playing a game on my phone, even cutting a carrot all requires a focused mind and a body prepared for anything.
Without a little bit of adrenaline (or a lot, in the case of the carrot) I am pretty confident I’d screw up. I’d be lethargic out of the starting blocks. I’d miss the opportunity to convey my message to an audience. I’d hit a crack and fly off my longboard. I’d lose the game. Blood would probably be shed.
The key lies in viewing stress in this positive light instead of letting it carry you off downstream. The next time your heart starts pounding, your palms sweat, and your muscles get twitchy, remember that these responses are there to help you perform at your peak! Your body has recognized a challenge in your environment and is reacting so that you may rise to meet it head on. Take advantage of your heightened state of awareness and go to battle!
As long as we cope with stress in a confident manner, we can use it to reach new heights.
Cue the stress response!
This post was inspired by an article about public speaking published by the University of Rochester. Check it out here!
