Can't Stop My Music!

This morning the training group took off on what our trainer considered a "brisk" jog in the neighborhood surrounding our training facility. As I was running alongside my trainer, I had a hunch that there would be an added twist to today's workout.

About 3/4 mile into the run, my trainer cut through an abandoned lot, jumped down a muddy embankment, trotted around the fringes of a homeless basecamp and began running on the train tracks. I must say it was a first for many, including myself.

Did you know all of those railroad planks have a million rocks packed in between? I certainly did not, and this fact required lots of adjustment during our mile run up the tracks. Keeping pace while avoiding ankle turning rocks and wooden planks is not for the faint of heart.

Fortunately, everyone was saved by a train creeping up the tracks on our return route. Our trainer wove his way back to the streets and into the gym.

Once inside, he made the announcement, "No music for one month. You must learn to motivate yourselves on your own. Can't take the music with you to tryouts!"

The room was silent, of course. No music and no talkback equals silence.

Silence for everyone else, but not for me. I always have music--its' just playing in my head.

How else would I make it through these strenuous training sessions? Amazing Grace, Beyonce, Young Jeezy, This Little Light of Mine, Madonna...I have my karoake machine on high, and my inner voice is always on point.

Well, I hope the other guys can make the transition. It can be a long row to hoe when you have nothing to divert you from the pain of a 30 second resistence cord drill.

As for me, I am ready to go. Put in Shawty Lo cause you can't stop my music!

Certified F. Chaser

Today, my trainer added a few new pieces of training equipment to our track/field workout. I am always curious when he introduces new apparatus to us (which is often) because you just never know how he is going to use it.

Therefore, you can imagine the look on my face when he ushered me to the field with a set of yellow frisbees. He sent one out into the field and told me to chase it. The frisbee caught air and went immediately into several different directions. The drill had several goals. One of these was to keep developing my change of direction response time.

I love fun drills, and the frisbees definitely hit the mark. I hope I get the opportunity to chase them more often John (hint, hint)..

The Pack

Last week, I went to a high school combine. It was entertaining to hear the trainers, parents and other spectators size up the guys in the check-in line and on the field.

One particular guy was standing in the line, and immediately my trainer pegged him as the guy to watch. As predicted, this guy received recognition for his outstanding performance at the event.

How can one guy in line stand out before he even performs?

My trainer described it this morning after our water workout as “something that makes you take notice.” Sometimes it’s that person’s appearance of being in the zone. Other times it’s an athlete’s eagerness to be at the head of the line or to stand out front during the drills. Perhaps, it is the small act of staying engaged in the group conversation with the coach or trainer who is imparting some important advice.

I thought for a long time this morning about that conversation. Although we repeat the proverb “don’t judge a book by its cover, name one person who has the ability to ignore the book jacket. It is right in front of us, and we make initial evaluations of books (and people) based upon them.

Whether its sports, business or relationships, we have the ability to conduct ourselves in a way that pushes us ahead of or further into the pack. These small choices begin to color our book jackets.

Are you satisfied with your book jacket? If not, make sure you are moving forward and doing all of the small things that it takes to stand out.

Even a height-challenged Zacchaeus posted up in a tree to get recognized by Jesus…Sometimes out-of-the box, tree climbing solutions are just the trick!

Connect This Buddy!

Stilettos, Seven jeans and a vintage, Mad t-shirt rounded out my outfit on Saturday night. Things were looking fabulous for my appearance at a house party.

As expected, lots of people from my gym were in attendance. The music was solid. All White Bricks by Gucci Mane and Soldier Boy’s Turn My Swag On received a rotation. The grill was fired up, and there were lots of dominoes to be played.

All of a sudden someone appeared with a Connect Four and placed it on the table. Before I knew it, I was engaged in heated competition with several guys from the gym. The circle of onlookers grew, and the moments were tense. I am pleased to report that I took home the championship title in a few rounds. Unfortunately, I was smashed unknowingly in the final round. Fatality!

I now have a new zeal for the game. If you find yourself in my area with a spare Connect Four, let me know. I am always up for the challenge….

Don’t Be Fooled: It’s The Monster Plantation

“That’s what you get for trying to be first! Tell her Wise.” I was squatting and panting to catch my breath when I heard this comment yelled over the music in the gym today.

I had just finished a nine set, hurdle suicide drill, and struggled to maintain form, speed and track of the hurdles that I had cleared. The result was a slight straddling of the next to last hurdle so I could recall if I needed to stop and go back or if I needed to clear the last hurdle to do the final stretch run.

Amidst the yells of encouragement and scolding from the session leader, I was not expecting to hear what I interpreted to be a you-need-to-stay-in-your-place-(girl) declaration to all of the guys in the session.

The taunting comment added salt to the wound of what I would consider one of my most “confusing” performances. My brain rang the alarm, and all reinforcements came rushing in. “Silence is the best response.” “Leave the gym immediately.” “Dude’s issue with you beating guys on the drills is his problem not yours.” “Apollo Creed AE wouldn’t ever say that.”

All the truth of those statements didn’t immediately stop the stinging. But what did put me back on track was a recollection of stories.

1. The City: Whitney pulled a killer Diane Von Furstenburg outfit for the Jessica Alba cover. Her co-worker Olivia was against the ensemble. However, when it ended up on the cover, Olivia took all of the credit.
2. Story of Dr. Vivien Thomas: He was a pioneer for cardiac surgery, and he was not acknowledged for his discovery until many years later.
3. Slumdog Millionaire: Salim told Jamal to forget about Latika, but time and time again he kept searching.
4. The Alchemist: Santiago was beaten up at the pyramids and told by the robber how stupid he was for treasure hunting.

Although Whitney has not received her just acknowledgement and I am not quite to my goal, the stories of Dr. Vivien Thomas, Jamal and Santiago prove that no one can keep you from your destiny if you stay focused.

It reminds me of a ride at Six Flags called the Monster Plantation. When the ride starts out you enter the house and all these creatures are having fun, and they want you to join along. As your path continues, the lights dim and Billy Bob tells you to turn around. However, the boat continues, the house lights go out and you have to face the monster.

Does the monster eat you? No. You go straight through the mouth and on to an even better party at the end of the ride.

Our journeys are just like that. We are going to come across monsters who choose not to recognize our talents or go out of their way to belittle our attempts to be the best. All we have to do is just keep going, keep looking at the goal and know that we will make it to the big party at the end. Whatever to those Monsters!

Y Did U Do This Arms?

My legs and calves have created a legacy for themselves. What can I say? I am a Sagittarius, and I love to work on my lower body.

However, I recognize my upper body needs to fall in line. Your arms and shoulders help to drive your legs, and in my line of duty, leg driving is a must.

Therefore, push-ups, curls and all that other technical upper body training has been a staple in my workout routine. So how have the results fared? It seems like it depends on the day and the drill.

Today, I found myself in the middle of my last set of pull-ups thinking "Y did u do this arms?" My chin went from above the bar during reps 1-5, to the bar from reps 6-13 and below the bar from reps 14-20.

It was not a pleasing sight to behold and definitely not a pleasing experience for me.

I want to dedicate this post to those who are trying to have some semblance of upper body strength. It's not easy, but one day our arms are going to come through for us...

Dance Dance Revolution!

For the last few weeks, I have been receiving a great deal of flack because I have not made an appearance during the Wednesday night training session. This training session was presented as an auxiliary option for those who want some extra cardio, footwork and hip work.

Don't get me wrong. I am all about extra credit when it comes to my training. However, this was a hip hop dance class. It was a bit concerning to me because there is a great deal of uncertainty when you put my trainer in a dance studio with 60 minutes of music. Are you breakin'? Are you doing backhand springs? It is a toss up with this guy.

The standoff reached a head last week. While I was in the pool preparing for the start of the water training, one of the athletes asked me if I was coming to the class. Everyone came towards me to hear my answer, and it wasn't the answer that they wanted to get. I had other plans. Immediately, I was falsely accused of providing lame excuses.

This Wednesday arrived, and I was determined to prove everyone wrong. I showed up to class. It was packed, and people were shocked to see me there.

The music began blasting out of the speakers. My trainer took his place at the front of the room, and we became those "video background dancers." It was hilarious when I was off beat. It was a hard work out, and as usual my trainer was dramatic. He stopped the third set to clear the mirrors when the fog prevented him from seeing himself.

If you find yourself in the A, swing by The Complex on Northside Drive on Wednesdays at 6:00. You may catch me get some extra hip work in to DJ Khaled's Go Hard...

For your entertainment, I came across a hip hop aerobics video that may spur you to action and give you some new vocabulary.....Enjoy!

Parachutes Are Not For Babies

This morning I found myself in the midst of an intense training session at the track. After our usual round of warm-up drills, we did several sprints. Everything was going really well, and I was pleased with my performance.

Since it was fairly warm outside, we had a couple of additional onlookers, a set of twins. They were being supervised (of course) and were busy engaging in a workout of their own. It included riding tricycles, running shorter distance sprints and climbing up and down small embankment adjacent to the track.

My final drill for the session was closer to the twins play area, but they were out of harms way--or so we thought. As I came to the home stretch of my last 100 meter sprint, my parachute swayed outside of the 8th lane and swooped up one of the twins as he was riding on his tricycle. Imagine the horror!

It happened so fast that when I felt the tug on my waist, this young man was already engulfed in a sea of navy blue nylon. It was a very scary ride, and lots of tears, apologies and first-aid checks were had.

Lesson: Place Ample Distance between innocent bystanders when running with a parachute. It is not for babies!