About Hometown Hopefuls Hometown Hopefuls follows Atlanta Track Club Elite Team members Abe Alvarado, Brandon Lasater, Keturah Orji, Yolanda Ngarambe, Jarryd Wallace and Allie Wilson as they continue their journey toward Olympic glory. Be there every step of the way from training camp to the Olympic Trials and to Tokyo with every workout, every split, athlete reflections and coaches' comments too. Six athletes. Six months. Six shots.
Ngarambe reflects on her training period between March 29 - April 11 in this post. To learn more about Ngarambeclick here.
Workouts for the Week: March 29-April 4 Monday:
60 minutes bike/elliptical + lift + hurdle drills
Tuesday:
7 miles easy run + ART/massage with Ena
Went for a run with Janel and felt a little better than easy runs have lately.
Wednesday:
AM: 10 x 400m, start at 77 work down to 66 with 75 second jog
PM: 40 minutes bike
Ran our workout in pouring rain, and it got to the point where my flats got soaked enough for the insole of the shoe to start slipping. It wasn’t a good situation for my body, but I finished the workout. My achilles started hurting a little on the cooldown and by the end of the day it hurt just by walking - so I think something went wrong today.
Thursday:
50 minutes bike + ART/chiro with Donna Sanders
My achilles was still flared up today, so I switched my run to biking instead. Got treatment and taped by Donna and crossing my fingers that I’ll feel better tomorrow.
Friday:
Tried to run...hurt too much, so I went to the gym and did 20 x 1 minute hard/1 minute easy on the bike, a total of 60 minutes with warm up and cool down. My deal with the coaches was that I’d be allowed to race if I could run today, which I couldn’t. Race is cancelled. Sad day :(
Saturday:
Bike workout: 2 x (5-4-3-2-1-30” hard), a total of 60 minutes on the bike + Lift.
Went to watch the home meet from the infield, and saw Allie run 2:00 in the 800, so proud of her <3 Got some work done by Ena who was at the meet.
Sunday:
Bike workout: 8 x 6 minutes with 1 minute easy, a total of 80 minutes on the bike.
I’m starting to become really good at biking, because I almost feel like I blacked out on that one haha. The only thing keeping my spirits up right now is that I’m able to work hard on the bike.
Photo from Miramar Invitational courtesy of Kevin Morris
Commentary and Reflection of the week: March 29-April 4
Things really got stirred up this week. I think I aggravated the achilles on Wednesday by having my stride compromised by my soaked shoes. It was tough to skip the meet on Saturday...something I’d really been looking forward to participating in. I haven’t run an 800 in two years and was excited to get a chance to see what I could do in the event! I still have a race planned for next weekend (Miramar Invitational), so I’m taking all the measures I can right now to feel better for that one.
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: March 29-April 4 We had some heavy rain for Wednesday's workout. Yolanda looked easy, and felt good, but afterward her Achilles flared up a bit. As it turns out, her foot was sliding in her shoe, and this must have been enough movement to irritate the old injury. We had her cross train on Thursday, and it felt better walking around. We tested the Achilles on Friday, and it was still a little sore. It is too early in the season to push something like this. We don’t want a small injury to turn into something big. As a result, we pulled the plug on racing. Instead, we hit some hard cross training workouts on Saturday and Sunday. She will test out the Achilles on Monday. She is in great shape, so hopefully the leg will cooperate for the Miramar race next week. Her teammate kicked some butt in the 800, so that was exciting, as she has been side by side with her all season in workouts.
40 minutes bike + 4 mile run. Ran for the first time since Wednesday, and it actually felt okay! Hurt a little bit in the beginning, but then my achilles loosened up and felt GOOD.
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday:AM: 8 x 200m start at 33 and work down to race pace + Lift. PM: 40 minutes bike. Attempted a short workout to get the legs moving and test the achilles. It warmed up and felt okay for the first few reps, but I over strided in the last rep and tried a bit too hard. It started hurting right after I finished it.
Thursday:60 minutes bike easy + saw Donna for ART work. Achilles hurt today just by walking, so I am back on the bike.
Friday:*TRAVEL* 40 minutes bike easy + dynamic flex/mobility. Achilles is still aggravated, so stayed on the bike instead of doing a pre-meet run.
Saturday: *RACE DAY* 800m: 2:06.66 (8th place). Achilles was still flared up, so I went for a 10 minute walk in the morning instead of doing my normal shake-out. Sticked to my original plan of racing even though my achilles hurt for everything except the actual race. Miramar Invite is a silver label meet, and I didn’t want to miss another race.
Ended up being a tactical race, so after the field settled 200m in, I decided to sprint up to the front of the pack, as there was no space for me anywhere else and I am not sharp enough for a sit and kick race. I think I wasted too much power with my move and ran out of steam around 200m to go. You live and you learn haha, and part of me was haunted by my Texas Relays performance where I jogged for like 800m and didn’t empty the tank. I didn’t want to repeat that, but I think I took it a bit too far - too early today. I promised myself not to hesitate before making moves today, and I definitely kept that promise HAHA. Achilles hurt after so didn’t do a post-race workout, and very short cool-down.
Sunday: OFF (Was supposed to be a 60 minute bike workout but spent 11 hours at the airport with delays)
Commentary and Reflection of the Week: April 5-11
This week was tough mentally for me, not being able to run/running in pain is never fun so there’s no way to sugar coat it. I am trying my best to not ruminate, and putting all my energy into rehab instead/killing myself on the bike. Next week we will be focusing on calming it down and not rushing back to running, and that makes me feel like I’ll be good to go in two weeks again. These are the trials and tribulations of being an athlete, and I’m gonna keep moving forward and keep my head up high.
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: April 5-11
Yolanda’s Achilles was still sore early in the week, so she cross trained on Monday. She tested it out on Tuesday and it felt better, so we had her do a workout on Wednesday. She looked good, and was running the paces that we wanted her to run. I wanted to quit while we were ahead, so I told her we would end a little early. I told Allie to hammer the last repeat, but told Yolanda to keep the pace even. She felt good, so she convinced me to let her push on the last one. I should have stuck to what my gut was telling me. She was over-striding over the last 100 meters, which is very hard on the Achilles tendon. If your stride is too long, it doesn’t allow the foot and ankle to do their job in absorbing the force of hitting the track. As a result, more force goes into the Achilles and calf muscles. Sure enough, this last repeat flared up the Achilles a bit. We cross trained out of caution, and the Achilles felt better going into the trip. Unfortunately, Yolanda wore her typical travel shoes, and they bothered her Achilles a little bit. Once the Achilles is agitated, things that normally don’t cause issues can contribute to the pain. That’s what happened to Yolanda. On Saturday, the Achilles didn’t feel great, but she felt like it was good enough to race. Yolanda got out well, and was at the front of the pack. The pack slowed and Yolanda decided to charge to the front. This wasn’t a bad idea, but she made a bold move, instead of relaxing and making a gradual move. Yolanda’s sweet spot for racing is the 1500/mile, so she doesn’t have a lot of room for error in an 800. The move she made took the pop out of her legs, and she wasn’t able to close like we would normally see her close in the 800. She ran 2:06. For a windy day, this isn’t a terrible time, but it’s not what we wanted from the day. We have to keep moving forward and learn from the week. Yolanda is in great shape, so we just need to make sure we get the Achilles under control, before it becomes a lingering issue. She is going to get some needling done this week, and we are hopeful that this will help.
