Happy Mother’s Day, to all those who train and balance motherhood like a piece of cake!
Training for a race is like baking a cake. There are ingredients which must be used in exact proportions. As we shall see, just as there are different kinds of cakes; there are a number of ways to train for distance running. Overdoing any of them, however, will leave us feeling half baked.
Our first ingredient is ENTHUSIASM. Think back to the days when as young children we ran effortlessly and joyfully. Let’s try to recapture that spirit and make running a healthful and pleasant experience that we can look forward to each day.
Routinely, running should be a time for fitness and fun. If we’re breathless and exhausted after a workout, it’s a signal we’re going too fast or too far.
Slow down… back off… relax. Running is our gourmet’s delight. Let’s not ruin it by over-indulging. Instead, let’s savour the exhilaration of moving over the ground at a pleasurable pace.
The following MOM is a great example of all the right ingredients for a fabulous cake or even a bakery!
St. John’s, Youree Spence Garcia is the marquee BIG EAST women’s sprinter of her era. Youree won 11 total BIG EAST individual titles during her brilliant career in Queens, including three-consecutive 300-meter indoor titles and three-consecutive 400-meter outdoor titles. The 400-meter dash was not contested indoors at the BIG EAST Championship when Spence Garcia competed for St. John’s. She also won two-consecutive 55-meter dash titles at the conference championships and was named the 1985 BIG EAST Indoor Championship Outstanding Athlete. Spence Garcia’s personal-best time of 54.67 seconds in the outdoor 400-meter dash ranks ninth on the St. John’s all-time lists. It’s not surprising then that, when mother and daughters get together, the conversation often turns to running.
“It’s a conversation we have every single day,” said Youree Spence Garcia, who on June 11, 2013, was inducted into the St. John’s Athletics Hall of Fame. “We eat, sleep, run and repeat. That’s part of our lifestyle.”
Legendary Coach Bill Welsh – Editor of the 80’s Advance Countdown
