(Photo courtesy of Blake)
As I’ve mentioned in the past, the run leg has been where I’ve struggled the most. So when the opportunity to participate in a run-specific camp with Team Catapult presented itself, I jumped at it.
Day 1 of camp started with a run gait analysis, followed by a shake out run before dinner. Both of these were done in the new Hoka shoes that were generously provided. After dinner, Oofos added the recovery sandals into our gear. These will be incredibly helpful as I continue running more and longer.
Day 2 included run training and two specific runs (moderate and faster pace) along with strength, yoga and nutrition sessions.. Almost 8 years in, I still am NOT a fan of Yoga, but the instructor did an amazing job.. I learned a lot from the nutrition session, and got a fair amount out of the strength session.
The first run session of the day started with drills (active warmup such as butt kickers and the like) followed by intervals. The second session was more of a longer run at medium pace, and the last session of the day was doing loops around a neighborhood at a faster pace. I’ll admit now (and I told the coach on the way back) that I was hiding the vomit to avoid being pulled from the run session. Especially as I was able to have a conversation 5-10 seconds on either side of it, I was confident that it was just my body not being used to that pace vs. anything being wrong.
At the end of Day 2, we all ended up in the pool. It was honestly one of the strangest and most mesmerising things I’ve ever experienced. When you went under the water, you could clearly hear music that wasn’t audible at or above the surface. Think of The Sirens from the Odyssey… I did want to try the 25 ft water slide in the dark, but by the time I got up the nerve, it had closed for the night.
The camp concluded on Day 3 with a relay (coaches and athletes). I believe each team had athletes from each type (amputee, VI, WC), with the coach being the anchor. I also believe that it was a 1/4 mile loop for each member of the relay.
When it was our turn, I had to trust Blake (my guide) tremendously. Whether it wasn’t fully light or it was overcast, it was hard to see. While it was only 1/4 mile, I still treated that last 50 yards or so like a normal finishing chute. There’s a great video floating around of our leg finish.
This was a great weekend, and I learned a lot. I came away having formed new friendships, gained knowledge and picked up some really great gear that will get used from here on out. And I will be switching to Hokas going forward — I can definitely feel the difference.
THANK YOU to Team Catapult for putting this event on and to ALL of the sponsor!
