Follow Kate Hall of Lake Region, she's one of the top sprinters in the state. Hall just a sophomore was golden a year ago as she won the 55m, 200m, and Long jump state titles indoors. Outdoors Hall added the 100m, 200m and Long Jump title to her impressive resume. She was 6-6 in 2012, can she duplicate it again in 2013, follow along in her quest this winter.
November 19th was the day that indoor track officially started! Even though I knew the first week wasn't going to involve much due to Thanksgiving, I was still happy to finally be in a team setting. It mostly just consisted of getting papers in, getting our schedule for the year, learning our warm up routine, and doing strength training. That week was nice because I wasn't ready to all out sprint some 200's; I needed to build up to it, so a few short sprints and some block work was all I needed that first week. The second week was the week I was really looking forward to. Now that there was a practice schedule out, I could look ahead and see what I would try to accomplish each week. The biggest thing I learned from last year was that I couldn't sprint two days in a row. In middle school I had pulled my hamstring and glute in track meets, which really made me realize I needed to be very, very careful in how much work I did each practice. Even my freshman year when I almost pulled my glute and quad I knew that I had to stop trying so hard to stay on a good, hard workout routine and just let my muscles relax for a second. After that I've really been able to determine my limits and what my muscles can and can't handle from day to day.
I was so excited to finally start sprinting. Since our track team isn't allowed to run in the hallways, the sprinters and jumpers go to Fryeburg Academy twice a week to run and do different drills on their indoor track. Without that opportunity I definitely wouldn't be in the kind of shape I need to be for the 200. I was anxious to sprint since I hadn't in over 5 months. I wasn't sure if I was going to feel faster, slower, or the same, but either way I wanted to just sprint. That first day didn't go as I had expected. During my very first short sprint my quad cramped while I was running and prevented from practicing anymore that day. Muscle tightness and leg cramps are issues that I’ve had to deal with throughout middle school and even last year. They’ve prevented me from competing in many meets, so I was frustrated that it had happened once again. I was able to start running in the next few days, although I could still feel some tightness from that cramp even weeks after it had occurred.
After having some of those minor muscle cramps while running this year, my trainer discovered that high blood sugars often can cause those. I already knew that having diabetes prolonged my recovery time after running or working out, but after hearing that high blood sugars can affect my performance at meets, I knew I needed to monitor them more closely. My trainer made me a sheet to write in throughout the upcoming weeks to track my blood sugars and where they look like they're heading in each practice. So far it seems like they start off good, but about 30 minutes into a practice it goes low. By monitoring my blood sugars during practices more closely, it can help me predict which way they are heading in the meets so I can adjust accordingly. In previous meets I would attempt to keep my blood sugars on the high side so they wouldn’t go low, which could result in not doing an event. Little did I know that those high blood sugars were the reason for those muscle cramps all along. My long term goal is to be able to keep a normal blood sugar throughout a meet while also getting the energy I need through food. By doing this and also having more electrolyte substances, I've already noticed a huge decrease in leg tightness and cramps. There's a lot to this, but it just makes this experience more worthwhile and exciting.
Meets have already started for many schools around Maine and I admit I’m a little jealous, but in under a week my team will be heading to the New Years Relays for our first meet. I'm glad to start off the season with a high competition meet. The adrenaline of the competition helps me perform better and I'll get to see some familiar faces from schools I don’t normally compete against. I am beyond excited to begin this indoor season and I wish everyone the best of luck!
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