Track and Field Blogs - Jenny Barringer

Yesterday was a fun day. Heather and I both got up early to find the track and do my workout. Mark had decided to do something a little different and let me decide what my workout would be. I had to run it by him, of course, but it was a lot of fun having to be in charge of my own training for a day. He gave me the goal of the workout and then let my imagination take over ?. I decided on 5x600 at race pace over barriers with 200m recovery. Then, 2x300 sub race pace over barriers and finishing with a few short sprints.

The workout went beautifully. My recovery got shorter and shorter as I went and I hit all of the times I wanted. The only bummer was that the water jump wasnÂ’t full so I wasnÂ’t able to actually practice the water during my intervals but oh well. I think the cool weather and being at sea-level really sped up the workout and was the element primarily responsible for how fresh I felt.

So, workout done, a short cool-down, and then back to the dorms. I had some oatmeal before my workout (GREAT pre-race/pre-workout meal) and so Heather made us some sandwiches (avocado, tomato, and mozzarellaÂ…. Yum!) for lunch and Ian Dobson joined us as we embarked on yet another road-trip. I donÂ’t think I ever mentioned that IÂ’m here in Leuven with Kim Smith, Ian Dobson, and Alan Webb. Anyway, off to Nederland.

The road trip was a lot of fun. Heather drove, Ian sat shotgun watching for signs and I was in the back pouring over the map, making my best attempts at navigating. We headed North and West driving through Brussels, Antwerp, and Den Haag. We stopped for a little tourism in Delft, Nederland. It was a really amazing little town. Very lively with lots of canals and lots of history. I had some hot chocolate at a café (because it was freezing) and then we all took a boat tour to see some of the town without having to be on our feet walking around.

When we got back I went for another easy 5 mile run. Remember, IÂ’m going right from steepling in Europe to cross-country season in Colorado. I tapered for World and I will again for the DecaNation but in between IÂ’m trying to keep my mileage up keeping in mind that IÂ’m training for cross as well. Interesting and challenging balance but IÂ’m really happy about what IÂ’m doing. I think any distance runner would agree that having a long, confident, injury-free training spell is so valuable and such an uncommon gift. I donÂ’t think IÂ’m on the edge yet and IÂ’m not mentally spent from the long season.

Enough about running…. Little Osaka story before I take off for the day. After the prelim was over Dax and Heather took the train to a really cool stop. The name of it escapes me but it’s on the way to Kyoto. It was so beautiful because it was along a waterway. As we walked we saw some Geishas which was very cool and we bought green tea ice cream. We were not at any random stop though, we were there to see monkeys. We arrived at what seemed to be a little park and paid our 5,000 yen (about $5) to get in. After about a 10-15 minute hike up a really steep hill we started to look along the path and there they were! Little (and some not-so-little) monkeys just minding their own business right there along the path! We were a little tentative at first thinking that we might not want to get too close to wild monkeys. As we continued we reached a “resting place” where lots of monkeys were “hanging out” (haha). A little further and we reached the top. This was the best part: There’s a building at the top with information about the monkeys and a little shop. Inside the shop you can purchase food (bananas and peanuts) to feed to the monkeys. There’s a hitch though; in order to keep the monkeys from pestering everyone for food along the paths there’s a very controlled system for feeding them. You, the human, enter a cage (yes, a wired in cage area) to purchase the food and then feed it to the monkeys who are still outside. This is quite the opposite of a zoo. Heather and I were standing inside handing bananas to monkeys through a wire fence where they were enjoying the outdoors! It was really funny.

Never a dull moment.

Speaking of dull, Heather spent 5 hours doing laundry today. Between the traffic of people trying to use the (only) two machines available along with the fact that they didnÂ’t really work, it was quite a haul. I watched the womenÂ’s 5k final on tv with Alan and Ian and later I went on a run. One hour easy. Dinner was really great tonight too. After cooking breakfast and lunch for ourselves that past few days Heather and I decided to treat ourselves to a dinner out. I had Nepalese food for the first time and it was really tasty. ItÂ’s past my bedtime now and I have a long run in the morning. IÂ’m really hoping IÂ’ll have a chance to write again after my run and before we leave for Paris tomorrow.

Bon Soir!