I've been sprinting recently. It's been a blast. I haven't sprinted since Spring 2006, when I ran the 400M in track during my sophomore year of high school. Back then, I was 5'11"" and 160lbs. Now I'm 6'1" and 210lbs. Wow, 50lbs really makes a difference. It's far more difficult to accelerate now than it was then.

I'm not yet at a point where I can run a 400M at sprint speed. But I'm getting somewhat comfortable running 200Ms. In high school, I ran a 59 second 400M. I'm hoping to get to 65 seconds in the coming months. I'll update my blog as I progress.

I had forgotten the feeling of intensity of sprinting. It's very different than the intensity I've experienced while lifting weights or performing gymnastics over the past 2-3 years. Although those activities are extremely intense in their own rights, neither involves the rapid pump and force that sprinting demands. Moreover, sprinting involves giving it everything you've got 100% for the entirety of the run. Most other forms of exercise require more control, tempo, and flow.

It's been amazing re-learning the subtleties of sprinting form and focus. For the past few weeks, I had forgotten to select a visual focus point before the sprint. Yesterday morning I remembered, and what a difference it made. My breathing has improved; now I'm lining up my breadths in line with steps. And I can feel my knees lifting higher and increasing my distance/step, which improves speed and endurance. It's all coming back.

I'm pretty excited looking forward. I was able to push myself to respectable heights in weights, and subsequently and rings. Now it's time to swing to the other extreme and push to new heights in ultimate frisbee and sprinting.

Off to the races!