My Non-Academic Discourse

Run, Eat, Sleep and Repeat “Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best,”–Michael Johnson. By definition, discourse means written or spoken communication or debate. My non-academic discourse community is the track & field community and I can relate this, very easily, to my academic discourse. One of the most influential activities that shaped my life, started my freshman year of high school. I remember the first day of intramurals like it was yesterday. I walked out to the track with my worn down running shoes and some running shorts that were two sizes too big. My heart was beating a
The first type of practice we had was “The Hills” practice. During this type of practice, we went to a park with 2 major hills. We would have to do a myriad of different jumps, up the hill, several times. We also had to do multiple sprints up the hills. Some of the sprints would be around the entire park and some were shorter sprints up the hill. We also did strength training on the basketball court. The second type of practice we had was the “Sand Court” practice. Normally, we would run 250 meters around the sand court. We would workout in the sand because if your form was off, your feet would be engulfed by the sand. It is also much harder to run in sand than on flat ground. Another reason why it is better to run in the sand is because it strengthens your legs quickly while you are also doing cardio. In my opinion, this type of practice was the most difficult. The third type of practice that we had was the “Pool Workout” practice. At this practice, we would mainly practice on form. We would have to run 100 meters in the pool. One of the main workouts that we did was that we would start submerged in the pool and we would have to jump on top of the top stair. At the beginning, it takes several attempts to jump on to the top stair because it requires a colossal amount of strength and focus to jump on it. Another thing that we worked on was learning how to control our breathing. Usually, we would do “tuck jumps” for two minutes and then we would immerse in the water. The goal was to stay under the water for as long as you possibly could. My coach told us that in order to slow down your heart rate, you have to “imagine yourself breathing” under the water. Another major part of the overall training process was taking care of our bodies outside of practice. We had to go to bed early in a completely dark room that was sixty-seven degrees. We also had to take fish oil, a multivitamin and vitamin C every day. A