I love being home. I love being with my dog and my partner in my house and not living out of a suitcase. I love having my good knife. I love being able to see my friends outside of sport. I feel like a whole person here, not just an athlete. Anyway, I’ll soon be back on the road! I head to nationals in Sydney in two weeks, then straight to South Africa to join my team for a training camp.
My anti-self-deprecation initiative is going well. The biggest obstacle has been how funny it is saying mean and outrageous things about yourself. Now, when my friends and I accidentally let slip one of our nasty little comments, we follow it up with something like “well, that’s what the old Trina would say.” Turns out we’ve stumbled upon a CBT technique: calling out negative thoughts and thus removing their power. I guess we can have our cake and eat it too?
Side note: I wish CBT was actually this fun, instead of the invalidating and logic-bending mind games that I was subjected to by the first psychologists I saw early in my life.
Anticipating another big trip, I’ve been considering the running fits I will pack. M11 is a Nike squad and the hot blondes I roll with are usually head-to-toe in a matching set (that is, every item being the same style and colour). However, when I try this, I look and feel insane. My alternative approach has been to be willy-nilly about it (look dishevelled) or wear all black (chic but boring).
As I’ve said before, when I don’t follow the uniform I look more like a fan asking for a photo than a fellow athlete:
I have a lot of Nike stuff from six years of sponsorship. Roughly half I’ve given away, donated or lost in that time. I’m sad that I don’t remember most of these lost items and I’m hoping that when I die I’ll get to visit a room with every item I’ve ever owned.
I’ve taken some inspiration from Jenna Litner via Grace Cook’s newsletter about a tonal approach to coming up with outfits. I can’t do matchy-matchy but I can work with colours and shapes to merge my older and newer Nike products. Below are a few outfits I’ve come up with.
They follow some personal rules of comfort and style I’ve landed on over the years. When I’m on the track I want to create an hourglass shape that emphasises my waist but also prioritises performance: tight on top and loose shorts. Also: no ankle socks, and no 2-in-1 shorts (where there is a weird little inner lining that never fits properly).
Off the track, I want to look like a chic sleeping bag: androgynous, loose, and shapeless.
Training shoes are their own problem as a sponsored athlete. Each season presents a new and shocking colourway. An item of clothing can last me many years, whereas I churn through training shoes and spikes every few months. So I don’t style around a training shoe.
However, with casual shoes I can be more discerning. I never wear casual shoes with laces because laces are for business only. It’s like wearing a tie at home: restrictive and unnecessary. And the uglier the shoe the better.
Do you follow any rules when putting together a running/workout outfit? I’d love to hear them.
My new local track!
The surface is old and weathered and in dire need of resurfacing. I only do longer training sessions here with more forgiving shoes because the hard track would be too brutal for spikes.
The track is well situated with a hillside naturally sloping down to the track on the eastern side and the western side butting up against Edgars Creek. There are gigantic electrical pylons with wires stretching overhead.
Like most tracks in Melbourne, it’s not publicly accessible and only open at designated times during club training hours – thank you to David Woods for welcoming me and providing me with a set of keys!
This track could be beautifully integrated into the surrounding trails and parkland like I’ve seen with many tracks in Europe. Lowering or removing the fences, more considered landscaping, signage, and upgrades to the track with a public toilet – all these changes could open up the space to the public without affecting the track’s specific usage.
Last year Merri-bek council proposed a master plan detailing upgrades to the whole park precinct. The track was going to be replaced by a grass track inside a multi-sport oval until public backlash vetoed that plan.
One of the arguments for removal was that the track doesn’t meet World Athletics regulations because of its huge bends and short straights, meaning it can’t be used for sanctioned competitions. I don’t have the hard stats on this, but I’d say a significant percentage of tracks in the world aren’t used for competition but that doesn’t detract from their importance as public amenities.
In fact, dedicating the track to training can widen the possibilities for integrating landscape, like we’ve seen in destination tracks like in Olot, Spain, where stands of trees occupy the infield.
Someone please give me 10 million dollars and let me take the reins.
Trina xx
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.