Q & A with Jessica K
Good morning. Welcome to Friday! It has been the kind of week that was so busy that I woke up Monday morning feeling stressed. As always, it was much more manageable than I expected, but it was definitely one of those blink-and-you-miss it weeks, which is perfectly fine because it brought me closer to my amazing weekend birthday plans!
On Fridays, I normally tackle a review, but because I was not able to run Sulphur Springs trail race last weekend and I have been getting a lot of reader emails, I decided to answer those instead!
Why did you not run your race last weekend? Are you injured?
Not yet! I am trying my best to be a SMARTER athlete and so when I feel pain coming in, I stop running and rest to prevent a full blown injury. I began feeling some pain on the medial part of my knee after an unusually high volume, high intensity training week. I had been going pretty hard and I think it was my body’s way of telling me to slow down. I have taken almost two weeks off training in preparation to race strong this coming weekend and I have been doing foam rolling, icing and heat therapy.
For exercise, I have done weight training, but have cut out weighted lunges and squats to heal my knee. I also have been cycling and going on the elliptical.
Recent early morning training session with Ange.
I have also been seeing my personal trainer who has been giving me compression exercises and resistant band movements to help heal the area faster. My weakness as an athlete is to train too hard all the time. This has been a good lesson in slowing down and taking care of myself.
I was watching the Ottawa marathon and it mentioned that elite runners are only allowed to take their water from the elite stations and if they take it from another water station they can be disqualified. Do you know why this would be? Is there a risk that someone could pass them performance enhancements in their water? I guess I just don’t understand that if they miss their bottle or need a little bit extra water, why can’t they grab it.
Well, given I have never raced as an elite, I am going to suggest that they most likely are looking out for the athlete. The athlete submits their personal fueling plans which they have tailored to a science and their aid stations deliver on that. There is potentially the risk of performance enhancements, but I think it is more about negating the risk of going off of their racing plan to protect their performance. Thoughts from readers?
Have you switched to pro baseball?
No. Despite the fact that I managed to do a convincing job of making it look like I knew what I was doing, the scouts aren’t ready for me yet.
I work for an incredible company with some fantastic sport partnerships and this week, part of my job was to go to a Blue Jays fantasy camp at the Rogers Centre and learn baseball drills and skills with some of the best, including Hall of Famer, Robbie Alomar.
We had our own locker rooms and got to keep the uniform. We had a steak dinner and beer with our sports teams and took in a game in the evening. Sometimes I need to pinch myself, but yes, I really do get to do this occasionally for work. I have taken a lot of time to figure out where I wanted to go in life and I chased hard after it.
Have questions for me? Send them over to lacesandlattes@gmail.com.
I can’t believe you were just hanging out with Roberto Alomar! I think I’ve never been so happily jealous in my entire life! Have a good race this weekend 🙂
Thanks lady. I have a signed baseball and a picture. I will show you the next time we hang out!
Your job seems AMAZING. What is it that you do where they send you to fantasy camp?!?! Please share 😉
I work in public relations so a lot of media events that occasionally have wicked perks!
Now I’m rethinking my future career goals haha
Well, if you have any questions about PR or Marketing, I am happy to answer them. What are you going through for?
You are the best! I’m in sociology and was debating about switching majors but I think I’ll stay put since I’m 2 years to finishing. What’s your opinion of getting a certificate for PR/communications? I know some schools offer it, do you think it will do enough to get work in PR vs a bachelor’s? 🙂
If it helps, I got my current job on an education that was tailored to an English teacher. I have a major in English and minor in French. When I wanted to change careers, I started getting volunteer experience in the field I wanted to break into and that worked just as well as another bachelors. I am about to get my MBA, but my company is paying for it.
My advice? VOLUNTEER first and get your supplementary education on your future employers budget if possible.
Thanks! That makes me feel a lot more at ease with my current major. If you don’t mind me asking, what type of volunteer work did you do to break into the field?
Also, congrats on having your company pay for your MBA, that seems like an amazing opportunity! I will definitely look into volunteering once I have time off from school. Thanks for your insight 🙂 it’s very helpful to this lost undergrad.
I sit on the PR committee of a local organization and I am the web editor of a local running series. Go to networking events and get to know as many people as possible in your community. I was a lost undergrad once as well so I know exactly how you feel. Keep hustling and everything works out.
Are you in Toronto? I’d be happy to grab a coffee the next time I am in town and we can chat career paths.
yes, I’m from Toronto! That would be amazing.
I spent all of last week mulling about switching over to PR/Communications but then a majority of my credits won’t transfer so knowing that you broke into PR without doing it for your undergrad is great! Thanks again for the advice/insight 🙂
No worries. The reality is, your undergrad doesn’t matter as much as what you do with it. If you are specific about your goals – you will get there.
PS you are absolutely the best 🙂
And a very SMART runner you are!! Regarding the baseball, I’m pretty sure you could put on a uniform for any sport and look like you’ve been doing it for years. 🙂 Can’t wait for birthday festivities this weekend!!!
It really is the uniform that helps. Just like running…If you have your 2xU gear on, you can’t help but look like a champ in ‘dem tights! 😉
Hurray for this weekend!