Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Long and Winding Road

The road of a cross country season is not also the straight and open one. It is usually narrow and winding. It has some ups and downs and maybe even some turnarounds. But, what I know about this long and winding road, is that it has an end, I am controlling the present, and the past is final. Right now, I am in the present, and loving it.

Cross country season is in full swing, now that school has started and practice is the same time every day. We are in the whole workout schedule, that rarely deviates from years past. I know this schedule really well and know exactly what I did in years past and how to approach each one. Soon though, all of this will be over, I won't have the teammates that I love running with me every evening, and the ever so acquainted path will be bulldozed. So, I will take these next three months (minus two days today) and cherish every moment of it.

For my 14th to last week of having all these wonderful things, here is what I did:

Monday 8/16
AM: 6 miles (46:00). Up to the Fire Tower in the morning by myself. First day of my senior year of school.
PM: 12 miles (1:19:00). Interval Workout, 3 x 2 mile on the course. 2 mile warm-up, 6 miles of intervals, and a 4 mile cool-down. Great first interval workout for me and the team as a whole. Keegan was ahead of me on all of these. I went 10:23, 10:28, and 10:35. Not the best conditions. I figured the course was going to be dry but it was wet. I didn't have my spikes so I gad to run it in the NB 100's. Could of used some more traction. Felt smooth none the less.

Tuesday 8/17
AM: 5 miles (37:00). This was the first morning run of the year with the entire team. Ran the regular morning run route in town.
PM: 10 miles (1:12:00). Started out on zig-zag but looped around on Waller with Blake and Reece. We took our shoes off and did some barefooting on the new turf soccer field. Did 8 laps until a security guard got on a power trip and kicked us off. I have permission from the AD now though.

Wednesday 8/18
AM: 6 miles (47:30). Took it nice and slow up to the Fire Tower before school.
PM: 10 miles (1:10:00). Did a little 4k tempo run out at the course. We were all trying to hit 3:15 for all the K's. I just settled into the main pack and fed off of everyone. Two people led every K and I jumped up in front on the last one. Ended up going 13:07 which is 3:17 pace, so not far off the goal. Felt so relaxed.

Thursday 8/19
PM: 10.5 miles (1:17:00). First trail run at the Forest this season. Reece and Schroeder were the only ones that came with me. Parked behind Turkey Lake and went up the start of the ADT trail. The last 20 minutes was some of the best trail running I've did. I was just smooth on some technical spots and really picked up the pace.
PM: 5.5 miles (41:00). Did another run when I got home for the night. Up to the Fire Tower and back.

Friday 8/20
PM: 10 miles (1:13:30). Ran zig-zag with the guys and added on a little on the flood wall. Shortest run I have did in a while.

Saturday 8/21
AM: 10 miles (1:16:35). 7 of these miles consisted of the warm up and cool down to the Buckeye Run. We were to run the first 2 miles at 10:30, then go hard the last mile. Erock led us through and I ended up being at 10:27. I was about in 8th place at this point. Blake Jones and I ran together the last mile and dropped a 4:42, finishing at 15:35, behind Erock. Felt great.
PM: 5 miles (36:00). Ran up towards the Fire Tower with Corey late in the day.

Sunday 8/22
AM: 18 miles (2:19:00). Sunday Hangover Long Run. All of the team met at Hangover in the morning. Freshmen did the 11.5 mile loop, some of the upper class men did 15, and Reece and I did 18 miles. I felt smooth and strong. Good finish to a good week.

Total Miles: 108
Total Time: 13:05:35

This was my highest week of mileage since the Spring. I feel good about it all, but want to make sure I don't get to much higher. This was also one of the only weeks I have did 3 workouts in a 6 day span. We still have 2 more weeks until our first race and another 2 weeks after that for our first 8k race. Time to keep training.


(Erock and Link leading a Bear Pack)


(Everyone finishing)


(Blake and Me cruising)

Run On

Remember November

WMO

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