"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life."
-Greg Anderson
This past week I reached a goal that I had silently set for myself, which was to win this ridiculous cross country race in Richmond. I've run it twice before and finished second both times. There's something about being second that really gets to me. Plus, both times I have run this race my time has been awful. My 6k PR of 20:17 is faster than I've run on this 5k course before. So, I was happy to win the race and happy to run 19:45. The time doesn't really matter, especially considering I've followed up both of my previous Maymont races a week later with a road 5k over 2 minutes faster. Ok, enough about that. The course is ridiculous though, I'm not exaggerating.
The rest of training this past week went well. I was not sore at all from the 22 miler, which was kind of unexpected. I took Monday off, ran 4 miles easy on Tuesday, 7 miles in 50 minutes on Wednesday, and took off Thursday (mainly because I was so exhausted and stressed from work that all I wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed- which I did). On Friday I ran the 5k and totalled 9 miles. Saturday I ran about 3 miles at the meet, sprinting up and down various parts of the course while my team raced. On Sunday I took it easy and ran my 17 miles with Pete. Total: 40 miles for the week.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my family in two weeks, doing some apple picking, and of course running this marathon. After the marathon, I'm also looking forward to a few other races I have planned. I'm not sure if I'm going to run another marathon in the early spring. I think it might be a good way to keep my base going over the winter before switching gears for my first track season in a loooong time. Not sure if a steeplechase is in the cards but hopefully a few fast 5ks and 1500s. I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's get through the next two weeks before I make any more big plans.
Showing posts with label cross country. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cross country. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Uh oh. It's Almost August.
I've had cross country on my brain a lot this week. That's the tough thing about coaching a fall sport; even though you have the summer "off", it's really just the month of July because fall sports in Virginia start August 1st. Well, it's been awhile, but when I was in high school in Averill Park, New York, we did not start practice August 1st. We started the week before school, at the end of August, and we still managed two state championships during my three years of cross country. Don't get me started on that third year scandal... we should have been three for three but we had some administrative issues (ahem).
My cross country team is what you might call a "developing program". I spend the entire season basically tricking them into running longer and faster, while keeping it fun and adding in some cross training for kids whose primary sport is not running. I do scavenger hunts, relay races, and workouts where you pick a card from a pile and do whatever is on the card. We do more tradititonal training too, but I always do my best to make it fun, if not an opportunity to build some character. Having an entire month of practice in the heat of August is not my idea of a good time, and I know my team agrees. So we are starting pre-season conditioning the second week of August, and "try-outs" start August 15th. I wish I could start later, but we have to have a certain number of practice days before our first race.
I think part of the reason I've been thinking about cross country so much is that I am wondering how I'm going to fit in all my training with what I have scheduled for my team. This is going to require some really annoying planning. I'll just put that off for now.
Training has been great this week, but I do have some minor shin pain. It's on both sides, just regular old shin splints, so I'm doing some ice baths and ice cups after my runs. I should be taking ibuprofen too, but I keep forgetting. Tuesday was 10 miles than I ran with Pete. It was supposed to be split up into two runs but we had dinner plans last night so I just did it all in the morning. Today was 14 miles, which I did in 1:48 (7:45 per mile). Finally my Wednesday runs are feeling good.
My cross country team is what you might call a "developing program". I spend the entire season basically tricking them into running longer and faster, while keeping it fun and adding in some cross training for kids whose primary sport is not running. I do scavenger hunts, relay races, and workouts where you pick a card from a pile and do whatever is on the card. We do more tradititonal training too, but I always do my best to make it fun, if not an opportunity to build some character. Having an entire month of practice in the heat of August is not my idea of a good time, and I know my team agrees. So we are starting pre-season conditioning the second week of August, and "try-outs" start August 15th. I wish I could start later, but we have to have a certain number of practice days before our first race.
I think part of the reason I've been thinking about cross country so much is that I am wondering how I'm going to fit in all my training with what I have scheduled for my team. This is going to require some really annoying planning. I'll just put that off for now.
Training has been great this week, but I do have some minor shin pain. It's on both sides, just regular old shin splints, so I'm doing some ice baths and ice cups after my runs. I should be taking ibuprofen too, but I keep forgetting. Tuesday was 10 miles than I ran with Pete. It was supposed to be split up into two runs but we had dinner plans last night so I just did it all in the morning. Today was 14 miles, which I did in 1:48 (7:45 per mile). Finally my Wednesday runs are feeling good.
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