Well despite the rather disappointing ending to my final
cross country season by missing a varsity letter due to just a bunch of
negatives (extended first mile, extremely muddy course, bad start) I finally
got the feeling that my times will finally start dropping the way I’ve expected
them to and with my better of the two sports coming up (Track & Field) I
plan on starting the winter (tune-up) season with a bang. I already started
lifting which is something I feel I’ve always needed to do ,but never started
and I’m getting more and more anxious to starting back up on distance runs with
everyday bringing the end of my two week mandatory rest coming close to an end.
New Goals (Obtainable and Reach)
3200m: Current PR: 10:58.00
(Obtainable)Sub 10:58.00 (New PR)
(Reach) ~10:00 (Not sure on this
prediction, but definitely better then 10:58 and seeing a “walk-on” standard
sheet for a particular school is driving me.)
1600m: Current PR: 5:08.00
(Obtainable)Sub 4:45.00 (Varsity
Letter),
(Reach)~4:32.00
800m: Current
PR:2:17.60
(Obtainable)~2:10.00
(Reach) ~2:05.00
And to anyone who even just skims this, good luck with your training and just to throw out a quote which is always in the back of my head.
“Do just once what others say you can't do and they will
never pay attention to your limitations again.”
Alright well as of 10/1 I've been basically sidelined for lack of a better phrase due to a strained right hamstring. I was told by my trainer it wasn't anything major and I'd be 100% by this past Monday and currently I'm still only feeling that I'm around 70%. I can work in a good pace for about 35-40 minutes until it starts tightening up ,but I've been working back up and hopefully should be given the green light to run with my group for a hard 400 workout tomorrow. In regards to the remainder of my schedule we have the following races remaining:
Bellevue Invitational (Bellevue): 10/16 This'll be a great course to come back to racing on with how fast it is, hopefully I can get some momentum with at least an 18:30 or so heading into a hilly Ches-Mont course. Ches-Mont Championships (Westtown): 10/22 Probably the first race I won't PR at ,but with how the season has gone I wouldn't be surprised if I did with at least 3 weeks to get back into the swing of things. PIAA District I Meet (Lehigh): 10/30 One of the best courses to end the year on with it being so fast, I'm expecting at least an 18:00 if everything pans out as expected.
As expected I've improved extremely well since the preseason which is giving me a nice amount of confidence towards reaching my individual goals.
Recent Comparable Performances: Former PR / This Year's Time (3200m)Oakbourne Relays: 14:40 / 12:37 (5000m)Home Course: 20:37 / 19:48
The most exciting of the two times is the Oakbourne race because last year two of our runners ran slower times (12:43 & 12:48) and proceeded to run sub 18:00 at Districts, which is our Varsity letter time. For our team however unlike me our #1 guy is still coming back from an injury and our #2,#4,and #5 runners are all struggling which is isn't helping us much. However everyone did pretty well in our inaugural relay meet (2400m-9:14 was my time) so that will hopefully give us some momentum into our big tri meet with our rival Great Valley and West Chester Rustin.
Coming into Senior year I feel as confident as I ever have. I've put in a lot of solid work and I believe I have the best base I ever have coming into Cross Country which has always been an extremely weak season for me. However through consistent summer work and attending the Monmouth University "Shore Running Experience" Camp I feel I have an edge over the previous years and if anything the Monmouth camp helped iron out my below average form and nutrition habits. As for today, our team is headed up to West Chester Rustin for a scrimmage, it's expected to be real hot and overall not so great to run in ,but I'm expecting a PR to kick off the year.
Cross Country Goals:
Varsity Letter (18:30 on home course, 18:00 flat at Lehigh U)
PR of at least 17:59 by the end of the season
Make the 7 man Varsity A roster (Currently 11th)
Make State's
Track (Indoor and Outdoor) Goals:
Varsity Letter (Sub 4:45 Mile, score in 1/2 the meets)
