Pre-race workouts at Fields
Friday, October 9th: Today was just a day for pre-race preparations, to get out bodies set up to race a hard 4k tomorrow at the Manhattan Invitational. Phil Celona was free to run with me today, and I really wanted a good run before heading out to the meet tomorrow, so we did a perfectly controlled loop through Manayunk, towards the East Falls Bridge, and back along Ridge Avenue. All the while I plotted out my race strategy with him, talking about potential scenarios and how I would react. Of course, I can't cover every possible angle, and this week has been far from ideal, but I felt confident knowing that I would give the race whatever I could. After getting back in 35:07, I did 2 sets of fartlek interval work on the track by myself, to gear up my energy systems, and an abbreviated set of multi-throw drills with the other varsity boys. We finished the practice early and drove to Ellis Maddox's house for a team dinner, carbo-loading to our content and getting a few more moments in with the team before leaving bright and early in the morning for New York City.
Saturday, October 10th: After a standard drive up with the rest of the varsity athletes in the morning, we met up with the rest of the team, who had left earlier to make their respective races. As a whole, our team was having a phenomenal day, with huge races from top to bottom. Every single one of the JV athletes who had struggled at Westtown came at today with gusto, and we saw several racers approach a level of competition they had never even been near before. In particular, the boys in the freshman race had a great day, with everybody PR'ing (none of them had ever run a 2k before, but the spirit of the personal best attitude was certainly there) and they had built excitement leading up to our race in the Eastern States Championship. The race began, and I got myself into a good position, out in the front of the race after the initial 600 meters leading into the woods. We began to roll over the hills as a pack, but slowly I could sense that the day was slipping away from me. I'm a believer in positive thoughts, so I fought that destructive notion as long as I could, sticking with the top racers all the way through the back hills, until my legs couldn't physically keep me with them anymore. It felt terrible, letting the race slip away, but I knew that it was the inevitable culmination of several factors from that week. I grew frustrated with myself, and finished significantly below where I knew I could be, with a time of 13:09. This race has since stuck with me in many more ways than just the failure to achieve what I know I can, and have achieved in the past. I know it is just a single day among many, but I don't ever want to let myself off the hook for something that was in my control. I took the hard-learned lessons from the day home with me as I drove back to Philadelphia, perpetually turning over every second of the race in my head as it refused to settle. New York stayed with me for the rest of this week, and I know it will go with me wherever I race for the rest of the year, not as a weight, but as a reminder. I know how critical taking care of my body can be, and today was the result of ignoring that sentiment.
Race results from our season's final dual meet
Sunday, October 11th: The run after a terrible race always feels too slow, because the only thing I ever want to do after failing is prove to myself that my fitness is better than ever. I waged a continuous battle with my sub-conscious today, forcing my body to recover and not run too fast. I ended up running an even 5 miles at 7:02/mile pace on my own, down along with river as far as I could trace it and back. Today needed to run on my own, so that I could work through all the thoughts that have been spinning around in my head. I realized that I blew yesterday's race way out of proportion before hand, and that there were lots of things to take away from it, which I had originally refused to see. I positioned myself exactly right in the front of the race, and I know that I have the fitness to stick it out with them next time I get the chance, but I felt sorry for myself, and that got me in trouble. For now, it's time to regroup and build through the next couple of days as we approach the Friends' League Championships, our league's conclusion to the season. I'm in a good place to take on the rest of the season, and I feel as prepared as ever to get back into racing. There will be plenty of opportunities for me to establish confidence, and the rest of this season has been going well, so I know that the conclusion will follow that trend.
Monday, October 12th: We were off of school for Columbus Day, so I ran again on my own. The focus today was more on strength training than anything, so I did 36:09 at about 6:45/mile pace, and planned out an hour after my run to do core exercises and foot strengthening work. Without any of my teammates around, I was responsible for my own routine, so I cleared room in my house and did the normal exercises on my own. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and I love the colors of the leaves around my neighborhood, so I'm doing my best in these few weeks before the temperature plunges to get outside. Tomorrow is the last dual meet of our season before we batten down the hatches and set up for the championship meet, so we're ready to go at it once again with everything we have, and put everybody on the line. After our last loss, there was no chance that we were going to take this one lightly, so everybody came into the meet with an indomitable spirit, and a deep craving to remind everybody in our league why we are the undisputed champions of Philadelphia. You won't like us when we're angry.
Tuesday, October 13th: Back to competition. We came into today with a couple of different sets of goals, depending on how the day went. The primary objective, naturally, was to dominate the meet, and to come away with a resounding victory. The question came as to how this could be achieved. The goal for myself, as well as my teammate Grayson Hepp, was to go out with Zachary Zwick, the top runner for Friends Central, and sit there for the majority of the race until we saw an opportunity to break away and take over the race. I waited until we came to about 1.75 miles, then used an uphill to build a gap between myself and Zachary, and progressed through the finish of the race, building speed as I did so. I felt so much better today than I did over the weekend in New York, and because of the better care I was able to give my body, I finished still feeling strong in a time of 16:47. I waited at the finish line for the rest of my teammates, and once we had regrouped, we went out again to the course and finished our day with two more 800's, coming in at about 2:18.8 and 2:18.2. It seems as though the whole team responded in a very similar way, stepping up and shredding the effort. We had 17 athletes break 20 minutes, many of them for the first time in their lives, which showed how motivated the whole pack was, and how strong we can be at near full capacity. My only wish was that I could have run the whole race at full effort, since it was a perfect course to set a PR on. My time will come for racing all out again, and all that matters now is that I continue to grow and develop as an athlete.
