Cicero North Syracuse (NY) senior Kate Putman has a big season ahead of her. The New Yorker finished 14th at the New York Cross Country State Class A Championships in 2021. During her junior season, she earned an indoor state title in the 1,500m before she finished fourth at New Balance Nationals Indoor in the two-mile, where she clocked the fifth-fastest time in the U.S. with a personal best of 10:15.18. We've asked the New York native to give us some insight on her training this season, and this is the third of a four-part training blog heading into cross country.
Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4
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Week 4 (September 10)
Saturday, September 10: Race day at VVS Invitational
Today was the first-last-day of high school ever and the first-last high school cross country race ever this week!
This race was a rust-buster for my whole team. Earlier I had to explain what a "rust buster" meant to our eighth-grader Sophia Graham. Love her!
We start off every meet by going over the course as a team, and if any questions arise -- about the course or terrain -- we have each other to lean on to answer those questions.
Going into the race I felt confident, happy and just glad to be back in spikes after a nice summer of hard work. My goal was to have fun. I have always put a lot of pressure on myself, especially during the cross country season.
Why I do this is a mystery to me (sort of). However, I wanted to go out there and race with confidence.
My mom always says she can see it in my stride when I "run like the real Kate," and I definitely went out there and did that.
I have had just about every race you can imagine on VVS (state course for 2022), but to go out there and have a race I can be proud of because I believed in myself was one race I was glad to add to the books there.
I think that was the biggest accomplishment personally that day.
Another huge accomplishment was made by my amazing team!! We were able to place first in our race and secure third overall behind Saratoga and Fayetteville-Manlius.
Those are two amazing teams, with a lot of amazing talent.
* Kate Putman reflects on her 18:35.90 performance at the VVS Invitational this weekend
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My little sister Gabby Putman had a great race as she secured a third-place finish in our wave (10th overall). We also had our third, fourth and fifth girls with all back-to-back finishes! I keep saying this through my blogs, but I could never have asked for a better team!
We all get together at the end of the race to congratulate each other and be there for one another if things went south. Then we re-group of our cool down to finish off the day!
I would also like to share some very special news that happened! I am so excited to announce that I have committed to further my academic and athletic career at NC State University!
I can not wait to join the Wolfpack next fall!
This is the fourth and final blog of Kate Putman's training series. She's written one of several training blogs by various athletes as the 2022 cross country season begins to ramp up. Check out our training blog series page for more content.