This fall, we'll be viewing the New York Cross Country Season through the eyes of its' competitors. We've asked one girl and one boys to blog about their season. Through the triumphs and tribulations of training, racing, and everything in between, you'll be able to read what it's like to run in the Empire State.
For the girls, Sam
Peterman, a senior at Sweet Home High School, will be blogging for us.
Sam is a Top 5 returner for Class B at the New York State Meet, looking
to improve on last year's performance. She runs in Section 6, and will
be one of the top athletes across any classification in the Buffalo
area. Read about her journey below.
View Week 1 / Intro
This week had some beneficial workouts, a few recovery days, and a race! This is my last full week of summer vacation, so I was happy to make the most of it. I doubled three times this week so it bumped up my mileage. It was a great week of training and hard work.
Monday August 29, 2016:
Workout day! Today the team and I went to a road called Omphalius, which is a road on such a huge hill as you run up it your ears start to pop. There we did 5x5 minutes tempo with one minute rest and 4x30 seconds after the tempo. This wasn't the easiest workout, as my legs were still a little sore from the week before, but it was great to get more hill work in. In the evening I ran my 30 minute double just to loosen up my legs from what we did today.
Tuesday August 30, 2016:
Today was the perfect recovery day. We began practice with drills, then hurdle mobility (one of my favorite things to do), a lift in the weight room, then 70 minutes of aqua jogging. It was great to get off the pavement and recover in the pool for the day. My legs really needed the break from all the pounding. Today we also started new exercises on our lift, so it was fun to learn something new. Later that day I went for another 30 minute double.
Wednesday August 31, 2016:
Another workout today! It was 3x mile on the track at 6:28 pace with about 90 seconds rest. My first mile was 6:31, my second 6:28, my third repeat I fell off pace so I restarted and my last mile was also 6:28. I was happy that I was able to hit my paces, and even though I had to restart one I was glad I was able to finish hitting my goal time. This workout was in the pouring rain so it made things a little different, but we race in all weather so we might as well train in all weather. Afterwards we had a lift in the weight room. I had my final double for the week for 30 minutes.
Thursday September 1, 2016:
Today I ran a well earned hour recovery run. I'm not going to lie, this week has taken a lot out of me. Although training has been hard, I know in the long run it will all pay off. After the run I lifted in the weight room and did yoga with the team. That night the team had our annual dinner at Olive Garden. We do this each year the night before our first cross country meet and it is a beloved tradition on the team.
Friday September 2, 2016:
Today was my first meet of the season. I ran on a 4k course at JFK High School, and honestly I was not happy with the outcome of the race. I placed 6th, with a few tactial errors. I found myself sprinting to catch up to the lead pack very very early in the race causing me to go into oxygen deficit. Although this race didn't go as well as I hoped, it was a great reminder of how to run a cross country race. This was a great reminder/learning experience of how to race, and I'm excited to get back onto another course.
Saturday September 3, 2016:
Today I had a 90 minute long run at Sprague Brooke Park. I love running there because I can run on a trail for my whole run. I got some great hills in, and it felt good to run on trails rather than pavement. I was able to disappear for an hour and a half and had the chance to clear my head from the race yesterday.
Sunday September 4, 2016:
A day off!!! I got to let my body rest all day and was able to rebuild for the week ahead.
Total Miles: 48.03 miles
This weeks lesson: Staying mentally positive. This week I really pushed myself to stay mentally positive through the workouts. It has been something that I have been working on for a long time now but this week I was reminded how important it is. Staying positive in the toughest situations is important, and I believe that it can change the whole outcome of the run.