Road to Nationals: 75th or Bust at Regionals
When you pull up a new story on medium, the first line before you start typing is, write your story. This training cycle has been interesting. Since June I have had ups and downs, huge sucesses and bitter failures. I would not have it any other way however. Thinking back on this cross country season so far I know that training could have gone better. I could have not gotten hurt twice during the beginning of the season. I can not and will not let those things be an excuse if I do not run well this Saturday. Ever since I passed out at the Wheaton College meet in the middle of September, I have been working to get in the position that I am today writing the introduction to this weeks blog. I hope that I can write to y’all one more week when the boys prepare to run against some of the biggest names in the country up in Wisconsin. This weeks training will be pretty light, I will try to give you as much detail as I can about how I am feeling throughout the week. One thing that is giving me huge motivation to do well at this race is that a lot of my family are going to try to come up to Waverly and watch us run. So this week I need to feel fresh so I can have the race of my life this Saturday. Hop you enjoy this weeks blog people, I hope I can have some good news at the end of it!
MONDAY
6:33 A.M. 3 Miles in 23:58
Ran three miles this morning with my friend Evan Mills. Pretty normal for me to double on Monday so we don’t want to do anything to drastic for our taper. This afternoon where normally I would run eight miles, I am running seven miles. Legs are already feeling really good from resting this past weekend. Which is a very good sign for where I am. Everything is pointing me towards toeing the line at Noon on Saturday. See you in the afternoon for those easy seven miles.
3:42 P.M. 7 Miles in 52:37
Ran an easy seven in the drizzle today. Felt really relaxed and was not exerting myself at all. A little bit bogged down from having the day off on Sunday, but I know that it was what I needed to start the taper process. Ran with Mason on pavement because I thought I was going to have bathroom issues and I did not want to go to the bathroom on the side of the road in the rain today. Talked with Mason about Saturday a bit, I have to be confident in myself. Coach thinks that our fifth runner needs to be 80th or better for us to make it as a team. But I think we need to be 75th or better. Last year at this meet I was 121st and my third and fourth miles were horrible. For me to have sucess on Saturday I need to get out hard but controlled, stay in it on the second mile, then be willing to hurt for 15 minutes. We are five days out and everything from here is just getting the body primed for Saturday. See you tomorrow for a three mile shakeout run in the morning. Then a light track workout in the afternoon!
TUESDAY
6:46 A.M. 3 Miles in 24:40
Today I did a solo double so I could have a little bit time to set up for my schoolwork today. It was slow and cold, but these runs are just maintence for keeping the legs nice and fresh. See you in the afternoon for the last major workout before regionals.
3:42 P.M. 2 Mile Warm Up
4x1200 2x800
1 Mile Cool Down
We have four days till we fly. Today was a chill workout. Four 1200s at tempo pace (4:06) and two 800s at race pace (2:38). Averaged 4:06 exactly for the tempo 1200s and 2:35 for the race pace 800s. Me, Landon, and Evan were crushing the workout and all feeling good. Hopefully it turns into a good race result on Saturday. See you all tomorrow for a recovery six miles.
WEDNESDAY
Ran six miles with the regional squad today. But boy, was it really cold and really windy. Then I got to watch some of our other teammates run a time-trial. All of our teammates had really good races! Paul, a training partner of mine and great friend, won the time trial in 10 minutes flat. And Matt Stoll had a really strong kick to get second. I won’t go through all the dudes on my team but another dude who I thought ran super well was Max Thomason! He ran a huge personal record, which is awesome for him! The results of my teammates makes me confident that I can run well on Saturday. See you tomorrow for a short taper workout.
THURSDAY
3:46 P.M. 2 Mile Warm up
6x400 meters
One and a half mile cool down
Nice and easy taper workout today. Nothing crazy, just get the legs moving a bit faster than race pace. They all felt smooth. I am more of a strength runner than speed anyway so there was no reason to push these at all! Two days away from the biggest cross country race of my life. Hope that I can run well! See you tomorrow for a short pre-meet run and some strides.
FRIDAY
3:33 P.M. 4 Miles in 30:00
Today was a nice and cold pre-meet run. And the wind was AWFUL, hoping that tomorrow is a bit more peaceful. The temperature isn’t to bad, but the wind is what will make the race tough if there is any. Super stoked for tomorrow, we are going to get AFTER it!
SATURDAY
Some thoughts before I leave for Wartburg with the team. The fall of my 6th grade year my dad and I were playing some golf in October. We were on hole number two and I saw some orange lines on the ground. I asked Dad what they were for and he said “cross country”. I was intruiged then ended up not being big enough to play football, so I gave this sport a try. It was the best decision that I have made in my young life. I have learned so many things through running cross and made some incredible friendships along the way. Today, as I toe the line I know that I will be running again in a week for Nationals, but this sport has given so much to me and I wanted to share some of why it has with you. Now I have to go get breakfast and get my mind and body prepared to run super fast at noon, see you guys later.
11:09 A.M. 2 Mile Warm up
8000 meter race @ 27:31
Embarrassed, sad, and upset. These are the words that I would use to talk about how I ran today. I am embarrassed because I trained at way to hard of a level this season to have it posssibly end in a completely crap filled performance. I am sad because it could be my last cross country race ever, and I love this sport and do not want it to end this way so badly. And I am super upset because I let my teammates and institution down today. I could have done a lot better. I went out at the pace that I should have and just did not have it today. Some good things came out of the meet however, three of my closest friends all qualified individually for the National meet next week (Austin, Mason, Cuyler) and everyone else had a very good day. Coach still thinks that with our 6th place finish we have a 30 percent chance to make it as a team. I hope that it happens but I understand if I am not at the race next week. If we get an at large bid tomorrow I will go ten miles which will be fun. But if we do not I will talk about my goals for track and start my two weeks off. Love you all and hope that tomorrow has good luck for our boys.
SUDNAY
We didn’t make it. And I am very sad. All I can do now is shift my focus to track. This sport has given so much to me and I am super grateful for it. Now we will take a two week break then start training for track.
Thanks for reading along this season
-Gabe
