Ladies,
For those present, tonight was a godsend workout in so many ways. The weather finally broke and we had tolerable running conditions (though it was still humid). We ran to the railroad bed, which is always fun, and we got some pretty good quality in there, too.
"Wait, quality? Didn't you say last night it would be an easy workout?"
Fair question, anonymous faceless nameless questioner. Let me explain. "Easy" has a lot of meanings. Easy doesn't mean (necessarily) a total absence of quality. It means less quality, or more accurately, less intensity. It's a relative term, you understand. So lil' Miss Questioner, you need to climb out of that box you've put yourself in and adjust your understanding!
Here's the thing; we're coming down to it. There are so many injuries and so few girls completing workouts, I feel compelled to really push the healthy girls to elevate. My philosophy is always hope for the best but plan for the worst. Worst-case scenario for us is if those girls who are hurt don't get better. As a team, we cannot wait around and depend on that happening. Fact is, it won't for all the injured girls - statistically that doesn't work out.
So if you're healthy, assume you are a top-7 runner. Don't worry about the math - let me worry about that. Now that you are assuming you are a top-7 runner, assume you have to get faster or we don't get out of Sectional. Assume you have to drop a couple of minutes between now and Sectional. Assume the only way to do that is up the quality of every single run, every single day. If everyone who is hurt gets healthy, that's great. If they don't, we're ready.
"Ohhhh... now I see why we are running so hard so often..."
That's right, anonymous faceless nameless epiphany-haver. You've heard me say before your race pace is within a minute to a minute-and-a-half of your training pace? If you run your training runs at 10-minute pace, where does that put you? 8:30 pace at best. Will that get us out of Sectional? Nope. Lower that to 9-minute pace. Now you might be at 7:30 pace. Better, but we still need more. 8:30 training pace? Now you're racing at the 7-minute range. Yeah, that's more like it.
But I'm greedy, and let's face it, we have the talent to do this. What if we had some girls train at 8-minute pace on easy days? Hmmm... if you can relax at 8 minutes, you could race at 6:30. Now you're rubbing up against the school record. Junk miles are okay when you're new or trying to get in shape to train, but once you can train, junk is junk.
Our drill today was about learning to relax at higher rates of speed. It can be done with concentration, and frankly needs to happen now. Give this two weeks, and the paces you girls ran today will be very easy to maintain. We'll have cooler weather too, and hopefully we'll see some very good drops. Here's the catch though... you have to do it. You have to be willing to leave people and spread out. You have to try to kick one another's butts in the hard workouts. You have to focus harder than you ever have. You are all in good enough shape to have big drops from wherever you are, so long as you put your heads in the right place. Put another way, you have to want it so bad you don't think of anything else while you're running.
I think positive thinking is one of the best mental tools to have. Positive to me means I am going forward with a plan that will work, and I have control over how that comes out. This post (and many in the last few days) may sound negative to you, but they really aren't. I am a realist, a pragmatist, and I always look the situation squarely in the eye and try to asses it in as unbiased a fashion as possible. Once done, I determine what I have the power to change, and make my plans accordingly. This gives me control, which is power, which to me makes me feel positive.
We are a deep enough team we can overcome the loss of some runners, but it demands that every single person be ready to run a quality time if the need arises. In the end, we run the 7 fastest runners, whoever that is. If you are not currently in the top-7, there is still time - you could be. Fight for it!
Easy practice tomorrow - only 3 miles. We should easily be done shortly after 4:15. Plan accordingly!
Oh, Saturday's Varsity lineup:
For those present, tonight was a godsend workout in so many ways. The weather finally broke and we had tolerable running conditions (though it was still humid). We ran to the railroad bed, which is always fun, and we got some pretty good quality in there, too.
"Wait, quality? Didn't you say last night it would be an easy workout?"
Fair question, anonymous faceless nameless questioner. Let me explain. "Easy" has a lot of meanings. Easy doesn't mean (necessarily) a total absence of quality. It means less quality, or more accurately, less intensity. It's a relative term, you understand. So lil' Miss Questioner, you need to climb out of that box you've put yourself in and adjust your understanding!
Here's the thing; we're coming down to it. There are so many injuries and so few girls completing workouts, I feel compelled to really push the healthy girls to elevate. My philosophy is always hope for the best but plan for the worst. Worst-case scenario for us is if those girls who are hurt don't get better. As a team, we cannot wait around and depend on that happening. Fact is, it won't for all the injured girls - statistically that doesn't work out.
So if you're healthy, assume you are a top-7 runner. Don't worry about the math - let me worry about that. Now that you are assuming you are a top-7 runner, assume you have to get faster or we don't get out of Sectional. Assume you have to drop a couple of minutes between now and Sectional. Assume the only way to do that is up the quality of every single run, every single day. If everyone who is hurt gets healthy, that's great. If they don't, we're ready.
"Ohhhh... now I see why we are running so hard so often..."
That's right, anonymous faceless nameless epiphany-haver. You've heard me say before your race pace is within a minute to a minute-and-a-half of your training pace? If you run your training runs at 10-minute pace, where does that put you? 8:30 pace at best. Will that get us out of Sectional? Nope. Lower that to 9-minute pace. Now you might be at 7:30 pace. Better, but we still need more. 8:30 training pace? Now you're racing at the 7-minute range. Yeah, that's more like it.
But I'm greedy, and let's face it, we have the talent to do this. What if we had some girls train at 8-minute pace on easy days? Hmmm... if you can relax at 8 minutes, you could race at 6:30. Now you're rubbing up against the school record. Junk miles are okay when you're new or trying to get in shape to train, but once you can train, junk is junk.
Our drill today was about learning to relax at higher rates of speed. It can be done with concentration, and frankly needs to happen now. Give this two weeks, and the paces you girls ran today will be very easy to maintain. We'll have cooler weather too, and hopefully we'll see some very good drops. Here's the catch though... you have to do it. You have to be willing to leave people and spread out. You have to try to kick one another's butts in the hard workouts. You have to focus harder than you ever have. You are all in good enough shape to have big drops from wherever you are, so long as you put your heads in the right place. Put another way, you have to want it so bad you don't think of anything else while you're running.
I think positive thinking is one of the best mental tools to have. Positive to me means I am going forward with a plan that will work, and I have control over how that comes out. This post (and many in the last few days) may sound negative to you, but they really aren't. I am a realist, a pragmatist, and I always look the situation squarely in the eye and try to asses it in as unbiased a fashion as possible. Once done, I determine what I have the power to change, and make my plans accordingly. This gives me control, which is power, which to me makes me feel positive.
We are a deep enough team we can overcome the loss of some runners, but it demands that every single person be ready to run a quality time if the need arises. In the end, we run the 7 fastest runners, whoever that is. If you are not currently in the top-7, there is still time - you could be. Fight for it!
Easy practice tomorrow - only 3 miles. We should easily be done shortly after 4:15. Plan accordingly!
Oh, Saturday's Varsity lineup:
- Danielle
- Alli
- Carrie
- Madison
- Kaitlyn
- Diana
- Chloe
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