Wednesday, September 4, 2013

North Harrison is tomorrow!

Ladies,

It's been over a week since you've raced, but I'm sure you're getting the jitters again as we head into tomorrow's race. It'll be a good test, both individually and as a team. We need to start taking note of how other conference foes are running, and we want to see improvement in ourselves.

It's going to be warmer tomorrow than today, though I don't think it'll be bad, especially since we don't race until almost 7 PM. The course is flatter than ours by a wide margin. There will be plenty of people to chase throughout the race, as this will be a much larger meet than most of you have ever run. There's good and bad in it, as you will see.

Remember those sheets I gave you yesterday? Still have those? Look at them. Look at your pace. Focus on that. You can do that pace. Yes, YOU can.

Varsity team for tomorrow:

  1. Danielle
  2. Bret
  3. Carrie
  4. Madison
  5. Kaitlyn
  6. Diana
  7. Lauren


Danielle, Carrie, Bret - 6:55. Help each other out. If Danielle starts you out and begins to flag, Carrie, take over. If she starts to flag, Bret, you take over. Leapfrog one another like this the entire race. Your the pack. If you will work together, focus on one another, you will move through the pack. Remember, none of you can do anything the other two can't follow as long as you believe in yourselves. Just make it happen.

Kaitlyn, Madison, same deal, but at 7:20 pace. Kaitlyn and Madison, you are relatively inexperienced and would likely have relied on Morgan to set the pace. Don't be afraid to push, especially after the first mile. Push one another.

Diana, Lauren... you will probably be on your own (figuratively speaking). The best strategy for you is a smooth first mile, then start passing people. Don't stop passing people! As soon as you pass someone, look to the next one. Keep going until you run out of time.

Keeley... try to win. Seriously. Run like you're wearing stolen shoes.

Chloe, Carlee... take confidence from Monday's workout. You can push harder than you think. Feel yourselves getting stronger as the race goes on.

McKena... you're ready for a breakout. You've looked so much better this week. I know it's going to be a great race for you.

Nicole... Start easy! Start easy! Start easy! Oh, and START EASY!

To all of you... I know some of you have pain right now. You multi-sport girls especially had to know this was going to happen. Our speed workout this week will cause a lot of pain today - which is normal! It has to be done. You have to go through it. It is not easy being fast - if it was, everyone would be fast. Don't believe for a second the girls you're racing tomorrow aren't feeling anything, because I can tell you for a fact they are. The only races you'll be 100% for (if we do it right) is the peak races. Tomorrow is not a peak race. It's important as a stepping-stone to where we want to go. We want to practice getting our game faces on and staring down our competition. We want to learn how to be mentally tough and manage our races. There are plenty of reasons to do it.

But there is absolutely no reason to be afraid.

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