Week 6
Week six of Mascenic Cross Country began with a buddy run. This consisted of a group of us going out and running in a line at an easy pace, and the person at the back dropping off for about ten seconds, then increasing their speed to pass the group and relax into the lead. This was a solid workout to start the week.
Smith wasn’t at practice on Tuesday (Skippy McSkipsta), so the team had to coordinate their own running plans. Some people got together at the school and went on a fun group run, and others took this day as an oppurtunity to get some individual training in.
On Wednesday we had our first REAL track workout: 300 meters of race pace and about 200 meters of recovery. First real workout because while we’d done this workout earlier on in the season, the first time we did it was so that when we came this time we could hit it out of the park.. We add two more than we did the first time to increase the intensity and up the workload. The team had a really good workout over all, and was a sign that we are getting closer to where we want to be.
The next day was a long run, and the girls team was excited to use this day to break in the new “rundies” we had gotten in the mail that day. (It might’ve just been a placebo affect, but I’m fairly certain they made us run faster.)
Friday was just an easy day in preparation for Coe-Brown the following day.
On Saturday, both the high and middle school teams crammed into a bus to travel up to Coe Brown to compete at the Black Bear Invitational. There were some outstanding performances from both schools, including the Boynton boys getting second place as a team and the girls getting fifth. Watching the middle school races are always enjoyable, as it’s good to see the future of Mascenic looking so bright! Congratulations Bulldogs!
On the high school side, we had a number of good performances, with many people running faster times than they did last year. The Black Bear meet is always a good chance for us to compete against bigger schools and really get a feel for intense races. The girls raced in their new rundies (we looked pretty sharp) and had solid races despite Coe Brown’s difficult course and the crowded trails. We would’ve liked to have placed higher as a team, but we’re looking to work hard and progress. The boys team did really well, placing eleventh out of thirty teams.
Also thank you to Coach Cox for giving Maya and I t-shirts for writing the blog! 🙂
Onto the next week of work and improvement!
-Sophie Callahan
Week 7
The seventh week of the season started off strong, with a round of 800 meter repeats at tempo pace on our course. This is personally one of my favorite workouts, as it allows one to see the course at a quick pace, and gives the team an opportunity to go at a quick pace without getting burnt out.
After 800s, Tuesday included a long run, with fun conversations and adventures as per usual!
Wednesday was raining, so you know what that means? It was the perfect day for our Beaver Run! This is pretty much just when the team gets together and swims through a swamp, nicknamed The Beaver because of the visible dam, in our back trails. However, we still needed to get a quality work out in. We were divided into groups to run a workout where one person would randomly, but intentionally “make a move” by pushing their pace faster than the rest, and the group would have to chase that runner down. After that, to The Beaver! The water was exceptionally low, but that didn’t stop anyone from going across. We left practice that day soaking wet, covered in mud, and smelling like swamp. Tradition!
Thursday we had a typical pre-race run with 30 minutes of easy running followed by six strides and then ten more minutes of running.
On Friday we competed in the Jeri Blair Invite at Belmont. With our first cold meet of the season everyone was bundled up and ready to run. The girls went out fast hoping to get out onto the track without much trouble. The game plan was to run the easiest parts of the two lap course (the downhills and flats of course) as fast as possible to make up for any time lost going uphill. All us girls were feeling pretty strong up until we had about a mile and a quarter left. With Sophie throwing up and the rest of us losing a bit of steam. Overall, I think we did good with Quinn taking 12th and heading home with a t-shirt while Charlotte Crawford PR’d on a course that is actually longer than a 5k.
The boys ran excellent too. This has been one of my favorite meets to see the boys run in. They really showed what they were made of, with all racer’s having killer races. The course calls for a variety of paces and so it seemed as though everyone had someone to try to sprint out at the end. Landen placed 1st, having the 7th fastest time ever ran on the Belmont Course and the team took 2nd overall. A great way to head into championship season!
-The Callahan Sisters
