Saturday, August 31, 2024

Latter days of Week 2 (Days 9, 10 and 11)

Day 9 (Thursday) was what we now call the "Ben and back run."  Clever, but I can't take credit for it.  Everybody left for the Town Park knowing Ben would arrive first at which point he turned back.  As the other runners reached Ben they too turned back.  Once back at the school Ben continued looping the front field, as did the other runners as they arrived, until all had returned.  Ben got in about 5 miles and his teammates all looked comfortable on an easy day.  

Day 10 (Friday) was 30-35 minutes looping the front field with 5 - 20 second strides within the run.  The challenge was to go 35 minutes and most did just that, with others adding even more after hitting 35 at various points on the loop.  Two separate challenges with the strides and extra time.  Everybody passed the exam!  Emma completed her first 3 Mile run!

Which leads us to the final run of the week, our first "long run" at Burrage Pond, the site of this year's home meets.  I arrived early to set things up on the 3.1 mile flat and fast route, and nearly everybody was in attendance.  Today's (Day 11, Saturday) challenge was to run the longest run thus far by adding one mile to each athlete's longest run over the first two weeks.  EVERY athlete accomplished this while running our 2024 course, which speaks to two things really.  First, the course is as advertised; flat and fast.  But more importantly everybody is improving while gaining fitness and stamina.  Azure ran 3.4 without a stop! A great day for all.  

After a second great week of effort, the athletes will get a well-deserved two-day rest on Sunday and Monday.  We'll be back to work on Tuesday afternoon though at 2:30. We look forward to seeing everyone then as we continue to prepare for our first meet at home (Burrage Pond) on September 10th versus a very talented and highly ranked Marshfield High School.  

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