Tuesday, September 20, 2016

OWU and a week off going into Williams

Our week leading into Ohio Wesleyan was less than ideal.  We had a lighter workout prescribed for Tuesday that ended up being a really tough one that I ended up cutting short due to some warm temperatures.   I think that workout took a lot more out of us that anticipatied.  Thursday was more of the same.  The problem is we don't want to sacrifice a short term, early season, inconsequential race for long term goals.  So we suffered through.  We had a handful of kids that competed well, several being freshman which is always a huge plus.  We even had a few PR's, but the majority of the results were a little disappointing, so we got back to work and the next day we were on the trails in the Rocky River Reservation for a long run.

Last week we turned a major corner.  We have been together for 5 weeks and things are starting to click.  We had a big time workout Tuesday morning under the lights on the track.  Everyone ran better than their prescribed times and looked good doing it.  They made a difficult workout look easy.  They had great energy in the weight room later that afternoon as well.  All in all a great day.  Friday we followed up Tuesday's workout and lift with another solid effort. I was pleased by the fact that we were able to bounce back from a tough week and a bad race with two solid workouts.

This Saturday we will find out what we are really made of.  Friday we are loading up the bus to head to Williamstown, Massachusetts for the Purple Valley Invite.  We will be racing against 11 regionally ranked women's  teams and 13 regionally ranked men's  team, with 10 from each gender being nationally ranked.  This will be a big time eye opening meet for our young group.  This is a group that has the potential to be successful at a high level down the road so we want them to be exposed to what running at a national level is like now.  Hopefully down the road we will be going to these types of meets to pick up at large points.  It is always a little nerve wracking taking a young group like this but we feel they are ready for this kind of experience and need it now.

We have a light tempo session today, a medium long run Wednesday and a very light workout Thursday leading into the race at Williams Saturday.  I am excited to see our progress not only Saturday but moving forward.  Hopefully last week was an indication of what is to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment