We had the first race of the season for our varsity runners, and as coach I've got to say I'm mighty proud!
Typically, we've only taken a few kids up to the Tiger Run each year, and for good reason: it's a killer-competitive meet, and HUGE. Starting the season with a meet of this size has wigged out many a runner. It's no way to start the season for the inexperienced, but with so many seniors, I thought we'd give it a try. I'm glad we did! (And our I'm especially proud of our rookie Jonathan! He didn't let it phase him a bit! Way to go!)
Almost everybody started the season with a PR, or awfully close. There was a real correlation between performance and summer training, and that's both reassuring and gratifying. It's nice when effort pays off. That's the plan.
At the same time, starting with a PR means we have our work cut out for us to keep improving. Sure, it's a fast course, but most of us have ran it before, multiple times, in far cooler and less crowded conditions, and gotten worse times. So things look good. But we've got to be prepared to bring our best efforts to daily practice to keep getting better.
A REMINDER: don't compare PRs from course to course. That's deceiving. Make sure you compare times from one course to other times FROM THAT SAME COURSE. Otherwise, you'll be in for some serious confusion and maybe even disappointment. Saturday was the easiest course of the season, in my opinion. Not the easiest RACE, but definitely the easiest COURSE. This Thursday is the hardest (besides our home course, ha ha)--Asbury College--a.k.a. "Death Valley." Don't expect to run Saturday's time this Thursday (although, please feel free to).
We'll be taking more than just the top fives, so wrap your brains around it. Let's have a great week of practice.
Typically, we've only taken a few kids up to the Tiger Run each year, and for good reason: it's a killer-competitive meet, and HUGE. Starting the season with a meet of this size has wigged out many a runner. It's no way to start the season for the inexperienced, but with so many seniors, I thought we'd give it a try. I'm glad we did! (And our I'm especially proud of our rookie Jonathan! He didn't let it phase him a bit! Way to go!)
Almost everybody started the season with a PR, or awfully close. There was a real correlation between performance and summer training, and that's both reassuring and gratifying. It's nice when effort pays off. That's the plan.
At the same time, starting with a PR means we have our work cut out for us to keep improving. Sure, it's a fast course, but most of us have ran it before, multiple times, in far cooler and less crowded conditions, and gotten worse times. So things look good. But we've got to be prepared to bring our best efforts to daily practice to keep getting better.
A REMINDER: don't compare PRs from course to course. That's deceiving. Make sure you compare times from one course to other times FROM THAT SAME COURSE. Otherwise, you'll be in for some serious confusion and maybe even disappointment. Saturday was the easiest course of the season, in my opinion. Not the easiest RACE, but definitely the easiest COURSE. This Thursday is the hardest (besides our home course, ha ha)--Asbury College--a.k.a. "Death Valley." Don't expect to run Saturday's time this Thursday (although, please feel free to).
We'll be taking more than just the top fives, so wrap your brains around it. Let's have a great week of practice.
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