March 11, 2012

A Need for Speed

First things, first- my track team! We had our first meet yesterday, and I am really pleased with the results. I mentioned before that our head coach got fired unexpectedly, leaving the other assistant and I to split up head coach duties. Well, being that he was a bit irritated by his sudden loss of a job, that joker threw away all the athletes' information sheets, including physical forms! We had filed all the forms away in the track desk, and when he left, he took them! We didn't even realize this until a few days before the meet and had to file some new athletes' forms away. We were immediately in panic mode. All the athletes had to round up copies of the forms from their doctors and get their parents to make new copies of insurance information. Booo! In the end, not all the athletes could get it done in time, and we took a MUCH smaller group to the meet than planned.

But... out of 6 schools, we still placed 3rd! I was very nervous beforehand because I know fast and competitive 6A can be, and I wasn't sure our athletes could make the grade. Well, it looks like we will be just fine this season! I'm even more excited than ever for our next meet when we have all the athletes able to participate.

I'm also really enjoying getting to know the kids. For the most part, they all work really hard and are very neat young adults. One of my distance girls even came out to run the local 5K today- the day AFTER a meet! More than that, it was an out and back course, meaning I got a high five from her after the turn around. It felt so good to hear her scream, "Go, Coach!"

Speaking of 5Ks... this morning we really did something off the chain. My training partner, Sam is running Boston and shooting for 3:10. Being that we are so close in most races, we are PERFECT to run together. Her coach wanted her to do a 10K at the end of 20 miler. That meant she had to do 14 pre-race. Wowzers. Well, of course, who does she need to tag along? We set out before 6:00 and finished just in time to pick up our bibs and GO. Being that I am supposed to be in something called "marathon recovery" (whatever the heck that means), I decided to only do the 5K. My boyfriend was doing the 5K and her husband the 10K. Guess what! We had a clean sweep! My fella and I both won the 5K, and Sam and hubby won the 10K! So yeah, I ran 17 miles the week after a marathon, ending in a 5K race that I won. LOL.

Unfortunately, the 50K I was supposed to do at the end of March filled up too early, and I didn't get registered. It's actually a blessing in disguise b/c I found out that my parents are able to visit that weekend. Yay! Since I'm not doing the 50K, I've decided to focus on my shorter race distances for a few months. I sat down this week and made myself a 12 week training plan using some stuff from Jack Daniels. I basically planned key workouts of each week, and will feel the rest with easy mileage. Being that I will be doing 2-3 workouts each week, I am planning for a much lower weekly average of mileage. I'm okay with this. I've got an incredible base right now, but my legs are just missing that pop and turn over. I'm hoping with less miles and more speedwork, I will start to see some progress with my 5K-10K times.

Well, that's a wrap! Run Happy, friends!

6 comments:

  1. What a way to leave a team and a new coach. That is just bitterness to the extreme. It's great that you were able to get any of the team members ready to race in that short of time.

    I am excited for your 12 week plan and to see what you can do with the 5-10k races! Great job on the sweep :)

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  2. Oh my gosh, what an ex-coach! Congrats on your track meet. You are such an awesome coach.

    And congrats on your 5k! You rock!

    I feel you on the shorter distances. I am kind of over long slow distances. I think it will be fun to actually train for 5k and 10ks for a bit.

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  3. Yay Bears!! Congrats on a great start, coach! You set such a good example for running happy!

    And a 5k win after a marathon...don't know if I have a comment for that LOL... You kids are awesome! :)

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  4. Don't take it out on the kids if you lose your job!!!! That is just awful. Glad the meet still went well for you.

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  5. So much goodness here! Congrats on the clean sweet, how fun. And the track meet, so cool (but that was nasty of the ex-coach to mess with the records, what a jerk). So cute with the high-5 for your athlete ("your athlete"...neato, huh?).

    And lastly, VERY cool on the short racing season. Because the races you've been doing (and winning) have all been in the midst of marathon training, there are going to be some HUGE PRs coming your way. Like...HUUUUUGE! Plus, you enjoy it, so it's win-win all the way. Can't wait to follow this new cycle.

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  6. Er, clean sweep, not sweet. Though it was sweet!

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