Killing some time while Chloe naps before her big Birthday party with all her school friends...
Alex Balsiger ran again yesterday, went 4:04, for a new PR. The race is pretty cool to watch, there were a lot of kids running really fast, including a freshman by the name of Tyler Cardillo. I have trained with Tyler *tiny* bit, as he summers on Shelter Island and we go there every year to see family and take in the beach and East Coast scene. He is a great kid, super fast, and only a freshman at Florida. Expect some big times form him in the future.
SPOILER ALERT! WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST!
Last night, I talked to Alex on the phone about his race, we talked about some things he could do better, and about some things he did really well. The things that he could improve upon, that is what practice is for. Practice with a purpose. Every time you run, you should work on some aspect of your running to get faster. Junk miles are only when you do not practice with a purpose!
What I was most impressed with, however, was that Alex takes the lead with about 500m to go in the race. He sensed the field was faltering, so he went for the jugular In order to win and get the CSU record. He knew, no matter how much it hurt, he had to go then. But, it didn't work out, he got passed, and ended up getting third by a step. What I was proud of was how he kept fighting, even after he got passed. Most people, when they make a move and it fails, they give up. Not Alex, his passion and tenacity kept him going, and that is an uncoachable trait. Great job Alex, conferences are in two weeks, let's go out and get some more medals!
I got a ton of skiing in yesterday. A couple miles with Chloe and Beth to see Lucy the donkey up at the DTR barn, then 6 miles in a ski orienteering race. Ski orienteering is a blast. You get a map with points marked on it. You have to be able to read the map, then ski to the flag, check in with this cool thumb drive contraption, then ski off to the next flag. Most flags in shortest time wins!
We used to do running orienteering races in the summer, maybe we will start that up again this summer. Because I had a blast, I was out there for about 50 minutes, just hammering it as much as I could. You get frequent rest breaks, (to read the map and orient yourself), then you hammer to the next flag as hard as you can. It's the perfect interval workout. Later the afternoon, I got an overdistance ski in on my own, about 7 miles up and over Lactic Grande, one of the hardest trails I have ever skied. Super long steep uphill, then it is a straight drop back into the field. I skied up to about 9400 feet, but I was sucking wind! Not skiing today is probably a good idea. :)
Tomorrow for practice, we are going to be working on some blending intervals, tempo intervals mixed in with anaerobic intervals. But first, we gotta get that track shoveled. So, bring a shovel, being some warm gloves, as tomorrow is strength first (shoveling) then speed (intervals). This needs to be a quality workout, as I have P/T conferences on Wednesday, so you will be on you own doing a Dartmouth Run
Hope everyone has a great relaxing Sunday, see everyone tomorrow after school.
SEP
No comments:
Post a Comment