5/28

Fin.

Last track meet of my high school career. What a fabulous race to end the year on-- a 4x4 that had all individuals PRing and running competitively in the heat. Not raining, not too hot, not too windy. I will reserve my words for a more conclusive blog post later (towards graduation day perhaps) but it is so much a bittersweet moment. I am eternally grateful to Wellesley high School, Coach Chisum, and the middle distance group and the track team as a whole.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

VICTORYYY!

5/27

Last track practice! A bit bittersweet. Like the rest of senior year. Today was VERY hot so we ended up running through sprinklers and going to Truly's! Lemon Sorbet is delicious.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

5/26

Not many blog posts left! Today was a quick workout--11 up then 8x30/30 on off fartleks with the rest of the way a cool down. Just short of 30 min total for a run. It was really warm and humid but the run and workout felt good--I felt nice being able to keep up and run as a group.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

5/25

A nice Finish the 400 workout today--the first time I've ever done it! Possibly a 39.9 300m (maybe 40 VERY low)--and a 15 to follow that. What a party. 15 up and down. Very warm and sunny today!

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

5/24

FUN WORKOUT. 3x200 at very fast. 28 30 30 (first one was a tad fast...) All was good. Tapering week is pretty chill.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

5/23

Mile with 50 sprint 50 jog. Very smooth and intense (but only briefly). Ran with Joseph for the whole thing--solid 8:04 mile time. Weather was mild, no rain thankfully. Not humid!

Punch Buggy Status: 17-15

5/21

So since I've been getting over a cold this entire week and I woke up feeling not too fabulous today, I didn't have high expectations for this tough workout.

Then the workout came. A nice slow warm up and then strides and drills. 600m in a solid 1:33 (29-31-33 splits) and then a 34 after that. Wow I wish I could run 2:07! 28.4 and 28.9 for the 2x200 that followed. Solid day! Everyone did quite well today. I wish I could be this satisfied with a race! 1:33 is a 4 second PR.

And GREAT final CFAW Performance tonight as well!

Punch Buggy Status: 17-14

5/20

It was sunny today! For the first time in a week. I loved it. It happened during our run too-which was even more awesome. Listening with Ben Griswold to Dan James and Chandler (and Ryan) talk about their next year video running plans was quite enjoyable.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-14

5/18

Normally I would be somewhat satisfied with a race. Normally waiting 5 hours to race in the cold rain would be kind of annoying. Today was a fun BSC meet--an interesting environment that is somewhere between a dual meet and a large state meet like Twilight. I enjoyed partying with the track team on the bleachers and I came away with a 57.4 4x4 split with Dan O'Neill, Dan Wilkins (who ran his last race today! I will sincerely miss him) and Ryan Chan. My first PR ever in this season.

Punch Buggy Status: 17-14

5/17

A nice 27 brook path through town loop in the light rain. Enjoyable!

Punch Buggy Status: 17-14

5/16

An interesting 150m buildups (8 of them actually). Was quite hard on the muscles but not cardio wise. Hamstrings will hopefully be good tomorrow. I think 16 up and 25 ish down. Solid day. Didn't even rain to hard!

Punch Buggy Status: 17-14 (got TWO today!)

5/14

Today was an interesting workout--1k (3:35) and then 9x200 with 45 sec rest at 31.5-32mid for all of them! I was quite happy to have completed all of them at the proper pace--I think the road flats helped. Also having Joseph and Dan and company to run with and draft off of was nice--we could share the work that way. 15 up and down. Tiring Day!

Punch Buggy Status: 15-14

5/13

Today I ran less than what I would have liked, but it was the annual Dan Wilkins jump the brook day. Which he did with astounding success. What beautiful weather for a run! 5 flat strides on the grass to follow.

Punch Buggy Status: 15-14

5/12

Nice drills + 4x400 at 800 opening goal / 2 mile cruise (200m for each). I think next time I need to go faster on the first 200s--32 mid is not exactly ideal (more like 31 high or 32 point).

Punch Buggy Status: 15-14

5/11

A Nice 58 minute Waban + linden loop with Andrew. Very relaxing as a post AP stat run! 4 flat strides to follow.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/10

AP French Conquered!

Track meet today! Not a great 800 but I'm happy with 3/4ths of the race for the most part so I'll work on the kick and the speed. Im glad we went out in 32. And 600m was 1:37ish so that's on pace. A little windy and chilly today. Good performances all around!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/9

AP Physics C exam today sooo got to practice a little late...

Did a nice smooth 33 minutes + 5 downhill strides. Wellesley Loop was a nice reflective run. I made sure to run on my toes for the strides, as tomorrow's 62-66 will require that =)

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/7

Twilight Invitational!!

This is by far one of the most fun meets of the year! SO MANY AWESOME RUNNERS AND PERFORMANCES. From James' 4:30 mile to Dan+ Joseph 2:07 and 2:06...so impressive. I will get that! I promise. 2:13-2:14 today--just need to go out harder!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/6

Well, a lovely day for a short warm up and cool down plus an easy set of drills. Awesome weather. Matt White came back to visit!

Twilight Tomorrow!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/5

Cinqo De Mayo! Don't know how to spell that.

Anyways today was an interesting 4 (4x200) workout. It was a great show of teamwork as Mid distance worked together in pacing and drafting and all that--we even did lanes for the faster repeats! Weather was very erratic...rain then sun then rain and sun again. We had to do our workout quickly because of the middle school track meet (where Elsey ran a 5:18 mile...). Overall I felt the workout was not as bad as the 12x200 at 800 goal pace (especially because we had more rest for this one) and I think it was a good exercise in pacing. 42-43 for two mile, 37 for mile, 32 for 800, and 27 high for 400.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-12

5/4

A very wet day. Lots of singing during our waban + some run. Ran with Joseph, Ben, Nick, Sarah, Carlijn, and Teddy for the most part. Ended with 60ish minutes and 6 strides on the track. Twilight Meet this Saturday!

Punch Buggy Status: 12-12

5/3

Though I did not PR today, I was rather pleased with my races (double 4x4 split and 800m) and I was amazed by some other performances! A 2:11 800m and a 58.3 400m are within a few tenths of a second of my actual PRs so I'll take these times for now. The 800m was an exceptionally fun race to run and I wish I had beat that milton guy...I remembered him from the 1k when I lost to him by 6 seconds. And today it was like .2...GAH. Ah well.

Punch Buggy Status: 12-11

5/2

B-10 run on the lovely blue arrow trail with a group of rambunctious freshmen. It was very musical as we sang pretty much the entire way while maintaining a steady pace. Lovely run! Big 800 tomorrow against Milton.

Punch Buggy Status: 12-11

4/30

The relay meet is one of the most exciting meets of the year, despite the 11 hours it occupies. I was not satisfied with today's 800m as I have never had the problem of going out too fast before. I suppose I shall have to wait till next time to run that 2:08. The 4x4 and 4x8 qualified today though!

Punch Buggy Status: 11-11 (Joseph likes getting me while I sleep...)

4/29

Today was rather warm but also rather nice! Did a nice abridged waban loop with Joe and Nick and then did handoff practice afterwards in preparation for the relay meet tomorrow-I'm SO excited!!

Punch Buggy Status: 11-9

4/28

Weather was humid! And a little drizzly and breezy, which definitely helped. 8 x 150 at mile / 800 / 400 pace. The practicing gear changing was useful--I think it'll help a LOT with the 4x8 on Saturday. IM SO EXCITED for that. Also got a solid 25 up 25 down ish to make my total mileage 7 for the day.

Punch Buggy Status: 10-9 (+3 today! what a comeback)

4/27

Today was rather disappointing! I enjoyed the nice weather but my races were rather unspectacular. I suppose we all have our down days. A lot of impressive performances though by other athletes! Joseph, James, Chandler, Dan, and Ryan to mention a few.

Punch Buggy Status: 7-9

4/26

Today was an unusually light pre-race day; we ended up doing wellesley college loop + 6 downhill strides afterwards. I'm glad the weather turned out great after the ugliness this morning!

Punch Buggy Status: 7-9 (I guess Joseph coming back has both pros and cons haha)

4/25

Not rainy today surprisingly! Only a few drizzles and then it cleared up! Today was a nice 6x400 at tempo effort, which was difficult because of the numerous turns that caused massive decellerations. But that's okay. 14 up 14 down

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8 (JOSEPH COMES BACK TOMORROW!)

4/24

Ran on Sunday because Saturday was rainy and miserable! But today I went with Dan Wilkins and Scott Kavoogian (who came back for Easter weekend!) and that was very fun. Blue arrow trail with decent weather (warm but breezy)! Then 6 flat strides on the track. 44min run total.

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8 (Joseph comes home tomorrow!)

4/22

Happy Earth Day!

Today's workout was TOUGH. 12x200m at goal 800 pace with decreasing rest in sets! AIYA. Oof. Then 10x hills. Splits were all 32-34. 16 up 14 down. Calf muscle got really tight just before the hills..fortunately that went away. I hope it doesn't stay!

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8 (JOSEPH COME BACKKK)

4/21

Today was rather windy but sunny as well. A nice day for a B+ run--I got quite sweaty at the end because of the heat. I ran with Dan Wilkins around Waban from Hardy ish, for a total of 63 minutes + 6 strides on the grass. Successful day.

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8

4/20

Race day--NN is always scary...I was pretty happy with my 2:12 800m though! 64-68 isn't too bad of a differential, and when speed phase arrives it'll be even better. 14 up 800m, 3x400 (84,80,82) and 15 down for the day.

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8

4/19

B run today with Andrew--blue arrow trail while talking about colleges! Fun haha.
46 min and 5 strides.

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8

4/17

BAA Mile! SOO MUCH FUN. Not a great time but a great experience. I like how the weather cleared up and became sunny for our race =)

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8

4/16

So I woke up today planning to do hills but because of the race tomorrow we opted out of that. A trusty crew of 9 showed up -- it was neat to watch them and see how strong everyone was. Sad that last week was my last week of hills then. Anyways, getting ready for the BAA Mile tomorrow--should be fun!

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8

4/15

Back from Yale! Beautiful day for a Waban run--a nice 53 min or so plus 6 strides on the aqueduct and field. All felt good today. Happy Vacation!

Punch Buggy Status: 7-8 (SUCCESS!)

4/12

Meet day! Much better conditions! Sunny and not too windy but not too warm either. Against Dedham we had a pretty solid win. I was pretty happy with my results: the two mile was rough but it was the first time that I came in first this season and had the gun go off for me on the final lap. The open 400 / helping andrew break 60 was fun too--good exercise in speed. Cooled down to the library and back after stopping for some fresh fruit and a post-cool down cookie =)

Punch Buggy Status: 6-8

4/11

What a wonderful day! I had a cramp the entire run though which was annoying. Thank you Joseph for waiting and putting up with me. The cramp finally went away after the 56 minute run as we did strides and jogged back to the track. ugh. hope it goes away tomorrow! Was a nice waban run nonetheless.

Punch Buggy Status: 6-8

4/10

Hills on a sunday morning! The weather was SO WARM. I felt legitimately hot for the first time during a workout this season. We did 15 up 16 down and 31:24 on the hill: a beautiful workout for the day. I loved it. Felt good pretty much the whole way through minus a random cramp due to a dairy heavy breakfast. Did loops with James and Sarah.

Punch Buggy Status: 5-7

4/8

So today was MICCA WHICH WAS AWESOME. But this is not the place to talk about that. So I did my circuit workout with 26 total warm up and cooldown...not ideal but I was in a hurry. Abs a bit sore but I think I need another week of strength at least with these interruptions. Sigh.

Punch Buggy Status: 5-7

4/7

What a beautiful day for a run! did 61 minutes with Joseph Ben and Brendan on Blue Arrow Trail. High 50s, slight breeze, and sunny skies made it an awesome run! As did the company of other runners. Then 6 speedy downhill strides. Awesome.

Punch Buggy Status: 5-7

4/6

Meet day! Not a terrific time for the mile and I'm a bit frustrated with not being able to catch up to #3. I'm looking forward to the 800m next meet. 5:11.2 today...sub 5 before the end of the season I hope! MUCH better weather today! As I typed in the meet results I was also impressed with a lot of the efforts people put in and how people went up to new challenges (such as John in javelin or our throwers dominance and James in long jump, chandler in HJ, etc.). Lots of deserving fruit snacks tomorrow. Finished with a nice 4x400 repeats (75-89-83-83) haha those first two were weird...

Punch Buggy Status: 5-7

4/5

Another relatively miserable day weather wise, though better than yesterday. Did Needham loop with a jolly group of freshmen (Joseph, Ben, Carlijn, and Brendan). They were quite amusing and fun to talk to! 8 Miles ish with 5 downhill strides to finish up the day.

Punch Buggy Status: 5-6

4/4

Well, ran inside the school for 50 minutes today then did 4 uphill strides on the math hall way ramp and corridor. A nicely improvised workout! We spent the base run searching for a coin that Chandler or someone else had hid so it was kind of exciting. We did manage to find it on the third floor eventually.

Punch Buggy Status: 4-5

4/2

Temple hill today. Fun as always--it always gets really tiring the last 100m even though the hill levels off a bit more. Tried to stay with Joseph the entire time along with Dan O Neil and Dan Wilkins. Spent a good 30 minutes on that hill. Weather was decent but got chilly and rainy towards the end. 15 up 19 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 4-5

4/1

First day of April! Lots of snow doesn't look like spring weather...

Today was a very nice set of drills without power drills. The strides at the end felt really good (the whole set was pretty good overall). 15 up 13 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 3-5

3/31

Meet day! A WIN AGAINST BRAINTREE!!! So awesome.

The weather today was quite interesting! Anyways, ran a 400 in 58.2 seconds...which I'll take for early in the season. Will aim for 56 by the end of the season. Not much to say now since I have to be somewhere soon. Next Race I'll focus on form for the latter half of the race. I did work on increasing stride frequency during the last 125m or so today.

Did 4x400 at 85-84-82-80 pace afterwards with Dan accompanied by Dan and Caroline.

Punch Buggy Status: 3-5

3/29

Circuits! Today felt SO MUCH BETTER than last week. The exercises actually felt right. The grass was a nice surface to stride on and the sun was out and it was a blast. Loved it.

Punch Buggy Status: 3-5

3/28

Well not much happened today--did a 15 min warm up, only got 2 1000 m repeats on the track (though it was nice that I could pace by myself-- 3:40 and 3:39 respectively) I did miss the company of everyone else. Such good weather too! I heard Carlijn also joined track so that's a plus to our MD group.

Punch Buggy Status: 3-4 (I even saw TWO today...where is Joseph when you need him)

3/26

Hill drills at Elm Bank! Sunny and windy weather. Did about 30 minutes and some on the hill. Felt the workout as more of a cardio than strength (though I may feel it in the morning). I do need to work on aerobic fitness in addition to muscle strength. Overall felt good, had over 1 hour of running total today too.

Punch Buggy Status: 3-4

3/25

Happy Friday! Today's weather was BEAUTIFUL though cold when it was windy. We did canadians today including the power drills. We managed the set as Coach Chisum was busy but it worked out pretty well. Had about 28 total warm up + cooldown. Maybe a bit sore tomorrow from frog jumps..

Punch Buggy Status: 3-4

3/24

Today was a lot of mileage! I liked it. We had 35 min ish warm up + 5 x 1000 repeats with 30-45 seconds rest! It was quite intense. I felt quite tired from the 3rd onwards. The paces were quite consistent actually going from 3:50, 3:48, 3:47, 3:48, and 3:49. Thankfully I had joseph to run with and keep me going--the last 400m on the final 3 1000s were brutal. Finished with 15 min cooldown. Ran with Sarah Nina and Joseph as a whole for most of the day. Got one punch buggy too!!

Punch Buggy Status: 3-4

3/23

B+ run. 62 minutes today on an extended waban loop. Kind of chilly but no precipitation! went with a relatively larger group today! Ben Griswold, Ben Scammel, Brendan Chu, and Joseph accompanied me on our run! Purposefully avoided hills as we'll be getting plenty of strength these days. Muscles felt less sore after the run!! Finished with 5 downhill strides by the aqueduct.

3/22

EXHAUSTION.

First day of circuits! 4 fun sets. The sets this year I felt were a bit harder as they combined strength and core together, getting progressively harder throughout the set. Nice to have the track back for strides and 400s though! Most of which (all but 1) were on pace at 83 seconds. I felt like I could do the strength better than the abs (faltered a little on the last two sets) despite all my pre-season ab work. Ah well. Weather was meh. A bit cold and cloudy for my opinion. Hope for spring soon!

12 up 20 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 1-2. Joseph got me right before the workout started...

3/21

Today was the first day of outdoor!! Unfortunately it didn't feel like it with the wind and snow stinging our faces. Nonetheless, we did pond loop (James, Joseph, and I) and it was rather enjoyable as a whole. Went to corda hill for 5 uphill strides afterwards; total run was 56 minutes or so. Muscles were kind of tired from the extra layers and not having run that long for a week or so.

Punch Buggy Status (lives on against joseph!): 1-1

3/18

Friday! SUCH A NICE DAY. Spring most definitely! Went for a short 20 ish run just to enjoy the air after playing frisbee with chris. Felt so good to run in shorts and t shirt!

3/17

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day for running! For anything really. Quite warm, light breeze and blue skies! Today I did Waban with joseph chris and Danny--a nice fast freshman crew. There was still a bit of snow here and there and it was muddy, but waban as a whole was quite runnable! 51 min total

3/16

Today was a bit rainy and dreary. Went out for a 20 ish min warm up and came back to do abs with Kitae, Alex, and Bijan. Those went pretty well--showed them some circuit drills! Gotta get those abs ready for outdoor.

3/15

Today was SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY!! Went for a run on blue arrow trail--a place I haven't visited in ages!! Most of the trail was melted--the only problem was there was a lot of mud. Despite this, most of the trail was clear! The sunny day was perfect for shorts and t shirt --quite a fun run! Felt good and fast!

3/14

Happy Pi Day!!

Sooo today it snowed! Unexpected surprise. But I was armed with underarmor, gloves and headband so it went well. Was a bit lonely but the sky turned a little blue at the end. Yaay! A solid 52 minutes. Waban was still somewhat iced over so I left that halfway through and went to Pond. Fun fun.

3/11

So today, aptly termed "t-shirt and shorts" day by Peter and Rachel, we went on a fast paced Needham loop. I started the day thinking about drills but I suppose we went on the long run. Wow it was fast. I think all our miles were ~7:30 or faster...Quite tiring in the end. Fortunately it did not rain too much and when we got back the sun started to come out!! 55 minutes total.

3/10

So today I went for a fun 46 minutes with Danny and Chris Ulian (whom I have not ran with since XC!). We did Glen loop near cliff ~6 miles. Was very fun. The weather was a bit gray sadly--but when we came back, we played frisbee a little with Chris Lu and then we did some abs with chandler and other people who were there--quite a party! Even got 2 punch buggies today!

3/9

Ran a nice 35ish with John and DANNY today (who finally decided to come back...). Had to ImPACT test afterwards...at least got that out of the way. Today was decent i guess...the weather wasn't great and the trails are still snowed over a bit.

3/8

Did a nice 46 minutes today in the nice sunny weather! Not that cold. Sadly it was lonely because Danny didn't bring his clothes. Sigh. But I went back and did some abs with Chandler James and Andrew! Those felt interesting...especially since I haven't done them in like 2-3 months. More tomorrow!

3/7

Today was so sunny! And very windy. I went for a lovely 6-7 mile run with Peter and James. Everything felt very nice =)

3/5

Ran with scott again today! Was quite warm. Did a nice easy 6 through town and back.

3/4

Ran with Scott Today! nice to see him back from college. Did the same loop as yesterday except a bit longer while going through the campus. Weather was very nice and sunny though a bit windy and cold. Loved all 42 min of it!

3/3

Oof. Cold today. Muscles a bit sore. The weather was beautiful though! Blue skies and sun. Ran with Chris Lu for a nice 44 minutes + 4 strides on the OUTDOOR track which has a lot of snow removed! Felt good to run.

Punch Buggy Status: 1-1

2/28

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! Yay! Break is over.

So, first day back = time to rebuild base! 30 minutes on ellipitical (to get warmed up nice and easy) and + 22 minutes outside with sarah who needed to finish her run to the precise minute. Solid 52 minutes overall.

Running again felt great though unusually tiring--what else would I expect though? haha. Im glad to be on the road back to track--one last season to make it count! The elliptical is SO BORING though the fitness center community consists of nice people like kitae rachel chandler and dan.

To End the Season

Seeing as vacation has begun in earnest and I now take my 1 week respite from running, it's definitely an appropriate time to speak.

First and foremost, I will miss everyone with whom this was my last chance to run. This means (potentially) Chris Lu, Danny, Coach Kelley, and all those other people who I will not see in outdoor. Fortunately I will be running with some of them before graduation and college. I think this season, although somewhat unspectacular from the sub-5minute standpoint (or even varsity points--I got less than last year), was definitely a fun one. Snow days did end up interfering with part of it. Nonetheless, I did get to race at BSC for the first time (even though I was supposed to be in it both seasons last year) and I definitely felt a little bit stronger and faster than last year. I met a lot of my goals: 25ish in the 200, 57ish in the 400, sub 3 (2:58.16!) in the 1000, and a 3:39 in the 1200m. Though the mile goal still eludes me, I still have one more season. Recharge and drive ahead!

This week break will probably be dedicated to resting and homework--a bit IRP sound and the fury paper to do by Monday. It's snowing right now too--I didn't think it would before spring. Kind of a calming sight. It's sad that there's only 1 season left. Bittersweet. But to be honest, the season never ends. Running lasts forever.

Final Punch Buggy Status: 15-17. You win Chris Lu. =)

"No Day But Today" - Rent

2/19

Today was the end of indoor season--more importantly it was the DII Championships, which is an exciting meet to be in and watch! A lot of impressive performances today...I remember John's 1 mile with a beautiful negative split 4:38--he even went out the first 400m in last place. Smart race. 1000 and mile for girls were quite good too. The 4x4 girls got 1st...which seems to happen whenever they race. James ran a 4:31 mile and got 6th! boys 4x8 team ran in the fast heat with a mis-seeded time and didn't do poorly. I had fun the 4x400 too--we didn't come in last and no one in our heat qualified soo it's okay.

Farewell Indoor Season! Break time

2/18

Thankfully the headache went away! Now it's just some coughing and congestion. Preparing for the 4x400 tomorrow. Today was a nice 16 minute run with 4 strides--again, even nicer weather than yesterday! Sadly tomorrow will not be so wonderful supposedly. Last indoor race for a while tomorrow!!

2/17

So today's post is one day late because I had such a huge headache after coming home last night that I fell asleep immediately and barely finished my hw. The workout itself was not bad at all--just a 15 up 15 down thing + 5 x 200 at 1k pace. The splits were 34-34-34-34-33 (all mids), probably the best I could have hoped for. The weather was perfect too! Just a lot of puddles from the snow melting.

2/16

Today was actually my last math meet as a highschooler, which is kind of sad =( It was fun nonetheless despite the low scores! I am sad to go.

So instead of the miracle mile, I did go to the math meet. I did a 30 min b run instead (due to time constraints of blue block). I was debating doing something fast but during the first 15 min my stomach felt awful because I was running so soon after lunch. Fortunately it seems the run helped me digest as the last 10 min felt much better and more relaxed. The weather was GORGEOUS and sunny! somewhere in the low 40s. Perfect.

Post Season Punch Buggy Status: 0-1

2/15

Today was a nice moderate workout with speed intensity. 8x150 progression from 1 mile to 800 to all out. With the small group we had, the workout was quite fun. The everso useful hamstring stretch at the end really helped me loosen up too because at the beginning during the warm up, I was SO TIGHT.

14 up 20 down =)

2/14

Somehow I was under the impression that my season was over. Fortunately it's not! Although that means I have to regenerate by fitness very quickly.

Today's fartleks went by alright--felt fast (probably because Joe was leading and because I missed a few too many extra days). Stuck to only 12. I don't like doing minimum work =/ ANYHOW tomorrow will be more moderate speed work (moderate in terms of difficulty not in speed). The weather today was perfect! T-shirt and shorts could have worked today. AWESOME!!!

2/10

Went for a nice short B run with Danny and Nina today. The roads were all icy! We stayed on the main streets as long as possible and avoided cars. The loop took us through wellesley college and back. Probably around 44 minutes--it was nice because it was the first B run ish that I've done in FOREVER. The weather was great too! Just a little cold without much wind.

Punch Buggy Status: 15 (+4 in chris's absence) - 17

2/9

Not much to say today. 5:08...gah CAME SO CLOSE. Went through first 6 laps pretty much on pace--fairly aggressive in my opinion too! Last two laps killed me =/ DARNNNN! That 5 minute mile still eludes me.

On the bright side, the 4x200 was REALLY FUN and we came within 3 seconds of qualifying. I even ran a 25-high 26 low ish split. That's a record! Maybe if we worked on handoffs and if that freaking other team didn't block my 200m during their DQ'd handoff I might've ran 24-25. That'd be interesting!

EVEN BRIGHTER was the fact that so many people qualified and ran excellent races today! Sarah and Carlijn ran like 3:14 and 3:15, Nina qualified with 5:51, nate levin PRd with a 1:32, nick and kevin ran 37 and 38 300ms...The 4x4 qualified, James ran a 4:32, John qualified with a 4:43 ish....and countless other successes! What a day!

Punch Buggy Status: 15-17. Looks like Chris wins.

2/8

Alas the indoor season is coming to a close! I'm excited for the BSC meet tomorrow--my chance to break 5 in the mile in an awesome meet. Today's drills went by smoothly, warming up and cooling down with danny for the most part. The weather was quite windy and somewhat cold as a result. The rain made all the streets worse--so we ran on the road for most of it. I believe we had about 17 up and 22 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 15 (+1 and +2 from past two practices when chris was absent...sigh) - 17

2/7

Today was progression 200s! And Chris Lu was there! The first 3 were actually fast--attempting to do them by effort produced some odd times. After that adjustment, the rest of them were all int he 35 range, which was fairly consistent and felt proper. Footing on twitchell was pretty decent actually, minus a few large puddles here and there. Much better than the rest of wellesley though. 17 up 16 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 15 - 17

2/6

So today we drove over to Comm Ave (first time for me!) for our fartlek run. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with only a little wind to complement the gorgeous sun and blue sky. The icy and slushy roads however, were kind of problematic--but Comm Ave's side road was in a much better condition than the state of most of wellesley.

For the fartleks I ran with Danny, which was very fun. We had 20 up, 12 30 on 30 off and 22 ish back for a 55 minute total run. Very nice. Got one green punch buggy too, but sadly chris wasn't there =(. We did have a lovely brugher's snack afterwards!

Punch Buggy Status: 15 (+1) - 17

2/4

2:58.16. Met my 2nd Indoor Goal (sub-3 in the 1000). One more to go!

This race was interesting in that having it on a Friday Night was a new experience for me. With all the snow days and breaks beforehand I was not sure how well this race would go. I probably could have ran faster somewhere...

If you look at Jessie's blog post not too long ago, she references a quotation about time:

"Because Father said clocks slay time. He said time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life" (85).

I had this quotation in mind during the 1200m relay split as well--I took off my watch for both races (1200m and 1000m) and told myself to ignore splits and go like a race. Race aggressively and race to win. While I'm sure there was room for more aggressiveness, the results were more impressive than if I had raced with a watch constantly focusing on pace. Perhaps those numbers are a good start, but perhaps I might race better without them. Of course if my splits were awful, then I have to readjust and make it more even and smooth. But otherwise, I think making time come to life during a race is much more exciting!

13 up 17 down...not much room to warm up late at night in roxbury

Punch Buggy Status: 15-17

2/3

First of all, this may have been my last workout with Chris Lu FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE (or at least a while) so therefore I dedicate this post to him. I hope he does outdoor, but if that is not possible for whatever reason I am grateful for his company and all his help and encouragement this season. I don't think I would have had as much fun without him. THANK YOU CHRIS LU!

Today the drills went by smoothly, with a 25 up and 25 down (extra mileage!). The sun made the trees sparkle because of all the ice--it was quite beautiful to watch!

Punch Buggy Status: 15-17 (Got ANOTHER one today! Maybe too late to win it though...)

1/31

Fartleks today! This time 16 x 30/30. Felt even better than last time, though perhaps this is what peak phase is supposed to be like OR we weren't going fast enough...though we were going pretty fast. Got 52 minutes total going towards Pond through Wellesley College.

Punch Buggy Status: 14! - 17 got a green one today!

1/29

Not too chilly today. 12x100 windsprints on washington street with 100 jog after each one. The intensity was quite high--definitely something I haven't done all season. I think it's good practice for kicking, which I desperately need to work on. Also concentrated on form a bit including arms. The 4x200 that followed with 30 sec rest felt good effort wise--perhaps doing the 100 sprints earlier helped. Got 17 up and 26 down!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-17

1/28

Lovely 55-60 min ish so Run--good mileage WITH a 15 minute tempo piece in the middle. Snow and slush made it difficult and probably slowed it down a bit, but effort was consistent. Overall the weather was quite nice. Felt a lot like a cross country race all over again. Good to have the mileage too!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-17

1/26

10am practice today with no school! Weather was quite warm compared to a few days ago, despite it being only slightly above freezing. I ran with Nina to the high school for a nice 25 minute up. 2 Sets of drills went by smoothly, though the pounding on the cement wasn't too good for the knees. Ended with 16 down or so.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/25

Fartleks! 16x30sec on off. Total 62 minutes. It was so nice to have some mileage in nice weather for once! Haven't done a B run in forever. The snow made fartleking a little harder than usual--a 85% effort would be much slower than 85% pace, so to speak. We stayed on the roads as much as possible, such as route 16, wellesley college, and 135. Was very fun.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/24

Wow SO COLD TODAY!! Ai. Glad to have brought all those gloves and layers. 16 up, 12x200 along washington street at goal 800 pace. Most of the times were consistent; going one way was faster than going back though because of the ice. Thus the times were 31-32 one way and 32-33 the way back. Felt quite good--speed phase is working! My stomach felt terrible on the cooldown though (because of the cold I think I got a stomach ache) so thus I cut it short outside and did the rest of it inside. I hope my stomach can handle the cold of the fartleks tomorrow!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/22

Race! Relay meet. This is one of my favorite meets each year. Both girls and boys 4x800 teams did quite well, placing in top 6 and qualifying. Freshman 4x4 broke 4 minutes as well. I ran the DMR--the 1200m leg in 3:39. That was probably one of my best races this year as well as one of the most fun. If i can put that same effort into the Mile, I think breaking 5 is possible. We almost came in 1st in our heat as well!

17 up 27 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/21

Snow day! Running today was interesting. I just wanted to get rid of lactic acid or anything bad in my legs before the meet tomorrow...I had it at just 25 minutes or so. Mileage will be going back up next week. Conditions were iffy at best, with some sidewalks not even plowed yet. Everything felt good though.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/20

Race Day! 5:07.93 in the mile. An indoor PR..but still 3 seconds away from my total PR. Ah well. Pacing went better than last mile--800 in 2:30. Gotta pick it up lap 6. I am very grateful to have Danny in the race--we helped each other a bit. 1600m on Saturday--looks like another chance! Felt faster than last mile too, which was good. 15 up 19 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/19

So today was the math meet--therefore I ran in the fitness center fifth block on a treadmill. VERY BORING AND MONOTONOUS. Got in 30 minutes before I had to leave and prepare for English. It felt nice in that after 8 minutes or so I got into a comfortable rhythm at 7:53pace ish. I AM excited for the meet tomorrow!

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/17

Speed workout! Another one. 4x200 at goal mile, 800, and then 400 pace with 3 minutes jog rest between and 30, 45 and 60 seconds rest inbetween the 200s. Quite speedy. Definitely got hard by the 400s. Paces were fairly consistent throughout--about 1 repeat per set was slow. Times of 37-32-28. I'd like to run 4:56, 2:08 and 56 seconds before graduation. Weather was VERY VERY cold today! Brr! I need thicker gloves. Nice and sunny though. 15 up 15 down.

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16

1/15

BROKE 100 MINUTES OF RUNNING for probably the first time in my career. Today was 15x400m repeats, alternating sets of 3 fast (65-67s) and 3 slow (83-85) with jog recovery. Whew. It was definitely an exercise in concentration especially towards the end when we had spent 70 minutes on washington street alone. It was FRIGID today in the 10s-20s, but fortunately there was no wind and the sunny blue skies were quite nice! I think soreness will be there tomorrow but it was quite an intense workout, though with rather ample recovery.

16 up 14 down.

Waking Pulse: 14

Punch Buggy Status: 13-16 (Got TWO today!)

1/14

Long run today! Went for 81 minutes + 6 strides. Very nice. Footing was iffy the whole way through, though it wasn't icy which was good. The snow cushioned the impact a bit. Went to Pond through brook path + wellesley college and then turned around. First ten minutes were with John for his warm up. Got kind of lonely but in the future it probably won't happen. Things got less sore afterwards--good sign!

Punch Buggy Status: 11-16

1/13

RACE DAY! I woke up today feeling tired for some reason, despite having slept 8 hours a night or more for the past few nights. I was like that all day...stuck in "second gear" and not quite there. I woke up probably 1 hour before my race, maybe from all the adrenaline in the air from the runners around me. Either way, it was nice to wake up a little bit. I warmed up for 17 or so minutes plus line drills and strides. I felt VERY loose afterwards, which was a nice feeling that I had not experienced before. Entering the race, I realized it was going to be filled with fast people. My goal for this race was just to remain conscious for the whole thing--to be aware of everything that was happening and not zone out. Concentration. For 16 laps. My time wasn't spectacular, 11:30, though I wanted to run that so that was nice. My splits...probably less than spectacular as well, with a 5:40-5:50 positive split and definitely a mess towards the 2/3rds part of the race. Nonetheless, I felt I kept my head in the race more; I concentrated on the runners around me (I had this nice indian run with this Needham guy laps 3-7 or so). I wish I saw the norwood runner 4 seconds ahead of me though! i had no idea he was that close (having heard he could run sub 11). Thanks to John for pacing me the last 2 laps and running an extra lap. Next time we'll shoot for 11:10 or so and do it the right way! 22 minute cool down. Fun day. Pretty sore from shoveling + racing...the long run tomorrow will hopefully help.

Waking Pulse: I'm worried I can't be accurate about these because I wake up in the morning all excited to go to school / in shock because I might be late sometimes when I wake up.

Punch Buggy Status: 11-16 (I'm just going to round up for simplicity)

1/11

Today was a pretty long B run--60-65 minutes including 6 strides. It was VERY FUN! The weather was perfect; sun with a bit of cloud. We ran as a nice middle distance squad (chris james sarah brennan nina + allie and rachel) into Needham after escorting dan to babson for his finish the 800. Lots of Punch Buggies on the road back. Everything felt good muscle wise--a relaxing day overall, though got tired towards the end simply because of the long duration of the run.

Punch Buggy Status: 9.5-15.5

1/10

Today we did the finish the 800 at Babson and 4x200 at mile pace. The finish the 800 was fun as always, splits of 30-32-36-40. PRed in the 600! I think I overused my arms on that one in that they felt a bit sore afterwards, but that went away in the 200 repeats once I relaxed them a bit. The 200s were closer to thousand than mile pace--next time I'll have to focus more there. Did 16 up and 27 down!

Waking Pulse: 13

Punch Buggy Status: 8-13

1/8

Quite a fulfilling saturday. 6x400 at mile pace / 85-90% ish. Did mostly 73s to 74s generally..one 76 was a messup. It felt pretty fast! The footing was much better than thursday over vacation--the snow was a small smooth layer that didn't bog you down. Corda hill was mostly clean too--the 10 hard stride/sprints felt good though they felt like strength phase all over again. I'll rename this hill "Heating Curve Hill" or something later. 15 up 15 down with a trusty MD squad.

Waking Pulse: 14

Punch Buggy Status: 7-13

1/7

Nice weather--not too cold for the B run that lasted about 48 minutes + 8 strides at the end. The ice made the trails a bit difficult. The rest was all fine though. Strides felt fast! Ran with Chris Bennett and Will!

Punch Buggy Score: Chris got one at Olin College... 7-13

Waking Pulse: Forgot

1/6

Race Day! Kind of an up and down race. It felt nice to be going relatively fast--I also ran more aggressively than normal, though it still wasn't aggressive enough! I think that might've helped with the 4th lap and the final kick. That's what I will concentrate on next time. The start of the race and the form felt better though. Sigh. Still Must break three minutes. On the bright side, got in over 40 minutes of mileage today with warm up + cool down together with our fun MD squad + John Williamson.

Waking Pulse: 13

Punch Buggy Score: 7-12 Always plenty during Reggie Days =)

1/5

ABSOLUTELY PUMPED for the race tomorrow. I think I can FLY in that 1k hopefully!

Today was a nice set of sprint drills minus the power drills on the math carpet--good to sharpen the form before race day. Everything felt good--balls of the feet, run tall, and arms are all things to focus on tomorrow. Shall be a big day!

Waking Pulse: Woke up scared of being late so it was pretty high.

Punch Buggy Score: 5-10

1/4

B+ run today: Went for 76 minutes and 6 strides. Longest run of the season. Weather was good! Terrain was rough though--had to abandon Waban and most trails because of the ice. We did part of Waban and then pond and then some trails and then some road near the dump and finally back home. Good to have a more relaxing run after the workout yesterday.

Chris got a yellow punch buggy...

Punch Buggy Score: 5-10

Waking Pulse: 13

1/3

12 up 16 down. Went to Babson for a wonderful and exhausting speed workout: 4x(200,300,400) at 800 1k and mile pace respectively. Worked on arms more--felt pretty tired by the 3rd set. pacing was pretty consistent and accurate--32s, 53s and 73-74s for the most part. I am looking forward to tomorrow's B run though! Getting psyched for the 1k on thursday!

Punch Buggy Status: 5-9

Waking Pulse: 13-14

1/2

Fartleks with Chris! 2x5min, 2x3 min and 3x1 min at hard tempo. Felt faster than flows--even in the terrible conditions. Had to run on the sidewalk mostly--brook path was a bad choice. The weather got better as we ran--the sun came out, the rain lessened. Pretty tiring by the end but everything felt fine.

Punch Buggy Status: 5-9...how did Chris get TWO during fartleks?!?!

Waking Pulse: Woke up late.