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!