“Today I will do what you will not, so that tomorrow I can do what you cannot.”
This week MVXC completed it’s 5th week of training. For most of us, that means that roughly 1/3 of our season has passed.
It’s kind of amazing to think what you have accomplished. After we completed our last set of repeats on Matt’s Hill, several people wandered over to me and said something like ‘I did more repetitions than a few weeks ago, and they were all faster than the first time.’ One athlete told me how after first couple times up Fire Trail, she was just about to decide that she was just did not have the ability to run; then this last time she not only got up Fire Trail but she also banged out four good repetitions and she realized that she is a runner.
Lots of times during training, we can’t see the day to day improvement. We run, and run, and run and wonder for a while if we are getting better–or you don’t see the improvement right away. During those periods, we need to have a lot of faith and trust that the work will pay off. Sometimes the big breakthrough is just around the corner (I think a lot of runners quit because they are frustrated, when actually they are SO CLOSE to making a big improvement). Every workout, every mile, is a deposit in our fitness account. We need to trust that the deposit we make is there. So it’s nice sometimes to see the measurable improvements that can be made in a short period of time…such as being able to run more hill repeats, faster, after pounding up a hill every week for four or five weeks.
If you have been running with the team five days a week, then even if you have been taking the shortest option every day you have still been running more than 20 miles a week for the last month–that is impressive. Maybe you never thought you could run that much. If you have been coming out to the optional Saturday workouts, you are getting weekly mileage in the high 20s. And if you are showing up every day and taking some of the longer options, then you are certainly running more than 30 miles per week. (Keep a running log! If you write down the miles you run, and your times on key things you do like hill repeats or how long it took you to run a particular route, you will be surprised when you look back at the number of miles you are covering each week, and the improvements you have made.)
Hopefully, you are looking ahead at the next weeks and thinking about what you would like to accomplish at leagues and the post-season, and you are thinking of the practice miles that you want to run to reach your goals. However I hope you take a moment to look back at what you have done over the last five weeks, and in your summer running too. No matter what you have accomplished, if you have been trying and working hard, then you deserve to look back at the last five weeks with pride.
And you have been working hard. In the first XC rankings published by the Mercury-News, both the boys and girls were ranked in the top 15 of all CCS schools. Out of the 130 schools in the Central Coast Section, only a select few teams had both boys and girls ranked. You should be proud to be part of this team, everyone does contribute to our success.
Sometimes I feel like I like practice even more than races. I love the feeling of being tired and sore after a hard workout. I love the little soreness that might stick with me for weeks as I increase the intensity of training, the little soreness that is not injury; it’s an all-over soreness my body feels as I am forcing it to adapt and improve. I love that feeling of working hard and getting better. I’m not the best runner, and you don’t have to be the best runner in order to train as hard as the best. As a high school student at Monta Vista, you all have many demands on your time and lots of pressures–your coaches understand. However, can decide to do their best, given what is possible. Everyone can make the decision to be as good as their body will let them be, and if you make that choice you are a champion, too.
Congratulations on five great weeks of work, team!
“Some people train knowing they’re not working as hard as other people. I can’t fathom how they think.”
-Alberto Salazar
