Coaches will tell athletes, again and again, “if you work hard and consistently, you will improve”. Do high school athletes always listen, believe, remember? Hmm. It is useful to look back and see measurable improvement!
On October 11, 2022, MVXC ran a critical velocity workout; 1km repeats on the track at CV pace, with a 200m recovery of two minutes. MVXC had been working up to that, with CV workouts every other week or so, starting at 400m CV reps on August 18, increasing the work bouts to 600m then 800m, and now Ks.
In parallel we had been working up our threshold pace workouts, starting with repeats at a K on August 11. What would happen when we compared the threshold pace Ks we ran in August, with the CV pace Ks we ran in October?
The answer: Complete domination. Your future selves crushed your former selves. Of the 24 MVXC athletes who ran and recorded both workouts, every single one of them–100%!–ran a faster pace in October. And 18 of these athletes–75%–ran that faster pace while running more reps than they did in August! Think about what that meant for someone like Juliana–who went from three reps in August averaging 6:56 per kilometer, to five reps in October at 5:13 per kilometer. In October’s workout, Juliana ran 1.2 miles further than in August while running each mile more than a minute faster. Or Parmarth, who also went from three reps to five reps while dropping his average pace per kilometer by almost a full minute–that’s also more than a minute per mile faster!
Yes, yes, Matador miles and track miles are different. I heard some of you (looking at you, Vera!) saying track is easier than out at Matador’s Point. But, running in the cool morning of August before school has even started, still in the midst of a carefree summer, is also easier than running on a hot track in October, with the temperature over 80 after a day of your math teacher on your case about integrals or your history teacher rolling her eyes at you because you can’t define fifth columnists. Don’t back away from your workouts, do not downplay your achievements. You run every step yourself. You are faster and stronger and more capable than you were two months ago! Own it. Flex a little bit, would you? It’s OK. You earned it, now own it!
Every season, almost every practice, I try to tell athletes that I can see the future. A future where every athlete is stronger and faster and more capable than they believe that first week in August. At the end of every season, I try to remind you all of the improvements you have made–and also the future improvements that are possible. If you all can make the dramatic improvements we saw over the last two months, what would have happened if you had set your starting point even higher…by running even more over the summer, having a big June and July before we got together in August? Looking ahead…what could you do in the track season if you keep hammering away in December and January? For you first year runners…if you can do this in your first two months on the cross country team…what if you keep running and training like this for the next 12, 24 or 36 months–where would you be as a fourth year runner? And in the other areas of your life that matter…what happens if you put this kind of consistent effort into learning a language or writing a book or learning math or studying history?
It’s often hard to imagine the future possibilities that can come from sustained, consistent effort, so it’s useful now and then to look back and see how far you have travelled. Looking back and seeing what you accomplished can help inspire you to look ahead and imagine what you might achieve.
Another reason why coach records the results from these workouts. And…this is why you should keep your own running log! It’s useful to remember where you have been.
Success is not so much where you end up.
Success is more about how far you travel from where you started.
Here is the comparison between the two workouts:
Matador Km Workout August 11 2022 (7am Saturday Morning)
vs.
Track KM workout October 10 2022 (5:00pm Monday Afternoon)
*Had some distress on October 10 so we cut these athletes’ workouts short.
Athlete | Reps: August | Reps: October | Avg: August | Avg: October | Pace Improvement Per KM (Seconds) |
| Juliana | 3 | 5 | 6:56 | 5:13 | 103 |
| Anika | 5 | 4* | 4:11 | 3:58 | 13 |
| Vera | 4 | 4 | 6:12 | 5:01 | 73 |
| Siran | 4 | 5 | 5:09 | 4:50 | 19 |
| Hemani | 4 | 5 | 5;22 | 4:41 | 41 |
| Meena | 4 | 5 | 4:50 | 4:39 | 11 |
| Katie Lee | 4 | 5 | 4:48 | 4:19 | 29 |
| Katie Li | 3 | 4 | 5:37 | 4:59 | 38 |
| Megan | 4 | 5 | 4:31 | 4:09 | 22 |
| Navya | 3 | 5 | 5:52 | 5:06 | 46 |
| Sydney | 4 | 5 | 4:27 | 4:24 | 3 |
| Joey | 4 | 4 | 5:29 | 5:17 | 12 |
| Jasmine | 3 | 4 | 5:03 | 4:32 | 31 |
| Advaith | 4 | 5 | 5:50 | 4:58 | 52 |
| Sean | 5 | 3* | 4:19 | * | * |
| Soham | 3 | 6 | 4:01 | 3:56 | 5 |
| Denny | 3 | 4 | 3:22 | 3:10 | 12 |
| Parmarth | 3 | 5 | 4:44 | 3:51 | 53 |
| Kian | 3 | 4 | 4:58 | 4:33 | 25 |
| Tanay | 3 | 5 | 4:38 | 3:20 | 18 |
| Ravi | 4 | 5 | 4:00 | 3:24 | 46 |
| Ari | 5 | 5 | 3:48 | 3:25 | 23 |
| Rishi | 5 | 5 | 4:40 | 3:55 | 45 |
| William | 3 | 5 | 4:15 | 3:57 | 18 |
