View Workout (Levi Freedman)

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Oatlands

September 19, 2015 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Cross country season is upon us! Goodbye Saturday free time, hello races! So exited to be back at Oatlands. When we got there, it was super foggy and strangely peaceful, but as we did the warmup jog around the course, the fog dissipated and everything started to heat up. I had the perfect amount of time between the team warmup and my race; I was able to run to the bathroom, get the chip in my spikes, cheer on some teammates, and then warmup. No time left for worrying. Of course, I still did. It was pretty scary to be in my first varsity race (discounting Episcopal), especially at a place like Oatlands. Felt pretty sluggish during the warmups and drills, but the striders felt a lot better once I changed into short "sweats"--long shorts and a tee-shirt instead of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It was just too hot.

The race started out crazy fast, as I was warned, but that didn't stop me from getting caught up in the frenzy and trying furiously not to be left in the dust. My shoe came untied before we even passed the .5 mile mark, which bothered me, as I was reminded of my shoe malfunction at Glory Days. Surprisingly, I completely forgot about it. My first mile was 5:55, which was terrifying. I didn't have enough analytical brainpower during the race to realize that such a fast split was fine--the whole first mile is basically downhill. Instead, I convinced myself that if I tried to maintain that pace I would die, so I found myself holding back a bit on the downhills and not accelerating in the woods. I was scared that I would use up all of my energy. The same thing goes for THE HILL; I allowed people to pass me on the way up, but as soon as I reached the top and saw how little I had left, I caught those who had passed me and then some. I finally worked the last two hills, and kicked it in with about 300m to go.

Not the best approach, especially for someone who likes to think that they're a decently smart racer, but hey, I guess it means I know how much more I have in my tank for DCXC. I think these next few meets will be really useful to internalize the distance again and relearn that a 5k isn't as dreadfully long as it seems. If I PR'd today, on a hot, hard course that also happened to be the first race of the season, then I can't wait for what this year holds. Speaking of PR's, just for the record, today was 19:51, and my PR last year was 21:45 (but I ran 20:07 two weeks after spring track ended at a temple 5k). At Oatlands last year, I ran 24:24. Not technically a huge overall PR, but a pretty big jump from last year. Also, shout-out to Erkin, Josh, Frankie, Noah, Tristan, and Jackson for helping me to deal with my nerves and prepare for the race.