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2009 Weekly Update - Sept. 20, 2009

This Past Week

We kicked off the Batch Meet season with a race up at New Egypt against.
 
First, Robinson wins "Captain of the Year" - he actually missed the bus!  Not a good way to start, as some of our other top runners were sitting the race out - Greenwood, Weintraub, and Nece.  
 
The plan across the board was for guys to go out conservatively and finish strong -- a "Moorestown race" -- using predicted time from Jack Daniels as a guide.  Wanted the first pack -- from Horten to Samocki -- out in 5:45ish, reigning Anthony in and pushing Ems, Brett, and Szumski to get down to that 18 minute mark.  Of course, they were reminded that it was a race and anything could happen, and that we weren't sure if there were any strong runners out there today. 
 
Well, both New Egypt and Delran had a couple of kids who went 5:20ish through the first mile and all of our guys went with them.  Set the tone for a faster first mile which I think took the legs out from under a lot of our guys.  (Especially the younger ones, whose times were not as good as Saturday).  Horten ran close to a 11 (if I remember correctly) and finished in 17:55, winning the race over a quickly closing Delran kid.   Inglis pushed the pack and stayed with Horten early but couldn't hold off Ems, who crossed third overall in 18:12, with Inglis right behind him.   Rothenberger came next, earning a shoelace with a PR and a great race.  Samocki held steady and held on after the fast start to finish 5th.  Szumski ran consistently for 6th.  Klawunn cut over two minutes off his PR to finish in 18:58, get a varsity letter, and hold down the 7th spot.  We won all of the races handily:  M 19,  D 41;   M 17,  NE 43;  M 15,  W & BC & P 50.
 
Overall, guys eagerness to improve on Saturday plus the fast push put on by the opposition at the start, caused lots of guys to get out quick.  The majority of the newer runs had great first miles and less than spectacular seconds as the early speed, length of a 5k, and the warmer weather made them pay over the remainder of the course.  Varsity guys ran better -- we looked good with lots of black and gold dominating the race -- but the times are still slow.  Hopefully, Robinson and Weintraub can give us a jolt up top and start to drive those times down as we move forward.
 
On Thursday we did a 1000 m Threshold workout.  To be honest, we were disappointed by the number of guys who took themselves out because of tired legs or minor aches and pains.  This is the time of year that you should have tired legs.  In fact most really good runners are always a bit tired.  Of course we want to try to catch injuries early, but we may be becoming too timid. 
 
On Saturday we broke the team into two groups, taking the top dozen guys over to Burlington Township to scope the course we will be racing at on Tuesday.  The rest of the team stayed at home.  Each group will be doing the same workout - 3 or 4 X 1 Mile.  This is meant to be a combination of a tough workout and helping the guys get used to race pace and how to manage a race.  The break in between each mile gives runners time to collect themselves and refocus - something we all need to do in real-time during a race.
 
This Coming Week
 
Tuesday - Batch meet at Burlington Township.  Batch Meet - RV, Burl Twp, Maple Shade, Riverside, New Egypt.  We race at 3:45.  Bus at 2:15 at the MAC.
 
Saturday - South Jersey Shootout at GCC.  Up top, this is an interesting format with a separate race for the 1-2 runners, one for the 3-4 runners and one for the 5-6-7 runners.  The top 5 spots are set based on last Tuesday's meet, but the final 2 spots will be determined by this Tuesday and results from Cherokee.  There will be a JV meet and  Frosh (2 mile) meet.  More info at http://www.sjtrack.org/SJ_XC_Shootout_2009_Entry.html.  Frosh at 9:00, JV at 9:30, 5-6-7 at 10:30, 3-4 at 11:30 and Stud (1-2) race at 12:30PM.  Bus time will be announced this week.
 
P.S. As we were coming back from Maine, we stopped at Amherst, Mass. To see Eric Holaday run in a meet.  We got a double bonus by seeing Jess Rogers as well, a MHS class of '06 along with Eric.  They both ran great for an early season meet.  Also running well this past weekend were Ben Friedman down at Alabama and Kevin Healey up in Rhode Island.  Alex Matteson is running for TCNJ and ran his first race last weekend up at the Trinity Invitational.  I also got an email from Dave Ringwood saying his training is going well, and his first race should be next week.  Great to see so many alumni continuing to run!