Maddy Mondays: Marcus I Recap & Pre-Race Training

Maddy Mondays - XC Training Blog (2015)
Travis Miller

Monday 8/24 - First day of school… Our run today was on our own, so we didn't have practice in the morning. Some people ran in the morning but I just waited until after school. My class schedule is awesome, I go from cross country to my coaches class which is human anatomy, then to AP Stats and then I get to leave school two hours early for senior out. Today when I got home I ran from my house back to Marcus then back home, for an easy 8 mile run.

Total miles: 8 miles

Tuesday 8/25 - Practice this morning was at 6:45AM, we warmed up with one mile, then dynamic drills. After that, we ran one mile at our 5k race pace with people who missed the SOS time trial on Saturday night. Following the mile we ran around the neighborhoods surrounding Marcus for 5 more miles at EPR pace. When we got back to the track, we stretched with our running groups, then walked to the locker room to get ready for our school day.

Total miles: 7 miles

Wednesday 8/26 - This morning for warm up we ran 2 miles to Unity park for our work out. After we drilled and stretched, each running group got assigned their steady state repeats. My groups first session was 3 miles long at 6:30 pace, the second set was 2 miles at 6:25 pace and the third session was 1 mile at 6:15 pace. After finishing the steady state we cooled down back to Marcus, ran 2x200 meter strides, and stretched. Then we had PM practice at 3:45 in the IAC for weights, core, and other exercises. Everyone got their miles that morning so no one had a PM run today.

Total miles: 11 miles


Thursday 8/27 - When I got to practice this morning, I immediately laid down on the track and took a 10 minute nap before practice. We "warmed up" with 3 x 800 meters at 5k race pace. My group ran them a little under 6 minute pace. After that we did dynamic drills, and ran one 400 as a pack in 70 seconds. Once we finished that we went on a 4 mile recovery run/cool down, stretched and ran inside to get ready for the school day!

Total miles: 6 miles

Friday 8/28 - Today we started practice with a 5 mile warm up, which was more of a shake out run. For the warm up we ran with the seven girls we were racing with tomorrow at Marcus I, after warm up we did dynamic drills and had 5 minutes to stretch, and get a drink of water. After the 5 minutes were up, we ran 3 x 400 meters and a 1 lap cool down, then chose 4 static stretches and went inside.

Total miles: 6 miles

Race day selfie with the birthday girl!
A photo posted by Ging (@maddymay98) on

Saturday 8/29 - I can't say I missed waking up at 4:00AM to get on a school bus and drive to a cross country race, but I did miss racing. Today, is our first cross country race of the season, Marcus I Invitational. Once we arrived to the course my teammates and I warmed up for 10 minutes, then grabbed our spikes and went to the starting line. At this point, we had about 20 minutes until our race so we took our time doing dynamic drills, and then said a team prayer. After that, we put our spikes on, did speed drills, then got on the line ready to start the race. The gun went off and it was a pretty fast start, but the first mile felt controlled and relaxed. Ashton Endsley and I came through two miles at 11:20, and kept about the same pace for the last mile. I got second place with a 17:42, and my team won with a 4 point lead over the second place team. Most of the people on my team were happy with their race, and I think it was a really good start to our season. Also, shoutout to my best friend Miciah, because it's her birthday today! :)

Total miles: 7 miles


Sunday 8/30 - Today was another rest day, this morning I ran an easy 3 mile shake out run. The rest of the day I hung out with my squad, did homework, took an ice bath, and did rope stretching.

Total miles: 4 miles