View Workout (Dave Carter)
"You know what we want, but You also know what we need, and You know what is best for us. Please sustain us."
November 15, 2010 (Morning)
Exercise Type: Other
Comments:
First, I have to say that for a Collegiate Cross Country team to get by, you really only need 10-12 guys, which includes your top 7 plus the few underclassmen that replace graduating seniors every year. With that, I can't imagine coming to practice for an entire Cross Country season and only having a squad of 10-12 guys. Being a part of a 30 man team has been awesome, and even though the amount of guys actually racing dwindles throughout the season, it is awesome to train with a large group of friends. Not saying I don't like the UAA or Regional guys, but the large volume of cool dudes that consider ourselves "CWRU Men's XC" is awesome, and everything the top guys have accomplished this season is because we went to Pre-Season Survival Camp, dressed like hooligans and ran an Intrasquad race, and did everything with 30+ guys this season. Coming to practice with 30 guys instead of 10 is awesome, and I've had the privilege of doing that for 4 years.
"If you want to achieve a high goal, you're going to have to take some chances."
~Alberto Salazar
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
~T.S. Eliot
Those two quotes guided me this season, and I don't regret aiming high even though I failed to reach what I wanted to achieve and the team failed to reach what we wanted to achieve. I know 36th in the region IS NOT the fulfillment of my potential on November 13, 2010. 20 seconds separated 36th place from 21st place; ChrisK and I being in the top 20 would have dropped 25+ points from our team score and sent us to Nationals. We both made the biggest amateur mistake in distance racing. I ran idiotically even though I have 10 years of racing under my belt. Inexcusable.
However, I discovered I can handle 100mile weeks, and that I feel like it drastically improves my fitness. High mileage starting in the base mileage phase instead of mid-season will only make track better.
Before the race, I said a prayer that pretty much went like this: "You know what we want, but You also know what we need, and You know what is best for us. Please sustain us." After the race, we top 7 had two good sessions where we pretty much didn't hold back our emotions of disappointment and sadness. I never felt as close, together as a team to ChrisK, Bobby, Robert, Tim, ChrisW, and Ethan as yesterday after our race. Maybe it's not what we wanted, but it's what we needed and what was best for us. Instead of entering Track season as an afterthought to Cross Country, I'm positive we grew stronger and will be coming at this track season with a resolve not seen from CWRU Distance/Mid-D during any track season in a long time. I'm ready to blow the 3k/5k/10k/steeple wide open. Plus, I need to grab new 1500/mile and 800 PR's (still from high school) before I leave college. With that, two quotes to guide this upcoming season. First, because I need to shut up, stop talking shit and high goals and just run. I know my goals, and that's all I need. And second, because I have a score to settle... with myself.
"Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence."
~Vittorio Alfieri
"Vengeance is mine, and I will repay."
~Leo Tolstoy