Week Five: @ home vs. Warren & Libertyville

Monday:  Now that I have had time to digest the meet, I am proud to say that nearly half of you had a PR or lifetime PR--very impressive.  Although the times reflect improvement, I know we still have room for growth when it comes to racing tactics and believing in our fitness for the later stages of the race.  Here are the positives I saw: 

First, I was pleased to see our pack look strong and assertive at the 800 mark.  As we discussed, most of you got out harder than you have all season, which is an improvement over Bartlett.  Many of the first mile splits reflected that aggressive start.  Second, I was pleased with our placement going through the woods and around the volleyball court.  Many of you did a nice job of working with your teammates, or rejoining them during this segment of the race.  Finally, I also witnessed some nice kicks from Sam and Riley.  The following women set season PRs:  Jasmine, Bug, Kimmy, Haley, and Olivia.  The following women set lifetime PRs:   Violette, Syra, Sam, Stephanie, Arranda, Maira, Marlen, Riley, Jazzman, Yazmin and Ashley.  Alexis and Ana improved their times on the Top Ten Board, and Kimmy earned a spot on the Board.

So what do we need to improve?  I have watched you ladies work your butts off in practice, and I know what kind of times you are capable of racing.  While the list of PRs is very impressive, I know that you have yet to showcase what you really have.  Let's use the workouts from this week (Thursday's breakthrough and Saturday's gut check) to help boost your confidence in the second half of your race.   It looks like Monday's course is not super-fast...let's use the race as an opportunity to put times