Tomorrow is my last day of Holiday Training before school starts. It has been a very eventful two weeks.

It all started on December 19th, my first swim practice since school let out. We began this awful “Christmas Training” with the famous “12 Days of Christmas” swim set.

Here is a quick summary of this three hour practice:
Warm-up=400 free+ 400 IM kick
8x125 IM order (25 drill-25 swim-25 drill-25 swim-25 drill) @ 2:00
3x400 freestyle pull @ 4:50 descend 1-3
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Thursday was the big day, the start of the meet we had been training for all fall. The first event was the 1650 free and it was my best and longest race. That morning, we had a mini practice of 1,200 yards, so our muscles would be loose when it was time to race. Our coach had rental a rental car for those going up early to swim the mile, so me and three other fellow milers piled in and set out on the 4.5 hour drive. The Tom Dolan Speedo Invitational was hosted by Curl-Burke Aquatics, a ... << MORE >>

Thanksgiving Day is a day of eating and sleeping for most, but not for me. The Inside Out Turkey Trot has become a tradition, and I was really looking forward to it this year.

It was cold when I arrived at the starting line, wearing only a long sleeve shirt and shorts. The beginning of the course is uphill and it is a horrible way to start a race. I was supposed to take this race “easy,” because I had a big race Saturday, so I was aiming for around an ... << MORE >>

Last year, I made Wilmington Triathlon a very important race of my season, tapered for it and prepared well for it. This year, however, this wasn’t as realistic of an option. I had to miss a Cross Country meet to attend this race, and I had not done the biking that I should have, to do well. All of that said, I still had a good time at this beautiful race.On Friday, I had 5 a.m. swim practice before school, and then cross country practice after school. I left straight from cross country to head to the race venue. Once I got there, I picked up my packet and went back to the hotel. After dinner, my mom and I went to get ice cream. Ice Cream had become a tradition because last year, we had gone to the same place on Friday and I had done the well the following morning, so we decided to try it again. The next morning, we headed over to the race site. Everything was familiar from the year before, and that was nice. I was wave nine, and the race was wetsuit legal.<< MORE >>

Halloween weekend, The Wake Med Soccer Complex held a National Cross Country festival, including teams from all over the country. My team, Green Hope High School, raced strong as a team, and this was
a cool event to see how we are doing against some of the best teams in the country.



There were tons of races, boys and girls were separated, and I raced in the freshmen race for my team. The Green Hope Freshmen team was a group of six girls who got to race a 5K against teams from,
NY, ... << MORE >>

All year long I swim for my club team, new wave, but during the summer I add something special to my training, Preston Swimming. Preston wood is part of the Tar Heel Swimming Association (TSA) and competes in dual meets every Tuesday through the months of June and July. The team also offers practice in mornings and afternoons and I try to attend at least two a week on top of new wave practices and cross country.

The dual meets are very fun and exciting, but very different from a year-round meet. We have six meets during the season and ...<< MORE >>

The Wake Med Kickoff Classic was my first race as a Green Hope Cross Country runner.  I was excited to wear my GHHS uniform and compete against other athletes in the county but I was also nervous. This was the first test of how I compared to the other kids on my team.  This meet was unusual because the distance was a 3K and the normal high school XC distance is a 5K. I liked the longer races, but had never done just a 3K before.

When I got there, we warmed up, running the course, nice and slow and then stretched. The 9th and 10th grade girls were the first race at 8:00 and that was my race.  I ran a couple striders before joining my teammates at the start. We toed the line, as the starter announced the rules. Then he fired the gun. We were off. I sprinted the start, but not for very long. I was passed by some runners but held a pretty good spot for the first lap. The course was two loops each about 1.25K. The terrain was completely crushed gravel almost like gray sand.

Turning on to the second loop I started to get tired. All of a sudden, a whole pack of Green Hope runners came up on me. They were running strong and there was about six of them. We ran together for the entire second lap. It was fun running with kids from my team, but I knew I had to pick up the pace if I wanted to beat them and I didn’t have much left. We came out of the loop and started the home stretch. There was a hill at the end that was grassy and the seven of us raced up the hill. I started to feel sick as the heat hit me. The other six pulled in front of me and we pushed each other until the end. It was getting hotter and hotter and I was dropping farther and farther behind. Coming into the finish I was behind all of the other Falcons and there was nothing I could do about that, I was way too tired. I took 29th place overall with a time of 13:23.

I was happy with my time, but to happy with my place and hoped to do better next time. The 9th and 10th grade boys were the next race, so I stayed to watch them along with all of the other upperclassmen races.

After all the races were done, I went home, planning on doing a long bike ride and another longer run. My coach told me to run four miles after the race, and I planned on doing a long bike as well. When we got home, my parents and I started out on our bikes and were happy to be out on the road. We got in about 8 miles, before it started to pour. We were wet, cold and didn’t want to bike anymore, so we rode home, put on our running gear and headed to the gym. I ran four miles like my coach told me to, then stopped.

I thought that race was a good test to see how strong and fast I was after a few weeks of training. I knew I could do better, but I felt good about the performance because I knew that it was my first race, and there was a lot to learn.  

        

August 2, 2009- Aquathlons were something new to me when I signed up for this race.  I thought a swim run combo would be cool, and I was excited to race in a National race.   The Aquathlon National race was  a 1500 meter lake swim, followed by a 5K run.  On the way to Waynesville, NC I learned that this was a qualifying race for Aquathlon World Championships in Australia. That really got me pumped up and I was ready to go.

The next morning, we arrived at the race site in plenty of time for packet pick-up and set up.  Without a bike it was very weird setting up in the transition area, because there was still a rack there. This event was part of the Lake Logan Multisport festival and there was a sprint triathlon going on the same day at the same time. All the triathletes were at one end of the T.A. and rest of us were at the end near the run start.

Although it was August, the mountain air was chilly and the water was wetsuit legal, so with about 20 minutes until the race started, I covered myself in body glide and slid on my wetsuit. I warmed-up for about 500 and then dried off to watch the first wave go off. The first three waves were part of the Lake Logan Sprint Triathlon, and they only swam 500 yards. There were two sets of buoys in the lake, one set of green and one set of yellow. The yellow was for the Aquathlon and the green for the sprint.

When it was time for us to start, we jumped off the dock and swam out to where the “starting line” was. The water was shallow enough to stand, but the bottom was rocky and full of seaweed, so everyone treaded water. Then, finally, they blew the horn and we were off. The first 200 of the swim was tough because there were a lot of strong swimmers jockeying for position. I started to get discouraged because I was not in the front pack and I like to take the lead early in the swim. I felt slow, but once I rounded the first buoy, about 650 meters out, I was feeling a lot better. There were still a lot of pink caps in front of me, but I was slowly gaining on them. From buoy one of the swim course to buoy two was only about 100 meters and before I knew it, I was on the home stretch, the very long home stretch. It became harder to pull water than at the beginning of the swim.   I was again frustrated and very cold. Even with the wetsuit the water was freezing and I couldn’t wait to go to the run. The last 25 meters of the swim went under a bridge and that just made the water darker and colder. 

By the time I exited the water, I felt numb from the cold.   I checked my watch and was pleased with my swim time – 20:12.  Once my feet hit “dry” land, I realized why the swim had felt different -- it was pouring rain!   I ran through the muddy slop to the T.A. threw off my wetsuit, and put on my shoes and number as soon quickly as I could.  I was in fifth place overall heading out of the T.A.

The air was cool, so I started running right away at a very fast pace. The rain was nice because it was refreshing and I was determined to hold my first place spot in my age group. That didn’t last very long. The other racer in my age group, Hannah, passed me very early on in the run. I tried to stay with her but she was running at a pace that I could not keep up with.   Still, I felt fast.   The rain provided a nice, refreshing aspect to the whole thing. The miles went by quickly and before I knew it, the 2 mile mark was right in front of me. I only had one more mile left and I was feeling good. I thought I was on pace to run a 22-minute 5K time.

When I crossed the finish line, I felt a rush of exhaustion.  I walked to the car, changed and waited for the awards ceremony, which followed the race very quickly. They only gave awards to the winner of each age group, but that was okay, because I found out that the top TEN in each age group qualify for the World Championships in Australia. That sounded so cool!  So after the awards had been handed out, I talked to Judge Jones who was representing Team USA at the race. He said yes, I qualified, but he wasn’t sure about the age requirements. That night, I checked the World Champs rules and found that the minimum age is 16.  I was so disappointed.  I also found out that I ran a 24:41 minute 5K, several minutes slower than I thought. The only thing that cheered me up was that I took 21st overall and I was third in the swim.  Even though I am not old enough to compete in Australia this year, I technically qualified to be a member of TEAM USA.  Overall, this was an awesome race and an amazing experience and I plan to compete again next year.

        

It’s nice to have a race as close as Triangle, but no matter how close it is, it still isn’t fun to wake up at 5:45. I left the house a 6 am, tired and not ready to race. In the thirty minute car ride to the race site, the sky started to gain some color and I started to wake up. I ate a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and Gatorade (I now know that was a bad choice.) I set up the transition area, got body-marked, got my timing chip and walked through everything. I was nervous. This was my hometown, everyone was here, and there was a lot of pressure to do well. My mom and dad and aunt were racing as well and my grandma was there to watch. My friends Caitlin and Jessie also came out to watch! I was not the last wave to leave this time, but the water looked like it had a serious current. They blew the horn and the 29&U women were off! The swim started out really well. The water was a nice upgrade from last year.  I got the early lead and expanded as the first section continued. The last 300 yards of the swim were really rough, but fun to swim. I crossed the first pad at 11:40, the fastest female swim split overall.

(Coming out of the swim: being chased by the big guys!)

The bike was my weakest leg and it was next. This was my first race on my new bike (a Trek Icarus) and I felt fast. I held 18 miles an hour and finished in 58:21. The run was going to be the hardest section. It was going to make me push myself beyond what I thought I could go, if I wanted to win. I was going to have to be mentally tough. At this point, the lead I had gained on the swim was vanishing and the other racers in my age group would be gaining on me. I found my transition spot easily because it was marked with a giant cat-in-the-hat University of Maryland hat. I quickly exchanged shoes and ran off into the heat. I was feeling good for the first mile and o.k. into the second mile. I didn’t like this course at all because once you passed the first mile you had to run on a single track with no shade. It was almost completely flat. I hit the turn around and was ready to come back strong. And then it happened. With about 800 yards to go, I hit the wall. I was so close and I didn’t want to stop, and I wasn’t going to, until I started puking. I bent over, put my hands on my knees and threw up for about 10 seconds and then I was running again. I was in the lead and I was not going to lose it over a little thing like that. But then it happened again with 400 yards to the finish line. And before I could finish, it happened for the third time with 200 yards to go. I could see the finish line. The spectator’s cheers, the finish chute, everything, if only I could get there.  I felt sick and nauseated but I put my head

down and wasn’t going to stop until I crossed that pad. I finished with a time of 1:39:46, 59^th overall. I won my age group and once the race was over, I had a good time. I hung out with my friends Caitlin and Jessie who came all the way out to Harris Lake just to watch the race. My dad took seventh in his age group but had the fastest run split in the group with his 22:08. My mom did well too, getting better every race she does. It would be wrong to call the race fun (throwing up kind of ruins that) but I would definitely call it an experience that I will do again.

        

A typical week doesn’t include 4th of July, a visit from my best friends for NY, and tons of other guests. But since no week is ever going to be exactly the same, why not write about the 4th of July week?

Monday- I woke up at 6:20, for Cross Country practice. We did a one mile warm-up; a two mile tempo run and a one mile cool down. I left Cross Country around 8:15. Then I had bagels for breakfast and rested for about an hour and a half. At 10:00, I left for Preston wood Swim Practice. Preston is ...<< MORE >>