Thursday, January 04, 2007

Winter Training

I spent about 5 days recovering from the state meet before going for a run again. I sure felt the aches and pains during that run, even though I stretched and warmed up more than usual. I just went for short, 3-mile runs, which was a nice introduction to my winter training. So my first week back, I ran about 9 miles total. Second week back, I started running with the team again, which was fun. My second-week total came to about 21 miles. The third week back was when I really started to run again.

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Monday, January 01, 2007

Season Re-Cap

Well, I guess I was pretty forgetful this cross country season, so I'll attempt to recreate my racing experiences. It was a great season, and I'm really proud of what we accomplished.

ED SIAS INVITE
Well, this was certainly the shortest course by far that we ran this season. But I think that played into my hands. This was my first time competing at an invitational, since I've been doing soccer for so long, and it was great. The hill in the middle of the course was killer, but I think I fared better than most. The course was really dusty, and I didn't particularly enjoy enhaling the dust in this monotonous race. My team also won this meet, which was a bit of a surprise for me. I certainly didn't foresee this, and it was cool to win lots of cool gear and hats. I also got a medal, which was another surprise. This meet was a pretty good introduction to invitationals... :)

WOODBRIDGE INVITATIONAL
Wow, just wow. Woodbridge is on a plane of its own when it comes to cross country. This meet was the busiest and craziest meet we would attend all year! It was pretty much absolute chaos when we arrived, and we had a blast seeing all the super-good runners in NTN.

This race wasn't my best. I wanted to eat earlier, but I was with the girl's team, who raced after us, so they were in no hurry to get started. But eating too close to race time definitely affected my performance. I felt that pizza the entire way, and I almost threw up after the race. But it was a good time for feeling so bad, and I felt better after I saw Chad Hall sprint the last 50 meters to the finish line to finish in 14:00. His mile splits are faster than my mile PR... but I definitely plan on changing that this spring. It was quite the experience, but Woodbridge was definitely fun.

STANFORD INVITE
The MCHS cross country team headed over to Stanford for an invitational meet. This premier meet attracts top-tier teams from around the country, ready to battle it out on the green grass of the Stanford golf course.

Carrillo ran really well, we got 2nd place team-wise. I hadn't run on an only-grass course before, so I didn't really know what to expect. It was also a weird experience to be near the front of the pack in such a big race, I wasn't further back than 15th or so the whole race! After 800 meters, Nathan passed me, and I sort of decided then and there that my race plan was to just stick with him, since he always runs good times. I was about 3 yards back from him for most of the race, just trying to stick with him. And when it came to the downhill, I did my best to blast past him, and I was able to finish the race in front of him by about 3 seconds. Great race personally and as a team!

This race is what made me seriously think that Carrillo had considerable potential this year.

NORTH BAY LEAGUE (NBL) CHAMPIONSHIPS
Both the boys and the girls teams, Varsity and JV, came into today looking to capture all 4 team-titles. I must say, it was a successful day. Maria Carrillo Cross Country, for the second season in a row, captured the Girl's JV, Boy's JV, Girl's Varsity, AND Boy's Varsity titles. Highlights of the day include Leanne Fogg's first cross country win, which happened to be at one of the most important events of the year! Congratulations Leanne! The girls team as a whole ran impressively, with the girls placing their first 5 in the top 10 of the race. Similarly, the JV boys, led by Gus Greenstein's 16:50 and Chris McCabe's 17:04, placed their first 6 in the top 10. To top all of that, the JV girls placed their top 5 in, you guessed it, the top 5 of the race, and had 7 runners in the top 8. The Varsity boys couldn't match the JV girl's performance, getting their top 5 in only before the 12th runner. However, the boy's team time of 79:47 was good for the 3rd-best time ever run on the course, averaging 15:57 for the top 5 runners. All of the MCHS teams were satisfied with their performances.

Brian Cole was also there to cheer us on, as were Logan and Matt. It was fun to see the graduated seniors again.

On a personal note, this race was a big breakthrough for me. The previous race I had run a 15:44, running the whole way with Nathan to have him edge me for 2nd place. That race in itself was a huge PR for me of 9 seconds. But comparing last year's season to this one, I PR'd by a minute and twenty seconds, going from 16:47 to 15:27, the 8th fastest time on the course ever. This race was a validation of my previous training, motivating me to continue with my dedicated training. Having the great Varsity guys around me the whole year made the work a lot easier and much more fun, and I couldn't have asked for a greater team. I'm already looking forward to more fun come NCS and state!

NORTH COAST SECTION (NCS) CHAMPIONSHIPS
Well, I was a bit lax in reporting the season's trials and tribulations, but I think that I can make up a bit for lost time right now.

A few days ago was the North Coast Section Meet of Champions. The Carrillo runners had a great time before the race warming up and goofing off with Logan, coming back from Stanford. The Varsity Boys team at NCS consisted of Nathan Huckeba, Grant Williams, Alex Hartz, Anton Karrman, Chris Bendana, and myself. I had a cold this week and I still had a stuffy nose as the race began, but it turned out to be a great race. I just tried to keep with the leaders to the track and on the first loop, and then took off with Greg Drosky on the first time up the hill. After that, I was dead tired and just trying to maintain my pace and place. I was able to do that, squeaking in at second place behind Drosky, running 15:26. It was a really hard effort for me, I was dizzy afterwards and sort of falling all over the place. So I sat down for a minute and felt better after that. The other Carrillo runners seemed similarly exhausted, with hard efforts coming from every guy for the NCS championships. Nathan Huckeba ran 16:10 and Alex Hartz running an impressive breakout race in 16:11. Anton Karrman ran 16:26, Grant Williams ran 16:44, and Chris Bendana ran a 16:32. Gus Greenstein, in his first NCS meet ever, ran a 17:21, great for a freshman!

Even better than my individual satisfaction of a good race was the excitement of winning the NCS title! That was definitely the highlight of this long cross country season with a great group of guys. Let's see what we can do now at state!

The girls had a good race, with Leanne coming in second at 18:31 and the team coming in second as well to Campolindo. Alia Gray had a great performance, running 18:45, Kristen Sanzari ran 19:39, and Kelly O'leary had a break-out performance with a 19:39 as well. The girls are also really looking forward to state!

STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Well, State was a blast! Staying over at a hotel with good friends is always fun. Checking out the course the day before was also really cool, especially seeing the big names of California XC, like Jordan Hasay, Alex Kosinski, Chad Hall, Mohammad Abdalla, JT Sullivan, Michael Cybulski, etc...

The day of the race wasn't too great. There was a false start, so some of my adrenaline was gone when the race actually started. And to top it off, I was still sick from NCS! So, this was probably the most painful race of all, just trying to keep the pace up. I guess probably because it was so much anaerobic, because I was having trouble breathing. But what's done is done, and looking back after the race the season I saw was very satisfactory. It was also great to have my grandparents at the race, my last high-school XC race ever. And although the guys didn't perform as well as we should have, and as we did at NCS, we all put in our best effort, and thanks to great efforts from Ty and Chris we retained some pride. :)

Oh, and Brian Cole got 2nd in the D5 race by one second! Apparently it was a really close race and he made a move from really far out to catch up with the leaders. I'm really happy for him.

Now it's on to base mileage, but first a short break. Of five days. I don't need the mental break, I'm psyched for track, and physically I'm great. I just need to get over the cold, and I'm home free.

MCHS CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS
The Sanzari's held the end-of-the-season awards, which was a lot of fun. We saw lots of the graduated seniors again, and it was great playing pool (and sucking at it) and talking with everybody. Danny of course made fun of pretty much everyone on the team, the seniors presented their gifts to the coaches, and we watched two slide-shows of our great season. This awards night is always one of the highlights of the year, and this year's was no different.

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Monday, September 04, 2006

An Intro, and the First Meet of the Season

First off, I'm Calvin Thigpen, and this blog is to revolve around the Maria Carrillo cross country and track team, and during the offseason, probably little tidbits about my own training.

We have an awesome team this year and I would love to chronicle our good times together.

The first meet of the season was the Rancho Cotate Invite. St. Helena's Brian "BFC" Cole won in 14:01, followed by Blake McDowell in 14:07 and Sterling Lockert in 14:12. Carrillo runners also fared well, with Nathan Huckeba running a 14:27, myself at 14:41, and Grant Williams in 14:56. That converts to mile paces of 5:15, 5:20, and 5:26 respectively for the top three Carrillo runners. Gus Greenstein, in his first high school race ever, came in at an amazing 15:15, or 5:33 mile pace. Hats off to the freshman coming in at 4th on the Carrillo varsity squad. Alex Hartz came through in 15:19, a time no doubt influenced by a nagging hip pain. Anton Karrman, who unfortunately has not been able to run with the team for a few weeks, ran a 15:50.

Altogether, the team ran respectable races, losing to Petaluma by a 5-point margin. Look forward to Chris Bendana returning to the team after a recent illness, Anton Karrman whipping into shape in the coming weeks, and Alex Hartz hopefully returning to top form in no time. Most of the varsity team appears to up for grabs at this point, which should make for a competitive and fun atmosphere.

The girls team ran well also, winning the team title. Casa Grande freshman standout Jacque Taylor ran an amazing 16:22 to win the race, followed by our own Kristen Sanzari, coming in at 3rd with a 16:58. Other notable Carrillo harriers included Leanne Fogg with a 17:13, Alia Gray in at 17:46, Sarah Dirado at 18:45, and several others following in the 18 to 19 minute range. The season should be good for the girls as the race begins for the last 4 spots on the varsity team.

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