Saucony Flo50 Summer Training Blog: Rachel McArthur

Summer Training, Week 9: August 24th to August 30th

This is my last week of summer training and therefore my last summer training blog, since school starts up on Monday. During the school year, I will continue with my training and do doubles twice a week, before and after school. I should start racing again sometime later in the season, and feel very strong going into this year.

Monday: My team and I had a workout at Bristoe Station. Its the same workout we do every Monday; intervals. I did core on my own later on and felt pretty good, even in the heat during the time of our workout, 2 pm.

Tuesday: We had evening practice at 6pm on some back trails in the woods, which are half-paved, half-dirt. It was a 40 minute run which we ran at 8:15 pace. It felt really nice on our run and we all did group core exercises as a team afterwards.

Wednesday: We have our first tomorrow so today the team just had an easy run for 30 minutes at 8:30 pace. We also got together so that we could break in all of our new spikes. The cross country spikes I use are the XC Victory 3s. My team and I did team strides and afterwards a few of us went out to eat, so we could load up on carbs before the race tomorrow.

Thursday: Today was the teams first meet, at Bull Run Regional Park. I didn't a race today, but instead did a 6 mile tempo around the race course, so that I could cheer for my teammates and younger sister, Emily, in her first cross country race. I ran the first 2 miles at 7:50 pace, second two at 7:20 pace, and last two miles at 7 flat/6:50 pace. Overall, the girls team got 2nd place and the guys did well also.

Friday: Today was an easy day, since I had a workout yesterday. I did an easy 40 minute run around my neighborhood, followed by 6 strides up my street. I ran alone at 7:40 pace. Afterwards, did some a core workout which included curl ups, planks , Russian twist, push ups,etc. and I also did calf raises.

Saturday: We didn't have a meet this Saturday, so I joined my mom at Great Meadows that day (she was taking photos of the meet), since I had some friends that would be racing. I didn't run today, but decided to take the day off so I could just watch some races and relax.

Sunday: Today was my last day of summer vacation, so I went on a 45 minute run at Bull Run park on my own. I went in the morning at around 9, and ran at 7:30 pace. I felt pretty strong on this run and took an ice bath when I got home.

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