On Tuesday, the team had the first "long run" of the season. Two DeSmet alums and school record holders, Connor Callahan (Marquette University) and Kevin Abernathy (Drury University), ran a Double Spoede with the top group and deserve our thanks for visiting. Unfortunately, one of our sophomores who ran on the state team last year, Stephen Plassmeyer, has a foot injury, so he could not train with the team. Let's hope and pray that he returns as soon as possible!
Wednesday brought the well known "tempo workout." With this being our third tough day of practice in a row, everyone got the message that we mean business this year. The workouts varied between a few tempo miles to a 2x2x1 mile tempo depending on the groups. Top to bottom, it was not the team's best workout, but we did have multiple standout performances including Glennon McGann, who hit all of his paces. Afterwards, Coach Traughber recognized that we may have been unprepared for the tempo and gave us tips and suggestions on handling multiple hard runs in a row such as stretching, icing, hydration, and nutrition.
To everyone's relief, Thursday and Friday were declared recovery days. On Thursday, Connor Callahan made another appearance and ran a Falaise with the top group, but he went for another few miles by himself when we were done because his easy days aren't quite as easy as ours. After practice, a few runners stuck around to watch the soccer tryouts and listen to Coach Tom and Coach Mahood reminisce about their glory days at DeSmet. We all had a good laugh or two from their stories.
Friday was going to be the most exciting day of the week. Everyone went to practice expecting a pool party at Coach Boland's house after practice, only to be informed that it was postponed until Tuesday of next week due to cold weather (70 degrees seems cold now). These weather complications did not hinder our run but arguably made for the best running conditions for as long as we can remember. While enjoying this rare weather, everyone ran to Malcolm Terrace Park for some trail loops and then back to DeSmet. Coach Traughber had put together a PowerPoint with tips on how to become the best runner you can be. Senior team captains Collin Sullivan, Michael Callahan, Glen Mcgann, and Jimmy Reid partook in presenting the PowerPoint along with Coach Traughber. They all did a superb job of informing the rest of the team with useful information.
We all have high hopes for the team this year, and this week got us started on the right foot. I wish everyone in the DeSmet Cross Country program the best of luck this year, and here's to a good year!
EXCITING NEWS!
Coach Traughber has a challenge for all runners... anyone who runs under 17:30 during any meet this season will receive a customized DeSmet XC running hat! This should act as a good incentive for all runners, and hopefully the motivation will push all of us. So if you want to get a snazzy-looking hat for free, make running 3.1 miles in less than seventeen and a half minutes your goal.
I would also like to remind everyone about the Annual Alumni Run tomorrow morning, August 11th. If you are interested in running or even just stopping by to watch, take a look at this link: DeSmet's Fourth Annual Alumni Run. We'd love to have you there!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed :)
