First Workout of the Summer

There is something pretty special about summer training.  It brings with it a sense of newness, 2 and half months of training leading to a new season.  Early summer mornings, mid-morning naps (for athletes, not coaches with kids), trips to the dunes, new training locations.  There are so many wonderful things about summer training, but I think the best is watching the next group start to step up and take on their new roles as leaders on the team.

This past week was our first workout of the summer.  We ran a light tempo effort on Thursday.  The team is still feeling a little light at camp.  Our top 5 distance runners from track are all still on their break, but that simply means someone new will step up as the leaders for the team.  Some returners in a new role as leaders on the team, some juniors who are new to varsity leadership, some sophomores who are not setting the tone for the frosh/soph.  It is a very exciting thing to see.

Before the start of the workout we talked as a team about your mindset for workouts, always wanting to finish strong.  If that means you start a little conservative, so be it.  But you want to finish your harder efforts with your fastest running.  It’s as much a physical practice as it is mental.  Finish workouts strong, finish races strong, and that mindset starts in the summer.

I ran the workout with our top group of sophomores.  We went out under-control, as a strong group of future stars for the Phoenix.  About halfway through, Anthony Iozzo seemed to sense, “we are supposed to pick it up.”  He proceeded to drop the hammer and the group responded in kind.  The rest of the guys certainly picked up their pace to finish out the workout.   Anthony just kept picking it up, he dropped the group, and we caught a group of varsity runners who responded and pick it up with us to finish strong.  It was a great first workout of the summer, lots of fist bumps and high fives afterward, and lots of confidence.

It was a fitting picture for the rest of the summer, new faces ready to take the next step in training and the results they will see in the fall will be huge.