Hey everybody, I'm Luke Laverdiere and I'll be blogging for milesplit this fall! I am starting my Junior year at Yarmouth this fall, a year that is notoriously packed full with AP classes, college visits, and very little sleep. With that lingering in the back of my mind, I'm a bit apprehensive about this upcoming year but also incredibly excited for this season!
It seems almost overnight that the Yarmouth boys' cross-country team went from being a second-rate team failing to even qualify for states my freshman year (2014) to being a top contender to win this year's state championship. Whether that's simply good fortune or is attributable to my coach's developmental strategy among the younger members on my team is something I am still wondering. Nevertheless, we have some great talent this year, with my buddy John Decker transferring from soccer, my new teammate Will St. Amour switching over from crew, and a new talkative but talented Egyptian named Ode (pronounced Oh-day) who recently moved to the area from Cairo. All of this new talent is great! Not in almost twenty-five years has the Yarmouth boys' cross-country team been a serious contender to win a state championship, and that is something I'm enlivened about! It'll be so nice to be able to train with team that can run with me for a change!
Having a team to train with is something that I've had to adjust to this summer. For my entire highschool career so far I've always been that one weird kid on my team to actually put effort into training. For months at a time I'd be out training by myself everyday while my team might run a couple miles to a local river or beach to go swimming for the afternoon. While this solidarity taught me self-discipline and motivation it was was also quite tiresome because of how mentally taxing it was. I often felt like a younger version of Ben True. Having experienced training alone for quite some time now I'm excited to be able to run with a solid group of guys. With that being said, this summer has been the first step in building a foundational block for a new team orientated season. The seniors on my team, Ravi Patel, Patrick Mallett, Ben Van Lonkhysen, and Chris Guertler have been doing an excellent job getting people serious and motivated to meet up for group runs 3-4 times a week. I'll be really interested to see how this new competitive atmosphere in my team propels us throughout the season.
Individually, this summer has been a transitional period for me in regards to my training. I've not only been bumping up my mileage, but I've started meeting with a trainer to work on strength and mobility. As the season draws ever closer, I'm getting ever more excited to start racing again!
Best of luck this season!
Luke
