Maine Milesplit Q & A Emily Attwood
So you’ve had a great start to your XC season, with a couple of victories (Chandler Relays & Falmouth) & an impressive 5th place finish in the Hartford Riverfront XC Festival. What has been your best race so far? What race was the most difficult?
I felt good in both our Home meet and the race at Falmouth. Our home course is very fast and it was perfect weather as well. My splits were pretty even, which is what I have been trying to work on. The Falmouth course has some tough hills, but was in awesome condition and I ended up getting my best time on that course. I would say that the most challenging race of this season was the Hartford race. There were a lot of fast girls, so the pace right from the start was really quick. Although it was tough competition, it’s always great to have a lot of people around to push you, and in the long run it really helps out with racing strategy and pacing.
I see that you had to miss this weekend’s race New Balance Ocean State Invitational due to illness, what was it like having to stay at home and not being able to race with your team?
It was a tough decision because this meet was such a great experience last year, but I really wanted to get healthy for the upcoming championship season. I defiantly would have liked to have gone and raced and to have been able to support the team. It’s an awesome course and a lot of great teams and individuals were there competing. The team did well, and I think we all enjoy racing on a variety of courses throughout the season.
What is it like having such a talented team to run with each day? With all the talent around you, does it motivate you to train harder? From reading Marita Stressenger blog, it sounds like you two are training partners, what’s it like having someone as talented as Marita to train with each day?
It’s awesome having all these girls to run with everyday. We defiantly motivate each other to work hard, run fast, and have fun with it. It has been great running with Marita throughout this season. During workouts we really push each other to run fast times, and we work well together to maintain a steady pace. In races it has been great as well, because we know each other’s strengths are able to aim for certain splits and pull each other along throughout the race.
What races are you looking forward to running the rest of the year? What is your favorite course to race on?
I am really looking forward to Regionals at Twin Brook and New Englands at Manchester. I would have to say that Twin Brook is one of my favorite courses because it is in the woods a lot and is really fun to run on because of the terrain. Manchester is also an amazing course and the long downhill really gets you going fast. States should be good as well. We don’t get a chance to race at Belfast this season, but it is a real fast course and it should be a fun race.
Being a top distance runner isn’t easy, you have to put in the miles and do all the work, you can’t fake it. What’s a regular training week look like for you? What is your favorite workout to run? How about what’s the one workout you never look forward to doing?
We usually start out the week with a middle distance run. Tuesday is our speed workout, and it varies between hills or the track. Wednesday is our long run day, which is always fun because we go through trails in the woods or down to the beach. Thursday is a pretty light day before our meets, usually a 20 min run. Saturdays, the day after the meets, we do an easy run to stretch out our legs. We also incorporate some core work and strength training throughout the week. My favorite workout is probably the half-mile repeats we do on the golf course. It’s good terrain, and it’s fun to get off the roads. My least favorite workout would have to be one of the longer track ladders we do. It is a real tough workout, but it does give us some good leg speed and endurance.
What are your individual goals for the season? How about the team?
My main goals are to race well throughout the championship season (WMC, Regionals, and States), and to try and get top 25 at the New England championships. I want to improve my times from last year and run a PR at Twin Brook and at Belfast. Our goal as a team is to try and repeat at States, and to also compete well at the New England Championships
Do you have any pre-race rituals or superstitions?
Yes, I am a very superstitious person when it comes to racing. I always eat cheerios in my lucky bowl before races. I wear certain socks, running bra, and I used to have lucky hair elastics until they both snapped. I also always bring vitamin water (Energy flavor) to the race. Until my freshman year I always wore my hair down in races, but with all the wind it started to get in the way. I went through a French-braid phase, and now the hairstyles go back and forth.
Final Question … Gatorade or water? Which do your prefer
Gatorade. It tastes good and has a sweet logo.