Tyler White is a senior at Orono High School, he finished 14th in the Class C State meet last fall. White is the 5th fastest returner in 2012, he is coming off a string outdoor season that saw him finish 4th in the outdoor 3200m 10:06.21. Follow Tyler in his journey this fall on the trails.
Hello again. I hope everyone has survived these hot and humid days during preseason! We have a lot of kids out for the team this year on the boys side and the girls side so that is exciting and promising for the program. Our boys team is looking very good and should see some stiff competition with people trying to grab the 5-7 spots, something that we didnt have last year. It is so relieving knowing that the team has enough depth when someone gets injured or gets sick. For me, preseason has gone just about as perfect as it could of gone. We just finished our exhibition 4x2mile relay with Mattanawcook about two hours ago before I wrote this, but I'll get back to that later.
Last week saw a lot of milage for some, and not so much for others and was a good test to see where everyone was at. I pretty much did the same amount of miles i had been doing in the late part of July and the early part of August, so it was nice to pretty much pick up from where I left off. Although, I'm not much of a high milage runner. I prefer fast stuff like speed work and races and that is probably because I did track before I did cross country. That is one of the most fascinating aspects of the sport to me, how one runners strength could be another runners weakness in terms training styles and how everyone kinda has their own method to success. Anyways, we got Saturday off from practice but were supposed to run at some point over the weekend. I took Saturday off but I got in a very nice, but hot run in on Sunday.
Monday we did our first variation of speedwork, which was really exciting because it is my favorite thing to do for training. After a few miles of running we met at a spot in the woods that we call the 1200 loop. The 1200 loop is very fast in some parts, and slow in others. There are two very long gradual uphills that are rocky, but near the end the course drifts flat and slightly downhill. Last year my fastest rep was about 4:10 and the team record was somewhere in the low 3:50's, so I wanted to be somewhere between those times. We were only doing one repitition so it was pretty much everyone going all out. I ended up running 3:48 which I was pleased with (seeming how it is still only preseason) but other guys on the team had more incredible PR's, some by over a minute. Tuesday was my favorite workout/relay that we do once a year and it is really fun. In teams of two, you start at the base of a huge hill on our course and run up and across over to a downhill that is just as massive and you tag your partner at the bottom. It is about a 400m loop and is really fun to cheer everyone on. Thursday was one of the tougher things we do for a workout, which is a mile trial on a trail the runs parallel to the Penobscot river. My PR was around 5:13 that I ran during the summer and the team record was about 5:05, so again I wanted to be in that ballpark. I came in at 5 flat and was pretty surprised because the team record was set after Festival of Champions last year and again, it is still only preseason. But other guys and girls on the team had way more impressive PR's that were faster than old times by at least a minute, some by even two! I hope that these times improve throughout the year and are faster when it counts later in the season because it doesn't really matter what anyone can do right now if they are dead by championship season. So I'm not to worried or excited about the times, but I am definitely confident on where the the team is at right now. After the mile trial we did this loop called "the good, the bad and the ugly" which consists of one giant uphill, a gradual uphill, and a pretty solid downhill that you sprint with jogs in between. Luckily we were only doing one.
This takes me to today, (or Friday depending on when you read this) where we host one of the most fun meets of the year. It is an array of 4-6 boys and girls teams that have four people on each team and they all run two miles. Coach sets the teams up so that they will finish at about the same time, and he doesn't stack any of the teams which makes it more enjoyable and relaxed. Last year the fastest time was around 11:40 by Alex Bulteel, and my time was 3rd at 11:55 so I just wanted to be in that neighborhood but this meet doesn't reallly matter so I was definitely not worried about times. I led off my team of four, and I was feeling dead about 400m into the race. I think it was our coach's plan to make this be a really tough race, and not a fast race because of the mile trial the day before. The course we have at Orono has a very slow first mile, due to a very massive uphill that I can't really compare to any other course. Once you climb that small mountain, you end up on the 1200 loop we use for workouts which features gradual uphills. I went through the mile at 5:54-5 and I thought I was going to die. I felt like I was lugging around cinderblocks for legs. Luckily the second mile is flat and downhill, which loosened up my legs. I tagged my partner (who is a junior that switched over from soccer and should make a large impact on our team) and crossed in 11:14 splitting a 5:19 last mile and I felt like I was going to die. At this point I was just glad I wasn't Josh Wheeler from MA because he had to run first, and fourth leg on his team.
So overall, I think preseason has been a huge success for everyone. I was the rookie who tripped and fell everyday last year for at least a month, so It is nice to stay clean and unscathed after a run for once. Saturday (tomorrow) we are doing the annual team hike which is in MDI this year and it is a ton of fun. It is also a great oppertunity to get to know everyone a little better. I'm so glad the season is finally here even though it is my senior year (although I feel like a sophomore in terms of running which is a weird feeling) but that just means every run, every rep, and every laugh with the team can't be taken for granted because the season will be over sooner than you knew it. We are going to the Ellsworth Invitational to take on a hard 3mile course this weekend, and then another 3mile at Bucksport the next. Goodluck to everyone, and stay healthy.
-Tyler