Not every day is a great day to be a distance runner.  This past Saturday the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to the track at Annville-Cleona HS to complete their annual 2 Mile – 1 Mile Indicator Workout.  Cold rain preceded this workout for 2 days and followed it for one.  On this particular morning the temperature reached a brisk 37 and was accompanied with a cold rain and wind that never seemed to be at your back.  The exact workout is a 2 mile race on the track, followed by 10 minutes of rest, and a 1 mile race on the track.  We then combine times to establish a rank order.  It is a good judge to see how well an individual can push themselves for a two mile and then return only a short while later to run at a faster pace.  The thing about cross country is that we compete in all types of weather over all types of terrain.  Today was a good day to prepare for what it can look like at its worst. 

   On the men’s side, youth picked up the individual wins but experience came away with the larger victories.  Freshman Matt Nesmith was able to gap junior Brad Sweigart by one second over the course of the final lap to pick up the win in 10:23, an incredible time under such conditions.  Brad finished in 10:24 along with Nick D’Angelo in 10:28.  Freshman Alex Talarico and sophomore Adam Abruzzo also went under the 11 minute barrier, hitting 10:49 and 10:57 respectively.  In the mile, Alex picked up the win by blowing things open in the 3^rd lap to split a 4:51.  Alex and the other top runners only hit the 800 split in 2:30 so he really closed hard.  It was tough for the athletes to stay warm during the 10 minute duration which led to slightly slower mile times and a conservative first two laps as they loosened up their tight muscles.  Nick snagged second place with a 4:54 and Sweigart closed in 4:56.  Matt dropped back a bit to finish in 5:09 as his back tightened up over the final lap.  Despite not winning either event, Brad and Nick finished first and second in the combined time competition, using their experience to their advantage to put together two solid races.  Their combined times were 15:20 and 15:22.  Matt and Alex finished in 15:32 and 15:40 respectively.

   On the women’s side, junior Jenn Cronin picked up both individual victories, while senior Megan Long finished second and senior Amy Willow finished third in each event.  Jenn recorded an 11:53 and a 5:42 for a combined time of 17:35, while Megan went 12:23 and 5:53 and Amy went 12:59 and 6:08.  All three looked very strong considering they have all been sick within the past week or two. Sophomore Tiffany Frederick, who suffers from asthma, really excelled in these tough conditions to run very strong in each event, covering the two mile in 14:02 and the mile in 6:31. Victoria Broderick ran a fantastic 2 mile in 13:58 and hung tough to run the mile in 6:58.  Lauren Johnson and Brianna Eroh put together solid workouts as well, covering the two mile in 15:00 and 15:10 and the one mile in 6:48 and 7:15 respectively.  The races, on the women’s side, were a little less exciting as they spread out rather quickly.  However, during the last lap of the two mile Frederick engaged her track speed to close the gap on Broderick which was quite exciting to watch.    

   After the workout the hot tub was packed to the brim with cold runners trying to raise their core temperatures back to normal.  Typically we’d rearrange to suit the weather on days that are beyond the scope of what would be considered acceptable conditions.  This practice worked on achieving mental toughness and working hard when it isn't neccessarily pleasant to do so.  This was our last challenging workout leading up to the MAC Championships on the 31^st.      

2009 2 Mile - 1 Mile Workout.doc (24.50 kb)