Peak week.

Last XC practice of the season Monday night on the Ashley HS track. I got a bit nostalgic on the drive in through the grounds...the complex of schools, ball fields, playgrounds, etc, has truly become like a home away from home to me. But I (and we) will be back again soon-

Cutting the volume but keeping the intensity.  Reading some old blog posts by Coach Jay Johnson how we should refer to this period not as tapering, but as peaking. I think in this case the name we give it has a psychological underpinning in that peaking connotes a proactive action; whereas tapering seems to suggest something more passive.

Nonetheless, we ran 2 x 800m at 5k pace or slightly faster, with 2 minutes of recovery on the track. Followed by 5 x 100m striders on the football field, goal-line to goal-line. I like the idea of going slightly faster than race pace. For one, it should make race pace on race day seem a tad slower. And two, most kids want to a wail a bit on a short number of reps, so it's easier to let them just air it out a bit, within reason.

As I told Owen, who's leaving Thursday for USATF XC nationals in New Mexico, don't leave your race on the track here tonight. Which he didn't.

Took off Tuesday, and ran 4 miles Wednesday which included 4 x 400m at about 5:50 pace on a :30 second rest cycle. Felt alright... trying to prime the pump for Saturday's 5k race at Legion Stadium in Wilmington. Will run a few easy miles Thursday and add in some fast striders, then take off Friday. Excited that my Dad is coming up to race as well, and Paul and his family will simultaneously be running a 5k up in Pennsylvania. The unofficial Franklin Township Road Runners Club lives on... almost twenty years later.

Run on my friends.