In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor - Journal #6
Hello everyone! Another week has gone by, and it is incredible to be able to say that there are only a few short weeks left in my final season as a high school cross country runner. It will be bitter sweet in a few short weeks. This past weekend was the district championships. The meet was held at Harmony High School, the same course as the district meet was last year. Going into the race, I had thoughts of last year’s race, which I lost by a few seconds, and knew that my main goal was to win the race, and in turn my first district cross country championship. The course was muddy and windy toward the end, but I had fun running through it, and managed to win the race.
Since the race last Saturday, things have been going great here in Celebration. This year my school was lucky to have two other runners qualify for the regional meet this coming weekend, which has made the past week of training much more enjoyable! It is always more fun to have company during practice, so that has made this week much more relaxed. Going into this weekend however, I am very excited for the opportunity to race. There will be a great deal of competition at the meet, which I am thoroughly anticipating. The opportunity to race against some of the best runners in the state, even before the state meet, is something I always try to embrace. I know that it takes racing against the best to truly bring out the best in myself, so this weekend’s race will hopefully be a good one; for all involved!
To round out this week’s article, I want to share with you all a workout that I did this past week, which I first did as a sophomore. The workout is something I like to do before big races such as this, just to get me in the mind set of racing, and ready to roll! The workout entails running 2x400 at around mile pace with a short recovery. Next I will run 2 or 3 x 800 at slightly faster than 5k race pace, with a slightly longer recovery (maybe 90 seconds). I will then finish off the workout with another 400 at mile pace, short recovery, and a fast 200. This workout is designed to simulate racing conditions and pacing, and simply get a runner into the mindset of racing. I have found it to be a great workout since I started running it as a sophomore prior to the New York Federation Championships, and hopefully it will once again get my rolling into this weekend!
More On Quincy
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article) Hey flrunners readers! Not a whole lot has been going on since my last blog a few weeks ago. I haven’t had too busy of a racing schedule in the past couple weeks so I have been focused on getting in some good workouts going into the championship season. I did run my conference meet this past Wednesday which went quite well. - 2011-10-31 14:24:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article) Hey all, it has been another rough but rewarding week. After missing four days of school for a trip up to NY the week before, there was a lot of work to be made up. It never seems that I have an overwhelming amount of school work, but I guess when you pile four days of missed work on top of an already full load, it can get hectic. It was nice to get it all out of the way and then be able to end the week with a race. - 2011-10-17 20:15:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello again all Florida running fans, it has been a crazy few days, all culminating in my racing at the Manhattan Invite in New York City on Sunday. This was my first trip back to the state of New York since moving more than a year ago; and let me say, it was great to be back. The race itself left quite a bit to be desired, however it great to be back and racing at Van Cortlandt. - 2011-10-10 11:09:00
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In His Own Words: Quincy O'Connor (Article)Hello again everyone. This past week has been one of the best this season here in Celebration; both training and racing wise. The team traveled up to Gainesville for the Mt. Dew invitational at the University of Florida, and raced better than we have as a team in a long while. Our average time of 20:18 is the fastest that it has been since I began at Celebration, needless to say, it was a good weekend for the team. - 2011-09-26 11:46:00
Hey all Florida running fans, my name is Quincy O’Connor and I am just getting underway in my senior year at Celebration High School, right outside of Orlando. After a great summer of running and some fun, I am now getting my final XC season underway. My summer this year was nothing too crazy, just building mileage. I was lucky enough to be able to go to camp in Flagstaff, AZ, which for all those who like to travel, I would highly recommend. I have never been to a city more perfectly set up for runners than Flagstaff; and I cannot think of a better place to train. - 2011-09-19 11:15:00