Cross Country 2018

Following on from last year I was extremely excited for cross country season! This season we focused a lot more on endurance and longer runs so that we could increase our mileage and get some more distance in our legs. Even the relaxed 30 minute runs felt quite tiring to me but as we began to do them more and more I got more comfortable with it and occasionally we’d do 40 mins with some hills or add a 1km time trial after. What was very difficult was the heat, particularly on the Mondays after school because it made everything so much more exhausting so that was another barrier I had to push past during training. But I think that’s what makes this training so worth it- I always feel tired of course but also highly accomplished after.

This season has also been slightly different for me because I am captain (alongside with Johann so along with motivating myself I also want to make sure the whole team feels motivated as well. It’s something which I tried to do in previous years as well but now along with other things like leading the warm up during the race and helping organise team training shirts. They aren’t huge responsibilities but it’s still nice that there is something for me to be more involved in. (LO4)

Similarly, it was really nice to be able to help out a junior school race after school one day! My sister and I got to lead the race on our bikes whilst the kids followed us so they knew the route. It was so great to see such young kids running cross country and it reminded me of what I must have been like doing similar races in primary school but it was also sort of bittersweet thinking that having done this since G2, this would be my final year. The next day when I saw the coaches at training Ms de Khloe said how happy the kids were to see us because even if we didn’t realise it, for them it’s quite exciting to see the high school kids who started out doing what they did!

Even though I generally try to stay organised, this year it was even more of a challenge to manage everything as cross country coincided with an extremely busy 1st term! There was a lot to do for school with IA’s and EE and I was so happy I made it to culturama although of course that did also take up some time and so I had to make sure I was getting everything done in time so that I could still get enough sleep and push myself at training. But training doesn’t feel like a chore or anything and I’m actually quite glad that the cross country season happens at this time because I’m so used to working out that I would have made time for exercising anyway, but it’s easier and more fun when you can do it with others!

SEASAC!!!

This year SEASAC was in Alice Smith School in KL and it was nice to travel for the final SEASAC after having been in Singapore for the past two years. In the month leading up to the race, I was quite excited because I was in the best condition I had been and had broken my PB by almost 40 seconds thanks to Deeth’s help! But two weeks before the race I caught the flu and was home for the whole weak and had absolutely no energy. It was really frustrating and upsetting because I had been training so hard up to that point and at the time it felt like I wouldn’t be able to recover. I was really conscious to do everything I could to help myself recover (it felt like I would drown in all the water I was drinking!) but in the following week (right before SEASAC) I went to training and still felt exhausted even whilst running slowly. It was really hard to feel positive about the upcoming competition when I felt like I wouldn’t perform how I should be but I knew that there were still some things that I could do to help me prepare as best as  I could and I was extremely determined to do what I could. I continued to go on steady runs but still being mindful not to push my body too much.

It was finally race day and I was extremely extremely nervous becuase this was the most pressure I’d felt before a race- during the run  when I was tirining I made some excuses like if I don’t come first it’s because I had influenza but I realised that even though it was hard I wouldn’t be happy at all if I knew I had given up. What was so sweet and really helped motivate me was seeing the boys from our team run around to different parts of the course to cheer me and the other girls on – Ko ran to the top of the hill and even though they were all exhausted from finishing just a while earlier, they told me they sprinted as fast as if they were racing to get to near the end and see me finish!  (LO4)

The next day was the relay and even though we came second to Dover I think it really was a great race because everyone tried their absolute best

nearly everyone collapsed after their leg) and once again I think the highlight was that the whole team ran around to different parts of the course and yelled encouragement! Even though cross country can be quite an indiviudalistic support, as captain I really wanted to make sure everyone felt motivated and part of a team. When I could see that my team mates were nervous I tried to reasure them and sometimes I shared my own experiences (both positive and negative) so that they hopefully felt that what they were going throuhg was very normal but usually the adrenaline and nerves help! All in all this season has been one of the best so far and I can’t believe that after doing cross country since G2 (although admittedly I only became more serious in g9) it’s over 🙁 But this sport has taught me soo much about myslef and I genuinely am so grateful for having had opportunities to push myslef like this and having suchamazing coaches!

 

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *