Photo by Tim Dillistin
Check in with Jack Wavering, top runner for the Good Counsel boys and reigning WCAC cross country champion as he blogs for MileSplit weekly with his summer training. Last fall, Wavering ran a swift 5K PR of 15:42 at the Paul Short Run and eventually ended his cross country season at the Maryland and DC private schools individual champion. Wavering was the runner-up outdoors at the WCAC Championships in both the 1600 (4:26 PR) and 3200. Last year, he kicked off his cross country season with a runner-up finish to Foot Locker All-American and 8:42 two miler Drew Hunter at the Great Meadow Invite. Check out Wavering's 2015 summer training below!
Jack Wavering's Summer Training Blog: Week 7 (July 12-18) - Week 8 (July 19-25) - Week 9 (July 26 - August 1) - Week 10 (August 2-8) - Week 11 (August 9-15)
Jack Wavering's Summer Training, Week 7: July 12th to July 18
Photo by Lisa McArthur
This week was my seventh week of summer training and for the past few weeks I have been mixing in some more speed related workouts such as tempos and fartleks. My mileage has also increased; from 50 miles per week to just shy of 60 miles this week. This week I was also on vacation with my family which meant a little extra planning before runs, but it added a lot of variety to my environment since I ran through game lands, parks, and Pittsburgh at various times throughout the week.
Sunday July 12: Long 90 minute run along the C&O Canal towpath from the Monocacy Aqueduct to White’s Ferry and back. I started at 7:20 pace and held that pace for the entirety of the run. After the run I did rope stretches and form drills. Being my first long run of the summer, I expect that my legs will be a little uncomfortable in the morning. The sun setting over the Potomac River was beautiful tonight with really cool cloud formations.
Monday: Woke up at 5:30 for a 60 minute run at Pennsylvania State Game Lands 156. I started running easy at 7:30 pace. For the entirety of the run I steadily increased the pace until I split 6:30 for the second to last mile and then ran the last mile up a mild gradient at 6:20 pace. After the run I did rope stretches and a light core circuit involving pushups, prone/side planks, toe touches, superman, and extended crunches.
Tuesday: 6:00 morning run through Lewisburg, PA. I ran between 6:50 and 7:10 pace for 60 minutes. In sharp contrast to the hilly terrain I was running on yesterday, the town of Lewisburg only has one real hill. Unfortunately I got lost because I tried to use the railroad tracks as a landmark, not realizing that there are multiple railroad tracks that run through the area.
Wednesday: 20 minutes easy in Schenley Park along the carriage roads followed by eight 400’s in 68 seconds with full recovery (I consider a heart rate of 120 to 130 beats per minute to be fully recovered) between work bouts and a 20 minute easy run back to the hotel. After the run I did a light core workout and form/stretching drills it felt good to be back on a track after a month of doing distance runs and fartleks on trails.
Thursday: 50 min. run through Blacksburg, VA. After doing a pretty moderate workout yesterday and I planned on doing an easy run Friday, I did a hard 50 minute distance run splitting between 6:15 and 6:30 per mile. After the run I did eight 200m strides (start slowly, steadily increasing pace until I am running as fast as possible for the last few meters). Today it was hot and humid even though I started running at 6:15 in the morning. Also, there were lots of cars and pedestrian traffic as freshman began arriving for their orientation at Virginia Tech.
Friday: After driving from Blacksburg to Chincoteague Island I went for an easy 50 minute run through the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. I plan on running here on Saturday and Sunday as well since it is relatively secluded and free of traffic. The stars came out during my run and I was able to do a little star gazing towards the end of my run and while I was doing rope stretches after the run.
Saturday: 5:45 am morning run through Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. I started the run easy, gradually building to tempo pace (roughly 5:20 pace) and held it for 1.5 laps around the wildlife loop (4.5 miles total). Once that was completed I ran easy for the final twelve minutes of the run. Even though it was humid, the pancake flat terrain was perfect for a tempo run. Doing the tempo off of a track helped keep me focused on running with good form and breathing during the workout. Also, watching the sun rise over the marshes and the beach was an inspirational experience.
Jack Wavering's Summer Training, Week 8: July 19th to July 25th
This week was my eighth week of summer training and I will be back with my team after a week of being away. It will be good to be back with them so that we can work together on making sure that our packs are nice and tight and hold each other accountable for our summer training as we near camp and our team time trials.
Sunday, July 19: I woke up early for a final run on Assateague Island before heading home. I ran for 57 minutes along the wildlife loop and down by the ocean as the sun was rising. Once again, as always seems to be the case, it was incredibly humid and almost 85 degrees at 5:30 in the morning. After the run I did a few strides and stretched.
Monday: First run back with the team after travelling all week. We did a 60 minute run that was easy for the first 30 minutes, followed by 7 minutes of hard running, 5 minutes easy, 5 minutes hard, and 13 minutes easy. After the run we did lots of rope stretching. It makes it easier to stay motivated during the hard parts of the runs when I’m being chased.
Tuesday: Run with the team at Lake Needwood. We ran the long way around the lake to the hills. We ran five sets of hills with a small curveball on the fifth set, just to spice things up. We ran the short way on our way back to the truck where we did our rope stretches. The hill workouts never get any easier; you just get faster.
Wednesday: The team met at GC and did form drills followed by a core circuit workout and a light 20 minute run. For once the weather was not humid. It made me thankful for not being on Chincoteague anymore. The weather this morning helped make waking up early worth the trouble.
Thursday: The team met at the Agricultural History Farm Park. After running easy for the first 20 minutes we threw in a 20 minute tempo paced section. We had good pack running through the tempo and the weather was great. After the tempo we ran another 20 minutes easy back to the truck and stretched.
Friday: 60 minute adventure run with the team at Lake Frank/Lake Needwood. The pace varied a lot since the trail that we usually use to run under the ICC was very overgrown.
Saturday: Half marathon with Jeff, one of my teammates along the C&O canal towpath. We started at 7:20 pace and gradually picked up our pace until we ran 6:40 for the last few miles. We saw two great blue herons, several turtles, and a wild turkey. Camp starts tomorrow!
Jack Wavering's Summer Training, Week 9: July 26th to August 1st
This week was my ninth week of summer training and I will be running with my team and several other teams from Montgomery County at the Concord Retreat Running Camp in Yellow Spring, West Virginia. Congratulations to everyone who survived and thank you to all of the coaches, counselors, and speakers who helped make this year possible. This week was a wonderful learning, training, and bonding experience for all of the moco athletes who attended.
Sunday, July 26: Reverse Graveyard loop at camp. It was a great start to the week. We were splitting 6:20’s along Cump Road and could have completed the loop in about 47 minutes had we not added on until we hit 60 minutes. I was glad to see the large group of guys who were challenging themselves in the group.
Monday: Form drills and a 60 minute run up master’s Driveway in the morning. It was wonderful to get hammer with QO’s number one Liam Walsh and my old teammate Collin Crilly up the nearly 2 mile long hill in just under 10 minutes and 30 seconds. This run was followed by core and stretching. Later that day we did a 30 minute run instead of a 45 minute run because of the intense heat and humidity. This was followed by stretching.
Tuesday: Form drills and a 60 minute morning run that was supposed to be on the power lines, but we accidentally stayed on the powerline right-of-way too long and made the run much hillier than intended and essentially made the run an hour of hill repeats. Overall it was a good run and we finished on Agrocrag like you normally would. This was followed with stretches and core work.
Wednesday: Form drills followed by the hardest 60 minute run I have ever run. We ran from camp along Cump Road up the wall and past the power line trailhead and back. One hill that we hit at the 28 minute mark was definitely name worthy after we struggled up it at 9:30 pace for several minutes, finishing with a heart rate above 188. This was followed with stretches and a 30 minute afternoon run with two three minute pickups courtesy of Wooton graduate Josh Trzeciak.
Thursday: Form drills followed by power lines the right way led by Coach Arnold. It was much easier than Tuesday’s run. This run was followed with core, stretching and an ice bath.
Friday: Everyone’s favorite day at camp; long run day. I did 20 miles with a starting pace of 7:20 but steadily dropped the pace with a final average pace of 6:45 per mile over terrain that wasn’t exactly flat. My fastest mile was 5:45 and finished up 259 at 6:10 pace. This was followed by stretching and an ice bath. This year was way harder than last year’s twenty miles even though the music provided by Churchill was great for the first half of the run.
Saturday: Reverse Graveyard loop again. I was less sore than anticipated after yesterdays run but I still wasn’t exactly 100% either. The run was nice and relaxed. Overall the week was a great way to help our team get stronger and closer before the season began.
Jack Wavering's Summer Training, Week 10: August 2nd to August 8th
This week was my tenth week of summer training and I will be running back at our normal team morning runs. The runs this week were pretty quiet as several of my teammates were at the beach this week.
Sunday, August 2nd: 20 minute run followed by a brief track workout to get my legs moving again after a week of strength work. After, I did a brief cool down run and stretches. Later that day I went for a 26 mile bike ride with my dad along the C&O canal towpath.
The workout track workout looked like this:
5x200m in 32 seconds with 200m jogging recovery
5x400m in 68 seconds with 200m jogging recovery
5x200m in 31 seconds with 100m jogging recovery
Monday, August 3rd: 65 minute run from the Agricultural History Farm Park to Lake Needwood at a relaxed pace with the team and coach. It was nice to run a new route since the Farm Park is kind of small. The weather this morning was fantastic too.
Tuesday, August 4th: Run around Lake Needwood with two sixteen minute sections of 1 min. hard/easy followed by 2min. hard/easy and a twelve minute warm up/cool down.
Wednesday, August 5th: Core and a light 20 minute run at GC with the team around Lake Hollowell in Olney. Later in the day I did a mile repeat workout involving a 12 minute warm up run, form drills and stretching followed by 3x1600m in 4:55 with a 4 minute recovery and a 12 minute cool down. These are my favorite workouts, nice and long and fast. I should have waited until much later than I did so that I could have avoided the football practice that was going on at the time I was running.
Thursday, August 6th: 60 minute run at the Ag. History Farm Park. We went another new way to spice up our runs. We left the park and ran a loop through Montgomery Village and finished back at the truck after a loop of the first mile of our state meet course.
Friday, August 7th: Easy 50 minute run from Lake Frank to Lake Needwood and back along the Hiker/Biker trail. Tonight I also ran in the MCRRC Going Green Track Meet with several teammates. I split 9:39 for the two mile, beating my lifetime PR for the 3200 by about 8 seconds in the process. I also split 55 seconds for my leg of the 4x400. Overall a very successful day for a race that I’m just training through.
Saturday, August 8th: Easy 40 minute run along West Harris Street in Boyds.
Jack Wavering's Summer Training, Week 11: August 9th to August 15th
This week was my eleventh week of summer training and I will be running at our team morning runs in preparation for our 3200m time trial.
Sunday, August 9th: 60 minute run through Germantown at a moderate pace (6:40). I felt unusually tired during and after the run because of allergies.
Monday, August 10th: 60 minute run at the Agricultural History Farm Park with the team followed with about 30 minutes of core work. I felt much better than I did yesterday. Tomorrow we’ll do a short fartlek.
Tuesday, August 11th: Run at Lake Needwood with the team with a 20 minute warmup (7:10 pace) followed by 10x minute hard (roughly 4:40 pace)/easy (roughly 8:00 pace) intervals. After the run we stretched and did some very light core work.
Wednesday, August 12th: Core at GC and a light 20 minute run. Later I ran a short race pace workout involving a 12 minute warm up run, 4x800 in 2:24 with a three minute jogging recovery in preparation for Saturday’s time trial. My legs felt great after the 800’s- light and quick.
Thursday, August 13th: 55 minute run at the Agricultural History Farm Park with the team. The weather was awesome this morning with lower temperatures and humidity. Today we went towards Lake Needwood along our usual path. While we were running Coach A found a new trail that the team can use next summer.
Friday, August 14th: Easy 50 minute loop from Lake Frank to Lake Needwood and back along the Hiker/Biker trail. After the run we did 5 strides in the parking lot to wake up our legs before our time trial tomorrow morning. This morning it was surprisingly cold.
Saturday, August 15th: 6:00 am practice, the first mandatory one of the season. After warming up we ran our 3200m time trial. We had really good results and I was able to run 9:36 alone, just like Wednesday’s workout. The season has begun and we’ve got a long way to go.
