Summer Training Blog: McDonogh School's Dalton Hengst


Dalton Hengst is one of the top returning cross country runners in the nation. And he has an interesting story! The rising senior at McDonogh (Maryland) School actually resides in York, Pennsylvania, but during the school year he boards on campus at McDonogh. Hengst, who finished the spring track and field season with national-caliber performances in the 1500m (3:54.90) and 3200m (8:56.96), has been ripping off superb performances in cross country since 2014 and a year ago placed 21st at Foot Locker Nationals. His season best 5K from 2016 was 15:11.20. This year, Hengst is looking to hit under 15. Check out his weekly training blog as he prepares for his final high school season before college. 

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WEEK 6 (August 21-27)
This week is going to be another 60-plus mile week with a scrimmage, two good workouts, and another good long run. My coach wanted me to use the long run this week at more of a recovery pace, so it will be a bit slower than previous weeks.

Monday: 7 miles

Distance run with sets of hills in the middle. I go hard up the hills, then try to keep the rest going back down the hill at a solid pace. I did three different hills and did three of each.

Tuesday: 9 miles at 6:45 pace with eight strides after.

Wednesday: 7 miles

This was a workout day. We did 1K at 3:10, 1K at 3:04, 800 at 2:28, 800 at 2:24, 600 at 2:51, and 600 at 2:48. The rest was two minutes between everything. This workout was done around a big grass loop at my high school.

Thursday: 6.5 miles easy

FridayTeam scrimmage, 10 miles

We have a scrimmage with a team called Manchester Valley every year. This year's scrimmage was at their course, which was extremely tough. The race was 5K, so the plan was just to run the first half with our No. 2 runner and then pick it up the last half. I won in 18:00 and then went to the track to do a small workout afterward.

The workout: 1k at 3:05, 1K at 3:00, 800 at 2:23, and 600 at 1:40 with a 200 meter jog as the rest.

Saturday10 miles at 6:45 pace

Sunday: 13 mile long run at 6:40 pace.

Total Mileage: 62.5

Overview: This was a great week of training. At the beginning of the week I was feeling a bit tired from the 60-mile weeks, but by the end I was feeling great which always is good for some confidence. I was very happy with how the team did in the scrimmage as we are looking to have a big year.

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