Nick Dahl of Germantown Friends School, Pa. is nearly as good a blogger as he is a racer! The junior All-American chronicled his training this past summer and has agreed to continue this fall as he seeks to qualify for his first national cross country championship. Dahl has improved from one of the best freshmen in the nation to one of the best runners in the nation. In 2014, Dahl won the New Balance Nationals Outdoor Freshman Two Mile in 9:19.07. Just one year later, he placed third (9:01.81) in the championship section, becoming the nation's fastest sophomore two miler in 2015. Follow along as he looks to keep improving in 2015-2016!
Fall is in the air, and runners are on the trails as I begin my cross-country season once again with the Germantown Friends School team. We made it through a long summer of training, laying groundwork for weeks on end, and the time has finally come to start reaping the rewards. It's been a great experience building our team for months, and establishing the culture properly, plus with the edition of the last few individuals who will be joining us on the journey this season, it feels much more real. Autumn has undoubtedly arrived here in Philly, and the trees have just started to shed their leaves, which means that trail running is more beautiful than ever. Pennsylvania's competitive field is looking strong this year, and I can't wait for my first few chances to take on some of the major competition, as our team gears up this year for the Northeast Nike Cross-Regionals.
There's a lot that happened in these first two weeks of the season already, and all of it is merely a taste of what is to come. I love the season not only for its camaraderie and sense of teamwork, but also for the bravery required to be a great competitor. When we race in XC season, it's no longer about the individual taking on their own goals, as sometimes I notice the track season becomes. No, it's about seven athletes out on the line, giving everything for each other. It's this sort of thrilling environment in which I thrive, and in which the team becomes the best it will be all year. Everybody runs the same event, so there's a greater appreciation for your teammates' efforts. There's also an incredible sense of responsibility, because often you can be left stranded in the middle of the race, alone to tackle your own demons without a teammate in sight. This duality of the sport is what makes it great, and what keeps me coming back every year to try again to conquer whatever it is that tries to hold me back.
The season is off to a great start, no doubt, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.
Race photos from the Oakborne Relays of the GFS XC Team
Saturday, September 5th: Long weekend of camping means a long weekend of running by myself. We raced yesterday at the Oakborne Relays, so today was nothing heroic, just some light work to rebuild and gear up for the rest of the week. I was camping on the side of the mountain, which left me only two options for the start of my run: up or down. I opted to start up, and after roughly 19 minutes I flipped the effort and cruised back to our cabin, where I stretched and did a full core routine. In all, today ended up being 35:13 at 7:18/mile pace, which was good considering the difficulty of the terrain and the intent of the day. I did a little analysis of my race yesterday and discovered I had the fastest splits at the meet (it was a 4xmile relay where everybody picked up two legs each) which was a great confidence boost. I spent almost the entire weekend out of contact with the outside world, which helped to clear my head before the school year started on Tuesday.
View from the top of the mountain during the weekend's long run
Sunday, September 6th: Long run today while still out camping. Presented with the same options as yesterday, I knew it wouldn't be smart to spend a whole half of my 70 minutes going either up or down, so I did a mixture of the two as I ran along dirt trails over rolling hills that eventually led me back home. This meant that my GPS gave up very early at giving accurate readings, but I knew my heart rate zones, so I stuck to those for the duration of the run. I ended up covering three major hills and two smaller hills on my run, for a solid altitude change on the day, and I focused on taking my downhills quickly, while still maintaining control of my form. It's an interesting balance to try to find, and it's one that I forgot after months of flat training and track workouts. This one left me feeling pretty sore, so I did a lengthy static stretch, hitting every major muscle group from the hips out to the extremities. My watch reported about 14.10km, but the instantaneous pace measurement averaged 6:15-6:40 on the uphills and 5:40-6:00 on the downhills, so I guessed this one was about 10.5 miles. The mileage honestly doesn't matter, since I believe exertion is the key to fitness, but it's still fun to know how much I'm getting out of these runs, if for nothing but tracking my progress.
GFS XC team doing a core routine
Monday, September 7th: I got back from camping in the middle of the day, and since I had plenty of preparation to do for the beginning of classes, I chose to take this run alone as a break in the middle of studying. I took a road from my house I haven't taken in a long time, running through Fishtown, a neighborhood in East Philly, until I made it to Penn Treaty Park, where I ran a full perimeter of the fields and turned back home. I could still feel yesterday's hills in my legs, so I didn't press too hard or try to get too much out of today's effort. I just grabbed 36:03 for some light work, cruising around 6:58/mile for roughly 5.23 miles, before coming back home and doing core, as well as foot strengthening. Tomorrow is the beginning of classes, so I'm excited to get back to the structure, and the consistency of daily afternoon practices.
Tuesday, September 8th: After a half-day at school, we got to practice early in the afternoon, and had a long practice to handle today's work. After the success of my last workout (15 x 400 at 3k race pace), my coach and I agreed that I could handle some more serious work, so I bumped up to 10 x 600 at the same speed, with less proportional recovery time. My goal pace was 4:24/mile, which equates to 1:39 over 600 meters. We did this on a grass loop around the fields of our campus, which we marked off by cones to be exactly 400 meters long. My splits progressed well, starting in the 1:39.6 range, and finishing in the 1:38.5 range, slightly below the goal time of 1:39.0. The recovery was honest throughout the day, and I felt increasingly strong as the workout continued. My teammates had a much better day today than the last time we had similar workouts, when they cut the workout after 10 pieces, instead of 15. They worked on 500's instead of 600's, at adjusted paces, which made the workout go much better. We all felt strong after the day's work, if not a little exhausted, and it was good to get up and rolling as a unit. There are natural packs developing in our varsity caliber athletes, which is playing out quite well for the training. They get to feed off of each other's energy, and compete for the top spot of their tier.
Foot strengthening in the long jump pit
Wednesday, September 9th: I felt tight, especially in my calves, after the relatively high mileage in spikes yesterday, so I went out for 34:46 along the Tow-Path, which traces the Wissahickon until it intercepts with the Schuylkill River, where I turned left and ran back up Ridge Avenue, all the way to the track. My heart rate kept going higher than I wanted it to, because there have been a few good workouts in the last few days, so I respected that my body needed to go slowly and I worked with it, especially on the long uphill stretches. I came back to join my teammates as they did core and foot strengthening, which are habit at this point after our recovery days. We're easily getting better at both, and though we have been doing core since I joined the team, the foot-work is brand new to this season. I'm already seeing improvement both in our form and speed as we carry out the exercises.
<- View from the top of the Ben Franklin Bridge
Thursday, September 10: Long low-moderate effort today. There was some serious rain earlier in the day, and several of the trails I like to run on were flooded, so I had to improvise and do something new. I ran down to the East Falls Bridge, and crossed the swollen river to the other side, where I traced Fairmont Park for a long time until I found a branching road that wasn't underwater, which took me up alongside the railroads for a while. Once I reached 30 minutes, I turned around and ran back, mostly uphill, towards the track. It threatened rain the whole time I was outside, but never actually poured, so I was spared this time. I got back in 59:31.0, for a total of 14.02 kilometers, or right around 8.75 miles. With my new heart rate zones, I'm working on breathing more efficiently, as well as
keeping the best form possible, so that I can continue to run as fast as I am accustomed to, while also respecting the limits. With the exception of the final hill back up from the river, I was in zone the whole time. unfortunately, today was a sentimental day, as we had to say goodbye to one of our assistant coaches, LaTavia Thomas. She decided to chase down her Olympic Dream, so we celebrated with Rita's and watermelon. She's returning to Clemson for intense training in hopes of making the 2016 Rio team, so we thanked her for the two wonderful years she spent with our program, and the difference she has made for our team.
The team says goodbye to LaTavia Thomas as she chases down the Olympics
Friday, September 11: Some guys on the team were feeling a little more beat up than others, so we split up and did whatever we thought would help us feel strong for tomorrow's effort. Personally, my legs felt clean, so I went out for 25 minutes before arriving at Secret Training Base, where I did two sets of 6x100 "on", 100 "off" over the lengthy hills. The pieces were nice and short, but more often than not they would end up being straight uphill, so I took the recoveries appropriately and attacked the "on" pieces. In our first meet, we really could see all the hill work we did this summer paying off, so we want to maintain that fitness, and continue to develop our hill running. After a few others had finished their own sets, we jogged back 10 minutes in groups, and did plyometrics on the track with the sprinters.
Saturday, September 12: Coming into today's effort, I took all the basic precautions I do with a race day, waking up three hours before the time of the run and eating a breakfast of two slices of toast, one with almond butter and one with peanut butter (call me a creature of habit, but doing the same routine always makes me feel comfortable). I knew it was going to be a near full-out exertion, so I wanted to be prepared, physically and mentally. I arrived at our Grass Loop about an hour early, and waited for my team to show up so we could go warm up and get ready for the day. After jogging around for roughly 10 minutes, we launched into our dynamic stretching routine, taking a full 25 minutes to get loose. After a quick set of economy/fartlek work to wake up our muscles, we laced up and hit the first piece. I was scripted for 5-6 x 800 at 4:24/mile pace, with 2:30 recovery in between pieces, so I went out and hit the first three splits 2:12.8, 2:12.8, and 2:12.9 . Fatigue was starting to catch up to me, since the running was not easy, and my fourth split came in at 2:13.5, slightly slower than I would have preferred. Missing that split motivated me to do much better on the final two, and I finished them off at 2:11.1 and 2:09.6 respectably. The workout averaged 2:12.1 per piece, which is exactly what I was looking for, and I never had to take extra recovery to accomplish the splits. My teammates had finished before me, since they all did a 6-7x600 in their workouts, so we went out and cooled down. My teammate Grayson Hepp had a great day as well, averaging 4:40/mile for his 7x600 workout, which is a huge step in the right direction.
Sunday, September 13: Off day after yesterday's effort. All the guys who made it out to campus in the morning for the workout were scripted for a day with some form of exercise other than running, so we decided to meet up at the same time as the rest of the team and go biking. In all, we had five guys show up, and we had a fun ride around the Art Museum Loop, for about eight miles. It was much more relaxed than anything else we do, so it was a very welcome change of pace, plus the weather was near perfect. On the weekends, they shut down Martin Luther King Drive, so we could bike side by side down what is usually a four lane highway. We split after making it back to Lloyd Hall, and I biked back home.
Core routine with the Varsity Boys
Monday, September 14: We had today off of school, and there was no team practice because of Rosh Hashanah, so I took this run on my own at 6:45 in the morning. It was easily the best long run I've done so far in my new heart rate zones. I had 60-70 minutes written for today, so I went out along the Delaware River, and back and forth across the Ben Franklin Bridge until I reached the end of the minutes. It was the first time I've gone running in weather below 60ยบ in a long time, and I forgot how refreshing the cool weather can be sometimes. I averaged 6:29/mile over 1:09:34, which was my best average pace, and it was with four total hills over the 380-foot tall bridge, so I got in some altitude work as well. By the end of the run, I got down to a 5:45 mile, my personal best in the low-moderate heart rate zone. My legs felt springy and recovered, and my breathing felt totally in control, so this was a great day for me. Afterwards I did hurdle mobility drills, stretching, and had a massive breakfast, to help the recovery process.
Tuesday, September 15: Between the bike, workout, and long run, I needed to take a day of downtime, so I did 34:09 slowly, fluctuating between 7:40/mile pace and 7:20/mile pace through the woods as I ran the extended Pipeline Route, which dumped me off on Forbidden Drive for a while until I made it back to the track. I made it back in time for the team work, so I joined the other people who had an easy run today for core and foot strengthening.
Wednesday, September 16: Time for another moderate run. Since this week is technically a "down" week, where we're transitioning between two phases of training, there won't be a major workout. Because of this, I decided to use today to get some energy out, and I made it into a solid effort without trying to pushing it beyond what it was intended to be. My watch was nearly out of battery, so I turned off the GPS and hoped for the best. After spending 15 minutes to warm up into the run, I began to develop a rhythm, and I worked along Forbidden Drive, down past the Valley Green Inn and back home. I made it to the track at 58:17. Based off of heart rates, it predicted I ran 13.58km today, or about 8.6 miles. I made it back near the end of practice, so I did a static stretch and left to get home.
Running through the woods at the George School Invite
Thursday, September 17: We have a meet in two days at the George School Invite, so today was a day of economy and plyometrics, to prep ourselves for the race. After a cool 28 minutes with my teammates Gordy Goldstein and Grayson Hepp, we got on the track for two sets of 6 x 100 "on", 100 "off", where the "on" pieces were at mile race pace. The first set was pretty consistent, but the second set was much better, with every split coming within .1 seconds of the goal time. Once everybody had finished, our head coach Rob Hewitt gathered us together and led us through some plyometric work, which was difficult for a group of slow-twitch athletes, but constructive. I have a background in dance, specifically ballet, and the motions we do for our plyos are entirely opposite to what I learned for eight years, so I sometimes struggle to perfect the form that we're looking for. I excel at the hopping and squat jumps, but the bounding is always difficult. I've been working on it for a few weeks now, and my form seems to be improving. We still had plenty of time left in practice after that, so we completed a full, drawn out static stretch and talked briefly about the upcoming meet on Saturday.
Friday, September 18: One more light day today before the meet tomorrow. I usually like to take my own run to prepare for a meet, so I went out on my own, running along the cool Wissahickon for about 34:20. There wasn't any need to make today something huge, but I did want to get out and active, so I went at about 7:20/mile pace. After getting back, we did our usual core/foot strengthening, and then organized rides into the city to get to our team dinner. During cross-country season, our team always gets together the night before a race at somebody's house, and we all bring food to eat (mostly pastas, breads, and other carbohydrate-based wonders). We ate together, had a great time, and in the later part of the evening got together outside in a circle for a goal session, lead by Grayon Hepp, Gordon Goldstein, and myself. Together, we talked about what we wanted to achieve as a team, along with any personal goals, and we made everyone vocalize them, to ensure they felt responsibility when the race came. It's always a powerful thing for our team to do, and it does truly help to solidify our personal expectations, as well as create a sense of togetherness, with everyone around you who is willing to work equally as hard. We wrapped up the night, got home for some rest, and prepared ourselves for tomorrow's effort.
Crossing the finish line at the George School Invite
Saturday, September 19th: Race day finally. The George School Invite was our first official 5k race of this year's season. Since it's still so early, and we want our team to continue to be strong in the second half, we came into today with a specific goal in mind, and we set out to achieve it to the best of our ability. The race plan was to go out in three small groups for the first two miles, running splits that were below what we expect to be racing later in the season, and then to take the last mile and see what we could do. For me, that meant running with Grayson Hepp and a few other individuals in the race in the front pack, and biding my time until it made sense to make a move. The beginning of the race opened faster than I might have predicted, right around 5:00 through the first mile, but I was still well within myself, and it was not an all-out effort by a long shot. I started to grow impatient in the second mile when the pace began to decline, and it ended up going through in 10:25 for two miles. At this point I was still feeling great, and I knew that it was about time to separate myself from the group and go pursue a strong finish to the effort. I caught my coach's eye at that point, and he signalled for me to break away, so I progressed through the last mile, breaking away from the field. My last 1800 meters were smooth and undisturbed, as I came through in 16:02.00 for the win. Grayson followed up right behind me in second, and then our next three guys secured the victory with 8th, 9th, and 18th place finishes. We won the meet by 32 points over West Chester East and Holy Ghost Preparatory School, which was a great way to open up the season. Although I would've liked to have raced all-out today, I get that it made no sense for the strength of our team, and I would much rather save the all-out efforts for later in the season. There were several valuable notes to take away from today, and I believe that it was a great place to start the season. I felt exceedingly strong going at a relatively fast pace, and I know that once I start racing all-out, my fitness is at a point where I'm confident I'll be able to accomplish whatever I am chasing down. The more exciting part of the day for me, however, was getting to watch the JV Boys race later in the morning, where we had some phenomenal performances from some of our younger guys. We got the whole team chanting for everyone as they came through the two-mile marker, and it was great to see group of freshmen, several of whom were running their first ever 5k, working so hard. The sheer exuberance of some of the underclassmen was promising to see, and I loved the dedication that we had to making today what we wanted it to be, from top to bottom.
