Abington Heights senior Tessa Barrett qualified for states in XC as a freshman and sophomore, and after an eye-opening 17:58 at the 2012 Tennett Invitatonal, she looked destined to challange for a state AAA title. But a mud-fest at the District 2 meet led to an injury, and the opportunity was lost. She bounced back in indoor with a solo 10:02 3k in February 2013. Her 3000 at PTFCA champs was an epic battle with Courtney Smith and Regan Rome - one she ultimately won in a state record 9:47.73. She would go on to take 4th at the Penn Relays 3000 in 9:40, and then 2nd (to Smith) in another battle at outdoor states, going 10:25 for 3200 meters. This year she opened with a stunning 17:26 at Cliff Robbins, and then not only won the Gold Race at PIAA Foundation, but set the course record for the Poop-Out Hill layout in 17:48. And then she followed in the recent spike-prints of Neely Spence and Angel Piccirillo, winning the Foot Locker Northeast Regional... then trumping all of the past Foot Locker finalists from PA by winning the championship at storied Balboa Park. But she was only beginning an incredible final high school campaign - resetting her state 3K record four more times - first at the Susquehanna High School Classic in late January; then again at the PTFCA State Championships on March 1, and then twice more at New Balance Indoor Nationals - both en route, first in the 5000 meter championship in which she set a national record of 16:11.85, and then two days later in (9:31.09) winning the two-mile title in a PA record and US#1 10:08.05. And we still have outdoor! WHEW!
Indoor:
Entry#6 3/19 | Entry #7 3/30 |
Cross Country:
Entry #1 10/8 | Entry #2 10/17 | Entry #3 11/11 | Entry #4 12/4 | Entry #5 12/29
Tessa Barrett
SR. Abington Heights HS, PA
Journal Entry #6 (March 19, 2014)
From Foot Locker Champ to National 5K Indoor Record (and two state records as well)
Hey guys! So it’s been a while since I last wrote an PTXC journal, the winter just seemed to get away from me! So to make up for it, I’m going to do a three part series of journals for indoor track: Pre-States/Millrose Games, States and then Nationals. Since this is my first journal, I’ll be talking about the beginning part of my indoor season leading up to the Millrose Games.
After Foot Locker, I took a little bit of time off from running but kept myself busy with school work and light cross-training. I was going to take two weeks off, but I was itching to run after a week, so I started running lightly and for short distances that second week. It felt great. It took about a week or two until I was back at my mileage from the fall, and by this time I had decided to do the Millrose Trials for a little bit of speed work in the mile. It went well, and I was happy to run sub-five in my first race back! I wasn’t sure if I would make it into the Games, but I continued to train normally, adding a few speed workouts here and there. This winter was pretty rough for a distance runner; temperatures in the low teens/single digits and below zero degree wind chills proved to be quite challenging to run through. But, I guess that’s what makes us Northeast runners tough. ;) Also, I was really fortunate this winter as a college near me opened a new recreation center, with an indoor track. The track is a little less than 200 meters, but for short interval workouts, it was perfect! I usually had a chance to get on the track once a week, and I tried to make this my “hard” workout of the week, aiming for negative splits on my last reps.
Millrose Games Photo by Dan Pemrick
In late January, I found out that I had been invited to the Millrose Games. I was so honored to have the chance to run in such a prestigious event with some of the best milers in the country. Going into the race, I knew I wasn’t much of a miler; I feel more confident with longer distances. But I was hoping to get a mile PR because I knew the field was going to be very fast. I woke up the morning of Millrose super excited; I rolled out of bed, put on a pair of running tights, a sweatshirt and sneakers, and headed downstairs to do a quick shake-out run. Hmm…Well, to my surprise, there was about an inch of snow outside already (on top of the 5 inches we already had!), and it was snowing hard. I was worried about getting into New York for the race. Luckily, my Dad volunteered to drive my coaches, mom and I in. The drive in was a little scary, and it took longer than usual, but thankfully we made it into the city safe. Millrose was an incredible experience. Words cannot describe how much fun it is! Being in the company of some of the world’s most renowned athletes was so cool. I also got a chance to meet Tony Russell, my future teammate and watch my other future teammate Will Cather’s 4x8 team run. I was really pleased with my race, I got a PR and it was great to run with some competition. It got me fired up for the rest of the indoor season.
Workouts leading up to Millrose:
-1/7/14- My first workout at BBC’s new indoor track: 8x400 at Mile pace; I wasn’t too sure what to expect with this one, but I averaged 73s for each one, which I felt good about.
-1/21/14-6x400, 8x200, 8x100, Since I knew what my mile pace was now after the trials, I tried to mix it up a little in this workout. I ran the 6x400 at that pace, then tried to speed up with the 200s, and full out sprint the 100s.
-2/4/14- Post Susquehanna Indoor Meet: 5x900 meters at 3k pace
-2/11/14- Pre-Millrose Workout: Fartlek Workout on the roads
