Track and Field Blogs - Kenny Woo

The picture attached to this blog is from the division championship this year. It was my first time actually counting in an actual championship race for my team. To be honest, I completely blew it. With a large lead, I ran somewhere in the 2:07-2:11 range and handed off in second. People had said "I tried my hardest", which I did, but it's not good enough. Replacing me with a 2:01 leg just got our 4x800 team a ticket to the state meet. It doesn't exactly make me feel good how we can lose it at divisions, replace me and… more »

I was definitely happier with this season than winter. I smashed the 5 minute mark, and accomplished just about all of my other goals, including running a 400m. I honestly think that I could've dropped my mile time a bit more considering I ran 4:46 mid season and never got into another good race after that. Either way, I'm definitely happy with 4:46. My other PR's ended up being 56.8, 2:09.1, and 10:30, which I am also pretty happy with. Our team won the division championship and unexpectedly took second at counties. And for the future, my team completely wrecked… more »

Through winter, I decided not to blog much because I hadn't really had any exciting or amazing races, and there was nothing good about it since I barely PR'ed in the 1600, and came nowhere near it in the 800m. I only really PR'ed in the 600 and 1000 because I didn't really start taking track seriously until spring started. I won tons of medals that season, but they were from getting 3rd or 4th in freshman/sophomore divisions. Nothing really that special. First meet of Spring. Sub-5 ran with disgusting strategy (major positive split) earning me a 4:57. My first… more »

1600m - 4:59.9 This is my easiest and most realistic goal. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I ran 5 flat on a non-banked 200m track, so I should be able to break 5 outdoors, easily. But who knows, I thought I was going to do it last spring, but I ran 5:02. Oh well. Once I break 5, my goal will go straight down to 4:48. Though it's a stretch, I figure that I won't be scoring any points anyway, so I might as well run a few "dangerous" races where I'll take it out harder than usual. If… more »

This season hasn't worked out as well as I thought it would. After the break from XC, I never really felt that I got back into the same shape that I did at the end of the season. When I ran a 5:12 mile during practice after a 5:20 and a 4 mile run, I was sure I was going to run 4:50 right there. I was so excited for the track season because I thought that speed was my thing, and if I could run a sub-18 5K, I could run sub 2:10 in the 800m easy, and breaking… more »

I haven't been blogging since I haven't run any races, so i figured that I'd write about how my winter training has been going. After taking a little less than two weeks off, I (painfully) started running again, and slowly started to get back into shape. I started off with light distance (3-4) miles, and then onto easy track workouts (8x200m, Mile Down), and some harder (5 1200s) Though running hurts a lot more than it did during cross country, I feel that I'm getting better. I'm getting better times during the workouts, and I think i'm almost ready to… more »

When I set my season goal as 17:45 at the end of Spring Track last year, I thought I was insane. When the actual Cross Country season came, I watched as my "ridiculous" goal got closer and closer. I started with 18:18 and crept down to 18:02. Last Monday, I ran my final XC race of my sophomore year, and hit 17:49. It was 4 seconds off my goal, but I was still so excited since I originally thought I wouldn't be anywhere near it. I was actually thrown of a little during the race because I had not expected… more »

I ran 18:02 for the last League Meet of the season. I thought that I'd be able to go sub-18 as long as I stayed with my teammate, Casey throughout the race. He immediately went out harder than me. I wasn't sure if I should stick with my plan or stay a little behind just to be safe. I chose to stay back and watch him. He eventually did slow down a little, but he was still ahead of me. I could've been a little closer but I got sidetracked racing two or so kids from Lynbrook who occasionally tried… more »

I luckily was put into the JV race over the varsity race to give one of my teammates a chance to run varsity. Normally, I'd be angry, but I was actually pretty happy because I was extremely sore for the fourth or fifth time this season. I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up during the race because my legs felt so crappy. When I got to the line, I took only one strideout, which basically told me I would be able to run the race, but it could be painful. The start of the race was like… more »

I went to the Manhattan College Invitational at VCP on Saturday. I was excited because we were pretty sure we were going to win the sophomore race, so all of us were pumped. The race was nothing short of a nightmare for me. The race started, I got out at a decent pace, I knew what I was going to do during the race because I had learned some of the "course secrets" at the Foundation XC Camp... Which was what I thought. But everything changed as I entered the so-called "Cow Path" where my left spike untied. I freaked… more »

The third league meet, and the first 5K of the season. Unfortunately, I sort of overestimated the 1K more that I had to run this time, and went a little slower than I should've. I had way too much energy left at the end of the race, but my kick still wasn't enough to get me to where I should've been. But it's only the first race, and I have two more meets and conference to get my 5K down right. I placed 11th in the race and 10th for my team. Our first guy got sub-17 which is cool.… more »

The Suffolk Coaches Meet on Saturday that I had been looking forward to for so long was cancelled for rain the day before. The day of the meet it wasn't even raining, but I guessed that the course was in bad condition or something. I was annoyed because I'd get to see some friends that I had met at the Running School during the summer, and also it'd be the only time I'd get to race at Sunken Meadow during the season. We still had practice of course, but it was made a little later so I got extra sleep,… more »

Meet 2... Once again, we dominated, this time taking the top 10 spots. Though I ran only a second or two better than my PR, the race felt completely different. A teammate who had run JV last meet made varsity this time, and we pushed each other through the race. I went out faster than I did last time, but I felt that the pace slowed down a little bit before the polo field. (Last 1K). Though I had placed last by a second to my teammate who had run JV last time, I was still pretty happy because of… more »

I didn't expect to write again so soon, but... I woke up extremely sore the day after my 14:10 4K. I didn't think anything of it, it was just a little soreness because I wasn't used to the pace. So I went to school, and once I get to gym class, we're running a 400. I was challenged by a teammate and some douchebag kid that used to run track and quit to play volleyball. My start was a complete failure being elbowed in the face. My teammate and d-bag started early also, and were far ahead already.. I ran… more »

Well, today was my first meet of the season, also my first varsity race in any of the track seasons. I was a little nervous when anybody brought the subject of the meet up, but besides that, I didn't think about it through most of the day, until the last period of school, where I was anxious for the period to end. I really forgot what the feeling of racing is like. I put my spikes on for the first time in months (I need to get new ones, I just realized they're too small.) and I got the familiar… more »

I got in a nice 6 mile workout in the rain on friday. It was a nice change since it's been so hot on all of my runs and the rain had a really nice feeling instead of the sweat that I'm used to. There was an incident where a teammate slipped face-first into a puddle, which was one of the most funny things I've seen. (He was fine, got out of the puddle and started running again). The way back felt extremely fast, and I want to say it was at about a 5:50 pace, though it was probably… more »