Summer Training Blog: West Central's Derick Peters


Watch out for Derick Peters in 2017. The rising senior at West Central High in South Dakota finished the 2016 cross country season as his state's Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year. He competed at both the NXN Heartland Region, where he finished 31st, and Foot Locker Midwest, where he was 32nd, and won his first state title in South Dakota, posting a time of 15:37.67. Peters also went 14:57.18 at the Lennox Invitational in September, breaking 15 minutes for the first time in his career. He's quietly emerging as a national talent from the Midwest. Peters' hopes likely hinge on qualifying for NXN and/or Foot Locker to finish out his senior season. In the meantime, check out his weekly training as he prepares for the beginning of the season.

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WEEK 4 (Aug. 28-Sept. 3) 

Monday:Two runs -- 9 miles: 5 miles at 6:13 pace and 4 miles at 7:06

This was my first run of the week and it felt good! I started a bit slower than my average pace, but I progressively picked it up and could tell that I was going to have a good week of running. It was another run before school to start me off. It stayed relatively cold in the morning, which turned out to be incredibly refreshing. My later run was plenty warm, but it went by quickly. I took a slower pace, which felt all right. I tried to stay slightly restrained in order to be fresh for my workout on Tuesday.

Tuesday: 7 miles: 1 mile warmup, 4 miles at 5:20-5:40, 1 mile easy, 8x400s at 67-69 seconds with 400m recovery, 1 mile cool-down

It was a super windy day! The temperature was pretty warm, but nothing to complain about. I was a bit concerned at the end of my tempo miles because they felt way harder than they should have been. My splits were constant 5:30s across the board. Then my 400s were a little bit more sporadic. I started a bit slow with a 70-second 400, but got back on track with a 69, 66, and a 69 for the first half. My second half was a bit quicker with a 64, 63, 61, and a 62. I don't know what I was thinking, but I felt super good so I just went with it.

Wednesday: Two runs -- 10 miles:  4 miles 6:36/mi and 6 miles 7:15/mi

The first run was just a really simple early-morning run before school. I just kind of shut my brain off and ran. I don't worry about pace, or anything else. I'm just running to run. My second run was a little slower, but I ran it with my team, so we had a good time getting some decent miles in.

Thursday: 6 miles at 7:10 pace

The goal today was to not kill myself on the run. I wanted to stay reserved and conservative in order to go all-out and perform my best for Friday's race. It was very laid back and just a typical pre-meet practice.

Friday7.1 miles -- 1 mile warm-up, 5K race, 3 miles cool-down

It was 8 PM at night and there was virtually no wind and super cool. Music was blaring and the crowd was super hyped today. I knew it was going to be a good night to run, but it couldn't have been better than it was tonight. I ran a 15:08 and I thought it was a great time for what I've been doing! I hope I can keep this up for the weeks to come!

1Derick Peters12 West Central High School15:08.901
2Gable Sieperda12 George-Little Rock High School15:29.702
3Daniel Burkhalter12 Bison High School15:48.70--
4Luke Stuckey12 York High School15:58.503
5Joe Rush12 Custer High School15:59.804
6Braden Peters11 West Central High School16:01.405
7Merga Gemeda12 Sioux City North High School16:07.906
8Joe Anderson11 George-Little Rock High School16:17.507
9Jack Elliott11 Sioux Falls Lincoln High School16:18.808
10Andrew Lauer10 Sioux Falls Lincoln High School16:26.709

Saturday: Two runs -- 17 miles: 13 mile long run 6:55 pace and 4 miles 6:20 pace

The long run was a lot of fun! The team took a different direction on the bike trail and we did a bit of exploring, but we stayed focused for the most part on the task at hand. It was a nice and easy long run in the mid-morning. The second run was significantly shorter, but a little faster. I did it later at night to recover a bit more and so I could have my off day on Sunday. The four-mile run went decently. I was feeling the miles from earlier, but I was still doing well so I didn't mind keeping the pace up 

Sunday: OFF DAY!

My off day this week basically consisted of me doing homework. There wasn't any strenuous physical activity, but I was just as tired at the end of the day as if I did participate in some.  But it felt nice to stay off my feet today!

Overview: This whole week I felt really good. I felt relatively fresh starting the week with my five-mile run and I just started to feel better from there. Tuesday's workout went super well, so I think that momentum translated into some of my easier runs and even into my race on Friday night.  I'm super pumped for the rest of the season after that race and I can't wait to see what happens down the road!