Summer Training Blog: Great Oak's Tori Gaitan


Tori Gaitan is a rising junior with Great Oak High School in Temecula, California, and one of the top girls distance runners in the country. A year ago, she cemented herself as the Wolfpack's No. 1 runner and was a major contributor to the team's Division I championship in California and its eighth-place finish at NXN. Individually, she won the DI/D2 Team Sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC, finished seventh at Woodbridge, was seventh at Clovis, fourth at CIF Southern Section and sixth at CIF. Now there are new goals. Following a very successful track and field season where Gaitan set PRs in both the 1600m and 3200m, she's zeroing in on her best cross country campaign yet. Will Great Oak make a run at the national title? That will be decided soon enough, but in the meantime check out Gaitan's journey toward the 2018 season in this training blog with MileSplit. 

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Week 1 (July 30- August 6)

Monday: 2 miles at 5:45 pace, 1200m at 80-second splits, 800m at 78 splits, 400m at 75, 2 x 150m working on acceleration

Today was a speed workout (led by) Jerry Schumacher at the Nike Elite Camp! I went into this workout feeling pretty good, starting from the warm up, and I continued to feel good throughout the entire thing. Starting with the two miles, I felt very comfortable, yet as the the speed got faster it definitely was challenging my fitness. It was my very first speed workout on the track for this XC season, and I'm glad I got to challenge myself a little! Overall, it was really cool getting a taste for how the pros train, and I learned so much from the entire thing.

Tuesday: Day off (traveling)

There was no workout today because I am flying back from Oregon. I'm really taking today to adjust back into the swing of things and catch up on some lack of sleep from a late night with the Nike Elite girls. Before Oregon I went to the Great Oak camp in Mammoth, so I haven't been home in quite some time.

Wednesday: 4 miles at 7:28 pace

Today was another day at a good pace, mainly to relax. I felt pretty good on my recovery run, and I ran around the track for most of it. My legs were definitely a little heavy, but I got the afternoon off from training to adjust back into my normal schedule. It was a really nice and easy run before the training starts to pick up again!

Thursday: 2x -- Morning, 6 miles at 7:32 pace; Afternoon, 6 miles at 7:27 pace

Definitely got back into my normal training today. I felt really good throughout both workouts because of the easy days before. I ran in a group of girls, and it was nice talking and not paying much attention to the pace. I listened to my body and let it set my paces. I also ran on a pretty flat course, so overall it felt really comfortable!

Friday: 4 miles at 7:45 pace

I really took some recovery today! The Baldwin Park 5k is tomorrow, so I just wanted to prepare my body for some speed. I got the afternoon off again to roll out and do a little more core. During the run, I ran with a new group of girls and it was pretty laid back. I don't know yet how hard I'm going to push in the 5k tomorrow, but I definitely want to get back into the feeling of a 3-mile course.

Saturday: Baldwin Park 5K -- 17:01 at 5:28 pace + 2 mile cool down at 7:55 pace

I'm happy I got the chance to run the 5K! I decided I wasn't going to go out and race it, so instead I took it more of a faster tempo. I felt good and I was even talking to some people during the race. It really got me excited to get back into cross country. The cool down also went great and I ran it alone around the flat park. I counted this as a solid workout rather than a race, but it gives me some confidence going back into my training.

Sunday: Day off

Today is my normal day off, so I didn't do any mileage. This week was pretty light, but I think it's important to get some rest before going into another week of training!

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Total Mileage: 30

Overview: I think this week contained some difficult workouts, but was lighter on the mileage side after getting back from the Nike Camp. It was more for adjusting back into a normal routine, and now I feel ready to get back into some higher mileage. I'm so happy I got the chance to train at the Nike Elite Camp and learn so many new things! I'm ready to put my head down and get ready for these following weeks before my first race!