Camp was Great, now its time to get ready for the season

We had a wonderful camp this year at Henry Cowell State Park.  This camp and this summer has been the best pre-season that we have ever had as a team.  I cannot wait to see the results when you guys start racing in a month.  I took a bunch of video while we were there and will post a link to youtube once I'm done editing it.

Now.  There are a couple of things we all need to do before practice starts on August 6th.

Get Your Physicals.  You will not be allowed to work out with the team until you have a physical and turn in the paper work.  Pick up the required documents from the office if you don't already have them.

Volunteer to Recruit at Freshman Roundup. This should be the most important day of the year for our cross country program.  The more solid, dependable kids we can get into the program on day one, the better we will be in the future.  Freshman round up is August 9th.  We will talk to the freshmen after our morning practice.

Sign up for the Fundraiser.  We will be doing a new fundraiser this year and I will need everyone to participate.  Through the month of August, we will be washing windows for 3 bucks a pop.  I expect that everyone will sign up for at least 2 shifts of 4 hours.

Another Oldie But Goddie

On Monday, we had probably our best practice of the summer...2 x 2 miles at tempo effort.  I'm going to post a workout done by Arcadia High School during their 2010 pre-season camp.  You will notice that they are also doing 2 x 2 miles (top guys doing 3).  This Arcadia team went on to twice break the team time course record at Woodward Park.  Based on those two performances, they should be considered one of the best teams in the history of the western United States.

http://www.flotrack.org/video/360636-WOW-with-Arcadia-High-School

You will notice on this some similarities to The Woodlands High School workout

Similarities

1. Good team unity and cohesion....athletes supporting each other
2. Solid work ethic.  The athletes seemed positive about what they were doing.
3. Although it isn't stated in the video, the Arcadia team was also in a heavy mileage/base phase when the video was shot.

Differences

1. I noticed Amar Moussa (one of the top runners in the country that year) encouraging his teammates not to over run the workout, not to go too deeply into difficulty
2. The coach controlled the workout, making sure that the pace was not too difficult.
3. I didn't notice any of the top runners falling apart in this workout, as happened in The Woodlands workout.

Bear in mind that we only saw one workout in an entire season from each team and that we don't really know what these teams did on all of their other days.  Both teams have a great record of success, so I can't really criticize either program.  However, I have to say that I like the feel of what I see from the Arcadia team a little more than what I see from The Woodlands team.

I don't post these videos so that you can see how far away from the top of the mountain you are.  I post them so that you can get an idea what the top of the mountain looks like, then strive to get yourselves there.  You guys should be happy to know that we do a lot of the same stuff as the top teams do.  We have been doing 2 mile tempo intervals for years.  If we really want to break through to the top levels at the state meet (which I believe is very possible over the next 3 seasons) we need to begin to develop the other traits you see in these videos.

1. Team unity, the ability for the team to come together as a unit and work toward a common goal, realizing that as new runners improve, they are not a threat to the more established runners, but an asset that can make the whole team better.
2. Priorities.  Our younger group is doing a great job of getting their miles in.  As a team, we are 1500 miles ahead of where we were at this point last summer.  We need to continue this and build upon it.  Keep the summer mileage up, keep the tempos going.  Encourage ALL of your teammates to get out there and run.

Oldie but Goodie.

I posted this video a couple of years back and it has been sitting on our video archive page.  I don't know if you younger guys have seen it, so I'm bumping it back up on the main page here.  The Woodlands High School, along with York High School (in Illinois) consistantly produces some of the top cross country teams in the nation.  They do it through hard work and dedication, building their athletes from the time they are in junior high.

http://www.flotrack.org/speaker/6486-juris-green/video/319098-wow-with-the-woodlands

I'd like to make a couple of comments for you guys, especially you freshmen and sophomores looking to develop over your next 3-4 years at HHS.

The Good Stuff

1. The athletes are at school ready to run before the sun is up, and heading out on their 6 mile cool down as the school busses are getting ready to go and pick up the students for the rest of the high school.
2. You see the athletes taking careful notes on their training after the workout is finished
3. The athletes are (mostly) able to run even splits for the workout.
4. The Woodlands regularly has over 20 boys run sub 10 for 2 miles every year!

The Bad Stuff

1. I don't really like to see athletes blowing up like Tom and a few other kids did in such early season workouts.
2. The Woodlands has been criticized for the fact that many of their star athletes fail to improve once they get too college, the main criticism is that the kids are pretty much burned out or injured by the time they finish high school.  I don't know if this is due to the fact that their high school training was so good that they more or less reached their potential as runners before graduating, or that they were truly burned out by the time they finished high school running.
3. I like high volumes of training, so long that you athletes can handle it, however, I'm not a huge fan of saying, "Group 1 has to get 84 miles this week".  I feel that we need to have flexibility in our training in order to avoid injuries and keep improving.

I feel that this is an excellent video at capturing a slice of how hard the elite high school programs in the U.S. train.  I think that you guys can learn from this video.  I think that you younger runners, with the mileage you are currently running, will see tremendous improvements like the runners at The Woodlands.  You are currently finding out that increased mileage = increased running strength.  Keep gradually building and see how far your hard work can take you.

Long Tempo Thursday

So, after canceling practice Wednesday due to bad air quality and opressive heat, we combined our tempo scheduled for wednesday with our long run scheduled for Thursday with excellent results.

Thursday's workout was probably our best workout as a team so far this summer. Great job guys.

Take a look at this video of Ryan Hall (top US marathoner for the past 4-5 years) doing a long tempo as he prepares for the London Olympics.

http://www.flotrack.org/speaker/78-Ryan-Hall/video/645471-Ryan-Hall-12-Mile-Tempo-WOW

July 4th in Atwater...racing time!

Not the greatest of racing days for us, but fun none the less.

Finding the Time

This week, I'd like to go into a topic which maybe, I should have done the first week of the summer.....prioritizing....making the time to run.

I know some of you are busier than others, but I can assure you, that no matter how busy you are, someone who is busier, is also running more than you.  Many adults who continue to train to be excellent find the time to run 70,80,....120 miles per week before work, after work, at lunch, whenever they can get the time.

Running is a wonderful sport.  It is incredibly simple to train for.  All you need to do is plan a time that you are going to run and stick to it.  Some days, you may only have 30 or 45 minutes to squeeze in a run.  That is fine, we all have those days.  Get your shoes on, head out, and after a short period to loosen up, hammer for the short period of time you have.

If you are telling me or telling yourself that you do not have the time, you are not being honest.  You are lying to yourself.  I know fair is coming up and many of you have FFA or 4H projects.  Those are no excuses.  Wyatt ran 50 miles last week and Jackson ran 46.  Both of them are getting ready for fair.  Traveling is really no excuse either.  Before his senior year, David McKay spent the summer in the Netherlands, but managed to come back in good enough shape to set the still standing team record for the pre-season time trial, then go on to become TVL champion.  Personally, I look at travel as an opportunity to run in new and exciting places.  At the very least, you can try this old stand by of mine, run up and down the stairs of your hotel for 20 minutes and do sprints in the parking lot.

There are a number of "varsity" runners who are putting up very weak and "un-varsity" type of numbers so far this summer. 

I've been watching the swimming olympic trials.  There are 3 teenagers qualified for the finals of the 800 freestyle, beating out olympic veterans.  I think some of you may learn a very hard truth this season, the same truth that some olympic swimming veterans just learned.  It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done in the past.  There is always going to be someone who is young and hungry ready to knock you off your pedestal.

Now, some of you are hopelessly far behind pace for our 500 mile club.  That is OK.  My high school coach didn't have us start running officially until July 1st.  Today is July 1st, and it is not too late to still build a very strong base for the upcoming season.  We have 6 weeks until we have to do anything truly hard (our first time trial) and another 4 weeks after that until our first race.  This means that if you've been slacking off, you still have 10 weeks to gradually build a strong base.

Some of you are ahead of schedule for 500 miles also.  That is great.  Keep up the good work.  Those of you who are consistantly running in the 40 mpw range are setting yourselves up for a great season.  Some of you are even touching into the 50 mpw range.  It is this type of consistancy which will allow you to make a quantum leap in your running abilities.