Section Week

 Lots to Unpack this Week

We had a great meet!

I know it was super stressful for the VB group, but you guys are champs and did what it took.  We may run without Sandro at sections, but you guys can win even without him.  It will just be a lot closer.  Varsity girls.  I'm done talking about how good Placer is or how good 2016 was.  This team is BAD ASS!  Let's go get a banner!

Lower levels, this will be your last race.  Some of you may want to continue training with the state qualifiers.  Let me know if you would like to do this.  I will likely take a few lower level athletes along with us to the state meet to preview the course for future years.  

Qualifiers for Next Sections.  All others will begin their off season.  Still Dress for PE.

VB

Sandro (if able)

Mason

Juan

Rick

Sam

Carlos

Manny

Shane (if no Sandro)

VG

Sophie

Noeli

Grace

Maggie

Bailey

Jaelyn

Melanie (if able)

JVB

Shane (if Sandro runs varsity)

Eddy

Diego

Noah

Wyatt

Jason

Roberto

FB

Jeremiah

Tyler

Kameron

Jace

Jude

Owen

Esai

FSG

Maritza

Amaya

Emily

Dalila

Alina

Adrianne

Sofia

Workouts for the Week.

Please note the rearrangement of training groups.

SJS Sub Section Itinerary

 Hey Team!  The Post Season is Here

Tomorrow, we will be traveling to the Calevaras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp for the Sac Joaquin Sub Section Meet.  Here is a brief itinerary and some other info.  

• 6:00 AM- Arrive HHS Staff Parking Lot
• 6:15 AM - Deapart
• 8:00 AM - Arrive Calevaras County Fairgrounds.  Team camp near Mark Twain Statue
• 9:00 AM - First race (Freshmen Boys)  See attached document for full schedule
• 1:00 PM - Depart Fairgrounds
• 1:30 PM - Lunch in Sonora
• 2:00 PM - Depart Sonora
• 3:00 PM - Arrive at Front Parking Lot. 

If you read through the attached document, you will see that each school is assigned a specific job.  We are supposed to provide workers for the finish line chute.  If you are going, it would be greatly appriciated if  you could take a shift at the chute during a time when your kid is not racing.  We can rotate hourly so nobody has to get stuck down there.

I will bring some healthy snacks, but kids would be well served to bring some HEALTHY snacks of their own.  

Top 10 Varsity teams qualify for the Section Championship in Folsom next week

Top 6 JV and FS teams Qualify for the Section Championship in Folsom next week.  

Clovis Invitational Trip

 Hello CC Parents.

Tomorrow, we're getting ready to leave for the Clovis Invitiational.  This meet is considered the unofficial State Meet Preview.  Anybody who has plans to race well at the state meet, will be at Clovis this weekend.  We will be racing in the Division 6 (Small Schools) races on Friday.  Following is a brief itinerary.  

Thursday - 10/9

• Before School, drop off luggage at Coach B's Room
• Lunch time.  Eat and then change into workout clothes.  Coach will open the locker rooms.
• Depart HHS at around 1:15.
• Arrive Woodward Park. 2:45
• Jog course, stretch drills.
• Depart for Hotel
• Check into hotel 4:30 PM.
• Shower, relax
• Leave for team dinner 6:00 PM.
• 6:30 Dinner at pre-race pasta feed.  
• 7:30 return to hotel.
• 9:30 Bed time.

Friday - 10/10

•  Wake up, 5:00 AM
• Girls can eat breakfast at the hotel.  Boys eat a very light meal, provided by coach.  
• Depart for Woodward Park, 6:00 AM
• Arrive and set up: 6:20
• Boys Race 7:40
• Girls Race 10:00 AM
• Long cool downs
• Depart Fresno @ 11:30
• Lunch in Chowchilla 12:15
• Arrive HHS 2:30

Race Schedule

Meet Website

Meet Page on Athletic.net

Packing List

• PUSH Shirt (to wear out to the team dinner)
• Racing shoes, unifiorms
• Workout gear for Thursday's course preview.
• If you have an air mattress, you may want to bring it.  We'll be 3 to a room, but each room has 2 queen beds.  If you don't want to share a bed, bring an air mattress.  
• Cash for meals, snacks, and souveniers.
• If you have not paid coach B 15 dollars for the team dinner, please bring that cash tomorrow. 

Donations for Supercross Snack Bar Wanted

 Hey Team: 

Supercross is coming up in a few weeks.  This is our main fundraiser for the year.  The meet keeps your kids from having to lug around order forms for candles, pies, cookie dough, and a hundred other fundraiser items that kids are constantly selling.  

This meet pays for the majority of the things we do as a team.  We of course want you to help out at the meet on October 18th.  However, we realize that some of you may not be able to make it on that day.  So, if you can't make it that day, but still want to help out your kids' team, then please sign up to make a donation to our snack bar for the meet.

Linda Benham is running the snack bar at the meet this year and she has asked me to post ask you for donations for meet day.  I'm attaching this SIGN UP GENIUS.  Donating to the snack bar make a big financial impact for us with very little out of your pocket books.  A case of 40 waters from Costco is only a few dollars, but we can sell the waters in that case for a dollar each.  This means your donation of a few dollars, ends up bringing in $40.00 for our team! Please consider making a donation. 

Supercross is Coming! - So is Snackbar for Homecoming!

Hey Team!

The financial engine that makes our team run is getting revved up.  On October 18th, we will be hosting the 19th Annual Hughson Supercross Invitational.  This meet has grown from 7 teams in 2007 to 70 teams this year! When all is said and done, we expect to NET $3000-$4000 for our program.  As you can imagine, putting this meet on requires a lot of work and requires the help of a fair number of volunteers.  I want to get our volunteers in place long before the meet is set to happen, so that we will all be ready to go on race day.

Please see this Supercross Sign Up Genius to sign up to help. 

As it worked out this year, Cross Country / Track and Field are scheduled to work in the snack bar at the homecoming game.  During the homecoming game, our athletes will have the opportunity to sell raffle tickets.  This is a great fundraiser for us as well.  Our kids usually bring in betwen 600 and 800 dollars on the raffle.  

The game is October 17th.....the night before Supercross. As you can imagine, this will make for an incredibly busy weekend.  If you cannot volunteer for both events, I understand, but please volunteer for one!  I will have a small group of athletes help me finish setting up the stadium immediately after the game ends on Friday night.  If we work quickly, this should only take an hour or so.  

Athletes: Sign up Here to help sell tickets and set up the stadium for supercross.  

I will use Aeries Communications to send out a sign up genius for help in the snack bar.  It will go out track parents as well and that way we can better fill our slots.  

Kim Duyst Invitational

 Hey Team!  It's Going Down Tommorrow!

I often tell our athletes that if they want to get to the top of the mountain, you first have to see the top of the mountain.  Our Varsity Boys will be running against 2 of the top 15 teams in the NATION tomorrow.  We will face off against National Pre-Season #3 Jesuit of Sacramento and #14 Matilda Torres of Madera.

The Kim Duyst is a GREAT opportunity for all of our athletes to run against high level competition on a FAST course.  To make it even more interesting, this is one of the few NIGHT meets to be held anywhere.  

Our first races of the day will begin at 5:15.  Athletes, you need to be at River Oaks Golf Course by no later than 4:00 PM.  Note that there is usually a LOOOOONG line to get into the parking lot, so you should plan to arrive by closer to 3:45. 

Please check this link for a complete schedule of races.  

Unfortunately, there will be a huge gap in our schedule.  Our varsity teams are running in the Invitational Division, which is after the 4 varsity races and after the college races.  I will not require that all of our athletes stay for the entire meet, however, I encourage it.  It's really good for our younger athletes to see what the best teams in the country look like and that we can get in and proudly compete with them, even if we don't win.  Personally, I will probably leave to get some dinner after our FS and JV athletes finish their races and then I'll come back later for the college races and Invitational high school races.  

Week 15 Workouts.

 I'm Putting This Out On The Blog Because....

I need groups 1-3 to double up in the morning on Tuesday.  Since we're not meeting Monday, this is the best way to get you the info.

Week 15 Workouts Sessions

Week 14 Workouts

 Last Chance to Get Mileage For the Shirt!

Monday and Tuesday of the following week count toward the mileage totals as well.  

Please check the week's workouts to figure out if and when you need to wake up to OYO in the mornings.  

Monday is Labor Day.....a good opportunity to get in mileage.  We could meet up for a long run if anyone is interested.  I'll bring food!

Time Trial Teams

 Black and Gold Throwdown!

OK team, here we go!  Our annual intrasquad meet is ready to roll.  Please check the list of athletes on each team.  If we didn't include you and you think you should run, see me tomorrow morning.

Let's Go Huskies

Link to the Teams

Camp Video 2025

 A HUGE shout out to Mrs. Bilson for putting together this year's camp video!

First Week of Practice

OK Team!  Here We Go!

We've had a great summer of training and now it's time to crank it up for real.  I want to get some information out about the first week.  Please take a look at the training groups that I've assigned you to

Training Groups

We will start practice on Monday at 7:00 AM.  Groups 1-4 will run morning workouts.  Groups 1-3 will have a mandatory shakeout run at 3:00 PM.  This will serve the double purpose of additional training volume and heat aclimitization.  Attendance will be taken.  If you can only get a ride to one practice, come to the morning workouts.  Group 5 will only work out in the afternoons.  See below for full details

• Monday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Tuesday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Wednesday - AM Groups 1-4, PM Groups 1-3 and Group 5
• Thursday - All groups: PM 7th period.  Team meeting in Reeder Hall then afternoon workout
• Friday - All groups: 7th period. afternoon workout. 
• Saturday - OYO mileage.  Advanced groups encouraged to meet up for long run (see schedule)
• Sunday - Off or very easy. 

Training groups are organized by expected weekly training volume.  There is quite a bit of flexibility for athletes within groups to either back off or jack it up on any given day.  Please see the first week's workout schedule

Please note that when you read "70-80% of peak volume" that this is aimed at the veteran runners who have been running all summer and have already reached their peak volume for the year. 

To find your peak volume, find your 3 concecutive weeks the highest total mileage.  For example, Mason's highest 3 weeks probably average about 60 miles per week.  This week is only a 70-80% week.  This means mason woud run only 42-48 miles this week.  Mason will need to be responsible for making sure he hits these totals and can adjust total volume by lenghening or shortening his weekend runs or his afternoon shakeouts.  

Week 11 Workouts 

One Week Until Practice Starts

Hey Team!

We have one week until our official season starts.  This could be our best season ever, so let's make sure we get off to a great start.  I've got a couple of housekeeping things to go over and then want to talk about your OYO training for this week.  

1. We will work out at 7:00 AM on M,T,W of next week  (Aug 4-6).  Veterans will also have afternoon shakeouts for heat acclimation on those same days.  If you can't make it to school twice, come to the morning workout and run in the heat on your own in the afternoon.  School starts on the 7th and we will practice during 7th period from that point forward.
2. Freshman Roundup is Wednesday.  I will be contacting a few of you about recruiting and trying to build our team.  We didn't have a ton of freshmen running this summer, so finding some more enthusiastic athletes is essential
3. You MUST finish your athletic clearance.  Most of you have done this already.  If you have not GET YOUR PHYSICALS AND GET THEM UPLOADED. From this point forward, no athletic clearance, no practice, no compete. 

Last week of summer training

1. Mostly, you just need to keep your mileage high.  This is the most important time of the season to keep it up.  It's going to be really hard the first couple of weeks of school, and I've planned for a dip in your volumes during that time.  So, use these next 10 days wisely.
2. This week, you need 2 harder sessions.
3. Session 1: It's time to do something a little faster.  You've got options.  Veterans should aim for 400m repeats with 2 minutes recovery.  Go about 4-5 seconds faster per lap than you have been doing on your 3 minute intervals.  This should not be hard, but should be your first taste of a realistic goal pace.  
4. Session 2: Make this a normal tempo run or threshold interval session.  You've done a bunch of these this summer so you should know what you're doing by now (veterans)
5. Newbies try to make 2 of your runs this week progression runs, finishing with about 5 minutes of fairly hard running.  Other than that, do strides and do mileage. 
6. All of you should make sure your doing strides at least 2 times a week in addition to the hard training days.
7. On August 4th, we'll run our end of the summer 6 minute test to see where we're at.  

Summer Fundraiser Donations Needed

OUR SUMMER FUNDRAISER IS TOMORROW NIGHT

I've created a sign up genius for donations of drinks.  Any donations we get mean we don't have to buy them with team money.  What I'm looking for are

1. 6 cases of water (defined as a 24 pack)
2. 2 cases of coke (Costo 35 pack)
3. 1 case of sprite
4. 1 case of dr pepper
5. 1 case of diet coke. 

Also, we will need coolers for the fundraiser and for camp.  I have 3 "normal sized coolers" but we usually need to bring at least 3 more to camp to keep ouf food cool on the trip up.  Usually, one of those coolers is a large one where we can fit 10 gallons of milk :)

If your son or daughter is going to camp, and yoy have a big cooler, please bring it to practice Thursday morning.

Please bring drink donations Thursday morning as well. 

Sign up for Drink Donations Here 

Good Job, Team!

 OK guys, Check the summer mileage page.

We're doing really well.  We've got 5 boys within striking distance of being in the 700 mile group!  I talk a lot about how in 2022, we had our whole varsity group hit 700.  OK, that was juast the varsity group.  After that, there wasn't much happening.  If I look now, I see a whole bunch of you on pace for 550-650.

On the girls side, 

Melanie and Lizeth are KILLING IT!. We're going to see some big improvements from them.  And, we're starting to get healthy with a number of other girls.  For the girls side, we may be a little behind where we want to be right now, but as long as we all start gelling as a group and getting the volume up little by little, we're going to be very good.  For the girls, it's important that we get those newer girls feeling like they're part of the team.  Call them up for an easy run, it can be your double for the day.  This is how we keep the ball rolling when a big chunk of seniors graduates this year.  

As far as mileage goes, Here's where you should be RN.

• 700 = 294 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 270, RN, you're in good shape.
• 500 = 210 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 190 RN, you're in good shape. 
• 300 = 126 @ 6 weeks - If you're at 115-120 RN, you're in good shape.

The next 5 weeks ideally should be your highest volume block of the season

It's not ideal, but when school starts, it's much harder to keep up your volume.  So, if you're aiming for 700, now is the time to start hitting 55-65 mile weeks and then you'll drop back to 45-50 once school starts.  If you're aiming for 500, now is the time to experiment with 40-45 mile weeks.  If you're aiming for 300, now is the time to try and get into the mid to high 20 range. 

Peak Mileage and Summer of Malmo

OK, Team.  We're 4 weeks into the summer and things are going WELL 

On the boys side, the majority of our BIG DOGS have ramped up their mileage close to their peaks for this training cycle.  On the girls side, we're working through some injuries and vacations, but things are starting to move in the right direction.  

Where do we go next? 

We go to peak mileage for the season (this applies to veterans only.  Newbies will continue to slowly build their volume for most of the rest of the season.  How do you get to peak mileage?  Just back off the intensity a little bit and run a little bit more.  It's that simple.  We've had a good 4 weeks of mileage and 3 weeks of practice, so it's time to bump it up.

How will this look?

You need to remember that after this Thursday, you guys will be on your own for the next 2.5 weeks.  This is a really good opportunity to dial into your own individual needs.  Please read the Summer of Malmo.  It should only take you about 5 minutes.  Summer of Malmo was written by former American Record Holder in the steeplechase, George Malley.  He is well known for having put in pretty big miles while still in high school and that leapfrogged him to a good college and professional career in the early 80s.  When Malley wrote this article, American distance running was in the dumps.  Times that seem pedestrian today were viewed as unobtainable back then.  Coaches and atheltes started readng this article, and adopting the principles.  I believe that this is one of the reasons that distance running in the US picked back up again starting in the late 90s and continuing today.  

How will this look? Part II

Some of you might be a little tired, having already built up to the mileage you're at.  If that is the case, you can take a down week this week, where you cut back by about 20%.  If you're still feeling good, you can keep building.

You have 6 weeks until we start practicing every day.  We'll only be meeting as a team for 3 of those weeks.  One of those weeks is camp, for the varsity group.  Let's use Shane as an example of how these next 6 weeks should look.

Shane the Bullet Train

Shane's goal for the summer is 700 miles, which means he needs to average 49 miles a week for the entireity of our 100 day period.  Shane just got to 50 miles, which means he's a little behind pace for 700.  This is the time for Shane to get AHEAD of the 700 pace.  So far, Shane has gone: 

• Week 1: 38.5
• Week 2: 45
• Week 3: 46
• Week 4: 50.

So, Shane has built up to what his average volume needs to be.  What does a catch up period look like?

• Week 5: 42 (if he was tired from the first month), 50 if not
• Week 6: (OYO) 55
• Week 7: (OYO) 60
• Week 8: 55 Back with the team
• Week 9: 60
• Week 10: 60 (OYO)
• Week 11: 45 (first week of organized practice) 

What about workouts?

On the weeks you run with the team, just do the workouts we do.  For the OYO weeks, do the workouts that you like the best.  Just make sure they fit in with what I've been teaching you.  The workouts should be controlled and you should not be blowing yourselves out.  Since you're running your biggest miles of the season (and probably of your lives) you can even go back to 1 actual workout on the OYO weeks....or simply follow Summer of Malmo for those weeks.  If you're planning to back off the workouts, grease the speed groove by running strides almost every day. 

I'm really excited about where we are at right now.  Let's make this season epic!

Camp 2025 Updates

 Hey Team

I've updated our team's Camp Page.  Thank you to those of you who've done what you need to do in order to be elligible.  For those of you who want to go, here's what still needs to be done.  

1. Make sure you've got your physical and that it's uploaded to athletic clearance.  If you don't have a physical yet, get one ASAP.  Download the form from our athletic department page. Click the athletic forms link
2. Bring your Deposit of $300 (that deposit won't be enough to pay for camp entirely, and that's where Fundraising comes in. If you are not selected for camp, you will get your full deposit back.  
3. Sell fundraiser tickets and participate in the fundraiser The fundraiser isn't just for camp, it's for the whole team.  However, if you want to go to camp, you're going to need to sell tickets AND help serve food during the fundraiser.  If we do well enough on the fundraiser, I will be able to return some of your deposits.  Camp will cost the team in the neighborhood of $8000 this year
4. Turn in a permission slip.  I will get these slips out the week we leave for camp.  

FYI, to see the checklist on the Camp Page, click the tab on the spreadsheet that says, Camp Checklist. 

LOOK AT MILLS!!!!

 In 1964, one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history happened when Billy Mills of the USA, sprinted past world record holder Ron Clarke to win the gold medal in the mens' 10000m run.  

I bring this up because the video of him winning in a thrilling kick displays one of the only examples I can think of where a distance runner uses really good sprint mechanics during the final kick.  I talked today at practice about the importance of constantly practicing, and rehearsing good running mechanics, so that when the time comes, and you're as dead as dead can be, you still can run powerfully and efficiently to move past your opponents.  

Here is a sample week of Mill's training.  When you see 110s, that means a 110 yard hard strider.  Notice how he did these almost daily as  part of a secondary workout.  

Mon: A.M--2 mile w/u, 4 mile "tee to greens" on golf course 2 mile cooldown

P.M-- 2 mile warmup, 2 miles of repeat 110s, 1 mile cooldown.

Tue: A.M.--2 mile warmup; 1 mile repeat 110s, 2 mile cooldown.

P.M.--1 mile w/u 2 miles of sprint 150, float 70, in 8:50, 4 mile cooldown.

Wed: A.M.--3 mile w/u; 1 mile of repeat 110s; 1 mile easy; 4x 880s in 1:59-2:00 with 330 rest; 2 mile c/d.

P.M.-- 4 mile w/u; xc run on sand with 1.5 miles easy and 1.5 miles at race pace, 2 mile cooldown.

Thu; A.M--3 mile w/u; 2 miles of easy 110s.

P.M--whirlpool and rest.

Fri: A.M--1 mile w/u, whirlpool

P.M--14 miles easy

Sat: A.M--3 mile w/u, 1 mile of repeat 110s; 6 x 1000 yards (slower than race pace) w/330 rest; 1 mile c/d

P.M--4 miles easy; 4 miles hard, 1 mile easy 110s, 1 mile cooldown.

Sun: A.M--2 mile w/u 1 mile easy 110s, 1 mile hard 110s; 1 mile easy; 1 mile cooldown.

Total: 90 miles

Here's another good video, with a little higher production value.  Note the crushed brick track (for those of you complaining about running on dirt at Hilmar. 

If you're interested, there was a good movie made about Mill's life called Running Brave (he is Lakota Sioux Native American).