8/24 update

Phoenix,

I hope the first week of school was amazing. I know the first period xc class was, with generous parents taking time and money to provide for our team, for which we are incredibly grateful. Having a chance to do morning runs/cross training as a team, and be able to fuel properly is a huge opportunity for our team. 

Next up in the first period class, we're going to try to bring a few guest speakers and/or runners to run with and talk to the team during breakfast, so stay tuned for that. 

If you would like to provide a breakfast for the team and haven't yet signed up, here is the link to that. If you have any questions about it, or would like to tag team with someone, let me know, or feel free to talk to others about a joint effort. 

This week

This Friday morning we will be going to the Timpanogos invitational at Lake Side Park in Orem! Our first official race is finally upon us. As the play by play announcer in "Angels in the Outfield" eloquently said, "All I can say is, it's about time." We cannot wait to see you get after it and see where we are. That said, we aren't full on "tapering" for the race, because we have a long way to go, so we'll do a moderate workout two days before, but a workout nevertheless. In fact, both of our "workouts" this week will be lighter, with Monday's more with the intent of developing aerobic power for the long haul of the season. 

Push each other this week and in the race. Compete on the course and see how high you and the team can finish. Challenge for those varsity positions. Support your teammates and root for their success. Believe in yourself and be confident. Talk with the coaches about a race plan, visualize that plan, and then execute it on the course. 

But seriously, we're chomping at the bit to get out and race, so stay positive, committed, and run for your teammates. During the week, be sure to arrange your lives so that you are getting enough sleep EVERY night, and getting enough fuel each day. 

Sleep diatribe

If you are constantly seeking  ways to improve, so you want to keep tweaking your workouts or increasing mileage, and you aren't getting enough sleep most days, then you're fooling yourself. The recovery is the other half of the scale from the stimulus. Not sleeping enough is a surefire way to making you feel worn out and plateau. 

If you're the person who every morning thinks, I'll go to bed earlier tonight, then when night rolls around you change your mind, then you need to change your procedure/routine. Mix it up, make a plan and stick to it, but don't keep depriving yourself of your greatest recovery tool. "Conner's super power is how much sleep he gets." - Clayton Young. Farmington High legend, 3200m record holder,  Footlocker National XC Finalist, and soon to be BYU athlete, Spencer Bradshaw, took his recovery as seriously as anyone with all the foam rolling, mobility, etc., but his greatest recovery-strength was his discipline to get to bed "early" and get enough sleep.

Race info

Anyway, back to the race details. The schedule is slightly different from what I had posted on the schedule page, so it's updated now, and I'll share it below. 

The buses will leave at 7 AM from the west side of the school. If you aren't done with register my athlete and eligibility, you won't be competing or coming to the meet. We will hand out uniforms to those who haven't received them yet, likely on Tuesday. 

I don't anticipate being back to the school until nearly 1 PM, or slightly later, so be prepared to miss most of the school day by communicating with your teachers. Also, bring food to last you through the day. 

Girls Frosh/Soph 9:00
Boys Frosh /Soph 9:30
Girls Varsity 10:00
Boys Varsity 10:30
Girls JV JR/SR 11:00
Boys JV JR/SR 11:30
Boys JV JR/SR 11:50 (if necessary)
Awards 12:15

Practices this week

We're lowering the mileage this week on account of the race, and will likely leave it a bit lower than MAX mileage most of the way. If we're going to recover from our hard bouts, and be able to keep the quality high, we're going to hang out slightly lower, like 80-90% of max for high mileage runners, while 30 mpw and below will likely stay at about 100%. 

Week 13 - 80-100%			0.85	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	August 25	FHS then to the regional park (on grass)	800s	8	8	8	7.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	5.00
Tues	August 26	FHS	Distance run	4/8	4/8	3/8	3/8	3/7	3/6	cross train/3	cross train/3
Wed	August 27	FHS then to the regional park (on pavement)	Race-like fartlek	7	7	6	6.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	3.00
Thurs	August 28	FHS	Pre-race	3/4	3/4	3/4	3/4	3/4	cross train/5	cross train/4	cross train/3
Fri	August 29	FHS	Race at Timpanogos, Bus leaves at 7	7.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	5.00	5.00
Sat	August 30		Long Run, can pick up at the end if feeling good	12.00	10.00	9.00	9.00	9.00	8.00	8.00	6.00
Sun	August 31		Off Day
Weekly Volume				53	51	48	47	42	34	30	27

8/17 update

Phoenix,

The summer is over in just a few hours. I've been saying this moment would come faster than any of us were ready for, and here we are. The good news is that the new school year coincides with the XC season getting in full swing, and for that, we are totally ready!

The time trial we had was awesome. I loved the effort, the support, the positivity, etc. May that continue throughout the season. 

Our three tenants that each of us need to work to instill in ourselves this season are as follows:

1. Team mentality

2. Positivity

3. Belief

If we can really make these concepts apart of who we are, we will reach our personal and collective potential much more readily. Find ways where you can improve in each area, and I guarantee you will not only have a more fun experience, but you'll become a much better athlete, and you'll see your times come down.

Practice Schedule Review

We will be practicing every day after school at 2:40. Typically we will meet outside the north doors of the building, but exceptions may be made to meet at other locations, so check the groupme after school. If travel is required, like going to forbush park or something, we'd probably start a hair later. 

9th graders and parents/drivers should join the 9th grader groupme so they know if we have run to a different location for practice, and can arrive by 3:15 or 3:20, and just come to the location we are. 

1st period Class

If you're in the 1st period class, and you should be, because it is not only "a vibe", "fun", the best class ever", etc., but we put it first period so that we could have built in morning runs on A-days, which is a pivotal way to improve aerobic fitness. Double runs prove to be one of the most effective ways at increasing mileage with less injury risk. Our morning runs will be 25-35 minutes each day, all at conversational pace. No pace pushing allowed. 

That class will begin at 7:20 AM, outside between the track and the east doors, on the walkway between the school and track. We will take roll at 7:20, and we'll be running by 7:25. Our generous and amazing parents who volunteer to provide breakfast will have that ready for us in the cafeteria by 8:00 AM, we'll eat until 8:20ish, then you'll have time to go get cleaned up. In the event you are ready for class prior to 8:45, you can return to the cafeteria and work on things there, but you are not to be wandering the halls. 

Parents, you can park in visitor parking up front, check in with the main office, then go to the cafeteria. If you need help bringing stuff in, our kids can help you upon return at 8ish. Athletes, please don't allow friends who aren't on the team to try and eat with us. The breakfast is for our class only - and we simply can't be feeding every non-class attender to eat, or you all may not have enough. I make no exceptions for that, otherwise word will spread and tons of people will start pulling up. I won't even allow other teachers to join us, they've asked haha.

This week

Our locations will vary a bit this week, but we haven't decided on where to meet to do the workouts most effectively on Tuesday and Thursday, so those will be sent out tomorrow. 

Day	Date	Location	Type	Total Mileage For Max
Week 12 - 100%			0.85	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	August 18	FHS		4/7	4/6	3/6	3/4	3/4	3/3	3/cross train	3/cross train
Tues	August 20	tbd	workout	8.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	6.00	5.00
Wed	August 21	FHS		11.00	10.00	8.00	6.00	7.00	4/cross train	3/cross train	3/cross train
Thurs	August 22	tbd	workout	8.00	8.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Fri	August 23	FHS		4/6	3/5	3/5	3/5	3/3	3/3	3/3	3/3
Sat	August 24	On own	Long Run	12.00	12.00	11.00	10.00	10.00	9.00	8.00	7.00
Sun	August 25		Off Day
Weekly Volume				60	55	50	45	42	35	34	33

8/10 update

Phoenix,

The official season is upon us! There is kind of a lot in here so I'll cut to the chase. 

Practices

The first thing to know is that we are officially beginning practices Monday-Friday. Those practices are considered mandatory if you want to run in the varsity races, and consistent absences will result in removal from the races all together. 

If you are out of town this week, just let us know and we can work around it. For future reference, work schedules and other commitments need to be moved around the practice schedule. We don't have flexibility with practice times, so that is what we've signed up for. 

As far as practice times when school begins, they will be at 2:40, except for 9th graders, which will be a bit later. More on that to come, hopefully early this week. 

Pre-Region - Thursday

Our first race is this week! If you've looked at the schedule, you've noticed that we race just about every other week from here on out. That is by design, and a trend that most teams seem to be following, as increased understanding about recovery and training between races comes out. In short, if we're to both recover and improve between races, we need time to train and to recover. Races are maximum efforts, obviously, and require time afterwards to recover. Training/workouts increase adaptation to new heights, and also require recovery, so without sufficient time between each race, we're doing our athletes a disservice. 

With that said, with not as many races as in the past, each race matters! Prepare yourselves physically and mentally to be at your best each week so you can see those improvements. 

For this week's race, some of the other teams insist on having a 2-mile race option, so there is a 2 mile race, and a 5k race. For our athletes, most of you will run the 5k. You've trained well enough to this point that you can handle it. Please speak with the coaches if you feel like the 2 mile race is a better option for you, and we'll come find you if we think it may apply to you. 

Bus Times

The buses will leave from the West side of the high school at 6:40 AM. I know it's early, but that's so we can get there in time to warm up and be ready to race for any girls in the 2 mile race. Everyone is expected to ride the buses to and from the meet this week.

Race times - these are an estimate and could vary slightly

8:00 AM - Girls 2 mile 

8:30 AM - Boys 2 mile

9 AM - Girls 5k

9:40 - Boys 5k. 

Register my athlete

As shared since our very first parent meeting back in May, every athlete needs to have completed registration via "register my athlete" BEFORE they will be allowed to compete. All the hoops need to be jumped through and completed or you cannot compete. If you've submitted everything and it says "pending approval" or something like that, that just means the AD needs to go an approve everything still, so as long as you submitted all pages of the physical and all other necessary items, then you'll probably be good to go.

Once again, here is the information for registration. 

Sporttrax

All, or most, of our meets will be on an app called "Sporttrax". If you don't have the app, I recommend downloading it and creating a free account. From there athletes can "claim" their profile and parents can follow athletes to see updates. You can also see the meet results.

Practice times, locations, and Uniforms

On Monday we are going to do an afternoon practice at the High School, starting from the north end of the building. We will also hand out uniforms to those who don't have them at that time.

Please note that on Monday we encourage you to do a morning run, for most mileages, and then a shorter afternoon run. The rest of the practices will be in the morning.

Day	Date	Location	Type	Total Mileage For Max
Week 11 - 80-90%			1	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	August 11	Farmington High School - North end of building - 2:45 PM	Easy run	7/4	6/4	6/3	3-3	3-3	4-5	4-5	4-5
Tues	August 12	Forbush Park - 7 AM	Hill workout	8-9	7-8	6-7	6-7	6-7	5-6	4-5	4-6
Wed	August 13	Pioneer Park, Kaysville - 7 AM	Distance Run, Strides (6-8)	6.0	6	6	5	5	3	3	3
Thurs	August 14	Race - bus leaves at 6:40	Race day	6/3	6/3	6/3	6-3	6	5	5	5.0
Fri	August 15	Vita - 7 AM	Easy run	8	7-8	6-7	6	5-6	3	3	3
Sat	August 16	tbd	Long Run - 40-60 minute steady within the long run	12.0	11.0	10.0	9.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0
Sun	August 17		Off Day
Weekly Volume				54	50	45	41	36	31	27	22