9/17 update

Phoenix,

We had maybe our most enjoyable workout of the year on Thursday, and we followed that up with some outstanding performances at Sugar House Park. I really feel like these last few days were our best of the year. Let us continue with that same energy for the last few weeks of the season. 

Time, as you know, is running short on the year, so we need to maximize every opportunity. We are on the right track, let's continue to hone in on the things we can control and make the most of each shot we have.

We have to do better as a team of attending practices on A days. We have not done great in that regard, so each of us must find a way to do better. If you have been coming each time, find a way to help your teammates be there. There isn't time to waste. Especially this week, as we're doing our tougher days on those A days. That isn't to say that distance runs aren't important, because they are equally important. The various types of runs work in concert together to help become who you want to be. 

Race Recap

Race Results

We had a great day at the races on Saturday. Going in to the meet there were a lot of nerves related to the course profile, and worry about struggling with the hills. However, in most cases, you guys dominated the hills. Tons of you ran faster over the second half of the course, and many more had their best race of the year. Considering how hilly the course is (it's a beautiful course) anything close to your current PR means you're due for another great race in our next one.

I'm in the process of entering the new times into the "nerd report" so I'll have a more complete view later, and I can't wait to dive into it all.

Shout out to Trey and Josh, who led our senior boys to a team victory in the senior boys race, finishing in 3rd and 4th. They had 5 finish in the top 15 (Tommy, Sam, and Henry). 4 senior girls finished in the top 20, Brooklyn, Sahara, Audrey and Courtney. Love to see it. 

Shout out to Tai, who was unable to race this week, but still came down and supported like a champ for each race. The better we are at that, the better our team will be. 

Other top 20 finishers included Hailey, Koda, and Spencer in their Junior races. Gabri, Henry, Kyler, and Micah in the sophomore races, and Hudson and Kage in the Freshman race.

Alexis and Skye finished in the top 20 of the championship race, both running under 19 minutes! 

Many of you may relate to Alexis, when after finishing a race a few weeks ago in about the same time as a few other races, or maybe slightly slower, she asked something to the effect of, "do you think I'm going to get faster?" 

We are often faced with doubts about what we will be able to do, especially on the heels of a few performances (races or practices) that aren't up to our expectations. What we do from there determines the outcome. What did Alexis do? She stayed the course, she was consistent, she worked hard, she strived to eat and sleep enough, she sought feedback, etc. She wasn't perfect, she had doubts, but she gave her best effort each day, and here she is now with a nice new breakthrough race and the excitement for what is to come. The best is still ahead for her, and for all of you who stay the course.

The training design of summer and fall is to really accumulate a lot of volume and then some long tough workouts. We are only now getting into a groove of balance between volume and intensity, which will help you really reap the speed and strength rewards of what you sowed for the past 3 months. The best is still ahead. 

Upcoming

This week will not have an official race. Some of our team will be travelling to Idaho to race at the Bob Firman XC invitational. 

I keep repeating that the season is going by quickly, and here we are, with 2.5 weeks until region. Next week (meaning the week of 9/25) we will have our District championship meet. The week after that is Region. The week after that is Divisionals. The week after that is fall break, then 2 days after that is State. Time is all but up, so we have no time to waste.

We keep repeating it, and we will do so until the end of time, but it takes all of us. We are better together. If we are going to get where we want to go, we need everyone at their best each day. Take it one day and a time and just keep grinding.

This week

While some are going to Idaho on Saturday, the rest of us will be doing on a long run on the weekend (hurray!). We'll be able to get a quality week in leading up to the final few weeks of the season. 

 

Week 16 - 80%			0.8	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	September 18	FHS A Day	Distance run	3/6	3/6	3/5	6.00	5.00	4.00	5.00	4.00
Tues	September 19	Regional Park at 3:15	Tempo + 600s	8.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	4.00
Wed	September 20	FHS A day	easy run	3/6	3/6	5	5.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	3.00
Thurs	September 21	Regional Park at 3:15	Threshold/5k alternations	8.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Fri	September 22	FHS A day	Easy run	6.00	5.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	3.00
Sat	September 23	on own	Long run	8.00	7.00	10.00	9.00	8.00	7.00	6.00	5.00
Sun	September 24		Off Day
Weekly Volume				48	44	40	37	33	29	29	24

9/10 update

Phoenix,

We had a good week of workouts which will greatly help us take the next step in our racing and development. There is a form in this email that MUST be completed (by Monday at 3 PM) if you are going to race on Saturday. This race is super expensive, and I won't be entering kids who aren't planning to race (some races have a flat fee, so I enter basically everyone on the roster - that is not the case this week).

This week we asked the question, "do you know where we're going?" The idea behind it is to remind us what our goals are. Before we do anything we need to know our objectives. Reminding ourselves what we hope to accomplish helps us remain disciplined in the face of fatigue, waning motivation, or discouragement. That said, the outcomes don't determine the value of what we are doing.

Audrey put it very well when she said "we need YOU to be great as a team!" The value is in the relationships and the hard work. Both of those things will be invaluable as you go throughout your life. Pushing towards team and individual goals (outcomes) motivates us and makes the journey enjoyable, but by the end of the season the true value won't be the outcomes, but the steps we took as a team to get there. So, keep after it, your time is coming, and we're all in this together, from first to last.

This week

The meet this week is at Sugar House Park. Please be aware that parking in the park is pretty rough, and not recommended. I believe parking is available at Highland High, but I'm not 100% sure (and the meet website is crashed as of this writing so I can't check at the moment). You can view the meet schedule/order of events here. 

With homecoming, try to arrange these so called "day-dates" to not interfere with practices. I know you are trying to balance a lot of schedules, but practice is the only time we have to work together as a team to get to where we want to go. We are genuinely limited in how many quality days we have left in the season, so plan accordingly. I mean I'm going through what workouts we want to do for the next few weeks, and I'm having to cut out about 1/3 of them because we are just out of time to get everything in.

Because Saturday is homecoming, we recognize that some of you will need to have a parent/guardian take you home, or get yourself to the meet. For this meet you are allowed to arrange your own transportation to and from the meet. We are deciding on how many buses will be needed, so I need you to let me know your bussing plans in the form below (the same one used to say if you'll be racing or not).

Meet registration closes super early for this one, therefore I need to know if you're racing even before then. The following form must be filled out PRIOR to 3 PM on Monday 9/11 (practice is at 3:15), or you will not be entered in the meet. This form will email you a confirmation when you've successfully filled it out. 

Form for Border Wars - Entries and Busing. Must be completed by Monday 9/11 at 3 PM

Team Dinner

The Cresaps will be hosting a team dinner on Friday at 6 PM, prior to the football game. The address will be posted in the team group me.

Training

Our mileage begins to go down, for most of our high mileage folks, but stays up for some of you on the lower end of volume (simply because you approach 100% so much more quickly, especially with a few faster days sprinkled in there).

If you have any questions please let me know.

Week 15 - 80%			0.8	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	September 11	FHS A Day (3:15)	Distance run	3/6	3/6	3/5	6.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	4.00
Tues	September 12	Meet at FHS then to Regional Park	Step down 1200s	8.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	4.00
Wed	September 13	FHS A day	easy run	3/6	3/6	3/5	3/5	5.00	4.00	4.00	4.00
Thurs	September 14	Meet at FHS then to Regional Park	speed day	8.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Fri	September 15	FHS A day	Easy run	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	3.00
Sat	September 16	Race Day	Sugar House Park	8.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Sun	September 17		Off Day
Weekly Volume				48	44	40	37	32	28	28	25

9/3 update

Phoenix,

Great job this week down at Timpanogos. That was likely the best field of teams that we will see this season. We raced some of the best teams in the country, and we had our best team race of the season. So many PRs, so many instances of people finishing close together after running the race together, and more. We are setting ourselves up nicely for a strong surge into the heart of our season.

We're on the right path, but we cannot let up. We must make the most of each day and get better together, and better and working together. We want to all be on the same page, which will help us all get where we want to be. 

You can find the results for Friday's race here: 2023 Timpanogos XC Invitational AM (runnercard.com)

This week

This week, with labor day, we won't be in school on Monday. Therefore we are not going to be practicing officially on Monday. I recommend going up and running Vita Monday morning to get a good trail run in for the first time in a while. We won't be holding an official practice there, so check the groupme to see who is going at what times. I'll probably be there before 7 to get some miles in.

We also do not have a race this week (the park city race was officially cancelled in the post from 8/27), so we will be doing our tough days on Tuesday/Thursday, with a strong long run on Saturday.

Team Dinner

Although no race, we will still be having a team dinner at the Scott home (Hudson) on Thursday. They have graciously offered to host a dinner and swim in their pool. The start time is 6 PM. The address will be shared in the groupme. 

Garmin Clipboard

This is another reminder to download the app Garmin Clipboard (if you have a garmin). It allows us coaches to see your mile splits, and compare them to previous races, your lap splits from workouts, etc. in one super convenient, user-friendly space. It will help us know how to best design workouts and plan for races. Once the app is downloaded you can join our team here.

Upcoming

Keep an eye on our upcoming schedule so you know when your races will be. For the next meet we may be getting creative with transportation, and limiting how many buses we have, especially with it being the day of homecoming. 

This week's training

We're going back to about 90% volume this week, without a race we're able to finally get a good quality long run in on Saturday, which will be hugely beneficial. After this week the volume is going to drop down to about 80% (for those on a higher volume, while those on the lower end will want to stay consistent, which will help with future years), which will have you feeling pretty darn good going into the final few races.

Please note that our workout days will be on A days this week, and we will meet at Farmington Pond at 3:15 on Tuesday, and at the regional park at 3:15 on Thursday. We will meet at those locations and warm up there as well. 

Week 13 - 90%			0.9	60	55	50	45	40	35	30	25
Mon	September 4	no school (on own)	Vita - distance run	7.3/3	7.3/3	7.3	7.30	7.30	6.00	5.00	4.00
Tues	September 5	Meet at Farmington Pond A day (3:15)	8x2 minute hills	8.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	3.00	4.00
Wed	September 6	FHS B day	easy run	3/7	3/6	3/6	5.00	4.70	4.00	4.00	3.00
Thurs	September 7	Meet at Regional park A day (3:15)	tbd (aka hard)	8.00	7.00	7.00	7.00	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00
Fri	September 8	FHS B day	Easy run	6.00	5.00	5.00	5.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	3.00
Sat	September 9	on own	Stamina run - 50-60 minute	12.00	11.00	10.00	9.00	8.00	7.00	6.00	6.00
Sun	September 10		Off Day
Weekly Volume				54	49.5	45	40.5	36	31.5	27	25