The final JV meet of the year is tomorrow, at Littleton Public Schools Stadium. We will have a very large team heading over there, as you can see from the line-ups posted above!
The final pasta dinner is also tonight, 5:30 at Carino's. Hope to see lots of athletes there!
Remember all those goals you all decided upon in late-January? Some of them are checked off, some of them are not on my sheet. You should have your goals posted up on your bathroom mirror, right? Take another look at them, and consider this a gentle reminder, you all have one more week, maybe two, to achieve your goals. Now is the time to start believing that you can make these standards!
I might have some errors in them, but I have tried to triple check them and keep them updated every week. (There are a LOT of data points there!) So, if you think there is a mistake, let me know, and I can double check the individual weekly results.
This was how the line-ups were chosen for this weekend. We went with the top three racers as much as possible, in order to get the fastest kids racing.
Here are some random thoughts while I try not to stress about my flooded basement.
League Champs is this week, CHS is hosting it at Hinkley HS in Aurora. Let's cross our fingers for some good weather.
The distance line-ups are posted below. I know some people might be running some 200 m races, contact Coach Neale for that information.The meet is on a rolling schedule, so there are no real start times for any of these events. A main order of events is on the left sidebar if that helps, but on Saturday, you will just have to stay focused and be prepared to run when your event is up.
Great job by all the freshman and sophomores last Friday at the JV meet, we had some great performances there!
Excellent work by everyone last night at practice. We had some kids do in upwards of 60 intervals!
Middle school meet is today at the track, the more people that can stay around and help, the better. The middle school team is vital to our success, let's try to give back to the track program and community by helping out as much as we can.
And a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my awesome wife. She turns 22 today :), and I want to say how much I love her and appreciate her. Cause it's a lot. :)
The coaching staff has finally gotten the Liberty Bell Entries taken care of. As usual this is a meet that only allows two per open event, Unfortunately, since we are so close to the end of the year, we are obligated to put the fastest kids in each event. Even more unfortunately, the JV meet this week is only for freshman and sophomores. That is going to leave some kids home this weekend, and for that I apologize. Next week, however, we will have three entries per open event, so we can go back to fully utilizing the incredibly deep team that we have.
Here are the distance line-ups and approximate starting times for the meet this weekend.
9:00 3200 Girls C. Hine B. Nelson 9:00 3200 Boys K. Vargo J. Lake
10:45 400 m Girls M. Yeager J. D'Agostino 10:45 400 m Boys T. Brost P. Barringer
11:25 4 x 800 G Hanrahan/Hine/Bergen/Wojan 11:25 4 x 800 B D Eidt/Purdue/T Eidt/Balsiger
11:55 200 m Girls M. Yeager J. D'Agostino 11:55 200 m Boys R. Colley K . VanHorn
1:00 Sprint Medley G Hertzler/Hughes/Grimm/Larsen
1:25 4 x 200 G Hertzler/Schmidt/Bergen/Grimm 1:25 4 x 200 B Henry/Barringer/Petty/Whipple
1:55 1600 Girls K. Wojan B. Nelson 1:55 1600 Boys D Eidt A Blasiger
4:05 800 Girls K Hanrahan M Bergen 4:05 800 Boys T Eidt N Purdue
5:10 4 x 400 Girls Wojan/Yeager/Hine/Larsen 5:10 4 x 400 B Brost/Barringer/Balsiger/D Eidt
Javelin (after discus) J Boyd N Purdue M Bergen E. Schmidt
I am pretty proud of the way we all ran last night. I have some reasons on why we ran so well, but before I get to that, I want to try and analyze some state rankings and how they affect us.
Boys & Girls 3200 m Relay: I am very happy with our rankings in this event, 4th for the boys and second for the girls. But, we still need to race that event full speed. We need to learn how to attack it, how to trust our teammates, and how we can get better at that.
Boys & Girls 3200: Right now the cut-off for the top 18 in the women is looking to be about 12 minutes for the girls and 10:05 for the boys. We have one girl who is looking very comfortable in the standings, but the rest of us have a lot of work to do if we want to into this thing. We have great fitness, but I think we need to learn how to prepare, how to start, and how to react to this race.
Boys & Girls 1600: The boys cut-off is looking like 4:35, the girls about 5:29. We have a couple racers who are under the boys cut-off, and a couple of girls who are very close to the girls cut-off. This is like the 4 x 800, we cannot rest on our laurels, we need to keep racing hard through the rest of the season!
Boys & Girls 800: The girls cut-off is 2:26, boys about 2 flat. We have quite a few athletes who are very close to crashing this party. The more the merrier, I say! We will have a few more opportunities for these athletes, they need to capitalize on them!
Boys & Girls 1600 m Relay: The girls cut-off looks to be about 4:21, the boys is looking like it is about 3:31. We are very close with both of our teams to being on the outside looking in for this race. As a team, we are going to work more on running 400's, and training for 400's. That will help us, as I feel we are more than fit enough to be able to have enough gas to run this last event of the day.
Boys & Girls 400: The girls cut-off, 61 and a half. The boys, 50.9. We are soooo close in both of these events. Do I think we can get one or two kids in, of course! Will it be a tough task, yeah I think so. But, I believe that we can do it, so let's train hard and get those times!
Now, these are my unofficial cut-off times for April 21st. These times will get faster as the year continues, so we need to continue to train just as hard as we have been training right on through to the end of the year. But, what I was most proud of on Monday night was we finally started believing in our training. We started trusting our legs, we began to take control of our own paths and destinies. That is what racing is all about. It is about working as hard as you can, and then working a little harder during the week. Then it is about believing in yourself when it comes race time and not being afraid of doing what you are capable of! You all proved that to yourselves Monday, let's prove it again on Saturday!
We just got an email, the meet location has been moved. It is now at Littleton HS, not Legacy Stadium. All of the schedules remain the same, but the location has moved. We will still meet at Chaparral at noon, do not be late!
Please let your parents know, please spread the word as much as you can. Thanks! :)
Before you head over to the high school to get on the bus at noon, watch some awesome pre-meet TV. Live coverage of the Boston Marathon is on Universal Sports (Ch. 250 on Comcast) starting at 7:30 in the morning! The last couple of years have been great finishes and we got some American studs in it this year!
See you tomorrow, hope you got in some slingshots today! Also, there is no practice tomorrow for JV athletes. I would suggest getting in a nice long overdistance run, at least a hour. Get that aerobic capacity up!
The Nike/Littleton Invite has been moved to Monday afternoon at Legacy Stadium, Cherokee Trail HS. The school and the stadium are located at the corner of E. Arapahoe Rd & E. Smoky Hill Rd. (It is where League Championships got snowed out last year.)
We are going to meet at CHS at noon to get on the bus to head out there. Showing up at 12:01 is late. The school will be open beforehand, if you need to get anything out of your lockers. Below is the schedule of events.
Since the meet has been moved to Monday, we are going to run the fastest kids in all of the events. Nothing has changed on the sprinter side, or the field event side, but we did have some modifications on the distance side. Below are the new line-ups, along with tentative race start times. The distance medley has been canceled, as well as all of the preliminary events. All events will be run as finals. Unfortunately, that squeezes some kids out of some events, but there is nothing that can be done about it. If you see your name on this sheet and you cannot make the meet, you need to email me at my gmail account as soon as possible!
Nope, that is not a type-o, the boys 4 x 400 goes off at 11:05 EST (Eastern Standard Time), 9:05 MST (Mountain Standard Time), and 5:05 HST (Hawai'i Standard Time). That will be AWESOME!
For practice for the next three days, it is imperative that no matter what the weather is, you get out and run. Today, Friday, you need to do some easy jogging (20-30) minutes or so, and then relax. Saturday, before all this prom nonsense gears up, you need to get another easy run in, but also do some longer bursts of speed. A 40-50 minute fartlek with about ten sprints between 45 and 75 seconds would be perfect. Sunday is an easier day, probably a twenty minute run, and some accelerations. If you can run these accelerations on a slight downhill, to increase leg turnover, that would be perfect.
In addition to all of these workouts, you also need to keep taking good care of your body by stretching, icing, eating well, drinking lots of fluids, mentally preparing yourself, and everything else that we do to get ready for racing. It is supposed to be a gorgeous day weather wise, Monday is traditionally a speed day for us, and we have raced fantastically on Mondays in the past. Do not go into this meet thinking it does not matter or it has no importance. It has LOTS of importance. We only have two more weeks after this meet to get our times down and get qualified for State. This meet should be looked at as a gift. We will have great weather, a fast track, awesome competition, and no distractions to deal with. So let's go out there and really try to lay down some fast times and show the State that we are one of the elite teams in Colorado!
I thought yesterday we had a great meeting with everyone figuring out the line-ups for this weekend. Coach Hawk and I are very pleased that we are fielding such a competitive team even with Prom looming on Saturday night.
About Prom. There are rumors (and they are just that, rumors) that CHS Prom might be changed or delayed like TRHS prom was a couple weeks ago due to bad weather. If that is the case, and the meet is moved to Monday (or even if the meet stays on Saturday), then all the line-ups we did yesterday are thrown out the window. This is why. We have three more weeks left of racing. It is my duty to get the fastest kids as many races as they can possibly get. This is made more difficult with only two entries per event, but if the situation arises where all of the prom kids are suddenly "free" for those races, then we will race the fastest kids in the most events. I do not know what changes would occur, but they will be made last minute, and some kids might be shut out of some events. For that , I apologize, but it needs to be that way at this stage in the season.
With this short amount of time left in the season, I need to race my fastest kids who want to work hard and dedicate themselves to track seven days a week. Being fast is great, but not being dedicated is a major strike against you. In other words, I want to put out there the fastest kids who want to race, plain and simple. If you are one of those kids, then I will do whatever I can to take care of you. If you are not, then you need to get faster or become more dedicated. I don't mean to sound harsh, but we race for the name on the front of the shirt, not the one on the back.
Today, easy run, maybe some hand-off work inside if the weather is inclement, and then pasta dinner!
Was looking through the old results, this is what we did last year at Nike/Littleton.
(I remember it was a nice clear day, one of the few that we had all year.)
Josh - 10:34 3200 m, 3:40 1200 in Dst. Med. Kelli - 2:25 4 x 800, 2:28 800 m Melanie - 2:31 4 x 800, 2:35 800 in Dst. Med. Katelyn 2:24 4 x 800, 65.5 400 m, 64.0 4 x 400 Karlie - 61.85 400 in Spt. Med., 62.00 4 x 400 Patches - 56.77 400 in Spt. Med., 56.1 400 in Dst. Med. Caroline - 5:39 1600 m, 4:11 1200 in Dst. Med. Alex - 4:44 1600 m, 54.0 4 x 400, 10:12 3200 m Cabbage - 2:04 4 x 800, 2:08 800 m Derek - 4:41 1600 m, 2:05 800 m Tyler - 54.0 4 x 400, 25.12 200 in Spt. Med. Brendan - 5:10 1600 in Dst. Med., 2:11 4 x 800
I think we are light years faster this year compared to this point last year. I am excited to really see how we do against some great competition. Remember, do not use these times for anything other than to motivate you to run fast. We have trained very hard, we are ready to really run fast now! Only 31 days until State Meet!
I woke up this morning so sore from trying to keep my balance in the wind yesterday. Am I getting old, or was the wind really that bad? Either way, I give everyone who raced yesterday major props for doing as well as they did. I throw times out the window on those types of days, and only look at things likle how you warmed up, whether you used your brain during the race, and how mentlaly tough you were. And in all of those categories, I thought we did fantastic.
We are going to have a tough week of practice this week, to get ready for Nike/Littleton, but to also gt ready for League & State Champs, which are coming up sooner than you think. The coaches will be asking everyone, since this weekend is Prom weekend, when you would have to leave the meet to take care of Prom activities. The schedule is posted below, to help you get a sense of how the day will unfold. However, as coaches, we are not required to alter the team goals in order to get an athlete into any particular race. We are going into this weekend's meet to win it, and we are going to try and set up our runners to achieve that goal. So, tomorrow, we will talk to everyone at practice to try and get a sense of their schedule. Then all of the coaches will get together and try and figure out the best line-ups possible.
So, I hope you ate a lot of ham today, watched some golf, and got some R & R in. This week is going to be tough, but it will be worth it!
So, if you are not going to the meet tomorrow, but you still want to practice, I suggest the following: 10-15 min warm-up, then do "Carpenter's Perfect Run." then do 10-15 min cool-down with really good stretching.
A "C.P.R." is 20 minutes of running. You can run on the track, in the park, through the neighborhoods' doesn't matter. You set your watch to beep every minute, and you run really hard for one minute, then recovery run for the next minute. Repeat this cycle ten times. It is pretty hard, but it is a great, efficient, compact work-out.
So, the Mullen entries are in, we are just now waiting to see if we get accepted. Once that process is done, we will try and figure out what the best line-ups are for the Regis meet.
Just venting now, but it makes me angry that all of these meets are restricting entries to only two runners per event. The reason they limit the number of kids to 2, instead of three, is that they want to get lots of teams there, at 200 bucks a team. The more teams, the more money. But, if they get too many teams, then the meet takes forever. So, to maximize the number of teams (money), but keep the meet at a manageable size they limit your runners to two. Even though we are restricted to two runners, for lettering purposes, if you would have been the third runner, you will still get credit for lettering. But, what bothers me the most is that I know we have runners who are good enough to be the number one runner on lots of other teams, but they are the number three runner at CHS. Grrrrrr....
At League Championships, though, we still go with three runners, so we still need to get a good strong top three in each event for us to achieve our goals. And League Championships and State Meet is why we gotta keep working hard and keep plugging along through all of this upheaval we have been facing.
So, on this icy Saturday morning, we start to think about our first meet in two weeks or so, this Monday at Gary Berry Stadium in Co. Springs. I know this has been a rough couple of weeks weather-wise, but we really need to keep our focus and keep our spirits up. We have the most important meets of the year coming up, and we can't let our determination and drive wane.
The girls line-up has not changed at all. I know that due to the new date there are some kids who thought they could not be there who now can, but I do not think it is fair to the kids who were planning on running to suddenly pull them from the meet.
The boys line-up has changed somewhat, due to some kids not being able to attend the Monday afternoon meet for circumstances out of their control. I believe we have taken care of all of those changes, and we are ready to go there.
Please, take care of any academic work you might be missing since the bus is leaving at 11:30. Also, bring lots of food and drink, we are going to be at the meet for a loooooooong time. :)
There will be no practice on Monday, due to the fact that all the coaches will be gone to the meet.
If anyone has any questions, please email me, and I will try to answer them as soon as possible.
A winter storm watch has been issued starting for Friday night into Saturday afternoon. That, coupled with the trend of meet directors deciding to cancel a major meet when the wind blows the wrong way, is making me think that we need to come up with some contingency plans to keep our fitness levels trending upwards. Remember, we are not trying to be at our best this weekend, we are trying to be our best in the beginning of May. We need to keep that goal in our sights, and try to let nothing distract us from that.
I hope I will know by Friday at 3:00 if the meet is canceled. If it is, we will have practice as normal on Friday, but the practice will be a harder session of sprinting and strength work. Not just slingshots, but a combination of some long sprints, some short sprints, and some explosive strength. Even if the meet is not offically canceled byt he beginning of pracitce, I might gamble anyways and run you through that harder workout. Why? Remember, we are not trying to be at our best this weekend, we are trying to be our best in the beginning of May. We need to keep that goal in our sights, and try to let nothing distract us from that. (Sound familiar?)
So if the meet is cancled, on Saturday, we will meet at the CHS track, at 11:00, for a session of some gold level running. I don't care what the weather is, we will meet on Saturday to run. The workout might be kilos, might be double-kilos, might be 500's, I'm not sure yet. Of course, Sunday will be a normal recovery run day on your own.
If we have to go with this plan, then on Monday we will be traveling down to the Springs for the track meet. I think we will leave around 10:30 or so, and try to get in some good racing down there. Having a Monday meet actually works in our schedule, as Monday is a speed day for us normally. Please start thinking now about how you can deal with your academic work if we do leave school early Monday!
Hopefully, we go to the meet Saturday as planned, and none of this comes to fruition. But, prepare for the worst, hope for the best, as they say.
The final JV meet of the year is tomorrow, at Littleton Public Schools Stadium. We will have a very large team heading over there, as you can see from the line-ups posted above!
Here are the Personal Best Rankings for the women
Here they are for the men
And here are the statistics on the relays we run
The meet is on a rolling schedule, so there are no real start times for any of these events. A main order of events is on the left sidebar if that helps, but on Saturday, you will just have to stay focused and be prepared to run when your event is up.
