Pleasantly Surprised

Well, after the first day of practice, I am more than happy at the number of kids we have out for track & field. We had over 80 kids today, which is fantastic, and we had a great effort in all of the practices.

I was also very pleased with the senior leadership exhibited, that makes me very, very happy.

Tomorrow is another day though, let's work hard and make it as productive as today was. Track season is a grind, one day at a time, no shortcuts.

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Recruitment Party Cancelled

The Post title says it all I think. Due to lack of firm commitment, we have had to cancel the recruitment party for Monday night. Wicked bummer, in my book, but we can't throw a party if no one said they were coming!

Hopefully on practice on Monday I will be pleasantly surprised at how many new faces I see.

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Spike Night 2011

Just got off the phone with Pete, one of the big guns at Boulder Running Company. CHS T&F Spike Night 2011 is a go, click on the flyer below for more details. We want all kids to come out, not just to great bargains on high quality gear and shoes, but to meet everyone and their families.

We hope to see everyone there, great deals, great food, great fun!

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Three Words

Integrity. Respect. Character.

Those three attributes will allow you to be great.

Team Guidelines 2011

Next Monday is our first day of official spring practice.

Everyone on the team will be given a copy of the CHS Track & Field Rules & Guidelines on that day, but here is a sneak peek for anyone interested.

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Amazing Track Architecture

Check out this track in Spain. I know we just built a new stadium here in Parker, but can we make some last minute adjustments to it?

I love it. I can picture myself saying, "OK guys, today we're doing 16 x 400 m, every other one is up and over the hill." That would be awesome!

From Architizer.com

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Monday practice

Even though we do not have school Monday, we will have practice. Jay Johnson circuit work (what we did Wednesday with Coach Boymel) starting at 2:30.

I know lots of you are up in the mountains on a mini-vacation (as am I), but if you are in town, see you Monday afternoon!

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Switching Monday & Wednesday

From what I hear, you all had a very productive Monday. As the season draws near, be prepared to do things a little differently. You all know we are doing JJ Circuits today as you did your miles etc Monday with Sep. We are starting to look at differentiating and pulling 400's and 800's with me and miler/ 2milers with Sep while still combining some work outs. It is time to start thinking track. Your coaches have much to offer and can help you this season if you stick with the work outs and stay flexible with the days/ times/ distances/ weather and craziness.

Boy that sounds like a fortune cookie- my former runners would say I answered very fortune cookie like:)
See you this afternoon
Boymel

Winter Alum News

Some of you may remember a chap by the name of Alex Balsiger.

Well, ol' Alex is up in Ft. Collins running for CSU and he has posted some pretty impressive indoor times this winter. Alex has dropped a 4:20.6 for the mile (not 1600, but full mile) and a very cool 1:56.42 for the 800. On tight curvy indoor track, nonetheless. He tells me he has been doing speedwork, but not a ton of it. Most of this speed is due to aerobic capacity and racing guile.

Congrats Alex, keep up the great work, I want to see some super fast times this spring too!

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Track & Field Party

In order to try and get the best Chaparral athletes we can get on the track team, the coaches have decided to throw a recruiting party. Posters were hung all over the school. Fliers were stuffed under windshield wipers. All the coaches strongly feel that track and field is the best sport in the school, we all believe we that we have a shot at state titles every year, and we know that all kids can be successful at track and field.

So, if you are interested in track & field but have never come out for the team, we would love to meet you. If you are already involved in track and field, and you have some friends who you know would be awesome at it, bring them to the party and get them exposed to the sport. What we want as coaches is for everyone to have a chance to learn about our great sport, and Monday night the 28th is the best way to do it.

Click on the flier, get the details, and we hope to see you there!

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JJ Circuits, Pt. II

Circuit Workouts for Running Times - Second Circuit from CoachJayJohnson on Vimeo.

We are stepping up the circuit work this week. The amount of running will be the same, the pace of running will be the same, but the strength work will slightly more challenging.

Check the updated weekly schedule, we are going to venture back out to the roads to do our tempo work on Wednesday, I am excited about this brand new workout!

Watch over Coach Johnson's video a couple of times, and be ready to go on Monday afternoon!

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Back-to-Back Long Run days

Today and tomorrow, (and every Friday/Saturday to the end of the month) are back-to-back long run days. This is how I want you to set them up.

On Friday, I want you to run for at least 60 minutes. If you can go longer, go for it. Not fast, but at decent conversational pace. Then, Saturday, add twenty minutes to whatever you ran on Friday, and run at the same pace for that amount of time.

For example, if you run 65 minutes on Friday, run 85 minutes on Saturday. Simple, huh?

In all cases, Sunday is an active rest day.

Now, don't shirk on Friday to make Saturday easier. Running is about stress, adaptation and recovery. If you don't push yourself, you'll never get any better!

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Improvement in Gymnastics

It seems like I have missed about a month of gymnastics, between sickness, prior engagements, school cancellations, and that has been a big downer for me. I love going to gymnastics, and I hate missing them. However, the last few days I have been in attendance and what I seen in terms of improvement has been tremendous. From the front forward rolls to climbing the ropes. From back hyper extensions to the rings routine and everything in between, the growth in general strength, specific strength and overall technique has been amazing. Simply amazing.

This is the kind of work that really separates good track stars from great track stars, and I am very pleased to see it all working so well.

Excellent job, Wolverines!

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P.S. And no, I don't condone smoking cigarettes while doing a rings routine, the above picture is a joke! So don't send me any comments about it!

Sticking with the Plan

I used to work with a genius coach named Coach Laster, and we always had a saying... "Half the plan is sticking to it." Whenever an athlete would have a bad race, or a bad workout, and we wanted to change up our training schedule, our training philosophy, we always said, "Half the plan is sticking to it." This means, once you have come up with a plan of attack, have faith in it, believe in it. Don't try to take shortcuts, or make up for lost days. Just stick to your plan and things will work out in the end.

I think that pertains to this week due to the extreme cold weather we have been having. I am not sure how many of you trained on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I should assume all of you ran on your own, but I am not that naive. But, if you ran or not, you need to follow the prescribed workouts the rest of the week.

Today we have an easy 20 minute recovery run scheduled. Whether you did anything or not over our little "break", you should stick to the plan and go for a twenty minute recovery run today. Don't try to fit in intervals if you missed them yesterday, don't go for a long run today if you didn't on Tuesday. You have a long run tomorrow, and then an overdistance run Saturday. Stick to the plan, adjustments to make up for missed days only result in screwing up future days.

We do have FR/SPH gymnastics tonight, so I hope to see a lot of you there. Remember, take the workouts one at a time, do your absolute best for each workout, don't look ahead, and at the end of it all, it will all fall together for you.

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The Alaskans reading this are gonna laugh at us.

I want to bestow huge credit onto Justin Bills, Evan Roberts, Keagan Vargo and Nate Purdue. They were the four men that showed up for track practice today. The weather was bone chilling cold, but sunny, and no wind. The temperature started at 0.9 F at the start of practice, but had warmed up to 5 F by the end. Even with the cold, these guys were working so hard they were shedding layers left and right, with hats, gloves and coats scattered around the track by the end of practice.

Practice started by running a 4-lap warm-up, with form drills and dynamic stretching as part of the run. After they were loosened up, they strapped on the watches and did 5 gold kilometer repeats with 45 seconds of motionful (the opposite of motion less) rest between each one. I was very impressed with the excellent form and lightness all the boys exhibited throughout the repeats. Hips were forward, steps were light and quick, breathing was controlled and not labored. Upon finishing five repeats, the guys were cold and tired, but not exhausted, and not incapacitated. They executed this workout perfectly, which makes it all worthwhile.

I really thought everyone did a great job, regardless of the weather conditions. As the title to this post alludes, runners train in all sorts of weather, and in Alaska, the conditions today are probably considered a heat wave. (But, hey, Alaskans don't deal with training in 90 F at 5500 feet, do they?) For us, getting in these extra workouts, when a lot of your competitors are sitting at home waiting for a new infomercial to come on, is what separates champions from all the rest. Great job men, I am proud of all of you.

Now, some pictures with cheesy captions, to prove we were out there today.

Justin & Evan warming up on the unmarked track.


Keagan & Nate warming up. I had finally got the track shoveled.


Justin coming into the finish on his first repeat.


Evan doing a great job getting his hips forward.


A lonely runner in the distance.


Keagan and Nate rounding the church turn on their second repeat.


Justin exhibting great knee drive.


Evan, Keagan & Nate all finishing at the same time.


Justin walking back to the cube after his 5th repeat.


Nate heading into the cube after finishing up his repeats.


The temperature at the end of practice, with the humidity below it. I guess you will have to trust me that is 0.9 F at the start, the LCD screen on my thermometer was in and out until about 5 F!

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At least it's not snowing!

Walnut Hills

Temperature:	-13.0 °F
Dewpoint:	-20.8 °F
Humidity:	67%
Wind:	Calm
Pressure:	31.38in
Precipitation:	0.00in/hr
Daily Precip.:	-in

Hope to see some people at practice today, it's gonna be warmer than yesterday, I can feel it!

What?!? No school again!?!

So, no school tomorrow, Feb. 2nd, because it is too cold for kids to be waiting at the bus stop. OK, I get it, little kids in second grade should not be out at the bus stop. That makes sense.

However, I am going crazy being cooped up inside! I just finished cleaning the house from top to bottom, and there is no way I can find enough things to do tomorrow to keep from going Jack Torrance on everyone.

So, voluntary practice at 10:30 am, at the track. Gold repeat kilos. It should be a heat wave, 2 degrees above zero. Hey, that's downright hot! Chloe has gymnastics at Alpha until 10:00, I will be at the track after that.

Hope to see some people out there, we will be doing the same workout as last week, but probaby not as many. Dress warmly, as little exposed skin as possible! What do the Scando's say, "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."

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Could this be a record???

Walnut Hills, Centennial, Colorado (PWS)

Updated: 10 min 26 sec ago

-13.0 °F Light Snow