Mtn. Range Varsity Line-Ups

Be at the school at 6:30 am on Saturday!

Be ready for a nice warm day!

Be ready to run fast, jump high, throw far!

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Hard Training

Yesterday's practice was tough, looking at the checkmarks, only three runners out of 26 hit anywhere near to ten kilometers at VO2 max pace. Wow, talk about thinning of the herd!

However, I kept everyone running, I sent no one home, because these intervals were not about time, they were about effort. Even if you weren't hitting your times, as long as you were running fast, you were accomplishing the goal of the workout. To train your body to effectively run at high speeds without experiencing a total shut down, both metabolically and structurally.

So yeah, it was a tough workout. But it was a beneficial one. (Hopefully you made it even more beneficial by resting, hydrating and eating well last night!) Today is going to be a tough workout too, 90 min run, at a pretty good clip. Take advantage of these tough workouts, soak them in, embrace them, attack them; and you will be that much of a faster runner for it.

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Ft. Collins Runner's Roost Highlights (UPDATED)

Well, the distance kids came to play this weekend, something we have been building towards for over a month.

Complete results can be found at Coach Versaw's milesplit.com website, but CHS Distance highlights include a second in the boys 4 x 800, a second in the boys 3200 m, a sixth in the girls 1600 m, a third in the girls 800 m, a sixth in the boys sprint medley, a first in the boys 800 m and a sixth in the boys 1600 m. Excellent work from ALL the distance kids, and not just the ones who are getting ribbons on Monday.

Why do I give the shout out to ALL of the distance kids? The distance contingent is a team effort. In practice, everyone pushes, inspires and helps each other become faster. At the meet this Saturday, the cheering and the yelling for those racing was the loudest I have heard in a long time. I expect that to continue. We succeed as a team, and we fail as team. I am very happy to say that this week, we succeeded, but we still have a long way to go. Success will be made easier by the strong seniors who stepped up and ran practice over spring break, by the runners who busted their butt on their own over spring vacation, and by the athletes who buckled down and kept/got grades up to my exacting standards. We have many more weeks to continue to get better, to continue to work hard, and when the middle of May rolls around, then we will see if we measure up.

Ryan K. shot some video for me this weekend, and I think it is good to take a look at. This first one is of Nate running sub 2:00 in the 800. I think he ran a great race, but I bet if he and I sit down, we can find room for improvements.

The next video is Keagan running the elite two mile and it was shot by co.milesplit.com. (For some reason, I could not get the embedding to work, and my video that Ryan shot is taking forever to upload.) Keagan ran a great two mile , but I know he will say there are some things he could've done better, and if we all can learn from it, that is perfect.

UPDATE: Here is RyanK.'s video of Keagan's race. I think it shows Keagan's 63 second last lap much better.

Try and watch these videos before our race prep day on Friday. I want to be able to discuss them as a group and to use as tools to help all of us in our future races.

Hope everyone got in an easy run today, to shake out the lactate. This is going to be a hard week this week, with some different events for some of you On Friday/Saturday. Be ready!

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Fort Collins Varsity Line-Ups

The varsity squad is heading up to Ft. Collins this weekend, specifically, Rocky Mountain HS - French Field. More specific directions from the meet director are: "I-25 N to Harmony Rd. exit, West on Shields, north to Swallow, Field is just west of Shields St."

This will be one of our longest days, as the our bus leaves the athletic hallway of Chaparral at 5:30 am, so we need all athletes there at 5:15 am for attendance. In keeping with the spirit of "team", all athletes will ride the bus up, and we hope we have lots of athletes ride the bis back, this is an important meet, and the more support and cheering we can get, the better.

The schedule and line-ups are posted below. With only two entries per open event, there are some kids that have been going to varsity meets that will be staying home. The coaching staff tried to take the fastest kids in each each event. If you are an athlete not going this week, then you need to keep working hard, because next Saturday is always a new meet and new chances. Do not get discouraged. Get inspired to work harder, run faster, recover quicker. This is a long season, improvement is expected, and I can guarantee everyone will get ample opportunity to show off their skills.

The Runner's Roost - Ft. Collins meet schedule, which usually runs very close to the times posted.

The male athlete entries, not in the order of the meet however.

The female entires. They look fast to me!

Hope to see lots of fans at this meet, I know we usually see lots of college coaches, this is a big time meet!

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EDIT: Girls 4 x 400: AGrimm to DFoster to JHanrahan to HBarringer!

Keeping Things Simple

I had originally planned to do a complicated new workout tomorrow. Race specific intervals, based on differing 300 m splits for your goal mile race pace. When I started working on it, it became incredibly complicated, not just to write out, but to actually think out. That's when I decided to just stick with a simple stand-by, Kenyan runs, which you all know and love.

Interesting enough, in my online iPad2 hunting/procrastinating, I discovered this little vignette ,which I had never heard before, but is very appropriate to my thinking today.

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 degrees Celsius.

The Russians used a pencil.

Sometimes you can make things too complicated. Just get out there, run hard, mimic a race as much as you can, and do it over and over. That's our plan for tomorrow.

From: www.therussiansusedapencil.com

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Wednesday Morning Voluntary Practice

All distance runners, 400m and up, are welcome to join me at the track tomorrow morning at 8:00 for a wonderful breakfast of Kenyans, Lunges and Crunches.

Delicious!

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Captain's Mid-Distance Practice

This morning I posted what I want the long distance kids to do.

If you are a primarily a 400 runner, here are your workouts for Monday and Tuesday, from Coach Boymel.

Monday:
On turf field:
10 min warm-up
15 X 100 at current 400 pace (take your most recent 400 time, divide by four for this pace) w/ 5 min rest
10 min cool-down

Tuesday:
30 min run w/ 5 min hard in the middle of the run

I strongly suggest getting down the to the track at 8:30 to get this work in, the more athletes there, the easier the workouts tend to be!

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Captain's Long Distance Practice

Monday and Tuesday, the senior captains will be running voluntary practices for the long - distance side of the track team.

Seniors will be in charge, you are not required to be there, but encouraged to be there.

Practice starts at 8:30 am at the CHS track.

Monday:

Alternators - A Lactate Removal Exercise

400 hard/45 sec jog/1200 medium

The fast 400 is designed to stress you, but debilitate you. Go right into a 45 sec recovery jog. Then a 1200 at a slower than normal tempo pace to flush the lactate out.

Take full recovery, but no more than five minutes. If these are easy, take less recovery. If you can, eliminate all recovery.

Do five alternator sets. Do more if you are feeling it.

Panthers (KV, JB, NP)

400m@1:18 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@1:33/lap

Ocelots (JK, CF, JB, RK, ZY)

400m@1:19 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@1:34/lap

Jaguars (DF, MI, FC, CH, BR)

400m@1:26 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@1:41/lap

Wildcats (AR, JR, KR, KW)

400m@1:33 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@1:51/lap

Bobcats (SF, SR, ER, MH, JH)

400m@1:38 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@2:00/lap

Pumas (HB, TB, EJ, LN)

400m@1:42 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@2:10/lap

Tigers (DG, AL, XT, CC, CH. BS)

400m@1:52 / (45 sec ez jog) / 1200m@2:20/lap

Tuesday:

Long Overdistance Run (75-80 minutes)

I was dismayed to find out that some athletes were not running the distances they should be running on last Tuesday. So, I have some landmarks put in place now.

You will be running the exact same path you ran last week. Start at the HS. Go north on Chambers, left onto Broncos Parkway, then turn around when you are supposed to. Run on grass, fields, & soft surfaces as much as you can.

These workouts are designed to be completes in 75 - 80 minutes, based on you fitness levels. If it takes a smidge longer, that’s OK, but you are not to be “Monfre Suffling” during these long runs.

Panthers: Must get to intersection of Arapahoe & Peoria, past Family Sports. Then turn around and come home. 10 miles.

Ocelots: Must get to Family Sports Bubble. Then turn around and come home. 9.5 miles.

Jaguars: Must get to Peoria/Bronco’s parkway traffic light, on top of hill. Then turn around and come home 8.5 miles total.

Wildcats & Bobcats: Must get to boat storage on Bronco’s Parkway. Then turn around and come home 8 miles total.

Pumas & Tigers: Must get to Dove Valley/Bronco’s Training Center. The turn around and come home. 7 miles total.

If you want to go a little faster, that’s fine, but do not kill yourself. This is an easy week, and I want you to be fresh for Wednesday.

Please be safe, run with a group, always face traffic, and represent yourself perfectly.

See y’all on Wednesday morning, 8:00 sharp!

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P.S. Huge shout-out to the seniors running the show for me!

Spring Break Distance Training Schedule

Monday - On Your Own

Tuesday - On Your Own

Wednesday - Voluntary Practice, CHS Track, 8:00 a.m.

Thursday - Mandatory Practice, CHS Track, 3:00 p.m.

Friday - Mandatory Practice, CHS Track, 3:00 p.m.

Saturday - Runner Roost Invite of Ft. Collins (A BIG time meet, typically two entries per open event)

Detailed practice protocols for Monday & Tuesday will be posted later this weekend, stay tuned!

The Truth About Intervals

I thought we did a great job as a team on our quality interval days this week. I thought Monday's Kenyan Runs went pretty well, and I thought Wednesday Australian Hills went extremely well. (When do we do American intervals, you ask?) This year, I feel like I have been moving away from relying on the watches so much, and just wanting the intervals to be HARD. This was inspired in part, by a blog post I discovered while mindlessly surfing the internet one night. Here it is, but be forewarned, not a lot of safe for work language. Try to get beyond that, though, and read it for what it is: a treatise on making your intervals HARD. Intervals should make you race faster, and in races, watches, heart rate, pace, they don't matter. So why should those factors matter in intervals? Just go out there on hard days and kill yourself.

Thoughts?

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Legend JV Meet Distance Line-Ups

Here are the line-ups for the JV meet on Friday the 18th at Legend HS. There has been a slight change, the dismissal time is now 2:00, and the bus leaves at 2:15 sharp. So you gotta hustle!!

4 x 800m R:

E. Roberts

F. Campbell

M. Allen

X. Trembly

1600m:

C. Neilsen

B. Smith

T. Barlow

K. Roosa

400m:

E. Roberts

D. Geerdes

M. Allen

F. Campbell

C. Long

X. Trembly

C. Carney

T. Maisen

800m:

C. Neilsen

T. Barlow

B. Smith

C. Long

D. Geerdes

K. Roosa

There's a quick turnaround between the 400m and the 800m, be sure to do a easy jog down and get some fluids into your system!

200m:

T. Maisen

J. Piggott

K. Monegro

C. Carney

R. Santistvein

R. Yancy

B. Harris

SEP & BOYMEL

Sorry to not be there Saturday

Due to a couple family issues, I will not be at the meet on Saturday. I wish you all the best of luck and look forward to seeing the results of your events. Good luck

ThunderRidge Invite Line-Ups

Meet line-ups for the varsity meet on Saturday at SAS JV line-ups for the Legend meet will be posted tomorrow.

(Woops, the images are upside down. The bottom should be on top, and vice versa. I would fix it, but I am way too tired. Those Australian Hills today killed me.)

Weekly Announcements: 3/14-3/18 (UPDATED)

Monday: All athletes meet inside on the stairs for ribbons and awards

Tuesday: Picture Day! Wear team issued blue sweats (top and bottom) for the outdoor picture.

Thursday: JV & Varsity Line-ups finalized

Friday: JV Meet @ Legend HS

Saturday: Varsity Meet @ Sports Authority Stadium (schedule to the right)

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School Records

Chaparral Track & Field Records
(updated Jan 9th, 2012)

Sunday Practice

Sundays, even though we do not have any contact with the athletes, are very important days for training.

Saturdays are always a hard effort, Mondays will always be a hard effort. You need to do something on Sundays to recover and be ready for the week.

In the mid-90's, training philosophy dictated a two hour easy slow jog, almost a walk. Now we know, that's not the best.

Sitting around and doing absolutely nothing is certainly not a good idea either.

My personal favorite: 45 minute easy jog, at something between 9 and 11 minute pace. listening to a brewing podcast.

But other ideas could be a short jog to Alpha Gymnastics, 45 minutes in open gym, then a short jog home. Or maybe you go for a hike up in the foothills with your dog while the weather is still good. Or perhaps a bike ride to a coffee shop along the numerous bike paths we enjoy here in Denver.

Just get out and do something, anything, that will loosen up your legs, flush out some lactic acid and not stress your system too much.

Active recovery is the best recovery of them all!

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First Varsity Meet Results

One of my favorite traditions on the CHS Track Team is ribbon day on Mondays. We usually have quite a haul, and handing them out to the deserving athletes is a blast. Here is a sneak peek at who might be getting some varsity ribbons, but I admit, this is one of the poorer jobs I have done of getting times/places for the entire team. I wrote down all the long-distance times, most of the mid-distance times, but none of the sprint or field event data. Gotta get better for next week, just like everyone else!

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P.S. I also want to mention that the JV meet went very, very well. We had some excellent times on Friday afternoon, and that improvement in your racing will result in a bump-up in training level, which is what you need to continue to improve. Excellent job JV team!

Appalachian Trail Hike in 4 minutes

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.

Another video to kill some time with, this is a short film by a guy by the named of Kevin Gallagher. He hiked the 2,184 mile Appalachian Trail (which goes through Coach Sep's backyard of his boyhood home) and took over 4,000 pictures as he hiked. Then he spliced them together and put it to some trippy music. The result is pretty cool, you have to say.

I've always toyed with the idea of doing a long thru-hike. It seems the further away I get from consistently hiking, the more I want to do it. I know for a fact is is a difficult lonely trip, maybe in twenty years my daughter will drag me out there. She already like hiking here in Colorado. I gotta show her the part of the video in the 3:20's and 3:30's. Those are the White Mountains of NH, where I hiked/trained/galavanted about in high school and college. It's only 5,000 ft at the highest, but man was I sucking wind up there!

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Shout out to Wired.com for the original post.

Early Morning Thoughts

Practice for Friday (tomorrow) is at 2:00 for all varsity athletes. We don't have school we do have a JV meet, so starting practice at 2:00 will allow us to get plenty of hand-off work in before the meet on Saturday.

The meet starts at 3:30, so we want all JV competitors there at 2:45 to get ready for the meet. The meet should be done by 6:30.

After the varsity practice on Friday, all varsity athletes will be expected/required to stay and help out with the JV meet. No sticking around to help, no racing on Saturday. It will be an All Hands On Deck (AHOD) situation.

If you have not received a uniform from Coach Hawk or myself, today is the day to get one. We will be way too busy tomorrow to hand out uniforms, and Saturday is the race. So, make sure you have a uniform in your possession by this evening, even if it means waiting around after practice for a while. They are brand new uniforms, super nice ones, so let's talk good care of them.

For both meets, JV & Varsity, make sure you bring lots of extra clothes, extra food, and extra water. Track meets are all day affairs, you need to stay warm, fed and hydrated throughout the course of the entire day.

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Running Line-ups for League Relays

Below are the line ups and approximate starting times for the League Relays on Saturday, March 12th.

The field events (throwing, jumping, vaulting) are still being worked out, so you should know by the end of practice today if you are in a field event.

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March 11-12 - Meet Information

Our first varsity meet of the season is already upon us, the annual Continental League Relays!

Some important logistical details are:

The meet is at the new Parker Stadium, which is at the corner of S. Chambers Road and Newlin Gulch Blvd. The easiest way to get there from the high school is to take S. Chambers Road, across Lincoln, across E. Main St, and the stadium is right there in front of you.

The meet starts at 8:30 with a coaches meeting, (UPDATE: Coaches meeting is now at 8:15) and gets done at 2:30 with awards. However, I would be surprised if it actually was done at 2:30, most varsity meets run long, and I know that the host school, Mtn. Vista, wants the meet to run well, not just on time. So, if we are there a little while longer, no biggie.

Here is the official schedule of the meet.

(Ignore the date discrepancy, the schedule is still the same)

Since this meet is literally right in our own backyards, we expect anyone competing in a field event to be there by 7:30 am at the latest, and anyone participating in a track event by 8:15 am at the latest. Even if you are not participating in the meet until the afternoon, we want you there early; to make sure you are settled, to make sure you have everything you need to compete well, and we want you there to cheer on your teammates of course.

Everyone will find out today at practice if they have been selected to the varsity squad for this weekend. If they have not been chosen for varsity, you will be participating in the JV meet on Friday afternoon at Chaparral. Remember, if you run a great time at a JV meet and beat a varsity kid, more than likely, you will find yourself moving up to the varsity meet the following weekend. So, give it your all at the JV meet on Friday!

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Great Minds Think Alike

It's like Coach Whitenack and I planned this!

I noticed a lot of funny looks from the crowd when I said I would rather have an athlete who slept 8 hours a night and ate McDonald's than a kid who ate well but didn't sleep much at all.

So would the Harvard Business Review!

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shout out to NackforTrack.com for this one!

Recovery Article

From Matt Fitzgerald at competitor.com:

Swimming helps in recovery more than other methods such as ice baths, compression socks, or even lying down.

Wow, great research based information, very cool!

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Important Meeting!

Monday night, at CHS, at 6:00, is our track parent meeting.

All parents, new and old, are welcome to come.

This is an important meeting, we will go over everything from booster club to schedule to team guidelines and everything in-between!

It will be short, 30 minutes or so, but very informative.

See you parents there!

Thanks to BRC

HUGE shout out to Boulder Running Co. DTC for putting on a fantastic show for us last night. More than enough of pizza, plenty of smart staff to help with sizing, huge variety of trainers and spikes for everyone, it was a wonderful evening to get all your footwear needs taken care of.

If you missed it last night, head up on anytime. Tell them you run for CHS and they will take care of you.

One other thing, make sure you have signed up for all of your scrimmage events with your team captain by the end of practice today. Show starts at nine in the morning tomorrow, be early, be ready!

Up there on the right is a picture of the new pair of kicks I got, everyone better be ready, these will be chasing you down on some intervals in the near future!

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Crazy downhill bike helmet cam video from the streets of Chile

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

Oh wow, I have no idea what this has to do with track, but this is just wow.

Take four minutes, watch it, be amazed.

shout-out to Deadspin.com for this one

Mid Week Thoughts

If you haven't given me or Coach Boymel a blue goals sheet, we would really like to get one from you by Friday at the latest!

All this week we have been stressing our bodies. Monday was hard, Tuesday was moderately hard, today was super hard. Now, literally right now, as you are reading this blog, we need to work on recovery. Contrast showers, stretching, sleeping, easy workouts, all of it works with the stress to grow you into a better runner. Stress without the rest creates burn-out and injury. Rest without the stress creates couch potatoes. So, make sure to get the right balance of both in your lives.

Thursday night, Spike Night, BRC/DTC, with a special guest, two time Stanley Cup winner Stephane Yelle of your Colorado Avalanche will be there talking about anything you want to talk about. Pretty cool, huh? Party starts at 5:30, you should have plenty of time after practice to get there.

One other thing, all athletes reading this should start thinking about what events they want to compete in on Saturday. Mid-Distance kids, if you have been with Coach Boymel all week, I suggest you run a 400 m or longer at some point on Saturday. Long-Distance athletes that have been with me, I suggest an 800 m or higher on Saturday. Of course you can do more, but make sure you get those events in. Think about putting yourself in other events that you feel strong in and that you feel you can help the team the most in during the course of the season. This is the only time you get to chose your events, so choose wisely. Ask a coach for more guidance or advice if you want, what's what we are here for!

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Goals Sheet - 2011

If you did not get, turn in, or just forgot your goals sheet, the coaching staff really wants them as soon as possible.

Above is a copy you can download and print off yourself. It doesn't have to be blue, just filled out honestly!

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And if anyone can tell me the significance of this picture within the context of this blog post, you win my undying respect. (Unless you are Whitenack, Pfieffer or Neale)

Welcome Tracksters

It is official, the season has begun. In order to maximize potential and utilize talents in the many areas of Track & Field, our scrimmage this year will look a little different. Along with being an opportunity to race against other runners, it is going to be a chance to compete against your fellow Chaparral teammates.
This year Captains chosen by the coaching staff will draft a well rounded track team to compete against other Chaparral teams to be the best team at Chap. Captians will choose Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors to compete with them in the areas of Track and Field. Once the draft is complete, you will sign up for events in the scrimmage with your team mates. All members of the team must compete in 4 events. A field event specialist must do at least 2 field events. A running specialist must do at least 1 field event. As your team signs up, remember you will be competing against others Chap teams.
The winning team will be receiving some free track pack gear from coach Hawk.
We will not be scoring all events for the competition but instead will choose 7 events (hence the heptathlon name) You will not know if we are scoring the 800m or not. We may score the high jump and long and triple jump. So as your team is picking 4 individual competition events, be sure events are chosen that can be scored well in as well as opportunities to score in all the different events.
Also, be aware that there is a relay meet coming next and your ability to be a part of a team may be extremely important for us to decide where you fit in that competition. In the same way, it would be best to pick events you think you have a chance at being the top 3 or 4 for Chaparral.

Be thinking about your specialty, your ability to try different events and your willingness to do an event if the team needs you to fill a gap.
Draft will be on Wednesday at practice. Event selection needs to be completed at the beginning of practice on Friday. Any one who recruits a new track member by Thursday or Friday can add that team member to their heptathlon team.

Events at the Scrimmage include
Tripple Jump, Long Jump, High Jump, Discuss and Shot Put
100, 100/110 hurdles, 200, 300 hurdles, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
You will receive a sheet that shows the order of events. There will be no relays

Time to start thinking track and about what your role is on the team
Have you filled out your blue sheet?
Are you drinking water?

March 7th, 2011

Next Monday , the 7th, students do not have class in Douglas County. Even though students do not have school, teachers and athletic teams do.

Practice will be at the normal time, 3:10, and we will be having our booster club/parent meeting at 6:00 at the HS in the commons area.

The parent meeting will be short and sweet, but very important. Please try to be there if you can!

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