Distance Line-Ups

Here are the distance line-ups for the JV meet this Friday at Chaparral.

Here are the line-ups and order of events for the Regis Invite on Saturday. Bus leaves at 7:15 from CHS.

Here are the line-ups for the Mullen Runner's Roost on Saturday. Bus leaves at 6:15 sharp!

And of course, pasta dinner at Carino's on Thursday at 5:30, hope to see you all there.

SEP

Guilty Pleasure

One of the guilty pleasures is my subscription to Esquire magazine. Yeah, I'm already such a fashion, politics and ladies expert, so why read it, but I still like flipping through it. This past month they had this great article on Usain Bolt, and the editors finally linked to it on the web. (I actually got the link from the runnersworld tweet account, so thanks @runnersworld)

Even though Usain is not a distance runner, (although I bet he could easily go under 2:00 in the 800) this is a fantastic article to read, it really sheds some light on how Usain got to be so fast, how he approaches his training, and how he balances his life with his running fame. Take a couple of minutes and check it out, you won't be disappointed.

SEP

Alumni News

Steven Busch, a Drury Panther, texted me yesterday, saying he had run a 9:24 in the 3000 m steeplechase, which provisionally qualifies him for D-II Nationals in Charlotte! Wow! That is fantastic!

Last week he also won his steeplechase race, you can read about it here:

Steven Busch Wins 3000 Steeplechase in Day One at Mizzou Relays To Pace Panthers

In other news, Kirsten Lake ran a 2:17 open 800 yesterday for the Drake Bulldogs, which is a fantastic time, especially this early in the season, yay Kirsten!

Is there any other alumni news out there? Let me know!

SEP

Windy Day Yesterday, huh?

Meets like yesterday are crucial in the development of you as a runner. Yep, it was windy, and by the end of the day, I was pretty drained. But, learning to run in the wind is a skill we all need to learn. Learning how to draft in a pack, when to move up places, when to lead, how to run with wind-cutting form; those are all pretty important running tactics, and I thought we got a good dose of them yesterday. So even though you might not have PR-ed, or you might not have won a race you expected to win, take the positives out of yesterday. and the next time it is super windy at an interval practice, or a Saturday meet, use what you learned and hold that as an advantage over your competition. After all, wind is just a bunch of air molecules, really nothing to be afraid if!

SEP

Mustang Invite Distance Line-Ups

Here are the distance kid line-ups for the Mustang Invite this Saturday.

Not an April One Joke

Even though this is a blog for distance runners, I am so excited about last night's development, I have decided it belongs out in cyberspace.

We put my 10 month old daughter to bed last night, and as of 6:40 this morning, she was still sleeping through. In other words, she finally had her first entire night of straight through sleeping!!! Not five hours, not eight, but close to twelve hours of sleep! Beth and I woke up this morning, looked at each other, realized Chloe had not woken up during the night, and almost broke out the champagne! We were so pumped, hopefully this develops into a habit and she starts getting good sleep every night. If you are a parent, you understand this was an AWESOME occurrence.

Yay Chloe!!!!!

Chloe and I cross-country skiing. She hits me like a jockey.

Chloe climbing on the monkey bars, pretty soon she won't need my help.

Chloe in the baby swing at the park, she can go for hours in this thing.

SEP

Mid-Week Musings

We are working very hard in practice this week. A meet on Monday, very difficult intervals on Tuesday, and almost as difficult intervals this Wednesday afternoon. If your legs feel dead, you are doing it correctly! Make sure to do all the little things when you get home, such as stretch, ice, eat well, stay hydrated, etc. etc. This is tough training, but it is all in the master plan. Keep working hard every day, and the results will come, you juct need to believe in it! Like Laster used to say, half the plan is sticking to it!

We are heading up North again this weekend, to Mountain Range HS, which is a little bit

west off exit 223, for the Mustang Invite. I will have varsity line-ups up on Thursday, as I want to see how everyone does in the JV meet today before I set line-ups. The meet schedule is to the right of this post, but it is essentially a rolling schedule, and you should not pay too much attention to the times listed.

Weather looks good for the rest of the week, let's take advantage of it! We already have a couple of athletes ranked in the top ten for their respective events, but a lot can change between now and the end of the season. We need to keep working hard, taking full advantage of every work-out, and doing the little things to get us prepared for the work-outs and the races.

See you all this afternoon!

SEP

Old, but Important News

So, I get this email from UNH, it's the press release about the ski team exploits at the National Ski Championships in Steamboat a couple weeks ago. Here is the paragraph that caught my eye, emphasis mine.

Dylan McGuffin, who garnered All-EISA First Team accolades earlier this month, raced to 10th place in the men's 10K classic race to earn All-America honors. He completed the course in 30 minutes, 17.9 seconds. The most recent UNH Nordic skier to garner All-America recognition was Chris Wolski in 2000.

I got major shivers when I read that, that is so freakin' cool!

Still got you in our hearts Chris!

SEP

Ft. Collins Meet Schedule

As far as I know, the meet schedule will revert to a typical rolling schedule, with field events starting at 10:30, and track events starting at eleven.

That makes for a very long day, picture a normal Saturday track meet starting two hours later. Uff-da!

Please see the sidebar to figure out when you will be racing, but remember, we have not been given any start times, so you need to pay attention to the events on the track to figure out when you are racing!

See you all tomorrow morning bright and early in the athletic hallway!

SEP

EDIT: Coach Hawk sent me a "time" schedule. However, these times are tentative at best, please use the system of watching the track to see whn you should start warming up.

More Meet Postponement Details

Good morning,

As I am sure most of you know, the meet for tomorrow has been pushed back to Monday, March 29th. While I disagree with this, Ft. Collins has spring break this upcoming week, so it was an easy choice for them.

We are leaving the school at 8:00 am, we will be missing a full day of school.

It is the athletes responsibility to get to school early, find as many of you teachers as you can, and get as much of the work you are going to miss. This is a long meet, with two long bus rides on either end, so you will have plenty of time to do any school work.

We will be back very late, if the meet starts at 10:30 am, I can see us finishing under the lights.

Bring plenty of food, water and clothes. The weather is forecast to be much nicer than Saturday, but you never can tell.

We can see this as an obstacle, or as Coach Whitenack mentioned, an opportunity. We get a chance to get one more practice in, we will be running under better conditions, and we will be with high quality competition. We will have practice tomorrow at my house, 8:30, for a long run with some tempo intervals.

See you all in a couple of hours!

SEP

Ft. Collins Meet Postponed

The meet this Saturday is postponed to Monday. We are attending, and are leaving at 8:00. If you cannot miss that day of school, you need to let the coaches know ASAP. The Ft. Collins coaches are postponing it because of weather concerns. Any questions, please email me.

The weather here in Denver for Saturday looks good enough to practice. We will be practicing in DTC, so meet at my house at 8:30, ready to go for a long run with some hill work. And of course, Einstein's afterwards! Everyone is invited!

See you all tomorrow at 9:00 for practice as scheduled.

SEP

10 km Fundraiser

Every year, CHS Track & Field does a fundraiser during the season. Following tradition, we are doing the 10 km fundraiser. This is a great moneymaker for our program if each athlete does their part. The task is pretty simple, think of ten people to whom you could ask for a donation. Fill out their addresses on an envelope, and bring it back to the coaching staff by April 6th. Then, later in the season, we will run a 10 km relay race to justify the donations. That's all the athletes have to do, the coaches will do the rest. Simple, huh?

This fundraiser is important, because it allows us to get new equipment every year, to have the best looking uniforms and gear in the state. It allows us to purchase all of the recovery and nutritional supplements we provide. We also use this money to buy training and competition shoes for athletes who need them to preform at their highest level. In fact, 0% of this money goes to the coaches or the administration, it all goes back to the athlete.

Coach Hawk and I spent a good portion of tonight prepping the packets, and when we hand them out on Monday, please do your part and fill out the envelopes. We will explain in greater details how all this works, but it is a very important part of the T & F season. Bottom line is, this is a simple task for you to complete, and we hope that you will give back to the program that has given a lot to you by taking care of this.

Thanks!

SEP

Three Minute Eggs

Today for practice, we did our traditional spring break Sierra MS workout, three minute eggs. We did 13 of them this year, through snow that was over 18 inches deep in some places! I was very psyched to see 15 kids at practice today, it is days like today that we get a leg up on the competition. Congrats to all who worked hard today, you all did a great job. Now, onto the fotografias!

Warming up in the parking lot

Water bottle shelf

Awaiting the start of the first interval

Heading into the first uphill with Otis the pace dog

Purdue and Vargo striding out the flats

The minivan pilot finishing fast

Vargo and Burt coming down the finishing straight

Rich, Bacovin and Young headed towards the finish

Awaiting the start of the the second to last one

Epic workout today, I was very pleased with everyone's effort. Good job all around!

SEP

Ft. Collins Runners Roost Line-Ups

Here are the line-ups, with start times, for the meet this Saturday up in Ft. Collins. Unfortunately, we are only allowed two entries per open event, so there are some deserving kids who will not be going this weekend. Weather looks like we might get a little bit of snow, and it will be cold (it always is cold in Ft. Collins at this meet) so make sure you bring plenty of layers. The bus will be leaving super-early, and getting back super-late, so be prepared for a long day of racing fast!

Check back later for pics of the practice today, epic!

SEP

EDIT: Please add S. Bill and R. Reasoner to the boys High Jump. Late additions are good additions!

Distance Spring Break Practice

The distance team Spring Break practice schedule is as follows:

Sunday (3/21): Easy Recovery Run, On Your Own, 30-45 min

Monday (3/22): Easy Aerobic Run, On Your Own, 60-75 min

Tuesday (3/23): Captain's Practice, Meet at Bluffs @ 10:00 am, 60 min Fartlek w/Watches

Wednesday (3/24): Coaches Practice, Meet at Sierra MS @ 2:00 pm, Three Minute Eggs

Thursday (3/25): Coaches Practice, Meet at Chaparral HS @ 9:00 am, Easy Aerobic Run

Friday (3/26): Coaches Practice, Meet at Chaparral HS @ 9:00 am, Slingshots, Hand-offs, Starting Blocks

Saturday (3/27): Runner's Roost Invite @ Ft. Collins, Meet at Chaparral EARLY!

We have family coming into town the first part of Spring Break, so I will be unable to practice. However, the captains will have the watches and the workouts available on Tuesday, and I will be ready to go Wednesday afternoon. Please communicate with me if you are not going to be at any of these practices.

Spring break is where a lot of athletes either slack off and do not improve, or work hard and improve immensely. Even if you are not in town, make sure you are the second type of athlete, the one who works hard, gets plenty of rest, eats well, stays hydrated, and gets faster. The stretch run of the season is beginning, we need to be firing on all cylinders!

SEP