SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2015, Guest - PAUL DUFFEY

First, a few observations on Friday's practice . . .  For those of you who did not do a lot of summer training and especially to those who are new to running, the past two days may have been difficult.  Today, those returning after 30 minutes decreased dramatically and I can see that for most of you the effort is there.  We all have a long way to go, but stick with it.  I promise you it will be worth it.  Improvements and accomplishments come quickly in this sport and you will surprise yourself at how quickly you adapt to running and how swiftly you can reach your goals.  I am already proud of each and every one of you.

Tomorrow is our first Saturday practice.  I love Saturday practices because I try to keep it relaxed, we get it done early in the day, and it kind of "kick starts" my entire weekend.  My plan for tomorrow is to separate the team.  Those who the coaches feel can handle a workout at this point will be working on the Track.  I anticipate having two small groups conducting workouts and one larger group going easy.   Those who the coaches feel are not yet ready to take on the challenge of a workout (including those with injury) will be going easy.  So, tomorrow following our usual warmup it should look something like this:

Group 1 - 8 Minute warmup jog
                 2 X 200 @ stride pace, 100 jog, 100 walk
                 6 X 400
                 8 minute cooldown jog

Group 2 - 8 minute warmup jog
                 2 X 200 @ stride pace, 100 jog, 100 walk
                 3 X 800
                 8 minute cooldown jog

Group 3 - Approximately 35 minutes easy with stops for strength and conditioning exercises

All - Core Workout and Stretching

I hope to see you all there!  8:30AM!

NOTE:  OK, we had a change of plans today due to the unavailability of the Track . . . sorry.  For the record we did Cruise Intervals.  30 minutes of sustained running with 5 X 2 minute pickups, during which virtually everybody ran between 2.5 and 3.5 miles.  We followed that up with a jog of the XC course which added a 1.3 Mile cooldown.  We closed things out with stretching.  Excellent work by all.  The highlight of the day was hearing Northeastern Junior Paul Duffey, a Whitman-Hanson alum, speak about his journey to national collegiate track prominence.  He is a remarkable young man with a story that is truly inspirational,  THANK YOU, Paul!