Friday - July 9, 2016

Yesterday was a good day.  Early in the day I ran with far less pain than the day before.  Mid-day I met with Mrs. Leonard's Enrichment Program students and we are looking at giving them an option of running during their physical education time in the early afternoon.  I hope to work with them 3 days a week in a Couch to 5K program.  And later in the day I attended the team's strength. conditioning. bonding session on the track (with a core workout designed by Nicole Norve.)  Again, I'll remind everybody who may read this blog, these sessions are for anybody who wants to participate.  If you come, feel free to bring a friend.

I view the Tuesday/Thursday sessions as my opportunity to check in with attendees and get a feel for how the summer training is going, but it is also an opportunity for attendees to have input into the XC/T&F program.  Last night for example, we discussed the types of training workouts we will hold during the season as well as a weight training program.  Most of you know I have always recommended weight training to build strength and ward off injury.  We have some specific ideas which we will discuss further with the Captains for a weight training program which include 2-3 short sessions each week.  I feel quite certain weight training will be an important part of everybody's training regimen this season.  A request was made for fewer, yes, fewer easy runs.  While we will undoubtedly maintain a mix of easy, tempo, speed and race days, providing for adequate recovery from hard workouts, we are looking at tweaking those workouts.  This year we will have three coaches running/coaching each day.  This will give us the opportunity to separate into three ability groups which, unlike other years, will train separately start to finish on most days.  This will allow us to challenge EVERY runner each day, regardless of ability.  I am very excited to get started.

But there is still some time between now and our first practice.  As much as I hope everybody is recruiting runners, I sincerely hope everybody is preparing by following the summer training plan.  We have a tough Dual Meet schedule this year and I know first-hand the other teams are getting ready for us.  Get out there . . .

For those who will attend next weeks evening sessions, just a reminder the start time will be 5:00PM as the Captains will be attending mandatory training sessions with the Athletic Director.  We hope to see you there.