SJB Cross Country Team, 7/11/06
I hope you all are enjoying your summer break from school, I know I am. I am writing to you to remind you that summer is a break from school and not a break from cross country training.
The following are some facts for you to think about and hopefully motivate you:
1. Today is the 45th day of the 100 days of summer. This Sunday will be the 50th.
2. There are 37 days until the first day of CAMP.
3. There are 43 days until the first official Team Practice.
4. The first meet is only 60 days from today.
Those facts should help you understand why a XC runner has to train over the
summer to run well in the fall. To help you train we have captain’s practices set up during the week. I guarantee you that you will train more if you adjust your schedule to be at these runs.
If I had to pick the most important group runs for the majority of you to be at, it would be Wednesday nights at Sunken Meadow and Saturday mornings for mile repeats. The importance of Wednesday’s run is to get you used to the hills at Sunken Meadow. We do not train there during the season, so this is your opportunity to get your body used to it and I find it VITAL for success. ALSO, if you are on the bubble to make the team, it is a MUST to run the course. It is a 3.25 mile course and you can chose to run it 1x-2x-3x.
The Saturday Mile repeats are important to help your heart and lungs get used to race pace. Running a lot of miles over the summer is important but you do not run at a high heart rate when you run longer. Doing the mile repeats at a pace that is your current race pace teaches your heart and lungs how to transport the oxygen you need. You run the mile and then take a 2 ½ minute rest. The runs are not on a track, they are in a wooded path that is shaded and much more like a XC course.
I hope to see more of you this Wednesday and Saturday at these runs,
Coach Wood
PS. To find out times and locations of the runs (or any current information) please go to my web site at www.CoachWood.org.