Wrapping Up SummerOur last week of summer training started out hot and ended up perfect, with lot's of fun along the way. The scavenger hunt photos are still incoming, but it was a great way to wrap up the summer! Another Dead WeekNext week is another state-mandated dead period. There will be no organized training with coaches, but athletes are still allowed to meet on their own. Those plans will be shared in the athlete group chat. Seminary Picnic Carousel ShiftsThe final worker schedule for the carousel at the picnic is posted below. Athletes should make sure to show up for their shift or find someone else to take their place.  Parent MeetingJust a reminder that the parent meeting for all fall athletes will be next Sunday, August 10, at 6pm in the school gym. This is for parents only. We'll start with all other sports and discuss the parent/athlete handbook before breaking off with our team. That time will be meant to discuss any questions or concerns. Parents should try to read through the information page shared on GroupMe prior to the meeting. PhysicalsJust a reminder that a completed physical form as well as the pre-participation form must be submitted by the first day of official season (8/11) in order for an athlete to be allowed to practice. Athletes must complete 14 practices before they can race. We don't want anyone to miss a meet because of missing paperwork. Forms may be either be submitted to the school office or to Mr. McLain. The current physical form can be found here (please only submit the final page). The pre-participation form can be found here. Hard copies of both forms will also be available at practice this week. Athletes can ask Mr. McLain for a copy. Shoe/Spike SalesLet the shoe sales begin! This weekend is probably the best opportunity to purchase new training shoes and spikes for races with all the discounts and deals going on. You can find a full explanation of spikes in this post, but for athletes who are planning to race in them this season, it is extremely important that their foot has opportunity to adapt to them. Spikes are much less cushioned than daily training shoes, and so we want to slowly introduce the amount of time spent in the shoes until we've built up to race distances. That will begin on the first day of practice, so if a runner wants to race in spikes, they should try to have purchased them by then and should begin bringing them to practice pretty much every day. A couple running stores offer a deal when spikes are bought along with a pair of training shoes. Most athletes already purchased training shoes at the beginning of summer, but it still might be worthwhile to take advantage of the deal for a few reasons: 1) Many runners will likely wear out their current trainers before the end of the season. Our program trains by minutes rather than miles, but in terms of guesstimates the accumulated shoe mileage so far this summer and yet to come this season for a runner showing up consistently to training and wearing the same shoes. --New Runner: 60-80 miles so far, 250-300 miles this season --Intermediate Runner: 100-150 miles so far, 300-400 miles this season --Advanced Runner: 200-250 miles so far, 400-500 miles this season. Most shoes break begin breaking down around 250 miles and get progressively less beneficial to run on from there. Athletes in every category will cross that threshold by November. 2) These are the best sales most running stores hold all year. One can certainly find individual discounts in late fall or early winter, especially on outgoing shoe models. However, most running stores don't run additional sales of this magnitude, even in early spring before track. 3) There is some evidence that rotating between multiple pairs of training shoes of different styles reduces the risk of overuse injuries. An athlete could have two pairs of trainers to wear the rest of the year. This could especially make sense for an athlete planning to continue running during the winter in preparation for track. While it is a bigger upfront investment, it doesn't mean spending more money in the long run. It's simply a matter of wearing two shoes from June through February rather than one pair from June through September and another from October through February. Online: --First to the Finish has some pretty steep discounts on a number of models of spikes. Do make sure they say cross country or XC. Track spikes (even distance ones) are not the same thing. --TC Running Company has some spike models on sale for men as well as for women. In-Person: --Missouri Running Company in Cape is having their anniversary sale this Friday and Saturday. With 13 years in business, that means 13% off almost everything, including already marked down clearance items. You'll also benefit from the tax-free weekend. They are running a separate promo the first two weeks of August where cross country athletes will save 20% when they buy a combo of spikes and training shoes. --Fleet Feet St. Louis is offering a 10% discount to all cross country athletes during the month of August on the purchase of regularly priced shoes, spikes, socks, apparel, nutrition, injury prevention gear and more. --Big River Running Company in St. Louis is offering a student athlete discount through September 15. That entails $20 off any training shoes, $15 off any spikes, and 15% off any accessories and apparel in store. You can also use the codes STUDENTATHLETE20 and STUDENTATHLETE15 respectively to get these discounts online. They will also have their anniversary sale from August 14-24. They aren't releasing the details yet, but most years that includes $10 off one pair of shoes, $25 two pairs of shoes, and 15% off apparel and accessories. --Running Niche in St. Louis is having a big tent sale on older model shoes this weekend. Some other items are 10% off this weekend as well. Their spike options are limited, but they have plenty of training shoes, a whole room of their store dedicated to sports bras with female staff experienced in fitting. They also have lots of ChicknLegs, and a whole rack of Sprints hats. More Nutrition GuidanceAttached is a document put together by Allika Pearson, the dietitian for the cross country program at the University of Kansas who spoke at our boys team camp. It offers some great suggestions for snacks before practice and races. As parents are stocking the pantry for school season, this might be a helpful resource. 
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