August 12 News and Notes

Summer Recap

Just over a week ago we wrapped up our summer training.  Our last week included plenty of quality running and fun times.  That included one last run on the home course, some zombie tag, and our end-of-summer photo scavenger hunt.

Overall this summer we had 20 days of training as a team and 6 more fun days.  We had 14 runners make it to at least half of those.  And that doesn't even include all of the miles our athletes put in on their own away from coaches.  I float in enough circles with other coaches and hear many laments about runners not showing up to training, let alone doing their own running.  The buy-in and dedication of our runners is a marked contrast from this, and I think it speaks to the enthusiasm of our younger runners and the witness and leadership of our veteran runners.

We also ended the summer with a few more giveaways.  Reese claimed the last summer training shirt.  Anna took home a pair of flamingo CHICKNLEGS shorts for winning the drawing of those who submitted pictures running during the dead period.  And Caden got a pair of racing spikes for winning the drawing of those who kept a training journal all summer.  

The Week Ahead

This week we officially kick off the season.  However, with races still three weeks away, the training won't look all that different from summer.  We will be facing the afternoon heat as school resumes, and so caution is the word of the week as runners face some new stresses.

This week we'll see a neuro day, a long run.  Then Saturday we will have some real fun with our workout at our Midnight Marathon event at our course.  This will be our first race-pace workout of the season, with runners starting out with just 300m segments.  Feel free to stop by to see our runners in action!

New Course Layout

Speaking of our course, as was mentioned earlier this summer, our course layout is seeing a few modifications, including the creation of a 2-mile middle school course.

Now that the Seminary Picnic has concluded, we can get out on the full course.  With the help of Terry (and Sybina) Nations and Eric Clements, the front section is mowed and landscaped and ready for action.

The Snocker

Besides sleep, nutrition is the strongest support for quality training and racing.  Once school starts, so often runners skip breakfast and eat small or nutrient-light lunches.  Despite the online hype, fasted running is not the way to go.  I've interacted with multiple dietitians who work with distance runners, all of them emphasize the importance of quality fueling leading up to practices and races.

After approval from administration, we are able to introduce the Snocker (snack locker) where runners can purchase snacks and drinks at reasonable prices before school and after school as well as at break and lunch.  The snacks are sorted by when they best fit in relation to the start of running.  Some snacks don't have the shelf life to be Snocker-friendly but might work well at home or to bring to school.  Below are a few recommendation from sports dietitian Heidi Strickler for each category.  

Less Than 30 Minutes:  Simple carbs is the goal here. 

• Bananas (half or whole)
• Graham Crackers
• Pop Tarts (If you don't like the junk in Kellogg's, the Aldi brand has no artificial dyes and are cheaper.  Trader Joe brand is more expensive but less processed stuff.  

30-120 Minutes:  Mostly carbs with some protein and little fat/fiber

• Toast/tortilla with Nutella
• Small PB&J or turkey sandwich
• Bowl of low-fiber cereal with milk
• Cheese quesadilla

2-4 Hours:  More fat and protein are fine, as is fiber in moderation

• Oatmeal/overnight oats
• Simple pasta/rice with cheese and/or chicken
• Lunchable (or something equivalent)

Post-Run:  Carbs and protein in a roughly 3:1 ratio with electrolytes

• Chocolate milk
• Greek yogurt and granola
• Meat stick/jerky and crackers

​What Coach Learned

I've read a few articles, watched a couple impressive videos, and listened to too many podcasts to count the last week while getting things ready for school.  But I've also been watching a lot of Olympics, especially athletics (or track and field as we call it).  I wanted to offer 5 lessons I learned while watching that can be applied to our season. 

1)  Sleep Matters:  I heard several athletes discuss the importance of sleep, and not all of them in the context of the cardboard beds in the Olympic village.  Two in particular were American marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young.  Those close to Mantz stress how even back in high school he was very dedicated to his sleep schedule and was never one to stay out late.  As for Young, for the last five year's he's had an alarm that goes off at 9:15pm every evening telling him to "prepare for gold" and reminding him to go to bed.  

Not saying anyone has to, but maybe a few "prepare for my best" alarms could go a long way this season.

2)  Talk Is Cheap:  There was a lot of social media smack talk involving and often initiated by Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Josh Kerr leading up to the final in the men's 1500m.  In the end, neither came out on top, as the relatively quiet American Cole Hocker stormed past both of them in the final straightaway. The same was true in the marathon, where everyone wanted to fixate on the battle between legends Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele.  In the end, neither factored in the decision, with Kipchoge dropping out mid-race and Bekele finishing six minutes behind his Ethiopian teammate Tamirat Tola, who wasn't even added to the field until two weeks before the race.

In the coming weeks, MileSplit, Semoball, and social media are going to have plenty to say about the upcoming season with rankings and favorites.  It stirs up interest in our sport, which is fine and good.  But in the end, ten years from now very few people will remember who MileSplit picked to win the state title.  They'll remember who actually crossed the line first.  If we focus on our training and let the talkers do their talking, we keep to things within the realm of our control.

3)  Run By Feel:  Another lesson from the marathon.  The course in Paris was far hillier than typical.  One climb in particular had me winded just watching.  Couple that with the hot and humid August temperatures, and the result is a race experience far that the elite runners aren't used to.  Though the Olympic record did fall in the men's race, this was due as much to the advancement in super shoe footwear and athlete quality.  Most of the runners finished minutes slower than their personal bests.  The athletes had to focus much more on "marathon effort" than on "marathon pace".   

I'm guilty more than anyone else of getting hyper-focused on times and splits in our races.  But the truth is, cross country isn't track.  It isn't a standardized oval.  It isn't flat.  It isn't a smooth rubberized surface.  As we've learned the hard way, it isn't even always 5000 meters.  A 17:00 5k on a calm, cool, and clear morning in October on a flat hard course like Arcadia Valley is vastly different than the same time on a hot August course through mud and hills and grass that hasn't been mowed in three weeks.  The key is to understand effort levels and try to match them during the race.

4)  Failure Is What You Make of It:  You can't have Olympics without heartbreak.  One moment that stood out to me in particular came in the women's heptathlon.  In the high jump, just the second of the seven events, American Chari Hawkins failed to clear the entry height and earned zero points, dropping her from fifth place to dead last and essentially destroying any chance of a podium finish.  The footage of Hawkins discussing the implications with her coach is gut-wrenching.  With their dream crushed, it would be understandable for an athlete to throw in the towel and head back to the hotel.  Instead, Hawkins showed up for the remaining two events that evening and came back the next day for the final three.  In the end she finished dead last of the 21 athletes who completed all seven events, nearly 600 points behind the next competitor.  On paper that's what most people would call failure.  In my eyes and many of the crowd who supported her, this is a masterclass in resilience and sportsmanship. 

We're going to see plenty of disappointing races in the coming weeks.  Maybe someone overcooks the first mile and has fallen well off target in the second.  Can they still run a quality third mile knowing it won't make a big difference in the overall race but will help them in the long run?

5)  Women Are Faster than Girls:  A common talking point among coaches of female athletes is that younger is better and puberty marks the end of a runner's best performances.  There were definitely a number of college students and recent grads who made a splash in the shorter distances, but in the distance events experience won the day, as evident by the age table below:

And perhaps craziest of all is that the three 31s are the same woman, Dutch phenom Sifan Hassan, who did the unprecedented by taking bronze in the 5000 (with two rounds) and 10000 before winning the marathon, all over the course of 10 days.

Progress is a roller coaster that many of our girls will find themselves on it this season.  Rather than buying into the mainstream messaging, they should remember that with consistency and commitment to building strength and fueling well, their fastest days will be in the future, not the past.​