WHO FLIES? WE DO!
Weekly schedules, updates, and wisdom
from Coach Phil and Coach Eric.
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Ok Hawks, we've made it through the first two steps of forging our sword. First, we tempered our metal in the crucible by developing our endurance over the first four weeks of practice. Then we pounded the blade into shape with our five-week strength session. Now we hone the edges over the next three weeks with our speed session. Our interval Mondays will get shorter - but you need to focus each week to hone that strength you've built into the sharp weapons you will become. Our Thursday practices will get longer - but the sharpness develops here as well as we alternate fast/slow to get used to the challenge of competition. Buckle your seatbelts, we're about to get even better!
Monday - Repeat 600s, Meet at Boathouse.
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Fartlek Workout, Meet at Boathouse
Friday - Rest and Stretch Saturday - Rest and Stretch Sunday - Easy Run
Run Tough, Coach Eric
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 Saturday was another great race day for the Delta Hawks, with both the girl’s and boy’s teams finishing second in the club race! So many great performances, it may take some time to summarize, but here goes nothing…
The first amazing fact: this was the team’s second race of the season at the 1.5-mile distance – and everyone who ran the first (Lagoon Valley) matched or improved their time. Check out the progress: Charlie – 7 seconds Tahlia – 14 seconds Adeleine – 17 seconds Ryko – 22 seconds Matthew – 23 seconds Natalie – 25 seconds Lou – 27 seconds Jack – 53 seconds Nate – 1 minute, 38 seconds! That is such a great testament to our training plan and our toughness! As Coach Phil points out, talent is a baseline, but training and toughness are from where improvement comes and the proof is in the faster finishing times and medals earned. Let’s keep it up! While all our athletes had great races this weekend, a few performances warrant special note. First, Harper Farris, who joined the team mid-season, really ran wild. One month ago at the first SRA meet, Harper ran 9:21 mile pace, while at Flat SAC she turned in a 7:52-pace effort on a longer course! That is incredible, and we hope to see more from her moving forward. Both Sophie and McKenna had huge improvements in their race paces this weekend as well. On the boy’s side, Mason finished his second race of the season and improved his race pace by more than a minute per mile, from 9:02 to 7:41! We also want to give another special shout out to Nate, as he has continually improved his pace meet after meet and moved up in position on the team. He is a paragon of the benefit of putting in the work and showing up for every practice ready to work. Sadly, the end of our regular season is visible on the horizon. Looking ahead, we are participating in the Clarksburg Country Run on November 14th, followed by our last regular meet of the season – the USATF Pacific Association Championships in Folsom on Sunday, November 21st. The Association Championship meet is going to be a great chance for all our athletes to really shine, as we will be running in age group races against the best club runners from the Bay Area, Northern California and Nevada. We can’t wait to see what the culmination of a hard-fought season will bring! As always, great job Hawks, and let’s keep on flying! Coach Eric We're officially into the second half of the season. We look ahead to a great race this weekend at Flat Sac and continue to look toward Nationals. Let's be smart, train hard and run tough! Here's this week's workouts:
Monday - Repeat 800s, Meet at Boathouse.
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own.
Thursday - Hill Repeats, Meet at Boathouse
Friday - Rest and Stretch Saturday - Flat Sac
Sunday - Easy Run.
Run Tough, Coach Phil. Well Hawks, here we are at the midpoint of our schedule. Seven weeks into the season, we can look back and see how far we've come. We are stronger, faster, tougher than we were. Looking ahead, those of you traveling to Nationals in Kentucky are half way there. Others have six weeks to grow and improve. We get to see how far we all can go this season - so let's get to it!
We have two more weeks of our strength-building session, and then we move into our fine-tuning speed cycle, honing that blade! No races this week, which means we want to focus on our workouts and really set ourselves up for success on Monday and Thursday. Monday - Lock Hills (meet at STONEGATE ELEM.)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hills Tempo Run (Meet at BRIDGEWAY LAKES BOATHOUSE)
Friday - Rest and Stretch Saturday - Rest Sunday - Easy Run
Love the Fight! Coach Eric  Week-by-week, it is clear to the coaches that we have something special with this team. The Hawks continue to get better, run tougher, improve their times, and bury their competition. It is a wonder to witness!
Yesterday, at the second SRA Meet, our Hawks continued to soar. With steely-eyes and a hardened look, every Hawk demonstrated to the world the power they are building from running in those sandy Lock Hills. Onlookers commented on how strong the Delta Hawks looked, and opponents shared timid glances as our athletes pushed past them on the course. It was a glorious day in the foothills. In the 6th and Under Boy’s race, Elias (1st), Lou (7th), and Owen (20th) took their revenge on the Buffalo Chips by winning our fourth team championship of the season. Our Girl’s 6th and Under team finished an impressive 2nd in the team score, with Adeleine finishing 3rd, Natalie in 8th, and Sonia just out of the medals in 12th place. In the Boy’s 7th/8th race, Matthew led the way with a strong 2nd place finish, with Charlie (20th) and Gage (61st) rounding out our scoring runners. Delaney was our sole representative in the Girl’s 7th/8th race this week, but made a blistering improvement over the last SRA meet, shaving 1:40 off her time from two weeks ago. There were so many impressive performances, it’s impossible to single out any one Hawk for accolades this week. Despite this course being a bit longer and hillier, every single runner improved their pace over that which they ran at the first SRA meet. These Hawks have really been putting in the work, supporting each other, pushing each other, and the results are clear. The region is taking notice – those Delta Hawks come to race!  What an amazing weekend for the Delta Hawks! We saw so many stellar races out of our Athletes! I told you on Thursday that Toughness wins races. Well, toughness showed up and we saw our girls team bring home a victory, and our boys team finish in second. Both teams ran against Junior High School athletes and made an amazing showing. You are being noticed by other teams and you all should be proud. Here are some stand out performances that I think we should recognize. Adeleine: Taking first place in the race - her first race win for the Hawks which led to a team win. Natalie: Second place on our team, and 5th overall. What a huge jump in team standings! Our Top 5 girls were all within the Top 20 of the race and earned medals. Elias: Held on to First place in the boys race with second place almost beating him out. Callan: I was super proud of Callan for leaning into his fear at the start of the race and running a tough race. He conquered his fear and had a very strong finish! Dylan: Shout out to Dylan for showing up to the race to support his teammates even though he couldn’t run. That kind of leadership is huge! Our Top 5 Boys were all within the Top 20 of the race and earned medals. For all of you, I can see that the training is starting to really pay off. PLEASE keep running and training hard. Come to practice ready to run tough. We have a different week of running because we have a race on Thursday so please pay close attention to this week's workouts. Monday - Lock Hills (meet at Stonegate Elem.)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - SRA Meet #2. Please see event info in the Team App Friday - Own Your Own
Saturday - Rest Sunday - Easy Run
Run Tough, Coach Phil. Ok Hawks, the season is really heating up and we are starting to see some impressive growth in our runners. This is our second week of our 5-week Strength Session, so be prepared to work hard! Saturday we compete in the Del Oro Invitational, be sure to check out the Events page on the Team App for more information.
Monday - Intervals at Lock Hills (Meet at STONEGATE ELEMENTARY)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own
Thursday - Marshall Hills Fartlek Run (Meet at BRIDGEWAY LAKES BOATHOUSE)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Race Day! Del Oro Invitational. Please see the Event Page Sunday - LONG Easy Run
REMEMBER: What you put into your training will dictate what you get out of your races. Train Hard, Win Easy! Coach Eric Friday afternoon was another fun XC meet for our flying Hawks!  Against dozens of other teams, our Hawks competed well, though we fell short of a third team championship. Our best finish was the 6th Grade and Under Boy's Team, finishing second overall with Elias (1st), Lou (8th), and Owen (17th) as our scoring runners, followed by Nate (52), Jack (85), Cal (92) and Allan (156).
Our Girl's 6th Grade and Under Team finished third overall (second club team) with Adeleine (6th), Natalie (16th), and Gabby (17th) as our scoring runners, followed by Sonia (20), Abigail (36), Josie (42), Harper Farris (63), Sophie (87), and Mackenna (128). Our Boy's 7th/8th Grade Team competed well with Matthew leading the way to an 11th place finish, followed by Charlie (45), Ryko (50), John (87), and Gage (95). Our Girl's 7th/8th Grade Team did not have enough members to garner a team score, but had great performances by Tahlia (16th) and Delaney in her first XC meet ever finishing 72nd. While all our Hawks pushed it and competed in the hot afternoon sun, a few athletes really demonstrated improvement. Because of the nature of cross country and the variation between courses, it is difficult to compare performances directly from week to week. However, we can compare average pace and, while most Hawks ended up running a bit slower on this course, four team members actually improved their average pace yesterday compared to our first meet (Lagoon Valley Invite). Ryko improved his pace from 6:44 to 6:42, Abigail improved her pace from 8:22 to 8:18, Lou improved from 6:33 to 6:28, and Nate had an astonishing 15 second improvement in his pace from 7:53 to 7:38! If we are doing our job correctly, everyone's average pace should be improving over the season. Next Saturday will bring our next chance at improvement as we compete in the Del Oro Invite. Great work yesterday - now everyone needs to get their long run in this weekend and be ready for another hard workout on Monday. Go Hawks! Hawks, remember we want to see you at the course by 3:30 on Friday. Please find information about this week's race below: Location: William B. Pond Park - 5700 Arden Way, Carmichael, CA 95608 Parking: $5 CASH for all cars that park inside the park. Let parents know to bring $5 cash and to arrive early as parking could fill up and will also take some time. If the parking area fills up, there is parking in the surrounding neighborhood, but cars will have to park a few blocks away from the park entrance to avoid parking restrictions. Race Times: 4:30pm- 6th grade and under Girls 4:50pm- 6th grade and under Boys 5:10pm- 7th and 8th grade Girls 5:30pm- 7th and 8th grade Boys Race Course: The course is a 2 loop course, on grass, which comes out to about 1.1 miles long. There will also be 2 sets of hay bales the kids will go over, which add some extra fun. There is a course map on this page. Team Tent Area: We provide an area near the start/finish for coaches to set up team tents, if you have one. Normally we keep this to a pretty confined area, but this year with COVID, you can spread out a bit farther, but just know that you may not be able to hear our announcer if you set-up too far away. So keep a close eye on the time if you can't hear his announcements. Results, Photos & Team Scoring Results and photos will be posted on our website after the race and we will post results near the finish line when they become available. Results will also be uploaded to athletic.net after the race. Team scores will be calculated based on the 3 fastest placers from a team for each of the races. Awards Ceremony: We will have an awards ceremony for the top 10 individual finishers in each of the four races and present them with a medal. The awards ceremony will take place immediately following the last race of the day at about 5:50pm. Please listen for announcements. We do not have team awards, but we will announce the top 3 placing teams at the awards ceremony as well. COVID Protocols: All staff and volunteers will be wearing masks. We encourage any adults, including coaches and parents, to wear masks when within 6 feet of others. In general, please do your best to keep people spaced out, but obviously once the kids line up and start running they will be closely bunched. The kids will not be required to wear masks while participating in the event. Please do your best to provide a safe environment for everyone. Let me know if you have any questions, see you there! Coach Eric We have our First SRA meet coming up this Friday. For those of you who are new, you are going to love this race! Be prepared as you will need to get out of school early. Please look at the event page for the race in our Calendar on the Team App.
Monday - Intervals at Lock Hills (Meet at Stonegate Elementary)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own.
Thursday - Lake Loop Tempo Run (Meet at Bridgeway Lakes Boathouse)
Friday - Race Day! SRA Meet #1. Please see the Event Page Saturday - LONG Easy Run.
Sunday -REST Run Tough, Coach Phil. |
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October 2021
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