Great work this last week, Hawks, let's have another week of hard work! This weekend we will be traveling to Berkeley to compete in the Hercules/Tommie Smith Invitational; those of you who have RSVP'd know what you're running.

For those of you who have not been to a USATF meet, our Hawks will be running in age groups for the first time this season. USATF operates in 2-year age groups (7-8=Group 1, 9-10=Group 2, 11-12=Group 3, 13-14=Group 4) so our kids will run against those closer to their ages. To be clear, each athlete's age group is based on the age they turn in this calendar year. So, for example, even if an athlete is currently 8 years old but turns 9 before Jan 1, 2024, then she competes in the 9-10 age group.

Another wrinkle to a USATF meet is the variability of the schedule. Meets generally begin on time and run on a "rolling schedule" which means they just start the next race following the event before it on the schedule. This can mean that the time upon which events occur later in the schedule are highly variable. For example, as described in this weekend's meet schedule, the 4x800 and the 3000m races on Saturday will predictably begin around 10 and 10:30am. However, following those races is the 100m trials; based on the number of teams attending this meet there will likely be 100 or more heats of the 100m across age groups. If the meet is run efficiently, it could take as little as a minute or as long as 3-4 minutes between each heat. Which means the 800m heats could start as early as 12:30pm or could begin as late as 3 or 4pm. We won't know until they get into the meet and we see the process they are implementing to coordinate the heats.

Unfortunately this variability means that we will ask families to arrive at the meet on the early side to be safe, but we may end up waiting a long time before our Hawks get to compete. We ask that you come with an open mind, a lot of snacks and activities, and even more patience. If you have questions please let the coaches know.

The next weekend, on May 13th, we will compete closer to home at Inderkum High School, and it will be another one of those meets where the schedule will be difficult to predict. Please RSVP on the team app by Tuesday May 9th.

If you are not running both days this weekend at the track meet, you need to do your long run on the off day.  For the coming week here is our practice schedule:

Monday:  5:30pm at River City High School
Group 1 - 10 min warm up, drills
3x (3x200m with 50m float)
10 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 10 min warm up, drills
15min crisscross cone run, grass field
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Easy 3-4 mile run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
Everyone - 20 min warm up, drills
4x3-person relays at the swamp
15 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday and Sunday: Hercules/Tommie Smith Invitational
or long run

If you have any questions, contact us any time!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric

Another great week of training and another super day of racing in the books for the Hawks! The Hawks ran at the Glen Rogers Distance Carnival on Friday and had a blast! There were many PRs ran, and a lot of medals won. Official results haven’t been posted yet, but when they are we will share the link so everyone can check out their times.

The best part of the meet is how well so many Hawks competed! Times are one thing, but track is a competitive individual sport which means we fight with everyone else in our race and try to beat as many as we can to the finish line. Many of our Hawks are new to the sport but their competitive spirits are on display!  That’s the kind of team we are – our mission is to create the next generation of confident and competitive elite runners in our region – and it is great to see our athletes fulfilling that mission.

This coming weekend is a break, we don’t have a meet, which means we can be sure and get that long run in for everyone.  Try to add a mile more than you’ve been doing for your long runs to this point.  We have our next meet in two weeks on May 6th and 7th.  The Running Rebels Invite will be a large, competitive meet so we need to bring our A-game to it.  Parents, PLEASE RSVP ON THE TEAM APP if your athlete is going to compete, and let me know what events to register for you.  I need to know by Wednesday April 26th.

For practice this week, we meet at River City High School on Monday and the Boathouse on Thursday. It is starting to warm up, so please be sure and hydrate on practice days!  Bring water for before and after practice as well.

Monday:  5:30pm at River City High School
10 min warm up, drills
Group 1 - 10 min warm up, drills
2x (4x200m with 200m jog rest)
10 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 10 min warm up, drills
1-2x (4x200m with 200m jog rest)
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Easy 3-4 mile run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
Group 1 - 20 min warm up, drills
20 min Lake Loop Fartlek, 15 sec hard/45 sec float
15 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 15 min warm up, drills
10 min Swamp Loop Fartlek, 30 sec hard/60 sec float
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday or Sunday: 3-6 mile long run

If you have any questions, contact us any time!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric

Happy Wednesday Hawks!  I wanted to cover a few important pieces of information as the season progresses.

First, it is important that families keep an eye on the Team App. If you haven't already, please ensure that you have turned on your notifications so that you can be sure and get the latest notices as conditions can sometimes change - like the location of practice or deadlines for meet registrations.

Second, please RSVP for meets by the deadline. If the coaches don't hear from you, we can't register your athlete for the meet and they miss out on the fun! We do our best to remind everyone multiple times, and it frankly breaks my heart to see a Hawk show up and not be able to compete.

With that in mind, our next meet following this Friday's Sheldon Distance Carnival is the Running Rebels/Tommie Smith Invitational on May 6-7 in Berkeley. It will be held at the UC track stadium, which will be an amazing venue to compete in, and it is a two-day meet. Most people will likely drive down and back each day (we will), and if you would like to only participate one of the days that is totally understandable.  You have to tell us which day, however, so we register your Hawk for the right race. Here is the schedule:

Saturday, May 6th will be the 3000m (arrive by 9am) and the 800m (arrive by 11am)
Sunday, May 7th will be the 1500m (arrive by 10am)

More information can be found on the Events tab on the Team App. PLEASE RSVP BY TUESDAY APRIL 26TH.

As for the Sheldon Distance Carnival, here is the list of athletes registered:

Matthew
Oliver
Adeleine
Annie
Norah
Mackenna
Lou
Carlos
Sonia
Audrey
Harper (800 only)
Mason
Dylan
Josie
Maddi
Hadley (800 only)
David
Jack
Callan
Tyler (800 only)
Henry
Cameron (800 only)

If you have any questions, let us know. Good luck on Friday, can't wait to hear how everyone competes!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric

Saturday was a beautiful day, and the weather was nice too! Our Hawks had some great racing - and that is so much fun - but they also had the chance to learn and get the feel for the track, which was priceless. 

First, we had our team time trial at McClatchy, which had some great performances! Most of our Hawks ran the 800m, with some returners beating or coming close to breaking their PRs (personal records).  Others got the feel of their first race on a track, and learned a little about the importance of pacing. Here are the 800m times in alphabetical order):
Tyler - 3:27
Isaac - 3:59
Harper - 3:31
Hadley - 3:19
Gyan - 4:23
Jai - 3:19
Evan - 3:47
Makayla - 3:47
Mateo - 4:04
Natalia - 3:52
​Cameron - 4:37
Paloma - 3:31
Henry - 3:09
Mac - 4:06

Several Hawks did the 1500m in the time trial, showing some great toughness and focus! Here are their times:
Dylan - 6:00
Cal - 6:43
Mackenna - 7:11
Mason - 7:07
Jack - 6:22
Maddi - 6:52
Josie - 6:32

We will get to see all of these Hawks improve and it will be awesome to compare their times at the end of the season to these times!

Later in the day, some Hawks competed in the 1600m at the Halden Invitational in Davis. It was a great race for all of them! The girls went first, and were led by Norah as she took out the pace quickly over the first 400m.  It took the other runners until the end of the third lap to catch her, but she held on for second overall! Adeleine battled down the home stretch to claim third place.  Annie was not far behind, followed by Audrey and then Sonia - both of whom ran PRs!

In the boys race, Matthew took the lead early and he, Elias, and Lucas Alberts from Sutter made a strong lead pack through the entire race. Ultimately Lucas took the title, but Matthew and Elias fought all the way to the end taking second and third.  Ollie came in just behind them, with Lou, Carlos, and David all running great races as well.  The results for this meet can be found here.

This week, we have a meet on Friday afternoon. We need everyone to arrive by 3pm to Sheldon High School in Elk Grove - the first race is at 4pm. (If your Hawk is only running the 800m, then you can arrive at 6pm). Almost every Hawk is going to be signed up for both the 1600m (which is first) and the 800m (which is about 3 hours later). Please plan for food between races. I believe there will be a concession stand, but who knows what they'll be selling. This is a very fun meet with music and lots of races and the kids should have a fun time!

As for our practice schedule this week, details are below. PLEASE NOTE: we are meeting at the River City High School Track on Monday and will be there most Mondays going forward. 

Monday:  5:30pm at River City High School
10 min warm up, drills
Group 1 - 10 min warm up, drills
4 mile Linden Loop with 10xHS at Locke Hills
10 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 10 min warm up, drills
4x60m/140m jog, 2x150m on the track
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Easy 3-4 mile run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
20 min warm up, drills
3-person 200m relay x3-4 at the Swamp
15 min cool down, strength

Friday: Race Day!
Glen Rogers (Sheldon) Invitational - 3pm
​Sheldon High School, Elk Grove

Saturday or Sunday: 3-6 mile long run

If you have any questions, contact us any time!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric

The Hawks are really rolling, going into our third week! This  Saturday we will get to see where we are all at now that we have our running legs under us.  Most Hawks will be racing each other in a time trial at 9am at the McClatchy High School Track. Parking in the neighborhood nearby is best, coaches will describe during practice this week.  A few of the older kids are going to compete in the Halden Invitational at Davis High School Saturday evening. At this time, those Hawks running at Halden need to be there at 4pm, ready to warm up (If that time changes, coaches will let you know). Next weekend's events will be a great way to measure our overall improvement by comparing our times at the beginning of the season against our times at the end.

For this week, here is the schedule:

Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
Group 1 - 20 min warm up, drills
4x100m/200m jog, 2x150m at the Swamp
15 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 15 min warm up, drills
10 min crisscross cone run in the grass field
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Easy 3-4 mile run on your own*
(*Ask the coaches if you are unsure about whether you should do this extra run)

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
Group 1 - 20 min warm up, drills
20 min Lake Loop Fartlek, 30 sec hard/60 sec float
15 min cool down, strength
Group 2 - 15 min warm up, drills
10 min Swamp Loop Fartlek, 15 sec hard/45 sec float
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday: Race Day!
Time Trials - 9am - 10:30am, McClatchy High School Track
or
Halden Invitational - 4pm, Davis High School

Sunday: 3-6 mile long run

If you have any questions, contact us any time!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric

Welcome back Hawks! This week we continue our early development work, meeting at the Boathouse again to run out at Marshall Hills on Monday and the Lake/Swamp on Thursday.  We are still working to secure access to a track, but expect to be on the track Monday April 17th.  Its ok, we have time and this work out on the trails will help us grow stronger before we begin to hone our bodies with trackwork.

Most of our athletes are half way through their trial period. Let's keep up the good work and see where we end up.  Parents: just a reminder that if your child is under ten years old we need you to stay with the team while we practice so the coaches can focus on coaching.

For most Hawks, your first race of the season will be a time trial against the rest of the team on Saturday April 15th.  Some of the older kids will instead run in the Halden Invitational later that day. The coaches will talk to you about which way you'll go that week.  The following Friday, the 21st, will be the first meet for everyone. It is called the Glen Rogers Distance Carnival and it is held at Sheldon High School in Elk Grove. We will talk more about that meet in the coming weeks.

For this week, here is the schedule:

Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
30 min out and back, 8-10 Hill Strides
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Easy 2-3 mile run on your own*
(*Ask the coaches if you are unsure about whether you should do this extra run)

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
Group 2 - 15 min warm up, drills
20 min Lake Loop Fartlek, 15 sec hard/45 sec float
15 min cool down, strength
Group 1 - 20 min warm up, drills
3-person 200m relay x2 at the Swamp
15 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday: Long run on your own
3-6 miles, depending on fitness level

Sunday: rest and stretch

If you have any questions, contact us any time!

Run with Heart,
Coach Eric