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  Delta Hawks Racing

WHO FLIES? WE DO!

Weekly schedules, updates, and wisdom
from Coach Eric and Coach Galen.

Heading Into Championship Season!

10/30/2022

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It is hard to believe, but the end of the season is already rapidly approaching!  Our athletes have been working hard and are primed to finish strong.

This coming Sunday the 6th, we have our last regular season cross country race in Rancho Cordova. It is a USATF-sanctioned meet which means the athletes will run in their age groups (as opposed to other races that combined 8th grade and under).  The Rancho Meet is in a flat grassy park and will be a great opportunity for our Hawks to run some PRs.

The following weekend, many of the Hawks will be participating in the Clarksburg Country Run 5K (Sunday Nov 13th). More information and registration is available here.

The USATF Pacific Association Youth XC Championship Meet in on Sunday, November 20th, at the Willow Hill Reservoir course in Folsom.  This meet is the qualifier meet for regionals the weekend following and is critical for all our Hawks to attend.  Especially those in the age groups trying to qualify a team for Nationals. (For more information about Nationals, be sure to check out our page here.)

While the Association Championships may be the last race for some of our Hawks, those who qualify will compete at Regionals and Nationals in the following weeks.  We will include more details on those in coming blog posts, but if you have any questions please stop a coach and let us know.

For this week, we WILL NOT be meeting for practice on Monday (it is Halloween).  There is, however, a mandatory workout all Hawks will need to do on their own either Monday or Tuesday.  The schedule is as follows:

Monday or Tuesday:  On Your Own
10 min warm up, drills
20 minute tempo run
10 min cool down

Wednesday: Gray and Black Group
3-4 mile easy run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
6-10 x 500m intervals, Marshall Loop
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday: Long Run
White/Yellow 3-5 miles

Gray/Black 5-7 miles

Sunday: RCTC Youth XC Meet
Dave Roberts Park, Rancho Cordova
Kids 10 and Under arrive by 9am
​All other kids arrive by 10:30am

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

Coach Eric

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The Must-Have Gear of a Champion

10/26/2022

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BY MARTINE LEVEILLEE

So many people pick up running as a sport because of the simplicity of it. All we need is a pair of shoes and a good attitude, right?

​But what else do we need to be a great runner, an elite athlete? The closet of a runner should be small, but what essentials should it have?

1. The right pair of shoes is a must! Shoes are the MOST important tool for any type of training. They need to fit you well, even if you are in a constant state of growth... the shoe must fit! You should never have pain from your shoes. This is where most of the running budget should be spent. BUT what else do we need?
2. Good running socks that will not roll down or get bunched up and they should give you some support.
3. Shorts and shirts should be light fabric and fit you well. Remember, whatever is heavy or baggy could slow you down.
4. YOUR WATER BOTTLE- personalize it with stickers to make it fun and easy to find.
5. Running light/reflective gear. When running at dawn or dusk, a headlamp or other light can help you see and be seen! This is especially important to have for XC practice.
6. A GPS watch. OKAY... THIS is a big item. As you grow into an elite runner, tracking your time and distance will become an essential tool in your training. These watches ARE expensive and not necessarily a must until you reach the gray or black group. Consider asking for a watch as a holiday or birthday gift.

Does owning all the fancy gear and having the best, most expensive shoes make you win all your races? NO! Many champions, including the fastest marathoner in the world,  Eliup Kipchoge, started running with only an old pair of shoes. What truly makes a champion is having a love for running, following your coaches’ training and DOING YOUR BEST! The gear is just a nice addition.

Have a great week, Hawks!



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Links to gear:
  • The Garmin Forerunner 35 is a simple, reliable option for a GPS watch.
  • A headlamp can be worn on the head or waist. Or use a clip-on light.
  • Reflective armbands are also an option for being seen, but won’t do much to light your way
​
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The Delta Hawks Rock It at Flat SAC

10/23/2022

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We had another amazing performance by our Delta Hawks this weekend at the Flat Sac Invitational.  Despite the fact that the course was a quarter of a mile longer than than SRA meets, nearly everyone ran faster paces on Saturday than they have all season!  That is what we train for, what we work for every week - steady improvement by every athlete on the team.  

A couple of great examples of improving over the season:
  • David Rodriguez has taken his race pace per mile from 7:41 to 7:12, then 7:09 to 6:40 and ran 6:34 pace on Saturday!
  • Stella Molin has gone from 8:50 to 8:40, then 8:15 to running 7:50 per mile pace at Flat Sac!
  • Veya Daniel first ran 9:38 pace, then improved to 8:14 pace, and ran 7:35 pace on Saturday!
  • Carlos Ramirez started out at 8:48 pace, dropped to 7:35 pace, ran 6:39 pace last week and then held 6:34 pace at Flat Sac!
These are just some of the many examples of incredible growth in our Delta Hawks over the season.  And we are only going to get better as we sharpen that knife in preparation for the Association Championship Meet in four short weeks.

Speaking of schedules, we don't have a meet this coming weekend so we will be working hard this week in practice.  In further news, we will not be meeting for practice on Monday, October 31st (for obvious reasons) but I will be posting a workout I expect everyone to find time to run on Monday or Tuesday in order to keep the momentum going.

This week it will be getting dark early so we need to bring headlamps for practice.  It is safer if each of us can see where we are running.  Here's our schedule for the week:
​
Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
5-8 x 600m intervals at Marshall Hills
5-6 long sprints in the grass

10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Gray and Black Group
3-4 mile easy run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
20-25 min fartlek at the Swamp
Fast Swamp, Easy Finger
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday or Sunday: Long Run
White/Yellow 3-5 miles

Gray/Black 5-7 miles

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

Coach Eric

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PR-Palooza Pays Off Big for Hawks!

10/16/2022

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Another weekend, another big performance by our Delta Hawks! On Friday our Hawks ran in the third SRA Youth XC Meet called "PR-Palooza" because it follows by several weeks a race on the same course so everyone gets to compare times and really measure their progress over the season.  And the Hawks did not let us down!

Almost every single Hawk ran a faster time on Friday than they had run previously, while seven athletes improved their previous time by more than 10 percent!  Those impressive runners include:
  • Paloma Peter
  • Carlos Ramirez
  • Natalie Mittleman
  • Bagels Tausig
  • Mackenna Miller
  • Isaac Delwiche
  • Jack Mittleman
Every one of our kids really showed heart, racing the competition and working hard for their team.  What a great showing by our Delta Hawks!

Next Saturday, we have the Flat SAC Invitational at Gibson Ranch north of Sacramento in Elverta. It is a fun 1.5 mile course where the Hawks will compete in the boys and the girls middle school races.  High school races follow, so there is a lot of cross country to be had if you want to hang out and watch bigger kids compete. Directions and parking information can be found here.  Please plan to arrive early as it can take some time to park and we want all the kids ready to warm up by 8:15am.

The practice schedule for this week is as follows:

Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
5-8 x 800m intervals at Marshall Hills
10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Gray and Black Group
3-4 mile easy run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
30 min tempo run - Cut down
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday:
Flat SAC Invitational
Gibson Park
Elverta, CA

Please arrive by 8:15am, ready to warm up

Sunday: Long Run
White/Yellow 3-5 miles

Gray/Black 5-7 miles

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

Coach Eric


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Delta Hawks Hit Their Stride!

10/9/2022

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Another fun weekend for the Hawks as we traveled up to Cottonwood to compete in the NorCal Striders Youth Cross Country Meet.  The weather was beautiful, the course was HARD, and the competition was fierce, but our Hawks got a taste for USATF-distance races and ran like champs!

Of the 14 kids who made the trip, 7 of them earned hardware!  Hadley, Harper, and Annie finished third in the 8-under, 9-10, and 13-14 girls' races respectively.  Oliver finished fourth in the 13-14 boys race and Josie earned a fifth place medal in her 9-10 race.  Finally, David and Natalie finished sixth in each of their races to claim ribbons. All of our runners pushed themselves across the hilly course and made the coaches proud!

This Friday, we have our third and final SRA Youth XC Meet back at William B. Pond Park again.  We will be able to measure our athletes' improvement against their times on the same course from a month ago - should be a good time for all!  Please try to arrive by 3:30 again so we can get everyone warmed up and ready to go on time.

Our practice schedule will begin to be faster and harder as we "sharpen the blade" and turn our Hawks into fierce flyers moving into the more competitive section of our season.  We will be meeting at the Boathouse on Monday and Thursday, and the schedule will be as follows:

Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
5-8 x 800m intervals at Lake Loop
5-6 long sprints in the grass

10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Gray and Black Group
3-4 mile easy run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
20-25 min fartlek at Marshall Hills
4 mins hard, 1 min jog
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: SRA Youth XC Meet #3
William B. Pond Park
Carmichael, CA
Please arrive by 3:30, ready to warm up

Saturday or Sunday: Long Run
White/Yellow 3-5 miles

Gray/Black 5-7 miles

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

Coach Eric

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Hawks Fly Again!

10/2/2022

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The Hawks turned out in force at the second SRA Youth XC Meet in Folsom on Friday!  We had a number of impressive and gutsy performances, but I will highlight a few here.

First, a number of Hawks ran significantly FASTER this meet than they did at SRA #1, despite the harder course!  The Millers both posted impressive improvements with Mackenna running 52 seconds faster and Mason improving 46 seconds.  Stella also had a breakout performance, improving by 32 seconds, and Sonia ran 14 seconds faster than her previous race.  Great job Hawks!

Second, we had a number of debut races from strong new runners, including Paloma, Bagels, Isaac, and Xol.  Jai also ran his first race of the season, and finished as the second boy age 8 and under!  I can only hope the heat, dust, and hills didn't scare anyone away.

This week we have a meet on Sunday in Cottonwood (outside of Redding).  Everyone competing in the meet still need to get their long runs in on Saturday.  Please see the events page on the Team App for more details on the meet, and RSVP yes or no either way.  

For practice this week, it is getting too dark to run at Lock Hills so we will meet at the Boathouse each day.  Please see the schedule below:

Monday:  5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
4-6 x 1000m intervals at Marshall Hills
5 Hill Repeats

10 min cool down, strength

Tuesday: rest and stretch

Wednesday: Gray and Black Group
3-4 mile easy run on your own

Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse
10 min warm up, drills
20-25 min tempo at the swamp
Swamp Monster
10 min cool down, strength

Friday: rest and stretch

Saturday: Long Run
White/Yellow 3-5 miles

Gray/Black 5-7 miles

Sunday: NorCal Striders Youth XC Meet
West Valley High School
Cottonwood, CA
Please arrive by 9am


As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

Coach Eric

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  • HOME
  • BECOME A HAWK
  • NEXT STEPS
  • DETAILS
  • COACHES' BLOG
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT US
  • TEAM GEAR STORE
  • DONATE
  • Track Schedule
  • Cross Country Schedule
  • Team Records