WHO FLIES? WE DO!
Weekly schedules, updates, and wisdom
from Coach Phil and Coach Eric.
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What a great weekend! There were so many great races and strong efforts. Please check out the race recap that coach Eric posted for a great review. We have a break in races until next week which gives us a chance to work hard this week and make some large gains as a team.
One note about TEAM. For the uninformed, people believe that cross country is an individual sport. As we've seen in the past two weeks, it clearly is not. WE are a flock of Hawks. We train hard together, we race hard together, and we win together. We are a TEAM. Whether you are First place, 5th place, a displacer in 7th, or you are a teammate holding your team accountable at practice and inspiring your fellow athletes, WE ARE A TEAM. I cannot share enough about how proud I am of this team. Let's continue to build our team and run tough! Great work! Here's this week of workouts below. PLEASE complete all workouts and please update your Strava account. Monday - Marshall Hills (meet at Boathouse)
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own.
Thursday - Locke Hills - (Meet at Stonegate Elementary)
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - LONG Easy Run.
Sunday -REST Run Tough, Coach Phil.
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 Our boy's team came up with another big win today, this time at the Josh Ruff Memorial Invite. Led by Elias' 2nd place, Matthew's 4th place, and Luke's 6th place finish, The Hawks held off a very strong Buffalo Chips team to win 55 to 62. Charlie and Lou finished 19th and 33rd, strongly rounding out the team's scoring runners. Ryko finished in 46th place, and Owen was our seventh boy at 52nd place - a great effort for his first XC race.
On the girl's side, the Hawks once again placed fourth overall, which is incredibly impressive given that, in an "8th grade and under" field we fielded a team comprised of one 8th grader, one 6th grader, two 4th graders and a 2nd grader! Adeleine once again led our field with a 12th place finish, followed by Tahlia (26th), Sonia (29th), newcomer Gabriella Grefaldia (35th) and Josie (55th) to close out the scoring girls. Abigail was tight on Josie's heels at 56th place, and our seventh girl this week was another new teammate, Spencer Reber with a 68th place finish. It was a beautiful morning on a challenging course and we saw great effort from all our athletes today. We are incredibly proud of each and every Hawk! Of note, we had a few most improved performances that need to be highlighted. Some returning athletes ran in the 2019 Josh Ruff Invite, and every one of them improved their times, but two athletes in particular demonstrated incredible growth. In 2019, Charlie covered the same course in 12:47 and Sonia ran a time of 15:10. This year Charlie finished in 10:26, improving his time by 2:20, while Sonia ran 12:29 this year, dropping her time by 2 minutes and 41 seconds! These two Hawks are walking reminders of what the coaches tell you every practice - they show up, do the work, trust the system, and the results speak for themselves. Great work today, Hawks! Let's keep it up. Our next meet will be FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, at WILLIAM B POND PARK in Carmichael. Please check out and RSVP under the Events tab of the Team App, and let the coaches know if you have any questions. Soar High Hawks! Coach Eric Our boys team WON the last race we were in, but do you know why? We are going to talk about this at practice but I found this great video that does a great job explaining the scoring. The highlights:
Ok, check out the short video below for more details. Run Tough, Coach Phil.  Welcome all the new Hawks to Week 3 and the beginning of increasing our intensity. The coaches are so excited for the season to come, and to see how strong and fast we can get our athletes. The last two weeks have been the ramp up - now we start the real work.
Our second meet of the season is this Saturday in Folsom at the Josh Ruff Memorial Invitational. We have registered all our athletes for the meet - if you don't think you can make it please let us know. Now that we have established our dominance in the region, boy's team will be in the crosshairs of all the other teams out there hoping to bring home the championship trophy. Our girl's team will look to improve with the addition of a number of new and returning Hawks. Should be very exciting! Following is the week's schedule: Monday - Marshall Hills
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own.
Thursday - Marshall Hills Tempo Run
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Josh Ruff Memorial XC race.
Sunday - Easy Run
 What a first XC Meet of the Season! The Hawks competed today at the Lagoon Valley Classic, and it was a great baseline to build from for all our athletes. Also, we brought home some serious hardware – including our FIRST TEAM WIN! The boy’s team placed first overall in the Middle School race, upsetting returning champion Sutter Middle School with a score of 53 to 56 (lowest score wins in XC team scoring). Even more impressive, the Sutter scoring runners were all in 8th grade, while our team was comprised of three boys in 7th grade and two 6th graders! Elias led the way with a 3rd place finish, followed closely by Matthew in 5th place. Luke finished 14th, Charlie finished 23rd and newcomer Lou Knowles rounded out the scoring runners in 24th place (top 5 runners score for a team). We also had strong showings by Ryko (34th), John (47th), Nate (70th), Jack (81st), and Taylor (92nd). On the girl’s side, the Hawks finished 4th as a team, led by Adeleine’s 4th place finish, followed by Natalie and Tahlia Allen at 13th and 14th respectively. Josie was the team’s fourth runner, placing 37th, while Abigail contributed to our scoring runners in 44th place. With only five girls competing in this meet, we were super happy they all made it to the starting line and competed as hard as they did – what a team effort! We are very proud of all our kids today, and incredibly excited for our potential moving into the season. The fact that these kids woke up early on a Saturday and came out and gave 110 percent for their team is all we can hope for as coaches, and every single athlete today were heroes to us. Also, it will be great to see what the new additions to the team can accomplish in the months ahead. Finally, I want to specifically highlight a couple of phenomenal performances in our first meet: First, two runners really demonstrated what off-season training and growth can accomplish in today’s race. Charlie’s fastest mile pace last spring was 6:24, and he averaged 6:30 pace over today’s hilly 1.5 mile course, meaning his pace was only 6 seconds slower today than his best pace on the track! Similarly, Adeleine’s pace today was only 9 seconds slower than her best track pace from the spring. This is an amazing effort, and bodes well for their growth this season! Second, in a striking promise for future Hawks teams, we had a couple of impressive 2nd grade performances in a “middle school” race. Josie shocked the crowd with a medal-winning 37th place finish, the only girls ahead of her (other than our very own Natalie) were 6th grade and older. Meanwhile, Jack Mittleman, in his racing debut, out-sprinted a couple of 7th graders to finish 81st overall. With youth like this it seems like the Hawks will be able to carry success forward for years to come. The season really begins to roll next week, as our athletes fight off all challengers in another Middle School race at the Josh Ruff Memorial Invite on Saturday. Go Hawks!   Most of our new Athletes will be completing their 2 week trial at the end of this week. I know I speak for coach Eric when I say we have been very impressed after our first week - of both our new athletes and our returning athletes. We continue to build our base and from there, we will be building our strength. For a strong cross country team we need to increase that weekly mileage and work on our Hill strength. One of the ways we will manage this is through Strava. Thank you to everyone who has started a Strava account and for updating it after every workout.
This weekend our returning athletes will be racing in Vacaville and maybe a few new Athletes we select that we feel area ready race. Here's a look ahead at the week to come. Monday - Marshall Hills
Tuesday - Rest & Stretch Wednesday - On your own.
Thursday - Marshall Hills Tempo Run
Friday - Rest & Stretch Saturday - Lagoon Valley XC race. 1.5 miles Sunday - Easy Run
Run Tough, Coach Phil. Let's Go Hawks!
What an amazing turn out, great first day of practice and so many new faces! We are excited to get this season started. Please be sure and keep up on this blog, as it will include information about each week's workouts as well as meets and helpful running recommendations. Meanwhile, here are the rest of this week's workouts: TUESDAY: Rest, feel free to enjoy some stretching as well. WEDNESDAY: BLACK and GRAY GROUP ONLY - 3 miles easy THURSDAY: Hill work at Marshall Hills
FRIDAY: Rest SATURDAY or SUNDAY: Long Run Black Group: 5 miles Gray Group: 4 miles Everyone Else: 2-3 miles Any questions, please contact the coaches. Thanks! Coach Eric The long summer is coming to an end and the most wonderful time of the year is nearly upon us! Of course, I am referring to the fact that cross country practice begins next Monday, August 23rd. We will be meeting at the Boathouse from 5:30 to 7pm. Please note that we will be holding in-person practices on Mondays and Thursdays this season (as opposed to our previous schedule of Tuesdays and Fridays). We also plan to work into our schedule some alternative locations for practices in the future, and will let you know through the team app when we get that worked out.
Also importantly, our first meet of the season, the Lagoon Valley Classic, is in a little over two weeks on Saturday, September 4th in Vacaville. Most returning athletes will be eligible for this meet, but new athletes will be included on a case-by-case basis. The coaches met last week and have agreed upon a few other changes we want to bring to your attention. First, we will be handing out our team policies to every athlete, ensuring that everyone knows what we are agreeing to as we move forward. Second, the coaches will be evaluating and identifying athletes we believe have put in the work and belong in the gray or black groups and will let those athletes know in the first week of practice. Those athletes will be asked to meet with the coaches after practice to discuss goals and expectations for the season in the first two weeks, so be prepared to potentially stay a little later one night. Finally, we have decided to allow 7-year-olds to try and join the team (we previously required athletes to be 8 and up). However, there will be a high expectation that these kids stay engaged in practices, and if coaches determine the youth is not ready for our team then he or she will be asked to leave and come back in a future season. Coach Phil and I are incredibly excited about the coming season, as well as the direction our team is heading. We believe we can become the elite youth racing team in the Sacramento region, and we have great faith in our athletes, but we also recognize that the community we build with all our families is our secret sauce and are planning to continue to focus on that community moving forward. As always, please let us know if you have any questions. Now let’s get out there and run strong! Coach Eric OK Hawks, time to begin planning for long-term excellence. That means thinking about different aspects of our training. Today I’ll write a little something about flexibility.
Range of motion is a crucial part of elastic force generation in track and field events. Consistency is key to improving flexibility. A daily commitment to improving flexibility and range of motion pays long-term dividends. Check out this short video for a great discussion of why flexibility is critical for runners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFsydCIb8SM The great news is that, for distance runners, it doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. But doing a little every day will truly make a big difference, so here are some tips to think about this summer and moving into XC season. First, dynamic stretching (while moving) is more effective than static stretching (standing still). This is why we do drills before practice during the season. So a good way to incorporate stretching over the summer is to remember to do your drills before your easy runs each week. Second, we aren’t aiming for gymnastic-type flexibility. Many world-class runners cannot touch their toes – and that’s ok. Key areas of flexibility for distance runners include your calves, quads (thighs), and most importantly your hip flexors. Range of motion is important, so be sure to stretch all around, but if you don’t have a lot of time then focus on these areas. This video identifies a number of great stretches to learn and implement when you can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbayPYgUWUw Finally, for overall health and mobility, there really is nothing better than a little yoga to get you going. Honestly, I have found Yoga with Adriene to work best for me and our family (you can search for her free videos on YouTube or check out the links below). She has some great, short yoga videos as well as longer ones for those who want to go further, she is very accessible and chill, and she doesn’t charge for any of her videos. Here are a few links to her running-specific yoga videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLbp8ibmEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzCMptGGZt8&t=38s I am sure there are many other great yogis out there, I am just giving you one place to start if you don’t already have a favorite. So that’s about it for now, check in regularly for more focused posts from the coaches. And, as always, fly high Hawks! Coach Eric Congratulations to all our Hawks for a great track season! The amount of effort and improvement from every one of you inspires us all. But now we move to a new phase of the training year – the summer off-season.
As Coach Phil and I have mentioned, this time of year is important. The Hawks have built strength, endurance, and speed through the Spring, and we don’t want to let all of that fade away between now and the start of XC season! The better we manage our existing conditioning now, the more prepared we will be to sprint into next season’s challenging practice and racing schedule. First, everyone deserves a break. If we trained properly through track, then we peaked in the last few weeks and our bodies need rest to recover. Proper rest means a break from running, but it doesn’t mean inactivity. For a week, maybe two, we recommend you not run, but instead find other aerobic activities to engage in, such as long vigorous bike rides or sustained swimming, two or three times a week. Get out of your running shoes, but still work up a sweat and get your blood pumping. After that short break of a week or two at the most, it’s time to lace up the shoes and get back out there. Take some easy runs, and if you can, get off the roads and sidewalks. Make the runs 20-30 minutes to reignite your cardiovascular systems, but don’t push the pace – there is no gain here, we just want to see you stay active and enjoy your fitness level. As the new season approaches, add a day or two per week so your mileage and fitness come back in line with what you’ll be expected to do when practices start again. You will reap amazing dividends during cross country season if you follow this simple recipe; if you don’t stay active and put your shoes on for the first time on Day 1 of practice, you’ll find yourself unhappily struggling for weeks. Specifically, we recommend the following rough schedule for each of the groups: Black, run 3-4 days/week, with total mileage per week as follows: July 11th week: 10 July 18th week: 12 July 25th week: 13 Aug 1st week: 15 Aug 8th week: 17 Aug 15th week: 19 August 23rd – practice begins Grey, run 3-4 days/week, with a total mileage per week as follows: July 11th week: 8 July 18th week: 10 July 25th week: 12 Aug 1st week: 13 Aug 8th week: 14 Aug 15th week: 15 August 23rd – practice begins Yellow, run 2-4 days/week, with a total mileage per week as follows: July 11th week: 6 July 18th week: 8 July 25th week: 9 Aug 1st week: 10 Aug 8th week: 11 Aug 15th week: 12 August 23rd – practice begins White group can run as desired. While maintaining your running fitness, don’t forget to stretch, work on your drills and throw in some strength exercises. Running takes whole-body strength, and strong cores make fast running possible. The coaches will post more on stretching, strengthening, lengthening, and off-season building in the coming weeks. Keep in mind, any Hawks looking to move up to the next group is going to have to put in this off-season work. Distance running is a labor of love – it can be a cruel companion at times, but the depth of one’s relationship with it is built from day to day, week to week, season to season. And unlike some other sports out there, distance running gives back as much success as the work it receives in its service. So dare to dream big, and understand that those big dreams are there for you if you are only willing to put the work in for them. Nothing good in this world comes without sacrifice. Keep soaring Hawks! |
AuthorDelta Hawks Coaches Archives
August 2021
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