  Congratulations Hawks, you made it to the pinnacle of our first phase of training this track season! This week's practices are going to be tough, with a shift in intensity coming the week after. And we have another big weekend of races next weekend. But first, let's recap our awesome showing at the Sheldon Distance Carnival on Friday!
Coach Phil and I agree, this is the best Delta Hawks team we've ever had. Every week brings massive improvements, with athletes getting stronger, smarter, and more focused on racing through that uncomfortable feeling that hits mid race. Once again, we saw PRs from almost every Hawk, and some great first-time races from newer teammates. It was an inspirational day and another reminder why we love to do this! I want to call out two Hawks who showed significant improvement over last week. First, Maddi Orr just keeps increasing the intensity with a nearly 20 second PR in the 1500m and an 11 second PR in the 800m over a week ago! (NOTE: To calculate progress, I converted everyone's 1600m times to their 1500m equivalent.) Second, Harper Farris made a similar jump in times, with an 18 second PR in the 1500m and a 10 second PR in the 800m! These lady Hawks are putting the work in during practice and getting their other runs in and it is showing. As mentioned in the previous blog post, our next meet is the Hercules Running Rebels Invitational. I need to have all athletes registered by Tuesday, so please let me know what your athlete will be competing in as soon as you can. If you aren't going to make it, then please RSVP no in the Team App so I don't have to worry about leaving anyone out. Finally, for our workouts this week. First, we have been pushing the intensity and there is always the possibility of getting too close to the edge so it is very important that everyone listen to their bodies, drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep, and tell the coaches if you are having any real pains. Second, this week is all about focus, pushing the pace, and holding that pace long into the uncomfortable middle. So I want you to go out strong but maintain whatever pace that is through all the intervals. If that means you stop early before you start slowing down, then fine - better than giving in. If you have questions about that, ask the coaches before practice. Finally, if you are not running both days of this weekend's meet, then you need to do your long run on the day you are not competing. Here's the schedule: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 200m/200m jog White: x8 Yellow: x10 Gray: x12 Black x14-16 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: Gray and Black - 3 to 4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 2-4x600m/600m jog, 4x200m/200m jog 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday/Sunday: Hercules Running Rebels Invitational and/or Long run on your own Black: 6 miles Gray: 4-5 miles Yellow/White: 3-4 miles Again, if you have any questions, please let us know. Hawks Fly! Coach Eric
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 Hey Hawks, I know we haven't participated in this week's meet at Sheldon High School yet, but I wanted to alert everyone to details concerning our meet next weekend in Hercules. The Running Rebels Invitational is a two-day meet with distance events on both Saturday and Sunday, providing a lot of options for athletes. I want to lay out those options now so you can plan ahead and let me know what you plan to do before the registration deadline next Tuesday. This is the first of a series of two-day meets which we will need to plan for as we move into the heart of the season.
First, Hercules is about an hour away toward the Bay Area, a little past Fairfield but closer than Berkeley. Our family won't be staying the night, instead driving there and back each day, but of course if you want to stay over that is up to you. Second, like I mentioned, the races are spread out. The 800m is on Saturday, I am guessing around 2pm. Because it is a rolling schedule and I don't know for sure when the race will begin, I want everyone participating in the 800m to arrive by noon. The 1500m is on Sunday probably around noon. I need runners in that race to arrive by 10am. The nice part of this schedule is that once our Hawks have run, they don't need to wait around for a second race that day. Everyone is welcome to participate in either or both races. I totally understand if a family wants to do one day and not the other, just let me know so I can accurately register our team. On a side note, there is also a 3000m run for the kids age 11 and up, but I plan to only register Ryko, Elias, and Adeleine for that race at this point in the season. It is likely to begin around 10:30 on Saturday if anyone wants to come early and cheer them on. If you have interest in running the 3k, please message me and we can chat about it. Finally, anyone running both days of the meet can miss their long run for the week; however, if your athlete is only participating one day, he or she is expected to do a long run on the other day. We train through meets mid-season, only ramping down as we approach championships at the end. So, in conclusion, when you RSVP for next week's meet please indicate in the comments or in the chat in which events your athlete will participate. Registration is due Tuesday the 26th. And if you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks! Fly Hawks! Coach Eric  The intrepid souls who managed to make it to Fairfield this weekend were treated to another great meet! Our Hawks were out in force, running some great times, and having fun in the sun.
While everyone did great, I want to highlight three super star performances. First, Sophie Miles had the biggest day, with a 20 second PR in the 1500m and 17 second PR in the 800m! Way to go Sophie! Also, Ryko had another impressive performance with a 13 second PR in the 1500m - improving 36 seconds over his PR from last year and still going strong. Finally, Abigail ran a 12 second PR in the 800m over the last meet, and 19 seconds faster than her best time a year ago. These Hawks are putting in the work and it shows! ANNOUNCEMENT: Our next meet is coming up fast - the Sheldon Distance Carnival is this FRIDAY. We have to register no later than 6pm on Tuesday, which means I need to hear from you ASAP. This is a fun high school track meet mostly focused on distance events and includes two middle school/club races. The 1600m is going to start at 3pm, which means you need to arrive by 2pm (and probably get your athlete out of school early to make it on time). The 800m is scheduled to begin at 6:15pm. I intend to sign up each confirmed athlete for both events, but if you are only planning to run the 800m then let me know. Send any questions to me via email or Team App. This week our training bumps up another notch. Remember, we build our intensity week after week, so be sure and get those extra runs in so you don't fall too far behind! Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 2x200m/200m jog, 2x400m/400m jog, 1-2x600m/400m jog 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: Gray and Black - 3 to 4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 6x200m/200m jog, 4x300m/300m jog 10 min cool down, strength Friday: Sheldon Distance Carnival Sheldon High School Arrive at 2pm to warm up for the 1600m Saturday: rest and stretch Sunday: Long run on your own Black: 6 miles Gray: 4-5 miles Yellow/White: 3-4 miles Again, if you have any questions, please let us know. Hawks Fly! Coach Eric Ok Hawks,
We are hitting our stride now! Some of us are also going into Spring Break, which can complicate things. Maybe you're traveling, maybe you're just excited to not have to go to school, but it is easy to let your training slip. Please don't do that! We are at a critical point in our training, and if we aren't careful we can get injured and lose all that we've gained. We will have practice as usual on Monday, but Thursday's practice is going to be on your own. Make sure and set some time aside on Thursday to knock this workout out. Everyone needs to get their long run in next weekend, whether or not you are able to attend the meet. Speaking of our next meet, we have a good group of kids signed up! We will meet at Armijo High School in Fairfield no later than 8:30am, as the meet begins at 9:30 with the 800m races. We will then have a good-sized break while other events are run, with the 1500m coming later in the meet. If it works and there looks like a good place to set up, we will put the team tent outside the stadium in hopefully a grassy area nearby to rest between races. Keep an eye on the Team App for more details and race day notices. This week our schedule is as follows: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 4x200m/200m jog, 2x600m/400m jog Grey and Black will do a second set of 4x200m/200m jog 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: Gray and Black - 3 to 4 mile run on your own Thursday: ON YOUR OWN 10 min warm up, drills Fartlek: 6x90 seconds hard/120 seconds jog 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday: East Bay Heat TC All Comers Meet Armijo High School, Fairfield Sunday: Long run on your own Black: 6 miles Gray: 4-5 miles Yellow/White: 3-4 miles Again, if you have any questions, please let us know. Hawks Fly! Coach Eric Hey Hawk Families!
Mid-week post, look out! I have a few important announcements so thought it was worth another blog post. First, our next meet is the East Bay Heat Allcomers Meet in Fairfield on Saturday, April 16th. We have to register all our athletes by this coming Saturday, April 9th, so if you want to compete then you must RSVP on the events tab of the Team App. The first event of the day is the 800m, and later in the day will be the 1500m. I want to sign everyone who attends up for both. Which leads me to our next issue - track meet schedules. Unfortunately, track youth track meets are not typically well-organized or predictable affairs. This is largely attributable to the fact that: a) kids are not always reliable, b) volunteers are not always available, and c) track meet organizers are not professional event planners and are more likely than not just passionate track and field aficionados. In the best of circumstances, when you know how many athletes to expect for each event and you can have all the essential roles sufficiently staffed, it can be difficult to stay on schedule. To remedy this, most youth track meets are set to a "rolling schedule," which means they start generally on time and then one event "rolls" into the next on the schedule. This means it is hard to know when the next event our Hawks are registered for will occur. Snacks, water, and patience, my friends, are essential. Luckily, at most meets, a distance event is scheduled toward the beginning of the meet and another is scheduled toward the end of the meet. That means the first event is relatively predictable. So we have to come prepared for long days hanging out as a team (hopefully in the shade) waiting between events. If anyone has questions about this, please reach out to the coaches. Thanks! Coach Eric  What a great start to the 2022 Hawks' track season! Everyone ran so well, nearly every returning Hawk ran faster this weekend then their best time last year. What an accomplishment!
A few incredible performances to highlight include:
To be fair, I could write something impressive about every single athlete, we could not be more proud of how hard our Hawks worked and how flexible and patient all the families were as we rolled with the unpredictable schedule. Be prepared, track meets are often this organized - we just have to work with what we have! Moving into the next week, we continue to ratchet up the intensity. We don't have a meet this coming weekend, but in two weeks we travel to Fairfield for the East Bay Heat Invitational. Some details are on the events page of the Team App and more will follow. This week our schedule is as follows: Monday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 2-3 x (200m/200m jog, 200m/400m jog, 400m/200m jog) 10 min cool down, strength Tuesday: rest and stretch Wednesday: Gray and Black - 3 to 4 mile run on your own Thursday: 5:30pm at the Boathouse 10 min warm up, drills 4-6x400m/400m jog, 2x200m/200m jog 10 min cool down, strength Friday: rest and stretch Saturday: Long run on your own Black: 6 miles Gray: 4 miles Yellow/White: 2-4 miles Sunday: rest and stretch Again, if you have any questions, please let us know. Hawks Fly! Coach Eric |
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