I'm dubbing this week HYDRATION WEEK!  Let's ALL be drinking at least 64 oz of water per day.  Even better, let's try and drink our weight in oz of water.  So, I weight 180lbs, so my goal is 180 oz of water.  We are going to be seeing some SERIOUS heat this week and hydration will be our greatest weapon against it.
 
This is our second to last week.  I am going to be pushing you all to work hard this week and then next week we will have a short taper till our Cloud Classic Championships.  We had some GREAT races on Saturday with tons of PRs all while running against the wind.   I know some of you are just shy of your goal and this week is the week we earn it.
 
So, here are this week's workouts:
 
MONDAY: Rest & HYDRATE
 
TUESDAY: SPEED WORKOUT & HYDRATE  (Super Important Workout)

• 10min w/u
• Y/W - 6 X 500m, 2min rest
• G - 7 X 500m, 2min rest
• B - 8 x 500m, 2min rest
• 10min Cooldown

 
WEDNESDAY: REST & HYDRATE
 
THURSDAY: On Your Own;

• Y/W: REST & HYDRATE
• G/B: 3-4 easy miles

 
FRIDAY: TEMPO & HYDRATE (Super Important Workout)

• 10 min warm up
• Y/W/G: 15 Minute Cut Down. Start at just a bit slower than Tempo, Then, every three minutes, get a little faster.
• B - 20 min Cut Down, Start just a bit slower than Tempo, every 4 minutes, get a little faster.
• 10min cooldown

 
SATURDAY: REST & HYDRATE
 
SUNDAY: LONG EASY RUN & HYDRATE

• Y/W: 4 miles
• G/B: 5-6 miles

 
Again, this week is sooooo important for the success of the championship on June 6th.  I really look forward to seeing how our kids do in their final meet of the season.
 
Run Tough,
 
Coach Phil

We've been working hard over the last few weeks and now come to our last Time Trial before the Cloud Classic Championship.  Here's this week's workouts:

MONDAY: REST

TUESDAY: Repeat 600s (Swamp Loop + Finger)

• Warm up, 10-15min
• Y/W 4 X 600m
• G - 5 x 600m
• B - 6 x 600m
• 10/15min cooldown

WEDNESDAY: REST

THURSDAY: On Your Own

• G - 3 miles
• B - 4 miles

FRIDAY: Everyone, Easy 2-3 miles

SATURDAY: Time Trials @ the Lake

• You know the drill by now.  Let me know if you are racing this week. I can't wait to see some PRs!

SUNDAY: Long Easy Run - 4-6 miles.

Finish Strong.  We have only 4 Weeks left of our Season.  Every workout counts as we race toward the Cloud Classic Championship.  I hope you're getting them in.

Here are this week's workouts.

MONDAY: Rest

TUESDAY: Speed Workout - Two options

• 10/15min Warm-up
• ON A TRACK:
  • Y/W 6 x 300m, 100m slow jog back to start
  • G/B 8 x 300m, 100m slow jog back to start
• OR AT THE SWAMP
  • Y/W 5 x Swamp Loop, 1.5 minute Rest
  • G/B  7  x Swamp Loop, 1.5 minute Rest
• 10/15min Cool Down

WEDNESDAY: REST

THURSDAY: On Your Own

• G/B 3-4 miles, easy

FRIDAY: TEMPO "CUTDOWN" WORKOUT

• 10/15 Min Warmup
• Y/W/G 15min Cut down. Start at Tempo Pace, Every 5 min, increase your speed a little.
• B, Same but for 20min.

SATURDAY: Rest

SUNDAY: Long Easy Run.

• Y/W 5miles
• G/B 6 Miles

As I watched our Time Trials on Saturday I saw very clearly the power of what we call a "Base."  The Base is the mileage we put on every week.  As a runner improves, the goal is to increase the Base.  Base is typically measured in Mileage per Week.  The trick is to slowly increase an athlete's base over time.  If you increase too fast, and there is risk of injury. If you increase too slow, the speed workouts may suffer and PRs are not attained.  If you drop your mileage and loose that long fought for base, you have to build it up again.  Luckily, in this scenario, the body has already learned what it needs to do and recovering the base is typically quicker than laying it down the first time.

All this to say, I saw some athletes that have clearly done a perfect job increasing their base over the last three weeks that translated into stellar PRs (ie: Sonia & Natalie). 

I saw a few athletes that are ready to increase their base a little more (ie: Adeline, Matthew, and Jake)


It's all about that Base.  We increase the base when we complete the workouts, run our warmups and cooldowns, and get our long easy runs in.

Here's this week's workouts:

MONDAY: Rest

TUESDAY: Speed Workout: Track/(Swamp w/out Finger)

• 10/15 min Warmup
• Interval Pace with 90 seconds of rest.
• Y: 4 X 400m
• W: 6 X 400m
• G: 8 X 400m
• B: 10 X 400m
• 10/15 min Cooldown
• This is a HARD workout.  This is where we get faster!

WEDNESDAY: Rest

THURSDAY:

• G: 4 easy miles
• B: 6 Easy miles

FRIDAY: Tempo Run

• See if you can get your workout in at Marshall Hills or elsewhere with some hills.
• 10 min Warmup
• 20 - 25min Tempo
• 10 min Cooldown

SATURDAY: REST

SUNDAY: Long Easy Run

• Y/W 3-4 miles
• G/B  5-6 miles

Run Tough,

Coach Phil

Thank you everyone who came out for the Cloud Classic Time Trials!  It was fun to see everyone and thank you for practicing social distancing and wearing masks.  As a reminder, we are now competing against other teams in a virtual race where we log each athlete's times.  We have one more time trial at the end of May and then a Championship on June 6th.  This week we competed against the Chico Striders who had a very good showing of almost 20 athletes!

Below I've listed every Hawk that competed and their results:

Jake M.

• 6:02 1600m: 1st in AG, 2nd Overall Male.  1 Sec PR. Solid effort but more in the tank.  A true competitor, I wish I could see him in a race with his peers.
• 2:45 800m: 1st in AG, 2nd Overall Male. 3rd Place was a Chico Strider right on his heals with a 2:48! 

Matthew O.

• 5:49 1600m: 1st in AG, 1st Overall Male.
• 2:40 800m: 1st in AG, 1st Overall Male. 2 Sec PR.  Very strong effort.  Perfect Splits of 80sec & 80 sec

Cohen O.

• 6:52 1600m: 1st in AG, Crushing PR by 29 seconds!
• 3:18 800m: 1st in AG,  1 Second PR.

John B.

• 6:52 1600m: 1st in AG, 1 sec off his PR.
• 3:12 800m: 1 Sec PR.

Adeline:

• 6:35 1600m: 1st in AG, 1st Overall Female. PR by 5 seconds. (Second Place a 13 year old Chico Strider).
• 3:06 800m: 1st in AG, 3rd Overall Female. 1 sec off PR.

Abigale:

• 7:48 1600m. 2nd in AG; 10 Sec off PR, but later learned she hurt her Achilles.  Most important to me though is that I saw Abigale smiling at the starting line, AND she ran the whole race by herself!  So proud of you, Abigale.  (New nickname is brewing)

Sonia:

• 7:28 1600m: 1st in AG,  MONSTER 41 Sec PR!! That's 8.4% !  That's nuts!!!
• 3:39 800m: 1st in AG, MONSER 21 Sec PR!!! That's 8.8% !!!!!!!!!  DOUBLE NUTS!
• I just have to say, Sonia was extra super this weekend because she's been working hard the last three weeks getting her workouts in.  Those PRs were not because she ran tougher than last time.  She worked all three T's: Talent, TRAINING, and Toughness.  I can totally tell Sonia has been working out.  Great work and thank you for putting the training in, Super Sonia.  I'm giving you our "Awesome Athlete Award" for your dedication to training this past several weeks. Well Done!

Natalie:

• 6:50 1600m: 1st in AG, 3rd Overall Female, 11 Second PR! That is a big jump for a mile! That's almost 3 Seconds per lap on the track.  Great work!
• 3:20 800m: 1st in AG, 3rd Overall Female, 16 second PR! WHAT!!!? 8% off your time!  HUGE! (I should share, 4th place was a Chico Strider 1 second behind you! Great job!

Keilen:

• 9:08 1600m: 1st in AG.
• 4:24 800m:  2nd in AG.  PRs weren't in the cards this weekend but I believe they are in the future if the training continues. 

Team, I am so proud of your effort and determination.  Let's keep these workouts going and make sure we are appreciating all three T's: Talent, Training, and Toughness.  I had a good talk with one of our athletes on Saturday about how important it is practice our Toughness during these times.  We don't have our group practices three times a week or  track meets.  This is the opportunity to practice mental toughness.  Train when everyone else is playing video games.  That's what will get you ahead. Not just for the Cloud Classic Series, but for next Cross Country Season and for life as well.

Parents, as always, thank you so much for being a part of your athlete's journey and part of the fabric that makes up the Delta Hawks.  I am thrilled to be coaching our kids.  I'm busy these days, but I can honestly say the Hawks is one of my greatest joys outside of my family.  Thank you for allowing me to coach during this awkward season.  Let's get through it together, enjoy a break, and then tackle Cross Country in the Fall.

Run Tough,

Coach Phil

PS - The Week's workouts coming tomorrow, Monday is a Rest Day as usual.