Hercules/Tommie Smith Invite This Week!

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