Ladies,
Saturday's workout still floats through my mind... it was a glimpse of greatness to come, I'm sure. Still, I want to moderate expectations a bit for our first meet. There are a variety of conditions that will definitely be different then.
You can count on it being hot. It's a late August Monday, and that means upper-80's/lower-90's, with high humidity. If I'm wrong, great, so much the better, but in my experience, that's what you can expect. This would change the way we approach the race. On such a day, you race the conditions as much as the course or even other runners.
The course is hillier than Saturday's run, and that will never change. It's a lot harder to control your effort when the terrain constantly pitches. We will learn to do it by season's end, but it takes practice. We'll still be working the kinks out during the first meet.
Some girls have never raced 5k. That's a new experience all by itself. On top of that, some girls have never raced any distance whatsoever. That alone makes Monday a great big unknown. Some will shine, some will learn hard lessons. It's all part of the process.
What we can take away from Saturday is we are a solid team. We already have 5 girls floating in the one-minute range, and that ladies is the beginning of a pack. Danielle asked me if it was good to have a pack (she asked this right before the tempo on Saturday). I flubbed the answer a bit, so maybe I should clarify that.
Of course it is good to have a pack, but only if it happens naturally, as in the fastest girls are still trying to get fast but the slower girls improve and catch up. That's the only way. Never should the front girls slow to create the pack. That was what I was trying to make clear. If we were running cross-country as in literally across the country, the U.S. that is, yeah, waiting for runners would make sense. Not here. You help your team by being as fast as you can.
I think we'll have a great meet. I even believe we'll likely win. More than anything though, I want to run intelligent races. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, but I have hundreds of races under my belt from many disciplines and distances. Coach Spence has equally as many races I'm sure, and college running experience to boot. Same for Coach Scott. We'll outline some pretty good plans for you, trust us and stick to the plans as much as you can. When the races are over we'll break them down and see what went well and what didn't, and we'll modify training as necessary. It's a process, and Monday is only the first step.
You are already in great shape, and getting better all the time. Believe in yourselves!
Saturday's workout still floats through my mind... it was a glimpse of greatness to come, I'm sure. Still, I want to moderate expectations a bit for our first meet. There are a variety of conditions that will definitely be different then.
You can count on it being hot. It's a late August Monday, and that means upper-80's/lower-90's, with high humidity. If I'm wrong, great, so much the better, but in my experience, that's what you can expect. This would change the way we approach the race. On such a day, you race the conditions as much as the course or even other runners.
The course is hillier than Saturday's run, and that will never change. It's a lot harder to control your effort when the terrain constantly pitches. We will learn to do it by season's end, but it takes practice. We'll still be working the kinks out during the first meet.
Some girls have never raced 5k. That's a new experience all by itself. On top of that, some girls have never raced any distance whatsoever. That alone makes Monday a great big unknown. Some will shine, some will learn hard lessons. It's all part of the process.
What we can take away from Saturday is we are a solid team. We already have 5 girls floating in the one-minute range, and that ladies is the beginning of a pack. Danielle asked me if it was good to have a pack (she asked this right before the tempo on Saturday). I flubbed the answer a bit, so maybe I should clarify that.
Of course it is good to have a pack, but only if it happens naturally, as in the fastest girls are still trying to get fast but the slower girls improve and catch up. That's the only way. Never should the front girls slow to create the pack. That was what I was trying to make clear. If we were running cross-country as in literally across the country, the U.S. that is, yeah, waiting for runners would make sense. Not here. You help your team by being as fast as you can.
I think we'll have a great meet. I even believe we'll likely win. More than anything though, I want to run intelligent races. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, but I have hundreds of races under my belt from many disciplines and distances. Coach Spence has equally as many races I'm sure, and college running experience to boot. Same for Coach Scott. We'll outline some pretty good plans for you, trust us and stick to the plans as much as you can. When the races are over we'll break them down and see what went well and what didn't, and we'll modify training as necessary. It's a process, and Monday is only the first step.
You are already in great shape, and getting better all the time. Believe in yourselves!
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