Coming around to the midpoint

Ladies,

For the most part, the first month of summer is over. This brings us to the midpoint of the summer training cycle. Next week is dead week, and I cannot have any contact with you at all for the whole period of time. This is an IHSAA rule, and it's absolute. We will strictly adhere to this rule.

This does not mean you cannot meet with one another, nor that you shouldn't train. I would strongly suggest you keep running! I won't organize any practices, but endurance athletes must train constantly, so don't let this week undo the work you've done the first month of summer. Get out there and run some every day!

Tomorrow we are swimming. I thought this would be a nice way to head into break, and besides, you ladies have earned it. You truly have proved very dedicated to the sport, one another, and yourselves. It's what it takes to be great!

This week we've touched on the head, that is, the things you think about while you are running and racing. At the highest levels of any sport, it's the head that ultimately makes the difference. Those that can conquer their doubt and fear can rise above temporary pain and overcome. Those that are acutely aware of their surroundings and what is going on see opportunity faster and can make the split-second decision that may choose the winner. Sure, running is about the feet, but it is equally about the head.

I could make an outrageous analogy... think of animals that hunt in the wild, such as wolves or lions. Only the immature ones lunge at the first herbivore they see. The experienced hunters wait, watch, and look for weakness. They wait for the perfect opportunity, or in the case of pack hunters, create the situation they want. When the moment comes they are decisive.

You have to be like that. Think like a hunter, try to understand the psychology of a weakening runner, and how you can use that to your advantage. Look for signs that tell you someone is hurting. Learn how to hide your weakness signals. Project strength, always.

For those of you who missed it the other day, when the first group finished the Indian Run, we waited at an intersection. I'd been talking about race thinking, and the perfect opportunity to illustrate ran by. It was a guy, probably about 25 or so, and he was running right by our group. I let him pass and then asked the group how they might tell he wouldn't run very far. Some guessed clothing, but mostly the group had nothing. So what was the sign? He was running with an iPhone in his right hand. No real runner would ever run on a muggy summer morning with an iPhone in their hand. The sweat would ruin it in no time.

As I pointed this out, the man abruptly stopped running.

There is actually more to the picture. A guy that age would never walk past a group of girl runners. That would look weak, and no guy would want to look weak in front of such a group. However, a guy can only suck his gut in for so long, and sooner or later he would have to stop, which he did.

This is all rambling, but what I'm trying to point out is you have to be alert at all times, because situations that favor you during racing are fleeting, and you have to be ready when they happen. If you are observant you can see things you can use in about any race you ever run. 

VO2Max Test Results

Ladies,

Today was the first seriously structured day we've had this summer. We're in our third week, so it's time to start really going after some quality, at least on a limited basis. Today's workout was aimed at finding the appropriate level of training for the individual girl, hence everyone running a 12-minute VO2 test.

To review, VO2 refers to the maximum level to which your body can absorb enough oxygen to process energy that will sustain a given effort. In short, it reveals how fast you can go before you cross over to anaerobic (processing energy chemically). This is important to us as distance runners, because it is imperative we maintain an aerobic race until the end. Going anaerobic early on merely blows the entire race.

Once the level is known, workouts can be devised that take advantage of the knowledge and are tailored to the individual. How this works is runners are asked to run in ranges that are percentages of the maximum amount, and those percentages are set by the type of day we as coaches establish. For instance, if tomorrow is an easy day, I might have you run 70% of your maximum speed for the distance. A hard day might be 85% of max, and a race would be 90-95% max.

Bear in mind, this will be a moving target over time. As your fitness and efficiency improve so will your results on the VO2 test. A more efficient and fit runner will get farther in the same amount of time, hence the improvement in the overall score.

That said, let's look at today's results:

Athlete	Grade	Distance	mls/kg/min	Range
Jennifer	7	2580	46.39	Excellent
Carrie	11	2460	43.71	Excellent
Madison	10	2480	44.16	Excellent
Joslyn	9	2480	44.16	Excellent
Katlyn	11	2460	43.71	Excellent
Sarah	9	2430	43.04	Excellent
Zoe	9	2460	44.16	Excellent
Chelsey	9	2420	42.82	Excellent
Chelsea	6	2380	41.92	Excellent
Cynthany	9	2320	40.54	Excellent
Danielle	8	2310	40.36	Excellent
Kate	11	2380	41.92	Excellent
Diana	12	2310	40.36	Excellent
Alli	10	2270	39.46	Excellent
Delaney	8	2180	37.45	Excellent
Kayla	7	1600	24.48	Average
Ani	8	1900	31.19	Above
Molly	9	1900	31.19	Above
Takirah	8	2160	37	Excellent

Note your distance ran vs. the milliliters/kilogram/min ratio (milliliters of oxygen/kilograms of body weight/time). The higher the ratio, the better. In this case, Jennifer topped all by over 2 points. This indicates her body is very efficient. There is still room for improvement, but as you see by the rating under "Range", it falls easily into the excellent category (compared to general population). Note most of you fell into the excellent category as well. That should show you how good a team you guys are, and give you a glimmer of insight into how good you might become. 

I also calculated out a pace for everyone, as well as projected 5k times based on the effort today. Now bear in mind this is an indication of what you would have done had you continued on as you were going, not on what you might have done in a race - those are two different things! I cautioned you about pace, so naturally you were a bit cautious here.

Athlete	Grade	MPM	5k
Jennifer	7	7:26:00	23:02:36
Carrie	11	7:44:00	23:58:24
Madison	10	7:44:00	23:58:24
Joslyn	9	7:44:00	23:58:24
Katlyn	11	7:44:00	23:58:24
Sarah	9	7:56:00	24:35:36
Zoe	9	7:44:00	23:58:24
Chelsey	9	7:56:00	24:35:36
Chelsea	6	8:06:00	25:06:36
Cynthany	9	8:16:00	25:37:36
Danielle	8	8:16:00	25:37:36
Kate	11	8:06:00	25:06:36
Diana	12	8:16:00	25:37:36
Alli	10	8:30:00	26:21:00
Delaney	8	8:48:00	27:16:48
Kayla	7	12:00:00	37:12:00
Ani	8	9:29:00	29:23:54
Molly	9	9:29:00	29:23:54
Takirah	8	8:54:00	27:35:24

I'm actually very pleased with this. It was a first attempt, it was hot, and truthfully, I don't think you girls knew what to expect. Look at our bunching too... of course I am especially interested in what the high school girls did, and I see a very good grouping there. Middle school, don't think I have forgotten you. Note how you compare to the high school girls. Not bad at all!

Kayla, don't pay attention to your score; I pulled you off the course. I only included it so you would have some number to use. I probably shouldn't have because it's likely invalid. 

Okay, so let's assume these values represent your max 5k right now (conservatively). A simple way to use this information to structure workouts would be the following - recovery or easy days range from 1:00-1:30 per mile slower than max 5k pace. So... Jennifer, as the fastest runner today, would recover between 8:26-8:56 pace (7:26 + 1:00-1:30). In yesterday's workout she ran 8:20 pace, though not evenly. There were two miles early on that were in the 7:25 range, and thus her later miles must have slowed to closer to 9 minute. This is not what we want! We need even efforts on recovery runs, because we don't want to spike the heart rate every day. 

I'm sure if we look at all of you we will see the same thing - a fast start, then quickly falling off. It's a tricky thing to master, but we need to find our appropriate level of effort specific to whatever workout we're doing. For the bulk of the high schoolers, this means never going slower than 9:00 pace, something we knew all along we couldn't do and be competitive. Think about it... if you run 9:00 in training, the best you could hope to race is 7:30 per mile. While 22:30 is a fine time, if we can improve our daily running by the end of the summer, perhaps we could knock 30 seconds per mile off that and have 21:00 as our race number - a vast improvement!

It comes down to this... at the high school level we will need at least 5 girls in the neighborhood of 21 or below if we want to move on in State tournament. 7:00 pace is the beginning target, but we'll need to get as many girls as possible under that number if we are to be successful. Don't despair on that number! It's still early on, and we have plenty of time to get it in. Just know that every day has to be used as it should, and you should personally challenge yourselves every day to get the most out of yourselves. Don't worry about the next day, or the one after that. Take care of the one right in front of you and worry about the next one when it comes. 

The week ahead

Ladies,

This week will be more challenging in a couple of distinct ways. We are increasing mileage (of course), but we will also introduce a bit more speed play. Nothing big yet of course, but we will have to do more and more of the faster stuff. You'll see as we go along, so no need to go into detail.

The biggest challenge might be the weather. Humidity and heat will increase this week - after all, we're halfway to July - and you will begin to feel it. I would recommend you bring water or sports drink to practice, because you are going to need it.

We will be hitting the trail at least a couple times. It will be drier, so I don't anticipate any problems with this. I have some workouts in mind for the trail, and we may get around to one or two before the week is out.

I'm really proud of you ladies for hanging in there the way you have. Keep it up! I'm super excited about how things are going, and can't wait to see what will happen next. 

Milwaukee Run

Ladies,

Well, we've done it. We've managed to get down to the Milwaukee Trail from Parkview track without running all around town. I'm pleased by this, because when it gets hot, that's where we'll be. You might not have been thrilled today, but trust me, you'll thank me later.

I didn't introduce the new coach with us today, so let me make amends by doing so now. Her name is Jill Vance. She is a naturalist by profession, and an avid road racer. She runs (and is highly ranked) the Magnificent 7 race series out of Bloomington. She is a good runner, and should be able to hold her own with any of you ladies.

Most of you are transitioning well to the increased mileage. What's really important to remember is, though practice isn't mandatory, things will go better for you if you make most (or all) of them. Endurance sports reward consistency; your gains, though small, happen every day. Eventually they accumulate over time to be huge gains. Unfortunately, losing ground is much easier than gaining, so it's important to be as regular as possible. Your opposition will be training those days you don't - never forget that.

The bake sale is this Saturday from 9-1. See Diana or Carrie for information regarding setup, scheduling, and well, anything else. This is your baby, ladies.

As I get healthier, I will be running more with all of you, front to back. I can't do that quite yet, but soon I'm sure I will. Here's the thing... I want to hear more talking out there. I want you guys to get to know one another - that's very important. I also want to know on easy days you are indeed running easily. Listen, if you can chat at 6:30 pace, I'm thrilled. If you're running 7:00 pace on an easy day and can't talk, I'm not. Talking/not talking is one of the easiest ways to gauge effort. I will be listening for your conversations - I don't necessarily want to be involved, I just want to know they're happening.

I mentioned core work today. I'm still considering how to add it to our summer plan, but we are going to do it. I'm really trying anything I can to get as many girls to the start of season healthy and ready to train hard. Leave no stone unturned, as they say.

Tomorrow - fartleks!

A little farther, a little faster

Ladies,

Things are beginning to settle in a bit.We have a very nice core of high schoolers who are committed to getting ready for the fall. And our middle schoolers? I am stunned at the turnout. In the immediate future this will pay off for this coming season, but more than that, I think it will really help the entire program in the coming years. I couldn't be happier.

We have upped the mileage a bit, and we're going to start playing with speed a bit here and there. Nothing really long or terribly hard, but we do have to get going on getting some contact with that speed. I'm thinking this week we'll start some Indian runs or fartleks, or both. You might be wondering what those things are - I'll wait until we are together to explain. Just know it will test your speed a bit in either case.

More than anything, keep coming. Your consistent hard work will pay off in the regular season. This sport really needs you to be diligent about getting miles - nothing can take the place of miles. We need regular intervals of stress to get the body ready to do what it must later on. 

Shifting gears, our first summer fund raiser is about to kick off. The Olda Gurls (tm) have organized a bake sale at Walmart this Saturday. I will be out of town, so this show will be run entirely by you. That's really the fact of the matter anyway... these fundraisers are always run by the team. They are not mandatory, but I have found they help bring the team together. 

Diana and Carrie seem to be taking the lead on this project, so if you have any questions, refer to them. I don't know what hours Diana set up, so someone remind me to ask tomorrow at practice!

A week in review

Ladies,

Our first week has come and gone, and so far I'm very encouraged.

We had a big initial turnout. Some decided running wasn't for them, and that was bound to happen. No hard feelings! Most stayed, and that's great news. We'll also be picking up a few more as we move along. I think our numbers are going to be very healthy.

We have talent. Up and down the field we have all manner of runners, and I think this year's group has a broader spectrum of talent than we've seen the last couple of years. We've had strong runners, but we haven't had as much leg speed as I think we have now. Leg speed is hard to teach. You can make a speedy runner stronger, but it's hard to make a strong runner speedy. That may not make much sense now, but it soon will. ANYWAY, not wanting to lose the thought, I'm glad we have more natural speed. It's a good thing.

We have competitive girls. I see girls fighting for positions. Good! This is a competitive sport, and you should be competing with one another. That's one of the benefits of training with others. Rivalries make better runners and better teams, so long as it's not made personal. This is a point I want to expand a bit, so indulge me for a few...

I'm still a competitive athlete myself. My sport is triathlon, which comprises swimming, riding, and running (in that order). I was a competitive swimmer in high school, ran competitively as an adult, and became a biker after that. I am not the best in any of the three individual activities, but I am balanced and solid.

What this sets up is a set of three rivalries which exist with my training buddies. There are guys that run faster than me. I don't want that, so I will fight to keep up, or better yet pass them. Ultimately there are those I cannot beat - they are too good - but I'm still going to try to beat them. Same thing in riding. Some guys climb better, some sprint better, some are just overall better. I don't care. I will assess their strengths and weaknesses and compare them to mine, and I will look for the opportunity to take advantage. And then I will strike. Nothing personal. I just want to win.

And here's the best part; they're all doing the same thing. We don't take it personally, because we all understand that give-and-take relationship we share improves us collectively. I'm not satisfied to be just "so far" behind anyone every day. NO! I will at least be with you, or better still, know I could pass you. If not, I've got work to do.

Thinking like this has another benefit - these thought processes should be occupying your mind during a race. By practicing the thought process, it becomes automatic. So much of what happens in racing is conditional and temporary, and if you don't strike when the chance arrives, the chance is soon lost. You have to be mentally quick enough to correctly assess your situation and figure out how best to use it. It can be the difference in a race.

I wouldn't end this without pointing out what happens after the race/workout with my friends... we talk about it. I tell them what I was seeing, how I viewed it, and exactly where I went for the weak spot. This is not arrogance at all... it's information they may need, because it's a hole in their game they need to fill. Whether or not I was able to "win" against them, in most cases they appreciate knowing about it. They do the same for me. This is not done with an "in your face" tone, it's a respect issue. My relationship with these guys stretches back years, indeed in some cases decades, and I want nothing but the best for them.

So long as I win. ;)

Second day, so far so good

Ladies,

It seems we all learned a little something from yesterday. Today when you came in I didn't see so many faces in agony. That's good. It means you're learning a little about pacing. I also like you didn't do this at the expense of overall speed. Our 4th and 5th runners today came in under 25 minutes, which is right around 8:10 pace. I am very happy about that!

Initially we should worry about getting some miles in, and that will be our primary focus, but we can never forget we are a racing group. That means we have to constantly be ready to challenge ourselves. Do I expect folks to throw up every day? ABSOLUTELY NOT! That's not effective training, and it limits your growth. There are levels to challenges, some large and some small. Let's start with a small but very important one.

It won't take long for a pecking order to sort out, and by that I mean by running speed - you'll see the same people ahead and behind you pretty soon. This is normal. What is up to every girl individually is to try to move up, that is, put more girls behind on a day-to-day basis. It won't be easy, and it won't happen all at once. For some, you may not be able to move much at all - after all, there can only be one #1 runner! However, the effort should be made nonetheless. The person at the top will change over time if everyone fights for it, and, even if you don't move up the ladder, you will be better for the attempt.

I should also talk about being competitive with your teammates. You all want the same thing, to be the fastest runner, and you can't all have that. Fight for the spot with all your will and physical being, but never make it personal. You need one another even as you try to beat one another. The first one to the top of the mountain should always reach down to pull others up. 

A good first day

Ladies,

I was relieved to see so many girls show for the first practice. There were many new faces, something we absolutely needed after graduating six seniors last year! These are some tough shoes to fill, but based on what I saw today, we certainly have the talent to do so.

I want to take a little time to talk a bit more about what we hope to get done this year, and how this all thumbnails out. Allow me to meander a bit, and hopefully by the end it will become clearer...

When creating a season plan, one always starts at the end, or the goal. In our case, that would be Semi-State. Our main goal, and I'm stating that right now, is to take the entire team to the Semi-State. This is completely attainable, as we nearly did it last year. I would even go as far as to say it's an expectation. If we stay healthy, we should go.

Next would be to score as highly as possible in the Conference, Sectional, and Regional meets. The fields are stacked in all of them, but these teams do not have more talent. They have combinations of talent, training, and attitude that bring them to a peak at just the right time. We can have that too. We simply have to want it badly enough.

Conference is one of the toughest meets we'll have all season. It comes at an odd time of the season, just as we're preparing for State series, so we aren't peaked for it. The field is stacked as well. Top-3 would be a great finish for us, and I think an attainable goal.

A lofty goal would be to win Sectional, and that sounds like crazy talk, but I don't really think so. The Bloomington teams are beatable. A secondary goal for the meet would be top-3, something that should be easily doable. At the very least, we get out to Regional.

For Regional we obviously need to get out. This will be difficult as we have two stacked Sectionals combining to make our Regional, but as we almost made it last year with a team of hurt girls, I like our chances this year.

So there you go - that's what we're shooting for. How do we get there? Work. Every day. Some days will be harder than others, some days easier, but you personally need to make as many practices as possible. We will start out light, only 3 miles a day for this week. We will begin to stretch that out week by week until we are running 7-8 miles a day. Don't let those numbers freak you out. You won't find it difficult to do by then. We will also do some light quality work in the form of tempos. Aside from that we will focus on some running drills and stretching. In the end, we want a team of girls in shape and ready to train hard when the season starts.

You need to grow together as a team, to learn to care about one another, to feel a sense of responsibility and ownership, to feel needed. Everyone has a part to play, every single one of you. I know only 7 girls run varsity in a meet, but don't think for a second that it's ever set in stone who that will be. Girls get hurt, girls get faster, you can never know how things will work out. Everyone needs to be ready to run every meet, wherever you are on the list.

Some of you new girls might be wondering why we are having younger girls run with us. Simple. They're good. Darn good. And they are the future of the team. This is a great opportunity for them to come and train with older girls, to see what high school athletics are like, and to get a head start on their competition. One thing is for sure, they will come out of the summer better prepared for their fall seasons in middle school.

What do high schoolers get out of it? Again, they're good. The more bodies you get in a practice, particularly talented runners, the higher the quality is likely to be. Also with more girls you get a better chance to form bonds and friendships, something we really need. It's a win/win situation for everyone, so we're happy to have them.

Finally, I want to say that I always try to project a positive attitude because I believe attitude is the beginning and end of the whole game. Your body will do anything your head tells it to, so you have to train your head to believe anything is possible. That doesn't mean things will always be easy; it more accurately means that, no matter how difficult a challenge, there has to be some way to conquer it.

Enough rambling!

2014 Summer Conditioning!

Ladies,

Welcome to the 2014 Lady Stars Cross page!

Tomorrow marks the first day of the pre-season, and I'm excited to once again be a part of the team. I hope you are looking forward to getting going as I am!

For those that don't know me, I'm Bill Deckard. I've been a runner and triathlete for over 20 years, and I've coached multiple sports at all amateur levels. This is my third consecutive year coaching the BNL girls.

Practice in the summer isn't mandatory, but you should understand that fall success is made with summer work. In running, you can't substitute base. Either you have it or you don't, and summer training is where it happens. We want to work to get our fitness level to the point we can train hard in the season. That will be our focus.

We will practice from Monday through Friday, though I encourage you to run one more day on the weekend. We will start the summer running three miles a day, and by the end we should be running 7-8 miles a day. Again, our focus will primarily be on getting the miles.

We will do a combination of street and trail running. The new Milwaukee Trail will be one of our chief venues. It's an outstanding trail, and will be the site of most of our hard work. With a combination of shade, surface, and lack of auto traffic, it's hard to beat.

If you're new to the team and this sounds like a lot, don't worry - you'll be fine! High school sports are difficult, but completely manageable. Give it your best effort and good things will come!

See you all in the morning!