Ladies,
It was another cool morning, and yet again we were blessed to get more runners. I cannot even begin to tell you how fired up I am about our numbers and talent so far this summer. We have quality AND depth, and that's a winning combination every time.
Today's course was a loop, something I like to do occasionally. We have a number of girls that haven't been running much for a while, and I want all of you to get a chance to break into this again. This week's running will continue to be relaxed, so no worries. We'll be upping distance and quality as the summer progresses, but for now, enjoy the getting started phase.
I talked a bit about shoes today. Please, be sure to keep yourself in good shoes. Of all running equipment, shoes are most vital. A good target number is 300 miles on a pair of shoes. That may not sound like much, but trust me, you go beyond that and if you have any sort of physiological problems, they will start to surface. Prevention is your best friend in sports, and this is an area where staying ahead of the problem is always the wisest move.
Stretching is also your friend. The first 10 minutes before we run we should be stretching. No one ever wants to do it, but you really must. Like being in good shoes, even light stretching can prepare your body for the work ahead. Ignore this area of training and you risk pulled muscles and tendons, which are much more difficult to overcome than your desire to not stretch.
Ice is your friend. If you have anything sore at all, put ice on it for 15 minutes after the run. If it continues to hurt, ice 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off for an hour. It's tedious I know, but it's the little things that add up - you can do little right things and do well, or little bad things add up and you can be out with injury. You only get to choose which path of little things you want.
Finally, on the issue of injuries... there are two kinds of runners; those that are hurt, and those that will be. You are high school athletes now, and the level of competition is high. You will be pushed, and sometimes you will break. More often than not that will be minor stuff, but sometimes it will be longer-term. You can always come back, and by that I mean when you are hurt it seems like you are lost, everything is over, there is no point. It's not true. It's a pain, it's a hassle, but it can be overcome, and often you can be a smarter and better athlete because of it.
Last summer at this time I was on crutches. I'm a triathlete, and a dog darted in front of me while I was riding my bike in training. I flipped over the bars at 25 mph and hit the pavement hard. My hip took the worst of it, and for about a week I was on crutches. For a month after that running was a real struggle at any distance. I kept after it, and did cross-training on weights and biking.
Now I lost the entire summer racing season to rehab, and that was a downer. Mentally it was tough to take, because I was poised before the wreck to have one of the best racing seasons of my life. After getting past that reality, I started looking forward again. I put a marathon on the calendar as a goal and pointed at that.
Though I wasn't able to train as much as I would have liked, I did what I could. Progress was slow but steady. By the end of cross season I was running reasonably well, though I had practically no running base for a marathon distance event. What I DID have was biking miles. Both are cardio activities, so if my bike mileage was high enough, I had a chance to complete the marathon.
In the end, not only did I complete the marathon, but I finished in a time that was probably the best I'd run in 10 years. It was a complete surprise of course, but looking back on it I understand it. When you have a layoff it hurts to get going again, but it's really more mental than physical. If you were fit when you were hurt and you can maintain any training at all in a similar sport, you will likely be fine IF you can stay mentally up.
We have girls hurt now. It will always be so. Have faith. Do what you can. Contribute where you can. Stay involved, stay motivated, and you will get your reward in the end.
It was another cool morning, and yet again we were blessed to get more runners. I cannot even begin to tell you how fired up I am about our numbers and talent so far this summer. We have quality AND depth, and that's a winning combination every time.
Today's course was a loop, something I like to do occasionally. We have a number of girls that haven't been running much for a while, and I want all of you to get a chance to break into this again. This week's running will continue to be relaxed, so no worries. We'll be upping distance and quality as the summer progresses, but for now, enjoy the getting started phase.
I talked a bit about shoes today. Please, be sure to keep yourself in good shoes. Of all running equipment, shoes are most vital. A good target number is 300 miles on a pair of shoes. That may not sound like much, but trust me, you go beyond that and if you have any sort of physiological problems, they will start to surface. Prevention is your best friend in sports, and this is an area where staying ahead of the problem is always the wisest move.
Stretching is also your friend. The first 10 minutes before we run we should be stretching. No one ever wants to do it, but you really must. Like being in good shoes, even light stretching can prepare your body for the work ahead. Ignore this area of training and you risk pulled muscles and tendons, which are much more difficult to overcome than your desire to not stretch.
Ice is your friend. If you have anything sore at all, put ice on it for 15 minutes after the run. If it continues to hurt, ice 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off for an hour. It's tedious I know, but it's the little things that add up - you can do little right things and do well, or little bad things add up and you can be out with injury. You only get to choose which path of little things you want.
Finally, on the issue of injuries... there are two kinds of runners; those that are hurt, and those that will be. You are high school athletes now, and the level of competition is high. You will be pushed, and sometimes you will break. More often than not that will be minor stuff, but sometimes it will be longer-term. You can always come back, and by that I mean when you are hurt it seems like you are lost, everything is over, there is no point. It's not true. It's a pain, it's a hassle, but it can be overcome, and often you can be a smarter and better athlete because of it.
Last summer at this time I was on crutches. I'm a triathlete, and a dog darted in front of me while I was riding my bike in training. I flipped over the bars at 25 mph and hit the pavement hard. My hip took the worst of it, and for about a week I was on crutches. For a month after that running was a real struggle at any distance. I kept after it, and did cross-training on weights and biking.
Now I lost the entire summer racing season to rehab, and that was a downer. Mentally it was tough to take, because I was poised before the wreck to have one of the best racing seasons of my life. After getting past that reality, I started looking forward again. I put a marathon on the calendar as a goal and pointed at that.
Though I wasn't able to train as much as I would have liked, I did what I could. Progress was slow but steady. By the end of cross season I was running reasonably well, though I had practically no running base for a marathon distance event. What I DID have was biking miles. Both are cardio activities, so if my bike mileage was high enough, I had a chance to complete the marathon.
In the end, not only did I complete the marathon, but I finished in a time that was probably the best I'd run in 10 years. It was a complete surprise of course, but looking back on it I understand it. When you have a layoff it hurts to get going again, but it's really more mental than physical. If you were fit when you were hurt and you can maintain any training at all in a similar sport, you will likely be fine IF you can stay mentally up.
We have girls hurt now. It will always be so. Have faith. Do what you can. Contribute where you can. Stay involved, stay motivated, and you will get your reward in the end.
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