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!

Just a quick post

Okay, this is only going to be up for a limited time, so take advantage of it now!

Yearbook!

Right-click on the link and select "Save" or "Save As" (depending on your browser). If you want to type it into your phone or tablet, the address is:

home.comcast.net/~kieren8/girls_2013.pdf