Sensational Sectional Effort

While enjoying pizza at Monicals with the team, we discussed the results of today's Sectional and could never discount the tremendous effort put forth by everyone on the team.  I am pretty sure EVERY runner on our team posted a course PR.  That is awesome, and we should be proud of that fact.

The girls were so enthusiastic and ran extremely well.  Their complete approach was excellent and I couldn't ask for much more.  And WOW, Unity has to be state champ next week.  If not, there is something totally wrong!

To our girls team, I can't say enough about how we improved throughout the season.  Those who stayed the course continued to improve leaps and bounds.  My gosh, we're so young with this group, with only one 8th grade leader left on the squad.  Next year looks very bright for this group.  We need to convince more young ladies to give Cross Country a look.  After all, running may be work, but it is also a lot of fun on our team.

The boys did a very good job in race preparation as well.  Everything seemed to be right.  Even as we crossed the finish line I thought our team was third.  It's amazing that we had all 7 of our guys in before Edison's number 4........   That really leaves an unsettling feeling, knowing that fact.  But, scoring as it goes, didn't come out in our favor since their top three were in the top 10, while we had only one.  With Monticello, we have 5 in before they have 4, but they had high finishers too.  Unity ran lights out as a team, no doubt.  Hats off to them.

I know the guys were disappointed, as were Coach T and I.  I know looking back we know where a couple of tactical errors were made that might have been the difference, but like we said all along this week, it was going to be a 5 team horse race and we had to have a flawless effort in order to in the top 3.  OH SO CLOSE.

To our boys team, especially the 8th grade group.  You have grown so much in the last 3 years and represented PBL with Panther Pride.  I want you to accept the challenge of continued improvement at the high school level and let today's hollow feeling serve as motivation for self improvement.

With a really young squad returning, our future could be very good.  However, I will caution we WILL have to be willing to work to improve and not take anything for granted.

We'll celebrate today's effort and look forward to cheering Kody and Evie on at next week's state finals.

I am proud of my Panthers!!!

Chance Favors the Well Prepared

The hay is in the barn.  We've done just about everything within our power to be well prepared for this weekend's Sectional.  After all, THE MAIN THING is all about focus, doing what is right, being well prepared, feeling confident, and taking care of business.  That being the case, we also have "chance" and "luck" moving our way, since Chance does favor those who have prepared well.

I gave the team a detailed sheet of the next couple of days and what the expectations are.  Even with a day off from school, we still have to focus on what is important.  It just wouldn't make much sense to lose focus now, with our opportunity for success being on the horizon.

We know that history and tradition do favor PBL, yet we still have to go out on Saturday and perform well.  The field in the sectional is more balanced than I've seen in years.  This means that we have to be totally ready to put everything on the line and use our ability and talent to take ourselves to the next level. Is it possible?  Absolutely!  I've seen it happen many times.  The team has heard our stories of success and failure, and knows the "cause and effect" of each.  Let's just hope each team member chooses wisely and comes Saturday to my office at 8:30 feeling like a "world beater".  After all, a sectional as balanced as this needs a team or two to "rise to the occasion".  I firmly believe we can do this.

So, we hit the hill tonight doing 8 x 200 reps in 14: 40.  What's funny, we're not even winded when it was done, everyone grabs a dumdum out of the box and proceeds to do the cool down, no questions asked.

So, a brief shakedown tomorrow at 3:30, rehearsing our warm up for Saturday morning, doing pullouts from Box 10, and calling it a day.  It's important to keep the body in it's cycle of exercise, and laying around most of the day and doing nothing is the worst thing we can do.

Easy Squeezy

It's time for some pretty light work to be as ready as possible for THE MAIN THING this Saturday.

The team met in my office and we discussed how important it is to take care of every piece of business we can in order to be well prepared:

1. Do all homework and home chores, thus eliminating any undo stress.  Just keep in mind that doing what is the RIGHT thing will pretty much keep our stress levels low.
2. EAT RIGHT, DRINK RIGHT - No "itos" family foods (Fritos, Cheetos, Tostidos, etc.), candy, candy bars, energy drinks, pop.  Lots of fruits and veggies, red meat, pasta, water, milk, juice.
3. Sleep well.  Don't take a stupid cell phone to bed and text.  Get a solid 9 hours of rest of more. Thursday night is the most important sleep night.
4. IF you go to the football game Friday, dress for the weather and get home at a reasonable time (9:30)
5. We'll talk about BREAKFAST on Saturday.  I'm still concerned after last Saturday.

I went over the team grid and AGAIN explained why I use it.  It all makes perfect sense and eliminates guess work, playing favorites, and gives the team something very tangible to deal with.  The whole grid thing started back when I was coaching my son.  I know what it's like dealing with that Coach-Son thing, so I put it right out there from the start that this was the way it was going to work.  No favorites, promotes team competition (a very good thing), keeps everyone honest.  

We had a nice, light workout.  Regular warm up routine, then a 20 minute light run followed by some strides and a cool down.  Coach T and I became garbage men afterwards and emptied the trash cans in preparation for the Sectional.  We also put up one short segment of rope on the course at one turn.

Tomorrow we'll do some nice up tempo work.  Just enough to put some pop in the legs.

FRIDAY, being a no school day will have us practice at 3:30.

Running on empty

I'm not talking about the team, here, I'm referring to me.

Big meet on Saturday and more PBL meet prep, parents 60th wedding anniversary on Sunday, continued PBL Invitational meet prep Monday, and then the big meet today.  I'm wiped.  And the best thing, I get to do it all over again since we host the Sectional on Saturday.  Of course, I did have my regular "job" to do, too.

The best part of today was ALL of the EXCELLENT help we had by our parents and alums.  WOW, was it great.  They made the meet the success it was, and I know it was after all of the compliments we received.

Given the fact this was our Invitational, I thought we did as I thought we would.  We really don't hype this thing, especially for the team who performs at the Sectional.  I do prep those who won't be Sectional runners, and I saw some really great times, especially for our course.  What a great way to end the season!!!  Although we backed off some yesterday, I wasn't expecting our kids to be "fresh as daisy's" today, especially that group of 10 I had do the 400's on the hill.   Again, all by design, since THE MAIN THING is Saturday.  I"m sticking with the plan that has worked well for years.  No sense in fixing something that up to this point is time is not broken.

These next 3 days of practice will be snappy and easy.  We'll elevate heart rates and put some pop into the legs and be ready for a "lights out" performance on Saturday.

Monticello Madness

You'd think as a coach I would be happy with our team's performance today.  Unfortunately, I'm deeply disturbed.  First, those who came prepared did a very fine job (you know who you are, your heart always tells the truth), those who didn't better learn from this experience rapidly (same principle of the heart applies here, too.)  After the race, I wanted to be sympathetic, but after I learned a few things discussed in the next paragraph, I was not too thrilled.  Hence, my lack of enthusiasm with the trophy finish.  I believe our EXTREMELY YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED girls team did just about as well as it could today.  I know they are going to learn a lot from this season and this race and be ready for great races next week and a promising 2014 season.

And now my angst.

You'd think that after talking nutrition A WHOLE LOT and even begging the team to eat a good breakfast (yesterday at practice I talked about this emphatically) that our team would take my very solid and sound advice.  Funny thing, I even bring nutritious items to eat on the bus, but some decide it's just not for them.  I see some of our top guys falter BADLY in the last half of the race.  Come to find out, they eat little or nothing for breakfast...........  No wonder we had some near "epic fails".  If you have a little gas in the tank, the car runs then sputters until the gas is gone.  If you don't have nutritious food in the belly, you might run, but run (sputter) POORLY.  And trust me, this team has to do everything RIGHT to run the kind of races we'll have to run next Saturday.  The line for success and failure is a very thin one this year.

I hope today's top 7 look carefully at the results. Two of our JV guys would have been top 7 today.  That's what DESIRE did for them, wanting be make the top 7.  We better have our game faces and desire next Saturday.......

Yes, I'm on a rant right now.  IF you look closely at the team scores, by running as we should have, we secure 2nd place.  Not today.  In fact, look real close and you'll see several of our sectional foes just a few points behind us.  UNITY, ST. JOSEPH, EDISON, MONTICELLO, CLINTON, FRANKLIN, and EDISON are all in our Sectional.  Including us, that's 8 of the 12 sectional teams.  They've got to be licking their chops right now, especially Monticello and Unity, a mere 10 points or so away today.

Enough, what is done is done and we have to learn from this experience.  I see a Saturday morning TEAM BREAKFAST coming on.  I know the team parents are all in on this, so it might very well be in the plan.

All practices next week will be very short and sweet.  We should be done by 4:30 each day.  With no school Friday, we will practice at 3:30 and be done by 4:30.

After Tuesday's PBL Invitational, the sectional team along with the alternates will practice on Wed, Thur, and Friday.  I'll discuss this further with the team on Monday.

Meanwhile, let's look at what THE MAIN THING is.........  A season's worth of work can be rewarded if we are willing to do everything as it should be.

You Gotta Wanna

Effort was defined as "trying" by our team.  The amount of effort is called "desire".  

So, if I put a $100 bill out on the other end of the field, line the team up about 150 meters away, I wonder just how fast the team would run to retrieve it?  Point is, if there is proper motivation (desire), you might do just about anything  (effort) to be the first there to snag that cash.

Us old coaches know and understand this concept.  Now, trying to convince our team of that notion is an entirely different issue.  But, I think the point was well made and the kids seem to be understanding, at least a little more, what we're trying to get at.

In this case, THE MAIN THING is upon us and I was just wondering just how badly our teams want to succeed next week.  Planting those seeds early and cultivating them often helps created the desire our team has, the PRIDE that we need to have, and the WILL to make it happen.  It's been a trademark of PBL for years, and I am convinced we have the right people to continue the tradition of excellence that is characterized by this program.  

This was our last really hard workout for the season.  We have 3 meets in the next 6 days, tomorrow's meet with Mahomet, an easy DQ run on Friday, the Monticello Invitational Saturday, one full day of rest Sunday, a quality versus quantity workout on Monday, then the PBL Invitational on Tuesday.

We were really pleased with today's workout, seeing some really good work by everyone.  Way to go team.

I reviewed where the top 10 individuals stand on the grid for the top 8 runners who will dress for the Sectional.  It's a very fair way to see exactly who is ranked from our best to least runner, all based on team placing in the meets, starting with the Kickapoo meet last Tuesday.  The first 5 or 6 runners are normally pretty consistent, and it's easy to generally see who those folks are, but too many times it's the number 6, 7, and 8 spot that may not be quite so obvious.  So, many years ago I devised a simple scheme to make it work out as fair as possible, and the kids know well in advance how it works.  It eliminates most of the guess work in the "selection" process, if there really is such a thing in this sport.  

The Rigors of Rossville

The course at Rossville offers the challenge of very narrow paths to run, ruts and holes to navigate, and someone who likes to burn a bunch of stuff.  YUCK.  With all of the hazards listed, we still really like running there because of the beauty of running along a river, in a near forest like setting, and lots of little murky lakes, not to mention a ton of Poison Ivy.

Today's instructions were very clear since we have 3 races this week.  To pack run to the best of our abilities, especially for the first mile, then "every man for himself" the second mile.  I knew if we ran in this fashion, no one would be "going to the well" for energy we will need later in the week.  Generally speaking, things went pretty well.  I told the team this meet is always a challenge, yet fun, but our real focus for the week is Saturday, with our sights and training all set on THE MAIN THING on October 19.

We came out of the race finishing just as I thought, with the guys winning the meet and girls finishing second.  What please me the most was seeing our girls give Oakwood a much better race than we did earlier in the season.  Our girls are responding to their new identity quite nicely.  On the other hand, the guys were soundly beaten the day after Labor Day in what had to be a VERY POOR showing by the guys team.  With that in mind, we left no doubt today where we stand by putting 7 guys through the chute before the other teams' 4th men, which more than sealed the deal.  Pack running does have its advantages and our guys and gals both learned a little today.

Our LAST taxing workout of the year is tomorrow, on THE HILL, before taking on Mahomet on Thursday followed by the much anticipated DQ run on Friday.  The team will be getting their blue warmup sweats Friday after the DQ Run.

Last tough week of work.

This week of competition mixed with practice is all set up by design, all part of THE MAIN THING.  I want tired legs after our meet this Saturday at Monticello.  We worked pretty hard today, doing some 400s at Pells Park.  Tomorrow is a meet at Rossville, which we'll use as a good way to learn how to run as a group, then we'll come back with some intense work on the hill on Wednesday followed by a very competitive home meet with Mahomet on Thursday.  That's 4 consecutive days of pretty tough work.  We'll have some fun with a DQ run on Friday, then come back for the last bit of tough work at the Monticello Invitational on Saturday.

This tears us down that one last time before the Sectional meet and puts our bodies into the position to have an optimal performance on the day we want it.  Note, we are talking the physical here, not the mental.  That's where focus and desire come into play, which I doubt will be much of a problem.  I'll do my best to keep this group grounded and on task.

This then sets the table for high quality, low quantity work next week, with Tuesday being the PBL Invitational, which gives us an early week focus and an opportunity for non Sectional team members to really put it all on the line with one last great effort for the season.  Those next 3 days will be the easiest days of practice for the year as we're going to have VERY WELL RESTED legs for THE MAIN THING.

After the PBL Invitational, only the top 8 runners will have to practice.  HOWEVER, I will expect the entire team to come to the Sectional on our home course on October 12 to support the team!!!

I'll have more for you about Saturday's meet on Wednesday, meanwhile, I look forward to seeing our girls and guys pack run tomorrow.  It's amazing how it feels to run with a bunch of team mates.  This is an experience one never really forgets.

St. Joseph - Check!

We can put a check mark next to the St. Joseph Invitational and call it a very successful day.  Lots of really great times and performances.  Yes, a few disappointments by a few, but on the most part we found that we're where we need to be.  The team's haul of 15 medals was pretty impressive, with a surprise or two mixed in.  Let's celebrate today's effort and achievement over the weekend then get right back at it again on Monday.

So, THE MAIN THING continues as our theme for this year, and in two short weeks we'll see just how successful our team was in focusing in on and achieving a very high goal.  Yes, it takes some sacrifice and lots of hard work but in the end it is so satisfying to know that we did OUR BEST.  I know our best effort will be at the Sectional meet at our place on October 12.  All of our focus and energy are now on the Sectional, with everything else serving as preparation for the big event.

This next week is super important in preparation for the Sectional.  It will be our last hard week of practice before we let off the gas pedal for the final push.  I think we'll go back to Pells Park for some quarter mile repeats on Monday, compete at Rossville on Tuesday on a course we really enjoy, hit the hill on Wednesday, compete against Mahomet on our home course Thursday, and enjoy a nice DQ run on Friday before turning our sights towards the Monticello Invitational on Saturday.

A Snappy Workout

I told the team yesterday that we would be done by about 4:30 today, and I was just about 2 minutes off, according to my watch.

We discussed tomorrow's meet, all the differences we'll have to deal with:  1.  A 5th/6th grade race for boys and girls running all at the same time.  2.  A 7th/8th grade race for boys and girls running at the same time. 3.  Warming up together in those groups. 4. Where a "bib" with a computer chip in it, that will electronically record places and times of each athlete as they cross the finish line.  5.  The awards ceremony after the event.

The team then practiced warming up in those groupings for tomorrow's race, including drills and strides.  We then did a light 5 minute run then ran 10 x 100 meter strides at race pace, followed by another 10 minute light run through "Narnia", at least this is what the team calls it.

And of course, the best part was the giant tootsie rolls I had for each of them after practice.

So, tomorrow is the next MAIN THING.  It is my hope that we are focused on the task at hand and put down some excellent performances.  Physically, we are ready.  Now, we have to prepare our minds for tomorrow's challenge.  I know we will perform very well.

The Magical Hill

We really worked on good running form tonight on the hill.  What a better place to work on form than running up and down the hill.  Running up forces us to keep our heads up, with eyes on the summit and knees driving forward,while running downhill causes us to lengthen our stride, and cycle the legs faster so as to not fall flat on our faces.

I was really watching for and attempting to correct form faults, and spent the entire session doing that.  After we were done, I specifically showed the importance of: 1.  Relaxing the jaw and letting it just hang open so air can freely pass through the mouth.  2. Completely relaxing the hands so the arms swing forward and back freely, and having an impact of breathing with a relaxed chest cavity.  3.  Driving arms forward and back instead of across the body, so we can run in as straight of line as possible.

We were very encouraged with the workout and know that the team learned a lot.  We noticed a lot of improvement and heard lots of positive feedback from team members saying they could actually feel the differences in the corrections.  It is my hope that we can translate this experience into tomorrow's workout and ultimately into THE MAIN THING on Friday, the meet we've been focusing on since Dawson Lake, the St. Joseph Invitational.

I distributed reminders to those who have yet to pay for their team shirts.

Kickapoo Adventure

I would hope that today's performance is another bit of a stepping stone for THE MAIN THING coming up this Friday at St. Joseph.  The whole fact of the matter, it most certainly is just that and we'll continue our quest with a pretty good workout tomorrow, then some light stuff on Thursday in preparation for Friday.  The plan seems to be coming together.

I thought today's performances went well.  I tried something totally different in my approach today for meet preparation, and it seemed to have the positive effects I was hoping for.  I'm not going to be totally straight forward at this point in what I did, but distractions and busywork do pay off.  Let's see if a little reverse psychology can work a little magic.

Our girls are working to the best of their abilities and a creating their new team identity.  What I absolutely love about this group is the fact that this group works pretty hard and are really great to be around.  I know we'll continue to improve and I really look forward to see how we perform on Friday.

The guys worked the bullet well and got into pretty good race position right from the get go.  We've still got some conditioning to work on, since that last 600 meters is still not what I want to see.  I"m still interested in seeing a certain group of 6th graders break out for  terrific run, and I think Friday might be that day.  I thought that was happening today, but it didn't quite manifest itself as I thought.

Let's enjoy this better weather.

I Love Pells Park

What a nice day for a workout.  So nice, I decided we would run over to Pells Park and do some quarter mile repeats.  The team was really happy to get away from working out on our delightful course, so their eagerness should not have astounded me.

It's almost exactly a mile to Pells, so it was really cool to see the team trot on over while chatting and generally goofing around.  A far cry from a month ago when we had to stop about every other block.  How refreshing.

We went through our regular stretching, drills, and pull out routine before doing 8 repeat quarters with a 90 second rest interval.  We responded real well to the work, but by #7 we were getting gassed.  That's exactly what I wanted to see.  The kids worked their tail off on #7, since that's always the toughest one to get through.  After all, anyone can do the last one, which I told them to give it a real go.

We're working pretty hard these next couple of days, with our Kickapoo run tomorrow.  A pretty tough course, yet we look forward to the challenge.  Even more so, Friday is THE MAIN THING we've been focusing in on for the last couple of weeks, so I look forward to some fantastic performances.

Light and Snappy

I needed a evening of rest, and that's what I did Friday evening.  Normally, I'd come home, blog, update stats on the site, and try to wrap up any other loose ends before going into the weekend.  This Friday I went out to El Toro for dinner, came home, talked to my parents, talked to my wife (who went shopping with her sister, so didn't get home until 8 PM), and went down to my easy chair and fell asleep.  It's been a long week and rest was the order of business.  Yes, coaches get tired too!!!

Yesterday's workout was a lot of fun and really light and snappy.  Changed some things up in the warm up and cool down, just to give the team a break from the routine.  I know they liked that a lot.  We talked about Thursday's meet and all the variables associated with our performances and moved on from that.  I reminded the team that THE MAIN THING is coming up at St. Joseph next Friday, so be ready to do great things then.

During our drills I took time out to remind the team about what the reason is (THE MAIN THING) we do the drills and how they can have a very positive effect in developing speed.  I also discussed my first season experience as a cross country runner way back in 1969, when I was a freshman at Rantoul.  I described my trials and tribulations and how my coach encouraged me to finally get out of my comfort zone.  I think the team needs to be aware that every athlete goes through these things and we all have to start somewhere.  I know and understand what it's like, so it's pretty easy to relate.

I think the biggest thing the team needs to be aware of is that we are on the verge of making the next step.  I can have some degree of control over the type of work we do and encourage them through the mental process.  What is more difficult is finding a way to make each person "hungry", a reason to get better.  So, finding the solution to that problem is something that is always on my mind.

This reminds me of the Edison's quote “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

My challenge to each team member is to have the hope of trying to see this.  And what's neat, we will see some great successes in less than a week, as we focus on THE MAIN THING.

I distributed T shirts to the team many wore them with pride to practice.  Check out the embedded quote.  It's my favorite.

Lake of the Woods Hi Tower and Hill Roll

My first job out of college was as a camp counselor for the YMCA in Champaign, with camp being held at Lake of the Woods.  This was right before I started teaching at Paxton High School in August of 1977.  I've many fond memories of that place not only because of that experience, but it also served as my high school's home course my senior year at Fisher.  There were other good races there too, and I also recall our class picnic the Sunday after Prom my senior year.  Oh the memories of this place.

Those fond memories also bring with it some not so fond memories, as it seems every year we run at Lake of the Woods, I come home with a bitter taste in my mouth, with the exception of last year's Sectional meet.  Last year I lit up the team after a totally bad performance and I really didn't want to do that this year.  This year's team has a different dynamics, with a very young girls squad and a guys squad that has enough experience to be dangerous, if they want to be.

Today wasn't much different in my feelings, as we looked like we were running in quicksand.. Now, mind you, I know our kids are tired from some hard work and I knew there would be a drop in performance, but I didn't expect quite this much of a drop.  I suspect the combination of tired legs and hot, humid conditions made for a bad mix.  Only time will tell.

We talked briefly about that before our cool down, trip to the Hi Tower and roll down the hill, an annual tradition.  Then,  Coach T and I shared some thoughts with one another on the bus trip home.  After what we saw today, I now have a clue on just what we need to do to prepare for our Sectional meet in 3 short weeks with this year's teams.  I honestly think we will see totally different teams on that day.  My gut says that.

Team shirts are in so I will distribute those tomorrow.

Hard day on the hill

We've got a tired team, and that's all by design.  This week and next are the two most important of the season as we try and ready ourselves for the Championship Phase of the season, and that certainly is THE MAIN THING, reaching our goal of being at our best for the Sectional.

We pushed the hill pretty good tonight with 8 repeat fartlek style runs around the loop.  It was warm and humid, so we had the sprinklers going and had plenty of water to keep the team hydrated.

The biggest issue we have right now is getting the group to work as a unit, which can be such an awe inspiring experience.  Been there, done that, seen it lots of times.  The problem is, we are hot and cold on this concept.  One practice or meet, I think we have it, the next day, it's like looking for Santa Claus in the middle of summer.  So, hence our frustration as a coaching staff.  I'm still searching for that one magic bullet that will get them to really buy into the concept, so I'm still looking.

I have a couple of other tricks up my sleeve so I'll be rolling those out over the course of the next few days as we approach what should be the best part of the season.  I have a hunch it will all turn out just fine, but I still scratch my head, then express it here.

So, we look forward to a tough course at tomorrow's Fab 5 race at Lake of the Woods.  I will be very interested to see how we respond to my "special powers" talk today, and that starts when we get on the bus.  I look forward to some good eye contact.

And you think you've got it bad.

This Saturday's PBLHS Cross Country Invitational left me with something I had never witnessed before, and Coach Tipsord did a GREAT job relating this to the team at Monday's practice.  Of course, this was a meet day, of which I'll get to in a bit, but first something even more important (I should have written about this on yesterday's blog but had other pressing matters to deal with).

We were talking about team members whining and complaining about different things, sometimes seemingly giving up in practice or maybe even a meet, or feeling sorry for themselves.  Coach T interjected what we both saw at Saturday's race...............  a BLIND young lady run the open race with the aide of another fellow student athlete.  He was quick to add, "If you think you got it bad, there is always someone else out there who has it even worse.  Be thankful for what you have."

And so, a real life lesson for the day........  When I saw this young lady running, my sore ankle and knee became very insignificant.

Today's meet featured some great competition all across the board.  Plenty of runners of varying abilities taking advantage of the nice weather to put out a good effort.  Generally speaking, our course is slow, so if our team thought they would run as fast as they did at Dawson last week, that wasn't going to happen for lots of reasons.  We had a pretty tough workout yesterday, and I did not expect much pep in the legs.  As a matter of fact, we hadn't talked too much about today's meet because THE MAIN THING is our focus on the September 27 meet at St. Joseph.  That will remain THE MAIN THING all the way to that date.  Nothing else is important as our training, combined with the competition, with all things pointing towards the 27th.

I thought our girls closed the gap quite nicely on today's opponents and the effort was there. BUT, we have to learn to get out better in the first 200 meters of the race.  We become much too complacent and are out of the race before it even begins.

For the guys, we lack discipline before we run, and I am expecting the 8th graders to clean this up, or else I'll be forced to deal with it.  It's time to stop horsing around, as some of the guys call it.  Our pre meet demeanor and mental preparation are what will make us or break us.  We've got to become like "Jedi Knights" and use all of our collective forces of positive energy to focus our energy.  This team will not come even close to reaching its potential without clear, concise FOCUS.  We still don't get THE MAIN THING.  The head Jedi Master is about ready to summon his powers and perhaps exile a few wannabee team members from away meets or even off the team.  It won't be the first time this has happened.

So, may THE MAIN THING be with you!

Is this real?

After the blast furnace we've suffered through to start the first half of the season, I'm asking myself if this weather real or not, and I'm sure the team must be thinking the same.  Wow, was it nice to run practice in nice temps, and boy did we run.  Our intensity was pretty darned good, and the team really worked well with the 90 second rest interval between the 400's we did.

The deal of the day was if EVERYONE ran the 400's without any walking, the entire team would do one less than what was planned.  BINGO, we ran one less.  Way to go TEAM.

Tomorrow's meet will feature 7 teams and will a nice FALL CHALLENGE, as I've named this meet.  There will be our normal two races, girls followed by the guys.  The competition should be very good for all ability levels and we expect another nice day to compete.

T-shirts may be in by the end of the week, if all goes well.  I know the kids are anxious as they have been asking.

Banana Relays

We zipped through a fun, light practice tonight with a team favorite, the Banana Relays.  It's always been interesting to me to watch how some teams "protect" their banana from the elements of hand off after hand off, while others throw caution to the wind and end up with only a fragment of a peel at the conclusion of the run.  And of course, we "judge" which team as the best looking banana afterwards to declare the relay winner.  It's all in fun and the kids to enjoy the event.

Of course, they were all more interested in the school dance, so we tried to have them out of practice in plenty of time to get ready.  It all worked out well.

We discussed our training for the next couple of weeks and what to expect, with our eye set on September 27 as our next BIG race.  Yes, we have 3 races in between, but THE MAIN THING is September 27.  Those other races just help to get us there!!!  Simple concept.

We reminded everyone of their responsibility to get mileage in during the course of the weekend.  Gosh, it's hard to believe we have now reached the half way point in the season.  It does go fast.

A Dandy at Dawson

In typical Panther fashion, history again repeated itself at Dawson Lake, with tons of PERSONAL RECORDS for the season and/or the career of most of our runners.  I was definitely impressed and know there is MUCH MORE to come.

Of our 40 competitors, all but 3 were under 19 minutes.  OH MY GOSH, I was a proud pup.  I had a group of about 6 of our team running with me and the goal was to break 20, heck we not only did that but we broke 19.  Now mind you, ask those kids how much talking was going on the entire time...... I mean, they must of thought I wouldn't shut up.  I literally grabbed a couple by the hand and had them run lock step until the last 400 meters.  To watch what happened brought a real smile to my face.  We passed the mile mark in a tad under 9 minutes and I told them they were on pace to run 18.  Check that, I YELLED they were on pace to run 18.  Now, here's the kicker, now that the group has accomplished this, there is no turning back.  WE KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO!

And the rest of the team, I asked in the post run meeting how many had their best times ever, and boy did I see a lot of hands go up.  I can't say enough of how we all felt about today.  And the best part, WE KNEW AND TOLD THE TEAM EXACTLY THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN, if they kept the faith and did what we asked in practice and the weekends on their own.  It sure is nice to say, SEE, I TOLD YOU SO.

Now, for the reality check.  The next 2 weeks are going to be another break down of bodies in the cycle.  We're going to work pretty hard this next week to 10 days so we are ready for the next big meet we want to do well at, the St. Joseph Invitational on September 27 (THE MEDAL MEET).  How we compete the next 3 meets and the times we put down will not compare to today, since our physical and mental preparation is for the 27th.  Everything else in between are stepping stones to get us to that point.  My challenge is to keep the team believing in the PROCESS, since that is THE MAIN THING.

We'll enjoy today's accomplishments and have some fun in the cooler weather tomorrow with the ever so coveted BANANA RELAYS.  I'm sure the team will monkey around a bit tomorrow with their fruit, so let's hope no one slips on a banana peel.

The Team Concept - We are getting it.

All of my direction about working as a team is beginning to pay off and we're finally getting it.  I'm seeing some leaders emerge, those who you might least expect, and it's beginning to look like a Panther time of days gone by.  PATIENCE and PERSISTENCE is what it's all about, and dividends will be paid in the long haul.  I'll be interested to see how our leadership performs tomorrow, at Dawson Lake.

Today's workout was another scorcher, but we worked pretty tough back on the hill, with sprinklers blasting and plenty of water to be had by all.  We've not really backed off all that much from what has been planned, so with falling temps, we're going to see falling times.  Just what we expect, especially at Dawson tomorrow.

The team is excited and primed for some personal bests for this season tomorrow.  I look forward to assisting our group of runners who are in that 19 to 22 minute category of running 2 miles.  I'm running with them and going to do my darndest to get as many of them under 20 minutes as I possibly can.

We're looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow and some great times on a fast track.  We can't wait.

Sweat Equity

Sweat was abounding with today's heat, but the team was up to the task and developed some mental and physical toughness through it all.  This team is not going to get better by shying away from even the worst of conditions, and we must be prepared.  After all, if the Sectional were held on a day like today, we'd be running regardless (except for a thunderstorm).  So, we've got to be prepared for anything and everything. We were pleased with the overall effort of our 5th and final exhibition meet, as we turn our sights towards Dawson Lake, our first gauge of success for the season.

I know the team is looking forward to the meet and is excited about posting some great times.  The coaching staff is of the opinion that this group will earn everything it can get, so we are all anxious for Thursday.  I know the focus for the last few days has been towards this particular meet, as the kids have been talking about it quite a bit.  I'm anticipating a very focused and determined group for the remainder of the week.  After all, if we can run in today's conditions, and perform reasonably well, imagine what we can do with much more favorable weather on a "fast track".  ZOOM, away we go!!!!

One more day of heat to contend with, so we'll enjoy a reasonably tough fartlek style workout on the hill tomorrow, with sprinklers blasting away!!

The Comfort Zone

Today's heat and humidity took us right out of our COMFORT ZONE, something that played right into today's team meeting discussion.  As novice runners, our rookies have to learn to get out of their comfort zone and let the mind take over the body.  Yes, the body says to slow down, but those with a strong mind have the ability to control their body and trust their instincts.  Good, experienced distance runners have the experience to consistently run out of that zone and know how to take their bodies to the limit.  Hopefully, our team can learn to do just that, if we want to be competitive by season's end.

We hydrated well, and worked on the BULLET tonight while running 6 x 400 meters at a prescribed mark.  We wanted to go 8 x 400 tonight, but common sense ruled on this one, due to the heat, and we backed off.  There was plenty of water available during the workout, and we gave the team a little less of a warm up run and cool down run as well.  All went well.

Funny thing, once we were outside in the heat and the bodies adjusted, there weren't too many complaints.  We do adjust to the elements, its just that we are comfort creatures and don't like the extremes.  However, the body is amazing and will adapt to the elements rapidly.  We just tend to be whimps with our air conditioning and heating systems in this modern world we live in.

Let's hope that we don't have to whimp out tomorrow and can get the meet in.  Otherwise, the plan is to jog to Pells and do a mile time trial around the park.  The team actually looks forward to that possibility.

Swirl and Hurl - It's a Myth

The annual "Swirl and Hurl" Dairy Queen run was once again much talked about by the veterans all week, while the unsuspecting rookies (at least some of them) fretted over the prospects of running across town, then coming back, after downing their ice cream, and run hard enough to "toss their cookies".  Of course, the whole thing is a practical joke, as the rookies do get "lined up" to run but are stopped after running about 50 yards by the vets who are cheering them on at the "gauntlet" by the ditch.  The chatter by the veterans prior to the run are detailed "lies" about their experience with the run, while the rookies are not too amused.  It does make for rather entertaining conversation, that's for sure.

Our thoughts now turn to week #5 of the season, where we look forward to a good meet on Tuesday, followed by our first AWAY meet at Dawson Lake.  We circle this meet as one where we are shooting for some terrific times and performances.  And of course, I always run this race with our back group, pacing them to break 20 minutes and keeping them focused.  After all, who wants to be beat by "an old man"?

I challenged the team to get their weekend mileage in and to continue getting all homework assignments in.  So far, so good on the eligibility side of things.  Let's hope this trend continues.

Proper Preparation = Success

As we assembled at the greenhouse as we always do before a race, we reminded the team about the discussion on the importance of preparation, per yesterday's team meeting.

We we pleased to see that the team took it to heart and did was was necessary to not only be ready to compete, but also do a nice job competing!  Well done, my good and faithful Panthers!!!  Let's continue what we did well today so that is makes us better as the season progresses.

The weather was pretty nice tonight, with a nice northerly breeze, which helping things out a lot, comfort wise.  I spent time talking about the "bullet" when it comes to putting the team in championship position right from the start.  We will practice that a lot more as time goes on, with Monday being the next big opportunity.  I also urged the rookies to walk less and run more, just to lower their times.  In most cases, we were successful with that.  With a few more days of conditioning, we should have most everyone at the point of being able to run the entire distance without stopping.

During the final team huddle, I reminded everyone of next week's first away meet at Dawson Lake, our first big "check point" for the season.  This is a race we always point to, and we'll be ready to rip some fine times and personal records next Thursday.

Swirl and Hurl is tomorrow.  DQ here we come.  Oh, the rookies are nervous about this one.  It's always a shocker!

Preparation

We spent quite a bit of time talking about the importance of PREPARATION.  And THE MAIN THING about PREPARATION is those who prepare, succeed, those who don't generally fail, unless they are flat out lucky.

Coach T and I both observed yesterday's PREPARATION by the team and saw a lot of things we did not like.  We were very candid with our thoughts and challenged the team to LOOK IN THE MIRROR to see how they seem themselves as part of the solution.

We addressed each grade level and how we see them fitting into the puzzle, with predefined roles and expectations.  Mind you, when there is a tradition of excellence like we have, the expectation level is quite high.  There was a nice interaction between the team and coaching staff, then the real proof was whether the team would take our challenge to heart and translate it into positive action.

It was amazing to see the change before our very eyes.  TEAM instead of I........  working together, encouraging one another, working diligently during practice, all the way through the cool down.  Bottom line, message delivered, message received, message put into action.

Now, the real test begins with tomorrow's meet.  Pass or Fail?  I have my hunch which one it will be.  We have history and tradition on our side.

We Labored after Labor Day

It was all too obvious to me that the team was not ready for today's meet.  It's funny how I knew this, but there is a way which I ALWAYS can tell how we will perform:  The intensity of our pullouts from the starting line along with the team clap/huddle.  It's ALWAYS spot on, and today was no different.  We were just going through the motions and boy it it show today.  No fire as a team.  NONE.

Now, I'm not saying that some individuals didn't run well, far from it, there were some nice performances, but the standard we have set as a TEAM is yet to be matched.  We have MUCH work to do to rise to the level of tradition and excellence of past Panther teams.  And it's just not by showing up and/or putting on the uniform.  I think some team members sadly mistaken that just because we put on the uniform and run in the top 7 that the team is suddenly good.  WRONG.  Look at today's team scores.  We were spanked, and by some teams that rarely, if ever have beaten us in the past.

It's time to WAKE UP and realize that we have to work smart and well in practice each day, without excuses, and do the things that are important.  All the little things that this group is apparently taking for granted, from the warm-up, to the stretching, to the work to be done on a consistent basis.

So, if I sound a little more than perturbed about today's performance, I am.  Complacency is a word that is not part of my vocabulary nor part of my demeanor or fiber.  Never has been, never will be.  My job is to shake this word out of existence with many team members.

I told the team Friday's scheduled DQ Run is dependent on Wednesday and Thursday's performance at practice and the meet.  Let's see if the group decides to respond.

Friday Wacky Relays

I think today was the worst day of the week.  It was hot and sticky but we managed to go through another full practice and had a lot of fun doing it with our WACKY RELAYS.  Watching these guys run is fun enough, but watching them run backwards, hopping like a kangaroo, and doing a gazillion variations of cartwheels, round offs, and forward rolls is a total hoot.

My gosh, it's 95 degrees, high humidity, and here we are working hard at it for 20 solid minutes and the team is laughing and having a great time.  Now, you tell me who is crazier!!!

I'll still take any late team shirt orders on Tuesday, as I need to get them to the shirt guy ASAP.

Enjoy the nice Labor Day holiday weekend.  I challenged the team to run two of the three days, getting in a minimum of 3 miles each time for a total of 6 miles during the weekend.  It's important to keep the fitness routine on a roll if we intend to get better, which I know we will.

As for me, I have season tickets for the Illini, so will be at Memorial Stadium for the game, and hopefully I'll get some golf in this weekend too.

Let's get some rain and look forward to some cooler weather!!!

Exhibition Meet #2

Another hot day, yet we responded relatively well to not only the heat but some tired legs.  We've worked pretty hard this week, so I would not expect any super performances at this time.  Overall, I was pleased with how we are taking care of business before and after the meet.  The kids know I mean business when it comes to the warm up and cool down.  They are earning my trust, but still I have to continue to my "due diligence" as their coach to make sure things are done right.

Both teams still know and are beginning to understand that we have a long way to go to get into the kind of shape we need to be in order to perform well at season's end.  Doing the little things will make a HUGE difference when it comes to reaching our potential.

Tomorrow we'll enjoy one of my weird Friday relays and have some fun.  Labor Day weekend is summer's last be hurrah, and I NEVER practice the team on Monday.  My expectation is for my young runners to run 2 of the 3 days during the long weekend and come back ready to compete on Tuesday with our 3rd home meet.

Let's get those team shirt orders in and get ready to enjoy our 3 day weekend.  And go ILLINI.  I'll be at this Saturday's game.  I can't wait to see the new scoreboard, digital ribbon, and signage noting the championships.  Looks great in pictures but probably much better in person.

Forged in the heat

After tonight's workout, I think this team is beginning to believe what we've been preaching.  If we prepare properly, we can do anything!!!!   It was pretty darned hot out there, yet the kids listened and drank plenty of the right fluids before, during and after practice and the results paid off.  We did our normal Wednesday hill workout, with two sprinklers at the 100 meter mark of the 200 meter hill.  Mind you, this workout would have felt like an inferno IF we hadn't prepared, but the kids really performed well.  NO ONE complained, NO ONE stopped to walk, and we did exactly what I wanted in 20 minutes.  Our intensity was pretty sound, yet the kids seemed to enjoy the challenge.  Pretty amazing, I thought!

A former XC runner and PBL grad Craig Boone happened to come by.  I introduced Craig to the team and noted his contributions to PBLHS XC and his GREAT basketball skills.  Then I took time to also feat him as a returning soldier from Iraq and Afghanistan.  What really astounded me is how the team responded by actually taking the time to THANK Craig for his service to our country.  Mind you, I did not know Craig was coming by nor did I prompt the team.  They did this all on their own.  Craig was so thankful for the kids reaction!!!   This was the BEST lesson of the day, after I had just talked to the team at our daily meeting about RESPECT to one another.  One must say that we have a good group of kids!!!

I distributed team shirt forms and a call for parents help for bottled water!!!

Tomorrow will be another scorcher, but we'll be ready to talk the next set of teams who come to invade our Panther XC trail.

Season Opener - A nice start, but....

We had a nice start at our Season Opener, with the guys taking 2nd place and the girls grabbing 3rd.  It was hot, but we toughed it out and had some nice performances.  Note the play on words.  Nothing great or fantastic here, nor were there any "epic fails".  Basically, it was nice to start the season BUT we know we have a VERY long way to go.  That was the message I gave the team in our brief meeting in the shade before doing the cool down.

The best part about this meet is that I KNOW what is coming and that's exciting!!!  You don't do this for as long as I have and not see the tremendous potential we have.  HOWEVER, it's going to take continued focus on THE MAIN THING to reach our goals.  The veterans know this, but may not totally understand it, while the rookies are going to have to take this on blind faith.

So, tomorrow will be another warm one, but we'll have plenty of fun on the hill.  I'll have the sprinklers blasting so we stay plenty wet and plenty of water, too.  We'll work right through the heat.

The high school has a "relay meet" on the JH course tomorrow, so I hope we have a little time left to cheer on our HS Panthers.

Team shirt order forms with go home and I need them back Friday so I can get the order in PDQ.  Pay when the shirts arrive.  Deal?

Heat Hysteria - Let's be real here.

First, I have to say the Picnic, Practice and Pool Party was a lot of fun on Saturday.  I want to again thank the many parents and especially my wife for helping with this event.  The Veterans continued their streak of NEVER losing a kickball game to the Rookies and I got drenched by flying water balloons.  It was all in good fun.  The food was really good and the water balloon relay went well for the workout.  It's always a joy to run on the trail on what I refer to as "the north 40".  So quiet and peaceful.  WOW.

My wife and I beat it out of town with our grandson and went to the railroad museum in Union Illinois to see Thomas the Tank Engine.  I could not believe all the people there.  THOUSANDS, for sure.  I enjoyed riding the train and checking out some old locomotives and other forms of rail transportation.  Really a neat place.

Now let's be real about the weather for a moment.  My gosh, we think folks are going to keel over when it gets warm like this, but as I told the team, the secret to success in this warmer weather is being smart by hydrating right, with the proper liquids, and adapting activity accordingly.  So, that's what we did for practice today.  I backed of slightly on the distance to be run and made sure we had plenty of water during the main part of the workout, which lasted a bit over 20 minutes.  I ran every interval with the team, and was generally impressed with how we performed.  Of course, is the "old man" can do this, then these young pups ought to be able to respond accordingly.  Of course, I would never tease them about being beat by the old guy........

We did spend quite a bit of time on the course so the rookies really understand how the course is run.  Of course, they will be very nervous tomorrow, which is normal.  We'll do just fine.

Girls will run at 4:15 followed by the guys about 4:45.  The team then runs a cool down afterwards, so we just don't pick up and go right after the race.

See you at the races for this seasons first exhibition!

Time Trial #2

We were again fortunate to have some relatively good weather for today's practice, which saw the team jog to Pells Park from the JH for the warm-up.  The team did a great job of following my instructions for our trek through town.  We travel as a team and really are aware of the intersections, especially American, Taft, Market and Rt. 45.  I were my bright green running shirt and stand in the middle of each intersection while the team crosses.  Drivers are always good about this and they wave to the team, so that's a good sign.

Once at the park, the guys and gals split into their respective teams and went through our stretches, drills, and pullouts, followed by a break for water and rest room.  The guys took off first, then a minute later the girls took off, hoping to chase down as many guys as possible during the 1 mile run.

I was very pleased with the team's overall performance.  We had some nice times and some excited kids.  Of course, not everyone was pleased, since we still have a bunch of tired legs out there.  That's to be expected, especially for our first year runners.

Tomorrow is the annual Pool Party, Practice, and Picnic at Lake Iroquois.  I've been doing this team builder for all the years of coaching while back at PBL.  It's always a fun time and no one goes away hungry!  We'll distribute team uniforms tomorrow, too!

Dead Legs

We've got a tired bunch of troopers on the team, but it's all by design and that's what I keep preaching.  I just hope they keep the faith, because once we get into about week 5 of the season, we'll start seeing some amazing results!!!  TRUST ME on this!!!

We lucked out with the clouds, breeze, and cooler weather today and I know the kids welcomed the relief!  I know I did.

The workout today was designed to take some stress off the body, but not so much that we get lazy about things.  I changed up the routine by doing "Leg Circuits" for stretching and strengthening today.  This is something I like to do a couple of times each week, just to vary the work and keep the team from getting bored and nonchalant with the work.  After our regular drill work, we took a bit of a rest and ran lightly for about 10 minutes follow by 10 x 100 meter runs at faster than race pace on the minute.  By about the 7th one most rookies were gassed, but the distance and length of rest gave them hope to finish quickly.  In fact, that took a grand total of 9 minutes and 22 seconds to complete.  Sounds easy, but after a run of about 1.4 miles then a couple of minutes of rest, it is taxing at this early stage of the season.  We'll do this again in a few weeks and the team will think it is easy.

Tomorrow we'll jog over to Pells Park and do another mile time trial then jog back to school.  And of course, Saturday is the annual team pool party, practice, and picnic at Lake Iroquois.  We look forward to a fun day.

Wacky Sock Wednesday and THE HILL

I broke out my wacky socks and the team thought I looked AWESOME, NOT!  Anyway, every Wednesday is WACKY SOCK WEDNESDAY, so don't forget that.  We've seen some pretty wacky socks over the years, so we'll wait to see if anyone can out do me!!

One team member told be during school today that she needed a day off, and I responded with a "No, we have to continue the PROCESS, and being tired is part of it.  You need to be at practice."  She was a no show.

So, I talked to the team about the PROCESS of training and how "being tired" is a necessary part of it.  We generally work on a Hard Day, Easy Day concept throughout the course of the season, so that will not change.  What is important to remember that we are working for 3 distinct meets during the course of the season, and our training and routine are all geared for that.  On top of that, I know the importance of what I call "the 40 day rule".  If you are interested in the "40 Day Rule" come talk to me sometime.  You might be surprised with it's significance.

What makes it challenging as a coach, is that youngsters are not exactly the most patient people in the world, and 40 days must seem like an eternity to them, so its my job to keep them motivated throughout that period and vary the workouts so it keeps things interesting.

We traveled to THE HILL and hit it hard for 20 minutes tonight.  Most everyone was up 5 times and down 5 times with about a 90 second rest interval in between.  Mixed with the heat, it was certainly a challenge, but we were lucky in the fact that the humidity was low and there was a relatively nice breeze.  We also ran a sprinkler from Coach Pacey's house, so the team had some refreshing water to look forward to each time up and down the hill.

First Day of School

I celebrated my 53rd "1st Day of School" and had a picture taken on my Iphone so I could send it to Mom and Dad.  I had my gym bag in hand and a supply of apples!!!!

This day is always fun but stressful for many.  We spent a lot of time just getting new team members adjusted to the building and also being acquainted to our team routine and traditions.  It's really best to take plenty of care and time in doing this right from the get go, so it's all worth it.

Of course, it had to be hotter than Hades out today, and with little or no shade on our course, it was a far cry from the friendly confines of Pells Park.  The kids really wished we were back at Pells, and so do I.  We will get that opportunity on Friday, when we jog the mile over to Pells to do our second time trial.  This will definately give the team something to look forward to.

After a tough workout yesterday, we backed off with a circuit run today, which helped in becoming more familiar with our course.  I thought the team responded pretty well to the heat, and of course the rigors of being back in the school environment.

Since we had early dismissal and had the team head to the Commons for study hall, I took time to discuss the importance of doing ALL of their homework since they must be passing ALL courses in order to stay eligible.  If the kids don't know my feelings about this after today's discussion, then they had to be sleeping.  I'm dead serious about doing what is right and getting things taken care of.  There are no excuses and I just hate it when a team member FAILS in their responsibility to the rest of the team, mostly by being LAZY.

We can't wait for the annual Pool Party, Picnic, and Practice on Saturday.  I hope to have a few parents come out and help, as in past years.  This really is a fun time for the team.

Camp Pells Park - Day 6

Well, the weather finally caught up with us today and we sweat our tails off at practice.  It was nice to see a few more of our guys make it to practice after extended vacation time.  They picked a fine time to come, with a pretty tough workout planned.

I spent time discussing how we'll handle practice tomorrow, with it being the first day of school.  Basically, I want the team to report to the Commons first, then we'll dismiss about 3:15 to the gym to get dressed for practice.  We always meet just outside the doors to the junior high gym under the shaded area with benches on both sides.  We should be done right around 5 PM, depending on how long it takes for the team to do the cool down.  Generally speaking, we're done closer to 5:10, especially until we get into a routine and everyone knows where to go.

The "ladder" workout was on store for today.  We ran 6 segments of starting with the shortest of 150 meters until we finished with the last segment of a full 800 meters.  Rest time was a walking recovery of about 150 meters.  By the time we got to the 4th segment, most of the rookies were gassed, while the veterans knew from past experience what to expect.  I then split the team and had the veterans "keep truckin" while the rookies did just a little less, at "old man pace".  I challenged them all not to be beat by yours truely, and some team members accepted that challenge!!!

We'll look forward to a good week of work and this weekend's Pool Party, Practice, and Picnic at Lake Iroquois this Saturday from 11 AM to 1:30.  It's always a great time.

Camp Pells Park - Day 5

Today's Annual Ice Cream & Cookies Time Trial was a lot of work and a lot of fun at the same time.   I was really pleased with our performances for both the girls and guys teams.  It's always great to see improvement from your veterans and then find that several new comers will really be ready to step in and be contributing members of this year's squad.  I was very impressed with several of our 6th grade boys and girls.  WOW, really nice!!!!  I know that by the end of the season we'll be ready to do well!!!

Just a reminder to everyone of the expectation of running at least 3 miles this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday.  Monday we will practice at Pells Park at 3:30 and be done at 5, then Tuesday at school.  The summer went by oh so quickly and it will be time to put on our thinking caps again!!!

I look forward to our annual Pool Party, Picnic and Practice next Saturday at Lake Iroquois.  It's always a blast and we have such a great time.

Let's work to recruit more team members as school starts.  It's not too late to come out for the team and we welcome anyone who is willing to be a part of our squad.

Enjoy a wonderful "last weekend of the summer"!!!

Camp Pells Park - Day 4

Another nice day brings with it the challenge of day 4, which brings with it tired bodies.  Of course, this is to be expected but all part of the PROCESS of conditioning the body.  I was disappointed that a few girls decided to "skip" practice, so we'll be discussing that with them tomorrow.  No reason to get on the team members who were there, but I did express my displeasure with their decision.  Enough said.

I talked to the team about the weekend expectation of running at least 3 miles either Saturday or Sunday.  One day has to be a rest day, and I would prefer Sunday.  It's really important to keep the body in rhythm and tune to regular work, IF we want to improve.  At this level, I will not impose upon family time on weekends, knowing there are lots of things going on.  I know other programs race on Saturdays throughout the season, but I choose not to put the team through that grind.  We'll be prepared when the time is right, and be fresh for our only Saturday invitational at the end of the season, along with the Sectional and State Finals.

We had a great 22 minute relay workout, with each team member running anywhere between 10 to 12 200 meter runs with about a minute's rest in between.  I was really pleased with the teams overall effort throughout.  We looked good, despite having tired legs.

Let's look forward to tomorrow's Cookies and Ice Cream Mile Time Trial.  This gives us an indication of the fitness level of each team member and gives us a baseline to work with for the remainder of the season.

Camp Pells Park - Day 3

Coming to practice in long sleeve shirts and sweats is unheard of in August.  I hope this isn't a preview of things to come this winter.........

We are what we eat and drink..........  the topic of today's team meeting before our workout.  I really emphasized the importance of eating proper meals each day, starting with a good breakfast.  I likened this to driving my truck, which gets about 16 miles to the gallon, to Gibson City and wanting to get back with no problem.  However, I only have a bit more than one gallon of gas in the tank.  The truck may look great and run well, until the fuel runs out, then bam....  it's a worthless piece of scrap.  Same thing with our bodies.  If we don't give it the proper fuel, it will run "out of gas" too, and not run very well at all.  I think we get the message here.  I took time to describe good foods and bad foods.  POP - BAD,  MILK - GOOD, WATER - GREAT, MONSTER DRINKS - EXTREMELY BAD, CANDY - BAD, FRUITS - FANTASTIC, COLD PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST - FANTASTIC, DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST - YUCK.

We had a great circuit run and the team really performed extremely well.  I was very pleased with the overall effort.  Tomorrow will be much more of a challenge before Friday's mile time trial.

Camp Pells Park - Day 2

We have to be grateful for this wonderfully COOL weather which has made training much more bearable.  Let's hope this continues, but I have this feeling that Mother Nature will somehow balance this out when we start competing.

TRUST was the theme of today's discussion!  Trusting the coaching staff with the plan for success is sometimes difficult to get across to young runners.  For many team members, this may be the first time being pushed to run and breath a lot more than normal.  Novice runners think they are going to faint or something bad is going to happen, but we'd never put our young Panthers in danger of anything like that.  Yes, there is discomfort, but that is just part of the process of learning how to run.  So, TRUST the plan and the process. It's tried and true.  Check the trophy case as proof!

We worked pretty tough for 22 minutes on our second day of camp with the annual Swing Relay.  In the beginning, the swings look rather attractive, but halfway through the workout, no one is swinging?  Hmmm.  I was very pleased with the team's effort.  It's hard to believe that each team member covered 4 miles in today's workout!!!  AWESOME!!!

Tomorrow we'll back off just a bit, hit it tough again on Thursday, then be ready for the ICE CREAM and COOKIES Time Trial on Friday.  First we run, then we enjoy treats after the team cools down.  I look forward to see how well the team performs!!!

Camp Pells Park - Day 1

Here we are back with the 2013 edition of PBLJH Panther Cross Country.  It was great to welcome 35 smiling faces at our first practice this morning.  We were missing quite a few team members who are still on vacation, so we know we'll start seeing our numbers grow over the course of the next few days.

We spent a LOT of time going over our warm-up exercises and drills, as they are an extremely important component of our daily routine.  The coaching staff will be watching and correcting mistakes this week so we can reduce the amount instruction time and focus on other things.

Our workout was a nice 1 mile circuit, with lots of core work and took a little over 20 minutes to complete.  We finished with an easy half mile cool down, getting about 3 miles in on our first day of training.

I spent time explaining the our training is a PROCESS, and any process takes time.  It's the job of the coaches to set up a sound plan and make sure the team executes the plan, while the team needs to listen and trust in the coaches to guide and lead!

We'll work pretty good throughout the week and be prepared for a "baseline" 1 mile time trial on Friday, known as the "Cookie and Ice Cream Run."  More on that, later in the week.  Let's be thankful for the pleasant weather and be prepared to work hard and smart!!!