Week of 10/12-10/18

Monday, 10/19: Practice at WAHS 4-6pm. 

Tuesday 10/20: Practice at WAHS 4-5:30pm

Wednesday 10/21 District Meet @ Fluvanna (Pleasant Grove XC Course, Palmyra, VA)

Varsity Race at 3pm, Open Race @ 4:15

Varsity: Zoey, Cole, Maddie, EK, Daisy, Hannah, Ruby

All others are in the Open Race

Bus will leave at 12:15pm.

Thursday 10/22: Practice @ WAHS 4-5:30

Friday 10/23: Practice @ WAHS 7:25. Pre-race.

Saturday 10/24: Halloween Relays @ Mint Springs Farm. 8-11am

We will have a potluck brunch directly following the races. Please plan on brining a dish to share. You can drop off food / drinks at the Party Barn.  Families welcome! I will bring plates, utensils, cups, and napkins. Awards will be at the brunch. Check out the slide deck below for more infomation.

Goals & Pacing:

Goals: Before each meet, try to set goals for yourself. I like to use the "3 tier system" for goal setting:

Goal 1: A goal that you would be satisfied with. This goal is very attainable and shows some improvement. For example, if you ran 24:00 last race, this goal could be anything that dips under 24:00.

Goal 2: A goal that you would be happy with. This goal is more ambitious, and shows greater improvement. For example, if you ran 24:00 last race, this goal would be 23:15-23:45. 

Goal 3: This is your "Holy Cr@p" goal! This goal shows great improvement, and requires you to really challenge yourself. For example, if you ran 24:00 last race, this goal would be about 23:15 or faster. 

Once you have your 3 goals established, then you need to figure out how to attain those goals. This is what we talked about this morning: Focus on the things you can control. Do not stress about the things you can't control. You can't control the weather, when your race is, and what other people in your race do. Here are the 3 things you can do to be the best prepared to achieve your goals:

1. LOGISTICS: What you do the day before and the morning of the meet are crucial. Day Before: eat a good lunch, hydrate all day in school (electrolytes and water), have a great dinner. Night Before: Prepare everything you will need for the race tomorrow and have it ready to go (uniform, spikes, Buddy Bag, water bottle, warm clothes, etc.) and go to bed as early as possible. Day of: Arrive on time to the race course. Be ready at warm-up time, pay attention. 

2. ATTITUDE / POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Only you control your attitude and outlook. Do everything you can to be positive at all times on race day. This includes body language as well as what comes out of your mouth. Anytime you have a negative thought enter your head, try to replace it with a positive one. Change your mindset, and think of the race as a wonderful opportunity, something that you GET to do because you have a strong body and mind. If you convey that attitude, it is contagious, and will help those around you AND YOURSELF have better races. You will be nervous, everyone gets nervous before a race. That is your body's way of getting ready to work, and your mind's way of saying "This is important and matters". How you react to those nerves is what really matters. 

3. HOW YOU RUN YOUR RACE: To run your fastest 5k, it has been proven that the best strategy is to start out in control the first mile (HEAD), pick up / maintain goal race pace through the middle of the race (BODY), and in the third mile build up to giving it your all the last 800 (HEART).

What does that look like in a race? It means you should have a plan for how you are going to race. Let's say you have a goal of 23:00 for the 5k, that is an overall 7:42 pace. Your first mile should not be much faster than that pace. When the guns goes off, run the first 800 at about 3-5 seconds faster than goal race pace, and try to get in a good position without expending too much energy. Remember, you can't control how other runners in the race go out, but you can control your first mile. You should finish that first mile feeling good, relaxed, and confident, even if you aren't "where you think you should be" compared to other runners. 

Your second mile through the first part of your 3rd mile should either be right at your goal race pace or a tad bit faster. You should not be slowing down significantly the second mile. If you maintain your goal race pace, you will start steadily passing people throughout that second mile and into the first part of the third mile, and that is both fun and a confidence boost for you! This is where the work happens-- focus on your breathing, maintaining your form, your efficient stride length, and passing other runners as much as possible.  

Mile 2.5-3.1 is where you pick up the pace even more, continue to pass people, and give it everything you have right through the finish line. This is where you don't think, just RACE. You should tap into your competitive side in this mile. If someone tries to pass you, REACT!. You've worked so hard the first two and a half miles, so show them that you mean business that last 900. Don't wait until the last 200 to start really moving, start at mile 2.5 and build to all out by the time you have about a 200 left. You want to finish the race with absolutely nothing left in the tank, and with the certainty that you could not have given anything more to your race. If you finish that way, you have found success on that day, no matter what the clock says.  

If you are having trouble figuring out what your pacing might look like, here is are pacing tools that can help:

--Pace Calculator: This is a basic tool to help you figure out what splits you would be hitting overall for certain distances.

--A 5k Pacing Tool: I love this one. It breaks down the race into 800 meter segments. Play around with this tonight.

Remember, you are an incredible individual, and how you race on any given day doesn't define you. How you react to setbacks, how you set goals and try to achieve them, how you treat others and yourself--these are the true markings of your character. Running and racing is just a part of that, but one you can always be working on. 

You've GOT THIS! I'm PROUD OF YOU! 

UPCOMING EVENTS for XC

Here are some things to look forward to and PLAN for:

Wednesday Oct 14:  We will Decorate Spike Bags at practice. I will have a bag for each girls, fabric paint / markers, etc. Even if you don't have spikes yet, you probably will someday! 

Saturday Oct 17:  Our meet is in Richmond (at Pole Green Park, where RVA Relays was): Virginia Showcase. This is our flattest, fastest 5k of the season so far and not one to miss!  

Wednesday Oct 21: District Meet @ Fluvanna. This meet will be the final meet for many of our Group 2 girls! Please plan on coming out and cheering them on!  Girls Varsity Races at 3pm, Open Race later on. 

Saturday Oct 24: Halloween Relays, Costume Contest,  and Team Potluck Breakfast @ Mint Springs Farm! 8-11am. This is a mandatory practice (it is our last hard workout before Regionals). This is a huge team tradition and again,  not one to be missed!  I will be creating the relay teams THIS WEEK, so let me know if you can't be there.  I want to give you guys plenty of time to plan your costumes this year.  After the Relay Race is over, we will all (families included) head over to the Party Barn behind the house for a team potluck breakfast and hand out awards. Every girl will get a goody bag, and there will be prizes for the fastest relay team, best costumes, etc. 

Families: I could use some help with this one! Here are ways you can help. Let me know if you are able  to do any of these things:

--Plan on bringing a dish to share for the potluck

--Volunteer to make goody bags for the girls. Perhaps a group of parents could organize this? I have some funds I can send your way! 

--Help during the relay part (keeping girls organized, taking pictures / videos, etc.)

Wednesday Oct 28: Regional Meet hosted by Wilson Memorial High School (more info coming).  Girls Varsity races at NOON!

Friday, Nov 6-Saturday Nov 7: State Meet @ Salem. If we make it to States, I'd like this to be an overnight for the girls + alternates.  We would leave school at lunch, travel down together (stopping for lunch somewhere), check into the hotel, and then head to the race course for our pre-race.  Then we can have a team dinner together and head to bed early, and head to the course on Saturday morning as a team. More information to come, but I wanted to put that on your radars!

Sunday Nov 15: Girls XC Banquet (Potluck) at WAHS cafeteria @ 3pm. Come celebrate the season together with your families! 

Saturday-Sunday Nov 21-22:  NXR Meet in Cary, NC.  This meet is open to anyone on the team that has run 24 min or faster for a 5k by Nov 1. For some reason, the races are on Sunday the 22nd this year.  If we decide to go, we would head down together on Saturday, have a team dinner Saturday night, race Sunday morning, and then head home.