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Coach Chad, chadaustin@charter.net, 612-669-7635 / Coach Mollie, mollieamoore@me.com, 651-271-1062 / Coach Craig, craig.huhtala@gmail.com, 630-414-6378
hoa! What a terrific Sections meet?!?! Highland had 11 athletes qualify for state - that's the most in school history. From a distance/mid-distance standpoint, the following athletes qualified; Luna (3200 and 4x800), Molly (1600 and 4x800), Ellie (800 and 4x800), Delia (4x800), Jesse (4x400), and Charlie (4x400).
Our state qualifiers weren't the only athletes burning up the track. Here's a list of other PRs from the meet. On day #1 Gavin proved Coach Craig right by becoming a 2:07-guy (2:07.89 to be exact), while Lance dropped his 800m time by 4 seconds (2:04.81), Habetamu dropped his 3200 PR by 11 seconds to 10:28.83.
On day #2, Hanna dropped her 1600 from 5:48 to 5:39, Mateo improved 6 seconds and now has the fastest 1600 on the team at 4:43.89, Pfan joined the sub-5 club with his 4:59.60, Jesse dropped his 800m by another 1.2 seconds (2:02.56), Ellie moved to #3 (2:18.25) on the 800m Honor Roll, while Delia is now #7 (2:20.86), our girls 4x400 team (Ellie, Delia, Luna and Molly) is now #3 and the boys 4x400 team (Spencer, Jesse, Ayden and Charlie) is now #9.
SECTION FINALS MOTIVATION
If you need a little motivation for today's Section Finals (especially the relays), then be sure to check out this video of Coach Craig's 4x800 team from the 2010 section 7AA meet. His team in the black tops with orange shoulders.
As they like to say on the internet, "Wait for it!"
Three guys who are glad they ran the 800 and not the 3200.
All photos by Jen Rusch or someone using Coach Klatt's camera.
Davis, Ben and Habetamu battling in the 3200 (and the heat).
Jesse in full-flight on his way to the 800m finals.
Coach Craig encouraging Lance to a 4 second PR in the 800 and a spot in the finals.
"Everyone" in the 3200 was keying off Chloe.
Delia on her way to pushing the "easy" button at the end of her 800m prelims.
Alex taking care of business in her 800m prelim.
Ellie flexing her way to the 800m finals.
Ana Weaver "checking" on Amelie.
Amelie (7th), Chloe (5th) and Luna (2nd) in the 3200.
4 people that love their "job" and a talented photo-bomber.
Weaver, Scorzelli and Guider separating themselves early in the 3200.
SECTIONS WEEK!
SECTIONS WEEK!
During big meets, I'm always reminded of what the University of Colorado coach, Mark Wetmore, tells his team. We're not asking for super-human efforts at this meet, just perform as you have all year long. Remember all the mental skills you've worked on all season long, as well as what we talked about during cross country; ABCs (attitude, breathing, check your fists) and don't be afraid to take a chance.
Sections Week!
The Mid-D/Distance TRAINING PLAN has been UPDATED for week #11; 6/7 - 6/13. NOTE: If you're one of the 7 athletes (milers and Charlie) not racing until Thursday, you'll be doing a short/quick workout at practice on Monday. I thought about having you do this on your own, however, you'll be racing in the heat, so we might as well continue to acclimate.
Josh laying it all on the line.
All photos by Coach Klatt
4 x 800 Conference Champs; Hanna, Amelie, Anna and Sam.
Sam handing off to the Beast.
Anna finishing strong with Coach Craig and Coach Moore taking meticulous splits in the background.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS EXERCISES
MAKING A CASE FOR YOURSELF: No matter how mentally tough you are, negative thought can creep in at any moment. In this exercise you put your lawyer hat on, confront the negativity and make a case of counter-arguments for those negative thoughts.
MANTRAS: This exercise explains the value of mantras, provides guidance for creating your own, as well as examples.
VISUALIZATION & IMAGERY: Visualization is seeing your race day play out in your head, while imagery involves employing as many senses as possible. This exercise will help you get better at practicing these strategies and start bringing everything together.
PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION WITH CUE WORD: There's little doubt that the more relaxed we can remain during a race, the faster we will run. Of course, that can be easier said than done. I really like this exercise because it makes sense, it's easy to learn, and everyone "gets it". Work on this skill this week and then we'll pair it with mental rehearsal/visualization/imagery later in the week.
SUPERHERO POWER POSE: Want to be entertained? At our next meet watch what kids do while standing on the starting line. You'll see all kids of arms shaking, squatting, jumping up and down, and so on. Anything to help with the nervous energy. The Superhero Power Pose is simple, but powerful way to combat all that jumping and shaking.
CONFIDENCE JOURNAL: I talked about journaling a little bit last week. This exercise explains the idea behind creating a Confidence Journal. The idea is pulled from Kara Goucher's Strong, which is shown below. After key workouts Goucher asks herself questions about what went well during the workout. By answering in specific terms, she's able to recall these key workouts when she reviews the journal prior to big races.
POSITIVE SELF-TALK: Being pessimistic is incredibly easy. This exercise on positive self-talk will help you crowd out negative thoughts by focusing on one positive thought at a time. Basically, we want you to talk to yourself like you talk to your best friend.
I LOVE ME: Ever feel like “Your negative story is a novel and your positive story is an outline.”? That quote is attributed to Katie Mackey a professional runner who never quite got onto the podium until she started to change her mental attitude. This "I love me" exercise helps to take our positive story from an outline and turn it into a novel.
RACE EVALUATION: Here's an EXERCISE to help you evaluate a recent race. By filling out a post-race evaluation we’re able to learn from our successes and our mistakes. We can find patterns – good or bad – that can be applied in the future.
GOAL SETTING: Here's a document designed to help you set S.M.A.R.T. Goals. These are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. Your goals can be both short-term (what you'd like to accomplish in a specific meet or season) and/or long-term (goals that will require years of training and focus to achieve). Goal setting can also be applied outside of sports; music, art, career, relationships, parenting, etc., so these are skills you can apply at any stage of your life.
Below are some of Coach Chad's favorite books on mental toughness training. If you'd like to review any of them, or would like other resources, please let him know.
My single favorite book on mental skills for distance running. In college I PR'd at every distance after reading this book.
An interactive confidence journal by Minnesota Olympian, Kara Goucher.
Combines a training log with an interactive journal. If you only get one book, I recommend this one.
More of a memoir than a book on mental skills, but Olympian Deena Kastor describes the challenges of a young female runner.
CUTBACK WEEK
Here is an ARTICLE that Coach Moore found that does a very good job of explaining a cutback week, along with its benefits. If you read nothing else, here's the first paragraph;
"Running is a balance of stress and rest. The harder you work, the more rest you need. Rest allows your body to recover. When you recover, you can handle higher bouts of concentrated stress. As you adapt, you can handle faster paces, higher mileage, and bigger workouts – and get sustainably faster in the process. Without appropriate recovery, your body breaks down, leading to overtraining, performance plateaus, burnout, and overuse injuries."
You've been working hard, you've earned it - take advantage of your cutback week. Plan your week in advance with the goal of reducing your weekly mileage by 20%. For example, if you've built your weekly mileage up to 30 miles per week, multiply 30 x .8 for 24 miles this week. Spread that reduction out a little each day, or take an extra day completely off. Also reduce your workload slightly when it comes to the number of reps of speed workouts, hills, strides and even strength and mobility work.
Trust us, overtraining, performance plateaus, burnout, and overuse injuries can happen to anyone. You are not the one athlete that is immune.
If you feel like you still need to train during the cutback week, here are some ideas;
Meditation - check out apps like Calm, Headspace, 10% Happier for guided meditations.
Yoga - there are tons of online videos of yoga. Be sure to look for restorative yoga, not intense sessions that will require more recovery.
Journal - If you don't already, start putting your thoughts on paper. Confidence Journals and Gratitude Journals are a great place to start.
Mental Skills - In addition to the Mental Toughness Exercises below (which you've already done, right?), you can work on developing mantras, practice visualization and imagery, start a progressive relaxation routine with cue words, come up with a superhero power pose to show off at your next race.
Read - You can pick one of the mental skills books listed below or choose from others like;
Girls Running: All You Need to Strive, Thrive, and Run Your Best by Fairchild and Carey. I just started reading this one, lots of great info so far.
Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain and Other Big Ideas by Alexi Pappas. One of my new favorites - deals with the importance of mental health.
Brave Enough by Jessie Diggins. I'm guessing a lot of you have read this one. Jessie opens up about her eating disorder and how she overcame it.
The Animal Keepers: The Story of an Unlikely Hero and Unforgettable Season by Donn Dehnke. One of my favorites and a best-kept secret. This story should be on the big screen.
Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. There's a reason this is a cult classic - because it does a terrific job explaining what we all feel when we are pushing ourselves to the limit, but can't find a way to express it.
Or find a book that doesn't have to do with running.
No GPS watch, or perhaps you want to map a run before trying it? Here's a simple-to-use mapping website to help you determine how long a route is.
We encourage you to become familiar with the Tinman tab of this Pace Chart. Workouts will be described based on different efforts (tempo, threshold, CV, VO2max, etc.) throughout the season. To use the chart pick one of the "equivalent" columns (1600/3200/5K) towards the left and scroll down until you see a time that corresponds to your CURRENT fitness level. Then follow that row across to find your suggested paces for the various prescribed workouts. For example, an 18:00 5K runner would scroll down and find 18:03 and see that their tempo pace should be 6:30-6:40, CV pace is 5:55-6:03 and VO2max is 5:27-5:34. If you need assistance please reach out to one of the mid-D/Distance coaches.
Check out THIS LINK for running and strength workouts for a typical running week. If you are planning to run cross country in the fall, this is a great place to start!
What has gotten in to Hamline Elite
HP TF Strength & Conditioning Circuits
Fantasy Fitness Info! Stay tuned for 2021
Shin Splint Prevention Program (from our trainer)
Left: Tim says "Track is back!" Right: Hanna turns Beast Mode On!
Fun Stuff
The Morning Shakeout Mario Fraioli's site where you can sign up for his weekly newsletter on all things running and check out his podcast.
Fast Women Newsletter Sign up for Alison Wade's weekly newsletter which is jam-packed with anything and everything you'd want to know about women in the sport of running.
Steve Jones Trust that you do have another gear to finish. Do you have the courage to take the risk required to find it? Only you can look for it.
Never get tired of watching Dave Wottle finish. Doubt can happen. How will you respond?
1990 Oslo Dream Mile Joe Falcon!
Brunch RunS
Brunch RunS
Canceled for 2021
Relay race info: OPEN EXCHANGES (4X400, 4X800)
Relay race info: OPEN EXCHANGES (4X400, 4X800)
SETTING YOUR MARKS
4x400: The first runner will stay in their designated lane the entire time.
The second runner will start at the 3 turn stagger. They will stay in their lane for the first 100m and then gradually cut in. Do not cut in too sharply.
The third and fourth runners will start at the solid line of triangles and stay in the inside lanes.
4x800: The first runner will gradually cut in after the second curve.
The rest of the runners will all start at the solid line of triangles and will stay in the inside lane the entire time.
STARTING POSITION
Your body and feet will be parallel with the starting line. Get your body into a good athletic position.
If your team is in first, you will line up in the inside lane. The other teams will line up in the order of their place in the race.
If a team passes another team, the next runner should move themself into an advantageous position to receive the baton. It is up to the next runner to do this.
As the outgoing runners in front of you get their batons, scoot closer to the inside lane.
EXCHANGING THE BATON
Be aware of the surrounding runners so you avoid contact.
The incoming runner should continue sprinting until the baton has been exchanged completely.
The outgoing runner will start when they decide to and will start running at the appropriate speed. Read the incoming runner's body language to know when and how fast to take-off.
The outgoing runner will turn their upper body towards the incoming runner and put their left hand out with their their palm up.
Both runners should completely extend their arms so the outgoing runner can run a lesser distance.
The incoming runner will extend their arm and flatten the baton. The baton will be put into the palm of the outgoing runner's hand.
Once you get the baton, avoid the traffic and get to the inside lane as soon as possible. Only pass on the curve if you can blow by the person and get back into the inside lane.
Do not pass anyone on the curve unless you can blow past them. If you pass them, immediately get back to the inside.
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