A pre-season meeting of the more fanatical members of the Monta Vista Cross Country team was held at lunch time on May 17. As usual the team was buried in options, encouragement and inspiration…
Consistency is the key to successful distance running. Distance running at it’s best is a year round commitment; the best runners are training every month of the year to reach a peak during the championship portion of the seasons. This does NOT mean you have to run a zillion miles a week! We understand that Monta Vista student-athletes have a multitude of commitments, from SAT prep to choir, from architectural internships to summer camps for cosmology, from tennis to robotics. So you don’t have to be a hero. What is most important is to come up with a plan and stick to it. So if you figure you can run three to four days a week, for 30 to 75 minutes per day plus warm up, then do it! If you can fit 3 days or 4 days a week of running around your tennis, field hockey, soccer, DECA, Java programming and Chinese, they do it! Running 120 to 240 minutes every week all summer is better than running 40 miles one week, skipping two weeks, running 10 miles the next week, freaking out that you are out of shape and running 40 miles in two days, then skipping another week because you feel horrible…you get the idea. It is true that up to a point* running more is better than running less, but running consistently is better than being erratic in your mileage (*this is truly up to a point; the mileage you do depends on what your base mileage training has been, how long you have been in the sport, etc. Don’t do too much! There will be more posted about what your training should be, or talk to your coach if you are unsure).
The great thing about running is that all you need is a pair of shoes, a t-shirt and shorts, and a road and you are good to go. It’s always better to run with your buddies but if you are with your family in Taiwan or at a quantum physics camp in Colorado or digging in Turkish archeological sites, you can still pull on your shoes and log some miles. Good racing this Fall will be highly correlated with the miles you log this summer. Speed is not so important, where you run is not so important, just log some miles with small and steady growth from your base and you will do great in XC12!
Watch this web page for some suggested plans for student-athletes thinking about XC for the first time, for returning runners, and for those thinking about pushing the envelop. Also, feel free to talk to coach if you want to have a discussion about your personal situation. We love talking running with fellow enthusiasts!
Lastly, we want to mention some of the organized options available to Monta Vista runners. Please remember EVERYTHING on this list is optional! We think all these options will help but it’s up to you.
There is more information on all of these in the presentation download.
Team Organized Runs: Monta Vista XC runners gather at 9:30am from Monday through Friday for a fun run on the streets or up in the trails. The pace varies but the run is always unstructured and intended to be enjoyable. Meeting at Monta Vista in front of the wrestling room. Open to everyone for free.
Mike Dudley’s Cross-Country Camp: This is a four day per week running group (Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at Lake Almaden from 2pm to 4pm, and Saturdays at 8am). We like Mike and this camp because it is low-key and emphasizes base-level running in preparation for the Fall cross season. Many MV runners have been part of this camp in the past, including Ryan and Kevin Bishop, Bridget Gottlieb, Ajay Rajamani, Arvind Rao and others…talk to them about their experiences. If a lot of you sign up, ride-pooling is easy! $200 for six weeks, four times per week beginning July, with lots of extras. This is suitable for experienced runners as well as student-athletes thinking of joining cross country for the first time. Contact Mike Dudley; Trackdudley@aol.com and tell him you are from Monta Vista.
Bree Lambert: Bree is the USA 100 Mile Trail Champion, so she knows running. Bree has designed a general conditioning program especially for young athletes–Cross Training for Improved Running Performance. The program is designed to improve functional movement, make you stronge and more resilient, and hence less injury-prone as well as faster and stronger. You will be a better all-around athlete. The class will meet twice a week in the gym at 1pm and once a week outdoors for a run at 10am in Rancho or Fremont Older, beginning June 26 with a break while Bree competes and completing a total of six weeks by August 9. Talk to Bridget or Sameera about what it is like to work with Bree. Cost $65 to 255 depending on whether you choose 1 day running, two days in the gym, or all three days for six weeks. Contact Bree Lambert, islandbrees@gmail.com, 408.505.6858.
Chris Hallford/Exercise Progression: Chris is a muscle therapist and is the ‘runner whisperer’. Chris is also a personal trainer and if you are willing to put in the work, Chris can help your core become rock-solid. For MV, the main disadvantage to Chris is that his studio is in Milpitas. Chris has designed a six week class to work with a limited number of students each day, Mondays and Thursdays at 1pm so you can do the morning workout with the MV team or the afternoon workout with Mike Dudley’s group—hopefully you can ride pool and make the commute easier. You can sign up for Chris’ class and also be part of the Mike Dudley camp or the daily MV morning runs. Six weeks, 2X per week, with Chris will make you solid as a rock! Cost: $180 for two classes per week, for six weeks. Contact: Chris Hallford, hallfordchris@yahoo.com 408.945.1474 ExerciseProgression.com
