December 17…Hello distance runners (and anyone else interested in maintaining their aerobic fitness)!
Your coaches enjoyed seeing a dozen or so runners out this beautiful Saturday morning! Beautiful because it was post-finals, everyone looked relaxed, there was lots of sunshine and it was a great day to get an easy 6 miles of running in with friends! It was a nice way to kick off the Winter running season.
Winter running does not have to be especially stressful. We’ve attached a suggested guide for the days between now and the start of track season, but seriously–take this as a guide only. Make up your own runs, grab your friends for a job, go out and run some hills, combine a run with a game of capture the flag afterwards…be creative. The important thing is to try to get some mileage in the bank so that when we start the track season we are not starting from zero and the first week of track does not wipe you out, and not work so hard that you are sick of training! The balance we are trying for is fit + fresh.
So use the attached guide as suggestions, so that if you are sitting around with your friends talking in circles–‘I don’t know–what do you want to run?’ ‘I dunno–what do you want to run?’–at some point, someone can say ‘hey, coach suggested 3-6, let’s run Down Under and then play capture the flag’.
By the way, if you think you want to work a little harder, get in touch with your coaches and we can come up with a more challenging plan. Or if you have issues that you want to work on, let us know that also, we might have some ideas.
Look for other team members to run with at Monta Vista on Monday through Friday at 10am through the holidays. Coach Matt and often Coach Kirk and Barb will be hosting long runs on Saturdays at 10am at MV ; these will be surprise fun runs, and the start location may change–check back here or on Facebook for Saturday run announcements (but if you don’t see an announcement, plan on 10am from MV).
After school restarts, plan on more optional runs starting after school, until first track practice on February 6.
Keep running, team! It’s fun, good for you…and you had a good thing going in XC season, honor your achievements last season by continuing to work to improve. Drag your teammates, friends, anyone who wants to get fit with you and get out for a run!
Remember, all off-season work is optional, but this general aerobic conditioning will be valuable to you when you start your real training in February.
See you on the road!