Here is some information that will help you get prepared so you are ready to hit the ground running! (and yes, that pun was on purpose!).
1. Schedule your annual sports physical NOW! At the end of the summer, all the local doctors are overwhelmed with requests for sports physicals so ask your parents to schedule this right away. Physicals are good for 12 months so you will be covered for the complete school year. And if you wait until the end of the summer and you don’t have your physical complete…YOU CANNOT PRACTICE! So do this now! And bring your paperwork…see #2. (PARENTS…please take a look at this link and consider asking your physician for a serum ferritin test, particularly for girls. This is an elective test however it is very useful. The MIT track coach says that 90% of his women athletes are in a iron range that is low for endurance athletes; in a very small sample size, for the girls that have been tested from Monta Vista and have shared their data with me, 2/3 have had iron supplements suggested. Please contact me if you have any questions. This is NOT a health risk, however this may improve endurance performance.)
2. Fill out all your paperwork for sports right now, too. You can download everything from the school XC website. There are seven forms you need to fill out all available for download under the heading MV Student-Athlete Participation Forms, and your doctor needs to sign two of them, so bring those to your doctor. Here is a handy list of the forms and what people sometimes forget:
–Physical Form A/History–you and your parents need to sign this.
–Physical Form B/Physical Exam–your doctor needs to sign this.
–Parent Waiver–you, your parent, and your doctor needs to sign this, and you must have insurance info.
–Code of Conduct–you and your parent need to read and sign this.
–Participation Agreement–as a freshman, you don’t absolutely need this, but fill it out anyway (you can’t get PE credit your freshman year but we can get this data in the system)
–Concussion Information–you and your parent need to read and sign this.
–Booster Membership–This supports our athletic program! Your parents can join either on-line or with a paper copy and a check. If your parents join on-line, please print out the receipt and turn in a copy.
Put all this paperwork in an envelope and bring the entire package, complete, to the first day of practice!
OK, now that we have taking care of the boring but necessary stuff, let’s move on to the more fun items: Preparation to run!
1. Ask your parents to PLEASE take you to get new running shoes–and to get these shoes from a running specialty store! You are about to start serious training and new shoes will reduce the risk of injury, feel good, and make running more fun! The best places to go are the small shops that are locally owned by passionate runners: My favorite shop is Running Revolution (Campbell), and Athletic Performance (Los Gatos), Zombie Runner (Palo Alto) and Sportissimo have done a good job too. I do not recommend the big stores that have all sorts of gear (if they are selling basketballs and camping gear, run away you are at the wrong place!), the chains like Roadrunner or Footlocker, and definitely not the internet. You need to be properly fitted for a shoe that suits your running style, so go to a specialty running store! Tell the person who is fitting you that you are a first year XC runner and your coach has not seen your stride yet, at the same time your coach recommends a neutral fit if possible and for ‘guidance’ or ‘control’ only if your stride/gait requires it (if the person does not ask you to run on a treadmill or outside so they can see your stride, that’s a problem. I DO NOT recommend that you choose a ‘barefoot’ or ‘minimalist’ shoe. Go someplace where they will film your stride and analyze your stride and explain it to you). All the major shoe brands will work (Nike, Mizuno, Brooks, ASICS, Saucony tend to be my favorites), so pick what feels good to you (don’t worry about what they look like!). Tell them you are running for Monta Vista and they will probably offer a discount! (While you are there think about getting a pair of running shorts, a technical running shirt–so much nicer than cotton, and a couple pairs of nice running socks to prevent blisters!)
2. Now you are ready to start running! Start slow and build up. Here are some ideas:
–There is a detailed guide I put together last year, it is available for download below!
–Mike Dudley offers a six week long cross-country ‘boot camp’ that starts early in July. The camp meets 4 days per week in Almaden Valley. Many Monta Vista athletes join this camp and ride-pool together so it is easy on your parents and you will meet future teammates! Mike will give you a lot of cool shirts and sweats, it’s a good deal. And lots of the kids who ran this ended up on the Varsity team, so this camp seems to work! It’s low key and fun.
–Other MV runners will meet at the high school almost every morning. As I write this news post, we have not set a time yet for the summer run meetings–check back here at the beginning of summer and we will let you know!
We hope that this gets you started preparing for Monta Vista Cross Country! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Coach Flatow at coachflatow@gmail.com.
See you in August, or on the trails!
