Hello Team! August 9 message:
I keep on telling you that the school leadership is about to make a decision about us continuing to train together, and I still am waiting. Honestly, at this point I can’t tell you why we are not told to simply continue as we were while monitoring any changes in State and County guidance–and as far as I can read, the State and County would allow us to get together as we were or better. The school keeps telling me that we will get the go ahead, but we don’t have that clearance yet. I do believe that approval will come and as soon as I know, we will make plans to get back together as a group to continue training safely.
Regarding that…our school administration will be meetings and discussions over the to make decisions about Fall athletic activity. If your parents support you training with our group, your parents can email or even phone Nick Bonacorsi (Monta Vista athletic director), Ben Clausnitzer (Monta Vista principal), and Polly Bove (FUHSD Superintendent) and let them know that they support cross country getting together in the Fall. Let them know that we have done a good job this summer and that parents want their kids involved in cross country. It helps if the people making decisions know that cross country matters to our student-athletes!
Here are a set of suggested runs for this week. Call up a friend and plan a run! Keep the schedule we have…get up early and go run, come back home and do some core, grab a shower and a nice breakfast. You will feel like you accomplished a lot before 10am and you will be ready when we get back together!
I do feel confident that eventually the school will approved training, and that we will be back training together again shortly after school starts. We will be assigning groups to cohorts and I’d like to put good groups of compatible runners in the same cohort. So if you could please start filling out this log on Google sheets I would find that helpful (if you can’t access the file then please email me and I will give you access).
And don’t forget the FKT challenge! I want to see your numbers on the board, and then to see your personal times improve.
Be safe. I miss you!
Coach
Monday August 10
I’d like something longish but flat today. So an base plan would be to run to McClellan, drill, then run the Homestead Loop (freshmen, if you do not know what the Homestead Loop is, why not email/message an upperclassman and ask them to guide you?). Homestead will give you about six miles for the day, if you need more than than you could head back on Stelling.
Tuesday August 11
Some maintenance miles plus some baby hill striders. To shake up the routine, how about heading out the RR track and drill at Rainbow? Then take Rainbow back towards Linda Vista and find one of the usual hills for your strides–6 to 8. New runners can head back home/to school, higher mileage runners can head to McClellan Ranch and Stevens Creek Blvd.
Wednesday August 12
I’d like to head out to Stevens Canyon park and drill in the parking lot. Then, run either Matadors, Horse or Horse + Garrods. Try to finish strong–if you are coming back down Regnart, then push the purple dots hard; if you are coming back from Matadors, pick it up on the downhill from the time you get out of the park until you get to McClellan Ranch/the Farm. For everyone in Cohort 2 and 3…this might have been the week that we show the Freshmen the route up Horse. Margaux, Sophia, Meghan, Sandhya and Seshant were looking strong. You sophs/juniors/seniors, maybe you want to message the freshmen and offer to guide them up Horse? That would be a super nice thing to do and show the family nature of our team.
Thursday August 13
A longer maintenance run…so I’m thinking warm up to McClellan green space, then head out the bike path to Stevens Creek Blvd and down to Memorial Park and Ria’s Run. Anywhere from four to seven miles total is fine.
Friday August 14
Let’s repeat Tuesday, except run your striders on a different hill near Linda Vista.
Saturday August 15
Long run! If you can…maybe this is a Saturday to get over to Rancho and run there, just to shake it up. If your parents are up for it or you could drive, the Los Gatos Creek Trail is also nice. Coach might have some ideas for you if you want to get in a car and travel and go on an adventure run alone or with your parents or a friend. Seniors/juniors, why not invite a sophomore/freshman to run with you?
If you can’t get in an adventure run, then I’m thinking that you head out the RR tracks, drill at Rainbow. Then Up and Over. Anyone needing higher mileage can add on Seven Springs, Garrods, or Garrods and back down Horse and out on Stevens Canyon. All good runs!
Good luck…stay in touch with your friends and teammates…we will see each other soon!
