Welcome to the first week of 2024 Monta Vista Cross Country summer running! MVXC summer running will meet on the Monta Vista track at 7am, Monday through Saturday, all summer long. Yes, 7am is early…but we will all beat the heat, and be done by 9am, and have the whole day in front of us. Morning runs are a great habit!
I can’t wait to see you…I will be at the track the first two mornings, June 10 and 11 at 7am, before I head off to Oregon. I’ll be in touch all summer long, and feel free to reach out to me on Discord or by email at coachflatow@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to talk about your training.
Below is a suggested set of runs for the week. You can feel free to modify these suggestions. In particular, if you want to get together a group to go on an adventure run…GO FOR IT! I want your summer running to be fun. If you can get rides to the coast, go run on the beach or at Wilder Ranch or the Nisene Forest (and go to Gayle’s for breakfast afterwards…trust me!). There are fun runs in Los Gatos or Rancho or up the peninsula (ask coach for ideas). Running is so fun, it’s an adventure, have a blast!
Some thoughts as we get started…
Notes for week one:
- Coach loves getting photos from the team!!! take photos and post or send them to me.
- Show lots of support and love for any new members of the team!
- Take some time to talk to new teammates and introduce them around. Whenever someone new arrives, go say hello. Remember how awkward you feel when you do something new for the first time? Make them feel like family–especially the freshmen.
- Get new runners’ email addresses and phone numbers so you can text them, and get them on Discord.
- Get them hooked into your FB group and group text and tell them about mvrunning.com.
- Encourage new people to get new shoes; you could organize an afternoon or an evening where a group goes to Run Rev, goes shoe shopping together and then you get pizza or burritos together! Blue Line Pizza is down the street from Run Rev, so is Aqui. You could also do an evening run on the Los Gatos Creek Trail in your new shoes, ask at the Rev and the people who work there can tell you about runs along the creek all the way to Los Gatos.
- Contact all the incoming freshman you can. Also reach out to athletes in your own class who compete in other sports and invite them to get in shape over the summer with summer running.
- You need to use your judgment on how much the new runners should run, depending on how much running they already have. If you have someone who has never run before come out and join you, the goal would be to get them up in the 25-30 miles per week range 6 to 8 weeks from now—but that is not going to be the same with everyone. Be patient.
- Trying to finish the last half of your run faster than you started (negative split) is a good habit.
| Approx Miles | |||||
| Day | New | 35 | 45 | Suggested Run (you can change!*) | Other |
| Mon | 4 | 4 | 5 | RR Tracks (so new runners can turn around at any point). Run out for 10 to 15 minutes, turn around and come back. Go out easier and try to come back a little faster. This run allows experienced runners to get to know the new runners, however experienced runners may want to add on today—you can run a couple laps before leaving school, and add a couple miles afterwards too. If there are no new runners, feel free to run Up and Over if you want! Strides today: 6x~20 sec/100m strides at 5km pace. Teach new kids what a stride is! | Core, 10-15 minutes, circuit on hands and knees, then side, then on back; repeat until done and end with plank. |
| Tues | 4 | 6 | 9 | Matadors. New runners can try Matadors, or come back from parking lot, if Matadors is just too much; 35s run Matadors, 45s, on the way back, go to Palm and run back on the Palm tempo route. 45s can run 2 laps at school before setting out. Take care of new kids this is a long day for them! People who want to get some faster pace…today is a good day for that. On the way back from Matadors, pick up your pace to be a little faster than your easy run pace (probably 30-45 seconds slower than your race pace at Crystal; this should be your lactic threshold pace, approximately). But you can do this by feel, just make this a little faster than a solid conversational pace, so you could still talk to your running partners but not talk easily. You can run this workout as a straight pick up at that pace, 2 to 4 miles…or break it up into a Fartlek, for example 4 minutes at that pace, then a 45 second run at your easy pace, then back to lactic threshold pace. If you don’t feel like running this today, that is fine, it’s only the first week of summer running! It’s your choice make today another easy day. | Core, more leg focused (squats, lunges, runner’s touch, etc) |
| Weds | 4
| 4 | 5 | Run to Linda Vista and drill, then can come back by Bubb, RR tracks or Stelling. | Core circuit like Monday. |
| Thur | 0 | 6 | 7 | This can be a rest day for new runners. Homestead loop could be a good choice for the experienced runners. If today is a zero-run day for you, and you have big goals, you could bike or swim or hike…maybe ask Coach Sam or Coach Smith to come and open up the stationary bikes this evening??? | Core. Maybe games on the field after—the people taking the day off running could come join at 8 or 9!
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| Fri | 4 | 4 | 6 | An idea could be to run to McClellan Ranch, drill, then either Phar Lap or Ria’s Run (Memorial Park and back to school). Strides: 6x~20 sec/100m strides at 5km pace. Teach new kids what a stride is! | Core. Teach downward facing dog |
| Sat | 4 | 8 | 10 | Head out the RR tracks. New runners can go to De Anza and back or part way up Prospect and turn around. Veteran runners can run Up and Over + Seven Springs. Maybe a pot luck breakfast after the run. | Try to set a good example by fast finishing …negative split! |
| Sun | Anyone who took an off day during the week could plan an adventure run today! Or a breakfast run! If you already ran six days this week, some cross training—a bike ride, stationary biking, swimming, water running, a big hike—would be terrific. | ||||
| Total | 20 | 32 | 42 | ||
