Bouncing back and preping for Big Sky!

Well last weekend was a rough one for the girls.  It flat out just wasn't our day.  It was frustrating because I know how fit we are and know that we can run with those teams.  We will get at least two more chances to prove how fit we are.  And the next two are the biggest meets of the year and what we have been working all season towards.

Lady Hornets in Terre Haute

The guys and three ladies ran well at the Bronco Invite at Santa Clara.  I am very excited to see what  they can do the next few weeks as well.

Monday we got right back at it with a long run and had a tough strength mixed rep workout today.  It was exciting to see the kids back at it working hard.  Todays workout ended up being a little tougher than I had planned but I liked what I saw and this is the time of year to push a little bit and get out of the comfort zone.  Today was a big break through in their ability to run tempo pace on the soft, wet grass.  They have been struggling with that all season and today it seemed to click a lot better.  The little gains are going to start adding up.  The thing that was the most exciting was that they were able to hit their paces, looking comfortable and I added a small but tough wrinkle into the workout.  I am excited to see what they can do this weekend.  Saturday will be a big workout for them.  It is the Mount Union workout.  I have taken it with me to every school that I have coached at.  It is a very challenging workout and I am excited to see what this very talented group can average.  This is a workout where they will hopefully be able to run fast while being very uncomfortable.  If you can make it though this workout you are ready to race hard.

Workout Friday

Today was a big workout for transitioning into the next phase of the season.  The group was most focused for the whole workout than I have ever seen them.  From the warm up through the last 200 they were on it.  It showed by the times they ran.  We are very ready to run well next weekend.  I had every intention of taking some pictures during the workout today but got caught up in how things were going and forgot.

Today's workout was 6x1k. I have been trying to set the tone for the workout all week telling them it was an important one and to be focused.  I moved the workout to the track instead of the grass to so I could monitor what was going on a lot better and be my vocal self.  Our top 5 girls averaged 3:15, we had some girls close 3:00 and better and our top 5 guys averaged 2:45 also closing well.  We had some specific instructions on how i wanted the first three to go then how to cut down the last three.  They were right on target for the whole thing.  The women's team closed the gap up significantly which is exactly what we need for the rest of the meets this season.  The men were able to close the gap as well and the Frosh group made some big steps in taking their training to a new level.  All in all this was a good way to start the weekend.

Now its time to get focused on Pre Nationals for the top 7 women and Santa Clara for the rest of the women and the men.  Both have great opportunities ahead.

Lots happening in an off week

Our off week has been a crazy but good one so far.  I am getting back into the grove of this whole paper work thing and getting organized with my recruiting.  Recruiting is off to a good start.  I am excited to build relationships with this group and get them on campus to show what we have to offer here.

We moved up a few spots in the Regional ranking on the Women's side.  I still think we have some climbing to do, but we also have some work to do.

Training has been going well.  We had a tough tempo effort at the end of our long run on Sunday, followed by a Marathon Pace workout on Tuesday.  Friday will be a tough effort on the track.  The kids are having more good days than bad and are adapting to the new work load well.  We had a bunch of small injuries pop up a few weeks ago but they have slowly started to disappear, hopefully to never come back.  I am excited to see the change over the next few weeks as the last few months start to settle into their legs.

We found out today that we will be traveling to Terre Haute for the Pre National meet with the Women.  They have been running well and this will be a huge test for them.  If we can run to our ability I think once again we can surprise a lot of people and can pick up some very valuable points for National qualifying.  Have two weeks of solid training has been helping us for our past few races and I do not see any reason that would change.  Next few weeks should be exciting ones for the Hornets.  First up will be our workout Friday.

Pre Regional

Once again I am falling behind on my blog.  Today was a very big meet for us.  We hosted Pre Regional meet on our new home course at Haggen Oaks Golf Course.  The course was in great shape and the meet management (Sports Commission, SRA and Coach Van) did a great job of putting on a top notch event.

On the guys side I felt that we competed well.  It was a huge positive step forward for our men.  Reese Byers had a very solid race running a PR 23:46.  The rest of the crew grouped up and stuck to the plan.  The fact that we were able to execute the race plan was the key for me.  This was a race that we can build upon.

The ladies battled hard and ran very well.  The race went out fast and we have not done enough specific work to handle that kid of pace yet, but it is not too far on the horizon.  Our splits showed it and we payed the price a little.  They still hung in there and continued to move up throughout the race.  I am excited to see what they can do 4-6 weeks from now.

I have been torn on balancing knowing how important this race was in the sense of running against some of the top teams in the Region and confidence for the team moving forward and wanting to be ready for November.  I opted to stick with the plan and trust in the fact that we will be ready for November.  It was a hard pill for me to swallow today knowing we can do better and it was the workouts I have given them that did not have them prepped for the race today.  But I believe everyone is on board and trust in what we are doing.

I was very proud of the way the kids ran today and I am excited to see what they can do moving forward.  We have a good group and things are starting to come together.  Its crazy to think how far we have come since our first meet and I am even more excited to see how much further we can go.

This week coming up will be a good week of training.  Starting Sunday with our long run and we will have two very different workouts on Tuesday and Friday that will should be great prep for what is to come.

Stanford

Well Stanford had some good and some bad.  The guys went first.  They did not have the race I expected.  We struggled grouping up, we fell asleep in the middle.  But we did have some guys that moved up well and competed hard, if we can get them to do it in a group like we do it in practice we will be good. We had a good talk after the race and we are headed in a good direction.  We have a few weeks of training coming up that I think will help their confidence and get us rolling towards November when it really counts.   The girls ran well.  They are on the right path for big things down the road.