8/21 update

Braves,

Recap>preparation>team expectations>Tuesday race information>season vision

This final week of no school was an interesting one with our first race on Thursday. Those of you who went and competed showed a ton of effort. As Coach and I stood near the finish line to see each of you finish we saw your expressions as you rounded the turn. Everyone looked exhausted from the effort you had been putting in. Even with the evident fatigue, somehow you still managed to finish strong over the last few hundred meters. It is that kind of effort that you put in on race day that needs to be shown in practice day after day which will carry us to our goals at the end of the season. Use that effort in everything you do and you will find success.

As classes begin on Wednesday make sure you start strong and prepared. A lot of you are new to Cross Country so balancing your classes will be different from what you have done in the past. Make sure to manage your time wisely so that you stay on top of your school work while still being at practice every day, fulfilling your other responsibilities, AND getting enough sleep each night. Sometimes it can seem like a lot, but when you break it down one day at a time and one week at a time I know you can do it.

Now that school is starting our team should finally be at full strength as people get back from vacations or summer jobs. It will be nice having everyone there each day. With all the races we have coming up we only have a few days to prepare each week. We have planned our schedule so that we have enough days to work and improve while still getting the race experiences needed; the races and workouts will work together to help you be as fast as you can be by the end of the season. If all we did was race we would plateau very quickly.

In an effort to avoid that problem while rewarding those who are at practice each day, we won’t be able to enter those into races who are missing practices. We cannot skip practice then expect to race the next time. We decided this as a coaching staff after last track season when kids wouldn’t practice but would suddenly be on the bus when we were going to a meet. This is not being said because of any of you; you have been great. A few kids missed most of last week but still raced and that was just fine because we knew people would be out of town with summer, so that is not a problem. Now that school is beginning we simply cannot be missing practices and then expect to race. Frankly it would be unfair to this team, especially your teammates who are counting on you to allow anyone to skip practices then show up to race.

That being said, we understand that many of you are involved in other activities so we know you may miss from time to time. If you let me know via email or text (through the reminder app) before practice, we can work it out for you to still race. Please don’t just tell me at practice that you won’t be there a certain day though, because my brain gets too distracted at practice to convert that information into long term memory. I need to read it through email or text to fully process it. We also understand that injuries are a fact of the sport and some of you have a few ailments. Still come to practice even if you are hurt so that we can monitor how you are feeling. We will either have you not workout or we will have you cross train so you still get some cardio work in. Having battled through injuries we understand that it is extremely frustrating and delicate, so we aren’t going to just make you run through something that requires rest.

As a member of the team we need you there at practice each day. Cross Country is obviously a unique sport where the team counts on each individual member. Practice is where we improve as a team, and working with the group motivates us to be better, not just for ourselves but for the people around us who are also sacrificing for our team. Each of you contributes to our team, and when you miss a practice the dynamic changes. The team needs each member, and each member needs the team. We are lucky to have a team that is great to be around and who works hard. Let’s get to work each day, enjoy the moments running together, and when we have a full bus coming home from state we can look back proudly at what we accomplished as a TEAM.

I neglected to share in the email last week who are team captains are. The team chose Amelia, Blake, Braden, Dallin, Emmie, and Laurie as captains. Though any number of you could have done an outstanding job as a team captain, these six are excellent examples of hard work, drive, dedication, and determination. Look to them as examples of how we want our team to be in this season, and in the years to come.

As you know we are next racing on Tuesday. The bus will be leaving at 1:50 (assuming it arrives on time). If the bus is on time, we will be leaving from the fieldhouse at 1:50. A few of you would have missed the bus had it done been late last week. We will leave without you if you are late simply because we need to allow for plenty of time to get to the meet (drivers have gotten lost before) and get warmed up before the races.

This race is pre region, so we will only be competing against the other schools from our region. It is going to seem like a really small meet compared to Thursday. This is going to be a fun meet because it will show how we match up against the other schools. Our team goal is to qualify both our boys and girls teams for State – something that hasn’t been done in a number of years at BHS, and not since our region changed, which added a few powerful teams. As the season progresses we will talk with our captains and try and set few more specific goals for our team. In order to qualify for state we need to place in 4^th or better as a team at region on October 7^th. The region race will be at the course we run on Tuesday. No matter what our team results are on Tuesday we will understand that we have a ton of work to do to get ready for region. It’s going to be fun to see how we match up early in the season with the other teams.

As we said before, our philosophy is to peak around Region and State. We are not trying to peak by Tuesday. With that in mind, we are going to practice reasonably hard on Monday. In the short term (on Tuesday, for instance) this may cause you to not feel as fresh as you might like, but that is by design. We work hard early in the season, taper at the end, and then we’ll be ready to roll in October. With so many races, if we don’t run hard before meets early in the season then the tapering at the end of the season will be much less effective.

This week is going to be great. Practice on Monday is at 2:30. Bus Tuesday is at 1:50. After school practices will begin at 2:40, (Junior high kids will begin at 3:15).

If you haven’t clicked on this link to see the schedule for the season I encourage you to do so and bookmark it. On the right side of the page it says 2016 pictures, I have uploaded the pictures from the meet on Thursday that I took, so go take a look at those. Any of you, parents or athletes, who take pictures at a meet feel free to add them to that page. It’s a very simple drag and drop process.

Have a great weekend, the Olympic men’s Marathon is Sunday morning at 6:30 and my friend Jared Ward is racing so tune in if you can. See you Monday!

Coach Caitlin

Coach Jacobson