-Longer medium pace run + a few repeats up hill to Lake Ilsanjo (top 3 groups only) push-ups at top of Lake Ilsanjo
Tuesday, 9/29: MCHS Campus Course
-10 minute warm-up > 3X Mile repeats on MCHS campus course > cross training > 200 build-ups (hope Michael can get us keys to get through gate by tennis court)
Wednesday, 9/30: Drive to Channel Drive
-Longer, easy pace run = 50+ minutes
Thursday, 10/1: MCHS Campus Course
-20 minute warm-up > form drills > Intervals 400 > 800 >1200 > 1200 > 800 > 400 > cross training > 10 minute cool down
Friday, 10/2: Drive to Spring Lake
-Run to starting line > stage everyone at 1 mile mark > medium up-tempo pace to/up dam, then practice surges to crest dam and continue to bench > cool-down varies for each group
Weekend: Mandatory for everyone = 1 hour minimum easy pace run
Monday, 10/5: Drive to Spring Lake
-Stop at water towers 4 X shorter loop to practice down-hill technique on Spring Lake course > easy pace run back > 200 build-ups on dam by parking lot
Some really interesting performances at this meet. For starters, we had 9 runners with Spring Lake times from previous years set lifetime PR's today, right off the bat...
=================================== 1 8 1413 Lauren Curtin JR NCS 19:13 2 12 1414 Jordan Davis SR NCS 19:32 3 19 1418 Kelly O'Leary SR NCS 19:47 4 31 1412 Cara Curtin JR NCS 20:10 5 46 1415 Sarah DiRado SR NCS 20:37 6 ( 75) 1416 Thea Dumont FR NCS 21:22 7 (101) 1417 Jessica Graham SR NCS 21:54
3. 182 OAK PARK (20:04 100:17) 4. 186 UNIVERSITY CITY (20:08 100:36) 5. 208 SOUTH TAHOE (20:18 101:27) 6. 238 LA JOLLA (20:32 102:40) 7. 268 CARMEL (20:47 103:51)
Thanks again to everyone who helped to contribute to the success of this year's Run-A-Thon - our one and only fundraiser. Some last minute donations helped to push our total up to our goal of $3000! As background, these funds are deposited in the Puma Athletic Committee Cross Country account. We use this money to pay for meet entry fees and travel and lodging expense for overnight meets for both Cross Country and Track.
There were many solid efforts for those who were able to make it to this meet, and it was fun to get a little more racing in. Great job everyone! Although we had quite a few strong performers missing, we still managed to place among the top teams in every race.
Girls Junior/Senior - 4th - Cara (6th in race, 9th overall), Sarah, Carolyn (out of 14 teams)
Girls Frosh/Soph - 1st - Lauren K (3rd in race, 8th overall), Taylor (5th in race, 12th overall), Brynna (6th in race, 15th overall, Heidi (9th in race, 18th overall), Sophia (21st in race, 39th overall) (out of 17 teams)
Girls JV - 1st - Sidney (2nd in race, 69th overall), Jessica, Jamaeca, Adrienne, Hailey (out of 10 teams)
Combined Overall Boys (unofficial - not awarded): 1st (106 points), 2. Eureka 115, 3. Piner 121, 4. Santa Rosa 132 (among 24 scoring teams)
Top Carrillo Times: Daniel (10:30), James (10:36), Colin (10:46), Jesse (11:03), Austin B (11:06)
Combined Overall Girls (unofficial - not awarded): 2nd (62 points), 1. Casa Grande 47, 3. Montgomery 90, 4. Santa Rosa 102 (among 20 scoring teams)
Top Carrillo Times: Lauren K (12:44), Cara (12:44), Taylor (12:57), Brynna (13:09), Heidi (13:22)
The coaches were extremely pleased with the performances at this meet! We used this meet to focus on specific elements of pacing and team racing -- and in almost every case the Pumas did what they were asked to do, and did it very well.
It was clear we demonstrated the HARAMBEE spirit before, during, and after the races. We saw a lot of teamwork, communication, and encouragement going on (we were pleased to see this happening among the athletes - we had to do very little directing and motivating as coaches - this is the sign of a maturing team - let's keep this up!) All in all, a solid step toward meeting our goals.
Race Recap: JV Boys - an extremely impressive team performance with 10 Pumas finishing in the top 11 runners. A very nice effort by Steve to work his way into the lead and hold pace to the finish to get the win. Armando, Emilio, Harrison, Gus M, Matt Rich, James, Erik, Grant S, and Chris all finished in the top 11. Impressive finishing kick by Gus narrowly missed catching the Casa runner for 5th place (start your kick sooner next time!) In addition, we showed our depth of frosh and soph runners with solid racing efforts from Simmer, Sam, Calvin, Connor, Dan D, Kyle, Dalin, Brett Matoes, Drew, and Austin L. We speculate that perhaps only 5 other schools in Sonoma County have Varsity teams that could beat our boys JV team!
JV Girls - the JV girls matched the tone set by the boys with all 7 runners finishing in the top 9. Sarah won the race with a very smooth and consistent effort - her time would have finished 16th in the Varsity race - great job for her first meet of the year! Sophia, Maddie, Sidney, Carolyn, Jessica, and Leslie came pouring in after Sarah. Special note of recognition to Carolyn (great finishing kick - we did not know you had it in you!) and to Sidney, who kept moving up and improving her position throughout the race. Your efforts should give you the confidence to know you can handle some earlier pace in future races! Scary to think this group will only get stronger when Kelly and Ashley begin racing soon. Like the JV boys - perhaps only 5 other schools in Sonoma County have stronger varsity teams than this JV unit.
Varsity Boys - excellent back-half racing by the boys after a conservative first mile, as we planned. Gus, Daniel, and James did a nice job of holding together as a pack and moving up in miles #2 and #3. Colin, while not being able to match their acceleration, also moved up and finished strong. Austin B gave Carrillo a solid #5 performance, followed closely by Jesse and Tim. Bryan and Matt A also tested themselves in this race. The boys came in 2nd in team scoring to a fine Casa Grande squad by a score of 36 to 47. We are looking forward to see what the guys will do when we take off them off the leash in the coming weeks.
Varsity Girls - a really outstanding job of executing their race plan by each girl in this race: Cara, Lauren K, Heidi, Brynna, and Gretel. The coaches were really proud of how this group kept their focus when we needed to make some game time decisions to sit out Taylor and Margie. Much like the boys, the mission today was to start out conservatively, run in groups, and actively race after the first mile. While we don't usually take away too much from the results from meets like this, it was encouraging to note that the girls finished two points behind Casa (39 to 41) on their home course without Lauren C, Taylor, and Margie (our #1, #4, and #5 runners) in the race. This is a useful gauge because Casa is generally considered to be the top Div II team in NCS this year. It's also a hopeful indicator of the depth of talent we have on our team and of the potential to make some serious noise when we have everyone ready to go on the same day (hopefully soon!).
Some interesting team scoring stats... the following shows team scoring as if Var and JV competed in one large race. For MCHS boys, we show the results as if we ran 3 JV teams - the fastest 7 non-varsity on JV1, the next 7 in JV2 and so on:
Hey! Great work at Ed Sias this past weekend. We took away a lot of positives. Here are a few to begin with - all runners that competed both in 2008 and 2009 improved this year - take a look:
Name / 2008 Time/ 2009 Time/ Time Improvement/ % Improvement
James Nicklas 14:08 12:28 01:40 11.8%
Gus Murray 13:51 12:23 01:28 10.6%
Grant Silverstein 13:14 12:12 01:02 7.8%
Erik Christensen 13:26 12:27 00:59 7.3%
Matt Arcoleo 12:38 11:46 00:52 6.9%
Heidi Thiele 14:53 13:54 00:59 6.6%
Emillio Horner 12:54 12:06 00:48 6.2%
Austin Bartlett 12:00 11:18 00:42 5.8%
Margie Garza 14:49 13:59 00:50 5.6%
Daniel Hauptman 11:06 10:34 00:32 4.8%
Steve Prugganan 12:35 11:59 00:36 4.8%
Jesse Lucia 11:47 11:16 00:31 4.4%
Gus Greenstein 11:07 10:41 00:26 3.9%
Tim Wuu 11:35 11:11 00:24 3.5%
Cara Curtin 13:20 12:55 00:25 3.1%
James Ramirez 11:08 10:57 00:11 1.6%
Michael Titone 12:48 12:38 00:10 1.3%
Gretel Petrie 14:28 14:20 00:08 0.9%
Boys Composite Team Results (this shows the scoring if each team's top 7 from all races raced against each other in one giant race)
School / Points / Cumulative Time for Top 5
PetalumaHigh School 155 0:53:03
San Ramon Valley High School 167 0:53:25
De La Salle High School 184 0:53:48
College ParkHigh School 202 0:53:49
Monte Vista High School 234 0:54:12
CarlmontHigh School 237 0:54:11
MariaCarrilloHigh School 281 0:54:39
Santa RosaHigh School 307 0:54:45
MiramonteHigh School 326 0:54:54
Amador Valley High School 346 0:55:08
CampolindoHigh School 354 0:55:21
Girls Composite Team Results (this shows the scoring if each team's top 7 from all races raced against each other in one giant race)
Following is a list of dates where we are still in need of drivers so our kids can get over to the park for their workouts. If you have not signed up to drive yet, please check your calendars for the dates below to see if any of these will work for you.
Please email me (Melanie Bartlett) at your earliest convenience with the number of passengers you can take, and the dates you are available to drive. Please note we need lots of drivers also for race days (highlighted).
I will be out of town through Monday 9/14, but I will get back with everyone beginning Tues 9/15.
Thanks in advance to everyone for your continuing support of Maria Carillo XC and our kids :)
Friday 9/18 is being changed to Thursday 9/17 - if you are scheduled for Friday, you will not need to drive unless you can move to Thursday. (Toomey-5, Ramos-4) Please confirm with me (Cathy, I realize you probably can't make this one) Need drivers for at least 16, probably 20 more passengers
Monday 9/21 - need 5
Wednesday 9/23 - Race Day leave at 1:45 - need 21
Friday 9/25 - need 16
Monday 9/28 - need 8
Wednesday 9/30 - need 14
Friday 10/2 - need 6
Monday 10/5 - need 5
Wednesday 10/7 - Race Day leave at 1:45 - need 14
Monday 10/12 - need 10
Monday 10/19 - need 6
Friday 10/23 - need 7
Monday 10/26 - need 6
Wednesday - Race Day leave at 1:45 - need 19
Friday 10/30 - need 21
Monday 11/2 - need 13
Wednesday 11/4 - need 21
Friday 11/6 - Race Day leave at 12:00 noon - need 15
Directions: Hwy 12 East to Los Alamos Rd. Left on Los Alamos Road. Go one mile on Los Alamos Rd to Futura Way (if you pass a red barn on the left you’ve missed Futura Way). Left on Futura Way. Yellow house on right with grapevines. Enter through backyard.
We are now up to about $2500 in collected money (thanks very much to those who have collected and turned in their pledges!). We are still about $1000 short of our goal of $3500 - please turn in your $ this week if you have not already done so.
Tuesday, 9/8: Standard warm-up = (will use time during stretching/drills to cover Rancho Invite highlights/administrative info) > run from base of fountain grove hill up ~500-600m just before 1st overpass:
Group #1 + #2 = Hill repeat X 4 jogging down each time > then ~3-4 mile run back > 4 X 200 build-ups on track push-ups/sit-ups
Group#3 = Hill repeat X 3 > then ~2 miles back > 4 X 200 build-ups + push-ups/sit-ups
Group #4 = Hill repeat X 2 > then straight back to MCHS > 4 X 200 build-ups + push-ups/sit-ups
Group #5 = Hill repeat X 1 > then straight back > 4 X 200 build-ups + push-ups/sit-ups
Wednesday, 9/9: Drive to Howarth Park :
Group #1 + #2 + #3 = Run to second bridge 1600 > 1200 > 1200 > 800 > to yellow gate; jog back > easy run back to cars
Group #4 + #5 = Run to spring lake starting line > run 1st mile of Viking Invite course at ~80% race pace or better; rest 5:00, then run 2nd mile of Viking Invite to finish line > easy run back
> Notes:
-Need to finalize entries for Ed Sias (closed 9/10)
-Greg owes slurpies to JV Boys/JV Girls from warm-up routine practice (will stop by 7-11 on this day)
Thursday, 9/10: Drive to Channel:
Group #1 + #2 + #3 = 45-60 minute loop (TBD) > 4 X 200 build-ups before we leave park
Group #4 + #5 = Out-back loop for 45-50 minutes > 4 X 200 build-ups
Everyone = 15 minutes cross training at MCHS
Friday, 9/11: Standard warm-up (will use this time during stretching/drills to prep for Ed Sias Invite) > 4 X 200 build-ups
Group #1 + #2 + #3 = extra 2-3 miles
Group #4 + #5 = 15 minutes cross training
> Note: Those NOT competing in Ed Sias should go on ~45 minute run on this day! Pasta Feed at Greenstein's, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Saturday, 9/12: Leaving MCHS at 6:30AM for Ed Sias Invite
-First race =9AM (Frosh Boys) to last race (Varsity Girls) 12:45; competing in 9 different races against 42 Schools!
> Note: Those NOT competing this weekend should go on ~45-60 minute run with hills + two 7 minute up-tempos
Objectives: The coaches' goals for this race were for athletes to get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with 3 mile racing. In general, Greg instructed our runners to go out a bit slower and to find a racing pace by building their tempo through the race . Following is our recap and general observations... Link to Complete Meet Results (courtesy of Redwood Empire Running) Results for JV Boys not shown Meet Results Link
18:50
James Nicklas
19:12
Tyler Jones
19:24
HarsimmerNijjar
19:56
SchuylerMortimer
20:18
Kyle West
20:25
Brady Conner
21:00
Brett McFarland
21:13
Brett Matos
21:31
Daniel Dearden
21:43
Dalin Lowder
21:53
Austin Lynch
Some Noteworthy Improvements v Last Year:
Wow - 17% or More Improvement vs. ‘08 = James Nicklas (3:56 faster), Gus Murray (3:59)
Oh Dang - 10% to 14% Improvement vs. '08 = Erik C. (2:51), Emilio (2:29), Austin L (2:58), Austin R (2:05), Steve (2:08), Colin (1:58), Grant S (2:09), Margie (2:20), Matt A (2:02), Jesse (1:50)
Huge- 5% to 10% Improvement vs. '08 = Brett Mc (2:10), Carolyn (2:05), Gretel (1:42), Daniel (1:12), Austin B (1:12), James R (0:56)
…Still amazing PRs vs. ‘08 = Gus G (0:48), Tim Wuu (0:23 faster)
…Keeping in mind, last year was REALLY HOT, which may account for ~20-30 seconds (individual times), depending on the race; might be more with JVs.
Race Recap from Greg:
JV Boys:
Mile 1) >A Petaluma boy (that looked just like a Lockert) took it out really hard, with Emilio puffing right behind him + Matt A. >Steve took it out more conservative and gradually moved up to Emilio with Matt for a good front group; lots of other boys were running carefully/conservatively bunched in the middle of the pack
Mile 2) >Evident Grant and Matt went out too fast with Erik and Gus even-splitting the first two miles and Jose “sandbagging” the first mile, picking it up
Mile 3) >Erik and Gus even split; Jose finished negative split, Steve raced a great last mile and I think he could have won if he made a move earlier; lots of guys ran solid/steady 7 minute splits and considering this was the first race experience of the season, expect they’ll do much better next race. … Lot ’s of guys were passing (vs. getting passed) coming into the chute.
JV Girls:
Mile 1) >Thea went out easy leading group (waving her hands at Greg, “like, can I go?”) with the rest getting out decent in the top 20 of the pack, including Sophia, Maddie, Carolyn and Tab up to the mile mark Mile 2) >Greg let Sophia go at the mile mark (she looked really relaxed) and she responded, moving up quite well in the 2nd mile (lots of girls faded since most went out too fast) and showing she wanted to race! Greg tried to pull Mariah aside at the mile mark, since she was holding her hip, but insisted she can finish, so he let her continue. Carolyn, Jessica and Tab still looked good but slowing down; Sophia was looking real good, with Maddie still running strong and steady, Thea was with them, ( but fading :() )
Mile 3) >Sophia made a big move with 500m to go and really finished strong (2nd place finisher was with her and she almost ran too hard/too early and really opened a gap, but held on) to finish in a new course record (old record = Sarah Thompson) Maddie finished real solid; all others were feeling the effects of the first two miles; again, lots of good finishes/passing coming into the chute
Varsity Boys:
Mile 1) >Reesey took it out, with Dowdy, King and Kiani right behind Gus and Daniel ran patient and strategically perfect with James keeping up; big group running 5:24-5:25 split with Colin waiting for me to let him go (Greg told him NOT to go with Gus and company); for the first mile, both Brian and Harrison had broken away from the pack and seemed to be struggling a bit early
Mile 2) >Gus and Daniel continued to run steady and strong, picking off a few runners that seemed to go out too fast; James lost contact with them, but still had a strong stride; Colin had moved up a bunch, with Jesse running just behind him with a bunch of Petaluma boys around him; Tim settled in with Austin and Austin for a nice pack; Brian and Harrison dropped back a bit and lost sight of the rest of the MCHS boys
Mile 3) >Although Gus and Daniel looked equally strong at the 2 mile mark, Gus really finished strong; Daniel with 800m to go, looked really, really tired James and Daniel both finished solid, but no kick in ‘em to catch runners just a few seconds ahead of them; Colin moved up steady in the last mile and had some kick left in his legs, holding off a big pack right behind him; the rest of the boys finished with strong kicks and overall, Brian said he just didn’t feel well and Harrison said his 1st mile split was a PR; overall real good spacing with the boys and expect Martyn would have done well (he did show up to root for the boys and was really missing NOT racing)
>YES! ’09 top 5 cumulative times = 79:32 vs. ’08 top 5 = 82:58
Varsity Girls:
Mile 1) >Of course, Jacque went out crazy, with Andrade following, then a gap, then came the group I wanted Cara to run with followed = Dominque Ratto + Susie Ruzga + Julie Narcuzi; Cara tucked in about 3-4 seconds behind Susie and company as Julie Narcuzi started to pull away and chase Andrade; Heidi and Lauren got out real solid running together with Lauren looking good and Heidi “bouncing” a bit with a short stride; Taylor was running with Margie and Gretel and Brynna was behind them running the first mile conservative as I told her to
Mile 2) >After the 1s mile, Cara was content where she was. After releasing Lauren at the mile mark, she responded very well, moving up a bunch and looking like she might catch Cara; TJ was running with Heidi and Margie and Greg instructed them to really race the last mile; Greg let Brynna go after the first mile and she really looked good and had the rest of the girls in her sights; Gretel was tired and feeling the effects of the first mile
Mile 3) > Cara didn’t move up in her position during the last mile and still ran solid (her time = close to Lauren C's last year); Lauren K had a monster kick in the last 800m and TJ showed her fight and guts kicking in ahead of a big pack on her heels; Heidi (still a bit sick?) and Margie’s legs were cooked with no energy to catch the pack just ahead of them and Brynna came up from behind and looked strong; Gretel finished very tired really slowed after the first mile. Overall decent spacing and comparable to last year’s team results. Need to get Lauren C. to lead and pull everyone up + throw Sarah T. and Kelly B in the mix and we’ll see what happens!
>VERY COMPARABLE TO LAST YEAR’S TEAM = ’09 top 5 cumulative times = 98:56 vs. ’08 top 5 = 98:15 (obviously with Lauren C., would have been better)
Boy's Splits (sorry, splits not available for all runners - the last .97 mile time is mathematically adjusted to full mile distance for comparability (time divided by .97))
Thanks everyone who turned in pledge money this week. We are now up to $2300 in collected funds - but we think there are still quite a few pledges outstanding. Please remember to turn in your $ as soon as you can - make checks out to MCHS PAC. (PAC stands for Puma Athletic Committee.) All funds will go to the Cross Country / Track account.
All particiapting athletes will be taking the bus to the Rancho Invite on September 4. Participating athletes will be released from school at 1:45PM, and the bus will leave at 2:00PM. Athletes returning from the meet with their parents will need to have their parents sign a release (see the coaches).
Following are directions to RCHS for anyone wanting to come down to watch and support the team:
For your reference, times from last year's meet (September 5, 2008 - weather last year was hot! - 101 degrees!. Forecast for 2009 is a high of 80 degrees)
Here is a sampling of some of the things on our minds this week...
Season Outlook/Goals:
Fundamentally, our goals are based on relative improvement. Success is measured in the improvement of each individual versus last year or over the course of a season.
Additionally, the coaches believe that North Bay League titles – both Varsity and Junior Varsity – are realistic goals for the team again this year.
A further realistic goal is to qualify both our Girls and Boys Varsity teams for California State Championships with top 4 finishes at the North Coast Section Meet.
Roster Size – we are currently at 79 (our biggest before was 50 last year). This has positive and negative aspects to it - it’s fantastic that we have so many kids willing to commit to competitive running, but the numbers sometimes present complicated administrative challenges. As coaches, we are finding we need to adapt our methods – here is how we are trying to manage:
Using training groups to adjust workout duration and intensity. We continue to adjust these groups as we get a better assessment of each runner’s ability and fitness.
Using these groups we hope to ease the transition of our novice runners into improved fitness, more advanced training, and successful competitive experiences.
For the first time, we are setting minimum fitness requirements prior to allowing athletes to participate in competition: 14:00 for two miles for Boys and 16:45 for Girls. We will issue competition jerseys once athletes are able to meet this requirement.
Reasoning: competition poses an additional set of physical and psychological hurdles for young athletes. While we believe there is certainly benefit to adapting to these challenges, we would prefer not to introduce these until the athlete has achieved a sufficient foundation of fitness.
We believe everyone on our roster will be able to meet this requirement (if not immediately, then soon) if they maintain consistency in their training.
What we hope to see in upcoming three weeks
Consistency in training, build aerobic fitness, remaining injury free (or to heal from current injuries)
Testing fitness in more low-key competitive environments at Rancho Invite, Ed Sias Invite, Casa Grande Interlock, and Viking Invite.
Use these performances to help refine training groups and workouts.
Ongoing Communications:
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Workout = medium pace distance run from Howarth Park (same 4 groups as we’ve done before with some “tweaking” of groups coaches will do today before they take-off)
Administrative = First headcount for Rancho Invite + Ed Sias (next Saturday 9/12)
Tuesday 9/1 = No carpool needed
Workout = Up-tempo fartlek at Montecito Park + cross training
2 mile time fitness test on the track for novice runners
Administrative = Final headcount for Rancho Invite + Ed Sias
Wednesday 9/2 = Carpool meeting at MCHS 3:30PM
Workout = Distance run + some light hill repeats and drills + assign captains for race Friday and review of our 3-2-1 race warm-up routine
Administrative = Handing out racing jerseys!
Thursday 9/3 = No carpool needed. Pasta Feed at Lao + Murray household
Workout = Easy run + dress rehearsal of race warm-up routine
Friday 9/4 = Rancho Invite at Rancho Cotate High School. No carpool needed – team taking a bus.
Athletes dismissed from school at 1:45;
BUS LEAVES MCHS at 2PM; competition starts at 4PM.
Will need note from parents if they are providing a ride home directly from this meet, otherwise we will be back at MCHS around 7 PM. Greg will go on bus with others driving a few vans if needed.
Weekend 9/5 - 9/6 = expectation is EVERYONE gets in one “relaxed pace” distance run of at least 45 minutes either Saturday or Sunday (need to rest one day).
