July 30-Aug 4 (Week 9)

A huge thanks to everyone for all the help with Summer Club.  It went great.  Kids had fun.  And it's over!  This week we will be heading to high altitude camp on Monday morning after practice.  We will be meeting at 10:30a at the Wash. Rec. Center.  See the post below for packing list and for drivers info.  Those who aren't going to camp will need to get their runs in on their own.  Also, we have updated our XC schedule to include the change to our time trial date (Aug 6) and a couple other dates  (there will probably be a few more changes, but we'll let you know).

Purpose of the week's workouts - We are moving into our SWEP phase of our training plan this week.  SWEP mean Speed With Endurance Process.  In our training philosophy - which is heavily influenced by NZ coaching legend Arthur Lydiard, Bill Squires, and "Tinman" Tom Schwartz - this phase brings in longer intervals at controlled paces varying from current 3K-8K pace.  We continue long runs and also bring in a little more hill work in the form of our Hill Circuits.  As with each phase, SWEP is extremely important.  One of the biggest goals from SWEP is to develop strength and a feel for certain paces which will help as we get to more important races later in the season.

Here's our schedule for the week -

Monday: Meet at Wash. Elem. at 7:00a.  High Altitude Camp - meet at 10:30a at Rec Centewr

Tuesday-Thurs: High Altitude Camp.  If not attending camp, practice on your own.

Friday: No team practice.  On own or organize your own group run

Saturday: On own or organize your own group run.

Weekly minutes can be found here.  Please get them caught up.

Double check your Final Surge to see if our next set of workouts for most of August is posted on your calendar.  Let Coach know if it isn't.

Thought of the Week: "The little details add up until they represent significant differences.  Let nothing slip through the cracks." - Bill Belichick
This is a pretty good thought.  Everyone and every team that has aspirations to do well will get all the big stuff in: the long runs, the workouts, whatever; however, what separates those that accomplish those big goals and targets will be doing all the small things.  Take a few minutes and think about all that you do.  And when you identify a few areas of weakness, set an expectation that you will do those small things to help us be the ones to achieve our goals and targets.  

6th-8th grade PVXC Club

We will be hosting our PVXC Youngsters Running Club for grades 6-8 this school year.  Info about practice days and times will be posted in the next couple weeks.
We are looking for some people who would are interested in helping coach our club this year.  Contact Coach Holt at pineviewxc@gmail.com for details.

High Altitude Camp

Check out the packing list and drivers info for camp.

Week of July 23-28 (Week 8)

It was hot.  It was humid.  It's been a long summer.  But it was our best week yet.  A lot of good things are happening on our team right now.  Just a few weeks of summer left; let's finish it up strong!

July 24th - Please do your best to plan on running a race on the 24th.  In our area, we have 2 good options. 1) Enterprise 5/10K.  Good race and you can get a tasty pancake breakfast after. 2) Hurricane   Pioneer 5K. Also a very good race and the cost is just a few cans of food!  Starts at 6:00a at the park in the center of town.  If you're in town and not doing Enterprise, please run this race (and bring your family along to participate as well).

Purpose of the week's workouts - Last week, we had some great thoughts on why the aerobic base is so important.  We continue to focus on our base this week before we go into our SWEP over the next few weeks.  On Wednesday, we add a 3rd afternoon double for Levels 2, 3, and 4.

Here's our schedule for the week -

Monday: Meet at Wash. Elem. at 7:00a. 

Tuesday: No team practice in the AM.  Again, please race today if at all possible.  If you can't, your workout will be a tempo session.  Add a few minutes to wherever you are at on your tempo progression and get a good workout in.  We WILL have afternoon weights and run at 3:00p at the HS.

Wednesday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a with our final Kid's Club after (those who have treats, please remember).  Wednesday afternoon run is on your own or with your own group.

Thursday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a.  Weights and short afternoon run at PVHS at 3:00p.

Friday: Meet at the double churches in Washington Fields at 6:30a.

Saturday: On own or organize your own group run.

High Altitude Camp will be July 30-Aug 2 at Pine Lake near Bryce Canyon.  Those who haven't turned in your physical and/or haven't done registermyathlete (and are going to camp) this must be done by Monday!

If you haven't signed up for Final Surge to record your runs, please do (see the posts below).  Also check below for info on registermyathlete registration info and physicals.  You MUST have your registermyathlete done and your physical complete to go to camp.

Weekly minutes can be found here.

Sand Hill - Last Monday we had our 3rd Sand Hill run of the summer.  The conditions were perfect, and everyone is starting to figure it out a bit.  We are super proud of the great efforts so many of you put in.  Times and records have been updated.

Thought of the Week: "Young runners take notice. We have 2 alums running in the NCAA Track and Field Championship.  These girls weren't superstars in grade school, but they worked hard and preserved for 7-8 years thru much adversity to chase their dreams. Be patient, believe in yourself and work hard." - Barry Hepworth, a coach sharing the importance of a long-term approach of hard work and commitment.
So often, we want the results now and when they are slow to come, we quit before realizing what we could really achieve.  It takes months and years to reach goals that are truly worth it.  When you find yourself struggling to wake up or to stay focused, when it feels like your progress has stalled and you aren't getting where you want, remember, to keep pushing - find something that will help you pull through the lull: a teammate, a positive affirmation, a happy thought of a a goal previously achieved; and use it to help you push through.  Because in the end, when you keep at it, it will be worth it!

Summer Running Club Updates

We've got one week left of our Summer Running Club.  Because the 24th falls on our regular Tuesday club day, we will hold our final day on Wednesday the 25th at our regular time and place (8:30a - Washington Elementary).
We will be getting our shirts and our Summer Marathon Certificates - let's do one final push to get our marathon in.  Many of you are close to your 26 miles; finish it up this week!
We also had a great time showing off our State Championship trophy and hopefully getting the kids stoked to earn one of those too.  Here's a link to the pics.  Download and print off yours if you'd like.  You can also see some of them on our Insta @pvxctrack

Week of July 16-21 (Week 7)

Just a few weeks left of summer leaves us with good news and bad news... the bad: (I guess, I kinda like it though) school is going to start in just 4 weeks; the good: races are just around the corner - that in itself means we better get to business!  Let's get it focused; LET'S GET TO PRACTICE; let's get pushing ourselves and each other.

July 24th - Please do your best to plan on running a race on the 24th.  In our area, we have 2 good options. 1) Enterprise 5/10K.  Good race and you can get a tasty pancake breakfast after. 2) Hurricane   Pioneer 5K. Also a very good race and the cost is just a few cans of food!  If you're in town and not doing Enterprise, please run this race (and bring your family along to participate as well).

Recruiting - it's always a great time to get a friend to come run.
"When I invite a young man to join our team, I often hear, 'I am not a very good runner.' My reply is, 'I don't care. I care you put forth effort to get better, and have some fun doing it.'" - Paul Vandersteen (Mountain Vista HS, Co)

Purpose of the week's workouts - We had a pretty big jump in our minutes last week, this week will either be the same amount as last week or just a small increase.  But we continue to work our aerobic base.  It is so important to be doing all your runs (hopefully with the team; but if you're out of town, then on your own).  You've got to be getting all the benefit you can from consistent aerobic development at this time of the season.  A good week here and then a bad week there, or a couple good days followed by some missed runs will really inhibit your development as the season progresses.  What we are doing now is the base for everything we do over the next few months!  In fact, let's do a competition to get you thinking about the importance of our current phase of running.  The first 3 athletes and the two other "best" comparisons posted below in the comments will win a gallon of gatorade concentrate at practice Monday.  Comparison: write a statement comparing our event (the importance of the aerobic base phase) to a known object/person/place/thing and a couple reasons why.  Such as Preston Warby's famous comparison: The Aerobic Base Phase of running is like A Shoelace because they both... (and say a couple reasons why they are similar).

Here's our schedule for the week -

Monday: Meet at Wash. Elem. at 6:30a. PLEASE WEAR A WATCH if you have one!

Tuesday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a with Kid's Club after (those who have treats, please remember).  For the afternoon run (on Tuesday and Thursday) we now meet at the PVHS at 3:00p to do weights and our run. 

Wednesday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a (Those who are running with the Varsity Boys crew will most likely be doing their workout today instead of the scheduled Thursday - everyone else with stick with the planned schedule)

Thursday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a.  EXCITING NEWS: milesplit (the hs track/xc website) will be at practice interviewing and recording our workout.  We highly encourage everyone to wear some Pine View gear if you have any.  Weights and short afternoon run at PVHS at 3:00p.

Friday: Meet at Vernon Worthen Park in the center of St. George at 7:00a

Saturday: On own or organize your own group run.

High Altitude Camp will be July 30-Aug 2 at Pine Lake near Bryce Canyon.  Practice Monday will be the final decision on who is qualified to go to camp.  All those wanting to go to camp, will need to run the Sand Hill - coaches will determine who qualifies for camp by effort on the run. You will also have to have been keeping your Final Surge updated and your registermyathlete completed (at least the paperwork part) and your physical complete and turned in to the school (it may not show as turned in on registermyathlete, however).

If you haven't signed up for Final Surge to record your runs, please do (see the posts below).  Also check below for info on registermyathlete registration info and physicals.  You MUST have your registermyathlete done and your physical complete to go to camp.

Weekly minutes can be found here. Make sure Weeks 4 and 5 have been updated - they will not be reviewed after this week.

Sand Hill - Last Monday we had our 2nd Sand Hill run of the summer.  It was very hot and dry and this probably affected times quite a bit, but there were still some very good efforts.  Times and records have been updated.

Thought of the Week: "Help create a GREAT TEAM by being a GREAT TEAMMATE." - unknown

Week of July 9-14 (Week 6)

Hopefully everyone has had a good week. It is going to be great to be back together as a team on Monday!  Great job to all of you who got your runs in over the past week.  And thanks to all those who helped organize any group runs you may have done.  Just a reminder to get your Final Surge updated so minutes can be added up.  This is the last week that Coach will be going back through Weeks 1-3 and adding them to the totals.  Also, a huge thanks to those parents who have volunteered to drive to/from camp.  There will be a few steps that the district is requiring this year to be a volunteer driver (including a background check done at the district office, a volunteer form, and a drivers' safety video done online).  Coach will be getting this organized ASAP.

Recruiting - remember Coach Roberts is getting mini tacos to the Support Squad who recruits the most runners this week! Make some calls; send some texts; PICK SOME PEOPLE UP; let's get some people to join us!

Purpose of the week's workouts - So far, we have been increasing our base throughout the summer (you should be able to see this by how you have been getting more minutes each week on your Final Surge workout report).  Last week, the minutes were dropped slightly to allow for a little recovery.  This week, the minutes move up again quite a bit as we continue to work our aerobic base.  This is why summer running is so important... before you can run fast, you need to optimize your aerobic capacity, and this is done through a lot of long hot running!

Here's our schedule for the week -

Monday: Meet at Wash. Elem. at 6:30a. PLEASE WEAR A WATCH if you have one!

Tuesday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a with Kid's Club after (those who have treats, please remember).  For the afternoon run (on Tuesday and Thursday) we now meet at the PVHS at 3:00p to do weights and our run.   (For tips on running in the heat and the reasons for doubles check out the post from a couple weeks ago.)

Wednesday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a

Thursday: Wash. Elem. at 7:00a.  Weights and short afternoon run at PVHS at 3:00p.

Friday: Meet at Bloomington Hills North Park at 7:00a

Saturday: On own or organize your own group run.

High Altitude Camp will be July 30-Aug 2 at Pine Lake near Bryce Canyon.

If you haven't signed up for Final Surge to record your runs, please do (see the posts below).  Also check below for info on registermyathlete registration info and physicals.  You MUST have your registermyathlete done and your physical complete to go to camp.

Weekly minutes can be found here. 

Thought of the Week: "Run every day during the summer even when you don't have practice. Try and keep up with teammates who are faster than you. If you are one of the fastest on your team, encourage other runners to keep up with you." - Haley Herberg (A graduating California Sr. when asked to give advice to hs xc runners)

Week of July 2-7 (Week 5)

I have finally recovered enough to get this week's blog up! A group of the boys went to Renegade Camp this past weekend up to the Tushar Mountains above Beaver and ran (hiked/climbed/survived) Mt. Baldy.  It was an amazing experience and gave these potential Varsity boys a great bonding and growth opportunity.
This week, the biggest news is that it is the Utah Moratorium Week - which means no coach led activities. This could be the most important week of the summer... why? Because without coaches, what are you and the team going to do? Are you going to step up and do all of your runs? Are you going to keep working together as a team? PLEASE make sure you are updating your Final Surge each day so the coaches can be giving some encouraging words and advice. Take a look at the quote below... it is what this week is all about.

Here's our schedule for the week - because of the moratorium, I can't post a schedule.  You know the runs (from your Final Surge or from here). But rumor has it that the captains will be hosting practice at the regular scheduled times.

There is no Youth Running Club this week.  We will meet again on July 10th.

High Altitude Camp will be July 30-Aug 2.  Last call.  Here's who has signed up (if you're name isn't here and you are planning to go, please contact Coach Holt ASAP - the shirt order is going in Monday):Pyper H., Rylee H., Scottie B., Bentley B., Josh H., Cooper D., Rayne K., Jose U., Alli B., Allison B., Yrene H., Evan B., Jenna B., Nathan B., James H., Gabs H., Landon W., Carson B., Elijah W., Jessica H., Jason L., Rylee D., Gracie C., Anna G., Addi B., Korbin D., Tavin B., Mikey A., Sylvia B., Caleb A., Julien C., Boston H., Luke H., Zack D., Kylee B., Kathy G.
Again a call for drivers - we will be looking for parents who can drive up and/or back from camp (and anyone who might want to stay with us any/all days).  Please contact Coach Holt if you are available.

If you haven't signed up for Final Surge to record your runs, please do (see the posts below).  Also check below for info on registermyathlete registration info and physicals.  You MUST have your registermyathlete done and your physical complete to go to camp.

Weekly minutes can be found here. 

Thought of the Week: "What you do when no one is watching is what separates a champion from everyone else." - unknown