Oct. 14-19 (Week 20)

We're really proud of how everyone did at Region. We really are the most amazing program in the Region and the reason is you! Your hard work and dedication. Your commitment to your teammates. Your willingness to be coached.  Your support of each other.... It is a lot of fun to be associated with such an amazing group of people. Great job Panthers.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts. Expectation is to have a great prerace on Monday morning that gets the weekend out of us and ready to roll, and then have a great Divisionals race. On Tuesday the Varsity will be up at Divisionals, everyone else will have the Groove workout after school. We'll be back together as a team on Wednesday and do our normal Wednesday schedule. Over Fall Break, we would like to hold practice together at 11:30a to help the Varsity crew work on their timing of waking up, eating, running at the same time as State. Please try and be there as best you can. Click here and track your minutes from Week 19: Weekly Minutes. 

*Wear WHITE or BRIGHT to ALL AM PRACTICES*

All practices at PVHS unless noted

This Week's Schedule: bring water and a towel (for stretches and drills on grass) 

Monday - AM - Varsity 6:00a / JV 6:15a PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / Afternoon - regular practice at 3:00p PVHS (everyone), no team meeting

Tuesday - NO AM  / Afternoon - RACE: Divisionals (Varsity - see info below) or regular practice (JV) at 3:00p PVHS

Wednesday - AM - 6:15a regeneration run PVHS (White and Black required; Silver optional; no Maroon, no Freshmen), Yoga at 6:45a everyone invited / Afternoon - regular practice at 3:00p PVHS (everyone)

Thursday - AM - on own (for those who want to) / Afternoon - regular practice at 11:30a location TBA (everyone)

Friday - AM - on own (for those who want to) / Afternoon - regular practice at 11:30a BHNP (everyone)

Saturday - 11:30a Sullivan (everyone)

Upcoming Events:

• RACE: 4A Divisionals - Tuesday, 10/15; Girls A 1:00p, Boys A 1:20a, Girls B 1:40p, Boys B 2:00p (we don't know which races we will be in until after Region); Lake Side Park, Orem - we will be taking one or two extra athletes who have really exemplified our motto this year of Get in the Boat! as alternates (make sure all your grades and assignments are caught up before since this is the end of the quarter) - itinerary (including list of invited athletes) 
• RACE: Utah 4A State Championships - Tuesday, 10/29; Boys 12:00p, Girls 12:30p; Sugarhouse Park, Salt Lake (we will be taking anyone on the team who is continuing to be committed to practice and our team up as Hype Squads... it's a ton of fun to support and be part of it all, plan on coming!)
• RACE: JV State Championships - Saturday, 11/2 (NEW DATE!); 1A-4A Girls 9:00a, 1A-4A Boys 9:30a; Spanish Fork Sports Park (Cost is $8, must pay to Coach Holt before Oct. 31st, individuals will be required to provide own transportation/lodging) 
• *travel meets require a grade check on Monday before the meet (Divisionals, State)

Race Report:

Region - I'll come back and get to this soon!

Alumni Report:

Jessica raced with Weber at the Delinger Invite in Oregon. And Brooklyn raced at the Steve Reeder Invite for Utah State. I'll add to this with times and stuff later!

Youngsters (our 6th-8th grade club):

We've had a great Youngsters season. Thanks so much to our coaches for being there for the team and helping build our program. This week is our final race on Monday, Oct. 7th at Grandpa's Pond in Hurricane. If any Youngsters would like, they can continue to come out with the HS team when our season officially ends after Oct. 29th (reach out to Coach Holt for info). And we look forward to the spring when we get our track season rolling. Watch for info to be posted at pvtrack.blogspot.com in January.

PVXC Thought of the Week: This is a long story, but very interesting... "In 1995, the British Medical Journal reported on a 29-year-old builder who had suffered a severe accident. He jumped down from a ledge on the construction site, only to land on a nail that went straight through his boot! Understandably, he was in a lot of pain. He was taken to the emergency room. Seeing his discomfort and the nail, doctors gave him (various drugs) to sedate and deal with the immense pain. The doctors removed the nail, took off his shoe... and realized that the nail had in fact penetrated the boot, but it had been between the toes. The man was uninjured. Yet, the context told him he was... Seeing the nail, his coworkers' reaction, and the rushing to get him to the hospital... All screamed that he should be in pain. His brain complied. According to the Predictive Processing Theory, this is how our brain works. We predict what will occur, using a combination of expectations and sensory experiences. In this case, the builder's expectations based on seeing the nail in the boot, etc. overrode his actual sensory experience (no pain). What's even crazier... This theory tells us that when we have a mismatch between expectations and sensory experiences, we strive to resolve it. Sometimes, that means ignoring the sensory data that contradicts, other times it means updating (learning) our expectations based on the data... And other times it means CREATING the physical sensations to match our expectations. That's why he felt excruciating pain. To deal with the mismatch, to reduce the error, his brain created the sensation of pain, so it matched his expectations. Now, think about how you are creating your own expectations. Are they aligned with reality? Do they set you up for success or delusion?"

-Steve Magness

This story is wild to me, yet it makes so much sense. Think about it in terms of running... Do you ever create sensations based upon what you think should be happening? A race or a workout is hard and should have some pain with it - so have I ever made the level of pain up because it's supposed to hurt? It's hot out - so have I ever created the sensations and struggles that come with heat to match up, even if it isn't that bad? Or take it to another level... is pain even real if we can make it up in our head when there is actually "no nail in my foot"? Well, yes, pain is real, but how much of it do we create based upon our perceptions rather than reality? And if I can start to control my perceptions of things (like pain, or tiredness, or heat, or whatever) how much can I actually work through it knowing I am in control of it, it isn't in control of me. Get in the Boat!

Oct. 7-12 (Week 19)

I hope everyone is excited for the opportunity to show all their hard work and growth throughout the year with Region coming up this week! And although we might have a little bit of nerves, that is a positive thing. Nerves mean we care and we want to do well. So focus on a few things the next day or two: 1) you've put in the work - you have been running for months now (even years), each of you have done a ton of work for this. 2) everyone believes in you - your teammates, your coaches, your family and friends all have your back and are happy for you to achieve great things. 3) you know the game plan - you've visualized your race; you know where you're supposed to relax and let the race come to you (the first mile), you know that in the second mile you're going to work your way up and get into position where you want to finish, and in the last mile you are just picking off people as we move strong down the hill (remember our commitment to our team and to ourselves to only be passing in the last 600 meters of the race!). 4) this is all fun! - this isn't life or death... it's running, so go have fun pushing yourself and helping your teammates. 

A huge thanks to everyone for your help with the marathon. The run before was great even if it was early. And your help at the aid station was so appreciated by the runners. Great job organizing it all AJ.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts. Expectation is to have a great prerace on Monday morning that gets the weekend out of us and ready to roll, and then have a great Region race. On Thursday and Saturday, we'll have workouts prepping the Varsity for Divisionals/State and keeping the JV ready for our post-season races. Click here and track your minutes from Week 18: Weekly Minutes. 

*Wear WHITE or BRIGHT to ALL AM PRACTICES*

All practices at PVHS unless noted

This Week's Schedule: bring water and a towel (for stretches and drills on grass) 

Monday - AM - 6:00a PVHS (White, Black, Silver; Maroon optional) / Afternoon - regular practice at 3:00p PVHS (everyone), Meet in Lecture Hall after changing into practice clothes for our team meeting

Tuesday - AM - 6:45a NO Weights, just a short run PVHS (White, Black, Silver required; Maroon optional) / Afternoon - RACE: Region 9 Championships (see info below)

Wednesday - AM - 6:15a regeneration run PVHS (White and Black required; Silver optional; no Maroon, no Freshmen), Yoga at 6:45a everyone invited / Afternoon - regular practice at 3:00p PVHS (everyone)

Thursday - AM - 6:15a Weights and short run PVHS (White, Black, Silver required; Maroon optional) / Afternoon - regular practice at 3:00p PVHS (everyone)

Friday - AM - 6:00a PVHS (everyone) / Afternoon - White required, Black and Silver optional; no Fresh/Sophs or Maroons) 

Saturday - 7:00a BHNP (everyone)

Upcoming Events:

• RACE: Region 9 Championships - Tuesday, 10/8; JV girls 4:00p, JV Boys 4:35p, Var Girls 5:10p, Var Boys 5:40p; Bloomington Hills North Park (arrive right after school - 3:00p / No bus, MUST ARRANGE OWN RIDES)
• RACE: 4A Divisionals - Tuesday, 10/15; Girls A 1:00p, Boys A 1:20a, Girls B 1:40p, Boys B 2:00p (we don't know which races we will be in until after Region); Lake Side Park, Orem - we will be taking one or two extra athletes who have really exemplified our motto this year of Get in the Boat! as alternates (make sure all your grades and assignments are caught up before since this is the end of the quarter)
• RACE: Utah 4A State Championships - Tuesday, 10/29; Boys 12:00p, Girls 12:30p; Sugarhouse Park, Salt Lake (we will be taking anyone on the team who is continuing to be committed to practice and our team up as Hype Squads... it's a ton of fun to support and be part of it all, plan on coming!)
• RACE: JV State Championships - Saturday, 11/2 (NEW DATE!); 1A-4A Girls 9:00a, 1A-4A Boys 9:30a; Spanish Fork Sports Park (Cost is $8, must pay to Coach Holt before Oct. 31st, individuals will be required to provide own transportation/lodging) 
• *travel meets require a grade check on Monday before the meet (Divisionals, State)

Alumni Report:

Trey raced at the Color Country Invite at SUU on Friday. He is continuing to be great for Utah Valley and placed 8th for the team and 19th overall with a time of 19:11 on a tough 6K course.

Youngsters (our 6th-8th grade club):

We've had a great Youngsters season. Thanks so much to our coaches for being there for the team and helping build our program. This week is our final race on Monday, Oct. 7th at Grandpa's Pond in Hurricane. If any Youngsters would like, they can continue to come out with the HS team when our season officially ends after Oct. 29th (reach out to Coach Holt for info). And we look forward to the spring when we get our track season rolling. Watch for info to be posted at pvtrack.blogspot.com in January.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better."

-Pat Riley

We have some great examples of excellence on our team. As coaches, we always talk about how we can get the team and each individual to really buy in, and our discussion went to a few of our teammates who really, REALLY bought in to what we do (keep in mind, we have many teammates who we could look to if we want to grow and get better, but these three truly are standouts... we are all blessed to have them as examples of how to improve, grow, get better, and be better people). And sorry if this embarrasses them (but STS!). Emmalee - she has learned by being part of a group that was divisive and struggled to embrace everyone to be the leader of a team that cares about everyone. Individually, she has fully bought into every workout and gives her best effort in every single pre and post-run drill. Bridger - he wasn't always one of the best runners in the nation. He has consistently grown by setting his sights on what he could really achieve if he truly believed in himself and the program. He lives the life of a Renegade and works hard to stay on top of his schooling so that he can really focus on his love of running (something that he has grown tremendously with and has paid off for him). Trevor - there is no one more passionate about this team than him. To say he was a mid-pack freshman would be overstating it. So how has he grown so much? He is unflappable in his effort and dedication. He doesn't question workouts - he does them. He doesn't question the program - he trusts that as he gives his best effort it will pay off. He doesn't get down when things don't go well - he perseveres and works through the tough stuff with a positive attitude until it turns around. In a year or two, we will be able to write a whole new list of athletes (especially as many of you are already on your way) who exemplify excellence. And we know that without a doubt, it will include athletes who followed the example of these three amazing teammates. Get in the Boat!