July 13 - 18 (Week 7) High Altitude Camp!

*It is best to view this in the Web Version - so scroll to the bottom of your phone and click "Web Version"*

Although we've been missing many of our TEAM, this was a great week with many awesome efforts at the time trial and a lot of new individual milestones of longest runs, most miles/minutes in a week, etc. It has been amazing to watch the growth of so many on our TEAM. I want each of you to go back to Sebastian's Strava from his run this Saturday (7/11) and take a look at his thoughts about Commitment and Consistency. All his thoughts were unprompted, just a dude who is doing great and really wants to see his TEAM grow. Some great thoughts about the difference between saying you want to do great versus actually putting in the work! We can all use a reminder like this once-in-awhile.

Camp Info:  (camp is this week, look all this over - this info is updated!)

*YOU MUST BE COMING TO PRACTICE TO ATTEND CAMP* 

- Make sure you have completed your Activate (formerly registermyathlete) including your physical. This needs to be completed to attend camp (many of you haven't done this yet)! Participation Fee doesn't need to be paid yet, but it will need to be paid before the Cedar meet. EVERYONE NEEDS TO DO THIS EVEN IF YOU AREN"T GOING TO CAMP SO GET ON IT!

- Here's who we have going (this list is updated and color coded with what you need to get done on your registration... PLEASE CHECK IT OUT). We will double check this list with Activate, so get your registration done. 

- Here's the spreadsheet of those who said they could drive (thank you so much!). 

- Things we'll need: a few tents

- Here's the packing list and itinerary

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts. We'll get our workout in before Kids' Club on Monday, so please be there. Then the rest of the week is all about getting minutes in with our TEAM. If you aren't headed to camp, please still get your runs in (be there Monday, then talk to others on the team and meet up to practice together). Use the Weekly Minutes form to go enter the number of days you ran and your total minutes from this past week (Week 6) - keep entering your minutes!

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

Monday: 6:30a at Washington Elementary (Everyone) - Youth Summer Running Club 8:30-9:45 (everyone plan on staying and helping out)

Tuesday - Thursday: up at camp (get runs in if you aren't headed to camp)

Friday & Saturday: On own or form your own groups

Book Club Reading: No reading this week

Upcoming Events:

• Waffle Wednesdays - ongoing after each Wednesday am practice. (not this week)
• High Altitude Camp - July 13th-16th in Beaver. Check out all the info above. 
• Race: PV 24th 2 Miler - July 24th (Fri) at the Fields Park (park on Orchard Lane near 20 E). We'll meet for warm-ups like normal practice at 6:00a, and then race around 6:40a. Family, friends, and anyone else is invited to run, walk, ride a scooter (Scooter Daze!), or whatever. Entry is 3 non-perishable food items (which we will donate to the Utah Food Bank).
• Spike Night at the St. George Running Center - July 28th, 7:00p. Food, prizes, shoe and gear sales.
• Race: Desert Relays - August 3rd (Mon) at Bloomington Hills North Park, 7:00p. This is our first official race of the season (please plan on attending). It is a fun. low-stress meet against Desert Hills. We'll meet for warm ups at 6:00p.
• Race: HOKA Relays - August 8th (Sat) at PVHS, 7:00a (team will meet at 6:10a for warm ups). Super fun community event (family, friends, others are invited) where everyone runs a mile on the track.
• Race: Cedar All-Comers - August 12th (Wed) at Cedar HS, 6:00p, bus time TBA.

Uniform Info: See last week's post for info (get shorts ordered ASAP) 

PVXC Thought of the Week: "One of the most important skills for excellent performance (and honestly, for an excellent life) is showing up; even, and perhaps especially, when you don't really want to."

-Brad Stulberg

Usually we pick our quote on something that helps inspire us, teaches us, or is something that we need to address as a TEAM. In this case, it is a combo of all three. So let's take just a second and break down each part.

Inspiration: Do you want to be Excellent and have an Excellent Life? I think most of us strive to that. Then show up! Show up to whatever it is that helps you have this Excellent Life. I really can't think of anything more inspiring than the goal of an Excellent Life, and I know that running has taught me so many things that have helped me work toward that in my own life. And every time I have the opportunity to talk with one of the hundreds (probably thousands) of people that I have had the privilege of coaching, they constantly share with me the lessons they learned from running that have carried on in their lives. So show up and be a part of it.

Teach: So what does running teach us? Hopefully you can list many - some of my thoughts: rewards are gained through hard work; things that are truly worth it are those that are earned through hard work; TEAMMATES are like family and will be there for you forever; for some reason difficult things are also the most fun - and TEAMMATES make these times some of the best times of your entire life... and so much more.

Issue: We've been preaching Consistency all summer. Yet, we are having many struggles with this. And, again, we aren't talking about that you may miss practice when you are on a vacation or a camp or something. We are talking about when you just don't want to wake up - you definitely won't have excellent performance or even an excellent life if you just won't get out of bed. We are talking about when you decide not to pack your running shoes for that vacation - getting out a putting a few minutes in (even if it isn't the full workout) in a new place is awesome. We are talking about when you create any excuse to not get to practice - every one of you is a huge part of the TEAM, when you don't come we miss you and our TEAM isn't fully our TEAM. Like SeaBass said, let's lock in and actually do the things that lock in.

Athletes of the Week: 

Ada, Sophomore - Along with her ability to be a great teammate and bring a lot of fun to the team, Ada has really been working to push her minutes up and hit her workouts.

LJ, Sophomore - His passion for running and being with the team is evident in everything he does.

Buns, Junior - Dustin is a great example of consistency. He has always been a talented runner, but his growth and push to be a varsity scorer has come from his consistency and dedication to the program for years.

Race Report: 

PVXC Time Trial - Results / Records. We had an excellent Team Time Trial over at Bloomington Hills North Park this past week. One of the best things was seeing some of our new TEAMMATES get in their first race and push themselves further than they thought possible. Shout out to Aiden, Braxton, Ginger, Lindley, and Jovie. We've been holding our summer time trial here since 2015 - so results include some tremendous TEAMS and athletes and anytime a TEAM or individuals hit a top 10 or top 50 it's a pretty big deal. On the boys side we had Benji, Elliot, and Dustin all hit in the top 10 all-time, with Nate at 17 and Brennan at 38. In addition to these guys getting into their grade top 10s, Sebastian also got top 10 for Sophomores. The TEAM results were also very impressive - 3rd all-time for 5 and 7 runners, and 4th for 10 runners. The ladies also did very well with Elin, Vanessa, and Aly (in her first XC race ever) grabbing top 50 spots. In addition, Elin's time placed her 5th all-time for Juniors. Our TEAM times put us at 9th for 5 and 7 runners and 7th for 10 runners (shows improving depth!). These were great results, especially considering our TEAMMATES who weren't there. Good things are happening at PVXC!

Oct. 20 - 25 (Week 21)

***UPDATE WITH STATE INFO***

Tickets - family and friends going to the meet MUST prepurchase a ticket to get in. The "ticket" is per car.

State Hoodie - want a State hoodie, preorder it here. Definitely a better option than waiting in line.

State! State! State! Congrats on qualifying for State Panthers. Every single one of you has played a role in this - whether it's from running at Divisionals, cheering the Varsity on, pushing the Varsity in workouts, or being a part of this program. So to reward everyone, we are taking the full team up to State. We need to know on Monday who is wanting to go, because we will make our Hype Squads and get everything lined out at our team meeting. 

We have spots for about 4-5 more of our team to join us to Nike. Talk to Coach if you are interested. We also need to get registration for JV State. The meet will be held on Nov. 1, at the Spanish Fork Sports Park. Remember, that athletes/families must arrange their own transportation/accommodations for this meet. We will register you for the meet when you pay $8 to the PVXC Club (use Coach's Venmo above and label - JV State "athlete name"). We'd love to have a big representation from the deepest and best JV team in the state, but we also understand that it might be difficult to arrange to get there... if you can and want to run, that would be awesome.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 21). Goal: get the Varsity ready to Rip It at State. Update your minutes from Week 20 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule: *wear white or bright in the am*

Monday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS (Varsity Expected, JV Black and Silver optional) run and yoga / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Tuesday: AM - 6:30a at PVHS weights (Varsity Expected, JV optional)/ afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: AM - 6:30a at PVHS short run (Varsity Expected, JV optional)/ afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:30a at PVHS weights (Varsity Expected, JV optional)/ afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:30p at PVHS (White expected, Black and Silver optional - no Fresh or Sophs or JV) 

Saturday: 8:00a at PVHS (Everyone)

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - State: Tuesday, October 28th at Sugar House Park (SLC); Var Boys 2:30p, Var Girls 3:15p; bus noon at PVHS and 12:10 at PVMS, itinerary (we will leave Monday afternoon and race Tuesday, taking app. 45 athletes... must continue attending practice to travel)
• get the full schedule here

Race Report - 

Divisionals: Our goal - qualify for State. We did it. Both groups were working on some packing to help us be stronger going into State. The girls took 4th in their race. The boys won their race. Results. News.

Alumni Report - Trey raced for UVU out to Princeton. He said he was happy with his effort.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "Miles didn't hear it as a mistake. He heard it as something that happened - just an event - part of the reality of what was happening at the moment, and he dealt with it." 

-Herbie Hancock (quoted by Steve Magness)

In this post, Magness is talking about how Herbie Hancock, the pianist for famed jazz musician Miles Davis, told a story of a time he (Hancock) hit a wrong note in the middle of a song. The big take-away from this for Hancock, and hopefully for us, is that Davis didn't freak out, demand to stop and start again, or even get mad at Hancock. Rather, he went with the flow. The mistake had happened and now what was important was how he helped all the musicians move through it and keep the smooth jazz rolling! Remember, we are going to have mistakes in our races and workouts. How are we going to handle them? Are we going to freak out? Shut down? Want to retreat and quit? Or are we going to work through it as just 'something that happened' and keep the smooth jazz rolling as we push with our teammates and competitors to produce some beautiful running?!

Oct. 13 - 18 (Week 20)

Great job at Region Panthers! That was the culmination of a lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment to your team. Remember, we invite everyone to keep coming out and running with the team. Go back to last week's blog for a little rundown of post-season stuff and Nike info below.

**This MUST be taken care of by Sunday night** We are getting our trip to Nike Southwest set... the bus, hotels, and registration are the big costs. The total is going to be around $200 (but don't pay that all until the cost is set). But we do need a downpayment from everyone who is planning on going to be paid. We will be paying this through our club account - NOT THE HS -, so please pay $100 to Coach Holt by Sunday through Venmo @Dave-Holt77. We had 40 who said they would like to go to NXR. If we can get the bus to 45 that will help keep our cost down a little more, so if you weren't sure (or changed your mind), there is still space for you. 

*Also, we need to start registration for JV State. The meet will be held on Nov. 1, at the Spanish Fork Sports Park. Remember, that athletes/families must arrange their own transportation/accommodations for this meet. We will register you for the meet when you pay $8 to the PVXC Club (use Coach's Venmo above and label - JV State "athlete name"). We'd love to have a big representation from the deepest and best JV team in the state, but we also understand that it might be difficult to arrange to get there... if you can and want to run, that would be awesome.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 20). Our goal is to get the Varsity all ready to rip it at State and to get JV back into the groove. Update your minutes from Week 19 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule: *wear white or bright in the am*

Monday: AM - 8:00a at PVHS (Everyone) / afternoon - on own (those that usually do a Monday afternoon double)

Tuesday: AM - on own for those who usually get a short run in (no weights) (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (all JV) / RACE: Divisionals (for Varsity) see info below

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:30p at PVHS (White expected, Black and Silver optional - no Fresh or Sophs or JV) 

Saturday: time and location TBA

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - Divisionals: Tuesday, October 14th at Lakeside Park (Orem); Var Girls 11:00a, Var Boys 12:00p; suburbans leaving Monday at noon, itinerary (we will leave Monday at noon and race Tuesday, taking 12 boys and 7 girls - check list on itinerary)
• RACE - State: Tuesday, October 28th at Sugar House Park (SLC); Var Boys 2:30p, Var Girls 3:15p; bus TBA, itinerary TBA (we will leave Monday afternoon and race Tuesday, taking app. 45 athletes... must continue attending practice to travel)
• get the full schedule here

Race Report - 

Region 9 Championships: One of PV's best Region Championship performances in history! Congrats to our 4 individual champions: Laura in the JV Girls, Benji for the JV Boys, Emmalee in the Varsity Girls, and Trevor with the Varsity Boys. It's the first time in recent memory that one team swept the individual titles. Although it was a difficult full 5K course, we got out there and pushed and ran with confidence. The JV Girls took 4th. JV Boys went full sweep mode with a perfect score of 15 and taking the top 9 spots in the meet. The Varsity Girls ran our best team race since Cedar All-Comers and took 2nd - a result we are very proud of. And the Varsity Boys put on a clinic with a huge win, scoring just 21 points, and taking 6 medalists and all 7 guys in the top 12. We are so excited to see the continued growth of our program and each of you individually. Results. News.

Alumni Report - Jessica raced her final XC meet for Weber up at the Steve Reeder Memorial held by Utah State. She says she's looking forward to using the winter to get ready for her final track season. 

PVXC Thought of the Week: "No one relates to a story that's only about winning." "Running has taught me that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is keep showing up." "Doubts and fears will always come up. The goal isn't to erase them - it's to move with them." "Healing doesn't mean the struggle disappears. It means you learn to face it differently." "The only way to truly perform your best is to free yourself from the weight of your own mind." "Thriving means being art of something bigger than yourself." 

-Emily Venters, "From Pressure to Possibility: A Strive to Thrive Story"

Since we won't have a full team meeting Monday (hey there's no school!), I'd like you to pick your favorite quote from above and be ready to share with some teammates why it stood out to you and what you can learn from it. We will share these thoughts on Monday morning, so be ready! And maybe while you're at it, go learn who Emily is and her story a little. Then root for her to crush it at Chicago - and of course, my main man Conner Mantz, too!

Sept. 29 - Oct. 4 (Week 18)

***REGION UPDATE AGAIN!*** Bus will be leaving the HS at 12:00p on Tuesday, then grabbing the 9th graders at the MS. Race schedule: JV Girls 3:15p, JV Boys 4:00p, Varsity Girls 4:30p, Varsity Boys 5:15p, awards after. Course Map:

5K, spike course (almost all grass, 3 areas of gravel/dirt)

RULES for everyone (including spectators): STAY OFF PUTTING GREENS!, do not run through desert/rough areas as you go from place to place, stay out of sand traps, the Rock Bowl is off limits

Please sign up for helping at the Marathon aide station. 

Hope everyone had fun with all the Homecoming activities. We appreciate the efforts to be at the events and represent our team and our school. We are right toward the end of our season for our JV crew. When we hit Region in a week and a half, we would love to have everyone keep running and being part of the team. Those who are planning on traveling with our club to post-season meets need to stay around. And we also plan on taking a full bus up to State for HYPE SQUADS (it's such a great thing to be part of the State travel team - we'll plan on taking about 45 athletes, our 14 competing Varsity and 30'ish others), so you have to be at practice after Region to be part of that. Also, unless you are participating in another sport/activity over the winter, we highly encourage you to keep running with us. We definitely will take some time off in December, but a huge part of growing in running is the consistency of running over the winter, track in the spring, and then linking it all to next year. Also, in early November, we'll be doing both a 1 and 2 mile time trial - it's always pretty cool to see how fast and in-shape we are at the end of a great XC season.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 18). Notice we have a little different minutes and even workouts for our JV and Varsity crews even at the same level. This is to get our JV crews really ready to crush it with a bit of "tapering" for Region while the Varsity will keep higher minutes as they prep for State. Update your minutes from Week 17 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule: *wear white or bright in the am*

Monday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:30p at PVHS (White expected, Black and Silver optional - no Fresh or Sophs or JV) 

Saturday: Race - Cedar Invite, see info below

Upcoming Events:

• St. George Marathon Volunteer - Saturday, October 4th. Starting early going through about 2:00p. Meeting at PHVS to carpool up at 5:10a, then we'll run and set up.
• RACE - Region: Tuesday, October 7th at Sand Hollow Golf Course; JV Girls 3:15p, JV Boys 4:00p, Var Girls 4:30p, Var Boys 5:15p, ; bus 12:00 at the HS and then pick up at the MS
• RACE - Divisionals: Tuesday, October 14th at Lakeside Park (Orem); (time depends on our placement at Region) Var Girls 11:00/11:40a, Var Boys 11:20a/12:00p; bus TBA, itinerary TBA (we will leave Monday afternoon and race Tuesday, taking 9 boys and 9 girls)
• RACE - State: Tuesday, October 28th at Sugar House Park (SLC); (time TBA) Var Girls , Var Boys ; bus TBA, itinerary TBA (we will leave Monday afternoon and race Tuesday, taking app. 45 athletes... must continue attending practice to travel)
• get the full schedule here

Youngsters - next Race ?:  ***Join Velocity Kids running club***

Race Report - 

TwiKnight: The Varsity teams headed up to Utah County to race some of the best teams in the state and nation on Friday. The girls finished 12th and the boys 7th. Both teams continue to see growth and look to solidify the Varsity squads as we get ready for Region and State.

Cedar Invite: Congrats to Sydney on the dominant win in the JV Girls division. We had a lot of other great performances with season's bests and big improvements over our first race at Cedar this year. The JV boys took the win led by a 3,4,5 finish from Buns, Tayson, and Nathan. The Varsity guys came up just off the win, finishing 1 point behind DH. Pretty awesome though that our JV squad barely missed beating every other Varsity squad in our region. Our team is amazing! We are so excited to see our continued growth. Check out the huge improvements we had this year from the first race at Cedar to now.

Alumni Report - Trey had a very strong race for UVU out at the Gans Creek Classic (Missouri). He placed 4th for UVU and is really have a great season for the Wolverines.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "You can't ride a (Panther) by grabbing its tail. Sit in the back for too long, and you'll get jostled around, cut off, and spit out the back in a vicious cycle. When the decisive move comes, you need to be close enough to respond."

-post from "the running effect"

We've focused a lot of different things this year and really worked to get our bodies and minds ready to grow and do our best. Think of all the things we've done. Everyone of them is a piece of the puzzle. Now we hit "Championship Season". This is the best time of the year! We don't need to worry about times, PRs, struggles of the past, or anything else... We've put all those pieces into the puzzle. Now there is just one last piece - and that is racing like a beast! The key to this is COMPETING. The whole goal of our last (few) race(s) is to just beat the person in front of you. Compete, compete, compete. Get out there and get after it. Ride the Panther From the Front! A final piece of the puzzle. PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!

Sept. 15 - 20 (Week 16)

Post season races interest form (JV State, Nike Southwest Regional, Brooks West Regional) - please go fill out this form by the end of the week.

We might not get the blog fully updated today... so we've included the main info for now, and check back later.
Please sign up for helping at the Marathon aide station.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 16). We're going to give a solid push this week with some workouts in the afternoon (the temps look very favorable for us. That also lets us get a little more sleep this week, so check the workout blog and this week's schedule for times. Update your minutes from Week 15 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule: *wear white or bright in the am*

Monday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:30p at PVHS (Black expected, Black and Silver optional - no Fresh or Sophs)

Saturday: 8:00a at TBA (Everyone)

Upcoming Events:

• Homecoming Parade - Wednesday, September 24th in Washington; time TBA. No Bus; be at staging area on 200 E by ?p in uniform top. All athletes encouraged to attend. OTHER HOMECOMING EVENTS: lighting the PV at halftime of the football game on Friday night. We encourage everyone who is not at the meet to participate.
• RACE - TwiKnight: Friday, September 26th at Art Dye Park (American Fork); schedule TBA; Varsity only; itinerary TBA (we will drive up and back on Friday)
• RACE - Cedar Invite: Saturday, September 27th at Cedar HS; schedule TBA (8:00a); bus TBA; everyone that doesn't race at TwiKnight will race here.
• St. George Marathon Volunteer - Saturday, October 4th. Starting early going through about 2:00p. Meeting location and time TBA.
• get the full schedule here

Youngsters - there may be a youth race this week... we'll update here ***Join Velocity Kids running club***

Race Report - 

Hurricane All-Comers: .... Results.

Las Vegas Invite: ... Results.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "The word compete comes from the Latin root 'com' which means 'together' and 'petere' which means 'to rise up; In its truest form, competition is about rising up together."

-Brad Stulberg

This is really a cool lesson when you break it down. What is competition? What does it mean to compete? Often we take it as a challenge, "I've got to beat these people!". If we can think of the word in its truest form, however, and reframe its meaning, compete becomes so much more. Something that can take us to another level. When we race (or even when we practice), we should be competing. We should be rising up together with those around us, making us and everyone around us better. As we approach this week, take a second to reflect back at your latest race (or even how you approach workouts). Are you competing - pushing with those around you to make yourself and everyone else better? Did you challenge yourself to go catch a group in front of you? Have you led your teammates to step up and excel at a new level together? When thinking of competition/competing in this way, you reframe it into something that is no longer intimidating, rather you make it something that takes you (and those around you) to a new and higher level.

Sept. 8 - 13 (Week 15)

This is a great time for a self-check... How are you doing with school? How are you doing with your running? How are you doing with handling the pressures of these and other things? Are there things you could do a little better to see improvements? Have you revisited your WHY lately? What about your goals and our team goals - have you taken some time to evaluate how you are doing at working toward those? Periodic checks on these things and the small self-corrections will help get back on and stay on course before we have major issues and are too far off course for a correction.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 15). Right now is the time when we should be able to feel some major strength coming into our running. We've had a long time to build up and sustain mileage/minutes. We've been putting in some solid workouts. The next step is to challenge yourself to be very brave and release your inhibitions and fears about running fast and let you body and mind do it's thing - the thing you have set it up to do very well! Update your minutes from Week 14 here: Weekly Minutes. 

Who is racing what this week? We are trying to get one or two more hotel rooms for our overnight trip this weekend, but we're not sure if we have them yet. Right now we are maxed out at 44 athletes going up north. We will get everyone info on who is racing this weekend asap. For Wednesday at Hurricane, we would like everyone who didn't race down at Vegas to race. We also would like to open the door for anyone else (particularly our younger runners) to decide if they think racing will help them more or doing the workout Wednesday. Those who would rather race, are more than welcome to do that. We will also maybe share a few more names on Monday at the team meeting of who we'd like to race. 

This Week's Schedule:

Monday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional - decide if you want to jump in this workout or not, totally fine either way; those that are racing Wednesday should probably skip this workout, but could do an easy run on Monday morning instead) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice will usually be in the afternoon, except Friday, and everyone should be there; Mondays we'll meet in the lecture hall for a team meeting first)

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: (for now we are planning on doing the workout in the morning... may change) AM - 6:00a at PVHS for workout (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join or wait until afternoon) / afternoon - (we may just move afternoon practice to over at the race, but for now...) 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone) or RACE - HURRICANE ALL-COMERS: Washington Country Legacy Park (Hurricane, at the county fair park); 5:30p; info below.

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / evening - shake out at the State Course

Saturday: RACE - BORDER WARS: Valley Regional Park (Taylorsville); 9:00a; invited athletes (about 45 members of the team); info below.

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - Hurricane All-Comers: Wednesday, September 10th at Washington County Legacy Park; Youngsters 5:00p, Girls 5:30p, Boys 6:15 (TIME CHANGES!). No Bus; be at the park by 4:45p for warm ups. JV will race here.
• RACE - Border Wars: Saturday, September 13th at Valley Regional Park (Taylorsville); Sr Girls 9:00a, Sr Boys 9:20a, Jr Girls 9:40a, Jr Boys 10:00a, Var Girls 10:20a, Var Boys 10:40a, Championship Girls 11:00a, Championship Boys 11:20a, Soph Girls 11:40a, Soph Boys 12:00p, Fresh Girls 12:40p, Fresh Girls 1:00p. We will be leaving on Friday- Itinerary. We will be taking between 44-48 athletes (that will be between 16-20 girls and 28-32 boys), you will have to be here for all your expected practices.
• Homecoming Parade - Wednesday, September 24th in Washington; time TBA. No Bus; be at staging area on 200 E by ?p in uniform top. All athletes encouraged to attend. OTHER HOMECOMING EVENTS: lighting the PV at halftime of the football game on Friday night. We encourage everyone who is not at the meet to participate.
• RACE - TwiKnight: Friday, September 26th at Art Dye Park (American Fork); schedule TBA; Varsity only; itinerary TBA (we will drive up and back on Friday)
• RACE - Cedar Invite: Saturday, September 27th at Cedar HS; schedule TBA (8:00a); bus TBA; everyone that doesn't race at TwiKnight will race here.
• get the full schedule here

Youngsters - Youngsters race at Hurricane this week. 5:00p, before the HS races at Legacy Park ***Join Velocity Kids running club***

Race Report - 

Dixie All-Comers: It's great that each race we can really highlight some great things that happened! In the girls race, Laura took the DUB! She ran very smart and was able to work up to the front when the opportunity presented itself. Ole continues to run well and was our 2nd girl. Individually, each of the girls ran well on the difficult course. We had Karissa as our 3rd runner, Suzy 4th, and Rylee 5th to round out our scoring. In the boys race, Miles placed 2nd followed by Ian, Tayson, and Joseph W in the 3rd-5th spots. Nathan rounded out our scoring in 10th and was closely followed by Jaxon in 11th for another dominant Panther win. We had some strong runs from our younger guys too: Finn, Zack, and Hudson all finished under 22 on the tough course. Results.

Las Vegas Invite: Temps were great and the racing was great. Team winners: Varsity A Boys, Varsity B Boys, Varsity B Girls, Fr/Soph Small School Girls. It was a lot of fun to see the progress that so many of our team members are making as they are learning to race and push themselves. A few shoutouts: Karissa, Ole, Rylee, Suzy, and Ember continue to make big improvements; it was great to have Vanessa and Carter back racing; the freshman boys (Sebastian, Hudson, Hunter, Bennett, Finn, and Sam) continue to see great progress; and all the rest of you are awesome, too! Results. News.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "Learn your instrument. Practice, practice, practice. Then forget all that and just wail."

-Charlie Parker

Parker was one of the greatest Jazz saxophone players of all time. And he wailed! A Steve Magness (I know, another thing from this dude), post on Insta talks about the science behind why Parker was right. To be great it takes practice. You gotta practice, practice, practice. But then when it comes time to deliver - get out of your own way! You've already practiced; now it is time to shine. I heard one of our teammates talking about how he wants to take a big jump this year (we call it the Junior Jump), and he was wondering out-loud to another teammate about how to do that. He works super hard in practice (and is very consistent) and has been improving his racing, so he evaluated a few other things: sleep, nutrition, etc... All good stuff. But the thing I thought about was the idea of this quote. You are putting in the work, now "forget all that and just wail!" Magness mentions that often "... our brains do the opposite. The inner critic dominates. We overthink, hesitate, or freeze. Thinking gets in the way of doing." So how do we overcome that? Trust the system you've built through practice and allow it to do it's thing. In a race, let go of thoughts and let the system you've built do its thing. This week... JUST WAIL!

*Shout out to the boys for earning a mention on the Dyestat Regional Rankings. We haven't been on here in a few years, so it's pretty cool. But it's a lot cooler to back it up with a great race this weekend!

Sept. 1 - 6 (Week 14)

We are entering a super busy time of our schedule - 4 races in just 2 weeks for some of you! So make sure you are on top of everything you need to be. Thanks for all the help at the car wash. It went very well, and we hope each of you raised some money for your XC expenses. 

If you haven't got the Binderly App (parents and athletes) PLEASE DO. (You can get rid of your track and XC Remind). Create your account (parents and athletes) and connect to Pine View HS and join Cross Country.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 14). Workouts will be kind of all over for the next two weeks as various teammates are getting ready for different races. So, make sure you note where you are at on the workout schedule and get everything in you're supposed to. As we get ready to head on our team overnighter next week, we will really be focusing on our standard of being at practice. We will also be looking for grades to be solid - we will have a grade check this week; each athlete needs to bring a printed copy of your current grades to Coach Decker by Friday (or you won't be eligible to travel next week). Update your minutes from Week 13 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule:

Monday: AM - 8:00a at Sunrise Valley Park (Everyone) 

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - RACE - DIXIE ALL-COMERS: Bloomington Hills North Park (St. George); 6:00p; info below.

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:25p at PVHS (White expected; Black and Silver optional - no sophs/fresh; no Maroon)

Saturday: RACE - LAS VEGAS INVITE: Sunset Park (Las Vegas); 10:00a; bus leaving PVHS at 5:00a; info below. We will need to know by Wednesday if you are able to race or not.

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - Dixie All-Comers: Tuesday, September 2nd at Bloomington Hills North Park; Youngsters 5:30p, Girls 6:00p, Boys 6:40'ish. No Bus; be at the park by 5:00p for warm ups. Everyone who didn't race at Timp will race here.
• RACE - Las Vegas Invite: Saturday, September 6th at Sunset Park (Las Vegas); schedule (race times are Pacific Time): Var A Boys 7:00a, Var A Girls 7:30a, Fresh/Soph Boys 8:00a, Fresh/Soph Girls 8:35a, Var B Boys 9:10a, Var B Girls 9:45a. Bus will leave PVHS at 5:00a (be there on time). TOP JV BOYS WILL RACE IN VAR A RACE. (Varsity will not be racing)
• RACE - Hurricane All-Comers: Wednesday, September 10th at Washington County Legacy Park; Youngsters 5:00p, Girls 5:45p, Boys 6:30'ish. No Bus; be at the park by 4:45p for warm ups. JV will race here.
• RACE - Border Wars: Saturday, September 13th at Valley Regional Park (Taylorsville); Sr Girls 9:00a, Sr Boys 9:20a, Jr Girls 9:40a, Jr Boys 10:00a, Var Girls 10:20a, Var Boys 10:40a, Championship Girls 11:00a, Championship Boys 11:20a, Soph Girls 11:40a, Soph Boys 12:00p, Fresh Girls 12:40p, Fresh Girls 1:00p. We will be leaving on Friday- Itinerary (updated soon). We will be taking about 48 athletes (that will be between 16-20 girls and 28-32 boys), you will have to be here for all your expected practices to be in consideration for traveling with the team.
• get the full schedule here

Uniform Info & Spirit Pack - Go back to last week's post (spirit pack orders are still open)

Youngsters - ***We are encouraging our Youngsters to join the Velocity Kids running club***. Both this week's Dixie All-Comers and next week's Hurrican All-Comers have youth races. We'd love to see some future Panthers out there. 

Race Report - 

Timpanogos Invite: This was our first big challenge of the year for our Varsity teams and things went okay. And, honestly, okay is better than usual. The Varsity girls took 10th without Avery, so we were pretty pleased to see that result. Emmalee was 21st overall and the 5th 4A girl. Tev had a strong 2nd half to move up to 42nd. Sariah continues to be brave and push herself up the rankings; it was great to have Elin back from injury and running with the team again; and Andi and Sydney continue to make steady and important improvements to help the team. The Varsity boys took 12th. Maybe a little lower than we expected, but we still saw some good things. Trevor finish with a top 20 finish (4th 4A). Bender and Jake went 40th and 45th. Benji hanged in on a tough day and Nate is working back from his injuries, and they took 96th and 99th. And Liam was just back in 102nd. The JV guys took 3rd and were led by a strong race from Mason who took 2nd. Then Kyle (11th), Elliot (16th), Brennan (26th), and Tyler (27th) rounded out our scoring. Results. News.

Alumni Report - 

Trey and Bridger both ran this past weekend's UVU Invite in Orem. Trey is looking very strong for a Varsity spot for the Wolverines this year as he took 4th for the team. Bridger had a great first collegiate race and says he's loving running in college and that it is tough!

PVXC Thought of the Week: "All you can do is stay focused and stay on your game."

-Brad Stulberg

So maybe a little longer discussion here because we won't have team meeting on Monday (so stay with my train of thought and stay focused). This info is taken from a Stulberg post about an event that took place at the US Open (tennis) the other day. So apparently, in a tough match, Taylor Townshend (who was a big underdog) won a pretty lucky point that hit the net and then dropped in against Jelena Ostapenko. Ostapenko thought Townshend should have acknowledged the lucky shot and apologized (tennis etiquette, I guess). But Townshend didn't. Townshend went on to win the match, and after Ostapenko confronted her about the lucky point thing and was pretty upset. The teachable moment for us comes from Townshend's response which included her focusing on what she could control - her game and composure - and not getting caught up in all the distractions, name calling, and extra stuff that was happening around the incident. In fact, Townshend went on to beat her next heavily favored opponent as well! The lesson (from Stulberg's post)... "RESPOND NOT REACT. When things don't go to plan... You can react and lose your cool, as Ostapenko did. Or you can respond and stay locked in, as Townshend did. Reacting is rash. You go on tilt. Responding is deliberate. You stay focused." This is so huge in running (practices, workouts, races) because rarely will everything go right. Ask Jake about getting spiked last week. Ask Mason about having to run JV races while you're a top Varsity guy. Ask our crew that is working through injuries right now. Ask those who get a cold, have a bad day at school, have an unexpected tragedy, forgot their uniform, had the weather go crazy hot, or whatever... No matter the case, when you react, you've let something out of your control take over. When you respond, you stay in control, you refocus, and you do what you're able to do. And usually, things end up being pretty okay (or even better than okay).

So here's the challenge part - go back to the last time you reacted to something and think about how you could have responded instead. Even go to the next step and run through some visualization of bad things happening (maybe in a race or something) and plan out how you are going to respond and keep things under control rather than react and lose the control.

Aug. 25 - 30 (Week 13)

This has been a great start to the season/school year. It has been awesome to see so many of you really working hard to be to practice and buying in to the program. Remember that the more you put into something, the more you're going to get out of it (and for us, the more the team will benefit as more and more of you put a lot into it). Let's keep it up this week!

If you haven't got the Binderly App (parents and athletes) PLEASE DO. (You can get rid of your track and XC Remind). Create your account (parents and athletes) and connect to Pine View HS and join Cross Country.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 13). The weather looks to really be ready to help us have a nice week (yay). A big goal of this week is to turn the corner on some of the little injuries and aches we've been having. So we set up our workouts to help you be feeling good. Make sure you do your part by sleeping, eating, drinking and taking care of your body and mind. Update your minutes from Week 12 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule:

Monday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional - decide if you want to jump in this workout or not, totally fine either way) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice will usually be in the afternoon, except Friday, and everyone should be there; Mondays we'll meet in the lecture hall for a team meeting first)

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:25p at PVHS (White expected; Black and Silver optional - no sophs/fresh; no Maroon) / RACE - TIMPANOGOS INVITE: Lakeside Park (Orem); 10:00a; Var Girls and top 13'ish boys; info below.

Saturday: 6:45a at Sandstone Elem. (Everyone) - CAR WASH after

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - Timpanogos Invite: Friday, August 29th at Lakeside Park (Orem); Var Girls 10:00a, Var Boys 10:30a, JV Boys 11:30a. We will be leaving on Thursday - Itinerary VARSITY and a few other top JV ATHLETES ONLY.
• Car Wash - Saturday, August 30th at Sandstone Elem, 9:00a-noon. This is a great opportunity to raise money for your XC expenses (trips/hotels, Nike trip, shoes...). Get "selling" your tickets.
• RACE - Dixie All-Comers: Tuesday, September 2nd at Bloomington Hills North Park; Youngsters 5:30p, Girls 6:00p, Boys 6:40'ish. No Bus; be at the park by 5:00p for warm ups. Everyone who didn't race at Timp will race here.
• RACE - Las Vegas Invite: Saturday, September 6th at Sunset Park (Cedar); prelim schedule: Var A Boys 7:00a, Var A Girls 7:30a, Fresh/Soph Boys 8:00a, Fresh/Soph Girls 8:35a, Var B Boys 9:10a, Var B Girls 9:45a. Bus will leave PVHS at 5:00a (be there on time). TOP JV BOYS WILL RACE IN VAR A RACE. (Varsity will not be racing)
• RACE - Hurricane All-Comers: Wednesday, September 10th at Washington County Legacy Park; Youngsters 5:00p, Girls 5:45p, Boys 6:30'ish. No Bus; be at the park by 4:45p for warm ups. JV will race here.
• RACE - Border Wars: Saturday, September 13th at Valley Regional Park (Taylorsville); Sr Girls 9:00a, Sr Boys 9:20a, Jr Girls 9:40a, Jr Boys 10:00a, Var Girls 10:20a, Var Boys 10:40a, Championship Girls 11:00a, Championship Boys 11:20a, Soph Girls 11:40a, Soph Boys 12:00p, Fresh Girls 12:40p, Fresh Girls 1:00p. We will be leaving on Friday- Itinerary (updated soon). We will be taking about 48 athletes (that will be between 16-20 girls and 28-32 boys), you will have to be here for all your expected practices.
• get the full schedule here

Uniform Info - <<<LAST WEEK FOR THIS INFO>>> Each athlete will need to purchase their uniform. The top (singlet) will be purchased through the school, cost $50. Pay to PVHS Finance Office and bring receipt to Holt. The shorts need to be purchased on your own. 

Shorts:

Boys - We will be running in the Nike Fast 3" (black) short for XC (same as we got for track this past season).  Here are some links: Nike, FastBreak, Gazelle, Running Warehouse, TCRunning 

Or if you are more comfortable in a 5" short, order the Nike Challenger: Nike, Kohl's, Dick's, Scheel's

Girls - Have a spandex or running short style option.

Spandex: Nike Women's Pro 3" (black/white) links: Nike, FootLocker, Tillys, Fit2Run / Nike Women's Pro 365 5" (black/white) links: Nike, Macy's, Amazon, Nordstrom, FootLocker

Running Short style: Nike Women's Tempo (black) links: Nike, Macy's

Spirit Pack - <<<LAST WEEK FOR THIS INFO>>> PVXC Team Store. A few new color options have been added. We also have a second company offering spirit pack stuff here is the link to MVP Sports. Always remember spirit pack stuff is completely optional and open for parents, family, friends to order. 

Youngsters - We are on hold with our Youngsters... we'd love to get it going, but haven't had enough interest in getting coaches (we'd need 1-2 more to make it work). Here was our original plan (if you know of anyone who would want to help we'd love it): Youth XC Running Camp (6th-8th grades). Monday and Thursday at 3:00p at PVHS, near the electronic sign (days may change). Spread the word and come join us! We are looking for parent volunteers to coach. You don't have to be super knowledgeable to help out... just someone who wants to be involved. Reach out to Coach Holt at david.holt@washk12.org if interested. ***Another great option is the Velocity Kids running club***

Race Report - 

SUU Invite: What a great day yesterday! Varsity boys started us very strong by nearly sweeping the race. Trevor took the win, followed by Bender, Benji, and Rake. Ben finished out the scoring with a 9th place finish, and Riam had a strong race finishing 12th. The girls Varsity was missing quite a few, but had strong races from Emmalee taking 2nd, Sariah finishing 11th, and Andi who had another good race in 30th. The JV boys took home a 100 point win hitting a perfect score and 7 of the top 10. Mason ran very well up front, Then a great group of Kyle, Will, Elliot, Brennan, Tyler, and Miles. Really we could list all the guys here for how well they did, but we'll mention a couple others: Nathan and Tayson had very strong races; our freshmen crew of Sebastian, Hudson, Finn, and Hunter ran well; and Joseph B. had a huge improvement over last week. Laura was our top finisher in the girls JV with a 12th place result. Ember and Ole also had good runs as the team took 5th. Really great efforts by so many!  Results. News.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "The #1 factor that determines if a training plan works? Belief. You can have 'perfect' workouts, elite level data, and cutting-edge recovery tools... But if the athlete doesn't buy in, none of it sticks. The body follows the mind. If the mind is hesitant, distracted, or full of doubt, performance suffers."

-Steve Magness

Those that have been around our program for a while know our stuff works, what about you? Sometimes things like a bad race, an injury, a negative word by a trusted loved one, just a general feeling that you're kind of in a rut happen. And sometimes these things cause us to start to question our program. That little doubt then grows into a full-on doubt. When that happens, performance suffers. How do we counter this? Go back to the basics... Why am I here? What do we do that works? What are my feelings about those who are around me? Revisit why you bought in in the first place and rebuild the belief. It's not about pretending everything is perfect; it's grounded confidence in the direction you are headed and the support that a program can give you. Belief is a powerful tool. Belief is built by trust, listening, collaboration, vulnerability, ownership. Belief helps lead you to accomplishing your mission. 

Aug. 18 - 23 (Week 12)

 *Remember it is best to view in the web version - to find this option on your phone, scroll to the bottom of the post*

One week of school down... we made it through. Hopefully we are all starting to get into a groove a bit with school and practice and all the other things we have. This is a great time to bring up how important it is that you are staying up on your school work. Use your time wisely in class and get things done. Limit things that waste your time once you get home from practice. And get schoolwork done early so you can be getting to bed at a good time.

-New communication... please do this! We are going to be using the Binderly App that the district has asked all school programs use (you can get rid of your track and XC Remind). Create your account (parents and athletes) and connect to Pine View HS and join Cross Country. Be patient as we figure this out, but hopefully it helps our communication get to where everyone is getting the team info.

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 12). It was a great first week of school and practice. We'll continue to work to get our full workouts in (even though we have to modify some things because of the heat). Update your minutes from Week 11 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule:

Monday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional - decide if you want to jump in this workout or not, totally fine either way) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice will usually be in the afternoon, except Friday, and everyone should be there; Mondays we'll meet in the lecture hall for a team meeting first)

Tuesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Wednesday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and yoga (White, Black, expected; Silver optional; Maroon can join for yoga at 6:45a) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Thursday: AM - 6:15a at PVHS short run and weights (White, Black, Silver expected; Maroon optional) / afternoon - 3:00p at PVHS (Everyone)

Friday: AM - 6:00a at PVHS (Everyone - our main practice on Fridays will usually be in the am, and everyone should be there) / afternoon - 12:25p at PVHS (White expected; Black and Silver optional - no sophs/fresh; no Maroon)

Saturday: PM - RACE - SUU INVITE: Bicentennial Park (Cedar); 8:00a; info below.

Upcoming Events:

• RACE - SUU Invite: Saturday, August 23rd at Bicentennial Park (Cedar); prelim schedule: Var Boys 8:00a, Var Girls 8:30a, JV Boys 9:00a, JV Girls 9:30a. Bus will leave PVHS at 6:15a (be there on time). 
• RACE - Timpanogos Invite: Friday, August 29th at Lakeside Park (Orem); JV Girls 10:00a, JV Boys 10:30a, Var Girls 11:00a, Var Boys 11:30a. We will be leaving on Thursday - Itinerary (updated soon). VARSITY and a few other top JV ATHLETES ONLY
• Car Wash - Saturday, August 30th at Sandstone Elem, 9:00a-noon. This is a great opportunity to raise money for your XC expenses (trips/hotels, Nike trip, shoes...). We'll get out tickets and go over instruction on Monday at the team meeting.
• RACE - Dixie All-Comers: Tuesday, September 2nd at Bloomington Hills North Park; Youngsters 5:30p, Girls 6:00p, Boys 6:40'ish. No Bus; be at the park by 5:00p for warm ups. Everyone who didn't race at Timp will race here.
• RACE - Las Vegas Invite: Saturday, September 6th at Sunset Park (Cedar); prelim schedule: Var A Boys 7:00a, Var A Girls 7:30a, Fresh/Soph Boys 8:00a, Fresh/Soph Girls 8:35a, Var B Boys 9:10a, Var B Girls 9:45a. Bus will leave PVHS at 5:00a (be there on time). TOP JV BOYS WILL RACE IN VAR A RACE. (Varsity will not be racing)
• get the full schedule here

Uniform Info - Each athlete will need to purchase their uniform. The top (singlet) will be purchased through the school, cost $50. Pay to PVHS Finance Office and bring receipt to Holt. The shorts need to be purchased on your own. 

Shorts:

Boys - We will be running in the Nike Fast 3" (black) short for XC (same as we got for track this past season).  Here are some links: Nike, FastBreak, Gazelle, Running Warehouse, TCRunning 

Or if you are more comfortable in a 5" short, order the Nike Challenger: Nike, Kohl's, Dick's, Scheel's

Girls - Have a spandex or running short style option.

Spandex: Nike Women's Pro 3" (black/white) links: Nike, FootLocker, Tillys, Fit2Run / Nike Women's Pro 365 5" (black/white) links: Nike, Macy's, Amazon, Nordstrom, FootLocker

Running Short style: Nike Women's Tempo (black) links: Nike, Macy's

Spirit Pack - PVXC Team Store. A few new color options have been added. We also have a second company offering spirit pack stuff here is the link to MVP Sports. Always remember spirit pack stuff is completely optional and open for parents, family, friends to order. 

Youngsters - We are going to start up our Youth XC Running Camp (6th-8th grades) this week. For now, we are planning on meeting Monday and Thursday at 3:00p at PVHS, near the electronic sign (days may change). Spread the word and come join us! We are looking for parent volunteers to coach. You don't have to be super knowledgeable to help out... just someone who wants to be involved. Reach out to Coach Holt at david.holt@washk12.org if interested.

Race Report - 

Cedar All Comers: Good season start up to Cedar. Weather was still pretty warm and we had some hot days here for our first week of school practice, but we still saw a lot of good performances. Both boys and girls teams ended up winning. But the real point of this meet is to give us (our team and each individual) a starting point to build on. So make sure you reflect back on the race a bit. Take special notice of the times you felt you were running fast and putting in great effort and remember what that feels like so we can replicate it and grow in the future. Results. News.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "If you view practice as an obligation and not as an opportunity... you'll never make it at the next level. You don't have to practice... you get to practice."

-Coach Riley (@6am_practice)

What's practice to you? Hopefully it is something you look forward to each day. A time to be with your best friends. A time to get out and push yourself. A time to do something you love. Hopefully you're not thinking... I have to get up in the morning, or I guess I'll go to practice this afternoon I have nothing else to do. Find some joy in it. See it as an opportunity to grow. Not a lot of people get to spend time doing something as awesome as we do with as awesome group as we have. Find your reason why and it will make this tough thing we do so much more enjoyable. 

Important Note about Races/Buses - It is very important that each athlete and parent understand our standards when it comes to participate in races: 

-First (and this is for being on the team, not just racing), athletes MUST have Activate done and marked complete (see link earlier in this post). This includes registration documents complete, fees paid, and physical complete and submitted (including insurance clearance)

-Second, athletes grades must be checked for previous quarter. The office does this, but those who attend alternative school or who are home schooled MUST turn in their grades at the beginning of every quarter to be checked.

-Third, athletes must be attending practice. Those not attending practice won't be registered for the meets. This includes almost all reasons to miss: appointments of all kinds, work, even school if things are falling behind and not discussed with the coaching staff. If there is a need to miss practices (and meets), athletes need to talk to coaches in advance!

And here's a little info on travel/buses and the end of meets: 

-athletes are expected to ride the bus to meets (there may be times when we have to adjust this a little because of team size)

-athletes can only travel home with their own parent (not trusted family friends, not grandparents, not siblings... only the athlete's parent can take them home, after signing out with coaches). Athletes need to stay throughout the meet to support the team even if their race is done (even if a parent needs to leave). We will always have a bus for away meets to bring everyone home.  

-PARENTS, we love that you come support your son/daughter in this extremely tough sport. At the end of a race, when you've seen them work so hard and are so tired, we know you just want to go up and give a huge hug and support them. However, after the race is a super important time for your son/daughter. They need to compose themselves a little (especially after a tough race), be with their teammates, do all their cool down stuff, and often get cheering for the rest of the team. So the best thing to do is give a quick high-five and hug, tell them you are proud of their effort (please don't ever criticize or even try to evaluate their race... they know what went well or poorly, and the coaches are paid the big bucks to help them with that). So just give a quick recognition and then let them get doing their stuff (even a quick encouragement of, "Great job! So proud of you! Go knock out your post race cool, and we'll see you when you're done," would be super awesome).

July 28 - Aug. 2 (Week 9)

As we write this, we think about the 8 weeks we've had already. There have been many positives for our team and a few setbacks (and this is probably true for you too); however, it has been a great summer. And we are so excited to bring it all together with our team High Altitude Camp this coming week. (Make sure you don't skip over the uniform info found at the bottom of this week's blog.)

Camp Info: *YOU MUST BE COMING TO PRACTICE TO ATTEND CAMP* Here's who we have going. Here's the spreadsheet of those who said they could drive (thank you so much!). Here's the packing list. ***UPDATE*** LOCATION... We've finally gotten word that Jacob Lake will still be closed. Bumma, but nothing that we can control. However, we can control that we will still have an awesome camp. We will stay at the Williams' house in Beaver near the mouth of the canyon. We will still camp (out on the lawn) and run camp pretty much the same as we do up on the mountain. 

Purpose of the Week's Workouts: Click here for a link to this week's workouts (Week 9). Our minutes won't really grow this week (unless you haven't been hitting any doubles), and our intensity will actually drop a little (just a workout Monday and long run Thursday). Camp itself will be an extra stressor on you. We want everyone to be healthy and ready to head into a big week next week, so we'll hold things back just a little this week. Update your minutes from Week 8 here: Weekly Minutes. 

This Week's Schedule:

Monday: Regular practice at 7:00a at Washington Elem. (Everyone) / those going to camp: Meet at the Wash. City Rec Center to pack up by 12:45p (we want to be on the road before 1:00p).

Tuesday - Thursday: at camp / if you aren't attending camp, check the workouts and get your runs in

Friday - Saturday: on own or form your own groups

Book Club Reading: No article this week.

Upcoming Events:

• High Altitude Camp - July 28th-31st in Beaver. (see info above)
• RACE - Desert Relays: Monday, August 4th at Bloomington Hills North Park, 7:00p. This is our first official race of the season. It's a fun, low-stress meet against Desert Hills. We'll meet for warm-ups at 6:00p.
• Spike Night at St. George Running Center: Thursday, August 7th, 7:00p. 
• RACE - HOKA Relays: Saturday, August 9th at Desert Hills HS, time 7:00a.(team will meet at 6:15a for warm ups), A super fun community relay event where everyone races a mile. 
• RACE - Cedar All Comers: Wednesday, August 13th at Cedar HS; youngsters 5:30p, girls 6:00p, boys 6:40p; bus info TBA

Race Report:

PVXC 24th 2 Miler - There are two big reasons we run our summer races: helping each of us learn how to handle the nerves of racing in a non-stressful situation and helping us each see our improvement. We really saw both of those goals reached in our 24th 2 Miler. The weather was great, we had a bunch of family come join us, we collected a lot of food for the Utah Food Bank, and we ran a lot of fast times. Tons of top 10 grade times were set, the top 50 overall records were completely rewritten, and our all our team records were smashed. Very well done. Something that would be very useful for you to do now (and after each race) is to evaluate areas that you did well so as to continue the feel of those and areas you'd like to see improvement. As we'll talk about up at camp, it is important to do so without judgement, however. Remember, running great or running poorly doesn't make us a better or worse person. It is just something that we would like to find joy and growth in. Results. Records.

PVXC Thought of the Week: "Long term growth comes from raising the floor."

-Steve Magness

Huh? In the info surrounding this thought, Magness talks about how we are usually obsessed over the ceiling: How fast can I run? What is my PR? But the reality is that growth doesn't come from our best days (because those are rare). Rather growth comes from stacking our regular days. That's the floor. The regular, usual, normal, I don't feel that great days. What do you do with those days? Do you sleep in or get out of bed? Do you complain about not feeling great and look for excuses or do you still show up and give your best (whatever that is)? Magness did a study on runners who showed the most improvement. His results... it wasn't those who had the most great workouts; it was those who had less bad. Those who had better average days because they showed up and gave it a try saw the most improvement. He continues, "raising the floor means focusing not just on the PR, but how do you raise your average performances? What can you show up and do, almost no matter what?... Elite performers don't just have higher peaks. They have fewer valleys. They don't need perfect conditions to show up and deliver... You don't win championships by having one great day. You win by having a lot of good days." That's RAISING THE FLOOR. Make your regular average day better than everyone else's. That's why we stress focusing and actually doing your pre and post run drills correctly... make your average day better. That's why we stress being at each practice... make your average day better. Staying on top of your school work, getting good sleep, eating right... make your average day better. The simple act of making your average day better will raise your floor and you will definitely see significant growth and have a lot of fun along the way.

Uniform Info - Each athlete will need to purchase their uniform. The top (singlet) will be purchased through the school... more info coming (cost $50). The short need to be purchased on your own. It would be a good idea to get them very soon. 

Shorts:

Boys - We will be running in the Nike Fast 3" (black) short for XC (same as we got for track this past season).  Here are some links: Nike, FastBreak, Gazelle, Running Warehouse, TCRunning 

Or if you are more comfortable in a 5" short, order the Nike Challenger: Nike, Kohl's, Dick's, Scheel's

Girls - Have a spandex or running short style option.

Spandex: Nike Women's Pro 3" (black/white) links: Nike, FootLocker, Tillys, Fit2Run / Nike Women's Pro 365 5" (black/white) links: Nike, Macy's, Amazon, Nordstrom, FootLocker

Running Short style: Nike Women's Tempo (black) links: Nike, Macy's