Cross Country Meet and Race Updates
Greetings CC Crusaders,
While it seems hardly possible, we are about to cross the midway threshold of our CC season, which means it is about time for a meet! The first meet will be this Saturday morning in Stroud. The necessary information is located in the Race Table at the bottom of the webpage, within the emailed attachment, or click HERE. As we have discussed as a team, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we will not be able to use the ILCA bus for Saturdaymeets this semester. Consequently, parents/grandparents/guardians will need to drive their student-athletes to Saturday meets this semester (and probably next semester as well). . . .
~ The Saturday, 9/19 Holland Hall morning meet will only be held for HS student-athletes this year; MS student-athletes are encouraged to come and cheer for their teammates, however.
~ The Tuesday, 9/22 Bishop Kelley evening meet will only be for MS student-athletes. However, HS student-athletes should plan to come to cheer for their teammates and to do a long run at Bishop Kelley for our practice that day.
Nevertheless, Coach Mueller aims to have us use the bus for the meets that occur during the week, for it will be difficult for parents to drive student-athletes to such meets. These meets include the following: the Owasso meet (hosted in Tulsa), the Bishop Kelley MS meet, and the OBU meet.
*** The varying racing distances have several explanations:
1) As the years have passed, it has become customary for August CC races in Oklahoma to be shorter due to the excessive heat; moreover, since this is the early part of the year, races are shorter, as student-athletes continue to improve their conditioning;
2)Some Smaller Oklahoma Schools races have continued to run the shorter distances that were once customary for Large Schools as well; for example, back in the early 1970s when Coach K’s Dad ran CC for Tulsa Memorial High School, the Memorial and Edison Boys regularly dueled one another for glory while running 2-mile races, a distance that is now exceedingly rare for 5A/6A races in Oklahoma, but is still run at some smaller meets for HS Boys,
3) In Coach K’s era, all HS Girls ran 2 miles (3200m) in Oklahoma, but this was not the case in nearby states; as a result, the Larger School HS Girls now run 5Ks on a regular basis, for the dominant belief now is that Girls should run whatever the Boys do, etc.,
4)MS distances varied regularly in Coach K’s era as well (even way back in the pre-cellphone days), which comes from differences of opinion on what is the proper distance for MS student-athletes, Oklahoma’s tradition of preferring local control, etc.
* The beauty of these varying course mileage distances is that it keeps us “from becoming bored” with the distances, but it makes conditioning more difficult, true. . . While the HS athletes (especially the Boys) generally build towards running longer distances as the year progresses, the MS student-athletes are running races that vary in distances from week-to-week. On the bright side, this may help the MSstudent-athlete not to become discouraged by a certain distance that proves a greater challenge; moreover, the longer distances are helping him/her prepare for the longer races of HS competition in the future.
Practices this week:
Wednesday evening at 6:45 pm at the BA Freshman Academy (for time trial; all student-athletes must be able to run the race distance without stopping or walking in order to compete for ILCA on Saturday in Stroud),
Thursday morning at 7:30 am at the karate place across from ILCA,
Running on Our Own:
~ Student-athletes should do sprints on Monday: an abbreviated ladder: 600m, 400m, 300m (HS only), 200m, 200m, 300m (HS only), 400m, and 600m. Student-athletes should also warm-up and cool-down with a ½ mile run before and after these sprints; remember to take 1-to-2 minute breaks in between each sprint.
~ On Tuesday, student-athletes should run a Long Run of 20 minutes (MS students) or 30 minutes (HS students) without stopping. Student-athletes should also warm-up and cool-down with a ½ mile run before and after the Long Run.
~ Remember to do Abs on Monday or Tuesday. Stretch before and after the Monday and Tuesday workouts as well.
~ On Friday, student-athletes should only warm-up, stretch, do a couple of short sprints (i.e., about the length of a football field twice, enough to start to sweat and need to “catch your breath”), cool-down with another ½ mile run, and stretch once again.
Saturday, First Meet Day (more directions below and within the email attachment (check your email)):
Arrive in the early morning in Stroud by 8:05 am to walk the course (Softball/Basketball sports complex at 1086 East Seventh Street), warm-up, stretch, race, and cheer on your teammates (MS/JH student-athletes will run at 9:00 am and 9:20 am–before HS student-athletes, who will have a longer wait—but a wait that will still be shorter than some of the track meet waits next semester!):
*** For student-athletes whose races finish before their teammates’ races, remember to 1) Cool down, hydrate (water, sports drink (perhaps 20 oz), and eat a protein snack and some fruit (apple, banana, or orange perhaps), and then 2) Cheer for your teammates who race afterwards.
All the Best,
Coach K