Wednesday, August 25

Cross Country is starting - I am giddy

I am getting to help coach Blake's cross country team.  It is gonna be a blast.  We had a practice today.  Blake, Issac and I ran to the field (about 2 miles) and then we did a quick practice race.  It was great.  Blake and Paint (Scott's son) really flew.  The GPS said 8:14 first mile and 7:45 second mile.  That puts them just under 16 minutes which blows away last years 20s and 21s.

Blake has a lot of power on the hills and he will be able to call on that in the race for passing.  I am trying to help him think about his breathing and when to grab the next gear.  It is tricky sometimes to keep up the pace when you are breathing hard.  When you just crest a hill, you want to slow to catch your breath, but that is when you pick it up a notch and let the downhill catch your breath over 30-40 seconds instead of going for a faster recover.  He tried it today on the second mile and it paid off.  He was 30 seconds faster in the second mile.

I think Paint has his dad's fast twitch muscles and that will help him in the flats and the sprints at the end.  I told Blake that he better have 50 yards on Paint toward the end if he wants to beat him.

They let parents race at the end of the cross country meets.  This will be fun for me.  I  look forward to some fun hilly fast races each Tuesday!

Here is the GPS from today as a starting point.

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