Hard Work VS Talent

According to NCAA rules, athletes must get at least one day off per week from practice. There are a couple guys on our team that would probably practice all day everyday if they could. One of our jumpers in-particular is working incredibly hard this year. He has cleaned up his eating habits, as well as, his social outings. He had a good year last year and now wants to be great. He has some great goals and is doing everything he can to accomplish them. Other guys on the team are good, period. They usually work hard in practice but not always and try in the weight room but don't push themselves. As of now, the naturally talented guys will have a better chance of doing big things at nationals. I am not rooting for any one individual to have better year than a teammate but it will be interesting to see if hard work really does beat talent when talent doesn't work hard.

800 Meter Time Trial

Today was the day all the runners had been waiting for. The 800 meter time trial. The sprinters and jumpers had to psych themselves up to run it while the mid-distance and distance crews were happy they weren't running 10 miles today. The time trial was suppose to start at 3:30 after a good warmup but due to heavy rain and lightning there was a slight delay. The team warmed up by running through the hallways then doing some drills in a gym. This burned enough time for the lightning to stop. We headed out into the rain, a little later than planned but everybody was glad we did not postpone it until Monday. The first group that went were the women sprinters and jumpers. Although a few struggled the last 200 meters everyone did a great job. After that Coach Blocker, the head coach, decided that the men sprinters and jumpers, as well as, the men and women mid-distance and distance would all run together. It stared a little congested but after 150 meters everyone was pretty spread out. Again everyone ran hard and even those who went out like it was the Olympics in the first 100 meters didn't die too bad at the end.
Although the track was wet for everyone, the rain ended up stopping just as the first group of girls started and the cooler weather was enjoyed by everyone. After the run, it was good to see people smiling while they gasped for air, knowing they had accomplished something. Once everyone could talk again, there was some friendly trash talk that was funny to listen to since the ones talking will never run a competitive 800. Overall it ended up being a perfect day to run despite the weather. It was good for the athletes to have small competition and even have something to be nervous about for a week. Knowing they have accomplished something out of most of their comfort zones will make the difficult workouts much easier to get through. Although the first indoor meet is not until December, the team seems ready to work hard now.

Practice Days 2 and 3

During the second day of practice the sprinters and jumpers again did the warmup routine that has them breathing quite heavily by the end. After this, athletes got into groups of two or three and were timed doing three 30 meter dashes. Once theses were completed, they were timed doing one 150 meter dash. These were something fun for them to do and get some early season competition and speed work. During the third day of practice almost all of them were complaining about their hip flexors and groins being sore. An athlete can feel fine lifting weights and jogging all summer, but whenever they try to sprint, even for a short period of time, it can make the muscles even more sore than a squatting workout.
Since everyone did good the first two days of practice and the heat was still beating down on them, day three was pretty easy. They did their normal warmup, a core circuit, and jumped in the pool for a bit. It was good to get them out of the heat and to have some fun in the pool since tomorrow we might be seeing some lunches coming back up. There was no group discussions about tomorrows 800 time trial but as I listened to everyone talk almost all of them said at least one thing about it to a teammate. I'm looking forward to everyone running hard and having a sense of accomplishment tomorrow. I think some people will be surprised by how good they run and it will hopefully cap of a great first week. 

Practice Day 1

During our first day of practice we did a rather lengthy dynamic warmup followed by five laps of sprint the straightaways, walk 50 meters, jog 50 meters. Due to the heat this workout became much more challenging that it sounds. For the warmup we started with a few 100 meter accelerations then some basic movements such as lunges and legs swings. We then went into the more specialized movements such as marching walks and A-skips. By doing the general dynamic movements first, athletes can become fully warmed up. Having the more sprinting specific movements second helps athletes work on basic form issues right before running.

The only athletes doing this workout were the sprinters and jumpers. The majority of them ran HARD on their first lap. After that you could see their knee drive get weaker and their shoulders and back get tight. Most of them have been lifting weights and doing some running, but I don't think any have been doing sprints in the hot weather. The heat really took it out of them, but the workout still went well. One freshman said the warmup and workout were harder than his high school workouts. We will see how he, as well as, the rest of the team fares during day two doing a few 30 meter and 150 meter time trials. Then I expect a lot of people will struggle during Friday's "everything you got" 800 meter run. Early in the season all we are looking for is effort and it so far it seems like we have a great group of athletes.