Hey Team,

Well it's good to be back, for the most part anyway.  Vacation is always nice, but there's something about being home.

Anyway, 3 more weeks of racing and I can hardly believe it.  It seems like yesterday we were running in 105 degree heat... that's right, I'm thinking of 2 weeks ago.  Nothing like living in a desert.  I still think it's better than the 31 degrees I ran in Colorado.  It should be cooling off soon but I tell you who won't be cooling off, the Storm cross-country team!

Mount Sac is the race of the week and for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of running there, you are in for a treat!  Nationally known as a premier cross-country course.  We'll prepare a little different for this one.  Tonight we started the week off with a little higher tempo for the long run.  Tomorrow, we'll hit it hard with some solid intervals, and Thursday we'll be hitting some middle distance tempo runs.  Remember this week's race is Sunday so we'll have Friday and Saturday to rest.  If you can, get out and run on Friday to stay lose.  I'd recommend light jogging with a couple tempo build-ups of 1-2 minutes at the end reaching race pace effort.  Drink plenty of water also.

A couple key announcements this week: first Thursday night practices are going to be at Bridgeport Park starting this week.  We meet at the playground right next to the bathrooms in the outfield of the baseball diamonds.  Second, the featured speakers I mentioned several weeks ago are coming this Monday night the 18th.  We'll have a super light recovery night following Mt. Sac and take most of the time to listen to two great professionals, Dr. Justin Franson [foot and ankle doctor] and Suzanne Hawson [amazing physical therapist].  I want to encourage all athletes and parents to be there for this time that will focus on injury prevention. 

I'm looking forward to another great week and big race this weekend.

Get lots of rest, eat well and be ready!

See you out there!

 Coach Jeremy