Parents and Athletes,

2 down and more than we need to count to go! The first 2 weeks are always a pre-season to the pre-season if you ask me. Still a lot of last minute travelling going on, there's the Castaic tri, and then the COC race series that tend to keep a lot of us guessing as to what's next. First let me say a big congratulations to all of you guys that tried the Castaic Triathlon. I like to see you branch out and it was great to hear so many Storm names bringing home awards. As for the COC series that was great as well, with our very own Kaley Thompson bringing home the biggest award of fastest female overall. Awesome job!!!

Well... 2 weeks in and there are several observations from me: first, we are still growing. It's not too late to join either, so if you have friends considering it go ahead and bring them out. As a team we continue to grow every year which is exciting. I believe we are at 88 athletes currently. Wow!! Second observation is that I am already seeing improvement. Running isn't the type of sport you can relax on if you want to improve so keep up the hard work, take it easy when I say you can, and push through when it's time to get tough. Finally, new families are always exciting and I am already seeing some new parents step in and be a big part of us. Feel free to speak up if you have a recommendation, or jump in if you want to help with leading a group of kids. You are all seeing that the more of the parents we have running with us, the more encouragement we can give to the kids and the better they will feel about the workouts.

So what's next up? Week three will bring some new elements to the workouts: speed, and hills primarily. You will start to see a clear distinction in practices with Monday taking on the role of longer more steady runs with a little tempo thrown in from time to time. Tuesday will turn into speed/hill workouts. Make sure especially this night you prepare by drinking an electrolyte and water, also bring both with you to the workout. These workouts get your heart rate up and are key to your improvement in racing. Thursdays are geared towards strength and hill training. Longer intervals up at COC on the always enjoyable cross-country loop!! This is equally as important as the Tuesday night practice. Saturdays for the next couple weeks is tempo/strength focused. Of course we will also continue to increase the core workouts to build the strength that helps carry you through the tough parts of the races and workouts.

As we continue to progress through the season there are a couple requests I have: first keep having fun, while you are having fun keep working hard. This will be the first full week of practice so you will be a little more sore on Thursday and Saturday. I promise you will continue to feel stronger so don't get discouraged. My final request is to prepare for the workouts. There are 2 primary ways to do that: first is with nutrition which we have talked about. Hydration and solid foods are critical to give your body the energy it needs to workout hard in the heat. Again, drinking several glass of water during the day and 30-60 minutes before practice drinking a glass of electrolyte will give you the liquid needed to succeed. The second way is to stretch a little extra at home if your calves or hamstrings and anywhere else is getting sore. Calves are going to be the key to keeping healthy so at home you can do a little warmup, jumping jacks or a short jog down the block, then do our 2 calf stretches against the wall. Straight leg first, then bring the foot closer to the wall and bend your knee to get a lower calf stretch. WE DON'T WANT INJURIES so keep in mind, I can only see so much. If you have questions about tightness come talk to me.

Alright, long first newsletter. This catches me up for 2 weeks of nothing so far. The beach day was incredible, if you weren't there not only did we miss you but you really missed it. Coach Elaine took a lot of pictures so maybe those will be up on the website. Thanks to all the parents who made the trip out to Carp, we were all rewarded with spectacular weather.

Monday night it starts again. Get some good sleep tonight, have a great day at work and school and be ready to run at the new location again: West Creek Park.

Coach Jeremy