Santa Clarita Track Club
Newsletter for the week of August 18, 2008 
 
In This Issue
Practice Schedule
Stormware
Fitness Club
Still Accepting Athletes
Jelly Beans / Jolly Ranchers
Pictures
 
Quick Links...
 
Join Our Mailing List
Featured Article
 
I put a box on the left hand side of the website with some videos of Michael Phelps winning performances, the highlight was the 100m Butterfly race in which he won by 1/100 of a second. I put this up to show the kids that the race isn't over until the finishline. 
 
While we don't have a swimming program, His drive and determination shows that we must always race to win. He didn't settle for 2nd place.
 
   
What a great week we just finished, last week we focused on strength building, conditioning and proper running form. On Saturday we had guest speaker professional athlete Kirt Nelson of Boulder Colorado who gave a clinic on running form and correct foot strike. He worked on teaching drills in both group and then individuals, as each athlete got to workout with Kirt. 
 
This week will be our last Wednesday practice. The COC Summer series ends on Thursday. The following week, we will move our practices from Wednesday to Thursdays, for the remainder of the season.
 
Coaches' Corner
Athletes,
We are now 3 weeks into the season and I couldn't be happier with how it has been going.  As a new coach for you guys I came in with nervousness of wondering how you would respond to my style of coaching.  I have to say that it has been great working with all of you.  As I said the first time I introduced myself to you, working with kids is one of the greatest joys of my life.  To be able to help you guys become better athletes and citizens is a privilege and a great honor.
Just to recap the first 2 weeks, my goal was to slowly work everybody into the swing of practice.  Most of you had not been running consistently over the summer so jumping into a 4 day a week program is very taxing.  I want every one of you to be hooked on running for life.  So we started off slow for a reason, so you aren't in so much pain you'll never come back.  Hopefully by now all of you are feeling more comfortable with the distances and we will look to build with each week a combination of intensity and distance.
Thanks to all of you who came to last Saturday's workout.  The participation was incredible and coach Kirk's instruction went better than I could have imagined.  I hope by now you can realize the benefit of proper running form.  We will continue to practice some of the drills Kirk shared with us and I will continue to monitor each of you as I can and provide quick tips as we are running.  Please take a minute to visit his website http://www.trikirk.com and check out his schedule, sponsors, and learn a little more about him.  He had a great time with us and I hope to bring him back again in the future.
This week will bring some new challenges.  Now in our 3rd week, we will build a little in distance and intensity from the previous 2 weeks.  I was asked on Saturday what a typical week will bring for us and I have added that below: Monday: longer distance, slower speed, really working on form, Tuesday: faster workout, speed, repeats.  Definitely more intense but not speed like a track workout.  More of tempo running.  Wednesday which will become Thursday after this week: speed, hills, really working to increase power.  Saturday: relaxed mixed with tempo running a little shorter than Monday's workouts.  In addition to the running workouts, we will be continuing with dynamic warm-ups, stretching, and this week we will be adding in strength workouts at the end of Tuesday and Saturdays workouts. 
Running is an incredibly fun sport.  What makes it most enjoyable is staying healthy.  Something I want to encourage each of you is to take the days off as an opportunity to cross-train.  That means to do something athletic that gets your heart rate up, other than running.  Swimming, bicycling, roller-blading, and walking are a few great examples of cross-training.  You basically want to use some similar muscles working out as running while not taking the same pounding.
Thanks for working hard, all of you are doing great, and I'll see you this week,
Coach Jeremy
 
Parents,
Working with your kids is honestly one of the greatest joys of my life.  Believe me when I say, in a nice way, parents can sometimes work against that joy.  Up to this point, I have been amazed by both the parent involvement and the quality each of you brings to the team.  Coming into an established, successful, program as your rookie coach definitely came with some hesitation for me.  As a coach, you never know when the next "expert" parent is going to pop up and challenge everything you do.  Whenever I am leading, I believe 100% in keeping the line of communication open.  To this point I have received very positive feedback on how we could modify what we are doing and that is welcome.  Having 3 completely separate age groups you can imagine creates somewhat of a logistics nightmare.  I believe we have a solid working plan for the practices and it seems we are getting each group through the targeted workouts.  One thing I will be asking is that if each night we could have a parent leader in each group that is willing to make sure the kids get the stretching finished up properly.  Having the younger kids wait for the older kids to finish creates a challenge especially as the older kids begin to run further.  My plan is for me to alternate with each group so I can have time with all the kids.  I'll let you know each night who I'll be with and if I'm not with your group I'll appoint someone during the warm-up part of practice.
Thanks to all of you who came to last Saturdays practice with Kirk.  It was great to have him there to help your kids and some of you.  I'm looking to bring some more specific athletes and coaches to speak with us in the future so stay tuned and I'll give plenty of notice so you can make sure and be there with your kids.
Well, that's it for now.  We are off to a great start and I am confident it is only going to get better.
Thanks again for your support and participation,
Coach Jeremy
 
 
 
Practice Schedule This Week
This weeks practices will be held at:
 
Monday
- Heritage Park 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Tuesday - Central Park 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Wednesday - Heritage Park 6:00 - 7:00 pm.
 
Saturday
- Central Park 8:00 -9:30 am.  
 
Storm Gear 
This week we will continue selling Storm-wear items, if your interested in purchasing a club tee-shirt or other items, please download the purchase form and attach a check for the item and bring to practice. You can drop off with either Elaine or Alan Bingham. Our order will go in at the end of the week.
 
Fitness Club
I found out Friday that I will be out of town all week, I will be doing my work outs while I am out of town, please keep try to step up your intensity this week.
try to go out a bit further, and keep your heart rate up. Please try to do the stretches with the club.
 
I'll see you at Saturdays practice. 
Still Accepting Athletes 
We are still accepting athletes in our 2008 cross country program, if you know of anyone who would like to join, please tell them to come to practice.
 Visit www.runstorm.org for more information or call Alan Bingham at (661) 755-6197 
 
 
Jolly Ranchers
We ask that each family please bring 2 bags of Jolly Ranchers to practice this week. At the end of practice each day we like to give the kids a small reward. 
 
Turn In Your Pictures
Please turn in your pictures you have taken each week, we have thumb drives that you can use to turn in your pictures for the memory DVD. Or you can burn them to a CD. Please see Elaine if you would like to check one out.  
 
We have put up a slide show of pictures of the first two weeks of practice. We could use all the pictures and videos that you have. At the end of the season at the party we will hand each child a DVD of the season's highlights.
 
Sincerely,
 

Alan Bingham
Santa Clarita Track Club
(661) 755-6197