One more day to the start of practice! What to bring and notes on Friday's practice

Pre-season practice begins tomorrow, 3:30 PM at the high school. We meet near the track, in the area between the track and field house. Coach Lehmann and I are looking forward to seeing both new and familiar faces and getting the season off to a great start! The first couple days tend to take a little longer as we learn (or re-learn) the team warmup and get to know each other, but things should be wrapping up between 5:30 and 6 at the latest.

Please remember you have to be registered with an up to date physical (within the last 12 months) on file with the school nurse. See the most recent post prior to this one for more information on registration, physical, and a link to the concusssion awareness course that must be completed by both athletes and one parent/guardian per athlete.

You should bring the following to Thursday's practice:

• running shoes

• comfortable clothes in which to work out. You might also want to wear a hat. 

• sunscreen

• water bottle - very important item. Our supply of cups is limited for now, and we'd like to reduce the amount of litter and waste regardless. Please bring a water bottle which you can use during breaks in practice and after practice has ended.

• running log - if you were at the interest meeting in June you heard me speak about the importance of logging your training, be it running or some other cardiovascular activity. If your log is in writing on paper, please make a copy and bring it to practice. If you've stored your training log on your computer or online, please send me the file or the link to your online log.

• you can also bring an extra change of clothes and a towel if you'd like to change after practice. I'm not 100% positive about the status of the locker rooms but they should be open, if not bathrooms will be available at the very least.

For Friday's practice, everyone will at some point be meeting at the Town Beach which is at the end of Parkland Drive. Some will be running there from the school, others will meet me there directly. The purpose of meeting at the Town Beach is to spend some time "aquajogging" in the water as a way to increase training time without putting extra pounding on joints and muscles. That being said no one has to go in the water that isn't comfortable with doing so. If swimming in deep water is not something you want to do, let me know at practice on Thursday and we'll make other plans. For Friday's practice you might want to bring a towel and a pair of sunglasses (glare from the sun on the water can be intense in the late afternoon).