MSTCA Bob McIntyre Twilight Invitational - 10/15/16

Meet Site: Barnstable County Fairgrounds, 1220 Nathan Ellis Hwy (rt. 151), East Falmouth, MA 02536

Bus Time: 12:30 PM. Arrive at the school a bit before this time so that we can be on the road promptly, it's a long ride!

Meet Schedule and lineups:

3:00 Coed 9th grade B race - none
3:20 9th grade girls 2.1 miles (19 minutes) - Kelemanik
3:40 9th grade boys 2.1 miles - none
4:00 10th grade girls (28 minutes) - de los Reyes, Walsh
4:30 10th grade boys (25 minutes) - Dines, Kunen, Matta, Stafford
4:57 Division 1 JV girls - n/a
5:26 Division 2 JV girls (28 minutes) - Freedberg, McNamara
5:56 Division 1 JV boys - n/a
6:22 Division 2 JV boys (25 minutes) - Daley, Dawson, Puckett, Talukdar, Zhu
6:48 Division 2 Varsity girls (26 minutes) - McCarthy, Tully
7:14 Division 2 Varsity boys (22 minutes) - Ahearne, Chan, Chase, Dussault, Kay, Luo, Macklin
7:36 Division 1 Varsity boys
8:02 Division 1 Varsity girls

The time in parentheses after each race is the cutoff for that race. Athletes who don't make the cutoff won't be recorded in the results. Their policy not mine.

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast: Temperatures in the high 50s upon arrival, dropping to the low 50s by 6 PM and then to 50 degrees or just below after sunset. Light winds from the NE.
• The top 25 finishers in each race win medals, which will be given out in the chute.
• MSTCA will be using Chip timing. Athletes who are not competing and are by the finish line should not be wearing their BIB with tag because it can be picked up by the transmitter. This will cause issues in recording places.
• The course is a loop of just over a mile that's repeated twice for the 9th grade race and three times for all other races. Course map. The course will go through one of the barns (building #11 on the map) this year. The path leading up to this barn was paved over the summer; this may affect your shoe choice, so be sure to check it out in advance.
• There will be a karaoke contest on the bus ride back from the meet. Contact me if you're interested. 

Meet helpers:

If you're not entered in any of the races but would like to go to the meet, there are slots open for assisting the coaches and your teammates. Please see me if you're interested in any of the following positions:

•Tent - carry, help set up and break down the tent. Must arrive early enough to get tent out of the storage shed. (2 people)
• Photographer - must have a camera that can take nighttime photos
• Warmup collector - bring a bag to the start line, collect warmup clothes from the people who are about to race, bring the clothes to the tent. Two people needed, one each for boys and girls races. This is an important one.

What to bring (IMPORTANT):

• uniform
• everyday training shoes
• racing shoes if you have them
• full set of warmup clothes including: long sleeved shirt, pants, windbreaker, gloves, hat
• water bottle
• snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Festival)
• folding chair if you want something to sit on while changing shoes
• blanket to lie on under the team tent
• flashlight/headlamp
• DINNER for after your race. We won't be leaving the meet until sometime after 8 PM; dining options on the trip home are few and of low quality. Not to mention if you visit any restaurant near the fairgrounds that's still open, you get to wait in line for a good hour or so with 2 or 3 other teams that have also just left the meet. Long story short we won't be stopping for food on the trip back to Wayland! There is food for sale at the meet if that's your type of thing; otherwise I'd recommend preparing something in advance and bringing it with you in a small cooler or lunch bag. 

Information for Parents:

• Parking costs $5 per carload, carpooling is suggested.
• Dogs and grills are prohibited. As are drones, so leave those at home.
• The area near and next to the start/finish line area is the best area to watch the race.

Week 7 Training Plan - 10/10-10/16

This is the first week in over a month with no race scheduled on Wednesday. In fact, there's no school on Wednesday, or organized practice. More on that below. With the entire week to lead up to Saturday's meet at Falmouth, we can put more emphasis on the training sessions by making them a bit more substantial than the circuits and short intervals of September.

Not having school Monday and Tuesday complicates things a bit. The workout scheduled for Monday is an important one. We'll be meeting at 10 AM to do it. If you can't make it that day but are around on Tuesday for that day's practice at the usual time in the afternoon, it can be done on Tuesday instead.

Mon 10/10 - 10-15 minute warmup, in/out 400 repeats, 10-15 minute cooldown. The structure of this workout is that a 400 meter repeat at race pace is followed directly by 400 meters at that amount of time plus 20-25 seconds. For example, a 400 in 1:30 followed by a 400 in 1:50-55. This cycle is repeated in bundles of either "in/out/in/out" or "in/out/in/out/in" before taking a break. 3-4 "bundles" total. We're not doing this on the track, rather on a measured 400m loop on the athletic fields. Part of today's workout is practicing how to take corners more efficiently, by dropping the inside arm while taking the turn.

Tue 10/11 - hill drills followed by 45-60 minutes along the Hultman Aqueduct including 8x10 second pulses at faster than race pace with 60 second recovery jogs after each one in the middle of the run. This is the meant to be a longer and relaxed effort overall.

Wed 10/12 - Off. No school or practice today.

Thu 10/13 - Resistance training in the fitness center followed by 10 minutes easy then 3-4 laps of the practice field loop at a "good" intensity, and a 10 minute cooldown. This is a type of tempo run, meant to be done at something just a bit less than race pace.

Fri 10/14 - 30-40 minutes at a low to moderate intensity with 4x100 at race pace.

Sat 10/15 - MSTCA Twilight Invitational, Falmouth. More information will be forthcoming about this meet in a separate post. Don't forget to include both a warmup and cooldown as part of your race if you're entered in this meet.

Sun 10/16 - 40-50 minutes easy.

Wayland XC Festival - assignments and final notes

We're less than 24 hours from this year's edition of the Wayland XC Festival. The people coordinating the event are expecting a very good turnout, possibly a record number of entrants in fact. The weather forecast is for a 70% chance of a steady light rain, with temperatures in the high 50s. Bring a coat or other outer layer in case it does rain, and maybe an umbrella as well. The volunteer assignments are as follows:

• Course Marshals - direct the athletes the correct way on the course (9-11:30 AM)
Kelemanik, Stafford, Zhu
• Parking - direct those that are arriving into the various parking areas as they fill up. (7:30-9:30)
Kay, McNamara, Rand, Tully
• Finish Line - help move people through the finish chute (9:30-11:30)
Dawson, Dussault
• Registration - sign in athletes and distribute bib numbers (7:30-10)
Chan, Kiesman, Talukdar
• Photographer - take pictures of the races for the event website (9:30-11)
McCarthy
• Sweeper - follow behind each race on a bike making sure no one gets lost (9-11)
Macklin
• Cleanup crew - pick up any trash left behind, break down tents and tables (10:30-11:30)
Ahearne, Daley, Kunen, Nagalingam, Pak, Puckett

see you all tomorrow morning!

Dual Meet #4 Results - Bedford, Boston Latin

Today was the third race in a week's time for many of you, with some impressive results in a competitive meet. Times and splits can be seen here. The girls meet came down to the tiebreaker after being tied at 29 points for the first five finishers from each team. Host Bedford took the win with the faster sixth runner but everyone who ran acquitted themselves well today. The boys had a very competitive meet with Boston Latin despite missing our top two runners who were out with illness. The next meet for most people isn't for another 10 days, and the mext meet after that isn't for another 13 days after that which means we'll be able to get in a solid block of training. As the dual meet regular season comes to a close and the big meet post season starts up, look forward to making gains in fitness between now and the end of October and beyond.

Dual Meet #4 - Bedford, Boston Latin 10/5/16

Meet Site: Bedford High School, 9 Mudge Way

bus time: 2:15

First race 4:15 PM unless you hear different from me

Girls will be followed by boys; one race for each gender

Meet Information:

• Weather forecast: sunny with temperatures in the mid 60s at race time, with light breezes from the NE. You'll want to wear more than just your uniform while warming up and cooling down. The temperature will start to drop by the time the meet's wrapping up. Bring clothes to wear at the meet besides your uniform.
• Once again you'll be required to wear your DCL bib number. 
• Like our meet against Newton South and Waltham two weeks ago, this will be a double dual with three separate meets contested concurrently.
• The Bedford coach says the tour will take no more than 30 minutes. 
• A map of Bedford's course can be seen here. It's quite flat, and about a third of it is on pavement. Start and finish are on the track encircling the football field. 

What to Bring:

• uniform
• everyday training shoes
• racing shoes if you have them
• warmup clothes
• water bottle - BRING YOUR WATER BOTTLE, it does you no good sitting on a shelf at home!
• snacks for post-race (chocolate milk will be provided using proceeds from the Wayland XC Festival)

for parents:

• The best (only) place to watch the race apart from the start and finish at the track is along Railroad Ave. near the middle school parking lot. See the course map linked above.

Week 6 Training Plan - 10/3-10/9

This week the nature of the training we do changes. The circuit training and short interval sets that we did last month will give way to longer, continuous workouts that emphasize running for sustained periods of time at or a bit slower than your race pace. The first of these types of workouts is on Friday; next week there will be two such workouts leading up to our next invitational meet on October 15th. These workouts are challenging, but you've built up your fitness over the past month. The overall training volume will remain high for the next two weeks before dropping down towards the end of October and championship racing season.

Sunday October 9th is the Wayland XC Festival which is our major fundraiser. Last week I posted a list of volunteer opportunities for this event and thus far I've heard back from over a dozen people. If you're not one of those, please let me know which of the remaining slots you'd be interested in:

• 1-2 Course Marshals - direct the athletes the correct way on the course (9-11:30 AM)
• 1-2 Parking - direct those that are arriving into the various parking areas as they fill up. (7:30-9:30)
• 2 Finish Line - help move people through the finish chute (9:30-11:30)
• 1 Registration - sign in athletes and distribute bib numbers (7:30-10)
• 1 photographer (9:30-11)

Mon 10/3 - off. There is no practice today. My expectation is that instead of running today you will run on Sunday. If this isn't possible and you're not observing the holiday today, you can do Sunday's workout today.

Tue 10/4 - hill drills followed by 40-50 minutes including 8x10 second pulses at faster than race pace with 60 second recovery jogs after each one in the middle of the run. Today is team picture day; bring your uniform to practice in addition to clothes you can wear for the day's run which you won't be doing in your uniform.

Wed 10/5 - Dual Meet #4 vs. Bedford and Boston Latin at Bedford High School. Bus time 2:15. With three teams participating the meet will be a "double dual" format, i.e. three separate dual meets contested at once. With three teams present, it's most likely that there will be separate varsity and JV races for each gender. In this case, the boys JV race is first, followed by girls varsity, boys varsity, and girls JV. Bedford's course map can be seen here, the first mile is mostly on pavement and overall the course is quite flat. Regardless of when you're running, take the time beforehand to do a thorough warmup incorporating most of what we do on a daily basis at the start of practice. After your race at least 10 minutes of light jogging is expected, and your legs will thank you for it over the next few days. Don't forget there's an assigned bib number for each member of the team.

Thu 10/6 - followed by 45-70 minutes at a low to moderate intensity heading west along the Weston Aqueduct towards Framingham. Some people will be heading out along the Weston aqueduct and back along the Hultman. The intensity level of this run should start at a 3 or 4 out of 10 and progressing to 6 or so for the trip back to the school. Don't overdo it today given yesterday's race and tomorrow's longer workout. We'll be looking for volunteers to ride the elliptigo bikes.

Fri 10/7 - 10-15 minute warmup, progression run on the WHS athletic fields, 10-15 minute cooldown. The progression run is broken up into thirds; the first third is at "fresh" intensity, the middle third at "good," the final third at "hard" i.e. race pace. The overall duration of the progression will be either 24 or 27 minutes.

Sat 10/8 - 50-90 minutes. Start out easy today and if you're feeling tired or worn out from this week keep it easy. For those that are interested we'll meet at the Lincoln commuter rail parking lot at 9 AM.

Sun 10/9 - 30-40 minutes including 6-8x10 second pulses at faster than race pace in the middle of the run. Today is the Wayland XC Festival, if you like you can do the day's run from the school after you're done with your volunteering duties. 

MSTCA Frank Kelley Invitational Results

Splits and times for WHS athletes

varsity boys official results

varsity girls official results

JV and 9th grade results

Overall some very well executed races by Wayland runners today in our first visit to the Wrentham course that will host the MIAA Eastern MA Championship races later on in the season. The ground was soft and wet underfoot from yesterday's heavy rains, which made for a somewhat slower course than if it had been dry. This didn't prevent people from racing well and judiciously pacing themselves early on relative to most of the competition. Congratulations to Sarah Tully (2nd in the girls varsity race), McKenna Kelemanik (3rd, girls 9th grade) and Graham Macklin (15th, boys varsity) who won medals for finishing in the top 25 overall.