Friday, July 29, 2011

House Arrest?

School budget woes have caused some transportation policy changes in Webster. We can no longer take buses to meets outside of Section V, and we had three such meets scheduled this year: the State Meet preview race at VVS, the East Aurora Invitational and the Bulldog Invitational at Alden.

I won't go into the strangeness of allowing a 2 hour trip to Addison in Section V, but not allowing a 70 minute trip to Alden.

However, it looks like the restriction on coaches and parents taking athletes to meets will be lifted. So, we will be looking to see if a "car pool" approach may work, to keep some of these meets on our schedule.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

No End In Sight

It looks like, while the extreme heat from last week has subsided, the hot weather will stick with us for a while. And, as an added "bonus", we may actually see some rain (which is good) in the form of thunderstorms (which is bad). These facts provide a great opportunity for a couple of reminders.

First, stay hydrated - all day, every day. The "camel strategy" does not work very well for runners!

Second, our running camp follows the national federation of high school sports guidelines, so activities will be halted for a minimum of 30 minutes if we have lightning or thunder during camp. We are fortunate in that Webster Park has a number of shelters to ride out a storm, if necessary. Do avoid the open fields and tall trees.

Friday, July 22, 2011

It's So Hot...

...that I discovered our hot water heater is actually cooling the water!

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but those brave souls that attended XC Camp yesterday found that the plentiful water pumps at Webster Park can really come in handy. With the temperature north of 95 degrees, caution was the order of the day. The runners were reminded that in conditions like this, which can even occur during the early part of XC season (as opposed to the low 30s that can be experienced at the end of the year!), hydration is something to think about all day long.

With the heat expected to remain high (but not back above 95) for the next few days, running early in the morning is the best option, followed by re-hydrating all day long. Also make sure that any runs of over 30 minutes include a place to stop for water.

Stay cool, y'all!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

1, 2, 3, 4, 6

Webster Schroeder XC alumni swept the top 4 spots in the 19 & under category at last night's Dirt Cheap Trail race at Mendon Ponds Park. Geoff Kelly, Nate Lyons, John Wiseman and Joe Makowski led the youngest age group in the challenging run. And current runner, Zach Lyons grabbed 6th.

Geoff and Nate actually finished 2-3 overall in the race, which featured a "time trial" or staggered start, to allow the runners to safely start the race heading down the stairs towards the Devil's Bathtub. Nate was the very last starter, of the 239 finishers, and spent the whole race passing people as each runner had started 5 seconds apart.

Complete results are available here.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Excuses, Excuses

Man, you go away on vacation for a week and it means that you have to work extra hard the week before and the week after, just to avoid falling way behind. On top of that, you come back to work and have to deliver a release in two weeks, on a newly assigned project. No wonder I haven't had time to breathe, let alone post here!

Well, anyway, XC Camp got underway last week, with two productive sessions. It looks like there were a lot of vacations going on, as more than one-third of the registered campers were no-shows. That was the bad news. The good news is that attendance at the Captain's practices has been extraordinary! Mondays at Ellison Wetlands seems to be the run that everyone loves to hate: bugs and hills. Wednesdays have been at North Ponds (does the world get much flatter than that area?), while Saturdays have been the longer runs in good old Webster Park.

Five more weeks of camp will take us right to the start of the season, when things will really happen quickly.

Oh - and one reminder: tomorrow night is the next edition of the Dirt Cheap Trail Series, this one at Mendon Ponds Park. The past two years this has been conducted via an "interval start", 5 seconds apart, as the course starts off down the stairs into the Devil's Bathtub. It is rumored that Nate Lyons, just back from Poland and Finland, will be making an appearance.