ROCHESTER – LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT WENT;

Because even your son may not know the whole story. This was a challenging day. One that you hope not to have in a season, but now that we have, I would like for this sort of difficulty to be behind us.

It started with having good directions from a race director / host coach that was watching out for us and making certain that we wouldn’t get caught up in road construction. So much for that; our bus driver who has ably gotten us to races many times before, decided that he simply wouldn’t follow those directions. That and he had directions to some completely different location. I convinced him that we indeed did need to go to the park where the races were being held, and against my urging he actually began to ignore me and took the back streets. There we found roads closed for construction, and promptly got lost. We did find our way, but due to all of the time wasted we arrived at a course that we’ve never been to, only 70 minutes before race time.

We set up our camp, I retrieved our race packet, and found that there was no race map. none to be had. That required that our friendly race director give me an overview of the course. More time spent, now we’re down to 50 minutes to race time and our team needs to warm up. (normally started about 1 1/4 hours before the race) So I was able to show the team around the most difficult or confusing parts of the course and cover a majority of it doing so. Still not far enough to be a full warmup. We hand out race numbers and find that we’re missing 14 of them that the timing /scoring folks omitted. Back to the table, and thankfully they were able to enter the 14 and get us #’s for them. With those put on at the starting line, they were now as ready as they could be on this day.

So with all of that; it was a challenging course not because of hills, but because of very rough footing, many turns and many very tight trails where passing was difficult. It didn’t look good for us. It appeared obvious to me that most of these other teams have raced much more and are becoming racing fit. When I stand back and look at how we performed, it isn’t too bad. The times are not fast, but it isn’t a fast course. A race on Benzies’ course that day may have yielded times that were 30 to maybe 40 seconds faster. With that we had some guys that ran quite well, others just didn’t and we’ll definitely be working on that. It’s time to realize that in order to accomplish the lofty goals that have been set, we need to not only apply in the workouts, but hold ourselves in a positive performance mode mentally. Like an actor on a stage you need to put yourself in an optimum state of mind for your top performance, and keep it there throughout that performance. That is a challenge in itself. Without that you are apt to wallow in self pity because you are uncomfortable in the race.

We finished 4th, Lake Orion was better than I had expected, and put on an early season lesson in how to get it done. They had their top 5 in the first 8 places. We can do the same, and more importantly do it at the end of the season. We need to take these lessons and grow from them, using them to motivate and improve.

1- L O  - 21

2- Rochester Adams 56

3 – Brighton – 96

4 – TCW – 112

5 – Eisenhower – 192

6 – Sterling Heights – 196

7 – Stoney Creek – 210

8 – Notre Dame Prep – 210

9 – Oxford – 212

10 – L’anse Creuse North – 220

11- Sterling Heights Stallions – 346

First place was 16:19. LO finished in : 1, 2, 4, 6, & 8th. They had a 5 man split of 40 sec. very good.

We had a 5 man split of 49 sec, and a 7 man split of 1:06. This is very good for what is really our first race. Now of course we work on moving everyone forward.

Our finishes:

13 Erik Wilson – 17:29

17 Miles Ullenbruch – 17:41

26 – Ray Innis – 18:12

29 – Heath Bristol – 18:18

30 – Sebby Kucera – 18:18

34 – Ben Dean – 18:27

37 – Ian Butler – 18:35

39 – Dylan Snider – 18:43

40 – Matt Laylin – 18:46

43 – Jack Lyon – 18:52

46 –  Joe Yancho – 19:00

49 – Brad Clark – 19:02

57 – Addison Brown – 19:16

59 – Alex Goldsmith – 19:18

63 – Forrest Verellan – 19:22

67 – Dan Cholger – 19:31

68 – Russell Carter – 19:32

73 – Jonah Laursen – 19:37

74 – Ryan Ness – 19:37

75 – Matt Kulka – 19:38

76 – Sam Messina – 19:38

83 – Alex Hawke – 19:48

84 – Hunter Swogger – 19:48

107 – Trent Hibbard – 20:17

114 – John Troost – 20:26

121 – Dan Schmidt – 20:36

124 – Trevor Painter – 20:43

134 – Chris Chargo – 20:58

142 – Eric Brefka – 21:09

143 – Kasey Goss – 21:10

148 – Max Verellan – 21:25

149 – Nick Callahan – 21:27

164 – Brad Allen – 22:00

168 – Travis Moran – 22:13

171 – Devin Wennersten – 22:16

188 – Tyler Stephens – 23:03

190 – Ethan Poirier – 23:08

215 – Sam Yancho – 24:56

218 – Landon Meggison – 25:09

230 – Ben Yancho – 27:18

So there you have it. Aside from the addition of the assistant coach Izaak being stung on the course, (he’s quite allergic) and Sam Yancho being stung all went, well, better. I watched Izaak to be sure he didn’t go down on me, and I had him watching Sam to help keep his mind off of himself. Izaak came through ok, but Sam did react, and many thanks to the Clark’s who were there to watch their son Brad. They provided us with an epi-pen and benadryl that helped Sam out and got him through. He thankfully was fine by the time we were ready to leave, and the hives cleared on the trip home. So now we know that we need to include those two things in the med kit. In addition to everything else. If your son has this allergic situation, it may be wise to provide us with an epi-pen for our kit, so that we can have it available for him. We had this situation last year at one meet as well.

Oh, then there was Miles getting a huge thorn punctured through his shoe on the cool down into his big toe. The guys carried him in and thankfully it hadn’t gone too deep. We cleaned it and he was fine.

So there you have it, our pizza order was made for us, which was nice considering all else. I would have ordered a little more, but really my brain was about to shut down due to overload, so it was nice that the Rochester folks did that as well as providing us with lemonade to go with the pizza.

Just another day in the life.

There, now that I’ve vented, I feel better.

___________________________________________________________________

THIS WEEKEND : HERE IS WHAT SHOULD BE DONE:

Friday – A group, 7 miles / 50 minutes, steady recovery run.

              B group, 5 miles 35 minutes – same as above.

Saturday – A – 9 miles / 65 minutes  - finish faster, make it a good run.

                  B – 7 miles / 50 minutes – as above.

Sunday – OFF 

Monday – A – 10 miles / 70 minutes. good run, steady to even pace. 3 to 5 word ability to speak max. once                          you are well warmed up.

                 B – 8 miles, 56 minutes – as above.

Follow this and you will have a good weekend of training, and be prepared for next week. You need this, this is time for the team and each of it’s members to show their level of commitment.

MORE FOR THURSDAY

Be sure to bring a water bottle on the trip Thursday. That way you can be certain to stay hydrated on the trip down, as well as have something to drink from after the race. Rochester Adams says they’ll have lemonade for us at the race for afterward, and I will bring gatorade as well. So even if the pizzas aren’t the least expensive style, $5 a person should cover our needs.

Be certain that you are drinking plenty of water now, and every day. It hasn’t been as hot lately, but you still need it more than you think. One of the fastest ways to kill the performance of the human body is to dehydrate it. DRINK! (water, not junk)

GET YOUR SLEEP – There is a bug going around, and school hasn’t even started yet. Get sleep and enough of it, recover, take care of yourself. When school starts you will be exposed to so many more bugs, that you will need to have your immune system strong to withstand them. Work yourself more into the sleep pattern of school days and it will help. Don’t stay up late at night.

Colloidal Silver works wonders for many people when you start to feel a problem. Taking a spoonful, or using a spray bottle of it to dose yourself several times a day can be very helpful. It kills bacteria and viruses and is not harmful to us. Good stuff. About $20 for a small bottle of it at the herb shop on Cass though. So you don’t want to be wasteful with it. They do have a good standardized product though.

THIS WEEK & ROCHESTER

Tuesday & weds. the 26th & 27th we’ll have practices at Twin Lakes – back to the 8:30 time.

Friday, Saturday, and labor day Monday, team members are self – assigned for their workouts and expected to get them accomplished so that they can come back into training next Tuesday and have a constructive week of training before we go to Fremont.

THURSDAY this week we travel to Rochester for the Rochester Adams Invite. 10 teams, all team members in one race, we’ll have our varsity forming after that race.

> Meet at the High School (rear side) at the traffic circle by 11:40. Anyone having difficulty with transportation at that time of day should call team members or call a coach. Plan ahead, don’t call at 10:30 that morning if you can help it.

> We leave the school at 12:00

> Our race is at 6:00, we’ll be back on the road by 8 or soon after.

> I expect that we’ll arrive back at the school around 12:30, as usual we’ll be making calls home about a half hour before we arrive.

> Eat a good breakfast, maybe even an early lunch before we leave. Pack a lunch for the road – light eating, no heavy hard to digest food before the race on a nervous stomach. fruit, no dairy for most people. 

> I’m guessing that buying pizzas afterward is a good idea for this race. Quick, easy and inexpensive. So I think that if each guy can bring $5, I’ll pack along juice & cups for everyone and we’ll order the pizza to be delivered after we’re done. If you need more, be sure to bring it, and I’ll come up with a non dairy option.

>ANY PARENTS GOING TO THE MEET THAT WOULD LIKE TO SHARE A RIDE? PLEASE CALL SANDY ULLENBRUCH AT 938-9424 OR 645-2126.

> THINGS TO REMEMBER:

- uniform

-racing flats or spikes

- sweatshirt, pants, – warm clothes

- wet weather gear – in case.

- socks

- dry clothes for travel before and after

- team shirts that you may have at this time

- food

- $30 for the charter bus, (ANY CHECKS FOR THIS SHOULD BE MADE OUT TO TC WEST ATHLETIC  BOOSTERS – PLEASE) and $5 for dinner

DIRECTIONS

I-75 THRU FLINT TO M-59

LEAVING THE HIGHWAY -> GO EAST ON M-59 (LEFT)   TO S. ROCHESTER RD

LEFT ON ROCHESTER RD. (NORTH) TRAVEL APPROX 3 MILES

GO PAST HAMLIN (MAJOR INTERSECT.) TO AVON RD, (NEXT MAJOR INTERSECTION)

RIGHT ON AVON, APPROX 1 MILE > GO TO JOHN R. RD (SEVERAL SMALLER RDS. UP)

LEFT ON JOHN R. AND FOLLOW THAT RIGHT INTO THE PARK. APPARENTLY IT WILL BE FAIRLY OBVIOUS WHERE THE MEET IS AT THAT POINT.

>>>>> THE JACKETS ARE IN, AND ARE NOW IN TO BE EMBROIDERED. IF YOU HAVEN’T PAID FOR YOUR JACKETS AND PANTS PLEASE DO SO. THE PANTS ARE BACK ORDERED, AND THE SMALLS WILL BE THE LAST TO SHOW, POSSIBLY THE END OF SEPT. DON’T LIKE IT, BUT CAN’T HELP THAT. CHECKS FOR THIS SHOULD BE MADE OUT TO ME, SO I CAN PAY THAT BILL OFF OF MY CREDIT CARD.

LATEST UPDATES

Here’s a whole list of things coming up in the next week or so…

This week:

Thursday’s workout will be at the township park on East Silver Lake Rd. ( just south of the Silver Lake Rd/ Zimmerman Rd. intersection) – on the right side of the road when traveling south. Still at 8:30.

Friday we’ll meet at the park on the north end of Long Lake again – across from the little store.

> Friday Howell’s boys team will arrive mid afternoon. They’ll get settled in and do a workout. Then head downtown for the Friday night live. My hope each year is that guys from our team will take part and mix with these guys, getting to know them. That is why we do this. So it’s nice to have any of our crowd meet downtown that are able.

Our team members are welcome to stay at the Twin Lakes dorm Friday and/or Saturday nights with the Howell team but it isn’t a requirement.

Saturday is however. Although we are not going to run it as a dual meet this year, it still stands as a competition, and team members are required to be there. After the team building, and race, etc., we’ll head over to Twin Lakes, clean up, have a simple cook-out, and if the weather is good we’ll head out to North Bar for the afternoon. At night we usually get Pizza and either our guys stay or head for home. Sunday morning I expect that you may already know about the brunch that we put on as a send-off as the Howell team usually likes to hit the road by around 11:00 or so.

This makes for a great opportunity for our team to get to know another team when we just don’t have much though out the season being way up here in the hinterlands.

For anyone staying overnight; there is a charge of $5 per night per person, and a sleeping bag and gear are necessary. I need to collect that from anyone of our team that stay over. 

NEXT WEEK:

> Monday we will have our pictures taken, and our practice will be at the school that day. we’ll meet at the track – AT 8:00 am.***  Pictures are at 10:00.

> Thursday we have the charter bus ride to the Rochester Adams Invite. We leave the school at 12:00, race at 6, then get back home maybe around 12:30 – 1:00? We need to split the expense of the charter. It’s more expensive than other times that we’ve taken charters, and I suppose fuel expense is the major reason. This time we can absorb some of that with our account, so $30 for each of the guys will cover the bulk of the expense and we’ll dip into the kitty for the balance of the bill. They will also need to pack food and maybe have some $ for some as well – but we’ll figure more out by next week.

CAMP – went extremely well. We have many good things going for us already. Mainly we have a lot of hunger on the team with a willingness to do what is necessary to accomplish their goals. We accomplished a lot, probably more than we ever have before in a camp. So I’m very happy with it.

THIS WEEK IN XC -PRACTICES

Well as of 8 pm tonight we’re finally – almost done cleaning up and repacking – away the camp gear. More to come on my outlook on the camp. For now I need to list where the workouts will be this week.

All practices will be at 8:30 am until 10:30 or soon after that. NO LONGER THAN 11:00.

We are not able to use Twin Lakes until Friday when Howell shows up, so here are our alternate sites:

Monday – Long Lake park across from the grocery at the north end near Church Rd.

Tuesday – At the park next to the fire station on North Long Lake Rd.

Wednesday – Same as above – by the fire station.

Thursday & Friday – to be determined yet. It seems that “they” want us to have our pictures taken after 2 pm on Thursday. That won’t work for me, and I expect that it won’t work for many on the team with jobs, etc. So I still have to see what I can work out.

Check back to see what comes, and about when Howell comes to town on Friday.   Z

and again

wetsuits, bring ‘em if you got ‘em. Lake MI can get kinda cold when running in the water.

MORE…

Here’s something that I can add to the list of what to bring:

- A bag lunch for Tuesday.

- A water bottle!

> Water bottles should be brought to practices form here on, we don’t always have drinking water available where we train.

Remember that the first practice tomorrow is at the front gate of Hickory Hills.

I’m still looking for the one person that I don’t know of for the reserving crew. See you in the morning, Z

SEASON PREP INFO.

Well it is officially here! The season begins on Monday. I hope that you are all prepared for it, as this is going to be an interesting season and I have good feelings about it.

The regional location has now been posted, and we’ve been moved again. We are now back in the Saginaw area regional, hosted by Bay City Western it’s reg. 1-1. That puts us back with teams from Bay City, Midland, Sag. & Flint. Some good teams, we’ll see what their strengths are as the season unfolds. I like the course at Delta college, it’s been a team favorite, so it’s a good thing to be transferred back to this regional.

Remember that your physicals must be fully completed, all signatures, all info. front and back, and either in the office, (I have a list of who’s dropped them off there) or in my hands tomorrow. You won’t practice without one, and you won’t go to camp Tuesday without one. No excuses.

We meet Monday at 8:00 am, on time. We have paperwork to take care of, and all of the messy stuff. I need the $80 for camp Monday at practice if you haven’t already paid. We’ll be going out to do the shopping in the afternoon, and the money is needed to do that.

If you are going to be getting the team jacket and pants – I’ll need to get that $100 from you after camp and before I have to pay for them. Sweatshirts – I’ll need the $26 right away.

Monday practice will last until 10:30 – 11:00, it depends on how long it takes us to get through everything. Start thinking of who will bring the tent. What we need for tents are large ones. There is a limit of 2 tents per site, and we would never be able to house all of us on the 7 sites if we used 2 or 3 man tents. 

Tuesday we will meet at Veterans Park at 8:00 am. The High School is pretty torn up, and with all of the other sports being there it’s a good place to avoid. This way we’ll just go right out M-72. Be there, prepared, and we’ll load up and head out to the lake shore for the morning workout. After that we’ll get ourselves into the campground and set up.

Our reservation crew will have gotten the sites by this time and Izaak being one of them, will meet us at the workout site with all of the site stuff.

A PLEA TO CAMPSITE RESERVISTS:  I HAVE LOST THE PAPER WHERE SOME OF YOU GRACIOUSLY SIGNED UP TO RESERVE CAMPSITES FOR US ON TUESDAY MORNING. I KNOW THESE NAMES- REED CARTER & HIS FATHER, SHAWN GOSS, KAREN LAYLIN, & IZAAK. THAT MAKES 5. THERE WERE 2 OTHERS THAT I AM UNABLE TO REMEMBER, AND I NEED TO CONTACT ALL OF YOU THIS WEEKEND. IF YOU WERE ONE OF THE 2 THAT I DON’T RECALL WOULD YOU PLEASE CONTACT ME. THEN WE CAN GET SET ON THIS. IF YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THOSE 2 BUT REMEMBER WHO WAS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. e-mail : zemper@chartermi.net     house phone is 941-8494. or my cel is 883-4178.

For the few that need to pick up or drop off their son – I’ll have my cel pone with me and I’ll check it, but the reception is almost nil out at D H Day campground where we are going. So leave a message if I don’t answer and I’ll get back to you.

So now we’ve covered when and where, we’re up to how. Monday we’ll figure out who will be driving. I will drive the 15 passenger van & use that for camp this year. Ben Dean & Joe Yancho will be driving suburbans, and Matt Laylin will drive his blazer(?). So that should be 14+7+7+5 team guys =33 covered for transportation. Obviously we’ll need to transport 7 – 9 more guys, which hopefully we can do in 2 more vehicles. So if you can drive speak to me on Monday so that we can get that finalized. Once again – we drive in line as a caravan, with safety as a priority. Once we are out there, Izaak will have his car as well. As always I will reimburse for gas money from the camp funds. Drivers will only drive with the group going to & from team activities.

WHAT TO BRING

That all important list that not enough of you check. Here’s what not to forget. Please don’t pack as though you’ll be away from home for a month or more. We won’t be creating an expedition and elephants and pack mules to carry loads of extra “might need” stuff are a pain.

- rain gear – top & bottom. – also rain gear you can run in is good.

- 2 pair of running shoes – trainer style.

- at least 3 pairs of socks

- 2 – 4 pair of running shorts.

- identifiable water bottle!!

- running shirts- several.

- bug spray.

- a hat – for sun / rain.

- >>> your own silver ware, dishes, drinking glass. <<<

- reg. shorts.

- blue jeans, etc.

- sweatshirt / jacket, or 2.

- 1 or 2 towels.

- swim suit.

- epi pen, inhaler, sunscreen, or any other personal med. stuff that you need.

- regular shoes or sandals.

- frisbee, or some fun stuff.

- leave the junk food at home!

- DID I MENTION A WATER BOTTLE ?

- mental fortitude, determination, will power, patience, tolerance, your ability to listen & learn. In other words bring yourself ready to transform into a full fledged team member who is prepared to contribute his absolute best and help others to excel as he himself attempts to do the same. GET IT ?

ALSO- I will review this to see if there is anything that I may have missed. If so I’ll add to the info. 

AND – the team packet will be handed out on Monday at practice. It’s important to be familiar with what it contains, therefore this year for the first time I am requiring that each team member and one parent sign the last page; stating that they have reviewed the contents and understand them. Thank you. With over 40 team members it’s become frustrating to have questions about things that are stated in black & white, but aren’t known because that person hasn’t taken the time to read what I’ve taken so much time to outline for them. TEAM MEMBERS > Your interest in this team is evident by whether you know what is going on, or whether you know the rules, etc. of the team that are outlined for you.

That’s it for now, I look forward to seeing you on Monday!

LAST WORKOUTS FOR SUMMER

The last workouts before the season begins!

I will begin posting info. about camp, etc. but for now I have to get the remainder of the workouts on here.

Tues. – A – 7 to 8 miles, including hills. The hills should be the difficult aspect of the run.

            B – 5 – 6 miles – same as above.

Weds. – A – 4 to 5 miles & strength work.

             B – 3 miles & strength work.

Thurs. – A – 7 miles -not hard, but vary the speed, like a low speed fartlek.

              B – 5 miles, varying the speed as above. Not fast though.

Fri. – A – 12 – 14 miles. Steady run, not fast – just doing the distance.

          B – 8 to 9 miles, steady run, comfortable pace.

Sat. – A – 5 to 6 miles recovery run, or maybe the team marathon.

          B – 4 miles recovery.

Sunday –off

Monday -> go to practice!

TOMORROW’S WORKOUT

It’s late, so here’s tomorrows workoutss:

Mon the 4th – A – 9 to 10 miles, steady run, not fast.

                        B – 7 to 8 miles, east / steady.

The rest of the week will be posted Monday.