MXC Weekly Update - Aug. 26

Special News: Saturday, August 27 - Trail Work. Yes, we are still planning on doing work Saturday starting at 8AM. If the rain is too bad, we may call it quits early and we may decide not to put down all the mulch - but there is still plenty of cleanup work we need to do. We will need lots of wheelbarrows, pitchforks, rakes, shovels as well as shears for trimming brush. We also need parents to come and help with this as well. We will be doing this starting at 8AM instead of the normal run. Sunday, August 28 - Clementon Park 5K and Splash World Classic! - This race has been postponed until Sept. 18. We have a real race the day before, so we will not be doing this as a team activity. This Past Week We had a good first week of practice. Most of the guys showed up - with daily totals of over 50 each day. Some guys are missing, much to our chagrin. I only hope you have been running. Time Trial - We held a time trial on Tuesday to get a sense of where the fitness level is for everyone. The results confirmed we are not as strong up top as we were last year. On the other hand, we had a lot of good, solid performances for the early season. This is a team that can certainly develop into a solid contender and hold our dual meet winning streak going as well as win the Liberty Division. Also note that time trial results are up on the website - www.moorestownxc.org. Miles - We are taking a new approach with this year's team. It goes back to the basics of needing to run to be a good runner. We're taking a page from my college Coach's playbook. His basic XC philosophy was that the races were long enough that the key was aerobic capacity - how much oxygen could be delivered by the heart and lungs to the muscles. The best way to expand this system is to run for long, slow distances. It also has the benefit of minimizing injuries as opposed to running fast. As the season kicks in we will have a number of races that we will learn to run fast and be tough. But we need the aerobic systems to be able to sustain us for the full 5K. We have broken the team into three general groups - Low, Mid and High mileage. They have a goal for running 5, 7 and 9 miles each day Monday-Saturday. We have a good pack of around 10 guys in the high group and they all look solid. The Mid's are a bit larger group and also look solid, although some that did nto get full mileage in this summer are feeling tired. The Low's are still a mix. Some will be moving up to the mid's over the next couple of weeks. Some are still working on the 3 mile level, but will see steady improvement and get up to 5 in the next couple of weeks. Logging Miles - We have a Uniform Program, where runners can earn uniforms, shirts and even sweats. To earn a uniform (that you keep for the 4 years you run), runners must complete 100 miles. T-Shirts are awarded at 250 miles, 500 miles, 1,000 miles and every 1,000 miles after. That is based on total cumulative miles during a runner's career on the team. We also award full sweats with embroidered name for runners who run over 500 miles from June 1 thru the Turkey Trot. We are using a new log program this year - you must signup to be part of the MXC Club and then you will get weekly assignments as well as be able to log your miles. We are using this effective for all miles after June 1. You do not need to transfer Voomaxer miles - we will keep track of those. Go to https://www.runclubsignup.com/Club/NJ/Moorestown/MoorestownBoysCrossCountry and join the club and start logging miles. This Coming Week - We will continue the pre-season training schedule, meeting each morning at 8AM. We will likely have a workout or two that involves some hills at threshold pace. If we are not able to complete trail work tomorrow, we will have another work day next Saturday.

Thanks, Eagles, Cote & Bickel

MXC 2011 Weekly Update - Trail Work & Race This Weekend!

This is a special reminder email about this weekend's activities! Saturday, August 27 - Trail Work. This year we will be putting down new wood chips on the trail in the middle school woods. We will need lots of wheelbarrows, pitchforks, rakes and shovels. We also need parents to come and help with this as well. We will be doing this starting at 8AM instead of the normal run. Sunday, August 28 - Clementon Park 5K and Splash World Classic! - We want everyone to sign up for this race. It includes free entry to the water park after the race. We also get fundraising help form this event, as $10 donation is made to the team for each runner that signs up from our team! It would be great to have 50+ guys show up with family and friends and raise a bunch of money to pay for our uniform program and trail maintenance! Also note that time trial results are up on the website - www.moorestownxc.org.

MXC Update - 6/21/2010

Welcome New Runners!
We currently have 66 guys signed up for Cross Country this year. That includes 43 returning runners, 4 new Seniors, 3 new Juniors, 5 new Sophomores, and 11 new Freshmen. I have put a link to the roster and contact information on the website. Please let me know of any corrections needed or if you would like your name removed.

Remember, it is not too late to sign up. So bring get your friends to come out. Nearly everyone can run, and achieve the success of getting PR's. The beautiful thing about running - everyone gets to play!

Stay tuned for information on a get-together for new runners in a few weeks.

MXC Summer Captains Practices
We have started Captains Practices every weekday morning at 8AM at the benches between the Middle School and High School. We've only gotten about 15 out the first two days - so pass the word.

Summer is the time to really make your season. While you may not like getting out of bed that early, it is a good feeling of accomplishment. And it is definitely the way to avoid injury during the season.

As a reminder, here are the miles we are looking for per day. This should all be slow and easy to build a base during the summer.
Championship Squad (typically about the top 12 runners):
June - 7 miles, 6 days per week.
July - 8 miles, 6 days per week.
August-November - 9 miles, 6 days per week, plus 3 miles on Sunday.
If you are doing more, just make sure you are coordinating with Eagles and Bickel.

Varsity Qualifiers (aiming for sub-19, which earns a Varsity Letter):
June - 5 miles, 5 days per week.
July - 6 miles, 5 days per week.
August-November - 7 miles, 6 days per week.

New and non-Varsity Runners:
June - 3 miles, 5 days per week.
July - 4 miles, 5 days per week.
August - November - 5-6 miles per day, 6 days per week.

If you are not home to participate in Captains Practices, then take advantage of the fact that you can run almost anywhere!

Moorestown XC from 1966

I got an email from Chris Barr, a graduate of Moorestown in 1966. Here is a great description of the team back then:

"Although we were second at the Bridgeton Meet [our equivalent of the So. Jersey All-Group Meet] and fourth at states, we were seven individuals. That 1963 team eventually had one sub-12:20 runner, two sub-12:30 runners, two sub-13:20 runners, one sub-13:40 runner and a sub-14:00 runner for Moorestown's 2.5 mile home course [one senior, two juniors and four sophomores]. I don't know what mileage the others ran over the summer; but, I remember I put in about 21 miles/week [3 miles a day, seven days/week]. Each day I ran about as hard as I could, developing a 600 yard drive at the end of each race. It may be age catching up to me; but, I do not remember ever being passed during the last 600 yards my senior year. I remember the Edgewood coach telling me my sophomore year, that if you are in shape, winning is 90% desire. That credo won many a race for me. In hindsight, I regretted not sharing this with my teammates."

Three sub-12:30 is roughly equivalent to sub 16:50 at Holmdel today. Pretty darn good team...

Thanks for the memories!

First Batch Meet

Cinnaminson has a good XC team. They beat our Moorestown team this past Tuesday in the first batch meet of the season 26-29.

They were led by Todd Campbell, who was only 1 second off Steve Grabowski’s 16:19 course record. Ben Friedman (M) ran the whole way on his shoulder before Campbell broke away in the final 600 meters. Friedman ran a 16:27 – good enough for 3rd best on the all time list (actually 4th now), ahead of Jon Anderson’s time from 2002.

They went our in a 5:25 first mile, then Campbell picked up the pace for a 5:04 second mile. This stretched the field out and gaps developed in 3-10th place.

Steve DeLuca (C) has made a big move forward this year (Holmdel best of 18:10 last year) and ran a 16:50 for 3rd place, ahead of Dave Ringwood (M) at 16:53. Alex Matteson ran a nice race at 17:05 – all top 20 times on the all-time list for a course that goes back to 1995 and has seen some fast runners.

Todd Campbell (C) 16:20
Ben Friedman (M) 16:27
Steve Deluca (C) 16:50
Dave Ringwood (M) 16:53
Alex Matteson (M) 17:05
Dylan Tooher (C) 17:13
Damien Clayton (C) 17:16
Brandon Greenwood (M) 17:38
Ian Dill (C) 17:42
Ryan Wolff (M) 17:45
Joel Robinson (M) 17:46
Sam Weintraub (M) 17:47
Tyler Ems (M) 17:55

The good news for our Moorestown team is that we had 10 guys set PR’s of over 1 minute from last year – most of those coming from runners who had made a more serious commitment and did a lot of summer running. Of the 64 total runners we had compete, there are 51 PR’s (many of them coming from new runners establishing their first race time at 5K.

Pack Running

Running in packs is something we pride ourselves in at Moorestown. It is something I learned at Bucknell from Coach. He had one philosophy above all else – “The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

Every runner in every race always has questions going thru their mind “can I keep this pace”, “geez, this hurts”, “maybe I’ll run harder and better next week”. Running in packs helps to get rid of these questions.

In 2005, we had Dan Rinehart, Eric Holaday and Ben Leonberg as seniors who really adapted to that strategy of pack running. They were all about equal in capabilities, yet each had different strengths. They would run together the first couple of miles of the course – using each other as a guide post of where they were in a race. It is always easier to know where you are in the big races at the end of a season if you have your buddies around. They pushed each other to performances (all were sub-17 at Holmdel) that were better than they could have achieved alone. The last mile (and sometimes the last 400 meters) would decide who was better that given day.

I had a similar experience in college with my roommate Lee Edmonds. “Eddie” and I were about the same level of runner coming into Bucknell. Coach put us together as roommates – in my mind he saw something in each of us that would feed off of the other. Eddie and I tied about 80% of our races in college and probably split the rest. Eddie would always start off slowly, but we would always be together by the mile point. There was something comforting about him sliding up next to me “Hey Bic”, “Hey Ed”. If any of those little voices crept into my head about wanting to slow down, I was able to fight them back primarily with the thought that I did not want to let Eddie down.

We also used this to our competitive advantage. I remember running the ECC championships at Belmont Plateau. Mike Glavin of St. Joe’s was right on our back coming up “Sure Kill” the big hill that goes above the Schuylkill Expressway. We worked the hill pretty hard and when we got to the top he was still there. I said in a voice loud enough so he could hear “Ready to go now Ed”. We heard a grunt behind us as we pressed on the flat area at the top of the hill for only about 200 meters and broke free.

I was up at Bucknell this past weekend. While Coach is gone, the team still uses the pack mentality when running. Helping to feed off of each other. Encouraging each other to reach new levels. And making the achievement of those new levels meaningful.

We’ve adopted Coach’s quote for the Moorestown team. We’ve also added another one – “Why run hard? For yourself. For your team.”

MXC Guiding Principles

We have 4 Guiding Principles on the Moorestown Cross Country Team:

1. We are a Team. Most people think running is an individual sport. However, MXC is a team. We run workouts in packs. We run races in packs. When one of us has a bad day, the other guys pick him up. We are always there for each other. We can always count on each other. We trust that we are each putting our best efforts forward for the sake of the team.

2. We Work Hard. From the Championship Squad thru the guys trying to earn a Varsity letter by running 19 minutes thru the guys trying to earn their first Mileage T-Shirt. We all know that to be our best, we have to put in the miles – year round.

3. We Learn. While Cross Country seems like such a simple sport (run as fast as your body will allow for 5 kilometers), the fact is we all learn something from the sport every day. What is the best way to get in shape? How do I avoid injuries? How far can I push myself? Can I make the Championship Squad? What does it take to wear the Bumble Bee Shirt at Meet of Champions? How is what I learn running useful in school, in life?

4. We Have Fun. We like running. We like competing. We like seeing far we can push ourselves. We like our teammates. We like seeing our team progress during a season. We like Psych Parties. We like Summer Camp. We like cheering on our teammates.

The MXC 2008 team has the chance to be our greatest team yet in terms of fulfilling our guiding principles. I can’t wait for the real season to begin!

York High School

Joe Newton has been the coach at York High School for over 50 years. Coach Newton and York have created a template for high level success in cross country teams. He has deep teams with over 200 runners, and the team is typically one of the top in the State of Illinois and quite often in the country.

There is an excellent book he wrote called Coaching Cross Country Successfully that should be on any coaches reading list. A movie was made of the team's 2005 season called the Long Green Line, and was introduced at the Eugene Olympic Trials. The YouTube clip below is a sampe from the movie.

Moorestown Cross Country

Lorenzo Eagles started coaching the Moorestown Boys Cross Country team in the fall of 2004. Fortunately, I got to tag along as a volunteer assistant coach. We have a blast.

We set up some basic Guiding Principles that have served the test of time:

• We are a Team
• We Work Hard
• We Learn
• We have Fun

One of the things I love so much about cross country is the fact that almost anyone can do it. While some people have more talent than others, nearly everyone will improve by doing work. And the more work they do, the better they get. From our point of view, this is a pretty good life lesson.

Our team welcomes anyone and we celebrate their individual progress. This helps to account for the growth of the team - our first year we had a little over 20 runners. This year we should have over 60 runners of all abilities and levels of personal commitment. What we try to do is have each runner expand their level of commitment and work over their years in our program. It is great to see them move forward.