La Mirada High School

Summer is finally here and so are summer practices. This year has started off so awesome. I am amazed at the dedication and drive of the new runners. Everyone is coming out and putting out a 100%. I do see some struggling, both old and new runners. All I have to say is to keep your head up high. The season never starts off good. Getting into shape is really hard, but if you wait it out the results will come. New runners, I feel your pain!! My first race was 28 minutes, now look at my times. Make sure to take care of your bodies. Create a meal schedule; find times and amounts of food to eat, so that you won't be sick at practice. Get good shoes!!! I can't stress this enough, bad shoes were the initial cause of my serious knee problems. Also, learn your body; know the difference between being in pain and being sore. Learn what you have to do, like ice, stretch and whatever else the coach and captains tell you. Summer is the worst part of the season, if you can get through it you can get through anything. Have faith in yourself and don't be afraid to step up. We need varsity runners to step up if we are going to go to CIF Finals. We need to be united and go into camp strong. The worst has only begun and the more we help each other the better it is. If you have questions or comments, call or email me -- I need help just as much as everyone else.

Have fun and run smart,
Amanda Stephens
purplemandy50@hotmail.com
(562) 762-1875

“Believe in yourself, know yourself, deny yourself, and be humble.”
- John Treacy

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.”
- Juma Ikangaa

“Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.”
- Tom Fleming

Note from the coach.  The following message was written by a very dedicated, hard-working captain to the members of the boy’s team.  It may seem harsh, but after much debate, I decided to post the message as it was written.  I think it offers the boys a good place to start thinking about what their goals really are for the season.

I don’t know how many of you have read Amanda’s message but I want to reiterate a fact she stated. “Summer is here along with summer workouts.”  These workouts are going to be hard.  Last year, after we finished second in league after losing to Norwalk, we said “Next year they are losing their top three runners.”  Well, next year is here and we need to start training to take on the top guns of the Suburban League.  When I look at the team we have, I see a group of talented runners capable of winning league.  But after Monday’s workout, I realize we need to get our act together.

I don’t want to point people out—you know who you are. We are now in phase 2. We used the first phase to get back into shape. It’s been 4-5 weeks. You should be back in shape by now. It’s time to step it up in the workouts. You should be able to go 4 miles and be able to push the pace and not have to stop and walk. You need to push yourself and run through the pain. The varsity runners are getting up at 7:00 in the morning to do our workout so we can help you out and push you. I’ll be forward and say I would have liked to have been able to sleep in and get a couple more hours of sleep. All we’re asking in return is for you to push yourselves as well—to run through the pain. You can be really good runners if you are willing to go the extra miles. I would really like to win league this year. That would mean the world to me. But a cross country team needs 5 runners to win, so we need you guys to run through the pain. We are getting up early to help you guys out so if you don’t push yourselves in return, you’re pretty much wasting our time. So, basically, to sum this all up, work hard and push yourselves and the whole team will benefit from it. And also, we need everyone to be there and we can’t afford people to be out for a couple weeks. That doesn’t do you any good.

If I insulted anyone in anyway, I am sorry. If you want to talk to me about it or anything I said in this message, don’t be afraid to pull me aside and talk to me about it at practice. If you have any questions/comments about what I said, please talk to me. Thank you for your time.

P.S. My email address is Jrbird86@aol.com so if you ever need to contact me outside of practice you can reach me there. My screen name is the same as my email so you can IM me. Thanks again.

Obeying the Law of Gravity: What Happens When You Take Time Off
By Pete Pfitzinger

Two-time Olympian Pete Pfitzinger is an exercise physiologist who writes articles for Running Times Magazine. WWW.RUNNINGTIMES.COM. This article was published in that magazine.

Please answer the following question: 
When you take a break from training, your body starts to turn to mush: 
a) after a few months; 
b) after a few weeks; 
c) after a few days; or 
d) almost immediately. 

Most runners apparently believe the correct answer is (d), and that the fitness gains of years of running are in danger of quickly vanishing into thin air. This behavior is manifested in phenomena such as running streaks, double workouts, and a propensity to run through such potentially life-threatening conditions as blizzards, electrical storms and bronchitis.

The good news is that the rate at which detraining occurs is slower than you may think. In fact, most elements of your fitness go down at about the same rate at which they go up. Let's take a look at the evidence concerning how long it takes physiological improvements to be lost and running performance to go down the tubes when you are forced to stay off the road due to illness or injury, or (now here's a novel concept) when you take a planned break from training.

A surprisingly large number of scientific studies have been conducted on detraining, and although not all results are in agreement, the evidence is reasonably consistent. The journals Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise and Sports Medicine recently published reviews of over 60 detraining studies which provide insight into how quickly you can expect to lose your hard won adaptations to training.

The table below summarizes some of the physiological adaptations that occur during a two to four week break from training. Your V02 max will decrease by up to 10%, primarily due to a reduction in your blood volume. One of the adaptations to endurance exercise is an increase in blood volume, and when you stop training this adaptation is lost relatively quickly. When your blood volume decreases, less blood returns to your heart to be pumped with each heart beat. This means that your stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per heart beat) decreases. Your heart rate must increase, therefore, in order for you to run at the same pace as before.

Other effects of detraining include a loss of flexibility, a decrease in your lactate threshold pace, and large reductions in your muscle glycogen concentration and aerobic enzyme activity. Interestingly, the fitter you are, the greater these losses tend to be.

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR RUNNING PERFORMANCE?

Endurance performance tends to remain the same or actually improve after a few days without training. This is not surprising because when you are in hard training you are perpetually fatigued, so a short break allows your body to recover and adapt to your previous training. Between one and two weeks off from training, however, the benefits of recovery start to become outweighed by a loss in fitness. Although not many studies have measured loss of performance in runners after several weeks of detraining (would you volunteer?), performance is likely to decrease by about 3-5% after three to four weeks of detraining. A 40-minute 10K runner could expect to slow down by about one to two minutes after a three week break.

WHAT IF YOU JUST REDUCE YOUR TRAINING?

If you cut back the volume of your training (i.e. how often you train or how far you run), you can maintain your fitness level for a surprisingly long time. Studies have found that when either the frequency or duration of training are reduced (while the intensity of training is maintained) that aerobic conditioning is maintained for up to 15 weeks. When the intensity of training is reduced (while the volume of training is maintained), however, then aerobic fitness declines more quickly. If you must reduce your training volume, therefore, maintaining your training intensity is the key to maintaining your running performance.

Similarly, if you are injured, you can maintain a reasonably high level of aerobic conditioning by cross-training hard several times per week. The closer that your cross-training activity simulates running, the more slowly you will lose your running fitness.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

When you start running again, you can expect your fitness level to go back up at about the same rate at which it went down. Of course, if you have been injured, the increase in your training will be dictated by the recovery of your injury, if you haven't run for two weeks or more, during your first run back you will likely feel as though you have never run before. It just takes a couple of runs for your various body parts to become reacquainted, and by your third run you should feel almost normal. After a week or so back on the road your blood volume will be increasing, and you will be regaining all of the other fitness factors that will allow you to regain your running performance.