No Fear No Pain No Defeat

Our 2010 team will race for the first time on Saturday, July 31 at Legg Lake/Whittier Narrows Park in South El Monte.  We hope to be joined for by graduates of our program, along with the family and friends of our current team.  The race is open to all ages and fitness levels.  Here are the details…

• Race Time:  8:00 am (Alumni/ae and Friends/Family should be registered by 7:30)
• The Course:  A flat 3389 meters over dirt/decomposed granite paths
• Format:  We will divide into three teams – Returning Tartans, Alumni/ae, and Team Newcomers/Family/Friends – and score the race in typical XC format.  We anticipate having a top-quality timing system that will provide quick results.  We’re hand timing the meet, so results will take a few minutes.
• Registration: Current team members are already entered.  All others: there is no cost, but please send an email to info@glendoraxc.net with your name, sex, and age – or if you’re an alum – your graduation year.  You may register on the day, but it will greatly help the timing and scoring process if you register in advance.
• Grub?: Yes!  We will have a light breakfast following the race.

The men’s race should be a battle between our alumni, which will feature Div I athletes from Loyola Marymount, UCSB & Yale along with Div II XC power Adams State against our defending CIF champions boys team.   The women’s race will have interesting matchup between our returning athletes and our strong group of newcomers.

This should be a great day – please make plans to take part.

Our only training session on Friday, July 30 will be at 7:00am at Bonelli.

This will be our only training session for the day and all of our athletes are expected to attend.

Last week was really hot and it forced us to cut back on our training.  To minimize the need to do that again, our weekday training sessions are now at 6:00pm.

This makes it even more important that our athletes eat and hydrate before each session.  Athletes should eat a small balanced meal about 2 to 2-1/2 hours before the session along 17-20 oz of water or sports drink.  “Balanced”, of course, means the proper combination of carbs, fats, and protein, rather than a slice in one hand and a burrito in the other.

For more info on eating and drinking right – check out “How much should I sleep, drink, and eat” on the right column of this page.

The 2010 Cross Country season is now in full swing, but it’s not too late to start.  We welcome athletes at any starting point – so if you’ve never run or you’ve done this before, come on out.  There are no cuts and no bench in XC, and incoming frosh are especially encouraged to take part in this summer’s program.

If you’d like to join and haven’t:

• Come to the next practice
• Get a physical and fill out the physical packet.  Download here
• The cost for our summer training is $75

Other Summer Highlights

The latest training schedule…

• Monday: GHS (all weekdays at 5:00 6:00 pm)
• Tuesday: Bonelli Park
• Wednesday: Bonelli Park
• Thursday: Williams School
• Friday: GHS

Saturdays

• 7/10 & 17: La Verne Trails at 7:00am
• 7/24, 31 & 8/7: Legg Lake
• 8/14: Mammoth Training Camp
• 8/21: La Verne Trails

Directions are at the link on the right, Training Schedule & Locations

New this summer will be our First Annual Alumni/ae Race, Saturday, July 31 at Legg Lake.  Our whole team will race over shortened a 3500 meter course, and we hope to be joined by many alums as well as team family members and friends.  We want this to be a big deal – so we’ll have official timing and we’ll wear uniforms, and we’ll divide into teams and keep score.  Look for more info soon.

Mammoth High-Altitude Training Camp: is an 8 day/7 night (August 8-15) training camp at Mammoth Lakes and is a cornerstone of our summer training.  The $335 cost includes transportation, lodging and meals.  Unlike previous years, there will be fitness and attendance requirements to attend, and any athlete wanting to go must be at team training the ten days prior to the trip.

Want to run Cross Country this year? Glendora XC competes at the highest levels – our boys team are defending league and CIF champions and State runners up, while our rapidly improving girls team boasts a league champ and CIF and State meet finalist.

At the same time, we are one of the most inclusive teams on campus. We welcome beginning athletes and there are no cuts team cuts and no bench – all athletes get to compete.  Our training is progressive and tailored to the fitness level, ability, and experience of our athletes.

Here are some important details:

Summer Practice Begins Monday, July 5 at 5:00pm.  Plan for each session to last two hours.  Come dressed to run and bring water.

First week’s schedule:

• Monday at the Glendora High School track See above post
• Tuesday at Bonelli Park.  Directions
• Wednesday at GHS Williams School
• Thursday at Bonelli
• Friday at GHS
• Saturday at La Verne Trails Directions

Sports Physicals: You must have a sports physical and complete the Glendora Sports Physical Packet before you can attend the Mammoth Training Camp or the beginning of the school year if you’re not going to Mammoth.  You can download the packet here.

Summer XC Camp: begins July 5 and runs for 8 weeks (up til the beginning of school).  The cost is $75.  Training is five days a week and will progress according to the athlete’s ability and improved conditioning.  Varsity athletes will train seven days with three doubles.  We train at GHS and several parks in the area – all athletes will received a schedule with directions.  Incoming freshman (GHS ’14) are strongly encouraged to take part in this camp.

Mammoth High-Altitude Training Camp: is an 8 day/7 night (August 8-15) training camp at Mammoth Lakes and is a cornerstone of our summer training.  The $335 cost includes transportation, lodging and meals.  Unlike previous years, there will be fitness and attendance requirements to attend, and any athlete wanting to go must be at team training the ten days prior to the trip.

Regular Training: continues when school starts on August 24th.  Athletes are welcome to join the team at this point, but understand that we strongly encourage our athletes to take part in the summer camp.

So come on out, and find out how good you can be.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune has published it’s 2009 All-Area team for Cross Country and it includes quite a few familiar faces.  Juniors Lauren Justus and Anthony Castro were selected as Athletes of the Year.  Kelly Hernandez and Austin Goodheart were also selected for the first team, while Austin Mendoza and Shin Yamamura led the second team.

Unlike previous years, the article accompanying the lists that does a nice job of breaking down the season, with quotes from Lauren, Anthony and Coach Don Sumner, who was selected Boys Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.  But the Trib also continued it’s now annual tradition of excluding deserving Glendora athletes in the name of “balancing” the lists.   For a more representative list of XC honors – go back and review the Mt.Sac XC awards.

Our annual team banquet is this Thursday, December 10th, at the Legion Hall in Finkbiner Park.  Monday is the absolute deadline to make your reservation.  The dinner is free for team members and $10 each for family and friends.  Full details: GHS Cross Country Banquet.pdf

Also this week, the Glendora City Council will be honoring our championship boys varsity team during this Tuesday’s meeting.  The meeting begins at 7:00 pm on December 8th in the City Hall Council Chambers at 116 Foothill Blvd.  UPDATE: You can view video of the meeting and ceremony here.

With today’s Footlocker West meet, cross country season has ended for all of our athletes.  So what’s next?

Our annual training plan calls for our athletes to take at least two weeks off from training between XC and track seasons.  This should be an active rest period – play soccer, ride your bike, play hoops in the driveway – your rest comes from getting away from structured training rather than merely laying around.

Athletes that will be competing in the distance events in track (800, 1600, 3200) will begin regular training again on Monday, December 21st.  Remember that being a distance runner is an almost year-round calling.

So if you have had at least two weeks off from training, you should begin running again on your own over the next two weeks.  Week 1: Run 30 minutes + 4 buildups three days a week.  Do one of our strength routines on each of those days too.  Week 2:  Add a fourth day like the other three.  Run on soft surfaces and find some teammates to run with.

Note: if you’ve run off and on since the end of the season, count any week where you ran three times or less as a rest week.

So now we’re part of the track team – so look for updates on the team website: glendoratrackandfield.net

While the official XC season ended for most of our athletes ended with November 3rd’s Sierra League Finals, several of our athletes competed in open XC meets.

On Sunday, November 15, soph Ross Brunett and and juniors Jon Carlo Nunez and Christian Arranaga took another shot at the 2.91 mile Mt.Sac course in the Southern California Association – USATF Championship meet.  Ross was 15th (18:04 PR) and Christian was 21st (18:57) in the Intermediate Boys  (born 1993-94) Division, and Jon Carlo ran a 17:59 PR to finish 10th in the Young Mens (born 1991-92) Division.  Full results are here.

The following Sunday, all three traveled to Escondido to compete in the USATF Region 15 XC Championships, along with athletes from all of Southern California as well as Arizona and Southern Nevada.  Ross was 30th, Christian 44th and Jon Carlo 26th in their divisional races.  Full results here.

The final XC competition was at today’s Footlocker West meet at Mt.Sac.  This is a qualifier for the Footlocker National meet but also has races for all levels of athletes.  In previous years, many of our athletes ran this meet, but since this year’s season extended all the way to the State meet, only three Tartan’s lined up.  Sophs Ross Brunett (19:29) and Chris Vega (20:41) took on the longer 5000 meter course – they’re times convert to 18:18 and 19:25 on the traditional 2.91 mile course.  Race Results are here.

Coach Ben Mejia also ran in the Footlocker Open race. Unable to find the form the led to his win in the open race at the Brea Invite, Ben finished 18th in 17:29 (16:24 converted).  Race Results are here, and complete meet results are here.

And with that, we’re done.  With XC.  Now it’s time for track season!

On Thursday night will be the second year of the revived San Gabriel Valley Cross Country awards at Mt.Sac.  These awards are based on the best times achieved on the Mt.Sac course by the athletes of the 33 schools in the East SGV.  Awards are given to the top 5 performers in each grade level.  The top boy and girl will be Athletes of the Year, and teams with the top cumulative team time will be given the top team award and their coaches will be awarded Coach of the Year.

The Tartans will be well represented.  Juniors Lauren Justus and Anthony Castro are Athletes of the Year.  Our guys will get the team award – our best was almost five minutes better than the second team – and Don Sumner will receive the Coach of the Year award.

Austin Goodheart is second among seniors, Kelly Hernandez and Shin Yamamura are second and third after Anthony on the juniors list, and Austin Mendoza is the top sophomore.  You can view the complete list here.

The ceremony will begin at 7:00 PM in the Founders Hall in the middle of the main campus.

Directions:  Please enter Mt. SAC at the main parking lot entrance off of Grand Ave. Drive to the information kiosk and tell them you are there for the cross country awards ceremony. They will direct you to the free parking lot area reserved for that night.