Early Bird Meet

Cross Country Athletes & Parents:

Here’s our weekly update:

·         We had an awesome start to our competition season last Saturday! The boys won the tie-breaker against Brecksville (who was missing their #3 runner), and the girls also finished in 1^st place. Now we have a big target on our backs for the rest of the season. We’ll have to keep working hard to hold off the SWC competition this season.

·         Apparel orders end Wednesday!

·         Just another reminder: bring water and a watch to practice every day! We are working on intervals on the track and don’t always have access to water! We also are working on pacing so athletes need to continue timing themselves on intervals, along with keeping track of normal workout times and making sure we are aware of the ‘normal’ time!

·         Any issues with spikes, please bring them on Friday!

·         Uniforms should be good to go…we should have enough for everyone (barely), and we switched out uniforms last week. Please let us know if there are any issues with uniforms!

·         Parents, the cafeteria was SPOTLESS on Friday! Normally I am there to help clean up, but was busy with uniforms last week. If you need help accessing rags/mops, let one of the coaches know!

·         Athletes seem to be doing pretty well injury-wise, besides a few aches and pains. The big thing we’re noticing is tight calf muscles. We’ll go over some stretches to help with this throughout the week, but athletes need to make sure they are stretching right after practice, at night, and on Saturdays/Sundays. If there is consistent, long-lasting pain, let us know (Coach Arebaugh is awesome at this), as we can help schedule a time to see the trainer at the high school. She’s really nice and the service is free to all Avon Lake athletes. Just email us to let us know.

·         While there is no practice on Monday, there is a Erie Shore Wellness 5K Run on Labor Day, Monday, September 1, 2014.  This race is co-sponsored by CRS and the Avon Lake Sports Hall of Fame.  I have attached the registration form.

Here is the information for Earlybird:

• We will be meeting at TROY (not Learwood), on Saturday, August 30^th, at 6:00 a.m. This is an early one again, but right now weather is a concern (89 degrees, extremely high humidity) so the earlier we can run, the better. Buses leave at 6:05 a.m. We should return even earlier than last week, no later than 10:30 a.m. (probably earlier) at Troy. We will have athletes call to be picked up so parents do not have to wait!
• We have been talking about HYDRATION for the past several weeks. Please keep hydrating prior to Saturday. The next week and a half look very hot & humid (now that school’s started, summer has finally arrived), so we’ve got to prepare as much as possible!
• Please remember to pick up your child in a timely manner as coaches have to wait for every athlete to be picked up! So far it’s been great, and we’ll try to make sure we get the kids out at 4:45 p.m. each day (despite the socialization that occurs right after practice).
• All BOYS run at 8:00 a.m.
• All GIRLS run at 8:30 a.m.
• This race will determine who runs TEAM and OPEN at the Tiffin Carnival next Saturday! We will talk about that on Friday!
• Bring uniform, apparel, running shoes AND spikes (if you have them). You will only wear your spikes for the race. Bring a cell phone, water, your weekly sports drink (just one), and a healthy snack!
• Last week everyone experienced the ‘wet feet’ associated with running a race so early in the morning. Just a piece of advice, bring sandals to ride home in as you’ll want to dry out your soaking wet feet on the trip home.
• Another reminder: if you wear compression shirts, shorts, or just regular shirts/shorts underneath your uniform, it has to be BLACK! Also, only one logo on the shirt and NO LOGOS on the shorts! I’ll bring black sharpies to color in any logos, and Coach Walters and I will be at the starting line to make sure everyone is okay.
•  Parents, if you are taking your child home from the meet please make sure to sign out with Coach Walters at the finish line. Only parents can sign out athletes from the meet!
•  After the race, results will be posted online at www.baumspage.com. On that webpage, click on Cross Country. Then scroll down to Avon Lake Earlybird (8/30/14). Click there to find out results. Please note: results may not be updated until later in the day that Saturday or perhaps even into the day on Sunday.
•  Parents, course map this week is the same as last week. It’s best to view athletes running at the start line, at the mile mark (by the tennis courts), and then at the finish. If you really want to cheer kids on where they will totally hear you, the base of the hill is also a good spot (I usually go there…they need some cheerleaders there!). The downside is you might not get to see the finish. These locations are fairly close to each other so you should be able to walk to each location without difficulty! I have extra copies of the course map in my BIG maroon bag (you can’t miss it, it says: AVON LAKE TRACK & FIELD). Feel free to grab one on race day.
• Athletes, here’s our Meet Cheat Sheet for this week! Awesome start to the season! We are going to have so much fun these next 8 weeks.

Coach Arebaugh

Coach Rocco

Coach Walters