This was a HOT practice. I was so pleased with all the athletes' endurance through hard workouts in the heat. I saw many grinning faces as I left--I think from being happy to be done and happy at what was accomplished.
I was able to spend some time with the oldest girls and boys, and we discussed 3 important things to remember when sprinting:
1. Run on your toes. When racing the 100m or 200m, your heels really shouldn't touch the ground. Running on your toes propels your body forward and improves speed.
2. Keep your elbows in. Your legs follow what your arms do. If your arms move rapidly, so will your legs. If your arms are swinging out, your gait will be inefficient, with too much side-to-side motion.
3. Keep your head up, looking straight ahead. When we are concentrating on moving our legs as fast as they will go, we sometimes automatically want to look at them. Sometimes runners also look to their left and right and behind them to see where their competition is. All of these things slow us down. It's best to look straight to our goal (a few steps past the finish line), and don't waiver from your concentration on getting there as fast as you can.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Practice Tuesday 4/14
I worked with the pink group and the green group at practice today. It was a big group to have all together, but they managed to have a good workout. They began with running five 200's. Then they ran two 100's. I saw some hard work and some impressive speed. We ended at the shot-put. Athletes need to remember: "Lean-Turn-High-five the sky" when doing shot put.
The yellow group did 1 each of 50, 100, 200, and 400. Then they practiced long jump.
The purple group worked on building endurance; they began with 2 laps of running the straights and jogging the curves. Then they practiced long jump a while. Then they did 2 laps of indian relays with the baton.
Please bring your meet money Thursday if you haven't yet. I'm looking forward to a FUN meet this weekend! I have a working megaphone now, so that should help matters a lot.
The yellow group did 1 each of 50, 100, 200, and 400. Then they practiced long jump.
The purple group worked on building endurance; they began with 2 laps of running the straights and jogging the curves. Then they practiced long jump a while. Then they did 2 laps of indian relays with the baton.
Please bring your meet money Thursday if you haven't yet. I'm looking forward to a FUN meet this weekend! I have a working megaphone now, so that should help matters a lot.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Workout today
I had the privilege of working with the pink group today. They are such a beautiful, nice group of girls. They worked out hard today. They began with 2 laps of indian relays while practicing passing the baton. Then we did a pyramid of sprints: 200m, 100, 50, 100, 200. Next we did high-knees, bum-kicks and bounding for about 100 yds/each. Then a 200 jog cool-down.
The green group did a similar workout, but started with the pyramid. They did 4 laps of indian relays--running two of them at a tempo (harder) pace. Way to go!
The purple group started out at the long-jump pit and practiced their jumps. They ended with a pyramid of sprints: 50yd, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50yd.
The yellow group played Foxes and Hounds in the field for the first 30 minutes. The last half was spent in practicing their long-jumps. They used a target in the sand to try to better their jumps, and it worked! Good job!
The green group did a similar workout, but started with the pyramid. They did 4 laps of indian relays--running two of them at a tempo (harder) pace. Way to go!
The purple group started out at the long-jump pit and practiced their jumps. They ended with a pyramid of sprints: 50yd, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50yd.
The yellow group played Foxes and Hounds in the field for the first 30 minutes. The last half was spent in practicing their long-jumps. They used a target in the sand to try to better their jumps, and it worked! Good job!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
PR Bars and Practice 4/7/09
Today was a fun practice. We are starting to try to build some more endurance among all the athletes, so most of the groups got 2-3 laps of "striding (running) the straights and jogging or walking the curves." After doing some dynamic movement exercises (high knees, bumkicks and bounding) , the Pink Group and the Green Group did four 200's, working on technique of running on the inside of the lane. The Yellow Group did 4x 50yd, and the Purple Group played some Foxes and Hounds.
We ended practice a little early to have an awards ceremony and recognize all the athletes who improved their times at the meet on Friday. They were presented with a "PR Bar" (PR= Personal Record), that had a list of their new best times/distances and the margin of improvement. I encourage you to try to remember those new PR's and strive to beat them in the next meet. We talked about who our #1 opponent should be-- OURSELVES.
If you missed practice, we will get your PR Bar to you on Thursday.
Way to go Tracksters!!!
We ended practice a little early to have an awards ceremony and recognize all the athletes who improved their times at the meet on Friday. They were presented with a "PR Bar" (PR= Personal Record), that had a list of their new best times/distances and the margin of improvement. I encourage you to try to remember those new PR's and strive to beat them in the next meet. We talked about who our #1 opponent should be-- OURSELVES.
If you missed practice, we will get your PR Bar to you on Thursday.
Way to go Tracksters!!!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Meet Pics
A couple of parents have shared some pics (you may be able to guess who from the main subjects :-) !) I will add more if/when I get more!
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