Practice Info

We encourage runners to come to as many practices as possible. However, we know that families have a lot of responsibilities and commitments. So, if you have to miss, don’t worry. The beauty of running is you can always run on your own time. Maybe that is a great opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their runner. Or maybe your kiddo is feeling burnt out and just needs to take a break. That is okay. Practice will, however, best prepare runners to do well in meets, and we think that will help set them up for success.

Inclement Weather Policy

During the months of July and August there is potential for a high heat index. JCPS does not allow us to
practice in a heat index of 106. We also do not practice or have meets with potential for lightning. Getting
acclimated to the heat is very important. In order to prepare your student athletes, start acclimating now
with short runs or walks with short increments of running. Please advise your student athletes to hydrate
throughout the day as well as fueling their body prior to practicing in the heat.

We will not run if there is thunder or lightning. However, we will always practice if it is just raining. If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training!

Practice Elements

Here is some info on what our practice time will look like. During our “easy” warm up run, all runners will
run together and should be talking amongst each other. This is to ensure that we are building team
camaraderie and not running the warmup too fast. For workouts, because there are different levels of
athletes, students will run with an assigned, compatible group of runners. If a kid arrives late and we have left the meet up area, please have them dynamic stretch on their own and we will be back to get them.

  • Dynamic stretch: we line up and complete a few movements to get the muscles engaged.
  • Short “easy” warm up run: distance pending experience level.
  • Strides: a few short sprints to get breathing elevated.
  • Run/Work-out: this could be a mixture of short speed intervals, hills, or longer distance runs.

Levels of Breathing

  • Easy runs: should be able to talk. Should be able to sing ABC’s
  • Strides: 10-15 sec long and not likely to talk.
  • Speed intervals: too fast to hold conversation but should be able to say Yes, No, etc.
  • Longer tempo runs: potentially hold a conversation if someone is willing to talk back.