Cross country is much different than many of the other sports offered at Deep Run. This article will explain many of the details of cross country to help you, as a parent, understand the sport to better support and encourage your athlete.

Attendance

Cross Country is a Varsity sport at Deep Run. All our athletes are expected to be at practice everyday and should plan on competing at all the meets on the schedule. Of course there will be extenuating circumstances which will arise in which athletes should talk with the coaches as they come up. Practice will be 5 days a week from Aug. 6 through the Region Meet on November 3, 2007.

Equipment

Distance running is a minimal sport when it comes to equipment but it does have a few essentials. Your athlete needs to have good running shoes, a stopwatch, water bottle, and warm clothes as the weather gets cooler. The best place to get fitted for the shoes is 3 Sports on Lauderdale Drive. Athletes may also want to purchase racing shoes. The best racing shoes for this area are shoes with a rubber sole that you take spikes out of. Athletes should have a watch everyday at practice to help track their progress and follow directives. As it gets cooler athletes should bring warmup pants and long sleeve shirts or nylon warmup jackets that they can run in. In November they will need to get a hat and running gloves.

Food and Hydration

Nutrition is important for all athletes. In running the best advice to follow is a balanced diet where the athlete is taking in about 50 % of their calories from carbohydrates, 30 percent from proteins, and 20 % from fats. The focus really should be on eating around 3,000 calories a day and trying to hit all of the food groups. Candy and junk food should be limited and replaced by healthier alternatives like fruits, fig newtons, and nuts. Runners should also take a multi-vitamin that has iron everyday.

On race day runners have to think about what they eat. During the season our athletes will have to plan for two scenarios. The first is the after school meets. Athletes need to make sure they eat a big breakfast of their choosing. They should pack a lunch and a snack to school. Turkey/Chicken or PBJ sandwiches with Fruit and some pretzels or fig newtons or trail mix would be good. Athletes should eat their snack between 2:00 and 3:00pm. This is just to keep the blood sugar from dropping too low before the race at 5:30.

The other scenario is a Saturday Invitationals. On these days the athlete should wake up at least 3 hours before the race. They should eat a light breakfast (bagels, oatmeal or cream of wheat with fruit) and begin drinking lots of water. The athlete should have a snack for after the race to help start the recovery process but the bus will probably stop for lunch on the way back to Deep Run. In both cases athletes should not eat anything substantial within two hours of a race.

Hydration is a major issue for everyone but athletes have pay extra attention to drinking enough water. Athletes should carry a water bottle around school and make sure they drinking water throughout the day to prepare them for practice and then be sure to replace the fluids lost at practice. On race day athletes should drink water only before races but can drink Gatorade or another sports drink after the race. Sports drinks can cause cramps if consumed before the race because of their high sugar and sodium levels.

Sleep

The actual training and physical work that our athletes do doesn't make them stronger, the recovery process from the training does. Most of the recovery takes place during our sleep. Please help your athletes get 8 -10 hours of sleep a night. We certainly realize the strains of school and other activities, but with good time management they can get it all done and still get their rest, which will make them better at all that they do. High school athletes should get at least 60 hours of sleep a week.

Training

Our training is demanding and challenging. The schedule follows a hard day/easy day progression with Mondays and Saturdays being the hardest training days. Please help us by not scheduling appointments on these days during the season so we can work hard as a full team. The schedule is somewhat complex, but I welcome any questions you might have.

Injuries and Prevention

In distance running sometimes athletes come down with injuries. Most of these are overuse injuries like muscles strains, tendonitis, and shin splints. Most of these injuries come on slowly and get worse as an athlete continues to run on the injury. Please urge your athletes to communicate with their coaches about any injuries or illnesses they have. We can only help them get back to full strength if we know about the situation. The first treatment for most injuries is to apply ice 2-3 times a day, take an anti-inflammatory medicine, and rest. Sometimes medical help is needed. The protocol for athletes should be to continue coming to practice but tell the coaches about their condition. Then they will be sent to the athletic trainer, Sakisa Kinchen. If she is not able to help, you may need to consult a physician. Dr. Doug Cutter is one of the best sports medicine doctors in Virginia. The athlete should try to cross train if possible and should continue to be at practice to check in.

Race Day

In Cross Country all athletes will run a 5 K course (3.1 miles). On the Wed. meets there will be a girls race followed by the boys. On the Saturdays there will be multiple divisions of races like Varsity, JV, Freshman for both boys and girls. I will hand out travel itineraries for all Saturday meets that will include directions and a schedule of events. Be sure your athlete brings you home one.

Distance running can be a stressful sport. Please try to be supportive of your athletes without adding additional pressure to them. On race day our athletes will need to begin warming up about 50 minutes before race time. After the race the athletes will need to cooldown 15 minutes to begin the recovery process. Please let the athletes go through this process without too much distraction. After they finish their cooldown and stretch briefly they are done for the day and can eat or drink anything they would like. They are free to leave the meet with their parents as long as they check out with Coach Stockdreher. We ask that they stay until all of the athletes have competed to support their teammates.

Scoring

Cross Country is a pretty simple sport. Whichever team can get 5 runners across the line in the shortest amount of time wins. Like golf, the lowest score wins. Scores are calculated by adding together the place finishes of a teams top 5 runners. The 6th and 7th runners don't count in your score, but are pushers and raise other teams' scores. See the example below.

Deep Run: 1 2 5 7 8 9 13 = 23 points

Patrick Henry: 3 4 6 10 11 12 14 = 34 points

I know I have not covered all that goes into a cross country season, but I hope that this helps you understand the meets. Thanks again for your support and I hope you enjoy watching the season unfold.

Coach Stockdreher and Coach Spiller