Oops! Lost one...
So, it happened today. I lost a runner. It was an inevitability that sooner or later one of the slippery little buggers would get away.
Since I am not yet able to run trails (sprain day 25), I was not able to carefully track my HS'ers like I would normally do. Throw into the mix that on Mon and Weds we have a very persistent and talented eigth grader that joins us for a jaunt. Set up for disaster!
Mondays tend to be our long days, as most of my runners are in base building and do not run 7 days, or heck even 6 at this point in their season. By default, mondays are the only safe days I know to get our mileage in, when I am not competing with family obligations on Saturdays. Mondays also allow us the flexibility to change our plans due to weather or random animal invasions (don't ask). That way we can front load our week and ensure that our long run is protected...
Our goal today was to run 1 hour for an "out and back", allowing each runner to turn back at 30 minutes regardless of how far they made it and allowing the faster runners to see the slower runners at least twice. My primary function is to protect the pace and become the enforcer when the guys that went out WAY too fast realize that they still have the back of the out and back to complete.
Our designated pace for the last 3 weeks has been 7;20. So, i let the guys go as fast as they feel they can manage, but I maintain the average pace so that they can't fall off too hard. The youth select the routes and I merely go along for the "ride". Always encouraging them to run trails whenever possible, to protect their precious and still growing joints and bones, it becomes a challenge for us to select routes where i can still cover the distance, but still be visible to them as a steady, metronomic reminder of what their pace is supposed to be.
Having taken this into account, we selected to run Bear Creek trail heading East towards Kennedy HS, where there are a myriad of trails that run parallel to the bike path. Missing practice last Monday caused a serious judgment error on my part, as I did not know that our young visitor did not quite make his 50 full minutes last week. When he began to fall off pace, i recommended that he relax a bit and then turn around at 30 minutes to go back the way he came. Of course, he did not tell me that he was not wearing a watch...
One of our runners competed at Rock Canyon over the weekend and therefore did not need the intensity that we were seeking. When he turned back at his designated time, I requested that he take our young charge back to the school with him. Adament little bugger must have politely refused, as the group, in fact encountered him shortly after our turn around, as he was walking.
So, herein lies the dilemma. We are 25 minutes out and clearly 3 plus miles away. I encouraged our young runner to try to stay up with the group's last runner, who was falling off the back OR to stay on the bike path with me. He opted to stay on the bike path, but, as he is a boy and has yet to understand that this ol' bag of female bones can actually run, kept intermittently sprinting ahead with quick almost walking breaks. When he tired of me catching up to him, he bounded off into the trails after his fellow gender specific buddies. The story later suggests that he actually bounded fast enough to catch up with our lead pack, only to pay the price.
By the time my path intersected the trail at the next juncture, no one could really tell me where he was. We hoped that his boundless energy helped him Tigger all the way back to the school, but to be safe, I ran back and forth along my trail to flush the harrier out.
When there was no sign of my young star, i returned back to the school to find out that he did not, in fact, make it back ahead of us. The group gathered their phones and set off to reel our wayward wanderer home. Luckily for all, my nerves were settled when within 5 minutes one group of 2 spotted our lost sole. The group frantically texted one another to home base and the crisis was averted.
UGH! What a day. We reiterated the buddy system rules and I reminded the kids that I am much too old for that kind of stress. In actuality, it is times like this, that I am reminded how immense the reponsibility is in mentoring young runners and praised the team for their willingness to immediately go back out and find their missing mate. Next week, our young runner will wear a watch, communicate if he is unsure of the route and run an appropriate distance for the pace that we are setting. A humbling and scary experience that helps to remind me to get back to the basics as a coach...slippery little buggers...
SO, goal was 60 minutes at 7:20. First 4 were @ 7:20, but then pace slipped as I was running back and forth with our newbie. Averaged 7:48 for the eight with worry stops and backtracking, adding on an additional mile while wandering on my search.
Lunge Routine and Myrtle with 5 Med ball exercises. The kids opted not to lift as they were plum EXHAUSTED! (And reminded me that both Chuck and Monday Night Football were on tonight...)
Ankle felt great! Thinking about heading to Cali for the Santa to the Sea half as I was not able to get into Rock Canyon this past weekend....should be a great measure of where my fitness is at with very little speed work under my belt. |