This past week we started our first workouts of the year. Tuesday was a threshold (medium-intensity) workout that our athletes will become very familiar with by the end of the season, while Thursday was some higher intensity hill repetitions, another thing that is a year-long staple for our program. I was proud of how our runners handled each workout, and we’re only moving on from here.
I. Week 6 Recap
The goal of the first month of our summer training was to build a habit and tolerance for daily, consistent running. The goal for this second month is to build the foundation on which we’ll race in the fall. This involves continuing to put in the mileage, with some more quality a couple of days out of the week.
After kicking off our week with a standard run at Fernwood on Monday, we had our first workout on Thursday. It involved short threshold-effort repetitions run on the track, along with wickets and some Flying 30s (max speed 30M running start sprints to develop speed). The first workout of the year is always difficult, especially when you are asking athletes to run at a prescribed level of effort without solid fitness benchmarks from regular racing. So, there is a little bit of chaos and uncertainty. That’s OK, training is a learning process, and eventually our athletes will come to be familiar with the required effort. Overall, it was a good day. Athletes finished in the weight room.
Wednesday, we had our first “watchless run” of the summer. Although there is training value to these runs in the sense that it can reinforce to athletes the fact that correct pacing requires concentration and (for many of them–especially our faster, more experienced runners) they think they’re running slower than they actually are, the main purpose is to have a fun, friendly competition. I think we did that! And we had some runners that did a great job in their pacing, too! Congratulations to Hannah Cook (7th), Brandon Griffith (8th), and Mattix Knight (8th) on their wins! We’ll do one more of these runs after camp, and have more prizes to give away!
Thursday, we did a hill repetition workout on the Joni Drive hill in the neighborhood near Oak Forest Park. Our athletes really showed up and gave great effort, but this was a bit of a comedy of errors from me as a coach. I think the workout was too intense for the time of year, and, going forward, we will not meet at the Antelope Drive Park & Ride, but instead will just meet at Oak Forest Park when we run these hills. Live and learn! That said, watching our athletes get after these hills was a highlight of my week, as was Peyton Trussel (9th) doing an unassisted Nordic Hamstring Curl to win a cash prize that I honestly thought I’d never need to hand out! An unassisted nordic is extremely difficult, and requires great posterior chain strength. Until Peyton successfully completed TWO (because we had him do another to get it on video), I’m not sure our athletes believed that it could be done. I certainly can’t do it. So, WELL DONE, Peyton!
Friday we met at Art Nord Trailhead in Huntsville, Utah, and ran on some of the trails below Snowbasin. Our younger athletes did an out-and-back, while a smaller group of experienced runners did a loop that finished through Ice Box Canyon. This is a beautiful setting for a run, and one of my personal highlights of our summer training each year. It did not disappoint, and we had some treats afterwards.
We finished the week up with a long run starting from Layton Commons Park, with athletes running distances from 4 to 10 miles. Special congratulations to Peyton Trussel (9th) and Evan Corlett (10th) for running nearly 9 miles, which was the longest each had ever run!
Also, it’s not running related, but we wanted to give a very special shoutout to Sarah Hammond (12th), who is a dual sport athlete and wrestled in the USA Marine Corps Junior National’s Wrestling tournament in North Dakota this weekend. This is an elite competition — congrats, Sarah!
II. News & Announcements
A. XC Camp 2025
We are in full camp prep mode at this point! On Friday, we sent out an information packet, preliminary itinerary, and permission slip/waiver. I need to have the permission slip/waiver signed and returned, but I do not need an original. A scanned copy is fine. I will send out a suggested packing list either tonight or tomorrow.
A few things to note:
(i) here is the attendance list for all athletes–please confirm attendance for your athlete(s), whether they are attending or not;
(ii) I mentioned in some of my prior communication that athletes would be staying in tents — this is incorrect, they will be staying in cabins with bunks, meaning that they need a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad/mattress, but not a tent; and
(iii) I am in the process of updating the camp volunteer sheet for parents to accurately reflect our itinerary and volunteer needs, and will post a link to it as soon as it’s available (should be this evening).
For those who still need to pay for XC Camp (which is most of us), payment is done by Venmo, using the username/QR code shown below. The cost is $100 per athlete. Please include the athlete’s name and “NRXC Camp 2025” as the note for the payment. If I’ve “liked” your payment, you know that I have seen and recorded it. Thank you!
That’s all about camp for now, but watch GroupMe and Band closely for updates.
B. Pineview Day
This Thursday is our annual team day at Pineview Reservoir. We will meet for our training run at 7:00 AM as normal. We will meet at Windsurfer Beach. Our team run will be from Windsurfer on the trail heading up towards Lewis Peak. It will be easy effort, and athletes will run various distances up to 6 miles.
Athletes should bring all their “lake day” items to the run that morning, including a swimsuit, towel, sunblock, water shoes/flip-flops, snacks, a folding chair, life jackets, etc. The team will be providing breakfast food and snacks for the runners. For lunch, they are on their own. Athletes are free to leave at any time. We will probably wrap up around 2:00 PM.
If you are able to bring kayaks, SUPs, etc., that would be much appreciated! We also need to make sure we have life jackets for all water craft. Athletes swimming beyond the point where they can stand in the lake MUST have a life jacket. I’ll be posting more on this as the time approaches.
C. Evening “Under the Lights” Workout
This Friday we will do the first of three (3) (over the course of the season) “under the lights” workouts at Northridge. This is a really fun time for the kids. I found last year that they enjoyed this almost more than anything else we did as a team.
We will meet at 7:30 PM, and probably start the workout around 8:00 PM or so. It will have started to cool down (though not quite as much as we might want!). We will run a workout (probably no lights needed at this point…maybe we’ll have them on by the end). After the workout, we’ll do a brief strength workout on the field, and then will have pizza together as a team! After the pizza, the kids are welcome to stay and play games under the lights — soccer, ultimate frisbee, nine square, spike ball, etc. If I can get access to the press box, we will have music playing during the workout, though we will need to cut it off before 10 for the sake of neighboring families. Coaches will be there until around 11:30 PM, at which point we’ll wrap up the evening and head home. Of course, athletes can leave earlier if necessary.
D. Long Run
The long run this week is on your own, with a group option to be organized by the captains. We’ll post the location of the group option as we approach the weekend.
This is a reminder to all athletes 9th and up — OYO long runs are NOT OPTIONAL training. They are an essential training component and should be completed regardless of whether we have an official team run organized or not.
E. Register My Athlete
As of this evening (Sunday, July 13, 2025), I only have 13 people fully or partially signed up on Register My Athlete. We have one month until our first meet, and less than one month until we need that done in order to add fees and hand out uniforms. So, please do this ASAP! Many athletes will need new physicals, and that always takes time. They will not be able to run in the first meet if they don’t have it done on time, so I’m going to beat the drum from now until the start of the season!
My kids are not yet signed up, so this is a message to me as much as anyone else, haha — thank you!
III. Weekly Training
This week’s training is summarized in the table below. Specific details about the training can be found in this week’s training PDF, which is linked here and posted to GroupMe/Band.
| Date | Location | Time | Type of Training Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, July 14, 2025 | Fernwood Recreation Site | 7:00 AM | Trail run + hill sprints |
| Tuesday, July 15, 2025 | Northridge High School | 7:00 AM | Workout + weights |
| Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | Weber River Trail | 7:00 AM | East run + strides |
| Thursday, July 17, 2025 | Windsurfer Beach (Huntsville) | 7:00 AM | Easy trail run + lake day |
| Friday, July 18, 2025 | Northridge High School | 7:30 PM | Workout under lights |
| Saturday, July 19, 2025 | TBD by Captains | TBD by Captains | Long run |
| Sunday, July 20, 2025 | N/A | N/A | Rest |
IV. Other/Points of Emphasis
This week’s video (which is a short one) is embedded below.