Med Ball and Body Building Series

Here is our Med Ball and Body Building Series. Typically we use this series as well as our core strength series on general days. These type of lifts are not keys to performance but help the body recover from our neuromuscular days (high intensity) these general strength series elicit a growth hormone responce which helps repair and rebuild damaged tissue. Here is a list of the other series I am planning on posting: Weight Room Series, Core Stability Series, Pre Practice Series, Multi Throw Series, Multi Jump Series, Recovery and Regeneration Series.

Core Strength Series

SO we started filming all of our exercises and thought I would start posting them here:

First off, is our Core Strength Series... we typically never do all of these usually just pick 3 or 4 on any given day. Really the way to improve core strength is through weight lifting and running.

Some Fun with new camera

Here is a plyo ball hitting the ground at 1000 frames per second... quality goes down the faster the camera goes...



Here is Armando Jumping Rope at 210 Frames per second



Here is an up close shot of Armandos feet while jumping rope at 1000 frames per second. Pretty cool, you can see that he needs to keep his toes up on his landing. Plus you can just see the power of the achilles tendon.




Armando Trying a push up with a clap behind his back, swing and a miss!



Ill post some other videos later... can't wait to get some actualy track events on it!

My favorite coaching rule

Recently I read a quote that said "Did you invest as much in your career as you did in your car this past year?" I loved that and wanted to repeat that here, I couldn't agree more.

Those who have been around me a few years will notice that no two season are the same, I think we have had a different warm up every year. I try to analyze the previous season remove the things I didn't think helped and keep the things I did think helped. Then I look for new things to try out, some work some don't. There is alot of trial and error. You would be bummed if you ran the same speed in middle school as you did in your senior year of college. I am the same way, in ten years from now I hope I will be a better coach. Anyways, I never planned on being a coach, if I did I would have asked alot more questions when I was an athlete, I was more of the "blindly follow whatever your coach says" type of athlete. Anyways my first year was basically me just assigning the athletes the exact same workouts I had to do. MOnday was tough, Tuesday was technique, Wednesday was speed, Thursday Technique, Friday was tempo, Saturday was meet. The problem was when I wanted to adjust things I couldn't because I didn't know why did them just what we did.

Anyways after my first season, I got my paycheck and it wasn't much and I had bills I needed to pay, but I also felt like I should reward myself for my first season being done. It felt like if i used it for bills, I was coaching for the wrong reasons or if i used it to buy a video game that would be no good to. It just seemed right to use it to make me a better coach. So I went on to amazon and bought 4 or 5 books on track and field. The next year after coaching I used my money to take some classes at Foothill in exercise physiology. Those classes got me interested in exercise physiology and I ended up going to SJSU and getting my Masters in the subject. (there is no way this would have happened if I didn't go to foothill) now I am teaching classes at SJSU. Every year I try to challenge myself to spend as much of my coaching paycheck on making me a better coach. Again following with the theme of lifelong learning. One year I went to chicago for a week long coaching education program sponsored by USATF . It was made to certify me to coach the jumps at the NCAA level. It cost 400 dollars more than my paycheck that year, I still felt it was worth it. Over the years I have used it to buy over 80 books 15 DVDs, our team website (plus the web design class I took at foothill). A couple weeks I got my football paycheck and I used it to buy a high speed camera, I probably wouldn't have been able to justify that purchase to myself with out this rule. The rest of the paycheck I used to buy over 30 hours of video from top coaches in distance, jumps and sprints and throws.

The point of this post isn't to brag about all the stuff I bought but it is just to say no matter what field you go into, never stop trying to imporve, don't be sataisfied. If you don't like your job invest in things taht will help you get a new job.

Merry Christmas!

Goals this year

I know we are going to have a wide range of goals this year.

We have some outcome goals: I know Erika just wants to make CCS finals this year, Stephanie is looking to make it to state)
We have some performance goals: Pauline is hoping to run a 57 in the 400. I am going to want a huge amount of PRs.

I just want to remind everyone about the 3rd type of goal, process goals. Process goals are more about the technique. For example a process goal for Erika would be "I don't want to come out so low from the blocks" actually "I want to come out at a 45 degree angle" is a better way to phrase that. It would be Lauren saying "I want the second phase of my triple jump to be at least 30% of my total distance". Chelsie might say "I want my first lap to be my slowest of the race". Stuff like that Erika. Chelsie or Lauren may lose their events (outcome) and may not get PRs (performance) but their is still an important thing being accomplished. Part of the difficulty of process goals is you have to underdstand your event.

I don't think any type is anymore important, (I have my personal preferences about which are the best) but if going to state motivates Stephanie to work hard and improve then it did its job.

Lauren in the MH Times

http://www.morganhilltimes.com/sports/261206-field-hockey-drewniany-heads-lo-all-leaguers

New Blog

Hey guys,

So I created a new blog which will be a place for me to write down my thoughts on whatever I am thinking of related coaching etc... I figured it was best to leave this blog for only Live Oak related things (i.e. Meet results and stuff)

For me personally, writting things out is the only real way I can digest information, just reading it or hearing it doesn't work which is why I took advantage of this blog to get my thoughts down. Anyways if you are interested it is called "My Brain's Colon" (get it? its my way to digest information) My goal is to post everyday. So far I am 3 for 3.

Next Monday

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, I definitely did. Ate a ton thursday, played some ultimate frisbee Friday and then ate a bunch more. So Monday is the start of offseason training, I know I just made a blog entry wondering if we even needed it. It should be known that it is completely volentary and individuals who don't go won't be punished (don't even know how I could punish someone, it's track I can't reduce someones playing time)

The main goal is to keep people who wouldn't be active otherwise... active. We won't do any type of specific training, no block starts, no long jump approaches. It will be working on general fitness. There will only be 3 componants of our training: Strength, Conditioning, Flexibility. At the end of it I would like to think you are prepared for any sport rather than just for track. Anyways it starts Monday, Nov 30 at 3:20pm at the Live Oak Track

Fall Sports Round Up

Well now that all the fall sports seasons are finished we are on to winter. Soccer, Wrestling and Basketball are starting up. I don't think we have nearly as many athletes in winter sports, off the top of my head I think it is just Leach in basketball, Kenny in wrestling, and Alex Ukanwa in soccer. SO make sure you guys go out and support your track teammates in their other sports.

Before moving on though just wanted to wrap up the seasons of our fall sports athletes.

Cross Country (Adam Groen, Pauline Olsen, Chelsie Faulk)

As I mentioned before all three of our athletes made the CCS Meet. They would be the first to tell you it did not go as well as they had hoped. That being said it was a great season for all three. I think Chelsie and Adam took a couple steps forward this year and Pauline accomplished her goal of staying in shape and getting a good base aerobic fitness down before the beginning of the season.

Field Hockey (Lauren Drewniany, Catherine Sparling, Erika Rodriguez)

Well after I put the blog jinx on them by mentioning there chances of making the CCS Playoffs they ended up coming up just short, with a loss to Leigh and a forfeit win against Homestead. I don't think I ever saw a complete game but I did end up seeing like 12 halves, haha. It was really enjoyable seeing these other sides of athletes. Catherine making juke moves against defenders, Erika bringing a ton of energy to the game (I guess that is nothing new) and Lauren being a leader out on the field. Speaking of Lauren she came away with some recognition at the end of the season, being named First team all-league, Junior of the yeat and Non-Glam Player of the year.

Football (Lots, haha)

Like cross country and field hockey another tough ending to the season. They ended up making the playoffs and played against Terra Nova, the number one seed, in the first round. They had a 24-7 lead in the 3rd quarter but couldn't quite hold on and lost 28-24. The biggest thing about this team had to be it resiliancy. They started the season 0-4 and had tough losses to rivals (Gilroy/Sobrato) thet battled back though to beat Oak Grove, make the playoffs and give the number 1 seed all they could handle. Lots of positives to take out of this season. Also because I am a football coach I already know that some on the track athletes on the team will be also getting some awards and recognition but since we haven't had the awards banquet yet I am going to have to keep it to myself.

Great Job All, Hopefully next fall we will have even more athletes competing in fall sports.

Even More? YES it's true! haha

Here is another website with alot more of a science based background than the typical websites that are trying to sell something....

http://www.ifi.ku.dk/english/communication/previous_arrangements/consensus/program_video/

Free bit of advice that is worth every penny: People that take something simple and make it complex are trying to sell you something, People that take something complex and make it simple are trying to teach you something.

This is something I have learned looking through endless websites and research. I guess there is such thing as over simplifying but in general this is what I have found to be true.

More

Keeping with my current theme of lifetime learning I just wanted to pass along a website that I love looking at. IT has speeches from the TED conference which rountinely challenges the way things are and gives me new ways to think about problems.

www.ted.com

Offseason training?

Do we need it?

Up until 6 months ago I would have said yes... now being in my "questioning everything" phase. I really do wonder about it.

Erika qualified for 4 different CCS events last year, due to an injury she didn't start running until February (and we had to reduce her workload when she came back) Hard to argue she didn't have enough time. Tolson did come out for Offseason training and was able to make it to CCS and take a good 4 seconds off his 400 time. Mark always did offseason training, Courtney did absolutely nothing in between seasons. Both were very successful.

Is year around training one of those "imbred thoughts" that has been passed along? The people who do offseason tend to be the most dedicated (willing to work when it isn't mandatory or required) that probably has a bigger role on thier success then offseason training. (At the very least it plays a role)

THe logic of offseason training is the better shape you are in the more you can do, if you are out of shape it will be hard to do more than a 3*150s, but someone in shape can do 6*150s. They can do more, meaning they can get in better shape meaning they will perform better.

Maybe the truth is, that difference early in the year 3 150s vs 6 150s ends up being 14 150s vs 17 150s at the end of the year which isn't as big of a difference. Or maybe after you get to the point were you can do 10 150s there is no marginal benefit of going above that.

I am still having trouble thinking there is no benefit to offseason training (shows how tough it is to get rid of ingrained thought) I think what we will do this offseason is more related to supplementry training. (Weight room, aerobic, medicine ball work)

Coaching Part 1

So one of the big problems with coaching is there is a lot of imbreeding (metaphorically speaking) "I had to do this so now you do." I am no different, you guys do alot of workouts that I had to do in college at CMC (500 bds, in&out 200s (old style, not the kind where we actually run to in&out), 50 sec repeats, hammerstrides) Those all came from Claremont. My feeling was we won 4 conference titles in my 4 years there (they are going for 19 straight conference titles next spring) it should be good enough for you. While studying other coaching styles in track I have discovered that at CMC we took alot of our workouts from Jim Bush (coach at UCLA for many years). SO at LO we are doing similar workouts to UCLA in the 70's and 80s.

So why is this a problem?

Well most track coaches look to other track programs for ideas and change but say I talk to someone who follows Bud Winter's (SJSU head coach during speed city) approach that seems like a good idea except Jim Bush was influenced by Bud Winter. WHen you start to study track you realize there is so much imbreeeding of ideas that horrible ideas are reinforced. I have completely stopped looking at track people for references, I no longer ask my old college coach for training advise, I don't read books by track coaches period, and I don't ask other coaches what they do. I cut track off about 2 years ago. Every book or resourse I use is from people outside the sport. I read what athletic trainers are saying (they say static stretching hurts perfromance when done before expolsive activities) so we cut it out of our program. Mark on the other hand is training at West Valley college and they still static stretch. Why? because Bud Winter used to have his athletes do it. His coaches blindly follow what Bud Winter did, the other coaches they run into reinforce it because they were influence by someone who was influenced by Bud Winter too. At the end of the day it seems like 'hey 1000s of coaches are doing this it must be right', turns out 1 person actually decided to do it, everyone else just followed.

Now I read blogs by strength coaches. Books by psychologists. I find as much info as I can and hope there isn't a single mention of track in it. That leaves it up to me to interpret how it fits or doesn't fit into our program. I also like reading things totally not related to sports and find connections, Seth Godin has a great blog about Marketing that I have found with alot of parallels to track. (I even bought his book "The dip" which has no sports mention whatsoever but felt to me like he was talking precisely about track). Malcolm Gladwell's books are awesome for athletes none are about sports.

If you are wondering why is this important? My response is look at the results of the 84 olympics in LA and 08 Olympics in Beijing besides Bolt is their much of a difference? Our sport is stagnating, why because coaches are still doing the exact same things they did in the 60's today. We need some fresh DNA in the track gene pool, way to much imbreeding.

Here is a quote from Seth Godins blog today: "One study found that when confronted with a patient with back pain, surgeons prescribed surgery, physical therapists thought that therapy was indicated and yes, acupuncturists were sure needles were the answer. Across the entire universe of patients, the single largest indicator of treatment wasn't symptoms or patient background, it was the background of the doctor." In our sport almost all the doctors have the same background. How can we advance?

Sorry

What was I thinking talking about ccs qualifiers before seasons ended. I jinxed it big time. Unfortunantly field hockey had a little bit of a rough ending. They were eliminated after playing the first place team on Wed, then they team they were supposed to play Thursday didn't show up. (they thought the game was Friday)

That being said I really did enjoy watching our track stars in their other sports. Track year around is probably one of the worst things you can do (and I am a track coach). I really do encourage you all to try out different sports (as long as it isn't in the spring, haha. Actually if their is a sport you enjoy more then track definitely do it).

A little tangent but the abruptness of the ending for the field hockey team had me thinking about this. In most sports your season ending is usually a disappointment, except for teams that win championships, it either ends in a loss or if it ends in a win it is on a team that didn't make playoffs. That is a very small percentage who have their season end positively. I know it is kind of a generalization but every last game I had, I went into it hoping it wouldn't be my last.

This is just another reason why I think track is so great and the fact that we can have PRs is awesome. You could have a long jump competition of 16 people and only 8 advance, but you can have all 16 walk away happy if they PR. Now people in team sports can feel this way too even after a loss if they have a caoch who has done a good job of putting the season into perspective. I just think track has an advantage becasue it would be more of a quantitative positive then a qualitative positive. "I wnet in with a PR of 20' and I jumped 21' " That is as tangible of a result as "I qualified"

Anyways congrats to Erika, Lauren and Catherine on a great season. I am biased but the way I saw it was Catherine was in charge of the offensive end, Lauren the defensive end and Erika was the bridge between them.

CCS Qualifiers?

Time for another update on our track athletes in fall sports. CCS is coming around in the next 2 weeks and we might have every track athlete make CCS. We are 3 for 3 so far:

Cross Country (Adam Groen, Chelsie Faulk, Pauline Olsen):

Monday was the BVAL Championships and all three track runners qualified for CCS. The girls, as a team, qualified by finishing 10th wth Pauline Olsen getting 21:56 and Chelsie Faulk getting a 22:23. The boys didn't have enough runners to have a team but Adam Groen was able to qualify as an individual by running a PR of 18:03.

Field Hockey (Erika Rodriguez, Catherine Sparling, Lauren Drewniany):

This is the final week of field hockey the girls are 6-3-3 and have 2 games left. The top 3 teams make CCS and right now they are just outside the cutoff. Their last home game is Thursday at 2:45 against the team that is just ahead of them.

Football: (Jacob Montoya, Artie Valencia, Kean Viziry, Kenny Lee, Dominic Leach, David Pelz)

Like field hockey they only have 2 games left. The first is against Leland at home this week and then next week at Santa Teresa. Also like field hockey they are right at the cutoff of making CCS. They only need to win 1 of the last 2 games to make the CCS Playoffs.

So if the FH girls go 2-0 this week and the football team wins 1 of its final 2 games, we will have a clean sweep of CCS Qualifiers.

Some action shots coming soon...

Announcement

I added a track meet this year, we will have a preseason meet against Gilroy this year on March 4th. Christopher high School (new school in gilroy) and Sobrato will be attending along with Gilroy (naturally). Another chance for us to get use to the site of CCS Semifinals and Finals. Man I really can't wait for this season to start...February First!

Rain

Not a fan.

Lifetime Learning

When you tie a reward to something, you strip away its intrinsic value, this is an idea in psychology. You tell your son I will give you 20 dollars for every A you get, sure it may motivate them but now the A has extrinsic value and the research shows that intrinsic value can't last in that situation. The student will never be happy just to get an A. Take away the 20 dollars and now there is no value left, (why should I do this for free?) You can see this alot in professional athletics. We all do this though, I give out reece's after each of you get a PR. The accomplishment itself should be enough. (In my defense, It is more to recognize the athlete than to motivate them. Viz being the only exception haha)

This is my long way of getting to my point, once school is over (college or High school) that doesn't mean learning is over. I understand the point of having tests, it is the (not best) but easiest way to see if the person has learned what they needed to from the class. There is also a problem with people only studying things because they will be tested on it. Now sometimes you are forced to take a class you are not interested in, and it is tough to study. However I recommend trying to actively enjoy learning. I mean increasing your knowledge should be something you enjoy, not something you feel forced to do.

It is not easy to do. I couldn't do it, after I graduated college I was done learning. When I started coaching I realized that I had a deficit of knowledge in exercise physiology and rather than being able to just research and find the information I needed I had to go back to school because I could only really learn when I was being forced to do it for a grade. The good news is my second time through college I was completely engaged I learned for the information not for the test. Now that I have my Masters degree, I am still looking for information, still researching and becoming a lifetime learner.

What I am really looking into for the upcoming year is the kinetic chain of the body. Things like when you have an injury look for a weak synergist. Alot of times with injuries we treat the body part of the injury. If you have a leak on your roof, it shows up with a stain on the wall. Well treating the wall will not fix anything, and sadly that is what happens ALOT. I am really trying to understand the connections within the body. If you have pain in the upperback, stretching the muscles of the chest may be way more effective then working on the spot where there is pain. Really excited to learn more about this and i will definitely post some of the things I find out.

My take home message: Learn for the information not for a test. Try to enjoy it, becasue it is a great skill and there is so much information out there. Alot of people don't.

Muscle Contraction Basics (part I)

How do muscles contact? Mark is studying this so I figued I would make a blog post about it. One of the lectures I give in my class at SJSU is on this topic so luckily I already have some figures I can post.


Muscle Contraction

First some quick descriptions so the process flows a little better.

Electrical Impule & T-Tubules
When you decide that you want to contract a muscle, lets say the bicep. A small electrical signal leaves the brain and travels down motor neurons to that muscle. Within the muscle there is a whole lot more than just muscle fibers. Namely T-Tubules (or transverse tubules) when the electrical signal reaches the muscle it causes the T-Tubules to release Calcium throughout the muscle.

Actin & Myosin
These are the two primary contraction filiments actin being the thin filiment and Myosin being the thick filiment. They overlap each other and then muscle is contracted the myosin filiments (green) attatch to the actin filiments (red) and pull. Making the z-disc (I call them Z-lines) closer together.











Now this is microscopic movement but imagine many of these doing this, your muscle will become shorter which pulls on the tendons attatched to the bicep and causes your hand to move closer to your shoulder (bicep curl)





Crossbridges

So how does myosin attatch to actin? Check out the figure below. As you can see actin has this intertwining pearl like structure. Wrapped up with it is tropomyosin(pink band) which blocks the area that myosin can bind to actin (binding sites) when a muscle is relaxed tropomyosin prevents myosin from binding to actin (which is what it wants to do). When the t-tubules release calcium throughout the muscle the calcium will bind with troponin (yellow molecule attatched to tropomyosin). The calcium causes troponin to be pulled off the actin, which pulls the tropomyosin band off as well and exposes the binding sites. Now Myosin can attatch to actin and we can have muscle contraction.




Muscle contraction
When Myosin attatches to actin that is called a crossbridge. Within the myosin head there are 2 important things ATP (our energy source) and Myosin ATPase (enzyme that breaks down ATP) when the enrgy is used it causes the power stroke. Basically the head moves toward the center of the muscle which pulls the actin and causes the over lap to occur (and muscle contraction) The only way myosin will release the actin is when ATP reenters the head. So very simply the process is this.
1) Electical Impulse
2) Calcium caused to release from T Tubules
3) Calcium Binds to troponin which exposes binding site and allows cross bridge to be formed
4) ATP is used which causes the "power stroke" of myosin (muscle shortens)
5) New ATP enters myosin and crossbridge is released.

If calcium is still present (meaning your brain is still telling the muscle to crotract) the myosin head will grab the actin again and pull. Think of it as climbing the actin rope until the muscle is totally contracted. If the brain no longer wants the muscle to contract the calcium will be pumped out of the muscle. The binding sites will be covered by tropomyosin again and the muscle will return to its original length.

Rigor Mortis: You know how after someone dies the bodies get all stiff well the reason for this can be explained with the process of muscle contraction. Basically The body starts to deteriorate and calcium leaks into the muscle (no electrical signal needed) it attatches to troponin and that casues the cross bridge to be formed. The ATP is used and the muscle contracts, except that because the person is dead, no new ATP is rebuilt and the bond is never released to the muscle is just stuck in a contracted position. (until it deteriorates some more)

hmmm....

Big gulps, huh? Well once i decided to restart this I knew it would be important to post every couple days on this thing. I think what I will do is post whatever is on my mind. So in honor of cross country season here is some talk about oxygen debt.

So physiologically oxygen is basically free energy, it has no cost to us. We can burn, for all intents and purposes, a limitless amount of fat (and some carbs) and when combined with oxygen create energy. Now it is a long process (takes about 2 minutes to get going) so if you need energy quickly you will not be able to use oxygen quickly enough. Your body has other energy sources however they are limited.

Alternative 1: Creatine Phosphate

Basically a molecule of creatine phosphate is held together by energy, you have alot of these molecules in your muscle (also important reason to be a meat eater) When this molecule is broken apart that energy is realeased and you use it. The only problem is these bonds can not be rebuilt until you stop moving so after 10 seconds of all out activity you will burn through most of this fuel source. Since this is such a simple process, (1 step: separate creatine from phosphate) you can get energy from this quick.

Alternative 2: Lactic Acid

Your body can also burn carbs faster if it does it without oxygen, however, the lack of oxygen creates an excess of acid (acid is just hydrogen molecules, if there is oxygen they can combine to make water, H2O) Without oxygen acid builds up and there is a burning in the muscles, electircla impulses don't travel correctly causing a lack of coordination etc. You start to feel this after about 40 seconds of all out activity.


I love analogies so I will try to make one that works here. The energy you use from only the aerobic system is your salary, the better in shape you are (harder you work) the larger your salary is. You can think of the energy demand of a workout as your expenses. If you make 500 dollars and your expenses are 500 dollars or less there are no problems. If you can run a 6 minute mile and you run at that speed or slower you are fine. Now if you decide to get a cell phone and now your expenses go up to 550 and since your salary isn't enough you need to go to the ATM and take out 50 dollars from your savings account (Creatine phosphate). So our person can run a 6:00 mile no problem but they run at 5:30 speed now to go faster. In order to get that extra energy they use some create phosphate they have stored. (savings account) however it is limited and once it is gone it will not replenish, until you work some overtime. (eat meat) Now say you decide to get premium cable too so now your expenses go up from $550 to $650 and dipping into your savings in not enough. Now you need to take out a loan unfortunantly it will need to be paid back with interest. Back to our runner think of them now running at 5:00 min/mile pace which has a higher energy demand. Now the body needs to start breaking down carbs without oxygen to get energy, even though it creates acid (interest) and anything created will need to be paid back.

When we sprint all out we go too fast to use the oxygen system but after we finish we are breathing hard... why? Remember the aerobic system is free energy so when we finish we use that system to create energy and that energy is used not for running but to rebuild creatine phosphate molecules and buffer out the lactic acid. (when we run out of money we need to go back to work)

SO back to our runner one last time: They can run a 6 min/mile no prob. (90 second laps) If they run 85 second first lap they created 5 seconds of oxygen debt. Meaning those 5 seonds were gained by using some cretine phosphate and making acid. If on the second lap they also run an 85 now they have 10 seconds of oxygen debt and guess what your body can rebuild creatine phosphate or clear out the acid until you stop (go back to work to re supply your bank account and pay back your loan) by the third lap you run a 95 becasue your body needed to use the extra seconds to clear some of the acid. Unfortunantly you can't get rid of the creatine until you stop. Then on your last lap you push your self and run a 92 and feel horrible afterward becasue you are in oxygen depb, your body is breating really hard to create energy that will rebuilt creatine phosphate and buffer out the acid.

This unfortunantly is how a lot of runners run. They think they aren't running right unless they ae pushing themselves. That sample runner ended up with a 5:57.

A more ideal strategy is go out at 90 for the first 2 laps sure you are now 10 seconds behind the first runner, but you are only half way through the race you still have all of your creatine phosphate and no acid built up (most runners can't handle feeling this good so they go too fast) now you can put in a 87 second lap and on the last lap run a 80. This will give you a 5:47. The only real difference is this when you went fast and created acid in the first race you had to pay it back in lap 3 (which is during the race, not a good thing) in the second race you went fast in lap 4 and so you had to pay back the acid after the race was over. (plenty of time to do it then)

Sorry taht this was way longer then I expected

More pics

Some more shots of the field hockey trio, and some pics of Pauline and Chelsie from earlier today. More Pics can be found here

Cross Country

The last time I was at a cross country meet was when I was in 7th grade and ran for Martin Murphy. I made the drive to Pacific grove to see Pauline and Chelsie run (and it was a good thing I did because this is their last Saturday meet) Chelsie finished 10th place (23:18) in the juniors race and Pauline got 7th place (22:44) in the senior race. (They race by grade level)

I did take some pictures and will post those in a bit.

I would like to see another meet, but they are all on weekdays from here on out. BVAL Championships are Monday Nov 2nd so I might take a day off of football to go cheer on the ladies and Adam.

Oh and I should mention they gave medals to the top 15 in each race so Chelsie and Pauline came away with some hardware, (Pauline is still a little TOO motivated by medals, haha)

As promised

Here are some action shots of our 3 field hockey players taken by Steve Drewniany.

So I made a photo gallery where I will put any pictures I have of our track athletes doing what they do in the fall. Right now there are only field hockey photos... soon enough there will be more. I am planning on going to the cross country meet on Saturday and will be at the football game Friday (I'll try to remember to bring my camera)

Here is the link to the photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/msullivan.kin163/FallSports#

Update Number 1

Here is the first update on our fall athletes

Field Hockey:

(Erika Rodriguez, Catherine Sparling, Lauren Drewniany)

Been doing my best to sneak away from football to watch Lauren, Catherine and Erika take on the BVAL in Field hockey. I still have no clue what is really going on (when the ref blow his whistle I have no idea why and no idea which direction he will point) What I do know is I saw Catherine score a goal last week against Willow Glen, I have seen Lauren be the last line of defense (besides the goalkeeper I guess), she is way more intimidating out there then on the runway. And everytime I see Erika go in the game the energy of the team goes up. The team tied Cupertino today, and is 2-0-1 in league so far. Eventually I will figure this sport out… Steve sent me a whole bunch of action shots which I will post over the next day or so... (gives me something to post/ you a reason to come back, haha)

Cross Country :

(Pauline Olsen, Chelsie Faulk, Adam Groen, Trevor Zandi)

Due to the hot weather last week, their first league meet was postponed to yesterday (Tuesday) . From what I hear there were a lot of PRs (which you all know is my favorite thing in the world) I heard that Adam Groen had a pretty big one in particular. Pauline has promised to get me some action shots of our track athletes out there running. I am planning on making it out to a meet or two to support the team, it is just tough with no home meets and while I am trying to coach football. It will happen though!

Football:

(Dominic Leach, Kenny Lee, Jacob Montoya, Kean Vaziry, Artie Valencia, David Pelz, Taylor Alonzo, Matt Dariano)

The team is hurting a little bit. 0-3 start and a loss to Sobrato. We have a number of track athletes out on the football team. Got to mention former cieves that I coached first Leach had a couple touchdowns in the first game against Gilroy and will figure out how to punt in the game soon. Kenny Lee looks ridiculously good as well… so good in fact that I can’t take any credit for that. In addition to Leach and Kenny we have Artie also out there looking as quick as ever, Pelz (him and Matt Thomson were are entire Frosh Soph team) is the starting quarterback. Half of our CCS guys 4*400 is also out their and getting plenty of playing time Montoya is returning punts as well as playing z, and Viz is one of our top Corners) Taylor had an early injury but scored the first points of the game against Sobrato. Matt is now the QB of the JV team as well as our strong safety.

Also, saw the band put a beating on Sobrato's band (capes and all, haha) at the game last week. Eric Tolson, Jacob Daw, Emily Frederick, and Alex Ukanwa

Track and Field

Well the season doesn’t start until February but I have been contacted by a few freshman parents with children interested in joining. Not to mention I have been spreading the word around the JV football team. (we will see what comes of that) Jacob Daw and Eric Tolson have been finding time when they get a break from band to run the hill each week. Pauline is already starting her weight room program while cross country is going on so she can set some PRs next spring.

As for coaching staff right now Coach Porras and Fresh will be back next year. Mark is moving on to West Valley to be an athlete again. As always I will coach whatever we need so if I find a distance coach I will coach LJ/TJ and if I find a LJ/TJ coach I will coach distance.

The Blog is back

Hey all, Hopefully everyone had a good summer.

Probably won't post as frequently as during the season but I will try to give some updates on what our athletes are doing this fall as well as some alumni notes.

You're never too old for track and field

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/14/DD6R192CAB.DTL

The Senior games were held in Stanfurd this week.. Love of the game never dies. PRs never get old. =D

Ultimate frsibee round 1

So, alumni, current athletes, and friends of alumni showed up for an ultimate show-down. The result was . . . it got really hot and people were needing breaks, but it definitely showed who was in the WSOL club and was a good motivator for those to get out.

I thought it was a lot of fun being around alumni and athletes for a little homecoming minus the heat. There were a lot of intense moments regarding dives, smack-downs and making runs for long frisbee drives.

Just wanted to say thanks to the individuals who showed up (in no particular order) - Coach Mike, Cedeno, Erika, Rookie, Jeff Roberts, Mildred, Tolsen, Justin Martin, Alex the Buff, Luis, and Carlos..

And there WILL BE a round 2 when Luis and I are back in town before fall semester at Cal starts. Hoepfully that means more time to recruit up the alumni and get it going. Can also try out the official ultimate rule of the 10 seconds to throw the frisbee.. supposedly makes the game faster.. and you know track and field athletes - always going the extra mile to push the envelope.

Hope you're having a great summer! I know at least for those 3 hours I was =D

Hey all you may have seen this before but this is David Juliano, entering a baton twirling competition. I posted it because he qualified for the US Championships in the 1500. HE will be running tomorrow night. Top three advance to the World Championships in Berlin. (He ran the 800 at Claremont in 1:47) HE was fun to watch and a hilarious teammate always doing crazy stuff like this. (i.e. signing up for a baton twirling competition despite not knowing how to twirl batons, haha)

Muscle soreness

Just created a post, not sure if people even know to read the comments haha.

Anyways I think the big thing is the microscopic tears. Lactic Acid is cleared out within a few hours so that is not going to be the cause. The others seem more related to fatigue than soreness. Another cause not mentioned is misalignment of the muscle fibers.

I don't see soreness as something that is bad as long as it doesn't prevent you from working out again in the window of supercompensation.

Here is an analogy:
So I am really pale and I want to get a tan. So I go out in the sun for 15 minutes and the next day my skin is burnt. So I stay inside. My body increases the pigment in my skin to make me a little darker and better able to deal with the sunlight. So I go out in the sunlight again for 15 minutes and this time I don't get burnt. I am dark enough to withstand it.

The rest of the month I go out for 15 minutes everyday. The question is how dark do I get at the end of 30 days?

The answer: Not any darker, I will get just enough to last 15 minutes.

Now think of going to the weightroom. If I go and bench press 100 lbs and I am not able to handle it, I will be sore the next day. (sunburnt) It will send a signal to my body I need to get stronger (darker) If I keep doing the same exact thing I won't get any stronger. Funny how some people will lift the same thing everyday and wonder why they aren't getting stronger.

Soreness lets me know I created a sufficient stimulus to cause an adaptation. The goal is to not get so "burnt" that I can't go out in the sun for longer then increase in pigment lasts.

Soreness is not necessary to cause adaptation, without it though you need to wait a few weeks before there are any noticible changes. Soreness is one of the few immediate signals that you are creating an appropriate stimulus. Which might be good for motivation.

Causes of Muscle Soreness Explored

So, I guess this is sort of question and a discussion of what I've heard to be the causes of muscle soreness. Because after reading more and more stuff, I really have no idea anymore =C

So what exactly causes muscle soreness?

1. lactic acid build-up
cure: drain your legs with a cool down and stretch
2. Microscopic tears in your muscles, esp for endurance sports
cure: not anything you can do
3. Muscle cell exhaustion
cure: not anything you can do - just keep muscles nourished with CHO and protein for recovery
4. Lack of electrolytes so that your muscles are contracted - constantly working, hence soreness
cure: drink a sports drink, and i will personally recommend gatorade =D

at least that's what i've heard. Wondering what you've heard or what you believe to be the cause of muscle soreness, so that we can find a cure to muscle soreness. together.

Jacob winning his heat of the 400







Erika coming in second in the 100

Mark Winning his heat in the 400

Los Gatos All Comers Meet

Acorn Track Club Lives

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So I cleared everything off my camera, then charged it and forgot to bring it to the meet so had to use my cell phone to get this pic of our 4*4. Got to love it though, an alum, 2 current male athletes and a current female athlete. Great combo.

.

So here are the results:

.

4*100: Eric Tolson-Mark Cedeno-Erika Rodriguez-Coach Mike (45.74)

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60: Coach Mike 7.37, Jeff Roberts 7.55, Eric Tolson 7.63, Erika Rodriguez 8.41

.

100: Jeff Roberts 11.74 (PR!!!) , Erika Rodriguez 13.28

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200: Armando Rodriguez 25.37

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400: Jacob Daw 54.28, Mark Cedeno 54.54, Armando Rodriguez 59.97

.

4*400: Eric Tolson (56.86)-Erika Rodriguez(64.04)-Armando Rodriguez (61.50)-Jacob Daw

(56.78) - 3:59.18

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LJ- Coach Mike 21-0, Rory 15-11 (no approach or warm up)

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TJ - Rory 37-0

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SP - Mason Lammers (40-7)

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DT - Mason Lammers (121-0) Eric Tolson (99-0)

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Anyways these meets are every Thursday from now until August 4th, it costs $5 and you can do an unlimited amount of events. Lots of good competition too.

Alumni Alert: Dustin Muhn

http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-rugby/spec-rel/061609aaa.html

Dustin, who was a former sprinter and long jumper of Coach Mike, goes to Cal and plays rugby.

He was named the USAR All-American.

Athletic Advisor and 100 questions - summer reading

http://www.athleticadvisor.com/

Just wanted to share this handy dandy link, since I am sure with the budget cuts, it will be even harder for track and field and cross country athletes to get access to the athletic trainer. Its got some simple solutions to common injuries that occur, as well as some additional information that athletic trainers know about, like nutrition. There is also some general introductory information on periodization and the idea behind plyometrics.

Also wanted to recommend the book,

100 Questions and Answers About Sports Injuries by Thomas M. Howard, Gary Ho, and Josh Lewis.

Its not super comprehensive, but it does address the basics behind common injuries, what to do, and has a pretty good section on stretching and common injuries broken down by sport. Might be a good summer read for after you're out at practice and you want to learn about shin splints or rotator cuffs.. It'd be good stuff to know if you're interested in being an athletic trainer, coach, or just how to take care of yourself as an athlete.

Floor Sweepers

Hey Janet,

Floor sweepers are you just hold a barbell like you would in the bench press and then you lift your legs to the left and then the right, trying to keep you legs straight. It gets the abs in a good way and you also work the core pretty good because your shoulders have to stabilize the bar as you shift to the left and right.

As for the Gym Jones workout...

The idea is blood misdirection so we start out by doing some sprints which causes our body to direct blood into the legs, then immediately after we do push ups, which is tough when blood is being pumped to the lower body, then L-twists etc... basically trying to keep sending blood one direction and then working out another spot. It is pretty cool, I made a circuit using 17 of our normal plyo exercises that shifts from arms to legs to core and keeps doing that. I know it works pretty good because i am light headed at the end of the workout... blood is going everywhere and I am not getting enough to return...

Summer training

6/2
Ran the hill 7 times

6/3
15 200s + Wt room

6/4
Ran the hill 3 times + Gym Jones Circuit Training (all about mis-directing blood flow)

6/8
5 -10s, 3-20s, 1-30 + Gym Jones circuit training *2

6/9
Ran the hill 4 times

6/10
15 200s + Wt Room

6/11
Ran hill 6 times (we will probably do some strength training later today)

6/12
If enough People come out -> Ultimate Frisbee

Benefits of organized sports, quotes, and a little kid track workout

So, just wanted to congratulate all the people who got involved in organized sports in their youth.. The benefits are many and very nice!! Actually, there's many trends or correlations with education, health, and physical activity.

Being a sports participant, means that you are more likely to have good grades in math and english.

If you go to practice, at least 5 times a week, you are more likely to have an A in science or math.

Non-athletes are 1.7 times more likely to drop out of school.

http://www.teamupforyouth.org/dynamic/attachables/media_filename_93.pdf

_____________________________________________________________

and just an added bonus quote.
"There is always someone out there getting better than you by training harder than you."

________________________________________________________________

and just to look at other age levels. In high school, we work pretty hard with 15 200's, Diana, and 50 sec repeats, and 500 breakdowns and hammerstrides.. What do little kids do?

There is a Hershey Track and Field Games for kids (up to age 14) and this is what they recommended the kids do for events that we, as high schoolers and up do.

Track & Field Training

Not sure what to do to get ready for the Hershey's Track & Field Games? Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

50 meter dash

How to prepare for this track event

Start at the end of your driveway and run as fast as you can to your house. Walk back to the end of the driveway. Repeat 5 times.

100 Meter Dash

How to prepare for this track event

Run the length of a soccer field as fast as you can, then turn and walk back. Repeat 4 times.

200 meter dash

How to prepare for this track event

Find a hill in your neighborhood. Run up it as fast as you can. Walk down. Repeat 5 times.

400 meter dash

How to prepare for this track event

Jump rope for 5 minutes without stopping. Jog in place for 2 minutes. Rest for 1 minute. Repeat 5 times.

800 meter run

How to prepare for this track event

Run around the bases of a baseball field as fast as you can 3 times. Walk around once. Repeat 3 times.

1600 meter run

How to prepare for this track event

Run for 12 minutes without stopping.

4 x 100 meter relay

How to prepare for this track event

Practice passing a "baton" to another person without dropping it.

Standing long jump

How to prepare for this Track & Field event

In your backyard or driveway, practice jumping forward as far as possible from a standing position.

=D Hope you have a good one!

Day 1

And so we begin...

just thought I would put some action shots from today,

Armando doing some 2 hands under

Erica doing L-Twists with a med ball...hardcore

Mark doing our newest exercise... floor sweepers

Stephanie finishing up her workout with Pauline... the two of them are going ot make our hurdle mobility way better next year.

Where to find me this summer

This summer I will be coaching football from 3:00-5:00. Then I will be training along with Mark, Armando and others at 5:30 as a general conditioning for track and other sports. It is open to anyone, they don't even need to go to Live Oak or have done track or plan on ever doing track. The schedule for that will be something along the lines of:

Monday: Technique/High Neuromuscular (technique can be event work, speed work, drills for another sport) Side note: I remember one summer Janet came out and we did field hockey drills as her technique.
Tuesday: Diana
Wednesday: 15 *200s
Thursday: Diana again :)
Friday: Technique/ High Neuro

We will also hit the weight room up. We will probably go to a few all comers meets at Los Gatos. (Totally optional)

My rules for the summer are this:

1) It is free. That way I can guarentee you will get in the best shape of your life or your money back.
2) If you start coming out let me know when you miss. I have had days in the past where I waited around and no one showed. Again it is ok to miss, just let me know. With Mark working out too not too worried about having to do a solo workout.

Preparation

Here are a couple quotes for you all about preparation.

This was the former tagline of this website:

"Success is where opportunity and preparation meet. "

Here is one Steve Drewniany sent me from Winston Churchill

“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitting to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour."

Also I like this:

Universal truth: To get something, you must give up something. No exceptions.

In that regard I might as well put some the 'zen' quotes:

"Failing to plan is planning to fail"

"Plan the work and then work the plan"

Stories continued...

Janet I liked the starfish story... here is one I always liked that i told the girls 4 by100 this year.

The elephant story

IF you have ever been to the circus or zoo you may wonder, when you see the elephant enclosure, why is it that the huge, old elephants that stand some 20 feet high and the tiny baby elephants, that only come up to your knees, are tethered with exactly the same size chain attatched to a small stake in the ground.

You may think it completely illogical to treat these animals in the same way. Surely, you may argue, the older, larger elephant should have a much bigger chain than a baby one. A fully-grown elephant could, if it wanted to , simply walk away and, without even breaking a sweat, pull the stake out of the ground, like you or I might pull up a daisy, or snap the chain like a twig.

But that's just the point. The old elephant has forgotton what it's like to struggle to be free. It learnt the lesson a long time ago, when it was a baby, that despite its efforts it remained imprisoned, and so, even though now as a fully-grown adult, it might bave the strength of 10 men, it believes itself to be just as much a prisoner - and has given up the struggle.

The baby elephant, who constantly pulls and tugs at its chain, still has the motivation to succeed - and the belief that it can.

Moral: If you want to change your behavior, first change your beliefs.

Inspirational Stories/Quotes on June 5th

First of all, congrats to all the grads!!

But just wanted to share two things that I found when I was wandering in the main stacks...

THE STARFISH STORY

As the old man walked the beach at dawn, he noticed a boy ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with the boy, he asked why he was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if let out in the morning sun.

"But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish," said the old man. "How can your effort make any difference?"

The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it safely into the waves.

"It makes a difference to this one," he said.



And this one just reminded me of Coach Mike's former coach.. except this version is the nice version =D

This child whose life
I touch with mine
Is like a piece of clay
I take his gentle will in hand
And shape it day by day.
-Author Unknown

Diana

Me Mark and Armando ran diana today, we were planning on doing 6 200s. But since Pauline inspired us with her "300" kick of adam we decided keep running until we did 300 seconds of running on diana. The goal was to get the most distance.

Me and Mark got 7 reps in while Armando was able to get 6. We also used our left over seconds to do partials. I had 3 seconds left over and got 15 meters, mark had 13 seconds left over and got 70 Meters, Armando had 28 seconds left over and got 150 meters.

So in total:
Mark 1470
Mike 1415
Armando 1350

Watch out because this may be how we run it next year. I liked this method

Quotes

Here are some quotes about kids:

" Today's young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude & impatient. They have no self control. "

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders. They disobey their parents. They ignore the law. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

"The world is passing through troubled times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves"

What adjustments do we need to make as coaches to deal with this 'shift' in behavior or attitude? I can tell you my philosophy. I give them plenty of room to make decisions on their own and guess what most of the time they make the right decisions. Sure some take advantage of it and take extra days off, but If all we do is tell the kids what to do at what point do they learn? By the way this was sort of a trick question. Those three quotes I posted were from: 4000 BC; Plato (yes the greek philosopher) and the last one was during the crusades. I think we actually have the greatest generation of kids there has ever been. Just some stats I heard at a conference:

* We have the most diverse generation. There are 127 languages spoken in CA public schools

* They are smarter than ever. They had to revise the SAT because people did to well on it.

* Girls are more independent and competitive thanks to title IX being passed a generation ago. This generation never was exposed to the old way of thinking.

We are entering exciting times people shouldn't be as bummed out about this future generation. This is why I love coaching these high school students. I have seen it firsthand. They will do amazing things. - Coach Mike

(Information from DR. Paul Salitsky from UC Davis)

Track and Field Today

Hey if you gys check out NBC at 1:30pm they are showing the Reebok Grand Prix. Last year at this meet Bolt ran a 9.72 to set a new world record in the 100 meters.

(He is not running this year) But Gay and Wariner are along with a bunch of others.

Also I am debating taking a road trip down to the State Meet next Saturday. If anyone is interested in checking it out let me know. - Coach Mike

Stephanie Armstrong

Not only did she get her own rung on the podium this time (had to share her spot last time) she also moved a little higher up. Big time Congrats to Stephanie ALL-CCS for the second straight year she tied her PR, which moved us up to 219. It is tempting to think about next year already (I know I am excited), but right now is just the time to enjoy the season that has just passed.

Couple notes: I think Stephanie and possibly Pauline are going to run at the Golden West invitational in Folsom on June 13th. (So we are at 219 in the PR department, but the door isn't quite shut at 221 PRs)

Also I posted some of the pitcure I took tonight, basically a lot of Stephanie since she was the only one competing and a couple of our school record 4 by 400

Some guy from Salinas gave me a disc with a bunch of Live Oak photos in it from the Alisal invite and CCS Semis so I posted those too (more Jordan Hasay stalking haha)

Also Sportswurlz was at CCS so I posted their pictures as well. Adding up all the photos I have posted plus I know fresh has another 100 or so that makes over 1600 photos. That is a pretty well documented season. Lots of good memories.

2009 Season Results

So I think I got pretty much everything this year except some people who didn't make it into the top 3 at Westmonts dual meet (they only gave partial results)

Here is the link to my excel spread sheet so you all can see your progression, I included everything going back to 2006. (I only kept track of sprinters and jumpers back then and didn't do a very good job at it)

Also if you notice the tab called points. Those are our top ten results this year using the IAAF ranking system. Great job this year.

http://www.liveoakcaf.com/2009Results.htm

Top Marks 2009

Girls
100: Erika Rodriguez- 12.87w (BVAL) & Courtney Robinson - 13.12 (STAL)
200: Erika Rodriguez - 26.30 (BVAL)
400: Pauline Olsen - 59.45 (STAL)
800: Pauline Olsen - 2:27.93 (Westmont)
1600: Olivia Duran - 5:48 (Westmont)
3200: Olivia Duran - 12:20 (STAL)
100h: Stephanie Armstrong - 17.68 (Quicksilver Invite)
300h: Stephanie Armstrong - 48.27 (BVAL)
4*100: Erika-Courtney-Catherine-Lauren - 50.60 (CCS Semi)
4*400: Erika-Stephanie-Courtney-Pauline 4:05.70 (CCS Semi)
TJ: Lauren Drewniany - 31'7"(Avis Kelley)
LJ: Lauren Drewniany - 15'10.25" (Andrew Hill)
HJ: Stephanie Armstrong - 5'2" (CCS Semi) (To be determined)
SP: Nikki Dronek - 25'10.5" (Piedmont Hills)
DT: Nikki Dronek - 85'0.5" (Westmont)


Boys
100:Billy Van Aken 11.33 (STAL) & 11.20w (BVAL)
200:Greg White - 23.67(STAL)
400: Jacob Montoya - 52.53 (STAL)
800: Artie Valencia - 2:10 (STAL)
1600: Adam Groen - 5:05 (STAL)
3200: Adam Groen - 11:25 (Andrew Hill)
110h: Dominic Leach - 18.64 (Piedmont Hills)
300h:Dominic Leach - 47.24 (Santa Teresa)
4*100: Jeff-Greg-Billy-James 43.89 (Piedmont Hills)
4*400: Viz-Tolson-Daw-Montoya 3:34.60 (BVAL)

LJ: Greg White - 21'1.5" (BVAL)

TJ: Greg White- 41'4" (Piedmont Hills)
HJ: Jacob Daw - 5'10" (Santa Teresa)
SP: Mason Lammers - 40' 11.75" (STAL)
DT: Mason Lammers - 127'4" (CCS Semi)
PV: Eric Tolson 10'0" (Santa Teresa)

reminder to read the old stuff and new stuff

unfortunately the old stuff got taken over by bots and sex fiends, but if you ever want to see some of the older stuff that Coach Mike has answered via the many questions by myself, Cedeno, Rookie, and a lot of other past athletes, they should be still around.

and if you don't feel like wading through all that stuff, I believe that I tried to combine and summarize all the "ask coach mike" threads into a book that gave coach mike his 4th year of coaching, sorted by topic.

might be a good way to learn all the basics - like what should i eat before a meet, why does plyos actually help the body and so forth. plus, you might discover the digital track past. imagine just going through the archives =D

http://www.liveoakcaf.com/forum/index.php

and just wanted to say if you were interested in new stuff, there's a lot of journals and books on kinesiology, the complete breakdown of the muscles needed in the long jump, and if you're into that type of stuff - sports medicine, athletic training, and functional physiology. Can get you copies of the latest journals or direct you to books or Coach Mike into his library of stuff that is cool to know =D

Pauline/Adam kick 2 & 3

HEre is another angle of Paulines kick

I think Pauline had a little more gusto with this one, maybe because now she was soaking wet.

OH wow

Its nice opening this page and seeing stuff written from people other than myself! BY the way if anyone has something they want to contribute I just need your email address to add you to the list of 'contributers'

I have three copies of Pauline kicking adam into the pool, unfortunantly I only saw Stephanies cheap shot on Pauline with my own eyes. (it was hilarious though) I will upload those later. Thanks again for everything. - Coach Mike

Why Its Awesome to do Track and Field for Live Oak

This may be giving away my age, but back in the day when Coach Mike had the board, there used to be a topic about why people run track and field and why its better to be a Nut than anything else. Since those boards have since been retired and now there is the blog. I wanted to bring it back.

So here's my list of reasons why I think its awesome to do track and field for live oak.. and sorry if there's a lot of stories.. feel free to add on =D

1. 6 years later, I'm still here - eating In N Out after CCS

its crazy how some sports graduate people and you never hear from them ever again. track and field is THE only sport where I've felt comfortable enough to come back to spend time with athletes and coaches. That in itself means something.

And the In N Out is the official place for track. if i hear another athlete from another school claim in n out as their place, no. its been the official track place for 5 years!!

2. Crazy track stories and track people

Track people are crazy everywhere. not just in high school, recall rory's hollister observations, alisal, and the meet in the rain.. but in college, and everywhere else. you have to be in order to push yourself mentally in a sport that is a team sport, but is also an indivudal sport.

and this one kills me - apparently, track and field is the sport that is other team's punishment. i've heard that with a bunch of coaches of other sports, and i have nothing to them. if my sport is a punishment, why would i do it?

3. Athlete of the week

because everyone loves random gifts and the stories behind them. michelle danner got a stool. i have no idea why. the 4*400 team my year got sick socks, which I still have. i whip them out on important test days.. old habits die hard... and my aow award, a kinesio textbook is in my dorm room and is often referenced =D

4. everyone gets recognized

nothing is worse than an organization where only the "talented" or only the "seniors" are recognized. what does it mean when others get recognized and you don't. the motivation dies and you don't get people who come back year after year. alum before me told me that was an issue. why come back if the only reason that you were there in the first place was for some artificual achievement? no, get recognizied for the work you do. every athlete deserves a place in the sun.


5. plyo boxes, mini hurds, sand bags, and sleds

when you're a d1 school and you can afford big bucks on every athlete, you can buy whatever you want, but when you're underbudgeted public school. well you can't. seeing coach mike's homemade mini hurds, plyo boxes and bars for squats (they are slowly getting lighter each year - when they were first made, the paint cans were actually super difficult =D), puts a smile on my face everytime.

6. Saturday jump crew

only tcal kids will remember this because it was before the rule change, but saturday jump crew has the fondest memories in my mind because it showed me what it means to be a "real athlete," the kind who get up on days that they don't want to because they want to be come stronger, higher, and faster. it also showed me what a 6 day workout schedule will be. and it make me a much better athlete form wise. i still remember one of the first days when michelle, sarah, and me came to practice and coach mike was cleaning out the pit.. it made me sad because i realized if we wouldn't have come. an awesome thing would never have existed.

7. track bonding

from sky high to kerby's cone to super taq to in n out to track parties, and inside jokes - track is truly a family. in fact when rory was here for his first year, i recall the ongoing joke of track actually as a family with mother mike and father rory, and somehow rookie was related, darn you distance people, but i feel that the people that i ran with know me better than anyone else. i feel that track people always got my back.

8. king of the hill

because everyone still wants to believe that coach mike would do something illegal and steal the diana sign.. would make a great movie. plus, it gives you chance to live in infamy.

9. arnold work out tapes

because everyone needs a good laugh during plyos. especially after just running the hill. or just because its a bad day.. they're also great for conversation starters and are a mini-tribute satire to the current governor.

10. 8 minute abs

i don't know why but this workout become inter-sport-inal. it was the crossover workout that showed how hardcore track athletes were. plus it gave hard core abs that you could use to wash your laundry.. except now coach mike knows better and we do something else, but they were cool when we still did them

11. how track and field athletes kick butt in all other sports

there is no cross over sport for track and field. they come from all over - volleyball, field hockey, soccer, water polo, football, tennis even! and whats even better is when track and field athletes show their heart, spirit, and leadership in their other sports. not only are track and field athletes great on the field, they're great in the classroom and great leaders.

just one eg. field hockey captains my senior year - both track and field athletes =D

12. track is the only sport where its okay for a guy with a gun to take your clothes off

stole it from stephanie. but i found it awkwardly true.

13. lime green warm-ups

old school - but when your school and every other school is green, it helps when your warm-ups are lime green. lame when it rains ie. the meet where huge puddles were in the track and we didn't cancel the meet. yeah running a 400 is great - try running it when theres puddles every step of the way.. and your warm ups dont keep you warm - instead they suck up the rain like a sponge.. also they were really comfy when they're dry and you're just chilling post-meet

14. running on the high jump pit

its exhausting and you think it might be cool. its not. =D

15. meeting new athletes every year

one of the reasons i come back every spring.. besides waiting for the second annual midnight madness. but i love meeting new athletes.. i love seeing how the team grows, how it improves, even if it means smashing on old records of people i knew and basically make me look like the lamest student athlete ever.. but its still awesome all the same to meet the newest member of LO Track and field.

and i guess i'll call it quits for that list.. getting sleepy and i'm sure your brain is sick of scrolling through all this. more at a later date, when i think of a good story or some fun facts. =D

This is SPARTA!!!!!

Just wanted to post the video of Pauline kicking Adam into the pool yelling "This is SPARTA!!!" The best version was the 3rd attempt but i wasn't able to record that one. However Courtney did so hopefully we will get to see that version soon. Link that will take you to my album that has a few more videos and pics from the party and everything else i took this year.

hormones discussion

So, I was waiting for an opportune moment, because hormones and stuff seem kinda random, but I guess there's no better time than the present, so why not?

Also, please note that most of this stuff is for your info, so no excuses that you didn't know that oxytosin was for increased oxygen levels when you got it from your "doctor," when you thought you were taking it for acne. And also, if you're planning on doing kines, medicine, pharmacy, this is mostly organic chemistry, so if you plan to do drugs (please don't) or catch the people who do (either way - its controversial stuff), just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, its a lot more complicated than it sounds.

So first step - how do hormones work - there's a hormone (either a protein or a steroid) that targets specific receptors. In the case of hormones for sports, they tend to be steroids, meaning that they have a cholesterol skeleton (not all cholesterol is bad). These hormones attach to a receptor which can be found on a cell. This in turn acts as a signal to start a pathway causing physiological changes. Changes can occur on the tissue level, such as increasing muscle strength or emotional or something like increasing your red blood cell count.

The changes are usually part of a large cycle that involves more hormones than you could count. And more is being discovered all the time. So if you're functioning right now - breathing and eating and living - be thankful that all your hormones and hormone pathways are functioning at a reasonable rate. Also, note as the warning i said earlier, small changes in these pathways can have huge effects, so be careful if you're going to mess with hormones.

One of the major things that athletes want is improved oxygen intake. So one thing that you can do (illegal of course) is blood doping. You basically end up giving blood to yourself. (more on the blood pitch later). Instead of physically giving yourself blood, you can stimulate yourself to make more red blood cells - more hemoglobin to grab oxygen, more ATP to your muscles.

So what can you do to stimulate oxytosin and more red blood cells? Basically - run and train. When your tissues do not receive enough oxygen - running 50 second repeats, 500 breakdowns, your body makes oxytosin. Oxytosin makes more red blood cells so that the next time you run 50 second repeats, you don't get booty lock.

You can also give blood, because now you'll have less blood cells so you need to make more. Kinda contradictory, but you save three lives and who wouldn't want great athlete red blood cells and platelets! So, give blood, you make more blood cells and you help save some lives =D

As a fun fact (if you can call it that) - red blood cells have no nucleus, so they have to be broken down by your thymus and more red blood cells are made from multipotent (can make limited types of new cells) stem cells in your bone marrow.

Other hormone interactions that are crazy include testosterone pathways. Testosterone is a negative feedback system, so in reality, the more you take, the less you make. Which seems weird right? But by mixing in other stuff, you can actually stimulate more testosterone to be made by making it look like you have less.

And the weird thing is if girls take more testosterone, they can actually end up more moody and more crazy than they normally are. Why? Because testosterone is a precursor to estrogen!

So that seems long enough on hormones. tried to hit the ones relevant to track, but there are also ones for dehyrdation. maybe get to that laters.

thanks for an awesome track reunion: mumbles of an alum

So, I guess I've been part of track and field for as long as Coach Mike has been coaching, but coming back from school at Cal to help make some extra funds for track by posting results and then going to CCS to watch some of the most talented athletes that Live Oak has ever seen, and then to top it off with some traditions and a track party has been a pretty great homecoming, not just because its been 2 years since I've run, but because I'm really glad to have been a part of something at Live Oak track and field family and more so because the memories keep growing.

Even though I was only around for a week here and there, to post results in the press box or help out by being an alumni partner for plyos or to give suggestions for random injuries or tape a shin splint or cheer you on for the 4*400, I appreciate everything you guys did in the season, especially when it came time to hear about pr's and soggy breads (aka season bests).

I know Coach Mike did it, but I want to thank you guys too. I want to thank the athletes, because athletes make it possible and make it worth it. Without athletes, I wouldn't need to come back, but athletes that I've run with and athletes that I just meet, I want them to have the same feelings, the same love, and the same opportunities that I got as an athlete. Because I don't want to be the only alum still coming to practice 2 years later. =D

But enough rambling on, I just wanted to say that you've joined a family - one of the greatest families ever - the Live Oak track and field family. If you ever need anything, midnight madness timers, a tour of berkeley, the inside look of a pac-10 traing room, need to meet a real strength and conditioning coach, someone to run with you up diana, someone to measure your long jumps, lights for the track in the dead of winter -what are alumni for? I'm throwing it out there that if you ask, I will make the time to help you get what you need. You try and I will meet you half way. Once you've run on that track or jumped in that sand, you're family now =D

Congratulations Stephanie!!!!

Hey all -

I know it has been a while since I posted, I was too exhausted Saturday night. Yesterday I spent the morning and afternoon at an A's game (they won)

Anyways a quick run down of the meet:

Stephanie cleared 5'2 and advanced on to Friday nights CCS Finals for the second straight year. She didn't even have to try 5'4" because there were only 8 left at that point. Gret great job.

We had 2 near misses: the boys 4*100 and the girls 4*400 ran season bests but ended up in the unfortunant 9th spot. Which means they will be the 1st alternate. Both teams will practice this week and hope that someone scratches. The killer of this is that there are 9 lanes, and they only let 8 make finals. Not sure the logic.

We had 8 total PRs. Bringing our season total up to 218. Hopefully we can finish with 219.

The girls 4*100 also ran a season best with a 50.40 but would have needed a 50.40 to advance. Great season by them.

Anyways I will post a bigger run down later tonight and post pics that Steve took. But I wanted to get this up now.