Author Archives: Andy Young

Hey Everyone,

Well, after some indoor workouts and constant adjustments, we’re nearing our first race this week. Phew… it’s been awhile.

This week is pretty busy and with the start of school, it’s important to remember that SLEEP is a really important part of athletic and academic success. If you haven’t already, dial back that bedtime to make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours or more of quality sleep each night.

This week’s schedule:

Monday 9/13 – 3:40 @ MV. PICTURE DAY!! Please make sure you’re at practice to receive your uniform and be in a team picture. We’ll get uniforms, go change, do the picture, change again and then head to Mountain View park for some timed intervals. Then back to school for a little bit of strength.

Tuesday 9/14 – 3:40 @ MV. Pre-meet day. Easy 20-minute run and 4 strides with a good stretching session. Tonight – Pack your bag with the following so you don’t forget something in the morning.

Things to pack:

• Your running shoes and/or spikes (if you have some)
• Your uniform top and bottom
• A sweatshirt and shorts or jogging pants for warm ups
• A change of clothes for after the race, including extra socks
• Your Cougar Pal gift
• Snacks for the ride over and right after your race.

Wednesday 9/15 – Race day! You’ll be excused at 11:45 and bus leaves at 12:00. See Itinerary below:

Silver Falls Oktoberfest Itinerary

Thursday 9/16 – 3:40 @ MV. Easy 30-minute run and strength.

Friday 9/17 – 3:45 @ Pine Nursery for workout and two games of Ultimate, we’ll do a beginner game and an experienced game so everyone gets to participate.

Saturday & Sunday – 45-60 min easy run/hike on one of the days, rest on the other.

Go Cougs!

Thanks for everyone who came and contributed to Saturday’s non-Black Butte hike. Peter, John and I were all commenting on how great it was to see the team just have fun and play. And now, we start the transition to the start of school and a small shift in the schedule for practices. If you’re not on Remind yet, please make sure to do that as that’s the easiest way to communicate changes like we did yesterday.

As you’re getting ready for school, be sure to pack your workout clothes and running shoes with the rest of your school stuff EVERY day! Also, Bohnlein and Ross are working on putting together a recruitment lunch for Friday and we’ll be asking you all to help as we try to bring more people out to get fit and enjoy good company.

Workouts for the week:

Monday 9/6 – 3pm @ MV. 40-60 minute easy run & strength. If the smoke is too bad to run outside, we’ll do a combo Main Gym/Commons running workout and then go into the weight room.

Tuesday 9/7 – 3pm @ MV. 30 minute Progressive run.

Wednesday 9/8 – 3:40pm @ MV. 9th graders, get out to the XC tree as quickly as possible after school gets out.10th-12th graders just note the new start time. Easy run day.

Thursday 9/9 – 3:45pm @ Pine Nursery. Get there any way you can after school, including just walking over if you need to. We’ll meet by the playground. Time Trial day. ~ 2.5 mile race effort time trial. A chance to see where your fitness is prior to our first race next week. If you have spikes and want to use them, go for it, but regular running shoes will also be fine.

Friday 9/10 – 3:40 pm @ MV. 35-55 minute easy run with strides and a very short strength session.

**Everyday will be subject to change based on the AQI readings, but unless even the indoor air quality is bad, we’ll have practice every day.

Let’s get ready to have a great school year and XC season. As with everything, it is what we make it, so let’s make it fun and focus on improvement.

Hey Everyone,

With the AQI being not good for something as strenuous as hike/running Black Butte, we’re going to cut that part out of today. The air out by Camp Sherman is significant better than Bend’s at this point, so we can still be outside without feeling like we’re standing in a campfire.

I have a lot of food that Max and Sophie aren’t going to be able to eat, so…

New Plan:

• Meet at 10 am @ MVHS to caravan
• Head to Camp Sherman for swimming & games Peter has set up.
• Eat, relax, rest our legs from a hard week and enjoy being a team.
• Leave for Bend at 2pm and arrive back at MVHS around 3pm

Bring a swimsuit, and towel still, but probably not the hydropak. Let’s still have some fun today and be glad we didn’t get all wound up for a race in Prineville only to get out there and not be able to race.

Hey Cougars,

We’re a week and a half from the start of school and inching closer to our first meet. You’ve all been working hard, and we’re impressed with the focus during workouts. This week, we’ll be heading out to Camp Sherman on Saturday to climb Black Butte and have some fun social time. For workouts, we’ll still be focusing on base miles, strength and keep dipping our toes into speed workouts.

Monday 8/30 – 3pm @ MVHS. Easy Run and strength.

Tuesday 8/31- 3pm @ Pine Nursery Park. Whistle Drills in the big field.

Wednesday 9/1 – 3pm @ MVHS. Head to Hollinshead park for some short hill repeats.

Thursday 9/2 – 3pm @ MVHS. Easy Run and strength.

Friday 9/3 – 3pm @ MVHS. Head to Al Moody for longer intervals.

Saturday 9/4 – Meet at MVHS @ 8 am to caravan up to Camp Sherman and Black Butte for a hike/run to the top and then back down the pool for some swim time and a BBQ lunch. Please let Coach Young know by this Wednesday if you can attend so that he can get the right amount of food. We should be heading back to Bend by around 2pm.

What to bring:

1. Water, a decent amount and the easier to carry up the butte, the better
2. A snack, either for at the top or shortly after we’re done at the parking lot before we head to the pool
3. A swimsuit and towel for the pool after the hike.
4. Sunscreen, a long sleeve shirt and a hat if you want one.

Sunday 9/4 – Rest day. Recover, hydrate and start to get ready for school!!

Hey Everyone,

Thanks to those of you who were able to make it to the first week of official practices. We’re going to continue this week to make sure we’re ramping up a bit while still thinking about each athletes current fitness. The main workouts this week will focus on getting a bit more speed endurance in and continued emphasis on strength. If you’re going to miss practices, please make sure you communicate with Coach Young so that he knows it’s an excused absence. The Athletic department is putting an emphasis on athletes being responsible and accountable for showing up and we’re being asked to take attendance for more than just contact tracing.

If you are not cleared to practice (at least Family ID and Physical) you can’t come to practice. Please make sure you get these done as quickly as possible. As we get closer to the season, you won’t be cleared to race until the Pay-to-Play is taken care of.

This week’s workouts:

Monday 8/23 – 3pm @ MV. Easy run. Strides & Strength.

Tuesday 8/24 – 3pm @ MV. Hill workout @ near Shepard and Revere.

Wednesday 8/25 – 3pm @ MV. Easy run to Eagle park for a few short repeats.

Thursday 8/26 – 3pm @ MV. Tempo workout & Strength.

Friday 8/27 3pm – 3pm @ Phil’s Trailhead longish easy run. Bring a handheld water bottle if you have one and water regardless as there isn’t water out there. If you need a ride, make sure to connect with a teammate sometime throughout the week to get it arranged. Coaches can’t facilitate carpooling.

1. 1. Easy & Short Route: Marvin’s Garden to Gravel Road to Phil’s Trail and back to trailhead.

2. 4-Mile Medium Route: Ben’s Trail to M.T.B. to Kent’s back to trailhead.

3. Shorter Hard Route: Ben’s Trail to KGB to Phil’s back to trailhead.

4. Hard Route: Ben’s Trail to All of KGB to Marvin’s Garden back to trailhead.

Saturday 8/28 – Easy Run on own or with teammates or friends.

Sunday – Rest, eat, hydrate.

Also, Footzone it doing their annual Spike Day’s Sale for central Oregon’s local high school students. It’s a great chance to get a good deal on spikes or running shoes for the season. The flyer is below.

FootZone High School Athlete Weekend 2021

We’re here! The start of the official XC season is upon us and with it some transitional time. First, we’ll be transitioning to afternoon practices and meeting at the school for the majority of practices. With this change, we’ll be adjusting to the schedule we’ll have when school starts. Also, many people who haven’t been able to workout in the mornings will be able to join us and in varying levels of fitness. So, we’ll start a new training cycle that allows for an ease into fitness.

Practices are now 5-days a week, and until school starts we’ll meet at 3pm for practice. Once school starts we’ll have to bump back the start time to 4pm, but the longer we can be done earlier in the evening, the better.

If you are not on the Remind app, please download it and use the join code: @bdg8hag

I will be using Remind for the most pertinent changes and information updates, like changes to practice schedules due to smoke. I’ll make sure if changes need to be made I’ll send a remind at least 30 minutes before the start of practice. Also, if you’re on Instagram, our team account is @mv_xc. Updates are put up there as well.

Be sure to check the schedule on Athletic.net to get meet dates. I’ll be providing information for each meet as they get closer and will be posting the information on this site.

Week One Workouts

Monday 8/16 – 3pm @ MVHS. Meet at the XC tree near the entrance to the stadium. Easy run day. Core & stretching.

Tuesday 8/17 – 3pm @ MVHS. Run to Al Moody Park for short hill repeats. Strength & stretching back at MV.

Wednesday 8/18 – 3pm @ MVHS. Easy run followed by strides & stretching.

Thursday 8/19 – 3pm @ MVHS. Fartlek workout @ Mountain View Park. Strength & stretching back at MV.

Friday 8/20 – 3pm @ MVHS. Team Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Saturday 8/21 – Meet at 7:30 am at MV and carpool to the Dillon Falls trailhead to do an out and back long run on the river trail. Shoot for 30-60 minutes depending on how much running you’ve been doing and bring water. If you stash a bottle 15 or so minutes into it on the side of the trail you can get it on your way back and have water at two points along your run.

Sunday 8/22 – Active recovery. Do something, even if it’s just taking a walk with your family or friends.

Summer Running Week Six 8/9 – 8/13:

1. Registration is now open for Fall Sports. Please make sure to get signed up through the Athletics page for MV. You need to register, pay the Pay-to-Play & have a current physical on file in order to practice/compete. Wednesday, August 11th is the last day to register and be able to practice on the 16th when official practices start. If you’re not cleared by the 11th you won’t be able to practice.
2. Official practices start Monday, 8/16 (one week away!!). We will be having those practices at 3pm and will be meeting at Mountain View near the “Cross Country Tree” across from the ticket booth of the football stadium. Please bring water!! It’s going to be hot.
3. Mark your calendars for Saturday 9/4. We’re planning on doing a morning Black Butte run/hike and using ex-MV coach Peter Hatton’s Camp Sherman house as a base for a post workout BBQ. Details are still being worked out, so stay tuned.
4. The race calendar on Athletic.net is close to being finalize, but there will be other items added to the calendar as the season goes on.

Workouts for the week:

Monday 8/9 – Meet at Juniper Park by the Tennis courts. 8 am.

• 3-4 sets of 2x800m w/1 min rest. Rest interval between sets is 3-5 minutes until the HR goes down. Pace should be fast but comfortable. You should be able to feel like you can keep going right into your second rep. Focus on getting at least 3 sets done as that equates to a 5k. 2-3 sets of 30 walking lunges after the workout. Stretching and core.

Tuesday 8/10 – 30 – 45 minute easy run on your own or with friends. Try to find a soft surface to run on.

Wednesday 8/11 – Meet at Goodrich Pasture park at 8 am. We’ll try the workout we missed last week because of the smoke. We still need to get some good climbing in the legs and with Black Butte on the horizon, it’ll help build strength.

Thursday 8/12 – Meet at MVHS @ 2pm for a strength/lifting workout similar to what we did last week. Again, we’ll shoot for being done close to 3:30, but it might be closer to 3:15.

Friday 8/13 – Meet at Drake Park @ 8 am for a climb up Awbrey Butte to the radio towers. Back down to the park for strides and Ultimate.

Week Five 8/2 – 8/8:

Hey Cougs! Summer for me is coming to a close as I start teaching Summer School tomorrow, and time is flying by. Here are a few key things coming up:

1. Registration is now open for Fall Sports. Please make sure to get signed up through the Athletics page for MV. You need to register, pay the Pay-to-Play & have a current physical on file in order to practice/compete. Wednesday, August 11th is the last day to register and be able to practice on the 16th when official practices start. If you’re not cleared by the 11th you won’t be able to practice.
2. Official practices start Monday, 8/16 (two weeks away!!). We will be having those practices at 3pm and will be meeting at Mountain View near the “Cross Country Tree” across from the ticket booth of the football stadium. Please bring water!! It’s going to be hot.
3. Mark your calendars for Saturday 9/4. We’re planning on doing a morning Black Butte run/hike and using ex-MV coach Peter Hatton’s Camp Sherman house as a base for a post workout BBQ. Details are still being worked out, so stay tuned.
4. The race calendar is still being worked out as local meets will be our priority and we’re still waiting on some finalized dates of meets.

• Monday 8/2 – 8 am, meet at Al Moody Park for some intervals with a bit of a hill.
  • 4-8 reps x Big loop tempo effort, small loop recovery. See map for the loops.
  • The focus is on building speed endurance. Break the sets into smaller pieces. So, if you’re doing 4 reps total, start with 2 full reps and then take a water break and then finish the last 2 reps.
  • Listen to your body when it comes to the number of reps. Set a goal, but be smart.
  • Strength and Core

• Tuesday 8/3 – 30-45 min easy run on your own or with friends.
• Wednesday 8/4 – 8 am, meet at Goodrich Pasture Park as the meeting place for hills on Pilot Butte. Hopefully this will avoid any construction related issues.
  • Saw blade workout using the 1/8^th mile markings on the side of the road. Up two, down one. See my awesome graph w/o an X-axis.

• Thursday 8/5 – NEW!! 2 pm @ MVHS. 20 minute easy run followed by strength in the weight room. Should be done by 3:30pm.
• Friday 8/6 – 8 am, Drake Park by the stage. Loop to the top of Overturf Butte and back for strides and Ultimate if people want to play.

Week Four 7/26 – 8/1:

Great work to those of you making it to the summer workouts and those who are doing the work on your own! We’re saying goodbye to July this week and hello to August. Last week we injected a slight hint of speed with Monday’s workout, and we’ll do the same this week. Tuesday should be an easy run/cross training day. Wednesday will bring some short hills that should be strength building, but not not overly taxing. Friday will be a short, fun day with the focus shifting to a long run on the weekend.

This week is OSAA Moratorium Week, so practices will be strictly captain led.

• Monday 7/26 – Pine Nursery @ 8:00 am. Meet by the playground.
  • 30 min Fartlek follow the leader run.
  • Strength and core.
• Tuesday 7/27 – 30-50 min easy run with friends or family.
• Wednesday 7/28 – Hillside Park @ 8:00 am.
  • Hills!! Short ones, but we’ll do several to get the work in. And… there’s some shade!
• Thursday 7/29 – On your own or with friends. 10-minute warm up jog followed by 5 x 1-minute hard/1-minute easy. 10 – 20 minute cool down easy run, then stretching.
• Friday 7/30 – MVHS @ 8:00 am.
  • 10 – 15-minute warmup, then Ultimate and treats.

Saturday & Sunday 7/31 & 8/1 – Saturday, we’ll have a Captain led long run at Tumalo Falls. If you’d like to carpool, meet at MV @ 7:30 am with the goal of being at the trailhead by a little after 8:10am. If you want to just head out there on your own, plan on meeting out at the trailhead around 8. You do need to have a NW Forest pass to park at the parking lot, so if you have one please bring it. Bring water and a snack for afterward. The goal is to do an hour + of running/hiking, and at minimum you should be able to make it to the second large falls which is about a mile in.

In trying to expand team communication beyond this website and our team Instagram page, We’ve started a Remind group.

The link is: https://www.remind.com/join/bdg8hag

If you have the app, please add this group.

Week Three 7/19 – 7/25:

• Monday 7/19 – Juniper Park @ 8:00 am. Meet by the tennis courts.
  • 10 min warm up jog and drills
  • 2-4 x 1/2 mile loop starting at tempo pace and finishing with a hard effort
  • Finish with Strength and Core.
• Tuesday 7/20 – 30 – 45 min easy run on your own or with friends.
• Wednesday 7/21 – Pilot Butte Park @ 8:00 am. Meet by the playground.
  • 3 laps around the base grass area
  • Warm up drills (get water before workout)
  • Jog to the base of the road hill. On the road or side gravel. 6 – 12 x 1 minute up/30sec down recovery. Work hard, but don’t sprint the uphills. Easy jog or walk the downhills. Most should work with the goal of making it to the top of the hill by the end. Get water at the top before heading down.
  • Stretch and elevate your legs.
• Thursday 7/22 – 25-35 min easy run or cardio alternative. If biking or hiking, double the time but be sure to have plenty of water with you and a light snack for during or after the workout.
• Friday 7/23 – Shevlin Park @ 8:00 am. Meet in the gravel lot section near the gate and park loop trailhead.
  There will be short, medium and long loops available with the goal of doing the longest run of the week.
• Saturday and Sunday – For one or both days be active for an hour or more. Anything that gets your heartrate up. Low impact is great, but going for an easy jog on soft surfaces is an easy go to. Go explore. Use Google Earth or another mapping service to plot a new route you’ve never tried or find a place you haven’t seen yet. Running is an incredible way to explore new places efficiently.

Hey Everyone,
 Great start to the summer running! It was exciting to see people out getting those base miles in as the middle of summer is nearly upon us. Remember that these practices are voluntary and open, so if you have friends or family in town and you want your cousin wants to get a run in while they’re in Bend, they’re more than welcome.
 Coaches are generally gone for the week, so the runs will be mainly lead by the captains with some guest appearances along the way. Since the heatwave has never really abated, we’re going to start the practices at 8:00 am instead of 8:30. A half hour wake up change won’t mean much, but the cooler the better. If you’re up for it, you can go longer on the Tuesday/Thursday runs. Just be aware of the heat and listen to your body.

Here is the plan for the week.

Week Two 7/12 – 7/18:

• Monday 7/12 – Pine Nursery @ 8:00 am *New start time*
  • Meet by the playground. Out and back on the canal trail. 30-45 min total at conversational pace. Jog the whole time, but it should still be conversational pace.
  • If you have a hand-held water bottle, bring it. Otherwise, make sure you drink a decent amount before you take off.
  • Strength & core back at the playground.
• Tuesday 7/13 – Easy run on your own or with friends. 20-30 min.
• Wednesday 7/14 – Pilot Butte Park @ 8:00 am
  • Meet by the playground
  • 3 laps around the base grass area
  • Warm up drills (get water before workout)
  • Jog to the base of the road hill. On the road or side gravel. 6 – 12 x 1 minute up/30sec down recovery. Work hard, but don’t sprint the uphills. Easy jog or walk the downhills. Most should work with the goal of making it to the top of the hill by the end. Get water at the top before heading down.
  • Stretch and elevate your legs.
• Thrusday 7/15 – Easy run on your own or with friends. 25-35 min.
• Friday 7/16 – Pioneer Park @ 8:00 am
  • Meet near the Picnic Tables but not near other groups if they’re already there.
  • Out & back on the river trail with 3 turn around options. See map for turn around points.
    • Shortest route turn around at Mt Washington at the top of the dirt hill by the golf course. (~ 2 miles round trip)
    • Middle route turn around at Archie Briggs, the second road crossing with the crosswalk. (~ 4 miles round trip)
    • Long route, turn around at the bottom of the big dip just after the scenic overlook. (~ 6 miles round trip)
    • * Make sure to stop for water at the fountain by Sawyer park if you do the middle or long route.*

• Strength and core back at Pioneer Park.

Saturday/Sunday – 30-45 minutes easy run, bike ride or hike with some climbing. Explore Central Oregon with family or friends.