Important Preseason Info for Runners

Housing - The Housing Office will allow cross country runners(upperclassmen) to move into College Park as early as Sunday afternoon on August 13. Freshmen runners can move into the dorms starting Monday, August 14. Freshmen, please let me know the day and time you plan to move in so we can arrange for Housing to check you in. You must also get your room key from Security and their hours are limited during that week before school officially starts.

Medical/Insurance Forms - Per Drury policy, no athlete may practice or compete until their medical/insurance forms(including a physical exam by a physician) are in order and provided to the Athletic Trainer, Erin Kineman. This must be done prior to the first practice on August 17 so I expect those forms to be on file with the Trainer or in my hands by August 16. I will be available at the Fitness Center at 8:00 am on Tuesday August 15 and Wednesday August 16 for anyone wanting to turn in forms or talk with me. Students who are not covered by their family's health insurance can purchase a student health insurance policy thru Drury. Please contact Erin Kineman at 417-873-6865 for more info about health insurance for student athletes.

Preseason Practices - Our first cross country practice will be on Thursday, August 17, at 7 am at the Fitness Center(breakfast apres run) and we’ll run again at 4 pm that afternoon. Dinner out and bowling will commence at 6:30 pm. We'll run 13 miles Friday morning at 7 am on the Sequiota Trail from the East Sunshine Bread Company(again with breakfast after the run). Runners can eat lunch at the Commons in Finley Student Center on Thursday and Friday. Orientation for freshmen starts on Saturday and we'll be doing an easy run at 7 am from Drury that day. Sunday morning we may start a bit earlier and be running 10 or so miles from the Elm & National Bread Company. We'll likely run easy again from Drury early Monday(an intense orientation day for freshmen) with another workout late Monday afternoon. I plan for us to go to Lake Springfield for a hilly tempo run on Tuesday morning and run from the Fitness Center Tuesday afternoon.

Once school starts, practices will be scheduled around class times as much as possible. We'll try to finish in the mornings by 8 am and probably start afternoon practices shortly after 4 pm. Until we have everyone's class schedule I cannot yet say what days we'll be running in the mornings or afternoons. Some days it will be both. I will expect all runners to be at all practices(unless in class or sick in bed with a contagious illness or fever) and we will be running on weekends throughout the season. Labor Day Weekend and Fall Break will give you a chance to be gone from campus for about 72 hours or so to visit family.

Eligibility - Incoming athletes must be declared eligible under NCAA rules before they can practice and compete. Official ACT/SAT test scores from the testing agency and final high school transcripts from your counselor must be forwarded to the NCAA. Also, juniors must have a declared major on file with the Registrar's Office before practice begins.

Shoes/Gear - I hope to have training shoes for all runners when we start practice(although some narrow and wide sizes are back-ordered at this time). We will hand out backpacks, t-shirts, running shorts and singlets right away and have duffel bags, warm-ups and hooded sweatshirts available within a couple of weeks after we begin. Team pictures will probably be taken during the first week or so of school.

Biographical Info - I still need to receive the form with biographical information from several runners. The Sports Information Office is putting together our roster but will not update our web page until everyone has responded. Please do so as soon as possible.

Continue drinking lots of water and let me know if you have any questions. We will have a very good team this fall.

Coach Van Arkel

XC Training for Week 9(7/30)

For the upcoming week I would like us to increase our mileage by an average of just one mile per day(an extra 7-8 minutes or so). For example, if you ran 56 miles this past week(8 miles/day) then run 63 miles(9 miles/day). If you ran 65 miles, then try for 72 miles. I would like for this mileage(other than our Sunday long runs) to be run evenly and consistently and, as much as possible, in singles(one run/day) from day to day without necessarily doing any specific workouts. Pace can remain relaxed as we are going for volume. Some of those runs should be on hilly courses and please still do core strength work(crunches and pushups) three times during the week.

Next week I'll ask you to do hill repeats and a faster run.

Coach Van Arkel

Drury XC T-shirts

Drury Cross Country T-shirts and Fundraising:

We have decided on the final design for our Drury t-shirts





and hope to have these ready for the start of practice. Additional shirts can be purchased by family and friends for $25 and helps us raise the extra funds we need for our trips to meets and gear.

We will have a Pledge Run on Saturday, September 23, and run 10K on the track to raise additional funds for our team and another charity to be chosen by the team. Our other fund raising effort will be the Drury Auction for Athletics on October 14. As our season begins I’ll be asking runners and their families to come up with items to be auctioned at that event.

Anyone wanting a t-shirt should contact Coach Van Arkel @ xcountry@drury.edu or (417)873-7567.

Coach Van Arkel

Elizabeth said...
"I just saw the shirt designs, those are awesome Coach!!!"

Rossmac said...
"yeh...i like how it says Ross Country."

XC Training for Week 8(7/23)

With such intense heat in most places, the past week was a hard one and I hope everyone drank plenty of water and moderated their workouts a bit. Temperatures may drop this next week and allow us get our mileage back up. Three more weeks of aerobic conditioning before practice starts will help us achieve our personal and team goals in the fall. Plan to run fairly high mileage(50-70+ miles) during weeks 8, 9 & 10. We will have a few more easy days again just prior to the start of practice on August 17. I would also suggest increasing the number of hill repeats(8-10 total) and doing core strength work at least three times during the week. Expect to do a lot of crunches and pushups when we start official practice.

Training for Week 8(July 23):

Sunday(7/23) Long run of 12-14 miles

Monday 5-6 miles
pm 4-5 miles & strength training

Tuesday 8-10 miles

Wednesday 6-8 miles w/ hill repeats & strength training

Thursday 5-6 miles
pm 4-5 miles

Friday 8-10 miles & strength training

Saturday 4-6 miles or swim/bike

Coach Van Arkel

Cross Country Goals

Coach’s Goals for Cross Country:

Returning runners have shared with me their goals for the summer and fall. Without exception, all want to train well for the duration of the summer and be competitive in races during the season. I have adopted most of these ideas and would like to state my goals for the cross country season so you have an idea of what I would like for us to accomplish this fall. Putting goals in writing encourages commitment and helps make those goals happen. (Just so you know, my personal training goal for the rest of the summer is to run at least 60 miles a week for the next four weeks. My fall racing goal is to run under 17:00 for 5K and beat former Drury runner A.J. Million:



in a race. Bring it on, A.J.)

Fall Team Goals. Lots of things come to mind and, obviously, being competitive at the end of the season and getting to Nationals is important. For now, however, I am going to list five specific attainable goals for early in the season and save the “end of the season” goals for later. I do believe we can achieve each and every one of these goals as we start the season:

1. Everyone shows up to practice fit enough to run a half-marathon.
2. We have some fun times together.
3. Everyone stays healthy!
4. Victory by both the women and men over UMR at the Miner Invitational on 9/9/06.
5. The top five Drury women average 19:15 for 5K and the top five Drury men average 26:45 for 8K at the Missouri Southern Stampede on 9/16/06.

Coach Van Arkel

Anonymous said...
"Coach - what kind of goal is beating Million? Even as a masters runner you should strive to do a little more than that...it is A.J. you are talking about."

MILLION said...
"Coach - Here are my goals: 1) Run 15 miles a week until October 1st. 2) Spike my mileage to about 70. 3) Get injured. 4) Sit on the sidelines eating ice cream knowing it dosen't matter because we both know you wouldn't have beat me anyway.
Hope you're ready for me to drop that 5:15 middle mile to bring me way under 16:30 pace. Keep up if you can!"

XC Training for Week 7(7/16)

After a relatively easy recovery week this past week, we will again begin to increase mileage with a goal of running the most miles of the summer during weeks 7 thru 10. Guys should be at 55-60 miles for the upcoming week and perhaps 65-70 miles for the following weeks. Girls should be around 45-50 miles for the upcoming week and 55-60 miles for the following weeks. Considering the July heat & humidity, a long run of 10-12 miles(about 75 minutes) is sufficient. Except for one up-tempo run mid-week, all running can still be done at a conversational pace. Hill repeats(8 uphills run fairly hard) should be done at least one time during the week. Upper body/core strength work should be done at least two times during the week.

After the high training mileage of weeks 8, 9 & 10, we will have a few more easy recovery days just prior to the start of practice on August 17. We will be running 13 miles on August 18.

Training for Week 7(July 16):

Sunday(7/16) Long run of 10-12 miles

Monday 4-5 miles
pm 4-5 miles & strength training

Tuesday 7-9 miles

Wednesday 6 miles(Tempo)

Thursday 4-5 miles
pm 4-5 miles & strength training

Friday 6-8 miles w/ hill repeats

Saturday 4-6 miles or swim/bike

Coach Van Arkel

Online Social Networking

Online networking sites such as facebook.com or myspace.com are great ways to communicate with friends and I am all for these kind of activities. However, online postings have created problems for student-athletes at various college campuses and some schools have even banned postings on sites such as facebook or myspace. Please be aware that while I strongly support free speech, I also support the Drury student-athlete Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct applies to behavior on and off campus and online.

The following policies have already been established by some other universities in the SEC and it would be prudent for Drury student-athletes to not stray very far from these guidelines when posting online:


*Be mindful that online content is not private and that there could be long-term ramifications.

*Don't post personal information (cell phone, address, class schedule) for safety reasons.

*Online communication puts one at greater risk for stalking.

*Consider that your coach, teammates, family and even future employers may review your site.

*Do not participate in or post inappropriate photographs or other content.

*Refrain from affiliating yourself with topics that are potentially offensive or degrading.

*Do not post comments about fellow student-athletes, coaches, administration or faculty from your institution or other institutions.

*Fans from opposing teams have downloaded images or information and used it to taunt or humiliate during a contest.

If you have any questions or concerns about online behavior please contact me.

Coach Van Arkel

2006 XC Meet Schedule(revised 7/11)

2006 DRURY MEN’S & WOMEN’S
CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE(unofficial)

9/9 @ 9 am Miner Invitational/Rolla, MO

9/16 @ 9 am Southern Stampede/Joplin, MO

9/30 @ 9 am Cowboy Jamboree/Stillwater, OK

10/7 @ 9 am Border Wars/Edwardsville, IL

10/21 @ 9 am GLV Conf. XC Champs/Edwardsville, IL

11/4 @ 9 am NCAA DII Great Lakes Reg./Kenosha, WI

11/18 @ 9 am NCAA DII Nat. Champs/Pensacola, FL

The Forest Park meet on September 9 has been canceled and we will instead run at UMR on that date. The Ted Lloyd Stampede at Harding has changed dates and we will run at the Border Wars meet instead. Longer trips will include overnight stays on 9/29, 10/6, 10/20 and 11/3.

There will be two open dates during the fall for runners to be gone from campus for 48 hours or so and travel home to visit family: September 3 & 4(Labor Day) and October 14 & 15(Fall Break). Expect to be on campus and either racing or training with the team on all other weekends until the season ends.

Coach Van Arkel

Biographical Info needed for XC Roster

All returning and new runners need to please forward to me or Eric Pannell at epannell@drury.edu answers to the following questions so the Sports Information Office can begin compiling cross country rosters and include this information about each runner. The sooner we get this done the sooner our online rosters will be completed.

Coach Van Arkel

Name: ___________________

Class: ____________________

Height: ___________________

Hometown: ___________________________

High School: ___________________________

Previous School/Junior College/College if applicable: ____________________________

Birthdate: ________________________________ (Month/Day/Year)

Honors:
If a returning runner please put your top(up to three) times at Drury, with the meet and best times, best finishes, placing, All-Conference honors, or other on-campus academic honors.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


If you are a new runner at Drury please put your high school honors, all-state, what place and what time you had at the state meet, any honors as far as with team, conference, district and academic honors, grade point average, honor society, or other academic honors.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


YOUR FAVORITES ….
Food: _____________________________________
Restaurant: ________________________________
Musical Artist: ______________________________
Magazine: _________________________________
Book: _____________________________________
Movie star: _________________________________
Pro athlete: _________________________________
Dream job: _________________________________

XC Training for Week 6(7/9)

This next week will be an easy week for those runners who have been consistently building their distance base the past several weeks. We'll do one long run(> 75 minutes) at the beginning of the week, but the next four days should consist of very easy running(just a few miles) and cross training(maybe some biking or swimming) to give the legs a rest. Do not be concerned about total miles this week. On Friday we'll get back into the routine and do hill repeats. Strength work during the week should still include 3 sets of pushups, crunches and pullups or curls with dumbbells. The following week will begin with another long run and we will plan to run fairly high mileage(50-70+ miles) during weeks 7 thru 10.

Training for Week 6(July 9):

Sunday(7/9) Long run of 11-14 miles

Monday Cross training w/ strength work

Tuesday Easy run

Wednesday Cross training w/ strength work

Thursday Easy run

Friday 7-9 miles w/ hill repeats

Saturday 4-6 miles

Coach Van Arkel

Dealing with Injuries

Dealing with Injuries:

For most elite runners training at a high level, running injuries are seemingly inevitable. At best, they are merely annoying; at worst, they prevent us from running. There are, however, ways to minimize the risk of injury and lessen the amount of training time lost to injury.

Most running injuries result from overuse and are exacerbated by such things as running surfaces, structural imbalances, poor form or inadequate equipment(shoes are worn-out or do not have sufficient cushioning and support). Pain/inflammation is the most obvious symptom and can be of great use in helping to diagnose the problem and suggest proper treatment. For this reason, I generally do not recommend taking any kind of pain reliever(aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen) just prior to exercise.

Stiffness, slight tenderness and a variety of dull aches that subside as you exercise are definitely worth paying attention to, but are also just part of hard training. That is why we run easy once in a while and stretch after running.

Soreness that remains as you exercise or lingers for more than a day after a hard workout may require more active rest(cross training) and should be treated aggressively until the pain subsides. Usually making certain your shoes are not too worn and a combination of rest and ice and ibuprofen will fix the problem. Sports massage may also be helpful.

Soreness that intensifies as you run and sharp pains in a localized area are more serious, obviously, and demand immediate attention. The usual treatments along with total rest may be needed. As your coach, I would expect to be contacted if you have such an injury and would also expect you make a visit to a sportsmedicine specialist as soon as possible so a proper diagnosis can be made and effective treatment can begin.

To help prevent injuries, drink lots of fluids, make certain your shoes have adequate cushioning and support, warm-up gradually, run often on soft surfaces, stretch after running and ice tender spots. Also, because higher mileage increases the risk of stress fractures, be sure to drink plenty of milk or consider taking a multivitamin to get enough calcium and other minerals.

Coach Van Arkel