“How much should my child run when not at Whisper?” is a common question from parents, especially new parents, as we venture into the summer program. The answer to that question is based on a variety of factors, most notably, age and running history. To keep things simple, running dosage is broken down by grade (80%) and goals (20%):
Clearly, every person and situation is unique, so if you have any questions at all, please email, text, or call Coach Dave.
With the cancellation the Summer Run & Surf Camp and the Spokane to Sandpoint Relay, here is something we can team up for! Whisper introduces the inaugural Lake to Bay Relay, a 52-mile running course starting at Blue Lake Park in Fairview, OR, and finishing at Hudson’s Bay High School. The course runs along Airport Way, I205, east to Camas, along the Lacamas Trail, then heads west to the Salmon Creek Trail, Discovery Trail, and finishes up at Hudson’s Bay. With registration, runners will receive a t-shirt, medal, and a good time! Teams will be formed in groups of 4-6 runners from the Whisper training group and team. Each runner is responsible for three legs of 1.5 to 5 miles per leg. Cost is roughly $35-40 per runner. Click here for the Race Booklet (draft). If your child would like to participate, please email Coach Dave to informally register so we can begin compiling a list of participants. Once we have a list of runners, we will form teams based on ability, preferences, etc. Parents are encouraged to volunteer in any capacity – see page 18 of the Race Booklet for general information. This is truly a team and family event! Thank you!
In a day when racial divides still permeate our society, Pacers Ashley and Bella are taking it to the streets to promote healing and justice for our brothers and sisters. Together, they are teaming up for a 30-mile tandem relay on Saturday, June 13, to raise money for anti-racism organizations. Click here to view the flyer for information about donating to their honorable cause, and you or your child may join the cause by following them on Instagram, or by joining them on one of their relay legs. See the flyer for details. Thank you!
The COVID-19 pandemic is touching all corners of the globe in every imaginable way. From the physical ailments and rising mortality, to the social and economic implications, everyone has been impacted by this pandemic. As we come to terms with a new normal, the way businesses operate will feel strangely different in the coming months, before we may ever get back to the way things were pre-COVID. To practice in a safe and practical manner, Whisper will resume operations with a “Soft Reopening” for families who purchased the Annual Training & Team Registration membership (these are not Runcard practices). Resuming practice in this manner will allow us time to learn the new art of social distancing. And while continuing social distancing will be a challenge in the sport of running, we will do our best to sustain healthy practices to lessen the risk of any transmission. The soft reopening for annual members will begin during the final week of May and operate for this population through June 12. During this period, we will perform general running workouts, nothing too calculated, to come off the edge of intense training for some, or work into some semblance of conditioning for others. If your child has been training continuously for several months, early June would be the ideal time to take a one to two-week break. If you are uncertain as to whether your child should take a break from running during this time, please contact coach Dave to inquire.
TRACK MEETS: If your child has continued working hard through this unconventional time, then they are encouraged to register and participate in the races on our athletic.net schedule. Two Whisper meets remain, as well as two NSAFxAthleticNET meets. The Whisper meets require athletes 13 years old and older to register, which is free. To register, runners in the Whisper meets, runners should download the athletic.net app, create a profile, join the Whisper team using code NP6X2BGU8, and register for any event listed. Runners under the age of 13 must have their parents complete the registration process for them. The NSAF meet is $20 per runner and is registered through the coach. If you wish to participate, please see our athletic.net page, click on the NSAF Meet 2 or 3 option, view the meet information and meet schedule, and email Coach Dave with the races your child would like to participate in. This is for Whisper runners who have purchased the XCTF Meet Registration membership which is good for both track and cross-country. These races must be video recorded and show evidence of social distancing efforts. Races in groups of two or more should not register for the NSAF race.
SUMMER TRAINING: Since schools are in semi-operation mode through June 19, Summer Training will officially begin on Monday, June 22. Although Summer Training practices will be offered five days each week through Thursday, August 13, runners will have the same attendance option as in years past – they may attend Monday’s or Tuesdays, everyone is welcome at practice on Wednesday’s, and then again on Thursday’s or Friday’s. Practices will be 9-11am and locations are still pending at this time. Please see the Whisper Calendar for training dates, locations, and times.
Note: After Friday, June 12, and before the start of Summer Training (Monday, June 22), practices will be available just as they were in the past – either through the Annual Registration or the Runcard.
GEAR REFUND: Prior to the end of Winter Training 2020, many families registered for the 2020 XCTF seasons via Whisper, with hopes their child would participate in track this spring, and quite likely, cross-country this fall. Warm-ups and uniforms may have been purchased for their participation. If your child participated in the Teddy Twilight, or hasn’t competed yet, and has no intentions of participating in the fall, please contact Coach Dave to discuss the uniform and/or warm-up refund options. Please do so by June 15. Thank you.
CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS: In mid-May it was determined the Summer Surf & Run Camp would be cancelled. Days later, the announcement came that Spokane to Sandpoint would also be cancelled. For families who have registered for the Camp, refunds have been issued. For families who registered for Spokane to Sandpoint, refunds will be issued in the coming weeks. If you need more information about this, please contact Coach Dave.
In the midst of the all the change, the refunds, cancellations, etc., a Whisper parent shined a positive light via email with me earlier in the week. It was a quick note, but a great reminder of how blessed I know I am, and I hope you are as well. When informing her family that the Spokane to Sandpoint relay was cancelled, she replied, “We kind of expected this news but it's still disappointing! However, our glass is "half full" as we have remained healthy while others are less fortunate.”
Today, I am grateful for my health, and for the ability to practice healthy habits, such as running.
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please contact Coach Dave.
When will I see you again?
Not soon enough, apparently! But tentatively mark your calendars for Monday, May 4 for our first practice post-quarantine! Until then, my face will have to do!
Visit our Google Classroom though a gmail account, searching whisperrunning@gmail.com, then using the class code, “e7efv47” for full access. The classroom includes workouts during time away from group practices, sport psych curriculum, and short reads centered around health and sport psychology.
Today is merely a reminder, or an encourager of sorts, to begin accumulating those days. We are on day three of the 27 runs in 38 days. Again, an ambitious goal, but frankly, what else do we have to do in the midst of a nationwide quarantine? Whether you are following the Whisper training plan, your school coaches training plan, or no training plan at all, aim to run at least a few minutes each day. It can be difficult to gather up the motivation, but remember, even if track is cancelled this year, cross-country is only six months away, which means Junior Olympics is only eight months away.
Another note, be sure to log into the Whisper Google Classroom so you can check-out the training plan and casual readings that are brief, yet related to what we do, and also informative in the field of running and sport psychology. If you have any material that you’d like to share with the team, please feel free to forward me the hyperlink, I’ll review it, and if it meets the criteria, I’ll place it in the Easy Reads section of our online classroom.
Today’s distance workout was pretty simple: 10x1m tempos in the middle of your run (after your warm-up). Be sure you are stretching and hydrating well to support your next run. Speaking of your next run, Friday is an easy 3-7 miler, then Saturday, if you skipped a run or workout, is the perfect time to make that up. Consider this appraoch moving forward, where if a day is missed, you’ll run Satuday, but if you run each of your scheduled days, then you have Saturday free to do as you wish. That is, if you run long on Sunday’s. If you do not run on Sunday’s, but instead take Sunday’s off, then no worries, just be sure you’re fitting that longer run into your running regimen at some point.
Signing off. Be sure to stay healthy, stay safe, and do your best to keep your fitness up the best you can!
Thank you for joining us for the 2020 Winter Training session! Hope to see you this spring and summer!
Hello Whisper Family!
Well, we are officially under house quarantine, but that doesn’t mean you are literally bound to your home. According to an article on NPR, going outside for fresh air is still allowed, just not in groups. The key to running during this respiratory outbreak is to run alone or in small groups (family), and remain a few feet apart. The suggestion is to remain six feet apart, but if you’re running, I’d imagine it’s safer to be on the side of a person by three feet than it is behind a person by six feet where you’d then be breathing their air. Technicalities, right? No matter, just be safe and do the right thing. If you run with someone, just be mindful of your presence with that person, as well as others on the same path. Give ample space for all and you should be okay.
Okay, so now that we are all on the same page, essentially knowing we will be isolated for the next couple of weeks (at least), let’s settle in. If you’re able to get out for some runs, then similar to leading into Winter Training, we are going to set a goal of 27 runs before May 1. That’s a little over five weeks, or 38 days, to get runs of any distance possible. 27 may sound like a high number, but if you were in track at school, you’d be running five days each week, plus one day with Whisper on Saturday’s. Take these runs one day at a time and 27 will be more tangible than you might think. I’ve provided some basic information on the attached PDF below with suggestions for what your running may look like for the next 38 days. Frankly, it’ll be good for all if you can get out of the house and get some fresh air. Doing so via running will not only keep your sanity, but also help sustain the fitness you’ve gained over Winter Training - let’s keep that up!
Click here for the PDF file containing suggestions around your training. A calendar of workouts will be posted each Friday until we can resume training.
Looking ahead, I am in the process of creating a Whisper Running Google Classroom, where I can post these workouts, provide a Sport Psychology curriculum, and more. I hope to formally launch the classroom on April 1, but if you’d like to be added, you may do so by searching for the classroom via whisperrunning@gmail.com, using Class Code “e7efv47”. Again, there isn’t much there now, but I hope to add content in the coming weeks, with everything being fully operational by the start of Summer Training.
Hey Gang!
This blog has a couple of topics: 1) Getting a race on the calendar, and 2) battling the ebbs and flows of the new quarantine normal.
First, with all of the training we have completed so far in 2020, it’s important to continue some assemblance of training, even if it’s just a few days each week. To help with motivation, I have looked into a team/group registration for Whisper runners into the Foot Traffic Flat on Sauvie Island on July 4. The event offers four races: 5k, 10k, half marathon, and the full marathon. This opportunity provides us with something we can get onto the calendar and work towards, rather than paying the fun game of “what if…”
Second, the topic of “tired legs” came up on a run today, so I’ve addressed it in today’s video blog. Running, like life, has periods of ebbs and flows, and when we are at Whisper, most everything feels pretty darn good. The vibe is motivating, you see your friends, we work hard together, there’s loud music, and just a good spirit all around. But when you remove that, and you remove your school, your classes, your teachers, your friends, your regular patterns of life, and you strip it all down to the state we are in, then this could be the new norm for a while and we need to figure out new patterns of motivation and stimulation, at least for the short-term (1-2 months). This topic of motivation circles back to the discussion around the Foot Traffic Flat. We are presently in a state of flux, a state of in between, and a state of unknown. But having somethign on the calendar can really help provide that necessary stimulus our spirit is seeking.