Seems a little early in the XC season to be doing too much number crunching, but I already find myself scouring the Regional rankings to see how we stack up after our first meets with complete teams (Asbury for girls and Shelby Co. for boys). A tremendous show of strength by this group of young runners is what had my curiosity so piqued. A day of lackluster performances or DNF's would have me reading anything but rankings - maybe even doing lesson plans. However, these kids just run their hearts out, and even at this VERY early point in the season, they have made me proud.
As coaches, we often get caught up in the numbers. PR's, rankings, virtual meets, data, training volumes etc. But, today wasn't just trying to figure out where to start the taper or how much mileage I can fit into a mesocycle. It was just pure delight, clicking on links and finding things like a boys team Regional ranking of 2nd, individual girls and boys filling the top 20, and even pretty respectable state rankings. Now, super-fans beware, it's early in the year and these standings are based on the season's best time by each individual. It doesn't take into account how a kid is doing in October or if they're even doing cross country at all!
My focus sharpened back to what numbers are truly important. The fact that Danielle and Courtney ran 5000 meters and smiled the entire way (at least when they passed me), the way Maggie remembers her times from years past and is so determined to best them, how Tyler ran his guts out (but not literally this time) and went way under the 20 minute barrier, the way Timothy fought through a long race knowing his number was going to be high and at the bottom of the page, how 3 races in 5 days is too many but Faith and Hope will want so badly to be racing tomorrow, how my saying "go out hard - stay near the front" translates into Nathan and Jarrett hitting the first turn in 1st and 2nd en route to a 5:20 mile, the way Adam looks at numbers like 3 in terms of miles and tells me he hates running, and lastly how Austin fended off that one kid sprinting in to the chute, to hold on to that one place, worth one point - the margian by which we beat the next team - those are numbers I like to crunch.
As coaches, we often get caught up in the numbers. PR's, rankings, virtual meets, data, training volumes etc. But, today wasn't just trying to figure out where to start the taper or how much mileage I can fit into a mesocycle. It was just pure delight, clicking on links and finding things like a boys team Regional ranking of 2nd, individual girls and boys filling the top 20, and even pretty respectable state rankings. Now, super-fans beware, it's early in the year and these standings are based on the season's best time by each individual. It doesn't take into account how a kid is doing in October or if they're even doing cross country at all!
My focus sharpened back to what numbers are truly important. The fact that Danielle and Courtney ran 5000 meters and smiled the entire way (at least when they passed me), the way Maggie remembers her times from years past and is so determined to best them, how Tyler ran his guts out (but not literally this time) and went way under the 20 minute barrier, the way Timothy fought through a long race knowing his number was going to be high and at the bottom of the page, how 3 races in 5 days is too many but Faith and Hope will want so badly to be racing tomorrow, how my saying "go out hard - stay near the front" translates into Nathan and Jarrett hitting the first turn in 1st and 2nd en route to a 5:20 mile, the way Adam looks at numbers like 3 in terms of miles and tells me he hates running, and lastly how Austin fended off that one kid sprinting in to the chute, to hold on to that one place, worth one point - the margian by which we beat the next team - those are numbers I like to crunch.
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