Blog Archives

June 29th-July 5th

6/28/2020

Schedule for June 29th-July 5th
This week we are going to try to see groups a few different times. Here is what you need to know.

Take a look at the schedule to know what days you are meeting with the coaching staff.
On the days groups are not meeting with coaches we are providing optional meet up locations so that you have someone to run with from your group.
Freshman will be the only group meeting with a coach 5 days per week. This is to help guide our youngest athletes.
We are going to a split start time each day. 6:45 and 7:15. Please know what time your group is going.
The middle school camp will be on the same schedule as the previous week and will continue to meet on campus.
High School Schedule: June 29th-July 5th
Middle School and High School Groups

Eligibility Waiver: Required For In Person Contact

All families need to read the DCSD 2020 Summer Activity Form and sign the waiver.
Athletes must bring a signed copy of the waiver with them on the day they come to practice with a coach.
Athletes that do not have the waiver will not be allowed at practice, and asked to return home immediately.
DCSD 2020 Summer Activity Form and Waiver (Link)

Summer Payment
Registration Link:

https://vistagoldeneagles.sportngin.com/register/form/895186390
Please have your payment in this week, before July 5th.

DATES of Camp: June 22nd-August 8th
COST:

$100. All fees must be paid by credit card. We are not accepting checks this year.
This years fee is $50 less than last year.
The $100 covers the cost of our entire summer XC camp including in person coaching and electronic coaching via Final Surge.
Our summer program is the main fundraiser for our team each year and how we afford things like additional coaching stipends, uniforms, meet transportation, etc. during the season.
If anyone cannot pay the $100 camp fee please contact Coach Dalby. Nobody will be turned away.

Training for June 29th-July 5th
From here on, training will be posted for you in the Final Surge App. This will help you to know what your daily workouts are before you come to practice each day, along w/ knowing what to run when you are out of town during the summer.

If you have not signed-up yet for the Final Surge App, or need help doing so, please take a look at the following link for assistance.

Final Surge: Video and Help Getting Set-up

June 22nd-28th: Partial Return to In-Person Practices

6/21/2020

Beginning this week, we will be holding optional in-person workouts in small groups. The Coaches have done our best to place everyone in appropriate groups based on both an athlete’s ability and training history. For this week, each group will meet one time at Mountain Vista (HS) or Mountain Ridge (MS). Please check the link below to see which group each athlete has been assigned over the course of the next three weeks.

HS and MS Groups for June June 22nd-July 12th (Link)

Schedule for June 22nd-28th
Monday: Green Girls. 7-8:30 A.M. @ MVHS
Tuesday: Gold Girls. 7-8:30 a.m. @ MVHS;
Middle School Group 1. 7-8 a.m. @ MRMS Mobiles.
Wednesday: Freshman Group. 7-8:30 a.m. @ MVHS;
Middle School Group 2. 7-8 a.m. @ MRMS Mobiles.
Thursday: Green Boys. 7 a.m. @ MVHS;
Middle School Group 3. 7-8 a.m. @ MRMS Mobiles.
Friday: Gold Boys. 7 a.m. @ MVHS;
Middle School Group 4. 7-8 a.m. @ MRMS Mobiles.
Saturday: Long run on your own or organized w/ your teammates.
Sunday: Run on your own or organized w/ your teammates.

On days you are not scheduled to meet w/ the coaches, please run on your own or call your teammates. Workouts will continue to be posted on the Final Surge App for each athlete throughout the summer and fall season.
Please do not ask to change groups.
Beginning June 29th, we will create a schedule where we can see groups more than one time a week. For the first week, however, we will only be seeing everyone one time.

Eligibility Waiver: Required For In Person Contact

All families need to read the DCSD 2020 Summer Activity Form and sign the waiver.
Athletes must bring a signed copy of the waiver with them on the day they come to practice with a coach.
Athletes that do not have the waiver will not be allowed at practice, and asked to return home immediately.
DCSD 2020 Summer Activity Form and Waiver (Link)

Guidelines for Arriving at Practice This Week

Parents/guardians need to complete a COVID-19 symptom self-check with their student each day before they attend in-person activities. If a student answers “yes” to any of the following questions, the student is not allowed to participate:
1. Does the student have: 1. Fever, 2. Dry Cough, 3. Sore Throat, 4. Shortness of Breath, or 5. Had close contact with or cared for someone with COVID-19.
Make sure you are on time at 7 a.m.. Once the check in process is completed, the coaching staff will not be able to check in late arrivals.
Once you arrive, please socially distance yourself from everyone else. 6 feet apart at all times.
High School Camp: Come to the gate that leads to the sidewalk in between the middle school fields and the track. Coach Selle will be there to greet you. Athletes only - parents, please do not leave your car to escort your athlete. Middle School Camp: Park in the Staff/Student lot between MVHS and MRMS. Come to the sidewalk next to the MRMS Mobiles. Coach Sprafke will be there to greet you. Athletes only - parents, please do not leave your car to escort your athlete.
Even though checked at home, students will also be checked by the coach/sponsor when they check-in to the activity on school grounds. If the student answers “yes” to any of the following questions, the student will not be allowed to participate and must be sent home:
1. Does the student have: 1. Fever, 2. Dry Cough, 3. Sore Throat, 4. Shortness of Breath, or 5. Had close contact with or cared for someone with COVID-19.

Summer Payment
Now that we are returning to in-person practices, we will be charging each athlete a fee of $100. This covers the cost of our entire summer camp. Our summer program is the main fundraiser for our team each year and how we afford things like additional coaching stipends, uniforms, meet transportation, etc. during the season. Anyone who is unable to pay the $100 fee should contact Coach Dalby. No one will be turned away if you are unable to pay.

All fees will be done electronically this year through the Booster Club. Once the link is available it will be emailed out to everyone, and posted on the front of the website.

Training for June 22nd-28th
From here on, training will be posted for you in the Final Surge App. This will help you to know what your daily workouts are before you come to practice each day, along w/ knowing what to run when you are out of town during the summer.

If you have not signed-up yet for the Final Surge App, or need help doing so, please take a look at the following link for assistance.

Final Surge: Video and Help Getting Set-up

June 15th-21st: Week #3 of Summer Running

6/16/2020

Return to In-person Contact
Lots of rumors out their right now about when we will be able to hold in person camps. The coaching staff is navigating through all of that info currently and will have a more concrete idea of when we can hold practices again by the end of the week. As soon as we get a definite answers information will be posted here on the blog. Most likely by Thursday or Friday. Hang tight!

Training for June 15th-21st
From here on, training will be posted for you in the Final Surge App. This will help you to know what your daily workouts are before you come to practice each day along w/ knowing what to run when you are out of town during the summer.

If you have not signed-up yet for The Final Surge, or need help doing so, please take a look at the following link for assistance.

Final Surge: Video and Help Getting Set-up

Training Focus for June 1st to July 6th
Emphasis in training over the first five weeks of the off season will be placed on the following:

Aerobic fitness (most days are easy runs)
Flexibility (Done each day before you run)
Strength development (For now, do the myrtl routine, we will provide more guidance about strength development in the upcoming weeks)
Injury prevention
Hilly long runs
Mileage buildup (We are adding a few miles more each week)
Developing good patterns of nutrition and sleeping (Get in your 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night and eat like an athlete!)

Information will be sent out periodically on the importance of each, and will be posted on the blog.

Middle School Runners This Week
Below is the link to what Coaches Estell and Sprafke want you to do this week. Please take a look for detailed information about our middle school camp for this weeks training.

In addition, please check your email for an invite to join The Final Surge.

June 8th-14th: Week #2 of Summer XC Running

6/6/2020

New Parent Welcome Letter and Video
The veteran Vista cross country parents would like to extend a warm welcome to all families, especially families new to the program! First off, we would like to share a video that really shows the heart of the Vista Nation XC Team that features some of the Vista XC alum and families. Huge thanks to Adam and Jen Christians for doing a beautiful job of putting this together: https://vimeo.com/426581750

Below is a link to some relevant information about the program to help get everyone started off on the right path this summer:

Parent Welcome Letter and Video

Training for June 8th-14th
From here on, training will be posted for you in the Final Surge App. This will help you to know what your daily workouts are before you come to practice each day along w/ knowing what to run when you are out of town during the summer.

If you have not signed-up yet for The Final Surge, or need help doing so, please take a look at the following link for assistance.

Final Surge: Video and Help Getting Set-up

Training Focus for June 1st to July 6th
Emphasis in training over the first five weeks of the off season will be placed on the following:

Aerobic fitness (most days are easy runs)
Flexibility (Done each day before you run)
Strength development (For now, do the myrtl routine, we will provide more guidance about strength development in the upcoming weeks)
Injury prevention
Hilly long runs
Mileage buildup (We are adding a few miles more each week)
Developing good patterns of nutrition and sleeping (Get in your 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night and eat like an athlete!)

Parent Welcome Letter and Video

6/6/2020

XC Families,

The veteran Vista cross country parents would like to extend a warm welcome to all families, especially families new to the program! First off, we would like to share a video that really shows the heart of the Vista Nation XC Team that features some of the Vista XC alum and families.  Huge thanks to Adam and Jen Christians for doing a beautiful job of putting this together: https://vimeo.com/426581750

Below is some relevant information about the program:

The Team Blog is the main source of communication for all things Vista Nation XC.  CHECK THE BLOG EVERY WEEK!  http://www.vistanationxc.com/blog

GROCERY CARD FUNDRAISER
It's the only fundraiser we have and it's a very easy way to help cover the cost of our excellent and dedicated assistant coaches. This costs you nothing and takes 5 minutes:

http://www.vistanationxc.com/grocery-card-fundraiser.html

**Special note: The King Soopers receipt should list where the contribution is going. If it doesn't, the card isn't properly linked.

VOLUNTEER
There are many ways to contribute to the TEAM by volunteering. If you are interested in getting involved and don't know where to start, please see the attached list of committee heads below and send an email or text to the committee head of the committee you would like to volunteer. You are an important part of the success of this program and we thank you for your willingness to help out!

Link to Team Parent 2020 Volunteer Committee List (link)

GREEN SHIRTS
Please watch for opportunities to purchase a Vista Nation XC green shirt! It's a Vista Nation XC tradition to have a huge turnout of fans wearing the neon green shirts! If you have a high school runner, be sure to order the lime green Vista Nation shirts at the beginning of the fall season. Order extras for runners and all family members. Not only does it show our support and presence at meets, but as parents, it makes it easy to identify each other. Cross country families are generally a friendly, approachable bunch, although it can be hard to mingle at meets because we scatter about.

SHOES
It's important that your runner be fitted for a good shoe right away! Your runners will go through lots of shoes, and there might be some trial and error involved at first, which can be frustrating. But, it's really the only expense for this sport.

BEING IN THE RIGHT SHOE PREVENTS INJURY AND IS WORTH THE EXPENSE IN THE LONG RUN.  Runners Roost and Boulder Running Company both offer discounts to MVHS runners. Their employees are committed to getting their customers in the right shoe. Once you know what shoes work for your athlete, you can start ordering online or shopping sales. Do NOT let your runner convince you to buy a certain shoe because their teammates have them or because they look cool. Those are expensive (and often physically painful) mistakes. There is no team shoe.

Along those lines, if your runner starts complaining about a nagging ache or pain, he/she should talk to a coach before too much time goes by, to get some clues about what is going on (there's a decent chance it's the shoes). Your runner will undoubtedly resist doing this, but there are several coaches to choose from. Surely one of them will seem approachable. This is necessary.

FOR NEW FAMILIES:
Hopefully, you've had time to adjust to the program during the summer. If not, it'll be ok. There are so many parents eager to help you figure out how this team works. The first year is the hardest year, then you are a seasoned veteran.

Final Surge: Video and Help Getting Set-up

6/1/2020

This post is to assist anyone who is participating in our high school or middle summer XC programs to better understand what Final Surge is and how to get signed up if you need help.

What is Final Surge?: Final Surge is the online training platform we are using to better coach all members of our high school and middle school teams this summer. Check out the video to learn more! https://vimeo.com/224378614
Look for an email sent from "Final Surge". I sent these to each athlete's preferred email address that you used to register for the Vista Nation Summer XC Camp. Double check your junk mail folder if the notification did not go to your inbox.
I Already have an account w/ Final Surge: Great! If you already have an account with Final Surge you should have received a coaching invitation email. This will prompt you to log into your training log, click on the “Settings” link, and then accept us as your coaches.
This will be my first time using Final Surge: No problem! If the preferred email address you used for summer registration is not already associated with a current Final Surge account, an email will be sent prompting you to create a new account. It will also request that you accept your coaching invitation. You MUST ACCEPT your coaching invitation in order for the Vista and Mt. Ridge coaches to upload workouts into your training log.
What if I didn't receive an email invitation from Final Surge? Some athletes that used their DCSD email account at registration have not seen an invitation from Final Surge. Please check your junk mail folder. If it is not there, email me at [email protected] and I will resend the invitation. Or, send me a different email address not associated with DCSD and I can get you set up that way.
What happens after I accept the coaching invitation?: Run, work hard, and have some fun! Once you are set up in Final Surge all of your workouts will be populated into your training calendar. We usually update these on Sunday nights for the week ahead.
Download the Final Surge App: It's free! You will be able to see your training runs, log the work you are putting in, and interact with the coaches from both the app and the desktop version of Final Surge. https://www.finalsurge.com/apps
What if I still need help? No problem! Email or call me and I will get you set up with Final Surge. Happy to help! [email protected]

Vista Nation Team Blog