Important and Informative Articles You Should Read and Useful Links:

*** Please read all the way to the bottom! Thank you. ***

• ACT Test Dates and Deadlines: take the ACT on September 14, 2024 or wait until after our season is over. Taking the ACT Your Junior Year
• Care and maintenance of our two most important pieces of equipment
• Choosing Success Every Day
• Explanation of Terms and Workout Paces
• FHSAA Cross Country - our governing body
• Glukos Products FAQ
• How and Why to Hit Negative Splits in Your Next Race
• How Much Sleep Do I Need? (from Teens Health)
• Importance of the long run
• Lakewood Ranch High School
• Lakewood Ranch High School Athletics
• LRHS Team Page on flrunners.com - results, photos, each athlete has an individual profile as well
• Mustangs Ahead - the best way to keep up to date with things going on at LRHS *** PLEASE SUBSCRIBE *** Mustangs Ahead communicates with all members of our school community through numerous articles per week.
• Nutrition Checklist for Cross Country
• SAT Test Dates and Deadlines: take the SAT on August 24, 2024 or October 5, 2024 or wait until after our season is over. DO NOT register for Nov. 2nd as that will be our District meet.
• 2023 Team and Parent Handbook
• Teenagers and Sleep: How Much Sleep Is Enough?
• TFRRS Florida - official Cross Country & Track results
• Why Rest Matters for Runners

Cross Country is a TEAM sport.

The cross country team is your family.

If you run it right, cross country is a testament to suffering. Success in this sport requires pushing your body to the brink of exhaustion, demanding all it’s capable of delivering for mile after mile of unforgiving terrain. But you do not suffer alone. You run as part of something bigger. You run as part of a team in its truest sense. And that’s why, when the pain sets in, you keep running.

MULTI-SPORT ATHLETES:

A multi-sport athlete is great but not multiple sports within the same season due to increased injury risks.

• Playing Two Sports in the Same Season? Here's Why It's a Risky Decision
• Should Youth Athletes Play Two Different Sports at the Same Time?
• Student Athletes Playing Multiple Sports, Same Season, Presents Unique Family Challenges
• Four Reasons Why Kids Should Play Multiple Sports

Quote from a wise and successful coach in the Tampa area that is worth a read:

"Multiple sports are fine. Multiple sports simultaneously...not so fine as they do not allow the athlete to achieve at their highest levels. Coaches who know what they are doing are constantly trying to manipulate the variables in order to get the athlete to gradually progress and peak at the right time. That is impossible to do when the athlete is concurrently involved in another sport as both coaches of each sport have no idea what the other is doing. The Club sport coach is being paid by the athlete and could care less what the coach at the high school says or is doing (club coach got paid). Could you imagine the athlete doing a 2-mile warm-up, 5 x 1 mile repeats, and a 1 mile cool down....then heading over to the club sport and proceed with the other sport's training? Good luck recovering from that. Now, imagine doing that for 14 consecutive weeks. Performance will suffer, grades will go down, health will deteriorate (sick, injured, etc.), athlete no longer in either sport, frustrations will arise, etc. Not a good situation."

We (your high school cross country coaches) care about you, your health, your well-being, your grades, and your future. We don't get paid much. We do this because we love the sport, enjoy helping you achieve your goals, and hope you will become runners for life. We want to make sure you are doing what is best for you for your long term success and health. You are not paying us thousands of dollars like you pay to play on your club teams. Cross Country is a team sport. We can advance to region and state as a team, not a bunch of individuals. Your teammates need you to be as committed as they are. Please consider that before signing up for a club team during our cross country season that could potentially cause you injury, burnout, and to let down your team. You have winter, spring, and summer to do your club sport. Focus on being great at one sport at a time. At least give yourself the chance to be great...who knows what you can achieve!

Focus on one sport per season and let yourself be your best at that one sport each season.