The camp started at 9:00 a.m. with sign in and a piece of fruit or a protein bar. Coach Manasco led the first class as he talked about warm up and stretching. He then had all the athletes go through the Clarkdale High Schools routine. After the stretching there was a demonstration of the Plank challenge by Coach Mathews. Then there was a Plank challenge from Clarkdale to Northeast Lauderdale. Dustin Hover a sophomore stepped up for Northeast with Stephen Tremblay a senor representing Clarkdale. Three minutes 30 seconds later Stephen was the victor hanging for the victory.
After the stretching and warm up the teams went outside for a hill workout. The course consisted a 50 meter up hill, followed by by a 50 meter downhill jog and then a 60 meter sprint on the flat at the bottom. Athletes then walked by to the start and did repeats of this for a total of 10 runs. Each athlete was paired with another for this, for best results try to put athletes of the same speed and fitness together.
With this workout finished all returned to the Clarkdale Cafeteria where Doug Ishee an athletic trainer and former Cross Country Coach talked eating right, sleeping right and being dedicated to your team and what is needed to be the best runner you can be. He discussed how summer running prepared you to get ready for the workouts that a coach will have you doing for the season. The emphasis was getting those core miles in during the summer so that an athlete was ready for the season. For those who did not run they would have to spend the first weeks of the season just building strength for the workouts that will get them ready for racing.
Lunch was spaghetti and green beans with water, ice tea or gatorade to drink. After lunch was supposed to be watching McFarland USA however technical problems prevented this from happening. Instead Coach Mathews talked about being a team of brothers and sisters that encourage each other in practice and at competitions. The importance about the top 7 runners being ready to step up and push each other in a race was emphasized (watch McFarland for a great example). Also every team member was reminded that just because you might not be in the Top 7 at season start you could move up and become one of them with hard work.
The afternoon workout was a 1.3 mile run. Both boys and girls lined up and the race was on. At the end of this article is a slideshow of the runners and the race.
After a short rest and filling water balloons the fun began, however, it was not just a water balloon fight. Each person got one water balloon to start but then moved about 25 yards away from the small are where the fight was to be held. Inside this area was also three areas that had more water balloons. On go the runners ran to the area where they could throw the balloons at anyone in the area. Before they could throw another balloon they had to then run around the cafeteria building then pick up a new balloon then throw at another person, This continued until all the balloons had been thrown. So fun and a workout what an idea.
The last speaker of the day was Stan Narewski, former College and Jr College Coach, Stan started out talking about runners and know who your heros in running are. He mentioned Ron Clarke but nobody knew who this runner was. He then talked about how this great runner never won an Olympic record but held many World Records and dominated distance running, He then talked about what a gentleman Ron Clarke was not a thug or a puffed up, overpaid athlete. Coach also talked about Dave Wattle who won an Olympic Gold medal with a great finish that was not really a great finish but an evenly paced run that allowed him to be at his peak run at the finish as others were slowing down. All of this lead up to him main point., Stan said his challenge was for the athletes to be the best they could be right now. He said "I challenge you to be the best you can be for 90 days (season start to state meet) starting right now". This included getting the right amount of sleep, eating right, running hard in practice, doing good in school, being a good team member, being a good student, and being an overall nice person. Coach said all of this will lead to you as an athlete having a successful year as an athlete and more important as a person.
The camp finished with a supper of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, beans and peach cobbler.
This slide show is from the 1.3 mile run.
