A PARENT'S GUIDE TO CROSS COUNTRY

WHAT IS CROSS COUNTRY?

Cross country is a team sport that takes place in the Fall on a measured 3-mile course over varied
surfaces and terrain including hills, grass, sand, dirt, and asphalt. The family atmosphere is one of the most
wonderful developments of each season. These young people share common goals, do similar work, and
develop incredible bonds built by running multiple miles together, warm-ups and cool downs, weights,
competitions, pre-meet meals, away meets, activities after meets, and the social events that teams invariably
do together. All of these athletes are fighting a common enemy they are all fighting the battle against fatigue.
Who gets there first is a matter of conditioning, intensity, motivation, determination, physiology, diet and sleep.
Each runner moves toward the same point, not opposite points trying to stop the opposition. All runners work to
do their best individually, but realize their success is also part of a team effort.

HOW CROSS COUNTRY IS SCORED

A cross country meet is scored by each team adding up the places of its top 5 finishers. As in golf, the
low score wins. For example, a team that scores 26 points places ahead of a team that scores 29 points, as
follows:



San Marcos

Dos Pueblos



2, 3, 7, 8, 9

1, 4, 5, 6, 10





SCORE:
29


26

(DOS PUEBLOS WINS)





A teams 6th and 7th finishers can also figure in the scoring if they place ahead of other teams top 5 finishers.
When that is the case, they become "pushers" by pushing up their opponents scores, as follows:




San Marcos

Dos Pueblos


2, 3, 6, 8, 9, (10), (11)

1, 4, 5, 7, 12




SCORE:
28


29

(SAN MARCOS WINS)





Also, when there is a tie between the teams, the 6th runner on the team then determines the outcome of the
contest.

CROSS COUNTRY VOCABULARY

* Cool-Down... a jogging and stretching routine that allows the muscles to purge themselves of lactic acid and
allows the body to gradually lower its heart rate and core body temperature to normal.
* Finish Chute... a rope-bordered funnel past the finish line that moves runners into their single file order of
finish. Athletes must continually move through the chute, so dont be alarmed when you see your child
wanting to hunch over or fall down and a chute attendant come over and encourage them to keep
moving they arent being cruel and unsympathetic, its just a necessary part of running a meet.
* Invitational Meet... a multi-team meet
* Kick... a burst of speed at the finish of the race
* Lactic Acid an unpleasant result of anaerobic running, lactic acid usually accumulates in the legs after a
hard workout or a race.
* Pace... running speed over a particular distance
* PackThis term may be used in two different ways. The lead pack in a race is a cluster of tightly grouped
runners. These runners may be from a variety of schools, not necessarily teammates. If the coach yells
to maintain contact with the pack, he/she means to stay with that group of runners. Team wise, the goal
is to keep the team as close together as possible near the front of the race. When the team runs as a
pack, teammates have a tendency to pull each other along to better times
* Personal Record... best-ever performance on a given course (PR)
* Racing Flats... special, lightweight shoes designed for racing, rather than daily training.
* Surge... a tactical increase in pace during the race to break contact with an opponent. Surges are most
effective when continued a significant distance past the runner being dropped in the race. If a surge
goes barely past the other runner, that racer can become motivated to stay with the surging runner.
* Top 7... the scoring members of a Cross Country team
* Warm-Up... a running and stretching routine that gradually warms up the body for intense running.


Parents

Your Part: Help to ensure your young athlete:

- Eats right
- Drinks a lot of H2O
- Sleeps!
- Encourage them to stay on top of their homework and projects so as to effectively manage
all that is on their plate.
o Not going to be able to leave practice early to do a project
Organize your lives so you can be successful in all your activities.

Pre-Race:
- Dont expect their attention they need to mentally & physically prepare. Allow them to go
through their pre-race rituals.

During the Race:
- Watch the start
- Move throughout the race
o The more opportunities you have to cheer them on the better.
- Positive comments only accent what they are doing well.
- Support all team members.
- Encourage teammates to work together, not against each other.
- Avoid motivating opponents through negative comments.
- Its OK in cross country to encourage other teams.
- Use only vocabulary you can use in church.
- Realize we always have more than one race and they are all important to the coaches and
the runners.

Post Race:
- Be aware they have responsibilities after race (see me & cool down)
- Expect them to be completely spent
o Something you may have never seen of your child.
o Rubbery knees, faint, glassy-eyed, salivating (if done right its not a pretty sight)
- Realize we will always do a team cool down and stretching
o This is part of the training please dont rush us.

After the Meet:
- The team will go home on school sponsored transportation.
o This allows for team bonding.
o Allows the coaches to go over a post race evaluation with each runner.

What to Buy:
- Good shoes and Sorbethane a lot cheaper than paying doctors bills for preventable
injuries.
o 2 pair?
o Dont walk in running shoes
- Racing Flats?

Santa Barbara Running Store Locations: www.sbrunningco.com

110 Anacapa St.
Santa Barbara, Ca. 93101
(805) 899-8802

- Water bottle for school and practice. Put your name on it and dont share stay healthy.

129 N. Fairview (next to OSH)

Goleta, Ca. 93117
(805) 964-6700

Athletes

Expectations:
- Understand that you have made a voluntary choice to be a part of a program that maintains
high standards regarding its athletes behavior and expectations of work ethic. Be aware
that self- discipline and self-denial is expected and it is quite certain that personal sacrifices
will be necessary to conform to the team philosophy.

- Politeness, cleanliness and neatness are characteristics that should be expected, not
demanded. I expect us to look like a team, make a place look cleaner than before we
arrived, and be appreciative to all of the volunteers who help put on the meets, as well as
show the utmost sportsmanship to your fellow competitors. I believe its a form of discipline
that should be a way of life as an expression of courtesy that each of owes to his fellow
man (and woman). These little things establish a spirit of togetherness and help unite the
team into a solid unit.

- Show up- obviously show up everyday. But dont just show up SHOW UP both mentally
and physically at both practices and the meets.

- Pay Attention Listen to everything I say, its all pretty amazing Pay attention to
everything you do learn from every experience.

- Tell the Truth our relationship is based on truth, nothing hurts me more than being lied to
its a major showing of disrespect. Also, be true to yourself out here only you know if
you have given your all in a race or in practice.

- Dont be attached to results If you dont live up to either my expectations or your
expectations, dont dwell on it learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up and move on,
staying focused on your goals. If you win & are front-page material, enjoy the moment but
dont get too-big-a-head, nothing is uglier than cockiness.

- Attend all team meals, fund raising efforts, and other team activities this program is a huge
time commitment.

- Grades come first so plan in advance to finish assignments early.

What's the value of athletic programs?
We all know that good athletic programs can teach athletes many wonderful qualities and skills
needed in life far beyond the actual skills needed to play a sport. Studies have linked participation in
high school athletics with success later in life particularly studies of leadership. In my view this is the
real value of an athletic program in a school district. To teach kids how to: identify and achieve personal
goals for improvement;

be successful members of a team;

endure, persist. and be strong (especially in the face of a challenge);

work hard and be disciplined;

your behavior has to be a notch above the general public.

follow directions;

support others, even if it means deferring ones own needs;

be both a good loser and a good winner;

be a good leader and a good follower.

Cross Country Nutrition

Cross country is a unique sport in both its intensity and simplicity. Unlike most sports that require many
different physical skills, cross country only requires the ability to run. While other sports practice to improve
wide range of skills, cross country only has one goal: to improve fitness. This task may seem simple, but the
intensity of the physical and mental stress that cross country runners experience can make improving or even
sustaining fitness impossible if the runner does not take care of his or her own health. Instead of drills to
improve a runners performance, a runner must carefully monitor injuries, sleep, nutrition and mental health
in order to have a successful season. Of those, injuries are only properly treated by professionals, sleep can be
improved by better time management and scheduling, and mental health has to be treated individually. The
one aspect that is very controllable, but often overlooked, is nutrition.
Over the years many cross country runners from San Marcos have had difficulties with proper nutrition that
have resulted in problems ranging from bad races to missing entire seasons. As adolescents, high school cross
country runners are one of the most at risk populations for nutrition problems. Teenagers already have the
highest average caloric needs of any age group, and do not always have the best eating habits, so the
additional demands of running can magnify any nutritional deficiencies. The good news is that eating habits
can always be improved to prevent problems and improve performance.
There are many different ideas about proper nutrition available, but the problem for cross country runners is
that all of the well known ideas are aimed at a polar opposite group of people. Unless the information is
aimed specifically at endurance athletes, it is probably not applicable to cross country runners. The biggest
problem is that popular diets are usually based on the idea of avoiding fat and carbohydrates, and reducing
caloric consumption. For cross country runners these ideas can be devastating because fat and carbohydrates
are the primary fuels for long distance running, and eating sufficient calories is crucial to improving
performance.
Nutrition can be fairly scientifically complex, and any serious endurance athlete should eventually take the
time to learn about it more in depth, but here are the two most important rules that any high school cross
country runner should follow to improve their running and their quality of life:

Eat enough food for proper recovery

Eat a wide variety of food

Eating Enough:
Here are some things that you can do to improve your eating habits to prevent problems:

ALWAYS EAT BREAKFAST WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR AFTER WAKING UP

ALWAYS EAT A MEAL WITHIN 1-2 HOURS AFTER A WORKOUT

The first 1-2 hours after a workout are the most important time to eat a meal because that is
when your muscles are the most receptive to nutrients they need for recovery

Eat a snack while you are stretching after a workout

Eating breakfast helps your body recover from not getting any nutrients during the night and
can help increase your metabolism so that you will have more energy for the day

Eating a ~250 calorie snack with carbohydrates and protein, such as a Clif or Power bar,
immediately after a workout can help jumpstart your recovery without causing indigestion

Eat at least four meals a day

Eat breakfast, lunch, after-workout meal, and dinner every day so that you give your body more
chances to store fuel and rebuild

What to Eat:
Eating enough meals, and eating them at the right time, is only half the battle. The other important part of nutrition is having a
balanced diet that supplies your body with all the nutrients that it needs. Here are some tips to having a balanced diet:

Every meal should include a good source of protein, healthy fat, carbohydrate, and fruits or vegetables

Add foods to your diet more than you take foods away

Each nutrient has an important function, and a deficiency in any of them can have devastating consequences

It is more harmful to stop eating unhealthy foods and not add enough healthy food to replace them than to just
add healthy foods to your diet. Focus on eating enough food before focusing on removing unhealthy food from
your diet.

Eat significant portions of all food sources

Dont eat small amounts of something because of taste preferences or pop culture stereotypes

Here is a chart with some healthy food choices for each of the four important nutritional sources. Every meal
should include at least one thing from each category, either from the list or similar to what is on the list.

Unsaturated Fats

Protein

Carbohydrates

Fruits and Vegetable

An easy way to add healthy fat to All lean meats are great protein Eating a significant amount of Try having salads with dinner,
any meal is just adding some nuts sources, dairy without the fat is carbs many times a day is
eating vegetable mixes or
of choice
also good
crucial to good performance
taking fruit to go

Avocado

Nuts: Walnuts, almonds,

cashews, peanuts

Nut butter: PB, almond

Seeds: Flax, pumpkin,

sunflower

Vegetable/Legume
Oil: Olive, Canola,
Safflower, Soy,
Sunflower, Corn

Fish: Salmon, Sardines

Eggs (limit yolk intake) All Whole Grain

Bread, bagels
nonfat milk
Cereal with bran
nonfat plain yogurt
Oatmeal
soy milk (healthy fat)
Hot cereal w/bran
Tofu products (full fat)
Brown, Wild rice
chicken (free range)
Pasta
turkey (dont eat skin)
Some potato
lean beef (top round)
Yams
legumes, beans (no
lard)
Crackers

Fish: Salmon,
sardines Tilapia,
freshwater trout
Shrimp, clam,
oyster

Fruits:
Dark Plums, Grapes,
Berries Citrus, Grapefruit,
Apricot, Cherries, Apple,
Mango Bananas, Passion,
Guava
Vegetables:

Bag spinach, Kale, Chard,

Broccoli, Parsley, Mint, Red
Leaf, Beets, Red cabbage,
(Avoid partially-hydrogenated Carrot, Tomato, Cauliflower,
Onion, Garlic, Zucchini
oils)
Try new things

(See More Information for site

about mercury)

Hydration
Hydration is simpler than eating but can have an even greater influence on performance. The good rule to follow is drink 8oz to 1L
every hour starting when you wake up and stopping an hour before you sleep, and make sure you are hydrated before and after
exercise.

More Information
http://thehealthmonster.com/Business/Downloads.html

This is a site by a nutrition lecturer from Stanford with links to informational documents including the information used in the
above list of foods. His information on mercury and the science behind nutrition is interesting, but some of the portion sizes in diet
recommendations are not sufficient for high school cross country runners.

The Triathletes Training Bible by Joe Friel

This is a great book about training for endurance athletes that includes a very informative section on nutrition that is applicable to

cross country runners. The book also includes a lot of information on training theory and some cycling and swimming workouts that
are great for cross training or injury recovery.

For even more information contact a nutritionist or feel free to email me at swoodard@gmail.com and I can offer
my experience or at least show you where to get more information.

Lompoc (our first meet as well as County Championships)

Directions: Take 101N to just past the tunnel and take Hwy 1 to Lompoc. Take this for
about 20 miles into the town of Lompoc. At the 1st light (Ocean Dr./Hwy 246), turn right and
go for about 1/2 mile. Just past the river you cross over, you will turn left into River Park. Go
down the road until you reach the grass area where you will see the teams and a small
parking lot on the left just for you.

League Meet at Dos Pueblos
Directions: 101 to Glenn Annie turn toward the mountains and go to Cathedral Oaks turn
left and the school is on the left. The race starts and finishes on the field behind the stadium.


DP Invitational at Shoreline Park
Directions: Take 101 to the Castillo exit. Take Castillo toward the beach to Cabrillo/Shoreline. Turn
right on Shorline Dr.

Race Information: Freshmen 2:45, Sophomores 3:25, Juniors 4:00, Seniors 4:30, the girls will
start 3 minutes after the boys, Open Div. 5:15

Mt. SAC Trip: (Mt SAC Invitational and CIF Prelims and Finals)


Directions to Mt. SAC: 101S to 134E to 210E to 605S to 10E to Grand Ave, turn
right (South) and go up and over a hill to Temple Ave - turn left and go to the second
entrance into the Mt. SAC parking lot (I believe it is the second signal - but just follow the
traffic). From there you will have to walk to the other end of the parking lot and through a
tunnel that goes under Temple Ave. There you will pay to get in and follow the crowd to
the warm-up area, we will be found at the bottom of the ramp going down to the field on the
right hand side.





League meet at Arroyo Verde Park: (Ventura)

Directions: 101 South to the Seaward Exit; turn left off of freeway and left again at the
light - heading now toward the mountains and going over the freeway. Go to end and take
a 45 degree turn to the right onto Poli St. which turns into Foothill Rd., go about 2 miles
and Arroyo Verde Park will be on your left hand side (the entrance is hard to find, so look
closely). Look for the green sign for Arroyo Verde Park on your right hand side.

League finals at Camino Real Park: (Ventura)
Directions: The meet is at Camino Real Park in Ventura. Take the 101S to 126E to
Victoria Ave and turn left, to Telegraph Ave and turn left, to Estates Ave and turn left, to
Dean Dr. and turn right, to the park on your



State Meet Woodard Park (Fresno)
Directions to Woodward Park from Santa Barbara: Take 101 north to Paso Robles, go
East on Hwy 46 to Hwy 41. Turn left on Hwy 41 (north-east toward Kettleman City). Take
Hwy 41 to Fresno, exit on Friant, turn right on Friant then left on Audubon Blvd., the park
is on the right. The park is bordered by Cobb Ranch Blvd. on the west, Audubon Blvd. on
the south and Friant Rd on the east.

Ojai Invitational:
The meet begins at 9:00am with the small schools running 1st. The small schools will run
their two races - a boys race and a girls' race. Large schools begin their races immediately
following the small schools and the girls will race first, at about 10:00am. Medals will be
distributed to the top 20 runners in each class level as they exit the finish chute. We should
be home between 1:30 and 2:00. They do have a snack bar and t-shirts for sale at the meet
if youre interested. I would like everyone to pack some good food and plenty of water - it is
usually very hot out there, so it would be best if the athletes really focused on pre-hydrating
themselves. If it is above 95 degrees at race time they will actually shorten the distance of
the race. The big rule of the day: STAY OUT OF THE LAKE!

Directions: 101S to 33E to the stoplight at 33 and 150 (the sign on the light says Baldwin
Drive; this is the 4th stoplight you will pass, approx. 11 miles up Hwy 33). Turn left at
150(Baldwin Drive) and go about 3 miles. Turn left onto Santa Ana Rd. and immediately turn
right into the Lake Casitas Park Entrance. Turn right as soon as you are in the park and stay
on the road for 2 miles. People will direct you where to park. You will have to walk 1/4 of a
mile from there. Unfortunately there is a $6.50 entry fee per car, so you might want to
think about carpooling with other parents. Our team will be seated on the grassy hill along
with most of the other teams.







Team Rules
1. Be here every practice on time dont leave early
2. Dont walk 3 warnings and you are out for returning athletes
3. Pick-up after yourself or else you cook for the Coaches
4. Cheer everyone on at the meets. dont leave early
5. Dress appropriately each day (practice in shirt and shorts)
6. Bring a stopwatch every day
7. Follow the School Code of Conduct for Athletes