Competitions:

Events I've Completed:

Run for Rescue - 4/30/11 - 5k - 29:05 (finished 2nd in my age)
Ojai to Ocean - 6/5/11 - Half Marathon - 1:56:37 (Ran with Lisa!)
Megan Savage Memorial - 9/24/11 - 5k - 31:16 (Ran with Bill!)
Beach Derby 10k - 11/6/11 - 56:40 (Ran with Nikki!)
RnRLV - 12/4/11 - Half Marathon 2:18 (Ran with Nikki!) Got sick by race end. Sick three days.
Surf City - 2/5/12 - Half Marathon - 1:55:02 (PR) Ran with Lisa and Sarah
Battle of the Boxes-2/23/13-5:04 Mini Helen-8th place overall team finish
Crossfit Open 13.1-131
Crossfit Open 13.2-232
Crossfit Open 13.3-183
Crossfit Open 13.4-54
Crossfit Open 13.5-49
Battle of the Boxes: Unknown Edition- 3rd place finish!

Upcoming:

Crossfit Open 2014!





This is my before photo. I weighed 15 pounds more, was exhausted all of the time and wasn't getting better at crossfit, running or life. It was time for a change.

My before photo

My before photo

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Training high school athletes

Today I'm going to post about someone other than myself.  My post today is about my 16 year old son, who is a junior in high school.  He's always been involved in competitive sports, and we've always kept a very rigorous schedule with those sports.  I'm just wondering if there is a line and how you go about coming back from it with the pressures of getting into college right around the corner.

Here's the lowdown:  He had played competitive ice hockey for 8 years before entering high school.  Upon entering high school, he decided to try water polo.  He knew if he stuck with hockey, he'd have to go to boarding school on the East coast and he didn't want to do that.  So he started a sport he'd never played in his life going up against boys who'd played for years.  He made the Freshman team and enjoyed the lower key schedule.  By the end of the season, he was being pulled up for some JV games.  At this point, he felt like he'd made the best decision ever.  He loved having teammates nearby and loved being home for dinner.  Along with water polo in the fall came the requirement to swim in spring.  Again he'd never swam competitively but he was willing to try.  He wasn't the fastest but found he had stamina, so he swam the 500m.  He was also warned that to advance, he needed to join the local club water polo team.  Being new to club he was on the B team, so the schedule was still fine.

The following year, he made Varsity!  He wasn't a starter, but played in every game including the CIF finals.  On varsity thought the schedule got pretty tough.  He was also on the A team for club, which included 3x/week practices from 6:30-9:00 after having swam from 3-5.  Plus they did weight training 3 mornings a week before school.  He barely made it through.  We allowed him to skip a club practice if he had a lot of homework and somehow he did it.

Now it's his junior year and we're back in the time of year that is overwhelming.  Add to that, we had him go out for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) team and he made it!  It's such a great accomplishment but one that adds all day practices a couple of weekends a month.  His club team is now practicing 3x/week from 6-9 with no excuses for homework.  His schedule right now looks like this:

Mon: AM weights 6:20-7:20
          PM swim 3:00-5:00
Tues:  PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit workout 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Wed:  PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit workout 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Thurs: PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Fri:      PM swim 3:00-5:00

Plus tournaments for club, swim meets for swim and ODP weekend training.  Although right now it's pre-season for swim.  When the season begins he may not get some of the breaks he's getting right now from training.  My question is this, is this normal?  In my opinion there are some really great things he's gained from working this hard, but I've also seen a lot of kids burn out.  So I'd love to hear what you think and if it's too much, where do you cut back?

3 comments:

  1. Wow! I don't think I have any good advice. It seems like its an all or nothing thing, right? If he's on the school team, he has to do the club? Do you know any Parents of Seniors well enough to get a better understanding?

    That whole thing scares me.

    I guess there all in pretty great shape, huh? He must eat you out of groceries daily with all that...

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  2. Haha yes Carrie he's definitely in the shape of his life. In fact since starting the Crossfit training he said if he doesn't have a perfect 6 pack by the end of the session I should get a refund :)

    I have talked to many Seniors parents but it seems to vary. Some are skipping swim. That won't work for my son since he has the swim coach as his teacher in two AP classes and can't afford to make him angry! Some didn't try out for ODP but that's not really a huge time commitment. Although looking back, it is more extra thing that could've been skipped. I don't know. I guess I don't want him to look back and say, "Why didn't I do this or that?". I want him to get into college knowing he experienced everything available to him while he was at home with us. But now he's wanting a social life. He has time for that later...right?

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  3. I think that schedule looks pretty normal, we used to do 2 a days for water polo and swimming. But, they never overlapped so I ended up have 2 hours of practice in the morning and 2-3 hours of practice in the afternoon. The extra crossfit seems like an unnecessary addition. But, if these are the requirements for the team then he has to meet them, they expect a lot from student athletes and sometimes I definately think it is too much! Good luck to him, and you helping him get through it!

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