Home of the Lancers

Week 8/2-8/7

Physicals Required prior to starting practice

  • All returners need to go into Athletic Clearance to create a new record for the year 2021-22, it does not automatically switch over
  • Please CLICK HERE for instructions on how to transfer your physical over for the 2021-22 school year
  • Some of you have transferred it over to 2021-22, but your physical has not cleared yet, please confirm

Photos from Mr. Kajita!

Please see the below note from Mr. Kajita

Google will soon be ending their free photo storage service so I will be using Smugmug going forward.  Therefore, I created the following website and added all the photos I took at the XC and track meets from this season:

https://www.ekgalleries.com/

Attendance

We are required to submit attendance every week.  If you will be missing practice, please email me.  If not, you will be marked absent.

If you are opting out of practice, and not calling Coach Julie back, you will be marked absent.

Neck Gaiter

I’d like to suggest you purchase a running neck gaiter for practice, you can wear it around your neck when you’re not near anyone and pull it above your mouth when passing people on the roads, trails or parks.  Here are a couple options:

 

TOXC Google Doc
Please be in the habit of logging your runs after every practice in the TOXC Google Doc.

When you get your physical, we highly recommend that you get your FERRITIN LEVEL checked.  Especially all Varsity athletes are strongly encouraged to get their ferritin levels checked.  For information on iron deficiency within distance athletes, see below.

Iron Deficiency – Time To Check Again

  • Recognizing that Cross Country is primarily an aerobic challenge, oxygen transport is crucial.
  • Approximately 99% of human oxygen transport is mediated by the binding of molecular oxygen to an iron-containing molecule (within red blood cells) known as hemoglobin.
  • If an athlete is iron deficient, their endurance performance inevitably (and, likely, significantly) suffers.
  • Accordingly, we strongly encourage twice yearly iron testing for our student-athletes in order to support the maintenance of optimal iron status.
  • Standard blood panels include the assessment of both hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit, and most importantly FERRITIN.
  • By analogy, hemoglobin and hematocrit are equivalent to “money-in-your -pocket” while ferritin is correspondingly equivalent to “money-in-the-bank.”
  • If hemoglobin and hematocrit appear normal yet ferritin is sub-optimal, one might extend the analogy to suggest that subsequent to spending all available “money-in-your-pocket,” an individual is essentially “bankrupt” consequent to minimal iron reserves (i.e. minimal ferritin or, again, by analogy … minimal or no “money-in-the-bank”).
  • In summary, the opportunity to periodically analyze hemoglobin, hematocrit, and ferritin enables our coaching staff to quantitatively appreciate a student-athlete’s current iron status and to potentially recommend (to parents / guardians) a reasoned iron supplementation strategy (if appropriate) in order to contribute to ALWAYS maintaining performance-supporting, healthful iron status.

Come and see why students describe our Cross Country program as the best experience of their high school lives.

TOHS Cross Country is a combined boys and girls program that has a tradition of excellence including many Marmonte League, Ventura County, and California State Championships and many runners that go on to compete at the collegiate level.

Whether you’ve never run a step in your life or you enjoy running youth track and local 5k’s, we would love to have you come join the Lancer Cross Country program.  We are the most decorated team at TOHS and you will have the time of your life making friends and lasting memories in this wonderful program!

We’re excited for another year of Lancer Cross Country and invite all of you to join us for our first week of practice and activities to see if cross country is right for you! We are busy making plans for our summer training program, which will include pool parties, beach trips, and much much more.

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