Last week I had the opportunity to attend a running camp in Brevard, NC with two of my cross country girls. It was a new experience for all three of us and not without its ups and downs, quite literally. As both a runner and a coach, I have some takeaways…
Runner Shelly
Welcome to Camp – As a runner I was challenged from the very first welcome run. This camp was not for the slowpoke, recreational runner. Given the option to go for 20, 30, or 40 minutes around the campus we were staying at, I opted for 30 minutes thinking no big deal. A welcome run shouldn’t be too strenuous, right? HAHA. Our leader took off dropping a pace I have never hit in my life. After 16 minutes, I pulled out. Maybe the trails would even things out a bit the next day.
Hitting the Trails – Thought the fact that I run a lot of different trails and terrain in Florida would work to my advantage here, but I must have forgotten an important factor: ELEVATION. Florida is relatively flat. Where we live is roughly 80 ft above sea level. Camp started at around 2200 ft and our daily trail runs began with a 450 ft gain, added to each day by about 50-100 ft more for a final “graduation” run on day five of 825 ft gain. In addition to the elevation factor, North Carolina trails have some rocky challenges. The term gravel doesn’t not mean what this Florida girl thought it meant.
Directionally challenged – Living on a peninsula also means it’s not terrifically hard to know where you are in relation to compass points. Not so much when you are winding through the mountains. I’m fairly adept at reading trail markers (blazes), but not when there aren’t any. Most of the time we had camp staff to point us in the right direction, but some runs they were few and far between. Thankfully I managed not to get lost, but I did pick up an extra 1.2 miles and 150 ft elevation gain that I was no planning on one day.
No regrets – Overall I’m glad for the experience of running someplace new and having to dig deep. I’m satisfied knowing I pushed through five straight days of difficult trails even if I was way in the back of the pack and muscles I didn’t know I had were not happy with me. I might have trained a little differently leading up to camp if I had a better idea what I was up against, but now I know for next time.
Coach Shelly
The girls I ended up going with are pretty different from each other back home. There is a three year age gap and 3-4 min difference in mile pace. Lot’s of other schools had brought full teams or groups that were more suited to running together. At first I felt bad that my two runners would kind of be on their own each day for these new, intense, challenging runs. There was also some lack of direction from the camp schedule and staff regarding what the coaches’ duties would be.
Thankfully we were paired with two other schools, one from nearby in Central Florida. Over a couple days we found ourselves carpooling, doing team challenge courses, and generally hanging out with these teams and their coaches. I got to see my girls making new friends during these times, and learning to dig deep physically and mentally when they were alone sometimes on the trails.
I also gained some personal direction as I observed and interacted with other coaches and runners throughout the week. On two different runs I ended up leading small groups who were uncertain about either the trail or their pacing. In learning sessions I picked up a few useful ideas to bring back to my own practices, and I saw where opportunities were missed that I know I already do better with my team. I may have even acquired some new vision and direction as to where I want my coaching to go beyond what I’m currently doing.
Girl with Dog 