Post-Season Racing

There are three post-season race options:

  • USATF Junior Olympics (JO’s) includes the Association Race (A) on 11/14 in Tacoma/University Place, the Regional Race (R) on 11/20 in University Place, and the Nationals Race (N) on 12/11 in Lexington.  Your child may forgo the 11/14 and 11/20 races and go straight to nationals, or participate in any combination of the three races.  JO’s are run in age divisions (8&U, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18).  At this time, it appears we will not have enough runners to form scoring teams in these divisions for the national race, but we might have scoring teams in the Association and/or Regional races.  Regardless, your child would still run under the team name “Whisper Running,” just not be part of a scoring team.

  • Foot Locker races are for high school runners only, and does not include team scoring.  At this time, we have around 5 girls considering this event.  The Regional race is on 12/4 in Walnut, CA, and the National race is on 12/11 in San Diego.

  • NXR (Nike XC Regionals) is historically for HS runners, but now seems to include MS as well. Regardless, we will only have HS runners at this event on 11/13 in Boise.  Although this event is for high school runners, it does not include clubs in the team scoring. At this time, it appears we will have 10-15 runners participate at this event.

Note: HS/MS runners cannot represent their schools, so when I say HS/MS, I simply mean HS-age or MS-age competing independently or with a club.

Now that we are clear on the three races, dates, and locations, see the Google Spreadsheet to make sure your child is in the preferred race.  Some families are still uncertain where their child will participate, so their name (in the cell) is shaded a light green.  Abbreviations are "A" for Association Race, "R" for JO Regional Race, "N" for JO National Race, "FL" for Foot Locker, and "NXR" for Nike Cross Regionals.

Moving forward, although I am happy to help families navigate decisions, I cannot be in all places at once, so these generous ladies have taken the lead for the following races:

  • Foot Locker runners (parents), your point of contact is Stacy Redfern, Smmullens@yahoo.com. 

  • NXR runners, your point of contact is Annie Christie, anneechristie@hotmail.com 

  • USATF JO runners, your point of contact is me.

If your child plans to run Foot Locker or NXR, they may still run JO's. For meet and travel information, see the Whisper Calendar. You must RSVP with Coach Dave at least one week before any of the races (JO races) to be registered to participate.

Lessons in Small Doses

Finishing my daily aqua-jogging routine for reprieve from sciatica, I make my way to the locker room for a shower.  The room is rather busy, and as I look toward my locker, a man in his 80's is using the locker just beneath mine.  Rather than get in his way, I head to the shower for a long rinse. Afterward, the gentleman is still there, so I bide time by running my shorts through the suit dryer, then weighing myself on the scale across the room. After exhausting everything I can think to do, I approach the man and excuse my reach. He politely moves aside while I grab my belongings.

"Did you have a good workout?" the elder asked.

"It wasn't much of a workout, it was merely some PT to help with my sciatica," I replied.

"Well, I've got Alzheimer's, so we're all dealing with something," he says with a smile.

In an instant, albeit only for a moment, my sciatica was gone. I experienced a similar encounter two weeks earlier when a gentleman using the hot tub exited by climbing out using only his hands to get into his wheelchair. And I am reminded of a dear friend who passed too early, when his wife told me that her running was now "easier" since she spent the past few years mourning his death.

Things are hard, until they are not.

This past weekend, I ran into a friend of mine, Mechele, at the Scary Run.  Mechele has been a runner as long as I can remember and she recently hired a coach to help her become faster, at the ripe young age of 58.  Mechele shared with me that in all the work she does on her own, she rarely includes speed training as part of her workout because, in her own words, “Speed work is hard!” 

Some people come out of the womb with an ability to run fast, while others take several decades to achieve, or sometimes never at all. At Whisper, beginning runners are reminded that the discomfort they are feeling when running hard is normal and short lived.  This makes me think of the sign I read at the Eugene Half Marathon that read, “If you think time goes by fast, trying running a marathon.” 

Okay, so when you’re in the moment of running, it may seem to take forever, but in the grand scheme of things, i.e., workouts, it really does go by fast. 

Teaching runners how to run hard can be administered in small doses called Intervals.  These are physical lessons of stress and prolonged discomfort, and on the mental side, they are lessons of tolerance and repeated achievement.  Again and again, intervals are practiced, consistency is yearned for, and fitness improves.  In time, intervals are lengthened, and the cycle continues – workouts improve conditioning, which improves confidence, which leads to an enthusiasm for the next practice.  Keep in mind, we only meet for workouts twice each week, so the multiple days of rest between workouts is more than sufficient.

The life lesson.

If there is a silver lining in my bout with sciatica, it’s that six weeks on the shelf has brought healing to my Achilles, something I have not had in 10+ years.  My body says, “Your Achilles needs a prolonged rest, why don’t have lay down for a while,” and I do so as I type this from the floor of my living room.   Stress is part of life, and the valleys callous us for when we are ready to  come out the other end stronger and wiser.

Should one experience sciatica day in, day out, year in, year out?  Hopefully not!  Similarly, easy runs, intervals, fartleks, tempos, and steady-state runs have seasons, and ebbs and flows.  They come in just the right doses at just the right times in just the right order for just the right moment.  Intervals teach us that it is okay to experience stress, and in fact, we should be excited when it arrives!  They provide us strength and confidence and guide us into running experiences we would otherwise never know. 

Spokane to Sandpoint 2021

Whisper brought two teams to this years race: Whisper Road Runners The Other Half, who won the 195-mile race, and Whisper Road Runners, who finished second. The race wound-up being ~20 miles short due to the thunderstorm in Coeur D’Alene, which forced a two-hour pause on the event. All in all, the event was safe, fun, and we look forward to returning in 2022!

Navigating the Current State of Anxiety in Youth Running

The root of performance anxiety spreads far and wide, sometimes without the proper verbiage to articulate a sentence of expressing why.   We have seen recent examples of Olympic athletes taking a stand for themselves, their mental health, against cultural norms of a “toughen up” society. From Olympians Simone Biles and Michael Phelps, to professional athletes Rick Ankiel and Ricky Watters, for decades we have observed elite athletes attempt to openly discuss some truth of who they are and what they feel, and now is the time we provide a platform for listening, learning, and responding with understanding and support.   

Youth sport participates are not immune to mental health issues.  Pluhar and colleagues (2019) studied anxiety and depression in athletes between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age who were participating in team sports versus individual sports.  Their study revealed 13% of athletes participating in individual sports (i.e., running, gymnastics, diving) reported anxiety or depression in relation to their sport.  A staggering 30% of individual sport athletes played their sport for goal-oriented reasons, as opposed to for fun.  In another study conducted in May of 2020, Watson and Koontz investigated the impact COVID-19 on youth sports, reporting alarming numbers in the mental health realm.   Of the 13,000 adolescent athlete’s studied country-wide, “40% reported moderate to severe depression symptoms and 37% reported moderate to severe anxiety.”  The study rightly mentions the disproportionate impact on low-income and minority children.

Whisper Running, a year-round youth running club in Vancouver, Washington, has felt these realities, where runners, as well as parents of runners, have shared feelings and experiences of anxiety related to sport, particularly since the onset of COVID-19.  Being a youth-centered program, these are often first-time feelings of anxiety and depression for the young athletes involved in a completive program. 

What’s a runner to do when feelings of stress and anxiety arise at the mere thought of running?

In a Bill Moyers video featuring Jon Kabat-Zinn,  Kabat-Zinn encourages his clients to “dance..live…around the corners (of pain and discomfort),” (32:30) all the while, being fully aware of the presence of pain and anxiety.  This is practiced in low-pressure settings (i.e., at practice), and implemented, or put into play, when things get tough in the sport of running.  Whether it’s merely showing up, pushing a pace never experienced, or going back to a place of discomfort for the greater good, placing your body in these challenges, teaching the body and the mind to “dance” through the moments of discomfort can begin to bring down the walls of performance anxiety.

Another solution to handling adversity is sustaining some level of consistency.  Even achieving small, mundane tasks, such as the basic Activities of Daily Living, can develop some semblance of achievement and self-confidence.  Another solution, in-line with familiarity and consistency for those involved in the running program, is working with Psychological Skills Training tools, to keep the focus on running sharp and centered.  Whether a runner is now training with their school team, or still attending regular practices at Whisper, here are a few strategies one can implement to reduce sport-related anxiety and keep the focus on the present.

Setting realistic goals.  This is one of the most challenging efforts to follow-through with.  With their head on a swivel, too often, runners compare themselves to the uncontrollable, such as friends, teammates, other teams, siblings, or even traditions, rather than accepting who they are as a runner, where they are as a runner, and working from the ground floor.  With each passing step, a runner’s goals should be personal and supported with action.

Goals should be shared.  Clearly the bravest step in the process, sharing goals can take comparison with others off the table.  As one communicates their intentions, desires, and dreams (goals), a renewed sense of self can freely begin the beautiful pursuit of something grand.  On a successful team, teammates will embrace one another’s goals as their own, taking personal responsibility to periodically check-in on their teammates to see how things are progressing. 

Personal goals should be in small increments.  There is no magic formula to setting goals.  There are simply too many variables to account for, and the reality is, sometimes performance will take a step (or two) back, before it can take two steps forward.  Keep things simple and remember that even successful performances might not mean a PR (personal record), but rather, a personal best time on a specific course, or running a great week or month of workouts, should mean a feather in the cap of success.

Personal goals are greater than team goals.  Team is important, but on some level, when setting goals, putting your needs first is okay, so long as it doesn’t lead to a detriment of the team or teammates.  Communicating these needs first, or along the way as you mature, is also important. Needs such as resting more, taking an interval off when needed, running an extra interval, or running 5-10 more minutes to feel more fulfilled about the workout is in order.  Regardless, understanding your needs as a runner, and what it takes to fulfill those needs, will make you a better runner.

Visualize success.  99% of “visualize success” means imagining behaviors you can control.  To keep things simple when imagining success, close your eyes and place yourself in a familiar space, such as a park or a road you might run regularly.  When visualizing, have an objective – a focus on a task, such as concentrating on foot strike, a rhythm, feeling smooth and relaxed, a relaxed arm swing, feeling easy and controlled, imagine good posture, or listen to the sound your shoes make as they tap the ground at an easy, yet fast speed.  Some coaches like to draw these imagined behaviors into interval sessions, while other coaches believe these imagined behaviors should be thought of while on longer runs.  When to blend the imagery into the workout – during easy runs or hard tempos – can be an individual preference.  The key is the consistent intentional focus on the small actions that make you a better runner.

Whether you are currently training with Whisper, training with your local school, or an adult running to hold on to some semblance of youth, Goal Setting and Visualization are key elements that elite performers use to help dial-in on performance objectives and desires.

Sources:

Pluhar, E., et al. (2019). Team Sport Athletes May Be Less Likely To Suffer Anxiety or Depression than Individual Sport Athletes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683619/

A. Watson & J. Koontz (2020). Youth sports in the wake of COVID-19: a call for change. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/14/764

B Moyers, (1993). Healing and the Mind - Healing from Within. https://vimeo.com/39767361

Edemekong, P., et. al. (2021) Activities of Daily Living. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470404/

How a Season Works, Including Junior Olympics

I have been answering excellent questions pertaining to the cross-country season ahead, so I figured it would be appropriate to share some of these answers on a broader scale

Most of the races are day races, with the exception of the Junior Olympic races on November 13, 20, and December 11. The races on Nov 13 & 20 are in Tacoma, and most families drive up on Friday and the kids race on Saturday. For Ultimook, some families stay the night near Tillamook, but I believe most families opt for the making the race/event a single-day affair.

Here are the start times for the races, and more info can be found in the "Meet Info" on each race within our athletic.net schedule:

  • Sat, Sept 4: Ultimook: 9:30am

  • Fri, Sept 10: Run-A-Ree): 6:20pm

  • Sat, Sept 11: Ash Creek: 9:25am

  • Fri, Sept 24: Nike: 6:30pm

  • Sat, Oct 2: Harrier Classic: 12:10pm

  • Sun, Oct 31: PDXC MS Championships: 1-3pm

  • Sat, Nov 13, 20, Dec 11: Junior Olympics: 9am-1pm (they run in age divisions, so this is a longer day)

The online Calendar was updated a few weeks ago and includes meet information such as race start times, locations, etc. I will go through each of the races to confirm accuracy, but I get all of our information from what the coaches provide on athletic.net. If you come across anything that doesn't match, or if you have more questions, please ask.

Runners should arrive at the race venue 75-minutes before the start of their race, taking into consideration drive and parking time.

How Junior Olympics works:

  • Association Race: Age groups are U8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17-18 and divided by gender. Anyone can race. The top-5 teams and top-30 individuals qualify for the Regional Race. Our Association (#310) is the Pacific NW division, which consists of western Washington teams.

    • Teams consist of 5-7 runners (top-5 runners for each team score), so if runners 4-7 finish outside of the top-30, they still advance to Regionals if the team was in the top-5. If we have 10 runners, 7 will be placed on a team, and 3 will run individually. The top-7 runners (of the 10) will advance to Regionals. If we have 12 runners, we will likely divide into two teams for that age division to maximize the opportunity for multiple teams to advance to Regionals.

  • Regional Race: Runners who met the qualification standards for this race may participate. The top-5 teams and top-35 individuals qualify for the National Race. Our Region consists of teams from Oregon, Washington, and I believe a few in Idaho. We will always aim to qualify as many teams as possible to maximize the opportunities for the kids.

  • National Race: I usually arrive on Thursday and depart on Monday, but most families travel Friday-Sunday. Pre-covid, the race was on Saturday, but in 2020, because they wanted to space things out due to covid, the races were on both Saturday and Sunday. At this time, I do not know what the format will be this year, but once I find out, I will update the Calendar.

As far as the size of our team, this is a very interesting year. Many of our runners have moved onto high school, and with covid impacting sport participation, our middle school team will be smaller this year than in years past. Mind you, we have one of the largest teams in our Association - we took 71 runners to the first JO meet in 2019. I would imagine by mid-October, we will have 40-60 on the team.

Please keep the questions coming and I will update this post.

Whisper Running Fall XC 2500m Kickoff

After a year hiatus, the Whisper Fall XC Kickoff commenced the 2021 cross-country season for Clark County Runners. In the third annual event, we had four boys crack the Top-10 record book for the 2500m course, along with four girls entering the Top-10 for their respective gender.

Click to see overall results.

Click to see Top-10 All-Time results.

Congratulations to all the participants. Visit our Instagram page at whipserrunning to view event photos.

Fall Training and XC Racing Information

Whisper Running's cross-country season begins on Saturday, September 4 at the Ultimook Race in Tillamok, Oregon. This muddy race is the perfect way to begin the season, which includes up to seven regular season meets in the Portland-metro area, and up to three USATF Junior Olympic meets in Seattle and Lexington, Kentucky! The Whisper team consists of runners between the ages of 10-14 (mostly middle school, but some exceptions may be made for younger runners - talk with Coach Dave). If your child is interested, see our Join the Team page for team participation and fall training. Note: runners do not need to be on the team to participate in fall training.

The objective of Whisper Running is to bring kids together for team participation, develop and hone work ethic, and to create wonderful, long-lasting memories. Money should never be a barrier for sport participation. If your child would like to participate, but family finances are limited, please talk with Coach Dave about options.

FALL TRAINING: Fall training begins on Monday, August 23. See the updated Calendar for training dates, locations, and times. As the school year begins, start times shift from morning to evening, so pay particular attention to the Calendar for these details.

RUNCARD: Because fall training is distance oriented, sprint training will come to a close on Wednesday, August 18 (at the end of Summer Training) and resume in January, when Winter Training begins. Any Runcards purchased for runners participating in the sprint training during the summer will have their Runcard placed on pause until winter.

Growth in Running

Since March of 2020, Whisper is comprised of roughly 30% high school cross-country runners, a 15% increase from 2019.  These are exciting numbers, as the maturity of seasoned runners can provide a pathway for younger runners to emulate. 

2017, our first Summer Training session. Scour through the picture and you’ll find many familiar faces

2017, our first Summer Training session. Scour through the picture and you’ll find many familiar faces still running in the Whisper program, and also for their high school.

High school cross-country resumes today throughout Clark County.  For our high school runners now taking part in their (away from) home program at the high school level, they will not only be in new training environments with new paths and streets to run, but also under the guidance and tutelage of their high school coaches and coach philosophies apart from what they’ve come to know at Whisper. 

I often say, “_____ is the best part of Whisper,” but knowing that our runners are engaging with new teammates and learning new philosophies to training and running is what will shape them, guide them, and hone their own philosophies about training, running, and hopefully, life. This is truly the best part of Whisper. This is called Growth, and it’s important. 

Though our high school runners will be missed while they are away, their departure will offer our younger generation of runners an opportunity to step into leadership roles, either physically, emotionally, socially, or all the above. Rather than seeing the backsides of the elders from teams Blue and Purple (our two front groups at practice), their vision will consist of a breath of fresh air, with any perceived limitations being their own imagination.  Teams Red, Green, and Yellow will now be the front groups, providing an opportunity for those within these groups to take on greater roles and responsibilities at Whisper. 

Final Email to Restolution Run Participants

Hello Resolution Run Participants!

Thank you for your participation in the 2021 Resolution Run!  The in-person event was a true success and we couldn’t be more delighted by how it all turned out and we hope to see you again in 2022!  There are a few important closing notes regarding covid, sponsors, awards, event pictures, and upcoming events.  Please review and email me if you have any question.

COVID: To the participants who followed the covid protocols to ensure a safe in-person event, thank you!  Not only does your follow-through keep current participants safe, but it also helps with proposing future events to the involved entities (cities, counties, police department, etc.).  Without your cooperation, we wouldn’t be able to even think about hosting other live events – again, thank you!

SPONSORS: A humble request to support the Resolution Run sponsors if and when you are able.  In full transparency, it takes around 220 runners to financially break even for the Resolution Run, and we had 180 (you can do the math).  However, our amazing list of sponsors included Wintzer Acupuncture, Athletes Corner, Generation Homes Northwest, American Marble & Granite, Whisper Running, Seton Catholic Prep, Best Western Plus of Battle Ground, Honey Stinger, Blossom Natural Health and Wellness, The Old Spaghetti Factory, and Waste Connections, all played an essential role in raising funds for the nonprofit, Whisper Community - $3,719.90!  Thankfully, we can use 100% of those funds to support youth running-related programs in the Clark County area!

AWARDS: Virtual participants should have received their medals by now.  In-person participant age bracket winners, if you picked up a Lava Lamp without a cap, please email me.  I’m embarrassed to admit, but when I was placing the finisher and sponsor stickers on the lamps, a cap remained on my desk.  My bad.  Shoot me an email and I’ll send the remainder of your lamp to your home this week.

PHOTOS: Our photographer for the Res Run is a family friend who was volunteered by a volunteer (his lovely wife).  I am grateful he stepped in at the last minute to take pictures of the start and finish, which you can find on the Resolution Run page at whisperrunning.com/resolutionrun.  The images can be found in the video at the top of the page.

EVENTS: By now, I had hoped to have more information about our next event, Lake to Bay, which is a 62.37-mile relay race through Clark County.  We should have more information about this event in the coming weeks, so please visit our page in the coming days at whisperrunning.com/laketobay for event details.  Once the event logistics  are in place and the website has been updated, an email will head your way!

If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email to whisperrunning@comcast.net.

Thank you!

Dave Caldwell