Well, there is probably nothing more quintessentially Colorado than fickle weather. But after a one hour lightening delay (we were one minute and a couple tenths of a mile from cancelling), the Angels hit the Mile High Loop “Original” 2-mile Time Trial course in City Park. Maybe the delay was worth it, since the temperature dropped from high 90’s to low 80’s in that interval.

The Time Trial is basically a test, answering the question, “what did you do on your summer vacation?” In the boys time trial, Jack Gertge and Mason Harper answered with an emphatic, “we trained like we have never trained before.” The two seniors finished 1st and 2nd respectively with times of 10:57 and 11:01. Junior Emery Wagner, whose summer training was briefly delayed due to injury, was only a few seconds behind in 11:05, and looks like he will be in top form when the real racing starts. It was no surprise to see sophomore Tre Even cross the line 4th in 11:26, coming off his breakthrough track season last spring. Senior Kyle Kojima also looked like he was starting the season in good form, finishing 5th in 11:40.

It is not unusual for the Angels to have a freshman boy finish among the top seven. We would have to look a long way back (maybe it has never happened) for a time trial result in which three freshmen boys finished in the top eight. Liam Gerber (12:06), led the way for these ninth-graders, followed closely by Noah Erwin (12:09) and Even Mucharsky (12:14).

The leading pack of girls was familiar to Angel fans of the last couple years, with junior Avery Johnson (12:29) leading senior/captains Scout Chomas (12:31) and Julieta Ochoa (12:31) across the line. One got the sense that all three had more in the tank, saving it up for the more meaningful races. The gap back to the next group was short. Junior Lola Carhart finished a mere six seconds back of that group in 12:37. Sophomore Fiona Jeong, a revelation last track season, also crossed in 12:37, with her 5th place finish, followed by fellow sophomore Lila Brown in 12:41.

In an echo of the boys race, the next three girls across the line were all ninth graders, led by Tessa Fe Morris (13:10), followed closely by Norah Dysart (13:11) and Charlotte Clarke (13:14). In a typical season, we will see a bunch of ninth graders (in addition to the aforementioned) make massive improvements. The future of East Cross Country continues to be promising.

Reminder/Announcements: We will meet on track today at 4pm rather than in City Park. (Please be respectful of teams using the turf fields). Spike Night – Runners Roost on South Colorado on Monday, September 18. Potluck/Season Kickoff Meeting – The Commons at East HS on Wednesday, September 20 (note date change).

We are really proud of all 70 runners who completed the Time Trial yesterday. A quick shoutout to Henry Bennet, Corrine Kennedy, and Isaiah Springer, who all earned a “pass” from the Time Trial by finishing in the Top-15 at our Regional Championship last year. Our excitement for the upcoming season just keeps increasing. The results below we believe accurately reflect the order of finish, but we know the times after the first runners are a bit off (one person hand-timing 70 finishers will do that). Honestly, we don’t care about the times, just the great efforts demonstrated.

Thank-you to our alumni who came out to support the team. Photographed below with a trivia question. Know your East XC history – prize for the athlete with most complete answer today at practice.

Please fill out this Google form to sign up for uniforms by Monday, August 18 (if not earlier!) Uniforms will be handed out at the XC Kickoff and Potluck on Wednesday, August 20. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedIHhGp2NIVyfFsSSElWp9HuADkmjGpJrkjYnVMBN-nrmRmA/viewform?usp=header

If you do not complete the Google form, you will not receive a uniform next Wednesday at the potluck. The first meet is on Saturday, August 23, so it’s very important to have the entire team outfitted before that time.

Thank you!

PS: Reminder that the girls’ team ribbon making/potluck will be tomorrow (Wednesday) after practice! Bring materials and a snack or meal!

We will meet at 7:00 a.m. in the East student lot to head down to Magna Carta Park, where we will run on the Highline Canal Trail. For those who live close to Magna Carta Park, we’ll arrive there around 7:20 or so.

The long run is the most important workout of the week. We highly encourage everyone who can attend to attend. To put it simply, those who want to do their best in cross country should be attending Saturday long runs unless injured. Running together makes us better. Let’s work to be the best team we can be!

Go Angels!

We rely on parents/guardians for the success of the team. How can parents help their Angel?

1. Make certain your student-athlete makes it to practice. Please avoid scheduling other activities and appointments during practice time. The season is short – every practice and meet matters.
2. Feed your student-athlete. Your runner needs a lot of calories. A calorie deficient runner will not recover from workouts or races and won’t be ready to improve with the next workout or race. Make certain your runner is not skipping meals or snacks.
3. Keep your student-athlete hydrated. A water bottle should be with your runner more or less all the time.
4. Tuck your athlete in. At least figuratively. Sleep may be the most essential secret ingredient to success during the cross country season. Eight hours is great. Nine hours is better.
5. Congratulate them on completing a hard workout (even an easy run on a 95 degree is hard!).
6. Make it to our meets. Cross Country meets are quick compared to other sports. Bring a sibling, a grandparent, a friend. Wear your running shoes – you will want to run from spot to spot on the course to cheer on our Angels. Show your colors! We want the course lined with red clad Angel fans.
7. Follow the website and calendar so you can keep up what is going on. (And encourage your Angel to follow the website, even if it is so GenX). Check out the parent involvement tab.

The team relies on parent volunteers for an amazing season of activities. 

UNIFORMS. Parents assist coaches in sorting and distributing uniforms at the beginning of the season and collecting, washing, and putting away uniforms at the end of the season. If you can help, contact Sara at sara.struckman@gmail.com.

PHOTOS. Can you help collect and manage team photos from the meet each season? You can also upload your photos, view, and download at the team’s Memento site.

TENT TRANSPORT. The team needs help transporting the tent from meet to meet. Sign up to help with TENT TRANSPORT here.

MERCH SALES. Team merch is available and typically sold at the Season Kick-off Potluck and the End-of-Season Banquet. If you’d like to be involved in ordering and managing merch, contact Sara at sara.struckman@gmail.com.

RESTAURANT FUNDRAISERS. Parents schedule restaurant fundraisers for the team and promote the events on the website, Facebook, and through email reminders. Typically, the team hosts a restaurant fundraiser after the City meet. If you are interested in helping out, contact Kate at kshiroff@gmail.com.

END-OF-SEASON BANQUET. Typically parents of senior runners organize the banquet, but it’s open for anyone to help. This includes setting a date, securing a venue, organizing volunteers, collecting items for a silent auction, decorating, etc. If you’d like to help, contact Shane at shane_oboyle@yahoo.com.

Questions about volunteering? Contact Sara at sara.struckman@gmail.com.

Monday, August 11th: Start of official practice. Registration must be completed including uploading a recent physical exam. Links to registration platform and the physical exam form that must be used for all exam after July 1st are on the website. We meet Monday – Friday at 4pm on City Park Sports Fields immediately north of Thatcher Fountain at the end of Esplanade. See map below. Practice generally ends near 6pm.

Thursday, August 14th: 2-mile Time Trial in City Park. We will meet to warm-up at 4pm at our usual practice spot. Boys will start around 4:45pm. Girls will start around 4:50pm. We need parent, sibling and alumni volunteers for course monitors and finish line management. Volunteers, please check-in with coaches by 4:30pm. No experience necessary!

Monday, August 18th: Spike Night at Runners Roost at 1685 S. Colorado Blvd. 6pm – 8pm. Discounts on shoes and other running gear for athletes, friends and families. A percentage of sales will support Denver East Cross Country.

Thursday, August 21st: Team Potluck and Season Kickoff Meeting. This is the potluck for athletes and their parents/guardians to get important information regarding the season from the coaches. 6pm in the Commons at Denver East High School.

Saturday, August 23rd: First meet of the season at the Washington Park Invitational. This will be our chance to preview the course which will host our league meet at the end of the season! Top time-trial runners will compete in varsity 5000m race and all others will compete in Open 3000m race.

Follow the website for information on volunteer opportunities, meet details, restaurant night fundraisers, Saturday practices, updates to practice plans, athlete potlucks, and much, much more. Follow the calendar on the website for details of events.

Last week we lost a member of our Denver East Cross Country family. Information on celebrating the life of Craig Springer, father of senior/captain Isaiah Springer and loyal supporter/volunteer for East XC, is below. Please reach out to your coaches on how we can support Isaiah, his mother Sarah, and sister Isabelle. Thanks.

We will meet in the East student lot at 7:00 a.m. and head down to the Highline Canal Trail for a progression long run tomorrow morning! We would love to see as many runners as possible there!

You will run five minutes more than your longest run of the summer with a progression element in the second half. Each level should not go above the following distances (or more than five minutes longer than their longest of the summer):

Level 4: 90 minutes (45 easy, 30 medium, 15 “extra medium”

Level 3: 80 minutes (40 easy, 25 medium, 15 “extra medium”

Level 2: 70 minutes (35 easy, 20 medium, 15 “extra medium”

Level 1: 60 minutes (30 easy, 20 medium, 10 “extra medium”

You can follow a similar progression for whatever amount of minutes you are running.

Reminder: Next week we will begin 4:00 p.m. practices in our normal spot near the Thatcher Fountain in City Park. Stay hydrated!

Go Angels!

Iron is an important micronutrient in pathways of energy production. Quite simply, iron is essential for the transport of oxygen in red blood cells and the uptake of oxygen by muscle cells to produce energy for running. Since efficient oxygen delivery is the most important predictor of success in an aerobic event like 5000m cross country racing, iron is a big deal. Multiple studies have shown that athletes with low iron stores, even in the absence of anemia (low red blood cell counts or low hemoglobin levels), have declines in athletic performance.

Iron deficiency is common among endurance athletes, particularly young women athletes for whom the prevalence may be as high as 2/3 of all high-school and college age runners. Up to 1/3 of young men runners are iron deplete. Girls are at higher risk than boys for low iron stores due to obligatory blood loss through menstruation. Athletes who restrict their intake of red meat are also at higher risk of low iron stores because iron from other dietary sources is not as easily absorbed.

Ferritin is a protein measured by a simple blood test and gives the best estimate of a person’s total iron stores. Of Denver East athletes who have had their ferritin levels checked in the last eight years, nearly 100% of our girls and more than 50% of our boys have had low levels of ferritin. Clearly there may be some selection bias, since we have generally asked our athletes who had more overt symptoms to be tested, but the point is the same: iron deficiency is very common. Over the last couple years our recommendation for ferritin testing has evolved from recommending it only for those athletes who had symptoms to recommending that all our athletes have ferritin checked at least once per year. We are not alone: the best high school programs around the country are encouraging their athletes to have their ferritin levels checked and the collegiate programs to which we have sent East graduates are monitoring their athletes’ ferritin levels every 3-6 months.

Our athletes who have had low ferritin levels experienced plateaus in their racing performance despite consistent training, general fatigue, and difficulty recovering from workouts and races. Our athletes who have successfully repleted low iron stores have reported generally just feeling “better,” in addition to seeing improvements in their running performances.

There is some controversy as to what is a “normal” ferritin level. While levels as low as 15ug/L are not always associated with significant anemia, most exercise physiologists recommend a level of at least 35ug/L, and a few studies suggest a benefit to reaching a level of at least 50ug/L.

Supplementing with oral iron to bring ferritin levels to normal presents some challenges. Iron is not easily absorbed, and it takes 6-8 weeks to replete low iron levels. Multiple studies have shown that iron bisglycinate (rather than ferrous sulfate or ferrous fumarate) has superior absorption and tolerability, though it can be a bit more expensive and harder to find in pharmacies (it is easily found online). We recommend taking iron supplements along with vitamin C (which aids in absorption) at bedtime. For those who supplement with a multivitamin or calcium, we recommend taking those in the morning since calcium interferes with iron absorption. 25-50mg of elemental iron per day is a safe supplemental dose for teen female athletes and those teen male athletes who restrict their intake of red meat. Athletes whose ferritin levels are low may need to supplement with up to double those doses.

The bottom line: We recommend ferritin testing for all our athletes and iron supplementation for many of out athletes. Ferritin testing may be covered by insurance when ordered as screening for iron deficiency in at risk individuals – which we believe includes all our female athletes and many of our male athletes. Feel free to ask the coaches about ferritin testing and iron supplementation.