Sitting here in my kitchen sipping my 3rd espresso of the morning, today is the first cold rainy day I’ve felt or seen in a long time. June and July for the most part were like a normal fall with more rainy days than usual. My rain suit and a pair of Gortex shoes were my daily coaching attire for most of the “summer”. br /br /After the three weeks summer we just had while in Jericho and Bethel the cooler weather is very welcome. The recent heat wave was something that resembled a normal summer, but our bodies weren’t ready for it. Fluid intake during every workout, between every workout and after every workout became critical to ensure each athlete would be able to make it through the three weeks with the ability to still perform at their best level. It was a good lesson for everyone as we succeeded, most of the time, but also experienced what being dehydrated or having heat exhaustion can do to the body while trying to train.br /br /I arrived home after a couple days rest in Bar Harbor, ME. Lobster, wine tasting, mini-golf, and sleeping were a few ways to help the body unwind from the past three weeks and re-charge for the upcoming fall. I was welcomed home by my two trusting canine companions along with the feeling that summer is over. School is back in session, the stadium lights were on at the local high school for a night soccer game, and it was 50 something degrees with the wind blowing the leaves off the trees. In addition the past couple night’s lows dipped down into the 30’s!br /br /We enter September with just over two months before we step on to snow. An intenisty block followed by a couple weeks of normal training, and then we head out to Utah for three weeks for our next National Team Camp. The August camp gave us a list of items to work on for each athlete and September will be the time we get to fine tune before our next camp. We will need to be assertive and not shy if we want to tackle our objectives and make more gains forward. All In!br /br /More pictures:br /
