Below is a timely article from Houston University Coach, Steve Magness.  Along with his training, I also enjoy a lot of his thoughts on life.  It goes totally in line with our team motto of "The Journey".  Please read and enjoy!

Coaching Corner: When Outcomes Define Success:

We live in a hypercompetitive world, where the game never truly ends. We can measure productivity in any myriad of ways and instantly compare ourselves to any number of individuals scattered across the world. No longer do you measure up against Johnny from high school or Jim in the cubicle next door; you are now in competition against practically everyone.

For humans who function off of comparison, this may initially boost our performance, but it's just as likely to be entirely maddening. As we've transitioned into competing in every aspect of life—from followers on twitter to "productivity" scores from our computer work to our health score spit out by our smart watch—the temptation is to treat life as we do sport, with the emphasis on getting faster and stronger, taking more wins, and then judging ourselves entirely by those parameters. By shifting how we judge ourselves, we've also shifted the story that we tell ourselves.

When it comes to sport, researchers have found that athletes adopt one of two kinds of narratives: a performance or a quest. A performance narrative occurs when the athlete prioritizes winning over other aspects of life. Performance comes first and foremost. Whether that is winning games, scoring goals, running faster, or making more money; the outcome is all that matters.

A quest narrative, on the other hand, emphasizes the potential growth from diverse experiences. It involves "individuals confronting their suffering, accepting the consequences, and striving to gain something positive from their experience." In other words, the emphasis isn't put on the outcome, but on the journey. Yes, the outcome still matters, but it becomes a signaling mechanism, not the be all end all.

Performance narratives are ingrained in us from a young age but they can lead to maladaptation when we encounter adversity. Because if performance is the sole judge, when failure occurs, people often register this not as failure at a specific task but failure at life. If an athlete has a quest narrative, the outcome becomes information, and the "failure" becomes something to understand and grow from, not a self-defining setback.

In Olympic swimmers, researchers found that as athletes matured in their careers, they tended to shift from a performance to a quest narrative. Early on in their career, outcomes were all that mattered, and they let their sport consume all aspects of their life. While one might think that their performance might suffer in the pool as they shifted their focus, the opposite occurred. For Olympic Swimmer Ryk Neethling, it made all the difference; "walking away gave me perspective...but for that fresh perspective, I may not have become an Olympic Champion."

As competition infiltrates every aspect of our life, there can be a temptation to embrace it, mistakenly thinking that we need to 'raise our game' in order to survive and thrive. The reality is that we might want to take a hint from Olympic swimmers: sometimes to reach the next level (and to enjoy what you do!), you've got to let go of the false idea that outcomes are all that matter.

​Steve Magness - University of Houston CC and Track Coach.

Hello all!

Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful weekend.
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For Sunday, I recommended the boys get in an easy 30-35 minutes and 6 strides as we finally get to compete again on Monday!  Woo spring!  

We have a busy week ahead with a split squad on Monday with two different meets, and then a freshman only meet on Thursday @ Kettle Moraine, and a new Friday varsity meet @ Wauwatosa West.  

With the meets, you can wear your alternate jerseys if you want!  Let me know if you didn't get yours yet, they're $20.  

In no particular orders below, the lineups for Monday's meets (that will happen this time!!)
Be sure to support each event and each other.  Enjoy the opportunity, HAVE FUN and trust yourselves!  You guys are doing great things.  Please still dress warm, and bring warm clothes to meets.  Weather changes fast in spring and when the sun goes down!

ESTIMATED TIME SCHEDULE.  BRING FOOD FOR MEET!  In particular, healthy sandwich or food that sits well for you.  

Wisconsin Lutheran Invite.  Limit two per event, but get 3 team wild cards so we used two for distance! 

1600 - Nick Lozano, Brad Glisczinski, Brent McLure
800 - Brent McLure, Riley 'Ho Ho'eg
3200 - Jack Wanner, Liam Kelley, Josh Truchon

Hale JV Meet (@ Hale) - Please be ready to warm up early, meet will move fast!  Coach Hernandez will be there to help with warmup times.  Milers please warm up at 3:45!!  Race around 4:30.
1600 - Brady Landowski, Brennan Kompas, Collin Miller, Ethan Osowski, Matt Kees, Tristan Sawyer
800 - Ian Hoffman, Matt Nowak, Matt Fredericks, Ryan Scheur, Kobe Xiong, Taylor Wojtysiak, Chris Selfors
3200 - Kenny Parliament, Ethan Fisher, Aaron Scardino

Have fun, embrace being yourselves!  As always, motivate and support your teammates.  We are what makes US strong!
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Keep up the great work!
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#TheJourney

We were fortunate to have seven of our distance guys help Coach Kelly's special education class on a fieldtrip to the zoo last week!  It was a great reminder of perspective and our purpose of serving others while being thankful for our abilities in the sport.  The boys had a great time and the kids absolutely loved having them help.  We were very proud to have Hale CC/Track represent the community in such a positive way, and we will definitely be doing more volunteering and giving in the future with the boys.  Way to go guys!

We had a great first outdoor meet last week!  Two first time sub 5 races by Josh and Liam, and a first time sub 11 for Nick in the 2 mile!  Jack also ran a huge pr in the 800 with a 2:10 split in the 4x800.  We're raising the bar and not settling for average, and having all the guys chase to be extraordinary.  With this weather, we unfortunately will have to cancel the Monday JV meet, but we will still have a great week of practice and keep the young guys and every guy progressing and improving.  Our juniors and seniors looking to do big things are very strong right now and look primed to make this outdoor extremely memorable.  For the Tuesday meet, we hope that one is still on, but if not we will be ready to go at our next opportunity on Saturday at Wisconsin Lutheran!  We will have an amazing outdoor season and some great races, just need to be patient and trust the training and be confident always!  The JV guys we will next get an opportunity to race next Monday!  

Everything we achieve we achieve as a team.  Cheer for and support your teammates in practice and meets, and strive to make yourself and them better!  Never put guys down, and live and love the process of working together every day!  Every one of us important to the success of our team.

Workouts for the week are up!  Let's make it a great one!!  
#TheJourney