Good Afternoon Parents,
I am sitting here still amazed that Camp Iwannarun has been able to return and humbled at the fact that so many kids want to be a part of the program. I want to thank all the coaches and high school mentors who have been volunteering their time to come out each day to camp to work with the kids. Here are the highlights from the first three days of camp. Day One: We focus was getting the kids used to the flow camp starting with attendance to how we prepare our bodies through dynamics. The kids went out for a 10 minute run and we closed out the day playing a game called Sprinkle, Sprinkle, Splash (think of Duck, Duck, Goose with water). Day Two: We continued our endurance building while talking about form and breathing. The kids went on a 12 minute run and when they returned our camp athletic trainer reviewed strength moves and the importance of stretching. We closed the day with a game of Listen Up and a talk on hydration, nutrition, and sleep. Day Three: We moved the run time to 17 minutes and reviewed the concepts of form and breathing. We began to talk about cadence and how that works with breathing. We closed out the day with a water relay race. Overall, these first three days have been amazing and thank you for sharing your runners with us. We look forward to the rest of this week and then all of next week. Please keep in mind that all next week is at different locations throughout Fishers. Let me know if there are any questions. Coach Ziino Good Afternoon Parents,
Sadly, camp has come to a close and the coaching staff cannot thank you and your campers for an excellent 10 days that hopefully have them more confident for the upcoming season. On average we had 76 campers per day during the 10 days of camp! This is a strong sign of the youth running culture in our area. Today was a day that we put it all together for one last time. The kids were set up in a way that a cross country meet would be held. We did dynamics, a course preview, and then had the girls start their race with the boys to follow. The course was about a mile long (though an intermediate and junior high course is a 3k or 1.87 miles) and hope the kids found themselves believing, achieving, and conquering future runs because they did awesome! We closed the workout with a scavenger hunt and then headed to the pool. While at the pool they sure must of built up an appetite for the last 10 days because I was left with a handful of blueberries. They deserved all they put into their bellies after the last few days of workouts. Finally, thank you again for sharing your kids with us and hope to see many return in 2019. Please fill out the survey to help us to continue to make camp a valuable experience. https://forms.gle/Zo2Y82cZtje2vrez7 Coach Ziino Good Evening Parents,
The days are flying by and your kids are awesome! I finally had a time to give a rewind for the last couple of days. The intent of the last two days was really to show the different type of speed elements that go with distance running. We also talked about the importance of stretching and keeping those hamstrings, quads, and calves. Wednesday: On this day, we were at Northview Church and we did 3x 1,000m repeats. The purpose was to introduce to campers how a repeat works. A repeat is in the name, you do the same distance over and over again trying to match the same time, but in this case we used the repeats to show the different paces of running. The first repeat was a conversational pace (which we did all last week to build endurance). The second time was to be a hard pace and the last one was at race pace. The kids were lined up in teams and raced each other for 1000m. We closed the day by having a talk from a former junior high runner who had success due to working hard and staying positive. He is modest to the point that he wouldn't let me introduce him as the current Hamilton County Track Record Holder for the Mile. We also reviewed stretches that will help prevent injuries and, of course, kids got their smoothies. Thursday: Today, we headed out to the Flat Fork Creek park to take on the Warrior Challenge of Hill repeats on the sledding hill. The goal for the kids was to do at least 5 hill repeats. If you have every been to Flat Fork the sledding hill is a bit deceiving. The Warrior Challenge was to see how many campers could get up and down the hill 15 times. Majority of the group got in a range of 10-14 hill repeats, which was awesome. We had a few of the campers get all 15 in before I had to call time. We finished the day with a 25 minute yoga session really trying to show how to stretch the hamstrings, quads, calves, and IT bands. The coaches have been extremely impressed with how positive the kids have been and their overall effort with everything that we have done in the last 10 days. Tomorrow we close our 2019 Camp with nothing to be disappointed and hope those who can join us for the pool party will have a great time. Thank you, Coach Ziino Good Afternoon Parents,
I apologize that I did not get an update about camp from Monday, so I am going to combine Monday and Tuesday. Monday: We opened the second week of camp at Roy Holland Park. We opened Monday with a 10 minute run, dynamics, and a speed feet drill. Then, we had a PVC Pipe Relay Race where the campers had to roll a golf ball across two PVC pipes till the team got across the finish line. We closed the day with a strength workout called the dirty dozen meaning the campers did 12 pushups into 12 crunches, then 11 pushups/crunches, 10 pushups/crunches all the way down to one pushup and crunch. Tuesday: We began our day at Heritage Park by reviewing our form and breathing. Then the campers were sent out on a 10 minute run practicing their form with breathing with the goal to see if they could find a comfortable breathing cadence while running. Cadence meaning breaths to steps. Most runners start at a 3:3 meaning inhale for three steps and exhale for three steps, but as time goes on they adjust to their comfort level while getting the air into their diaphragms when they breathe. We then moved into our speed games of Army, Navy, Air Force and hilly Tic Tac Toe. Army, Navy, Air Force is a game where a coach calls one of the three military branches and the kids run to that line, if they are the last ones then they are out of the game and work on core. Hilly Tic Tac Toe is where teams go against each other. The teams start at the bottom of the hill and run to the top filling in the tic tac toe board. We finished today working on balance to help strengthen our ankles and hips. Ask the campers to show you some of the movements. I apologize as for Tuesday, we did not get pictures. Wednesday we are at Northview Church-Carmel location. Please drop kids off by the youth center in the back parking lot. We are going to workout on repeats on the state course. Thanks for sharing your campers with us. Coach Ziino Good Evening Parents,
As of Friday, camp's first week came to a close. I wanted to take this time to thank all the campers who came this past week. I will be honest, it was brutal with the heat and humidity, but they handled it like champs! On Friday, we did our group shot of the week and what a week. Your kids proved that they are stronger than they thought. Each day the kids ran anywhere between 1.5-3.0 miles depending on which group they were in. We, of course, ended camp with a water relay to beat the heat. The second week of camp starts at Roy Holland Park in Fishers. Please check the location tab for addresses of the rest of the week. During week two, we tend to add speed elements that goes along with a distance runners training. We will work on hills, repeats, maybe some intervals, fartleks, and straight up sprinting. We will also to continue to work on form, breathing, and strength. Thank you again for a great week and looking forward to week two. Coach Ziino Wednesday's Review:
Good Afternoon Parents, I apologize that I didn't get yesterday's review of camp to you last night, but we continued to hit the hills and test our abilities. The hopes of the timed run to is have grow within our mantra of believe, achieve, and conquer. Considering the conditions that Mother Nature is giving us this week the kids are totally conquering. We finished Wednesday with Animal Races which they leaped frog, sideways crab walked, bear crawl, and duck walked. Please read Thursday's review as it includes a five question quiz to ask your kids about on the topic of nutrition. Thursday's Review: Oh baby, it was hot today! The kids handled it like champs. We started the day with a talk from a Sports Dietician named Lindsay Langford from St. Vincent Sports Performance. In the short amount of time she had, she gave the kids some quality information that they should start working on as we have many multi-sport/activity athletes. I told the kids that I was going to have you ask them questions from the presentation as a way to make sure they were comprehending the information they were provided. So, here is a 5 question quick quiz for your campers: 1) What is the most important meal of the day? Breakfast 2) How many full meals and snacks should they have in a day? 3 full meals and 2 snacks 3) What two nutrients should be in a snack and give examples? Carbohydrates and Proteins (Fruit and Peanut Butter) 4) True or False: Should what you put on your plate be all one color? False, multiple colors because each color does something different to fuel the body 5) What is the minimum amount of hydration (water) someone should intake at rest and how much hydration when active? Half their body weight for rest (ounces of water) and active at least 3/4 of their body for ounces in water After the nutrition talk, campers went out for a 20 minute run and then closed out camp with a game of Listen Up! In this game kids got to throw cups of water at each other and the coaches. Finally, and the most important thing, kids got their smoothies before they left camp today! Friday is group picture day, so if kids could bring their run camp shirts either from last year or this year that would be great! I am also putting together the some of the gear for kids that did not receive it due to late registration. Thank you for sharing your kids with us and looking forward to the another great day at camp on Friday! Coach Ziino Good Afternoon Parents,
Today, completed a 20 minute run with two of the groups challenging themselves to the hills on Brooks School Road, while others kept building their confidence in the surrounding neighborhood. We finished the day with a game of Ship, Captain, Crew and a talk by our athletic trainer about exercises and strength moves to reduce injury. Each of these exercises should be held for 15 seconds and done in sets of three: -Hamstring stretch with opposite elbow rotating towards knee -Superperson, lying on stomach and lifting legs straight up -Calf Stretch: plank position crossing one foot onto the other legs calf and drive the plant foot's heel to the ground. On Wednesday at the end of camp, I am taking the orders over to Smoothie King. I cannot extend the time on that, so please keep that in mind. It is NOT required to order. Another great day and looking forward to tomorrow. Coach Ziino Good Afternoon Parents,
Wow, the coaches knew we had grown, but until we saw everyone it really became real. This is was the largest group to attend Camp Iwannarun in a single day. Record breaking 88 participants! Thank you! Today, we work on form and breathing, so if you see your camper with one hand on their chest and another on their belly they are practicing their deep breathing exercises to make their runs more comfortable and efficient. In the area of form, we talked about having a straight back, relaxed shoulders, head forward, and the arm swings coming from the shoulders. Form with our legs and feet are driving our knees up so we land on the balls of our feet. After that we went on a 15 minute run to practice those items while maintaining a conversational pace. We finished today with a game of Sprinkle, Sprinkle, Splash with a final big pour to cool ourselves off. Looking forward to tomorrow and please have kids continue to hydrate! Thanks, Coach Ziino Good Evening Parents,
Sorry for the late update. Today we went over to the Northview Church which their course provides one of the toughest challenges in our area. Northview's course is host to the Middle School State Meet, as well as, some other premier events such as Flashrock that brings in the top state teams. Today was about putting our speed on display with a relay along the 3k course. At the end of camp, Coach Broviak of FJH spoke to the group about his experience coaching the sport. Through his 18 year experience one message was a constant theme; Running is for yourself and challenging yourself to get better. Then, the kids heard from high schoolers what the sport has done for them and the friendships created by being on a CC team. Thursday, we are at Flat Fork Creek Park where the kids will participate in a Warrior Challenge. We will work the trails and sledding hill, plus some strength components. We will end the day with another 30 minute yoga session. Smoothie King orders are due Thursday at 3PM and I will collect payment on Friday. Thank you, Coach Ziino |