Frequently Asked Questions

Practices:

When does practice begin and end?

Weekdays: 

  • Monday-Friday practices begin at 3:00 and end at 4:45 during fall XC and spring D-team. This includes Wednesday early release days, half-days, etc. We continue to hold practices on school holidays and through Spring Break.
  • Athletes who require longer training sessions and/or elect to participate in optional training elements may be at practice until 5:30-6:00.

Saturdays:

  • Saturday practices are generally reserved for returning athletes who trained in the off-season and are ready for the demands of running six days per week. Athletes who were not running in the off-season are generally encouraged to take both Saturday and Sunday off for recovery.
  • Saturday practice generally begin at 9:00am, though start-time may be subject to change if meeting off-campus.

Where/when is Saturday practice being held?

The location of Saturday practice changes based on the needs of the team, weather forecast, etc. Athletes will be given as much heads-up as possible, and we will do our best to have our calendar will reflect our plans. Ultimately, it falls on the athletes to pay attention and learn where practices are being held.

Frequently, Saturday practices during fall cross country are held at parks in the North Seattle/Shoreline area.

Saturday practices during spring D-team are held at the Shorecrest track. Occasionally, practices are held at the Nathan Hale track in March & early April.

Is attendance required?

Athletes are expected to attend practice 5 days per week.
 
Athletes who are going to miss practice should let a coach know via email. (shorecrestdistancerunning@gmail.com).
 
Repeated absences will result in being held out of meets. When held out of weekday meets, athletes are unfortunately not granted an early dismissal from class to travel with the team.

My shins/knees/ankles/Achilles hurts. What should I do?

Continue attending practice--you will be assigned productive cross-training and rehabilitation exercises.

Meets/Transportation:

How are athletes transported to and from meets? 

The district provides transportation depending on how far away the meet is.
  • If the meet is within the Shoreline/Edmonds area, we will be given a one-way bus to the destination. Athletes/families will have to arrange their own transportation from the meet. Athletes are permitted drive themselves to these closer-by meets.
  • If the meet it outside the Shoreline/Edmonds area, we will be given a round-trip bus back to Shorecrest. Athletes are not permitted to drive themselves to these further-away meets.

Is my athlete racing at ____ meet?

  • All athletes compete in Wednesday/Thursday meets. These are "league meets", held against our neighboring school.
  • The team travels to Oregon to attend "The Mook" invite the weekend of September 20th. As we are limited to one school bus for this overnight trip, we will only bring varsity and returning runners.
  • All athletes compete in the other Saturday invites until the regular season's final meet, the WESCO League championship. The final Saturday races--District 1 and State Championship--are varsity-only. JV athletes are welcome to continue attending practice in these postseason weeks.

Can I leave the meet after my race is completed?

No. Although your race may end hours before a meet concludes, all members of the team are expected to remain and support their teammates until the entire team is done competing.

 What if I have _____ appointment/commitment?

Athletes may leave meets early or arrive late in the case of unavoidable appointments/commitments (e.g., SAT test dates commonly overlap w/Saturday XC meets). In these cases, please note:

1) The district generally prohibits students from driving themselves to/from meets that are outside of the Shoreline/Edmonds area (i.e., if we rode a bus there).

2) Any parent/guarding transporting an athlete should check in w/a coach before leaving a meet with their athlete(s).

Shoes/Spikes:

What kind of shoes should I buy?

You absolutely need purpose-built running shoes. Sneakers or general athletic trainers will collapse quickly and lead to injury.
  • Running shoes should be comfortable to wear immediately out-of-the-box or in-store. Do not rely on a break-in process.
  • When between sizes, opt for the larger size. Always be experimenting with trying on a larger size shoe--your feet continue to grow into your mid 20s! In the overwhelming majority of cases, improperly sized shoes are sized too small. 
We recommend that all runners begin with simple road-running shoes from a major running shoe brand.
The appropriate terms to look for, whether online or in-store are: 1) neutral, 2) mid- or max-height/stack/cushion, 3) road-running, and 4) daily trainer.
  1. We recommend against wearing stability shoes or orthopedic inserts unless recommended by a professional or sports-specific physical therapist (who have hopefully conducted in-person analysis of your running). Salespeople may ask about history of injury and recommend stability shoes/orthopedics--they are generally unnecessary for new and young athletes whose ability and running gait are changing rapidly.
  2. Mid-height/stack/cushion or max-height/stack/cushion are the most common, and can help to reduce the repetitive stress injuries most common in new runners. Low stack and/or zero-drop shoes are generally not recommended.
  3. You do not need any kind of trail running shoe whatsoever. Road-running shoes, designed for running on pavement and groomed trails will be most appropriate for 95% of runs.
For in-person shopping, we recommend Super Jock & Jill in Greenlake. They are knowledgeable, employ lots of local runners and coaches, and offer a discount to high school athletes which bring their prices into line with big-box retailers. Selection and colorways may be limited.
 
Road Runner Sports (also in Greenlake) have similar stock to Super Jock & Jill. We recommend avoiding all up-sales of orthopedics from Road Runner.

REI, runningwarehouse.com, Amazon, and similar online retailers can be good sources for last-years' models of shoes. Most brands issue updated editions of their core models every two years (e.g., ASICS follows the Nimbus 26 w/the Nimbus 27).  There are no significant functional differences between the current year's model and the previous. In many cases, discontinued or outgoing models can be found for around 50% off.

Do I need spikes for XC/D-team?

Probably not. We generally advise that athletes purchasing spikes wait until they make a varsity squad before worrying about the additional purchase of spikes.

While spikes do provide a noticeable advantage in races, this advantage is relatively small compared to the improvements in fitness that most JV athletes can expect to see throughout each season.

Nike Dragonfly XC's are recommended for those buying spikes.

Athletes participating in both XC and the track should purchase XC spikes, as XC spikes are suitable for track, but not vice versa.