How's Everyone's Summer Training Going? By Lauren Hokaj

So as we all know, preseason is just around the corner… and being a junior going into my third preseason, I speak for myself and all the returners, IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO TRAIN OVER THE SUMMER! You will feel awesome and confident going into preseason knowing you trained and worked your butt off all summer... so don’t wait till the last minute! There are a billion different ways to train while being at home. Just look at all the brilliant examples that the wonderful Jon Ryan Patrick Maloney has given to us! I don’t have a gym membership, so I don’t really have all the fancy equipment to use like we do when we are at school, so I decided to use my noggin and find some cool

ways to train at home… in my backyard… with my dad… or on a track field a few minutes away from my house. The other day I was practicing the star agility challenge. I measured out the size of a volleyball court in the backyard with my dad. We put down covers of buckets to use as the markers, and then I held a five pound weight as I shuffled, while my dad timed me on a stop watch. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right away because you will if you keep practicing!

             

For the sprinting challenge, what I like to do is try to beat my time every single time. I like to do this either on the track field or measure out the court

again in my backyard. Then to make it fun, I like to challenge my dad to beat my time and we make it into a little competition. A great way to train is with someone else or even a group of people. Whether you’re fortunate enough to live close to a teammate or even with teammates from high school, working out with someone is encouraging and just makes training more fun and more motivating.

                

Now I’m probably going to get made fun of a lot for how I train for the mile. For all you newcomers, it’s a good time to let you know now that I’m obsessed with the Titanic soundtrack. Well, for the mile challenge we need to run it in under 7 minutes. That’s sounds scary, but it’s possible! What I like to do is listen to my favorite song from the Titanic soundtrack called Hymn to the Sea. It’s not a very upbeat song to run to, but it works for me. It’s 6 minutes and 25 seconds long. I try to finish my run before the song is over. So when we are running around Ring Road during preseason, find a song that motivates you that’s less than 7 minutes long and get running to it! (The below video may not show up on all mobile devices, but who doesn't know the Titanic theme song?)

                 

To all the newcomers, I remember how scared I was coming into my first year for preseason...  But don’t be! You’re coming onto a team now where we are a family and where we work together to get the job done. We all have the same goals to beat and the same challenges to do, so you’re not facing anything alone. If you train hard over the summer and just try your absolute best during preseason and during the season, you’ll be absolutely fine. So keep up the hard work ladies! I can’t wait to see you all in just a few weeks! This is going to be our season. Let’s do this!