Registration is Open for our Summer Camp Season!

Come join our thriving REAL Training Youth Distance crew for our Summer Camp Season! We’re super-excited about what we'll be doing this summer. The rest of our year-round program is great, but we’re able to do so much more with our Summer Camp Season:

• Two four-hour Camp Sessions in the morning every week with dedicated strength sessions and educational discussions (and some unstructured social time).

• A destination Mountain/Trail/Long Run/Hike every week.

• Competition opportunities on several Thursdays (practices on the non-competition evenings)

• A simple evening Trail Run/Practice every week.

Age Range

Originally formed as a middle school program, we now welcome 4th to 8th grade athletes and differentiate our training and practices accordingly. If your child is younger than 4th grade and you’re curious if they'd still fit in with our group, please reach out to Coach Tim Geldean and talk it over.

Schedule Details:

May 28th – August 11th (11 Weeks!)

• Mondays (OFF)

• Tuesdays

• 7am-11am Camp in Niwot

• PRP (pre-run prep/athletic development warm-ups)

• Run/Workout

• Break/Snack/Unstructured Social Time

• Discussion/Education Session (including guest speakers)

• Outdoor strength session (medicine balls, plyo boxes, core)

• Location details: Track, grass athletic fields, trails, hills, dirt roads

• Wednesdays

• Evening Trail Run/Simple Practice @ varied locations, time TBD (will communicate via Team App)

• PRP > Trail Run > Sprint > Done

• Thursdays

• Evening Races/Meets (times vary, but all evenings except 07.04)

• BRR All-Comers Track & Field Meets @ Fairview HS: 06.06, 06.20, 07.18, 08.01

• Fourth of July race (TBD): 07.04

• Practices: 05.30, 06.13, 06.27, 07.11, 07.25, 08.08

• Fridays

• 7am-11am Camp @ Tom Watson Park/Waneka Lake Park

• PRP (pre-run prep/athletic development warm-ups)

• Easy/Recovery Run

• Break/Snack/Unstructured Social Time

• Coach Jeff Boele, LMT of Elevated Performance: Bodywork/Massage & Education Session

• Outdoor strength session (medicine balls, plyo boxes, core)

• Tom Watson details: LoBo Trail, Boulder Res loop, dirt roads, hills, grass fields, playground, tennis courts, basketball courts

• Waneka Lake details: Waneka Lake trail, Coal Creek Trail, Hecla Lake, hills, grass fields, playground, basketball court, pavilions, fitness trail, disc golf

• Saturdays (OFF) except for Mile High Mile 07.27

• Sundays

• Mountain/Trail/Long Run/Hike (time varies, am/pm)

• Locations and start times will vary every week.

• We’ll likely start at lower-altitude locations earlier in the season and have some higher-altitude locations later in the season.

• For a change of pace, we’ll hike at least a couple of the days.

• Sunday, 06.23—we’ll volunteer at the Blue Sky Ascent/Round Trip Races

Cost:

• Registration Fee: $800 (+$100 annual fee* if this is your first 2024 season with REAL Training)

• Other potential costs include: race entry fees, uniform/team gear, travel/transportation, USATF membership.

• *Annual fee is just that—a once-a-year club fee you won't have to pay again until the following calendar year.

Flexibility & Financial Assistance:

• Note: REAL Training aims to help athletes reach their potential as athletes and humans, while not excluding athletes who may lack financial means. Please contact Coach Tim Geldean for more information—we don't want money to be a limiting factor. We’ll also work to be as flexible as we can for athletes joining us anytime during the season. And athletes are never obligated to attend every practice (though we do expect better results the more days an athlete runs with us).

• Come try out a practice or two before committing! We’d love to show you what we’re all about.

Questions:

• Please contact Coach Tim Geldean with any questions: coachtimgeldean@gmail.com | 303.664.1890

Registration is Open for our Spring Training Season!

Season:
February 26th – May 26th (Still time to join us this Spring!)

Schedule:
3 Days/Week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays) + BONUS opportunities

• Tuesdays: 5pm @ Niwot

• Thursdays: 5pm @ Niwot

• Sundays: mornings/afternoons (varied) @ varied locations

Cost:

• Registration Fee: $550 (+$100 annual fee* if this is your first 2024 season with REAL Training)

• Other potential costs include: race entry fees, uniform/team gear, travel/transportation, USATF membership 

• *Annual fee is just that—a once-a-year club fee you won't have to pay again until the following calendar year.

ABOUT REAL TRAINING'S YOUTH PROGRAM

REAL Training (Central) offers fun year-round training opportunities for youth distance runners. Our family boasts a wide range of runners with different fitness and experience levels, so we're confident we'll offer a good fit for your young athlete.

Who Runs with REAL Training Youth?

We nurture endurance, determination, and confidence. We train as a team to build up our runners so they're better equipped for whatever comes their way in running, ball sports, school, and life. We aim to prepare our runners for high school cross country and track so that when they arrive in high school, they’re ready to hit the ground running.

What Does the Training Look Like?

We run at every practice. We have fun at every practice. Those are the pillars of our youth practices. That said, we don't have any times during the year where we're only building aerobic fitness—we work on speed development throughout the year.

Our practices include pre-run prep, helping our young runners with glute activation, hip mobility, athletic development, and just specifically getting them ready for what they're about to do—run. Our pre-run prep will include mini-band work, leg swings, group dynamic drills, agility ladders, plyo boxes, speed cones, hurdle drills, and more.

The vast majority of our running will take place on soft surfaces. We’ll be on the outdoor track, indoor track, grass, hills, flats, gravel trails, and dirt roads.

The runs and workouts vary. Hills are a common theme, as they're one of the most powerful training tools in our tool chest as runners. We use hills for endurance, speed development, form refinement, muscular strength, and, of course, race prep for hilly courses. Runner-specific long runs own a spot in our training menu, as do tempo/threshold training and fartlek running. We'll touch a wide range of race paces and energy systems in our practices and continuously deliver varied training (we do have some recurring workouts that we can't live without because they're so darn good).

The runs and workouts are individualized for our athletes, differentiated based on fitness age, injury history, race goals, and an athlete's particular talent package.

REAL = Responsibility. Education. Athletics. Leadership.

Our guiding principles are present throughout our program and coaches are always looking for ways to help our kids grow as humans. Often, we head out into the community as running ambassadors and are presented with opportunities to make friends with our neighbors and fellow trail users. At meets and races, we prefer to be grateful competitors. That means respecting our competitors and hosts, leaving our area better than we found it, and thanking those who made the competition possible.

The coaching staff teaches them about the health concerns they're likely to face now and in the future. Our girls will encounter some challenges our boys won't. We help prepare their bodies and minds for what's to come, knowing that knowledge, patience, and persistence can go a long way.

Teams and leadership should go hand in hand, but that's not always the case. We aim to help each runner build their confidence so they can each be a leader. Some leadership opportunities will be directly provided, some will be earned, and some will just happen organically.

Run for Fun and Personal Bests

Coach Tim Geldean, REAL Training's Director of Youth Distance Program, was fortunate to spend his college years running and learning at North Central College from one of the all-time greats: Coach Al Carius. Al's guiding principle that drives Coach Tim to this day is "run for fun and personal bests." And perhaps Al’s greatest legacy is the vast network of coaches he has mentored that are spread across the country today.

Racing Opportunities

REAL Training runners have competed in local, state, regional, and national competitions. They've earned All-American status and have been part of national championship teams. We prepare athletes to take on XC, indoor and outdoor track, trail, and road racing. Our schedule is constantly changing and provides an idea of the upcoming events.