Transition from XC to Track

Today marked the end of the Brandeis Mens XC season. The guys finished 24th at the NCAA National Championship meet in Cleveland, Ohio. While the team finish was not as low as the guys would have liked it to be (We were 20th the year before), Paul Norton's 7th place performance proved to be the highlight of the day.

Paul narrowly missed out on being an All-American last year. It's great to see that he broke the top-10 at the NCAA meet. He's been a much better runner this fall; More fit and a lot more competitive and his performances have indicated that.

Currently, I'm getting ready for Track. Doing a lot of core work, as well as lifting with many repetitions. The Cross Country season didn't pan out the way I would have liked it to have. I got "the flu" three times this fall. I don't know whether it was the flu, but from a period of early September to early November I got sick three times with symptoms being soar throat, a lot of coughing, and nose blowing.

It's a shame that being sick inhibited my performances this fall. I came into the season in the best shape of my life. I even managed to PR in the 8K by 30 seconds while being sick.

I'm trying to do the little things right now; like getting my sleep, eating healthy, doing core consistently, not going crazy on my runs. I think it will pay off for track... I also ran a lot of mileage this summer and early fall, a lot more than previous years.

After the UAA meet, I took 5 days off, then got sick again, so I decided to take some more time off. The past two weeks I've been running light just to get back into it slowly. The Winter track season is pretty long, and I want my best performances to come in February and early March.

Our first meet is the Northeastern Meet at Reggie Lewis in early December.
While I may not race in it, I think it will help get us all geared up for track.


In our locker room we have a white board where most of us try to put down our (serious and lofty) goals for the season. The XC season goals are whiped off, and are being replaced by track goals.

I'm curious to see what this track season will bring. We have a lot of talented track veterans returning, as well as some fresh newcomers. Mainly, Alex Kramer'13, a 9:17 high school 2-miler, who has not yet raced in a Brandeis Uniform due to injury this fall.

We return three runners who have broken 4:20 -- Ben Bray, Chris Brown, and Devon Holgate. Devon, a 4:14 miler as a sophomore, is looking to get under 4:10.
We also return 6 runners who have run 1:57 or better.
We have the talent to get a pretty solid DMR together. My goal for the team is to have an All American DMR this winter. Brandeis placed 7th in the DMR at the NCAA D3 Championship meet indoors three years ago, one spot off All American.

The season hasn't even begun, but I think it's good to have some goals in mind. My PRs for track and field are as follows:
400m - 52 seconds (Relay Split from High School)
600m - 1:25
800m - 1:57.4 (UAA indoor 09)
1000m - 2:36 (Tufts Meet 09)
1 mile - 4:22 (Brandeis Meet 09)
3k - N/A haven't run one yet
5k - N/A -- (16:10 FP high school)

My goal is to PR in every event I compete in.

Mid October update

Less than 2 weeks until UAA's, hosted by Case-Western in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm pretty lucky at this point to be on the top 9 going to the conference meet. First off, I might get to see my relatives who live out there. Second, I've been sick with flu-like symptoms and Strep-throat like symptoms for the past month.

Right now, I'm coming off a down week where I had to take 3 days off to shake this weird soar throat I had. It was so painful that it hurt even to swallow food or drink water. I went to the doctor's office, and was told that the lymph nodes around my neck are swollen and that I was still recovering from whatever I had a few weeks back (right before the UMD meet where I still PRd by 30 seconds despite being sick.)

Nevertheless, she gave me a flu shot and a H1N1 swine flu "mist" to help my immune system since the doses would be too small to adversely affect me.

I ran 6 miles yesterday, and 9 miles today, and finally feel 100%. I will consider last week an extreme "down week".
My season has gone like this:
Bentley race, finished first along with the top 4 guys, two 80-85 mile weeks, then UMD where i was 5th for the guys, then 2 weeks down like 60-50, then two weeks at 85, then New Englands where I was 6th on the team, but bombed.

So, overcoming this sickness has been a pretty ridiculous affair. It's been a month long process of recovery, and I guess I may have tried to come back too fast by running 85 mile weeks leading up to New Englands.

Anyways, the guys and girls have kicked ass. We've only run our full squad for two meets; the girls have not even run a full squad at any of the meets yet.
Paul has been dominating D3 runners, at New Englands he was right behind All American and 2 time Regional Winner Edgar Kosgei from Williams. Paul was 6th in the meet, out of all division 1 2 and 3 runners with an 8k time of 24:41. The time was so impressive, because he ran that same time at a much faster course (UMD) four weeks ago.


Dan Anastos ran a 25:26 this past weekend at the Albany invite. He was our #1 runner at the meet, we didn't race Paul, Chris, Marc, or Devon (our consistent top 4). It's a breakthrough performance for Dan, whose previous 8k best was 26:20. This should solidly put him up there with our top 4 which is great news for our team.

Dan has had his struggle with figuring out how to get to the next level during the past two years at Brandeis. I'm wicked proud of him for this race. It means a lot to me, and to him for sure. We were freshman year roommates, and he's one of my best buddies at school. We've been through a lot and it's awesome to see him get to where we knew he could be.

Our rankings will probably fluctuate a lot because not enough coaches will be aware of this, or even look at the results of the meets. John knows what he is doing, and he's playing it safe with a lot of our teammates who are coming back slowly from injuries or sicknesses.

The goal is to be ready for the end of the season; UAAs, Regionals, and Nationals.

Indoor track is also looming in the near future. UAAs is my main concern at this point, if I can get a few workouts in then I may be able to race well and possibly be in the top 7 that races at Regionals. It's not up to me, it's up to who will step it up at the next meet. We want our best 7 guys to run at regionals and nationals.

I'll update again soon. The season hasn't gone as well as planned, but I still may have a shot at racing well. I put in a ton of good work in August and September. Hopefully I can get back to the fitness I had during the beginning of the season, and if not, no worries, our best guys will run at regionals, and track is in the near future.

UMD

Been a little sick the past 2 weeks. Ran Umass Dartmouth invite last Saturday, placed 40something-th and was 5th on the team with a 30 second PR of 26:07. Actually I was 6th, since my buddy Ben ran 26:05 in the Sub Varsity Race.

Very proud of the guys, Paul got 3rd in 24:43, Chris ran 25:20, Marc 25:30, Devon 25:35. Sold run. We got 4th out of 37 teams.
Our girls kicked ass, they got 2nd in the meet, Grayce led the way in 18:24. 3 other girls broke 19 minutes. Solid race.


The tuesday workout before the race we ran another set of 10x600m on the grass.
The times we put down were much faster than the previous week's.

Feeling pretty fit, but right now I'm just running easy trying to shake this cold.
Today I woke up without feeling congested so that's a good sign.

Next race might not be till New Englands at Franklin Park. Can't wait, Franklin Park is a place I'm very familiar with.

In August, Devon and I ran a 25 minute tempo there. The place is in prime condition for racing, not too soft, light cut grass, and a well nourished bear cage.

A little tidbit on respect for my coaches

Recently an article came out in the globe about Steve and his progression as a coach at Newton South;

http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/articles/2009/09/13/winning_newton_south_cross_country_coach_shares_his_love_of_running/

Favorite quote by now senior Elizabeth May--

“He’s so good at getting the best out of you without yelling at you or pushing you,’’ said May. “He’s got this way of recognizing someone’s potential from day one and then he just gets it out of you. You see how much he loves the sport, how much it’s given him, and how much he gives to it. You want to work hard and be as passionate about it as he is.’’

Truth. I credit Steve mostly for getting me to feel passionate about the sport of running, even as a 15 year old. Steve, Matt Capstick, and my coach John Evans all have pretty similar coaching philosophies which is something I really value.
Steve and Matt really worked on my growth as an athlete, while John is now helping me realize my potential as a collegiate runner.

What I really respect about Steve, Matt, and John is their unconditional belief in my ability and progression as a competitor. Steve and Matt always believed in me, whether it was during a dual meet against LS and CC, or during the mile finals at the All State Meet.

John is very consistent with his goals and belief as well. After having a good race, he'll remind me that I'm in great shape and that it's to be expected; the good performances will come from the good training. When he talks to us one-on-one he'll tell us the goals he has for us. Sometimes I'm taken aback to how far (How fast) he thinks we can go. I really feed off of this self-actualization and belief in one's potential.

I can't thank my coaches enough really for the satisfactions and rewarding experiences I've had as a runner.

Brandeis vs Bentley race

This has been the team's first cross country race of the season the past three years.
Every year it serves as a mini indicator of our fitness coming off of 2 weeks of preseason.

The past two years I've come into this meet feeling pretty tired, and I've competed poorly, mostly in part to the fact that I ran too fast on most of my training runs.

Coming into the race, I thought that this year's race had the potential to be much different than the previous races. I had run a lot more doubles, been more consistent with training, and ran some pretty solid tempos.

Warmed up with the team. Felt pretty relaxed.


The race has always been held at Weston High School since it has a pretty good soccer/lacrosse field network that extends out to Weston's middle school.

The race is always approximately 6k, 6000 meters. Each year the course varies and each year it's not exactly 6k. Last year it was shorter... this year it was a little bit longer.

The race started off pretty slowly. We were running a little slower than tempo pace, but we gradually picked it up. The past two years I've always fell off the lead group after the first mile, but this year I felt pretty relaxed. Throughout the rest of the race, I ran in a pack with Dan, Paul, Devon, Chris, Ben, Ryan, and a few Bentley guys.


The last mile we started picking it up a bit. I was feeling pretty strong and, knowing that we would be finishing with 700 meters on the track, I started to accelerate a little bit knowing that there are not many places I feel more comfortable running on than the track.


Ended up just running the last part of the way with my 4 buddies; Devon, Dan, Paul, and Chris. We put a gap on the Bentley crew and the rest of the field and finished strong.


Overall, it was a great effort. Both Men's and Women's teams beat Bentley's comfortably.
I felt great running tempo effort with 4 of the guys.
We had a few guys sitting out that might have joined our top pack at the finish..
Alex Kramer '13 is our stud frosh. He has been running workouts with the top group but recently hurt his hip. He should be back running very shortly since he thinks its only a small strain.
Kerwin Vega'11, Zack Schwartz'11 should also be with us shortly. Kerwin ran 25:25 last year for 8k, Zack was our 5th man at nationals.
Marc Boutin'12 was our 2nd man at nationals. He also didn't run the race due to injury.
These guys are recovering quickly and could still have an impact on our top group of 5. We will need 7 healthy guys ready to go by regionals and nationals if we are going to do the big things that John wants us to do.
We're currently ranked 3rd in D3 Northeast, 13th in the nation. To live up to these expectations, we need to be healthy and ready to go by November.
Today was just a scrimmage, kind of a test of our fitness. We will put in a lot of good work the next few months and it will be important to do the little things; like getting sleep and drinking water in order to keep ourselves healthy and fit.

Our first big race is UMASS DARTMOUTH INVITATIONAL in 2 weeks. 8k, should be exciting.

Results,

Bentley v Brandeis Dual Meet @ Weston High School

September 4, 2009

Distance: 6,000m



Men Time

1. Sam Donovan, Brandeis 19.54

2. Devon Holgate, Brandeis 19.54

3. Paul Norton, Brandeis 19.54

4. Dan Anastos, Brandeis 19.54

5. Chris Brown, Brandeis 19.54

6. Steve Bergantino, Bentley 19.56

7. Ryan Cheng, Brandeis 19.59

8. Ben Bray, Brandeis 19.59

9. Alex Hulse, Brandeis 20.00

10. Andy Watson, Bentley 20.01

11. Jake Newfield, Brandeis 20.05

12. Will Collins, Brandeis 20.06

13. Dan Fava, Bentley 20.08

14. Mik Kern, Brandeis 20.10

15. Brian Sutherland, Bentley 20.12

16. Sean Reagan, Bentley 20.19

17. Ryan Salvo, Bentley 20.27

18. Tom Witherell, Bentley 20.29

19. Aaron Udel, Brandeis 21.28

20. Ray Chen, Brandeis 21.35

21. Gabe Kimbel, Bentley 21.46

22. Mark Jordan, Bentley 22.17



Team Score: Brandeis 15, Bentley 48

Entering XC 2009

Had a good week coming into pre season. Ran a few good workouts and ended up feeling pretty easy on most of my training runs.

First week of practice we went to the Chestnut hill Reservoir to run a tempo workout.
Had two main "fast" groups; dan,chris,alex, paul and me,devon,zack, and marc.
Zack and Marc ran 20 minutes for the tempo, Devon and I continued on to run 25 minutes. We covered about 2.8 laps.

The next week, we had another tempo workout at Chestnut hill Reservoir. Devon and I passed the spot that we had previously run 25 minutes in at about 24:10, so we kept going for another 50 seconds. That is a pretty good sign.

First race is this Friday against Bentley. An annual dual meet that covers 6km. John is having us train through the meet, so I will most likely be in the midst of a mid 80 mile week even with the race.

Feeling good. The most important thing for me is to be training comfortably and controlled. Previous experience has told me that if I feel good training, I should relax and not get excited because I have had the tendency to get tired and put myself in a hole.

This season looks promising. I'm coming off of an incredible summer of training. I've run more doubles consistently than I ever have going into a season and I'm running some really awesome workouts.
I will consider this race on Friday to be a success if I'm just feeling controlled throughout the middle and can kick home with my boys.

Preseason commences!

August 19th. First day of preseason. I've been living in Waltham at our house on south street for about a week now. Just a bunch of track guys living in a 3 story apartment.

Today we had our first preseason meeting. Met with Lynne and Lisa and filled out a few health forms. After getting the necessary info out of the way, we went on our first run as a team.

Without fail, we blazed our first run. 10 miles in about 64 minutes, ~6:24 pace on a very rolly loop called livingston tailor 10 or New Res 10 since it requires a lap around a reservoir about 4 or 5 miles in. And not just Res, since we run around the weston reservoir often and this "new" res is located in wellesley.

It's kind of a tradition that never fails. Our first week back we don't sit back on our training runs.
I'm a little concerned. Last week I ran 86 miles, a lifetime high. I want to take it easy this week, but most of my runs have been sub 7 minute pace.

What I'm happy about is that I feel good running sub 7 minute pace. I've never in my life felt this comfortable on training runs.

As we start incorporating harder workouts I want to be able to make sure I get my recovery days in. So I'll be looking to hold back on my following runs.

Had a BBQ with the girls team and our new freshmen today. Great success.
Looking forward to the rest of preseason.