The Cross Country Chronicles is a new feature at VMIKeydets.com, as head cross country coach Paul
Spangler will contribute a blog chronicling the upcoming campaign.
Coach Spangler's Bio
Part XI
Part X
Part IX
Part VIII
Part VII
Part VI
Part V
Part IV
Part III
Part II
Part I
Part XI - (Nov. 4)
On Saturday, the men's and women's teams had an outstanding performance at the Big South Conference Championships. Going into the championships, our goal for the women was a top 5 team finish. We knew it was going to take an outstanding performance for us to place top 4 but it was not out of the question, however a less than 100% effort and we could be looking at a 6th place team finish. Hannah Granger led the women by placing 6th overall and making All-Conference, only the 2nd female in team history to receive such an honor. Jenna Pickett, one of our top freshmen, had an outstanding race to finish 18th and ran a personal best on what many considered a slow course. Another freshmen Carrie Wortham also had a great run to finish 23rd and Kelsey Stafford, despite being sick, came in 28th. Freshmen Jennifer Sing rounded out the top 5 scorers with a 61st place finish. As a team, the women came away with a 4th place finish, the best finish in school history. This was an impressive performance considering the women were ranked 6th in the preseason rankings and the three teams who finished ahead of them on Saturday all have been ranked in the top 15 in the NCAA Southeast rankings. My hat goes off to the ladies for an outstanding year and an outstanding performance at the Big South Championships!
On the men's side our goal was top 3 as a team. We knew it would be hard to crack the top two but not impossible. Donnie Cowart and Ermin Mujezinovic had outstanding races and both achieved All-Conference honors with their 7th and 8th place finishes. Matt Sagar was our #3 runner, finishing 19th overall followed closely behind by Matt Satterwhite, who despite coming down with a cold, ran a gutsy race to finish 21st. Freshmen Noah Hagos was our 5th runner and really had a great run after struggling two weeks ago at App. State. Noah was showing serious signs of overtraining after App. State and we backed off his training considerably and he responded at conference with a 25th place finish and was one of the top freshmen in the race. Andrew Rademaker, who had not raced since September and only done a handful of workouts, also stepped it up to finish 30th overall just behind Noah. For the men, we came out of the meet with a 3rd place finish and just 15 points out of 2nd place.
The decision was made earlier in the year to red-shirt last year's top cross country runner, Felix Kitur. Our rationale was that we could not place higher than 3rd with Felix and not lower without him. In addition, red-shirting Felix will allow him to be at VMI a 5th year which is also the year of the 2012 London Olympics, where he has a legitimate shot at making the Olympic team in either the 800m or 1500m run. I estimated that had Felix raced at conference we still would have been third by about 2-3 pts.
Next weekend we head down to Wake Forest University for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships.
Part X - (Oct. 21)
This past week, the men's and women's cross country team traveled to Boone, North Carolina for the Blue Ridge Open hosted by Appalachian State University. We stayed over in Abingdon, Va. on Thursday night and were able to fit our Thursday afternoon run on the Virginia Creeper. The Virginia Creeper is a old railroad track that has been converted to a walking, running and biking trail. The Virginia Creeper is 35 miles long going from Abingdon to White Top, Virginia, near the North Carolina state line. (see pictures below) Along the 35-mile route, there are over 47 wooden bridges which traverse many of the gorges and rivers along the route. If you ever have the opportunity to go for a run or bike ride on the creeper, I highly suggest it.
On Friday, we awoke to rain and made the 1-hour trip over the mountains to Boone, North Carolina. Going into the race we anticipated this to be a fast course based on last year's results, but the rain helped take that out of the equation. The women came away with a 15th-place finish in a field that had over 30 teams represented. Hannah Granger led the women with a time of 18:41 for 5k despite the slower than anticipated conditions. After the race I was able to compare how our team did against other teams who we competed at earlier in the year. By doing so it helps give me an opportunity to see how our training is progressing when compared to other universities. There were two teams that both competed at Paul Short and App. State, I would rather not say who, but both teams are ranked in the top 15 in the latest NCAA Regional rankings. Both teams saw a decrease of 0:18 and 0:21 seconds on average for their top five runners. In other words, their top 5 ran significantly slower at App. State. This was largely due to the slow conditions at App. State and the fast conditions at Paul Short. Our women on the other hand only experienced a decrease of 0:01 for our top 5 runners. This is very encouraging because it shows that we're closing the gap on our competition and the training is working more effectively than the competition's. 
One of the highlights of the women's race was the opportunity to see a former world record-holder race. Zola Budd, now Zola Pieterse, come away with the victory. Zola twice broke the world record in the 5000m, running 14:48 back in the mid 80's, and is largely known in the United States for being involved in the fall that took Mary Decker out of the 3000m at the '84 Olympic Games. Now 42 years old, she still showed she could hold her own against the college women.
The men came away from App. State with an 8th-place team finish, a race which also included over 30 teams. The men were led by Donnie Cowart, who ran 25:38 for 8k or 5 miles. Two freshmen had breakthrough performances on Friday, Stephen Lassiter was VMI's 4th runner in 26:52 and Ray Delgado was VMI's 7th runner in 27:01, a PR by over 1:16.
This week, we start to focus on the Big South and NCAA Regional Championships. The Big South Championships will be held on November 1st and NCAA's two weeks later. The Big South Championship website can be found here.
Part IX - (Oct. 15)
The men's and women's cross country teams are gearing up for their last regular season cross country Invitational this Friday, as we'll be traveling to Appalachian State University for the Blue Ridge Open Cross Country Invitational. The race at Appalachian State will feature many NCAA regionally-ranked teams, including a few nationally-ranked ones. Even though Appalachian State is located at 3,300ft in the mountains, the course is considered very fast. It is estimated that the men's course is :02/mile faster and the women's :10/mile faster than last weekend's Paul Short Invite, where many of our runners ran lifetime bests. That being said our goal is to have two guys under 25min for 8k and three to four girls under 19min for 5k.
Both the men and women are looking very good in practice since the Paul Short Invite. Matt Sagar, Ray Delgado and Stephen Lassiter have especially looked solid over the last two weeks and should post personal bests this weekend. On the women's side Hannah Granger, Jenna Pickett and Carrie Wortham have had a great week of practice. For Jenna and Carrie, it is not unrealistic this weekend for them to beat their current personal bests by close to a full minute. I am very excited to see what they can run on the fast App State course. Our top four girls are as good as any team in the Big South Conference. Our 5th runner has been hit with the injury bug much of the season. Freshmen Jennifer Sing has stepped up into our number five spot on the team and continues to improve. In just her first collegiate race, her 5K split, en route to 6k, was close to 30sec faster than her high school personal best, and that was after training for just two weeks!! If Jennifer can continue to improve and our top four girls continue to do the same, we certainly can position ourselves to make history at the Big South Championships by finishing higher than any women's sport as ever finished at VMI.
This past Saturday, the VMI football team scored an important victory over Big South rival Coastal Carolina. This also happened to be parent's weekend at VMI and after this important victory we held a cookout for all the track/cross country athletes and their parents at the VMI indoor track. It was a great opportunity for all the parents to see one another, their sons and daughters and the coaching staff. Special thanks to Jasper Watkins Sr. and Randy Lawson for helping coordinate this year's track/cross country team and parents dinner.
Part VIII - (Oct. 9)
Last Friday, the men's and women's teams competed at the prestigious Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Lehigh, PA. Both the men's and women's teams left with many personal bests. The men were led by Ermin Mujezinovic, who posted a time of 25:08 over the 8k distance, or roughly 5 miles. Ermin's time was a minute faster than his time on the same course last year as a freshman. Donnie Cowart finished closely behind Ermin with a time of 25:14. The biggest improvement from last year has been Matt Satterwhite. Matt ran 26:08 for 8k, which is 1:52 faster than he ran in 2007 on the same Paul Short course.
On the women's side, we were led once again by Hannah Granger, who despite fighting a cold, ran 22:15 for 6k which comes out to 5:58/mile. Kelsey Stafford came in at 23:19, and was followed closely behind by freshmen Jenna Pickett, who posted a 5k personal best by 35sec en route to her 6k time of 23:30.
Over the two days that we spent in Lehigh, Pa., the men's and women's team were joined by VMI Track & Field Alum Paul Bouis (Class of '67). Paul was gracious enough to join us for our team dinner on Thursday night (picture below), run with the team on Thursday during our course preview, and assist with coaching the team on race day. Our thanks from the coaching staff and the team for his hospitality and support of VMI Cross Country and Track!
Part VII - (Sept. 30)
The team trained very hard last week with a hard tempo run on the Chessie Trail on Tuesday, followed by intervals on the track and a hard Fartlek run on our home cross country course located at the Va. Horse Center on Friday. Our home cross country course at The Virginia Horse Center is a great asset to our program. We have the ability to train there at any time of the year. The course is 100% grass over rolling hills and sits on top of a plateau with clear views of the Blue Ridge mountains. We host two cross country races each season and in 2005 hosted 
the Big South Championships there (pictures to the left and below).
One of our athletes, Felix Kitur (pictured to the right in red and white), has yet to race this cross country season. Felix was our #1 cross country runner as a freshmen and during track season ran the 5th fastest time in the nation in the 800m (1:46.75). This fall, we are focusing on improving Felix's muscular endurance. In many of the tests that I did with Felix, I noticed a significant lack of muscular endurance. This is partly due to the fact that Felix never ran cross country in high school and focused more on the 400m and 800m. 
This is evident when you watch Felix run the 800m run, he has superior form up until the last 100m at which time his form starts to break down. We are slowly increasing Felix's mileage and implementing a strength and conditioning program designed to increase his muscular endurance. Felix certainly has the talent to run 1:44 his sophomore year which is the goal he's set for himself in 2009.
This Thursday, the men's and women's cross country teams will be heading north for the Paul Short Cross Country Invitational. The Paul Short Invitational is regarded as one of the most competitive cross country invitationals on the east coast. This meet will include 96 universities, including many NCAA nationally and regionally ranked cross country teams. The course is located on the campus of Lehigh University and is extremely fast. I would expect all of our runners to post personal bests over the 8k men's distance and 6k women's distance. It is not uncommon to see the men's winner go under 24:00 and the women's winner to go under 20:00. You can read up on this Friday's meet by going to www.paulshortxcrun.com.
Part VI - (Sept. 22)
On Saturday, the men and women traveled to Liberty University to compete at the Big South Conference Preview meet. The race served as a chance to complete against the other top teams in the conference and do it on the same course that the Big South Championships will be held on in November. The men came away with a runner-up finish behind host Liberty, who was recently ranked #4 in the NCAA Southeast Region Rankings. The women came away with a third place finish behind Coastal Carolina and Liberty, who were also ranked 12th and 9th in the latest NCAA Southeast Region Rankings.
Ermin Mujezinovic was VMI's first finisher, placing 5th overall in 26:38 over the hilly 8k course. Ermin struggled a bit his freshmen year but has come into his sophomore year much fitter than 2007, logging up to 100 miles a week this summer. A welcome surprise this year has been Matt Satterwhite, who was VMI's 3rd runner, placing 27th in 27:25. Matt had arguably his first solid summer of training and is starting to see the results of that hard work. He'll certainly be counted on this year if we're going to place top two in November's conference championships and top 15 at the NCAA Southeast Region Championships.
The women really did an outstanding job on Saturday. The plan was for our top four to run as a group through 2 miles and then for Kelsey and Hannah to surge the last mile. They did just that and resulted in Hannah passing some 15 runners in the last mile to place 5th in 19:35 over the hilly 5k course and just 24 seconds off the winner. Freshmen Carrie Wortham and Jenna Pickett ran very well for their first college race. Despite the hilly and difficult course, both girls where very close to their high school personal 5k best which where run on very fast courses their senior year.
This weekend was also Alumni reunion weekend at VMI and two former runners for VMI not only attended practice on Friday, but also traveled to watch the team compete this weekend at Liberty. Mark Hamilton (Class of 04) was my first team captain at VMI and currently is a pilot in the United States Air Force and Jack Ditt (Class of 84) is VMI's record holder in the 1500m run (3:42), 5000m run (14:20), and 3000m run (8:07). It was great for the team to meet Mark, who was there at the beginning of my time at VMI and was instrumental in helping develop the program into what it is today, and Jack, who is a member of the VMI Hall of Fame and a name plastered across the VMI track and cross country record books. Special thanks from the team and myself to Jack and Mark for taking the time to come out and support the team!
Part V - (Sept. 15)
Over the weekend, the men's and women's cross country teams
completed the 150-mile Blue Ridge Relay. The relay started at VMI on Friday and
ended at Doe Run Lodge and Resort on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, nine runners
split up the first 50 miles of the relay. The remainder of the team joined them
later in the day and everyone camped out at the Peaks of Otter Campground that
evening. The rest of the relay was completed on Saturday, with 19 runners
helping complete the remaining 90 miles to The Doe Run Lodge and Resort located
about 10 miles from the North Carolina state line. (See the route here.) The
relay serves as an opportunity for both teams to log some solid miles up in the
mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway, along with developing team chemistry. The picture below was taken at the conclusion of the relay at Rocky Knob located
along the route the runners ran.
This weekend the team heads to Liberty University for the
Big South Preview Cross Country Invitational. Not only will this be an
opportunity for our runners to compete on the same course as the conference
championships in November, but also a chance to see how we measure up against
the other teams in the conference. For the first time this year, our women will
be racing at 100% with freshmen Carrie
Wortham and Jenna Pickett running their first
collegiate race. On the men's side, top returnees Donnie Cowart and Felix Kitur
will not race this weekend. Both Donnie and Felix's track seasons ended very
late into the summer of 2008, and they are still in their base building phases
and will compete later in the year.
I am very optimistic about both men's and women's teams this
fall. Both teams are better than the teams that placed runner-up (men-2005) and
5th (women-2005 and 2007). That being said, the conference as a
whole is much stronger.
Many of our freshmen have looked impressive in practice.
Freshmen Jenna Pickett and Carrie Wortham are exceeding expectations along with
Ray Delgado, Marshall Dalessandro and Noah Hagos for the men. This weekend will
be the first collegiate race for all of our freshman runners.
Part IV - (Sept. 8)
This week was our first week of classes. It was an
opportunity for our cross country teams to start their regular schedule of
3:45 p.m. afternoon practices. This summer has been one of the coolest in recent
memory in Virginia, but you would not know it by this week. With temps close to
90deg we have had to make sure all our athletes are doing a good job of
hydrating and recovering after their runs. Fortunately we have two great places
to train here in Lexington when the weather is less than cooperative. The
Chessie Trail is an old railroad bed that is completely flat and runs along the
Maury River. Completely shaded and with every half mile marked, it is an ideal
place for any type of workout; tempo, long runs, etc. Only just a mile from the
indoor track, the Chessie goes out for seven miles to the town of Buena Vista
at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. Another prime location is the
Washington and Lee woods. Home to the Washington and Lee cross country course,
the W&L woods contain about 7 miles worth of trails on both flat and hilly
terrain. The W&L woods are ideal not only when it's hot but also on any
cold, windy days during the winter. Similar to the Chessie Trail, the
trails of the W&L woods are wide enough for group workouts such as tempo,
intervals, etc.
I was able to test a few more of our distance runners in the
physiology lab this week. Our two top girls, Hannah Granger and Kelsey
Stafford, completed the test, in which both girls set new records making it to
10mph at 4% grade. Although both girls went for the same amount of time,
their physiological profiles where very different. Kelsey had a higher Max Vo2
at 54.8ml of Vo2/min compared to Hannah's Max Vo2 of 50.8ml of Vo2/min. Hannah
had one of the lowest Max Vo2's on the team ,however, she is arguably one of the
fastest girls on the team and the Big South Conference. Most people think the
higher the Max Vo2, the faster the runner, not entirely true. Although Hannah's
Vo2 wasn't the best, she is the most economical runner on the team. All you
have to do is watch Hannah run and you can see her running mechanics are
superior to most other runners, she wastes very little energy. View the results, and
you'll be able to see that Hannah uses less oxygen when running at sub maximum
efforts when compared to the rest of the team. The results show that Hannah
needs a training program focused on raising her Max Vo2 while Kelsey can gain
more from a program to improve her running efficiency/economy. You can see the
updated test results by clicking here, and pictures of Felix Kitur and Matt Satterwhite performing the test are included in this article.
This week we are preparing for the Blue Ridge Relay. The
relay is something I brought to VMI from my days as an assistant coach at
Florida State University. Bob Bramen brought the idea to FSU from his days at
The Univ. of South Florida. At FSU it was called “Across the State Relay” where
we completed a 140-mile team relay going from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of
Mexico. Here at VMI, our relay is 150 miles, and we'll travel from VMI up to the
Blue Ridge Parkway and head south along the parkway, ending close to Hillsville,
Va., about 10 miles from North Carolina. The relay starts at noon on Friday in
front of VMI (Jackson Arch) and ends at the Peaks of Otter campground at mile
marker 86 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Friday night we'll camp out, resuming the
relay on Saturday, covering the last 100 miles and ending at Doe Run Lodge, where
we rent four luxury cabins for the night. The Blue Ridge Parkway is ideal for
such an event as there is minimal traffic, each mile is marked, and the views
on top of the mountains are fantastic. The Blue Ridge Parkway travels along the
crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains going from 500ft above sea level at the
James River to 4000ft along our relay route. Arguably the hardest leg of
the relay is the 3 mile leg from Buena Vista up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The
leg is only 3 miles, but during those 3 miles you will see an elevation gain of
1400ft!!. That relay leg had been mine for the last 5 years but I have decided
to pass the torch to 2nd classmen Matt Satterwhite for 2008. Matt
was not too excited to hear he had been promoted, however, that's what you get
when you run 20:28 in the pre-season four mile time trial, a 0:48 second
improvement from 2007.
Part III - (Sept. 1)
This week the Big South came out with the preseason cross
country rankings. The coaches from each school cast their votes for what they
foresee each school finishing at the conference championships in November. It
is always interesting to see where other coaches think you'll finish in
the conference. This year the men have a preseason ranking of 3rd
and women 6th. Certainly our goal is to finish higher than our
preseason rankings. I was a bit nervous how the women might view the 6th
place preseason ranking after we set a goal of 4th or 5th
at this year's championships. My concerns were put to rest after talking
to our team captain, Kelsey Stafford, who said she prefers being ranking lower
going in. She uses it as motivation to prove others wrong. Thinking back I
believe every year the women have finished higher than their preseason ranking
so it seems to be working!
This week also was the beginning of the famed VMI Ratline.
We have eight freshmen cross country runners who matriculated last Saturday.
All eight excelled during matriculation week and are itching to start up
classes and practice this week with the upperclassmen. We have had some solid
recruiting classes in the past, however, I feel this group of freshmen should be
the best to come through VMI since my arrival six years ago. In the past
we've had a class with one of two top level recruits with a solid
supporting staff of walk-ons. This group, however, has more talent and, more
importantly, the work ethic and desire to be the best class to come through
VMI. The time trial was a bit of a surprise seeing two freshmen girls in the
15's for 4k and two freshmen guys under 20:30 for 4 miles, not to mention
two of our top freshmen recruits did not run the time trial due to injury. I
should not be surprised because those freshmen who excelled in the time trial
did an outstanding job training over the summer.
Friday we held our traditional VMI Opener Cross Country
Invitational. Longwood Univ, Concord College and Randolph College attended this
year's invite. On the women's side, Kelsey Stafford and Hannah
Granger finished together in 1st and 2nd. I instructed
both to run as easy as possible to earn the victory and they did just that. The
season is very long and you only have so many good races in you each season.
Hannah has shown signs of overtraining in the past so it is critical for her
not to race 100% unless she needs to. The race could not have turned out better
for her and Kelsey. Ermin Mujezinovic took top honors on the men's side
running tactically the same race as Hannah and Kelsey, just enough to win. Both
the men and women placed 2nd as a team. I think it's
important to note that we sat many of our top runners out of the race. On the
men's side we sat all of our freshmen out along with last year's top
runners, Matt Sagar and Felix Kitur. On the women's side, freshmen Carrie
Wortham and Jenna Pickett did not compete. All the freshmen will open up at
Liberty in three weeks along with Matt Sagar. Felix may see action later in the
XC season as he is still in his base building phase after seeing his track
season go into June due to competing at the NCAA Championships where he placed
9th in the 800m.
Wednesday of this week we have some lab testing on the
schedule for Hannah Granger, Kelsey Stafford, and Matt Satterwhite. For Hannah and
Matt this will be their first time performing the test. All three runners are
in outstanding shape so it will be exciting to see the results of the test. I
hope to have their results for you next week.
Part II - (Aug. 23)
This week was the preseason camp for our incoming freshmen
on the cross country team. During the week-long
camp, we did a lot of testing of the runners including measurements of each
runner's Max Vo2, Lactate Threshold, Blood Lactate levels at maximum effort,
and running economy at sub maximal speeds.
Freshmen Ray Delgado broke the Max Vo2 record with a Vo2 of
71ml of O2/min, breaking the record of Donnie Cowart, who held the old record
at 70.8 of O2/min. We also found that Ray was the most uneconomical runner
because he uses a high amount of O2 at sub maximal efforts. From a coaching
standpoint this is critical information in determining what type of training
Ray would need to focus on to improve his economy and thus reach his maximum
potential.
In addition to testing in the lab, we performed various tests
that measured muscular power, muscular endurance, speed, and power-to-weight
ratio. Freshmen Marshall Dalessandro excelled across the board, along with
Jenna Pickett and Carrie Wortham. The results of the test will help determine
what type of weight training program each athlete will receive. For example, if
you're deficient in power you'll receive a weight training program designed to
increase power.
The entire week wasn't all devoted to just running and hard
work. A trip to Panther Falls and Goshen Pass to jump in the Maury River was a
relaxing way to break up the hard training and also a good way to recover in
the river's cold water.
The week ended with our traditional team time trial. The
time trial consists of a 4 mile effort for the men and 2.5 mile effort for the
women. The time trial was run on the
outdoor track and consists of both the freshmen and upperclassmen.
We had some outstanding performances across the board on the
men's and women's side. Ermin Mujezinovic was the first finisher on the men's
side, setting a new 3rd classmen record in 20:09. Freshmen Marshall
Dalessandro and Noah Hagos also ran impressive times along with 2nd
classmen Matt Satterwhite.
Hannah Granger set a new overall record for the women, running
2.5 miles in 14:53. Kelsey Stafford set a new 2nd classmen record in
15:16 while freshmen Jenna Pickett and Carrie Wortham also looked impressive.
The men's top 5 average was 20:24, which is the fastest top 5 average we have
every had and that was done with top returners Donnie Cowart, Andrew
Rademaker and top freshmen recruits Bryant Clopper and Joakim Kiprotich
sitting out the time trial.
Check out the time trial results here and the lab testing results here. A picture of our rats (freshmen) can be seen here.
Part I - (Aug. 12)
The 2008 cross country season is just around the corner. Our
freshmen report to VMI on Aug 17th, less than a week away. I am very
excited for the upcoming season. We return the vast majority of our team on
both the men's and women's side and add to that one of our best recruiting
classes in recent memory. Our goal this year for the men is to finish top 2 at
the Big South Championships and top 15 at the NCAA Regional Championships.
Liberty and High Point are the top two returning teams. Both return the majority
of their top 7 runners and will not give up their top two positions very
easily. A women's sport at VMI has never finished better than 5th at
the Big South Championships, when our women's XC team did so in 2004 and 2007.
Our women's team goal is to finish top 4 in 2008. To do so, we'll have to get
past Radford and Winthrop who returning the majority of their top 7.
As many distance runners know, the summer isn't necessarily
for rest and relaxation. The vast majority of the team has been doing an
outstanding job of training during the summer months. I was lucky enough to
have four of our incoming freshmen at VMI over the summer. Marshall
Dalessandro, Ray Delgado, Carrie Wortham and Jenna Pickett are all attending
summer classes. Of any group of freshmen I have had at VMI over the summer, they by far did the best job, lifting twice to three times a
week, running 50+ miles a week for the women, and 80+ miles a week
for the men. In addition to the four
freshmen, Kelsey Stafford and Hannah Granger both trained in Lexington over the
summer. Kelsey is in the best shape of her life, and I feel is positioned to
contend for a top 5 spot at the Big South XC Championships along with Hannah.
The rest of the team has also been training very well.
Donnie Cowart, Ermin Mujezinovic and incoming freshman Joakim Kiprotich have all been at 100+ miles a week at some
point this summer with>Matt Sagar projected to hit 100+ in the coming weeks. Donnie
red-shirted last XC season and is coming off a successful track season where he
qualified for the NCAA regional championships in the steeplechase, and was a
member of the IC4A Championships 4x800m relay, in which he split 1:50.
The freshmen report to VMI on Sunday, Aug 17th
for preseason camp. During that week we'll have the runners perform various tests
on a treadmill in the VMI Biology Lab that will give us the following: Max Vo2,
Lactate Threshold, running economy at various speeds, maximum heart rate, and
maximum blood lactate production. In addition to lab testing, we'll perform
various tests that will tell us their level of muscular endurance, power, speed
and strength-to-weight ratio. By combining all these we'll be able to put a
physiological profile together for each athlete. This will allow me to design a
training program based on the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete. The
results of these could best be seen in last year's performance of Felix Kitur.
I found that Felix had very low blood lactate levels at maximum effort. If
you're an 800m runner, you want to be able to produce a lot of lactate at
maximum effort. What I did was design a training program around raising these blood
lactate levels. What resulted was going from 1:51 in high school to 1:46.75 in
just one year, which was the 5th fastest time in NCAA's and top freshmen in the
country.
On August 22nd, all the cross country runners
report for our traditional team time trial. The men run 6400m (4 miles) and the
women run 4000m (2.5 miles). It gives me a lot of information on where each athlete
is at coming into the season and the prospects for the coming year. The records
are 20:02 for the men, set last year by Donnie Cowart, and 15:03 for the women,
set by Hannah Granger last season. I hope to see both records fall, along with a
few of the class records (Fr., So., Jr., Sr.).
Personally, this summer has not been what I had hoped for my
own training. I developed an upper hamstring strain that has kept me from
logging any serious mileage. Any hard workouts and I'm pretty sore for a few
days. It's not fun running with pain. Hopefully I'll be better soon, so I'll be
able to hit up the distance days with the team.
