Summer Sizzle

It's been a while since my last blog post, so I will do my best to bring everything up to speed. At present we are a few weeks into our first summer block of training, and the heat index will be in the triple digits for the next several days. It's important to take every possible precaution to deal with the heat. Run early. Run late. Stay in the shade. Drink before, drink after, and make frequent water stops. All common sense stuff, but it's usually lack of common sense that gets you into trouble this time of year.

Outdoor National Championships - M0 domination

- Congrats to Mary Ballinger for becoming USI's 4th athlete to win an individual national title on the track (Elly Rono, Heather Cooksey Candace Perry are the other 3). Mary won the 3000m steeplechase in convincing form, running 10:22 to win by 15 seconds and narrowly miss the D2 championship record. Congratulations are also in order for David Goodman and Dustin Emerick who both qualified for their first D2 national meet on the track. Both finished 12th in their event (David = 3k steeple, Dustin = 10k). Keep in mind, guys, that Mary didn't come home with a national title a year ago...a little experience, and another 4,000 miles... goes a long way.

Brendan Devine - On to Eugene!

Brendan Devine will represent the Eagles Distance crew in Eugene, OR this weekend when he toes the line in the 10,000m at the USATF Jr. National Championships.

Dog Days of Summer

Tristan has a new dog. His name is Thriller. Surprised? Didn't think so. Thriller ate Cooper's leash. Tristan purchased a new leash for Cooper. It's pink. Surprised? Didn't think so.

Fall Outlook , and the task at hand

We have the honor, privelage and advantage of hosting the NCAA II Cross Country National Championships in November. We have 6 Senior women and 5 Senior men. We have very talented freshmen coming in, and we return the best 2008 freshmen class in the GLVC. Our sophomore group. We return 5 All-GLVC men and 9 All-GLVC women. We are not short on talent. Keep in mind, however, and I don't want you to gloss over this fact (this would be critical, fatal mistake): Talent didn't get us anywhere last year. The accolades we achieved (which in the grand scheme of things pale in comparison to what is potentially on the table for both of our squads this fall) were earned on hot summer days. On early mornings when we were grinding through hill repeats. And pool sessions. and 2 hour long runs. And endless mile repeats. And core work, drills, ice baths, and mile after mile after mile after mile logged on the trails. You earned it. You worked for it.

The Challenge: Are you satisfied? Can you be satisfied with anything less than OUR best? Are we going to be outworked by anyone? Let's look beyond the safe shores of the conference this fall. Beyond the region. Let's look at one thing, and one thing only. How good can you be? The answer is simple: As good as you allow yourself to be. The process too, is simple: Give your best EVERY DAY.

ONE FINAL NOTE: Congratulations Allie and Miles!!!!

GLVC Champions

The Screaming Eagles made the most of their weekend in Rolla, Missouri, sweeping the men's and women's team titles in dominating fashion.

The men split an impressive 12.6 seconds for their top 5, taking places 3-4-5-6-8-9-11-15-16-20....that's 7 in the top 11 and 8 on the all-GLVC team (a new league record). All-GLVC members were Dustin Emerick (also the named the GLVC freshman of the year), Bryan Phillips, Brendan Devine, Brandon Campbell, David Goodman, Andrew Dixon, Sam Gebreselassie and Rob Roads. Not too shabby for a squad that had exactly zero GLVC Runner of the Week awards this fall.

The women kept things rolling right along, placing 6 on the all-GLVC squad and placing 10 runners in the top 21 en route to a 39-63 win over rival Wisconsin Parkside. Mary Ballinger finished 2nd in 20:59. Adrienne Curtis, Allie Shafer, Sarah Whiteman, Christy Dixon and Brittany Rutledge joined her on the all-GLVC squad.

Special mention goes to Kiel Lovekin and Lacy Williams, who both finished in a not-so-sweet 16th... one place from All-GLVC recognition (AAAGGGHHH....wait until next year!)

The team got right back to work on Sunday afternoon, logging an easy long run on the campus trails. On Tuesday the squads assembled at the IM Fields for our longest set of 800m reps all fall....8 for the women and 12 for the men. Not knowing what to expect on the heels of a hard effort Saturday, we were all greatly encouraged by the effort...as the men and women managed to run faster than the same workout 3 weeks prior (even with the additional 2 reps for each squad). All indications are that our best running is still ahead of us....as it should be.

Congratulations, team... I'm proud to be your coach.

Up next: 6 mile cutdown for the men/4m cutdown for the women on Friday. And then....

On to Big Rapids, MI

GLVC Week

On Saturday, the team trekked across town to compete in the UE Invitational.

The women ran very well behind Mary Ballinger's impressive frontrunning (1st, 17:18), finishing 2nd to Southern Illinois in a field of 22 teams. A tight chase pack continues to develop for the women, as Allie Shafer, Heather Beard, Adrienne Curtis, Sarah Whiteman and Holly Bartelt finished between 18:33-18:52.

The top 5 men ran a controlled effort for 4 miles before picking it up a bit over the final kilometer. Dustin Emerick, Bryan Phillips, David Goodman, Andrew Dixon, Brendan Devine, Brandon Campbell and Robert Roads split between 25:05 and 25:30 to lead the team to a strong 3rd place performance behind SIU and Belmont. Behind the front 7, Geb, Suarez, Lovekin and Z all finished under 26 minutes.

Congrats on a fine team effort, team!

The season starts Saturday...on to GLVC!

RoHo behind us....on to UE

Tuesday's benchmark session, the "Michigan" (RoHo, Frasier...or whatever you want to call it) went exceptionally well. The weather was a bit warm and humid (84), but it was quite evident that most everyone showed up fully prepared to handle the session.

Here is how it breaks down:

2-3 mile warmup

(Rest is 90 second walk between everything)

1600m on track

6 minute tempo @ pace 40 seconds slower per mile than first 1600.

1200m (1000m for women) on track

6 min. tempo

800 m on track

6 min. tempo (no tempo for women)

600m on track

Men Summary:

14 men between 4:35-4:44 on the first 1600, all 28 in by 5:03. Instructions were to run no more than 1 sec per lap faster as the reps shortened. No problem....the front group stayed clustered the entire workout. The 2007 squad only managed to put 3 men in on the first 1600 under 4:40 (11 this time), and just 5 under 4:44 (13 Tuesday). Well done, men!

Women Summary:

Mary rolled through the firt 1600 in 5:14, and continued at the same clip throughout (3:15 1k, 2:35 800, 1:53 600). A pack of 6 ran between 5:28-35/3:23-28/2:37-47/2:05 in a group. All 15 women averaged 5:50 pace or better for the track portions of the workout. Great job, ladies. We are right on target

Next up:

UE Invitational on Saturday, October 18th

Directions to the course: http://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2008/8/11/Map-To-UECC-Course.pdf?id=240

With 22 teams on the line and over 200 runners in each race, this will be nice "run through" prior the GLVC Championships on October 25th in Rolla, Missouri. Notable teams competing:

14 Division I teams represented. Southern Illinois, Belmont and Southern Indiana appear to be the top 3 men's teams in the men's field, with Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana and Murray State expected to be at the front of the women's race.

Objectives:

Split 1 second 1-5 for the men , 10 in 40 seconds

Average under 18 minutes for women's top 5, 7 under 18:25.

Louisville Classic

The Screaming Eagles enjoyed a succesful trip to the Louisville Cardinal Classsic on Saturday. The men were up first at 9:30am. The early start (that's 8:30am Evansville time) meant no early morning shakeout run, so the men opted for a 4.5 mile warmup. In a very strong and deep field, we managed to place 10th overall, averaging 25:16 for the top 5 (compared to 25:11 last year). The men hit the chute at 25:05 (Dixon), 25:07 (Z), 25:18 (Emerick), 25:18 (Grandpa Phillips), 25:34 (Roads), 25:37 (Devine), 25:40 (B), 25:53 (Badman), 26:01 (Hurricane Suarez), and 26:08 (McLovekin).

90 minutes later, our next 11 men (pictured, minus Andrew Duggan) put on a great display of the team's depth, as they finished 2nd out of 25 teams in the Blue Race, averaging 26:27 for the top 5. Geb and Menner did a great job at the front, running 25:54 and 26:01. The rest of the squad followed in 26:22 (Duggan), 26:52 (Kern), 27:06 (Nyboer), 27:14 (Kendrick), 27:26 (Latta), 27:31 (Delong), 27:38 (Camp), 28:24 (Clark) and 28:33 (Nona).

The women made a quantum jump from their performance at Louisville a year ago, when they averaged 19:14 for the top 5. This time around, the ladies went 17:27 (Mary - wow), 18:32 (Allie), 18:40 (Holly), 18:47 (Adrienne), 18:48 (Christy), 19:14 (Lacy), 19:37 (Marcia), 19:39 (Sarah B), 19:49 (Sarah W - if not for a side stitch likely would have finished in the 18:40's), and 20:08 (Jackie). 90 minutes later, the women would one-up the men as the 2nd squad finished 1st out of 22 teams in the Blue Race! Heather Beard (19:34), Lauren Crick (19:41), Allison Laird (19:56), Brittany Rutledge(19:56) packed nicely at the 1-4 spots, and Allie Baumer secured the win when she crossed in 20:49.

Next up for the Screaming Eagles: A long fartlek session and 7-10 x 800m this week, then RoHo and the UE Invite next week.

Thanks to all of you for running hard. A special thanks to Mary and Marcia for being so strong and courageous in the midst of difficult times. We are all proud of you.

Dogtown Tempo

Yesterday afternoon the team boarded vans and headed south to the Ohio River bottoms for a 4m-5m progressive threshold run. The men were divided into 2 groups - one starting @ 5:40 and the 2nd starting @ 5:30. The women started at 6:20 for the front group and 6:30 for the 2nd. We were blessed with a slight tailwind which was probably negated by the 83 degree day, but in all fairness....we did get a little push.

The men's front group hit the first half mile in a slowish 2:50, then quickly corrected the pace and rolled nicely from there. After a mile split of 5:33 and a 2 mile split of 10:47, the men finished in 25:58, 25:58, 26:03, 26:11, 26:22, 26:22, 26:30, 26:38, 26:39, 26:41, 26:43 for the first 11 in. The surprise of the day had to be John Latta, who ran a very solid 21:34 for 4 after a 5:40 opening mile.

The women looked very comfortable hitting their splits on their 3-4m tempo....the 3 group ran 19:02, 19:25, 19:25, 19:40, while the 4m group ran 24:12, 24:30, 24:46, 25:27, 25:27, 25:36, 25:43, 25:44, 25:51 and 26:02. Most of the women managed to close the last mile between 5:40-6:10.

Great job, Eagles. Another solid week of training under our belts.....next week: Mile Repeats and the Louisville Cardinal Classic.

Tuesday, September 9th:

Workout:

Women:

12 x 400m @ 77-82, reps 8, 11 @ 5-7 seconds faster.

Rest: 2:40 cycle

The women appear to be recovered well from Saturday's long session. They cruised through today's menu, hitting splits consistently and bouncing right back into their previous rhythm comfortably after each hammer rep. Congrats on a great session, ladies. Well done.

Men:

16 x 400m @ 67-69 for group A, 70-72 for group B w/ 8-11-15 @ 5-7 seconds faster.

Rest: 2:20 cycle for group A, 2:25 for group B.

The men looked very controlled throughout the session, as group 1 cruised through each rep around 68 seconds then dropped to 60-64 for reps 8-11-15. Group 2 looked just as strong, running 70-71's throughout with hammer intervals in the 64-68 range. Congrats an a well-executed session, men. We appear to be right on schedule!

Up Next: 3.5-4m tempo on Friday.