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.

Tunnel Hill / Garden of the Gods

Our annual trip to Tunnel Hill and Garden of the Gods got off to a fantastic start when we awoke to cool, ideal conditions. Before a picnic lunch and sightseeing at Garden of the Gods, there was work to be done. The men's workout consisted of 2-3 x 3 miles @ threshold, while the women were to run 2 x 3 miles @ threshold. The men's front group managed to run their segments in 16:25-16:00-15:53 , while the women managed to run 2 x 3 miles at a much faster pace then they were able to manage 2 x 2 miles the previous year. Up next: 12-16 x 400m on Tuesday!

Stegemoller Classic

The season officially began with the Stegemoller Classic on August 30th. The women's squad made quick work of the field, finishing 1-3-5-6-7-10-11 for a winning score of 18 points. Mary Ballinger posted a 29 second win, covering the 4k layout in 14:20. Allie Shafer crossed next for the Screaming Eagles (3rd, 14:57), followed by Holly Bartelt, Lacy Williams, Adrienne Curtis, Jackie Henderson, and Marcia Weflen. The team's top 5 total time reflected a 48 second improvement over last year's performance.
The men were impressive in their season debut. The Screaming Eagles, behind impressive debut performances for Dustin Emerick, David Goodman and Bryan Phillips, posted marks of 18:53-18:56-18:58-19:00 (Matt Zielske), 19:06 (Rob Roads), 19:09 (Brandon Campbell), 19:19 (Andrew Dixon) to split 13 seconds (1-5) and 26 seconds (1-7). Both teams will compete in the Indiana Intercollegiates at Indiana University on September 19th.

Lincoln State Park Trip - First day of substance

The Screaming Eagles traveled to Lincoln State Park on Tuesday to log the first quality session of the fall campaign: 3.3-4m of fartlek for the women's squad and 4-7m of fartlek for the men.

The workout went extremely well, with both squads showing excellent early season form. The men managed to get through 5 miles of the session (when the freshmen were instructed to call it a day) with 12-15 men in the front group. As expected, Mary Ballinger and Allie Shafer ran in tandem at the front for the women, while the rest all finished as a group - pretty impressive when considering the quality of some of the upperclassmen in that group. Spirits are high as we head toward our season opener on Saturday. Team goals: 5 women under 14:50/ 10 under 15:20. Men: 20 second 1-7 split.