At most meets I have a good conversation with Geoff Harrison, the Red Bank Regional coach. The conversations do not last long, but I love talking about training and meets with the man. He is always so positive about all Shore athletes and is always a good ear. Last Friday, at the Group 2 meet, I had a short conversation with him about Doug Smith. Harrison said he wondered what workouts Grote had been doing with this kid to get him to run so fast. I came to a realization. The workouts an athlete does in preparation for a meet are not what make a race. Smith must have done some great workouts of late, but what makes him and other athletes so good is the many hours of training spent over the past months and years. Sure a great, fast workout will pick up a few seconds here and there, but an athlete ‘runs’ 9:08 long before he steps on the track. What he eats, how he sleeps, and the 1000’s of miles that he has run all come into that race. I am guilty of worrying too much about these big workouts.
This fact was something I knew, something I felt. BUT I never truly understood what my dad meant when he quoted Jumbo Elliot, his college coach, with his many musings…’the hay is in the barn’, ‘the money is in the bank’, etc… All the runs and hours of training, whether they be threshold runs, long runs, or speed work, all pile up in a heap of fitness. Every type of run adds to the pile in its own special way. Longs runs and threshold runs are the big logs, the strides are the kindling, every step means something. These end-of-season workouts, which I call ‘monumental workouts’, light the fire, spark the engine. They fire up confidence and let the athlete know they are GOOD. It is true that a bigger spark, or a better ‘monumental workout’ will start a better fire, but a bigger heap of fitness will launch an athlete to ars ignota.
After our brief conversation, the rest of the meet was a whirlwind. I was anxiously awaiting Galasso’s 1600 as he had a good shot to do very well. I was worried that we hadn’t done that BIG workout, but my confidence grew after that conversation. My 3200 meter runners, a frosh and a soph, ran well. Froshy Oliver Song ran 10:52 for a PB. The two of them went out a bit too fast for the first 800 and felt it late (See last blog entry for my feelings on that!).
The biggest and best surprise came in the girls 1600. I coach the girls in the winter and hopefully this spring. For some reason they haven’t improved as much as my boys. I spend hours pining over workouts and times trying to find an answer. Froshies Cathay Zhao and Lilia Xie cooled all my trepidation with huge PB’s of 5:32 and 5:45. It does not look like much, but it is a start. I am finding that I just need to be more patient with them. THEY WILL IMPROVE!
Onto the race of the day…As Galasso warmed up for the 1600, we noticed that several athletes scratched, including pre-race favorite Soloff. That helped a bit, but in the end, I don’t think it would have mattered for qualifying. George ran another great race for 4th and a PB of 4:27.50 (2:16.7/2:10.8). He may have nabbed third if he were a bit more aggressive in the middle, but the two guys out in front were flying! When George gets out a bit harder, he wil have a big PB! Last year at this time he was running 4:48. The race was good, but I am more impressed with his work ethic and focus this winter. Minor injuries held him back in the fall, but he has never given up. His pile of fitness is large and will be much larger in 8 weeks. The time should get him in the seeded, which will be AWESOME. If he stays healthy, this spring will be a lot of fun. Special congratulations to MonDon junior, Alex Pereira, for taking advantage of a great opportunity.
As for my other runners, they will get a down week before they start building up for May. I told them they could run as little as 20-30 minutes 3-4 times this week and as much as 8-12 miles per day. I was very pleased to see groups of kids heading out for 60+ minutes.
Wednesday 2-14
No school means I can’t have practice! Kids were told to get out for 30-60 minutes when they could!
Thursday 2-15
Those running in the state meet did a light 25 minutes. I had an end-of season meeting to start a down week for my other kids. With the snow everywhere, it was perfect timing.
Friday 2-16
State meet…see above!
Saturday-Monday 2-17, 2-18, 2-19
Galasso did 60 minutes all three days. Sunday was a hard 60 minutes.
Tuesday 2-20
George and I took a drive down to Brick High School for a workout. Holmdel still had quite a bit of snow/ice. Thanks to coaches Calabro, Brunner and Meehan for letting us on the track. George looked great. It was pretty windy. Workout follows:
2 X 200 – 28.5, 29.0 (warm-up 200’s)
800- 2:14
2 X 400 – 61, 61
Rest was larger than usual. Today was about getting used to running fast.