10 Questions with...Miles Schoedler

 

                                                               10 Questions with Miles Schoedler

 

Miles is coming off a great win at the Cherokee Challenge where he broke the course record in a race that ended in a wild sprint at the end.   The old CR was set last year by Boo Vitez and Miles broke it by 5 seconds with his 9:28.  The following week he ran 15:40 at the South Jersey Shootout – another MR/CR (by 3 seconds over Joe Kotran’s 15:43 from last year).  He also owns PRs of 4:11.46 for 1600 meters (2010 Meet of Champs), 9:30.75 for 3200 (half of a double with a 4:12.63) and has a 16:18 Holmdel PR.  

 

 

Two meets, two weeks into the season and two spectacular results!   A great start.   Miles was good enough to take a few minutes to answer questions for NJRunners.

 

1.       Congratulations on your wins at Cherokee and the South Jersey Shootout.  Your finish at Cherokee was blazing – is that natural speed or do you guys do some speedwork even this early?

 

 

I’ve always finished hard so I’d say its natural speed. Being a miler I have a good amount of foot speed so I love when races come down to the last quarter mile. We haven’t done much speed work this early in the season other than a tough 8x400 workout with a lap jog recovery between each interval. My splits were 64, 64, 64, 64, 63, 63, 63, 62.

 

2.       There are not a lot of places down the shore where there are hills that are any larger than the boardwalk up-ramps so how do you and your team get hillwork in? 

 

 

Although we do not have any hills in Ocean City, we still manage to get in some intense bridge workouts on the Longport Bridge. In addition to the bridge, our team went up to North Jersey for a camping trip in August and ran some mountains in order to get ready for the season.

 

 

3.       Are you a track guy who runs XC or an XC guy who runs track or do you like them both the same?

 

 

I am an XC guy during XC season and a track guy during track season. Although I enjoy track more, I am always ready for any type of race. In order to become one of the best milers in the nation, I needed to build a strong base in the summer and throughout the fall by running XC.

 

 

4.       Ocean City has a strong track and XC heritage with alums like John Richardson and Brett Johnson.  Do you ever run with or hear from those guys?  Do they offer you support in the way of advice or anything else?

 

 

Brett and John have both supported me and ran with me when they could. I was fortunate enough to be able to train with Brett and learn from him my freshman and sophomore years. Brett showed me how rewarding our sport could be if I was willing to train hard. John graduated in 2003 so I wasn’t as close to him as I was to Brett but I have trained with John and we text from time to time. John and Brett both offered me advice based on their experiences in big races so I give them a lot of credit for shaping my mental approach to the sport.

 

 

5.       Your Holmdel PR of 16:18 was set at Shore Coaches last year.  What will you do differently this year to ensure that States and MOC are the kind of performances you want?

 

 

My goal is to break 16:00 at Holmdel this season and I have no doubt that I will do it. I feel a lot faster this year than previous years due to an increase in mileage over the summer, along with a few years of experience under my belt.  Along with an improvement of my physical ability, my mental approach is what I believe will take me very far this season. I go into every race with the same mental approach, I run the first part of the race with my head, the second part with my training, and the last part with my heart. This year I have raced with more heart than ever before due to some personal issues, so that’s how I can ensure that States and MOC will turn out to be great performances. 

 

 

6.       How annoying is it to live in Ocean City once all the tourists arrive?  It’s such a great place but it must seem like an invasion has happens at the end of June every year.

 

 

Ocean City is crazy in the summer time. In order to avoid all the commotion, our team practices in the North and South ends of the island where most of the locals live. Once in awhile a couple of my teammates and I would go up on the boardwalk later at night with glow sticks and some techno music and take part in our weekly “Midnight Rave Run.” Another fun activity we take part in while putting on some miles is weaving in and out of vacationers on the boardwalk. Although Ocean City can be a very hectic place to train, we make the best of it and have a lot of fun.

 

 

7.       What kind of music do you really love?  Do you have a favorite band?

 

I love any kind of music that can relate to my life. My favorite pump up songs before a race are ‘Remember the Name” by Fort Minor, and “Belief” by John Mayer.  I also listen to my Dad’s CD which includes “Run Miles Run” as one of the tracks. My family is very musically talented and my dad (Craig Schoedler) is a professional bassist. His CD, “There’s Something About a Mountain,” also gets me focused for races.

 

 

8.       What are your team goals for this XC season?  Are you guys at all focused on trying to make the nationals? 

 

 

Our team goals for the season are to repeat as SJ Group III Champions, Cape May County Champions, and Cape Atlantic League Champions along with winning the State Group III Title. We have the deepest team we have ever had so we want to win as many races this year as we can. Andrew DeMaria, Erik Johnson, and myself (The Three Amigos) want to finish our season going 1-2-3 in as many races as we can.

 

 

9.       What about individually for XC?

 

 

Individually I want to repeat as SJ Group III Champion and Cape May County Champion, win the Walt Disney World Classic, set the course record at our home course, win the Group III State Championship, and qualify for the Footlocker nationals in San Diego.

 

 

10.    With your excellent improvement in the 1600 last spring, are your goals centered on that event in track? 

 

 

I want to become a better-rounded track runner this year. I am training to break 4:08 in the 1600 but I also want to run under 1:54 in the 800m and break 9:10 in the 3200m. I am focusing on winning some big relay meets along with running in the most prestigious races in the country. I am running an early Millrose qualifier in early January and I hope to run in the Penn Relays HS mile or the DMR.