Fall is here!

Hello all,
It may still be warm but the leaves are already starting to change and everyone knows what that means! Pumpkin spiced coffee at Dunkin Donuts!! I'm personally not a fan of coffee but I cant get enough of the pumpkin spice. I must say coach Broe and Bekah planned the perfect date for their wedding. It ended up being a beautiful ceremony and the foliage in the background of the ceremony couldn't of painted a better picture. I just want to wish Coach and his lovely wife Bekah a long and happy life together. But just because coach is on his honeymoon doesn't mean things slow down here. The past two weeks I have hit 70 miles (7days) and 67 miles (6 days) and have had long runs of 14 and 15 miles (The morning after coaches wedding). So needless to say I am working hard. This week I'm looking to hit 70 miles in 7 days. My weeks are set up with a fartlek/hill workout, a mid week longish run (10), a tempo run, and then a Long run(15). Its been working very well and I have already started to see improvements in my fitness over the last three weeks. I will have another week of the same type of schedule and then start a new phase in my fall training. Needless to say I'm very excited to be consistently hitting the higher mileage.

On another note, Leb XC is doing great. Our kids are running great and are very enthusiastic about the sport. They all want to run more then they did they day before and they are always asking for more core work. I hope they keep this attitude up as they grow up because if they do they will be very successful in whatever they choose to do. We have a big race up in Thetford on saturday Oct. 1st. We hope that if you are in the area you will stop in and watch the races. The girls middle school race starts at 10:30 and the boys start at 10:50. We are hoping to improve on are times from earlier this month. Also if you get a chance pick up the valley news tomorrow. There should be a very good article about our XC programs in the sports section.

Cheers,
Gags

End of Season, Busy Week, and XC!

The last race of my summer season was last week at the CVS Downtown 5k in Providence, RI. The race also happened to be the US Championship for 5k. I came in 16^th overall, was the 11^th American and ran 14:14. I was hoping to run a few clicks faster, but was not entirely disappointed with it. The race went out hard, then I lost contact with the lead pack around 1.5-2 miles as Ben pushed the pace up front. With about 800 to go I got caught by another small group and was able to put in a surge of my own with 600 to go, just before the final hill. One American beat me to the line in the final 150 meters, but I was also able to distance myself from the small pack that caught me just a half mile before. That was really the first time I felt like I had the ability to put in a move of my own this season, and even though it was not up in the lead pack, I feel like I’m ending my year on a positive. I’ve already taken a few days off, get a bit of an easy week here, and am hopping right into my fall training block after that. I am really looking forward to putting in the work and having a healthy year of training behind me going into 2012.

ITA looking good for the Broe Wedding.

Aside from the excitement of ending one year and beginning another, this past week was full of events. We took a team trip to Fenway Park last Wednesday. I’ve run by the park before, but that was my first time watching a game. It reminded me a lot of the old Tiger’s Stadium in Detroit. You can feel the tradition in old ballparks like that and it was a cool thing to be able to do as a group. The other big event of the week was Broe’s Wedding! Tim and Bekah got married yesterday and the wedding was a ton of fun. We had a couple friends stay at our house and my coach from Michigan, Ron Warhurst and family, were here for the ceremony. My parents also came in this weekend to visit and attend the wedding. My parents and I hiked up to an old fire tower in Norwich, VT with incredible 360 degree views, and today went to Burligton, VT for a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s factory and dinner with a view of the sunset over Lake Champlain.  It’s been great seeing all of these people from Michigan out here in New Hampshire!

Fenway under the lights.

Sunset in Burlington... Not Bad

Finally, Coaching Indian River School XC is getting more and more fun every week. We’ve been working the kids hard and they are improving in every race they run.  It is also exciting for me to share my passion with kids that are new to running and see them not only be successful and meet their goals, but also enjoy what they are doing every day. We’ve got a big race in Thetford next Saturday on a course that we’ve already run once this season. It will be interesting to see how much better all of the kids run the second time around on the Thetford course after having 3-4 races under their belts.

Until Next Time,

-Lex

From Thetford to Fenway and back again

Last week we saw witness to our first middle school cross-country race.  Held on the challenging trails of Thetford Academy, my fifth through eighth graders raced around a hilly three kilometer course and displayed mighty pluck and vigor for their first trail race of the season.  We had many great results, including our ferocious little sixth grader leading most of the way, all awhile giving two eighth graders a run for their money, and a dynamic duo of sisters finishing an astounding third and fourth in the women’s race.  It has been great to see the kids get nervous and anxious for races, fidgeting and fluttering over their own pent up excitement.  The sense of accomplishment from finishing the race seen on their faces is as rewarding as it comes.  Practices have been going great and our program which started with only a few runners has blossomed to nearly thirty kids, all of whom only become more and more zealous to run by the day.

And it has not only been my middle schoolers who have been putting in the miles and flying around a race course.  I recently ran my own race amongst a fervor of activity.  Last weekend, after traveling down to Boston to join my family at Fenway Park and watching the Red Sox garner a rare win, I myself continued down the east coast to Rhode Island for the USA 5km road Championships.  Luckily enough after watching the Red Sox post a win, I was able to follow in their footsteps and cross the line first, giving myself my second National road title of the year.  And with only one more race on the docket, I am hoping to be able to continue my good fortune before ending my season.  So if watching the Red Sox helped fuel my winning drive last weekend, hopefully driving back down to Fenway to watch another game with the team tonight will aid me in my last race of the season.  At least it’s worth a try right?

Until next time,

Ben

Ben True Representing!!!

I want to start by saying congratulations to Ben True for following up his USA 10K Championship win with a USA 5K win!  For all of you who watched online, I am sure you witnessed how gutsy of a race it was.  To not only lead a large share of the race but to save enough in the tank for a mean kick up a hill was very impressive indeed.  Also, congratulations to Lex Williams who finished as the 11^th American overall.  Now that Lex is finished training for races this summer, we will finally begin training together on the same schedule; something I am looking forward to as he is a very talented runner and will definitely help me to improve as an athlete.

On a more personal level… last week was one of many milestones to come in my career here at ITA.  When I moved to the upper valley, I told myself that I would start taking care of all the small details for the first time in my running career.  I want to see just how good I am capable of becoming, and I realize that in order to accomplish this goal it is those details that will inevitably shape the results.   It has now been 18 days since I arrived in Hanover, and I have definitely made some big strides in the right direction, though there are many more to go.  Not only did I reach 70 miles last week for the first time ever, I am now paying much more attention to the things that I put in my body as well.  Training is going great (knock on wood).  I feel as though I am in the best shape of my life; probably due to the much improved diet.  J  I am already beginning to get excited for the track season to arrive and have set some very high standards for myself and looking forward to the challenge.

-Jeff

And so it begins

Hello all,
So not much to report on at the moment. Training is going very well. I just had my meeting with Coach to talk about the fall training and we have something really good cooking up! But for right now I am just working on getting up to 70 miles a week and feeling comfortable doing it. In about a month we will start our first phase of this years training and I couldn't be more excited about it. I will be racing some XC this fall too, which really excites me. I always like running a few XC meets in the fall so this year that's exactly what I'm going to do. I know for a fact that I will be running the Mayors Cup in Boston followed by USATF New Englands. I plan on breaking my 8k pr of 25:42 so I guess you can say that's one of my short term goals!

On another note,

Yesterday was our first middle school XC meet and it went very well. The kids went out an ran great even though we only had two practices leading up to the meet. But that didn't stop two of our boys from placing 8th and 12th respectively. It also didn't stop the rest of the team (Boys and Girls) from getting out there and racing. Everyone had fun and the kids are really looking forward to our next practice. They are even asking to run hills!! These kids are great and I'm really looking forward to working with them for the next two months. The only issue we had was  one of our kids got sick and couldn't make it to the race. Hopefully we will have our entire team for the next race! Speaking of that our next race is in Norwich on Thursday @4pm so if you are in the area you should stop by and check it out.


Brian

Fall Is Upon Us!

As many of you know by now, Ben and I have started coaching cross-country at Indian River Middle School in Canaan, NH. We've got 29 kids on our roster and have been having a great time coaching. I think my favorite moment so far early this season was putting the kids through a hill workout last week. That's the first time I've ever been on the other side of the workout - from the coach's perspective and not the athlete's.

The highlight of the workout was all of the complaints coming from the kids.  "I can not do any more." "My legs are dead." "This is the hardest thing I've ever done!" All of those came straight out of the kids mouths. So you must think that I'm a sick and twisted coach for liking to hear those things...! But I'm not. You see it's the challenge of turning comments like those around that makes coaching kids so rewarding. One kid in particular was having an especially difficult time on the hills - so I asked him - are you going to be able to walk away from this workout proud of yourself, able to say you gave your very best? I told him I thought he had one more in him. After making the choice to do one more, he comes down the hill with his arms raised and proclaims "I did it! I believed in myself and I did it!" And the best part about that was he continued to do 2 more. It was awesome.

My own training has been going well lately and I'm feeling ready to roll going into the US Road 5k Champs/CVS 5k on Saturday in Providence, RI. For those of you interested in checking out results - or live video on Saturday - here is a link:

http://www.runnerspace.com/USA-5km

Race Time 11:15AM EST.

I hope you tune in and watch as both Ben and I are running. Also - if any of you have been following the standings in the US Road Running circuit, Ben is currently 2nd overall and trying to make a push for the lead this weekend. Just one more cool reason to watch!

Until next time,

-Lex

Year End Review

So it’s been a year.  Crazy to think, it seems like just yesterday I returned to the Upper Valley eager to meet the new team and new coach.  A brand new training program, slowly developing out of infancy, stretching out it’s arms in wonderment and discovery.  All of that is now behind us.  Those timid steps of toddlerhood seem as a distant past.  The ups and downs, leveled.  The first year, the year of learning, is over.  There has been some mistakes, some progress, and a new understanding.  When I sat down in a recent year end review, there were many things to point towards as success: making the World Cross-Country team, running an Olympic “B” standard in the 5km, a national title, and many podium finishes on the roads.  These are all good things, and Tim and I must note where things did go right.  However, and yes there is always a however, I did not meet my goals for the year.  I did not run the Olympic “A” standard in either the 5km or 10km and I did not qualify for the World Championships in Daegu.  So how do I remedy this?  I must build upon the positives, remember what worked in training, and note what can be improved upon.  The year end review is the perfect time to really scrutinize and examine all aspects of the year.  From the quality of recover and sleep, to diet, overall well-being, and finally the day in and day out of training.  All must be accounted for, and all must be assessed for flaws.  It is a time of reflection and then action.  Once a flaw is unveiled, action must take place for change to allow yourself the best chance of success.  So while year one may have come to an end, year two has already begun.  The Olympic Trials are only ten months away, so it is time to get to work.

Until next time,

Ben

How about that ride in! :)

Well hello Hanover, NH and to all the followers of the ITA blog.  My name is Jeff Schirmer and I am the newest addition to this great up and coming post collegiate team.  This is my first attempt at blogging so for all you pros out there, please be patient I’m sure it will take a little practice for me to get this down.  These past few weeks have been a little crazy for me so I will just begin with my trip to the Upper Valley.

Let me start with a warning for all of you.  Never attempt to move halfway across the country with all your possessions in a compact two door car.  After hours of packing every little inch of space in my car I still ended up throwing a good amount of things away or giving them to my SIU teammates including my bed, furniture, and TV.  Driving 20 hours from Illinois to New Hampshire is no easy task by itself; now add to that only being able to see out your left mirror and the car almost grinding on the back tires because of all the weight.  It was pretty scary at points where there was heavy traffic.  Finally, on the second day of traveling my GPS was down to just 50 miles to go and I thought to myself the worst is behind me and I will be there in an hour.  Well let’s just say that hurricane Irene was not to kind to Vermont.  On top of all the curvy mountainous roads, the last 50 miles Mother Nature had decided to completely wipe out many of the roads in Vermont, including two of which my GPS was telling me to take to get to Hanover.  To sum this up, the last 50 miles took roughly two and half hours.

Well that’s enough with the bad, now let me get on with the good news.  I am loving everything about Hanover so far.  Though I have only been here for four days I am excited for this up and coming year of training.  The running around here is very hilly but that will only add to the fitness I hope to gain here.  Ben, Brian, and Lex have welcomed me with open arms and are great teammates to have.  I’m looking forward to training with and getting to know them better.  I am also extremely excited to begin coaching Lebanon Middle School with Brian this week.  There has always been a part of me that has wanted to coach and give back some of the knowledge I have gained over the past years during my running career.  Running was always an outlet for me when times were rough in my life and has opened so many doors for me.  If I can give that back to just one kid on this team I will feel like I was successful.  The main thing however will be to let these kids know that running can and should be a fun, social, and healthy lifestyle.

-Jeff

Time to get busy!

Hello all,
Camp is over and summer is almost at its end. That means its time to get after base training! For the next couple of months I will be cranking up the mileage and doing a lot of tempo and fartlek work. I'm pretty excited, as you all know its a big year coming up! The trials are about 10 months away so its time to get after it. 10 months seems like a long ways away but for me its going to fly by. The 08 trials feel like they were yesterday and now here we are 10 months away from 2012's trials. Its going to be a tough road ahead but if it were easy then everyone would do it right? I signed up for this knowing it was going to be tough! But I think that's what motivates me to keep going. The idea that even if I fail I still know that I gave my best to try to accomplish something that most think impossible.


Its also time to get busy coaching middle school XC.  Jeff and I will be taking on Lebanon middle school cross country. We don't start practice till next week but we have already started writing up workout plans and are getting very excited to meet our new athletes. I'm excited for this opportunity because I really want to get into coaching when I'm done competing professionally and I think this will be a great start.  Whats good about this program is that we are not trying to push these kids into hard training. We simply are trying to build their love for running and teach them stretches and drills that will help them become better athletes as they get older. Whether its running or another sport. We Just want them become stronger and teach them things now so that they don't develop injuries later on in life. Needless to say its going to be great experience and I look forward to the challenge

Alright its getting late and Ive got a tempo run in the AM Good night everyone!

Gags