“…I am 100% focused on getting our athletes as ready as possible…the reason they run the (Olympic Trials marathon) race is because no one knows what’s going to happen.”
This week, I am answering a few reader questions on our Florida training camp, and the upcoming Olympic Trials Marathon. Before we jump into the Q&A, a quick shout-out to our three athletes who raced on Monday night at the University of Minnesota fieldhouse at the Meet of Miles. Tanner Maier, in his team debut, took the win in 4:12, with Joseph Minor in 2nd in 4:17. Tanner has run 4:08 for the mile, while Joseph (a 5k/10k specialist) rarely runs the mile and was able to better his PR. Cailee Peterson took 5 seconds off the time she ran in December at BU, running 4:45, the fastest women’s time of the event. She improved her indoor PR by a second, and was just a couple of seconds off her all time best. Now on to the Q & A, all of which are some conglomeration of questions that were asked…
Tell us about a day in the life of an athlete at training camp.
A day in the life varies, of course, by the individual. Breanna Sieracki and Kevin Lewis, for example, have their families with them, so they are spending time with their kids and spouses. Others have friends and family visiting at different times, and may sometimes go out to do something different in the area. But here’s the general picture of a typical day is not too glamorous:
The athletes wake up around 6:00 or 6:30, get some breakfast in, and get ready for training. They will often drive together to the training location for the day, whether it is the track, a bike path, dirt road, or whatever is best suited to the training for the day. Training takes up a couple of hours (~7:30-9:30), and then it’s back to the house for breakfast and a shower, likely along with some foam rolling or other body work.
Many of the athletes are working remotely in some capacity, so there are lots of laptops in play during the late morning and into the afternoon. There’s usually a lunch break in the early afternoon, and there may be a nap some days if time allows. Then there’s usually a second session of training later in the afternoon, often an easy run, possibly some strength work or core. Then, more rolling/body work, and some dinner and relaxation. Streaming a movie or tv show until the eyelids get heavy seems to be par for the course. When you are training really hard, falling asleep is usually not too much of a challenge. Bed times tend to be pretty early, like in the 9:00 range for most of the athletes.
What do you think of the Trials course?
Some of us who had not seen the course yet went and ran it one day, and in my opinion it’s a really great course. It definitely has the potential to be fast, as there’s not much vertical on it, but just enough of little rises and drops here and there to break it up a little bit. The day we ran it was 50 degrees with very little wind, so that may be biasing me…the next morning it was 70 degrees and very humid already at 8 a.m.
But overall, I really like the course. The park where the start and finish is located is a beautiful spot – just watch out for those aggressive swans (see the one in the photo, which actually pecked Titus in the back of the leg!). There’s a lot of tree cover along much of the course, and I think it will be a good mix of areas where the crowds will be pretty thick and places where it’s likely to be a little more sparse, but which allows someone to cheer for their athlete and actually be heard.
What’s going to happen in the race, and who do you have for a top 3 at the Trials?
I won’t say who I like for the top 3 because I am 100% focused on getting our athletes as ready as possible, and the reason they run the race is because no one knows what’s going to happen. However, I will comment a little on how I think things could play out. I think it’s worth remembering that the 2020 Trials race, despite the hilly course and strong winds, was still run pretty fast up front. It took 2:10:03 to make the team (3rd place) that day on the men’s side, and 2:28:52 on the women’s side. Both were negative split races, though not dramatically. When you look at how much U.S. women’s distance running has improved in the last few years, I think it’s safe to say that barring an extreme weather situation, it’s going to be a much faster race on the women’s side. Actually, even with a hot day, I would bet it will be faster for the women. And on both sides, I think there are too many quality runners who want to put their best effort forward for it to go out very slowly. In other words, I think it’s going to be a heck of a show out there in Orlando!
What mistakes are amateur runners commonly making, and what can they learn from the pros?
This one could go a number of directions, but I think the number one difference is that successful pro runners understand the long timeline of the sport a little better than amateur runner. I used to coach a lot of amateur/recreational runners, and often they would want me to start coaching them around 12 weeks before a big race, and would come in with the idea that they were going “all in” for that 12 weeks. Pro runners, on the other hand, know that each day, week, and season builds on the last, and that the body changes gradually. Fitness is not an on/off switch. I think everyone struggles to be patient from time-to-time, but every pro runner has had enough ups and downs to understand that the process is a slow, gradual one, and that it doesn’t always follow a straight line.
Thanks for the questions, and let me know if there are any other topics you’d like me to cover in a future newsletter!
Editors note: Minnesota Distance Elite will have 7 (!) runners on the line at the USA Olympics Trials Marathon race in Orlando on February 3rd. Dakotah Lindwurm, Annie Frisbie, Breanna Sieracki, Joel Reichow, Tyler Jermann, Kevin Lewis, and JP Trojan.
Chris Lundstrom is the head coach of Minnesota Distance Elite – formerly Team USA Minnesota – which includes some of the top distance runners in the USA, including Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Lindwurm, Breanna Sieracki and Joel Reichow.
