By Mark Walters
You’ve heard about the intervals, you’ve felt the pain of a race. After this past weekend’s Iona Meet of Champions-the most competitive meet in the nation to date, featuring nationally ranked powers No. 4 Iona, No. 8 Michigan, and No. 18 Providence among several other regionally ranked teams-Hofstra Cross Country has three weeks off.
Did I say off? Three weeks off means three weeks without racing. Three weeks off means three tough weeks of running workouts, hard and longs runs, lifting, and more workouts. Did I mention that there is no let up? Our next meet-the New York Metropolitan Championships, also at Van Cortlandt Park-isn’t until Friday, October 10.
Burping up acid before the sun rises isn’t my idea of a pleasant morning, and even though I earned Monday morning practice off, I show up anyway. Unlike many other Mondays when we have a race to look forward to in 5 or 12 days, we have 18 days till this one. This Monday, it’s back to the drawing board.
Unlike some, I’m the type of runner that revels in this. I would rather work tirelessly for several weeks to prepare for a race rather than blow my load every Saturday, getting tired and worn down before the important races.
Either way, the mile repeat workout this past Tuesday couldn’t have gone any worse than it did. I ran 5:29, 5:25, 5:21, 5:23, and 5:25. Consistent if nothing else, but it was uncomfortable and frustrating. I’ve been right there in the thousand and 500-meter intervals, but for some reason it just won’t translate in the miles.
Mike McCristall reassures me afterwards that I’m fine, pointing out the pace I held the day before on an 11-mile run. I nod and hope for the best. Phil Giackette, who got his miles down to 5:01 notices my anger, and tells me to let it go and not worry about it.
“Work harder,” he tells me.
It’s humbling for a senior to take advice from a sophomore, but Phil’s words are what help me keep my head up as I shrug it off and jog back to Hofstra from Eisenhower Park. I also pull one out of Public Enemy’s playbook: “Don’t let a win go to your head or a loss to your heart.”
We arrive back to the locker room a little after 6 o’clock, the time we are to begin lifting. Lifting today though is a little different. Due to the infamous Presidential Debate being held on campus, the arena weight room has been moved to Kate and Willy’s at Hofstra USA. Go ahead, read that again; you read correctly.
We’re yelled at by Joe Makovic, one of our two strength and conditioning coaches, as we arrive 10 minutes late. The workout is standard until abdominal work decides to join the party. I groan my way through shooters, holds, and various other stomach busting positions to finish a long day that began at 6am.
Sweating salt and pissing vinegar, I drive back to the locker room at the Physical Fitness Center to take a shower, a luxury that will soon be taken away for three weeks. The PFC will be cleared out, coaches, athletes, trainers, and all to accommodate the debates. They have already made alterations, clearing out various weight rooms and offices. After this Friday, the secret service will own this place, and we’re not welcome back until October 18.
Am I for the debate being held at Hofstra? Of course. Am I happy about simple conveniences in my life being changed? Of course not. It is what it is, and we’ll all have to make adjustments.
Adjustments are something the team is still making as we grind away in preparation for the month of November-Championship Season. What’s interesting is that our next meet is a championship race, so it won’t be a joke of any kind. On a tough course at Van Cortlandt, I’m looking to smash the time I ran at Iona last week-27:29.
Wednesday’s run is 8-10 miles, and I’m dead. I’m not hurt or even sore, I’m just dead. My legs are flat and tired. I ache.
The team has been split into two sub-teams in order to accommodate a physical fitness professor who will be measuring our V02 maxes-the maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and utilize oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of an individual.
Myself, Tom Daly, Phil Giackette, Mike McCristall, Rich Schmitz, and Adam Wasser are on the “Blue Team,” while Owen Graham, Robbie Wright, Fred Shattell, Ernie Pacheco, Greg Rogoz, and Eric Tremblay are on the “Gold Team.”
The Gold Team is doing a workout Wednesday, while we’re recovering on a long run. If not for Tom’s idea to play categories, I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish the run. Note: I won the game, winning eight of the categories.
After the workout, I do voluntary pushups before taking a hot whirlpool. I usually take ice baths, submerging myself from the waist down in 50 degree water. It supposedly tightens your muscles and kicks out the lactic acid. They say it’s therapeutic. I do it because it hurts but in the end, makes my legs feel like a million bucks. Wednesday though I opt for the hot bath to simply relax my tired muscles.
The 95 degree water with a turbo jet feels much like a hot tub and gives me a similar sensation. As I head back upstairs for a shower, I am relaxed but drained. It’s been a long day in the midst of a long week. I have one more workout before my VO2 max test Saturday. I’ll let you know my score.
Mark Walters is a senior staff writer for The Chronicle. He is the senior captain of the Hofstra men’s cross country team. This is his memoir of his final season wearing the blue, white and gold.