The Season Has Begun!

Well, after a long cold winter the season is finally here. We opened up at the Grey Ghost Invite last Friday with a great start. I didnt expect much being that we have only been doing tempo runs and fartleks on the road, but there were a lot of suprises. Freshman Rachel Innes won her flight of the 800 in 2:43. What was even more impressive is that she has never ran track! She could be some real help in getting our 4x800 to the state meet.

Senior David Blackford opened up with his first indoor meet ever with a 2:09, good enough for second place. What is really exciting about David is that he has had a stress fracture every track season that I have had him.

Junior Hugh Gill opened up with a 4:49 mile, which was about 13 seconds off where I thought he should be, but still not a bad opener. We just need to work on his racing tactics, plus I think I may have worked him a little too hard last week. No worries though, we are getting ready for the state meet in 3 months. Last but not least, Emily Gustafson opened up with a 5:28 mile, breaking the school record by 3 seconds along the way. Like Hugh Gill, it was a good start, but quite a bit slower that we were hoping for. But being that they decided at the last minute to combine the two heats and throw 42 girls out onto an indoor track for a mile and we didnt even get a chance to do a stride, I will take it.

I just got back from seeing the very, very, very awesome Dr. John Grady in Chicago and the foot is doing pretty well. I have been given the clearance to start running in two weeks time---just in time for spring!!! I should have gotten a picture of me squirming while he hammered my toe with some sort of midieval torture device that is supposed to break up scar tissue. Thank God I am tough as nails. A normal human being would have cracked from the intense pain, but I just smiled and asked for more. (anybody that knows me knows how low my pain threshold is ; )

Thanks for reading and GO RAIDERS!

tb

Back on My Feet!

Well folks, I am now almost 6 weeks post foot op. and everything seems to be going as planned. I visited Dr. Grady in Chicago last week and he said everything is going according to plan. I did not realize, until I saw him then, just how bad off my foot really was. There was a cyst in the bone, a trapped nerve locked up in scar tissue, scar tissue inside the joint and a half my remaining sesmoid bone was dead. Lucky me, no wonder I would get pain all over my body just trying to do an easy 5 mile run. I would post a picture of my freaky foot, but I dont want to make anybody sick! So long story short, I will be back on the stationary bike in two weeks.

The kids are running pretty good at the moment. I have incorporated a whole new running drill/hurdle drill session into our program and everybody seems to really be responding to it good. Most importantly, it shuts them up and makes them focus when we are in the gym. I have also revamped the core routine and made it twice as dynamic and difficult. Im not sure why I have been babying them for so long. But being that we dont really get the intensity and duration of training out of our running that I would like, due to the weather and running on the roads, I feel like this is a great time to hit the gym harder and get us prepared for the outdoor season. We have a meet coming up on Feb 20 so I will get some pictures up from that. I am going to try to set up my video camera in the gym tomorrow and get some footage of the kids doing these drills so 1. you can see what we are up to and 2. they can look back in 3 months time and see how far they have progressed.

Well, thats all I got for you for now. Happy training and GO RAIDERS!!!

tb

Still Kicking!

Well folks, I am coming out of my drug induced coma and am finally able to give everyone an update on the surgery. I had my foot cut on Friday morning in Chicago by Dr. John Grady, whom I cannot praise enough. I was so lucky to find a podiatrist in the midwest that was dedicated to his craft and willing to give every patient such personal attention. It also helps that his son, Martin, is an all state runner here in Illinois.

Dr. Grady found the source of my toe pain that has plagued me the last 3 years. From what I understand (I was a little out of it when talking to him after the surgery) he removed a cyst that had developed in the toe joint as well as a star shaped piece of calcified scar tissue that was floating around in the joint causing havoc on my cartilage. Fortunately there was no damage to the cartilage nor was there any damage to the surrounding tissue. So knock on wood, I may actually walk without pain someday! Actually, Dr. Grady is pretty confident that I will be back on my feet and pain free relatively quickly. The recovery process is fairly causious: two weeks with my foot propped up 50 min of every hour, two weeks of 40 min every hour, and two weeks of 30 min every hour. Hopefully I will be walking pain free in no time, which I havent been able to do since outdoor nationals 2002! That probably sounds like a bunch of jibberish, but the pain pill I just took is starting to take effect.

It is hard to put a timeline on the running prospects, and to be honest, I have trained myself not to when it comes to to my running career. But I will say that this is the most hope I have had in a very long time. So cross your fingers for me.

There is not a lot to report from the high school front. By IHSA rules I am not allowed to meet with the kids until after Christmas break. They have been keeping me posted on their running though, and it sounds like all are trudging through this horrid weather weve had the last 2 weeks. I am really pleased that I have a group of kids who are hooked and actually keep me posted on their progress. That is the attitude it takes to be successful.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday and thanks to everyone for all their supportive cards, calls and emails. Go Raiders!

tb

Time to Move!

I really love being home in the Midwest, but this weather is going to break me before the winter even starts! Boy did I took the warmth of the south for granted. Oh well, at least I have good company to keep me busy until things warm up here. Actually, I will be bored off my butt till the middle of January, as my Jan 19th surgery is quickly approaching. Let me say that I am really not looking forward to this one. At least we have found the problem and are taking care of it once and for all. Time off from running has never been a problem for me, as I find plenty to do to keep me busy. The hardest part of post surgery is asking people for help. And if you are a self sufficient person like myself, it is very difficult to rely on others for anything. But, like I said, hopefully this will all be over before winter ends and I will be back on my feet getting ready to race again.

There is not a lot to report from the coaching side of things. I sat down last week and racked my brain trying to come up with a good plan for the winter. I have a lot of talent on my hands and I do not want to goof it up. I actually buckled down and read Jack Daniels' and Joe Vigils' books, and after reading what seemed like chinese 4 times over, I have concluded that I am not changing things a bit. It was funny to read about all the things that I have instinctivly done for so long and understanding exactly what it does on a biological level. So hopefully we all stay healthy and motivated this winter because EP should be bringing home a lot of hardware this track season.

Thats all from this end. I will write again after the sugury and let everyone know how it went. Thanks again for reading. Go Raiders!

tb

Not Ready

First off I hope everybody had a safe and happy holiday. I am not sure if I am totally ready for another winter to be honest. I had a warm welcome this morning as the snow fell for the first time in Central IL. Driving out to do a few chores, I ended up sideways in a ditch at 50 mps between a phone pole, a big osage-orange tree and a 50 foot ditch! Not to worry, I only ended up with a few scratches and $60 later I was back on the road. What I love even more than the snow is trying to coach 15 high school kids in it with no places to run. Oh well, that is life.

A few of the boys and 7 of the girls ran in a 2 mile race Friday morning cleaning up nicely. Only 1 kid did not bring home any hardware. We have already begun unofficial practice as of last week. We have a team full of talent on the girls side and now that IL has gone to a 3 class system, the boys have a legitimate shot at qualifying in the 4x800. I am really looking forward to pushing them all hard over the next 3 months without any races to get in the way.

I am not sure if I posted this last time, but I will be having foot surgery on December 19th. The Dr found that a cyst developed where the prior surgerys existed. Lucky me. That is the reason I have had this grinding pain in my toe for so long. Cross your fingers that this will be the last of it. I am not sure on the recovery time, but I am guessing 6-8 weeks. Just in time for Spring!

Drive safe out there and I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for reading and remember, GO RAIDERS!

tb

Sectionals and Beyond!

The season has finally come to a close. Last Saturday we competed in the State qualifying sectional meet. The top 5 teams and top individuals advance. Being that we had 7 of the top 10 teams in the state in our sectional, I didnt have any delusions of moving on. I did believe that we were capable of being top 10, which would have been a wonderful cap on a good fall. I also believed that freshman star Kevin Eades would bounce back from an illness and was capable of qualifying as an individual.

To save the drama, I will tell you that he did just that! He ran a personal best of 15:42 and finished 14th overall and 5th individual! Being that there were only 5 or 6 freshman total to qualify for the state meet, I thought that was pretty incredible. He ran a perfect race, going through the mile in 35th and moving up slowly over the next mile and a half. Then he pulled out that big finish to catch 7 people over the last 600 meters. And that finish qualified him as the first freshman in EP history to qualify for the state meet as an individual!

In the end we finished a respectable 11th place, putting us (in my opinion) in the top 25 statewise. Junior Hugh Gill and Alec Gonzales both ran gutsy races and ended up with personal bests of 16:11 16:35. David Blackford also competed well to drop his pb to 17:01. I think we could have ran a little better from that point on, but cannot say that I was disappointed with anybody. It is very difficult to race twice a week for 8 weeks in a row, especially when you are young and not well trained. What I was most excited about is that the team all stayed around the next week to train and be with Kevin and are all excited to getting to training this winter and next summer so that we are all at the big dance next year. (talks cheap, so we will see ; ) We have also decided to rent a van and I am going to take a group up to the Footlocker Regional in Wisconsin Thanksgiving weekend.

Kevin went on to finish 104th this weekend, runing 16:30. A dissappointing finish, but not an idicator of how well he ran all season and how well he composed himself as a 15 year old freshman. Mark my words, he will be one of the best in the state next year. He text me later on after the race appologizing for letting me down and my reply was "I hope your joking. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Your will to train and live the lifestyle will pay off. Do not underestimate what you have accomplished this season. There are few freshman that have done what you have. It has been a pleasure to coach you and we will get you to the top of the podium, probably sooner than I think. Now try to enjoy a few days off. "

On a personal note, I got results back from an mri last week with good news and bad. I have a cyst that has developed which is probably what is causing all the pain in my toe. That can be fixed with a simple injection (if im lucky), and if not, can be removed. Bad news is that the other sesmoid bone is also fractured and half of it is neucrotic (dead). Hopefully that will not need to be extracted, but I will find out more this week when I go see the doc. It is unbelievable that it has taken so long to figure out why I have been having so much foot pain over the last 6 years. Hopefully this will be the end of it, but I will definately keep you all posted.

Thanks for reading and Go Raiders!

tb

Conference/Regional Meets

Championship season is here, and so far, we have handled it like pro's. Last Friday evening we competed in the Mid Illini Conference Meet, finishing second to Metamora, the sixth ranked team in the state.

For the second year in a row, we had the individual champion in the fresh/soph race. Freshman Gage VanOrder had a blistering kick (arrh, he's just a freshman) over the last 200 meters to win in a personal best 17:25. Rookies Cody Lacross, Evan Jenkins, Tyler Ford and Mike Ginz all ran personal bests as well to help finish 4th as a team.

Every kid in the Varsity race raced their hearts out to all finish with personal bests. Junior Hugh Gill finally raced like he was capable, tieing his pb of 16:16, fading to 11th place and just missing all-conference by 3 spots. Sophmores Alec Gonzales and Alex Cortes both crushed 17 min for the first time running 16:42 and 16:57. Drew Thomas and David Blackford both ran 30 second pr's, coming so close to breaking that 17 min mental barrier running 17:01 and 17:03 respectively. The very hardworking and consistent Brant Watson bettered his time from conference last year of 18:24, running 17:35!

But the race of the day belonged to freshman Kevin Eades. Shadowing the conference favorite through a pb at 2 miles, Kevin let inexperience get the better of him and gave a up a little too much ground. Sprinting up the home stretch to finish second he almost ran down the leader over the last 200 meters and ran 15:42. To put things into perspective, I ran 15:35 on the same course my freshman year! The best part about it all was that he was so angry that he finished second that he wouldnt talk to anybody for a half hour. That is the kind of attitude you dont see in many freshman, and the kind of attitude that is going to take him a long way in his athletic career.

I was enourmously proud of every kid last Friday. Most had to be scraped off the tarp with a spatula afterwards, and that is all I can ask as a coach.
Yesterday we competed in the Regional meet.

There is not really much to report about that one. It was a slow, cool windy day. We tied for third, but finished fourth counting back to 6th man. We looked a little tired and flat. Not sure if it is the come down after a hard effort last week or just knowing we needed to run an average race to advance, but we got the job done. First and second place are ranked 3rh and 5th respectively in the state. This qualifies us for the Sectional meet next weekend on our home course. To be brutally honest, our gold medal race would be top 10. On the positive side we get 7 of our top 8 back for next year, so this will be an excellent experience for all. Actually, 8 of the top 12 teams in the state are in our sectional and only 5 qualify for state, so it should be a eye opener for those who are serious about wanting to qualify for state next year, but have never put a real summer of training in.

I will keep everyone posted on how it goes this weekend. I was up in Chicago last week meeting with one of the top podiatrists in the country and he seemed to be pretty optimistic about getting my foot right. I had an MRI Friday, so I should have the report tomorrow and see what the Dr thinks. Thanks for reading and cross your fingers for us (and me!).

Go Raiders