Running with the Buffaloes
Page 29
“a workout everyone prides themselves on running great and being super-confident going into Nationals.” But he says, “I think it’s good that Mark looked at the team as a whole. I think he looked at Goucher and Valenti and he forgot, though, that on the last ones, you make up a lot of ground. But there’s something to be said that Gouch was getting slower and slower. Jay wasn’t feeling good. Roybal wasn’t feeling good. Nordberg 206
CHRIS LEAR
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 207
looked good and he felt he was hitting his splits and he didn’t have the confidence to do well [at Nationals] without it. It made him the most distraught, but I think he’s OK.”
He feels the experience that the others have is what makes them realize they will be OK. “Two guys, Oscar and Nordberg, haven’t been hurting, and they don’t have experience [running NC’s]. But with the seasons they’ve had, and since the rest of us have experience, we should be fine; it shouldn’t affect our confidence. I mean, the only two people that haven’t been to Nationals are the two people besides Gouch who have the most training.” Besides, he reasons, “I feel that all the training we do should give us justification for cutting it short. The less the better in the last two weeks.” Is he worried about Goucher? “No. I think Goucher knows that, and backing off will help him. If he’s hurting a little bit and that justifies him backing off, then good, because he runs well when he’s rested.”
Wetmore is not overly concerned about having to cut it short yesterday. He says, “They were just tired, that’s all. It’s no tragedy. They had four hard days in six. They raced Saturday, ran long Sunday, hard Tuesday and medium distance Wednesday.”
“A lot of the guys told me there were absolutely shot after the Master Blaster.” But, he reiterates, “There’s no tragedy going on, they’re just tired. I pulled them aside after that [at Balch], so they wouldn’t go home discouraged. In the long run, they needed the rest more than two more repeat miles. I’ve never done this workout in the same week as the Master Blaster and I had no idea the Tuesday workout was so hard. I thought of it as an easy workout but it turns out they ran their guts out. Anyway,”
he concludes, “I’m not worried about that workout at all.”
CU HOME OPEN
PLACE
NAME
PACE
TIME
1.
Matt Elmuccio
5:31
27:25
2. Steve
Slattery
5:33 27:33
3. Sean
Smith
5:33 27:34
4. Jim
Robbins*
5:34 27:36
5. David
Romero*
5:37 27:55
6. Spencer
Casey*
5:38 27:57
7. Zach
Crandall
5:38 27:57
8.
Wes Berkshire
5:38
28:00
9. Cameron
Harrison 5:43 28:21
11. Matt
Ruhl
5:52 29:09
* open athletes
RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
207
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 208
Sunday, November 8, 1998
The Aqueduct
8:30 a.m.
Punchdrunk Fighters
It is cold and snowy. Coming out of the van at 8:30 a.m. to run for an hour and a half, the runners look glum. Not everyone in Boulder wants to be them on this day. The runners are doing three-quarters of their normal Sunday, but that is of little solace in the cold. Two miles into the run, the men must cross a small creek that is impossible to avoid. Not only will they be cold after that; their feet will also be freezing.
The Junior Varsity runners have begun their active rest, and Reese is taking the day off, so only six men greet the cold this morning: Goucher, Friedberg, Johnson, Ponce, Roybal, and Batliner.
Goucher finishes ahead of the pack, but he is quiet and despondent.
Perhaps he is thinking of Friday’s workout, or perhaps he is just mentally and physically fatigued. Perhaps he feels worse today, when he needs to start feeling good, than when he blazed 22 miles here on August 30th.
Whatever the reason, he is down. He looks exasperated as he boards the van. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” he says, “I just have no fight in me right now.” He has two weeks to get his act together.
The best news today comes not from Boulder, but from Wheeling, Illinois. The Torres twins, despite not getting full scholarships, call Wetmore to tell him that next year, they will be Buffaloes. Jorge just won the state meet with the fastest time in Illinois in 23 years, and Ed finished third.
While this year’s team has two weeks left in their quest, the Torres twins’ commitment has him thinking of next year’s squad. “This was supposed to be our year,” Wetmore says, “but with all the disappointments and interruptions it’s our worst feeling year ever. It won’t be our worst finish, but we’ll be pretty good next year.”
The downside to the Torres commitment is that after them, the bank is empty. “What it means,” Wetmore continues, “is we’re pretty much on every kid’s list, and we don’t have the money to bring them here. It’s pretty much been like that since we got Goucher. Six months after we signed him, every kid in the country had Colorado on his list.”
With money so scarce, his other option is to only recruit native Coloradans. He has toyed with the idea. “We’d be a full in-state program. We’d offer everybody only in-state tuition. We won’t be winning every year, but we’ll go just about every year with the Gouchers, Reeses, Severys, and Tiernans.”
208
CHRIS LEAR
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 209
Wetmore examines his current squad: “Elmo and Slattery are major out-of-state recruits. If I don’t get Slattery, I get Crandall, who is only ten seconds behind him. If I gave all my money away to all my assistants, we’d still be a pretty good team, and that’s a simpler way of life, isn’t it? We’d just be stuck in town, and we’d be good.” He reconsiders, though, when he thinks of the potential the Torres brothers have. “Ah, we gotta do this Torres thing.”
But there is another advantage to having a full in-state team. He could prove it is his method that makes his guys so good, not their superior genetic talent. Says Wetmore, “I’m not a provincialist or a jingoist. The complaint in distance coaching is that you can’t be good unless you buy your team. If we did it this way, we’d be a national program, and it’d be a big blow to that argument that there’s no other way to do it.” He thinks of the foreign all-star teams at schools like Oklahoma State: “If they take 4:20 and 9:20 kids from all the contiguous states, they could get three a year. That’s fifteen kids [over five years]. You show up seven days a week, train their asses hard, and you got a pretty good program. They’d be just as good as they are now.”
Hard work is the key to Wetmore’s program. But how does he ex-
plain his overwhelming success with walk-ons who come from altitude?
He thinks they have different physiological characteristics from having been raised in this environment, along with some other intangibles. He says, “Physiologically, they know how to race up here. They have sensory data they use to measure the effort they use while a sea-level kid has to throw it all out. The other thing is that they don’t know how good they are; no one does. They’re undertrained, they have bad facilities. Every front range kid is about 40 years behind everyone else.”
But being undertrained is a characteristic too many high school runners share, even the sea-level guys. “Look at Friedberg and [ Jon] Cooper.
There’s just no telling how many 9:30 two milers are gonna be 29:30 10k runners after a couple years of hard training.”
Hard training works, not only for the walk-ons, but for all his athletes.
It is one thing to sell hard work
to a kid who comes in with mediocre credentials. It is another thing altogether to convince the 4:10 guy that hey, if you want be good, start running twenty miles on Sunday. Getting his top athletes to train like his walk-ons is one of Wetmore’s most difficult tasks. Only this year did Goucher start training like he is better than the others. For Slattery, seeing Goucher’s example, it may come earlier.
But, according to Wetmore, Slattery’s success on the high school level has almost retarded his early development this season. “Steve has a bit of a handicap,” he says. “He still hasn’t gotten it through his head that it’s not any day now that he’ll outkick Goucher. He’s got to learn that beating RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
209
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 210
people up in New Jersey is one thing. But every single guy on this team is better than [New Jersey scholastic star] Murad Campbell. It could take him a long time until he realizes, ‘Hey, I’m an average guy in Colorado distance running.’ Until he out-trains them, he’s not gonna be what he can be. The better you are, the harder it is to realize that.”
The question is: Without the lure of an athletic scholarship, how many guys will be willing to suffer so much?
210
CHRIS LEAR
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 211
Tuesday, November 10, 1998
Potts Field
3:45 p.m.
Call to Arms
“Last year,” JD says, his breath visible, “they never had a day colder than today.” He is bundled up in a big CU parka. The 30-mph gusts will cut through any lighter clothing. The runners are getting ready for a sharp anaerobic workout of repeat 300’s: 8 x 300 with 30 seconds rest in 48
seconds — well below race pace. They will jog 800 meters before doing two more at race pace. Those 300’s will be in 56 seconds, or 5:05 a mile for the guys, and 51 seconds for Goucher.
Wetmore addresses his team as they finish stretching. “Gouch,” says Wetmore, “I’m gonna embarrass you. I talked to [masseur Al] Kupczak, and he says when he gets into your muscles, you feel like a Kenyan. He says you’re the only white guy who has ever felt like that.” Gouch just smiles as the guys hoot and holler.
Elmuccio is listening. He is here because he has just been called to action. Yesterday afternoon, Johnson was brought to his hands and knees by the flu, literally, in the UMC. Wetmore called and asked Elmuccio if he is ready to go, and Elmuccio did not hesitate. “I’m in the best shape of my life,” he told Wetmore. “I’m ready to toe the line.”
While laboring some, he does well today, consistently running mid-pack. In the last couple 300’s, his posture straightens, and his head starts to bob back as he inhales. Wetmore knows the sight well. “[ W ]hen he does that,” Wetmore says, “[it]’s the beginning of the end for the Mooch.”
The head bob also comes out to play when Elmuccio is feeling good. The difference is in his posture. If he is still on his toes leaning slightly forward, his opponents are in trouble. That means he is about to unleash his 48
second 400-meter speed.
Ponce and Friedberg hang on to the back of the pack as they finish the set, for good reason. Speed is not their forte. This workout finally offers milers like Reese and Roybal a long-awaited chance to put the hurt on the 10k guys who have made them suffer every Sunday this season.
Despite not yet having had the fluid drained from his knee, Reese looks great. He stays with Goucher the entire workout, and they separate themselves from the pack. “God,” Reese says afterwards, “it feels great to be rested.” He does not intend to let Elmuccio grab his spot at regionals any time soon.
RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
211
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 212
And neither does Batliner. He looks comfortable in the middle of the pack. It is a good day for him, but as always, Wetmore must wait until tomorrow to discover if the workout has stressed him too much.
After the workout, Wetmore informs his men of the plan for this weekend’s Mountain Regional in Provo, Utah. “I want you guys running 5:05’s in Utah. That’s 31:37.” Then comes the surprise, “Goucher, I may have you do that, too.” Reese jumps in: “Yeah, but you gotta beat [ Jeff ]
Simonich.” Goucher shoots back, “It doesn’t matter what happens at Regionals. What matters is what happens at Nationals.”
212
CHRIS LEAR
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 213
Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Balch Gymnasium
1 p.m.
Edge City Is a Scary Place
Wetmore anxiously awaits word from Batliner and Johnson. He is not sure how they are feeling. On top of that, Ponce’s shin aches and Reese is getting fluid drained from his knee. Their status gets Wetmore thinking about the rash of injury and illness plaguing this team. “As usual,” he says,
“I can’t find a thread to it. After consistent solid training for twelve, thirteen weeks, we didn’t change anything. Usually stress is related to change in what you’re doing.” Goucher, too, is feeling it. The reason for that, though, is obvious. Says Wetmore, “He’s been doing consistently hard training since July 1st. The fact is he’s done really hard workouts. We went out on the edge. It’s hard when you’re doing that training.”
If there is a thread to it, it is one Batliner identified back in September. Wetmore says, “The density of the training may be too much. Most people here are doing something up-tempo four times a week — Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. In any case, something was too much.”
Wetmore will attempt to determine what was too much after the
season. Now, just about all the training is done. The question is whether the runners can recover in time for the Mountain Regional, and, more important, NCAA’s. If Wetmore rests anyone this weekend, Reese will be first, then Batliner. But Reese does not want to rest. He told Wetmore,
“If I’m gonna run Nationals, I need to run hard every three days anyway.
I might as well do the race as preparation for NCAA’s.” Batliner looked superb yesterday, so barring excessive wear and tear he is in, and Johnson “can’t do anything about the flu, I don’t know if he’s ready to go.” But, Wetmore concludes, “My guess is we’ll probably run the regular squad Saturday.”
The Mooch runs 55 minutes steady with the guys . . . just in case.
RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
213
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 214
Friday, November 13, 1998
Provo, Utah
Provo Holiday Inn
10 p.m.
I’m No Wildlife Expert
Berkshire, Slattery, and the Mooch have survived the eight-hour drive through barren nothingness to Provo, Utah. The highlight of the trip is undoubtedly Slattery, showcasing why he will not be going to veterinary school after his studies. Slattery spotted some rams beside the highway in Western Colorado. The Jersey boy struggled to define what he saw, calling them cows and moose before saying, “I’m no wildlife expert, but I saw that shit!”
The Mooch has brought his spikes with him, “just in case,” but it is doubtful he will be needed. Valenti has also made the flight with the team, but he probably will not run either. The only question mark now is Ponce.
After Wednesday’s run, his IT band was sore from having altered his stride to avoid putting too much stress on his sore shin. But he ran twenty relatively pain-free minutes on Thursday and he is determined to gut it out.
The team jogged the course this afternoon, but later on, the health-iest man on the team, Friedberg, managed to chip his tooth while hors-ing around in the hotel parking lot with Roybal and Ponce. As Roybal recalls, “Me and Oscar were wrestling and Friedberg jumped in. Bat was walking with the girls, looking all cool, so Friedberg says, ‘Hey let’s get Bat.’” Ponce and Roybal grabbed Batliner around his chest, and Friedberg grabbed on to one of his legs. Batliner wa
s hopping on his other leg, and Friedberg said, “Come on, kick me.” Bat did, hitting Friedberg right in the chin. His two front teeth cut his tongue. Mixed in with the blood were bits of one of his front teeth. Now that Friedberg, too, has been injured, maybe he will feel more like part of the group. He is still sore about the whole thing this evening, and he does not care to discuss it when Slattery, Berkshire, and Elmuccio arrive.
Friedberg did not go to the mall with the others, and he missed out on the most amazing feat of the weekend. While leaning over a railing on the second story, Roybal spotted “one of those fancy trash cans” below, with only a tiny hole on top and a man leaning against it. Ponce and the guys started egging him on, betting he could not land his cup in the trash can. “I didn’t want to be weak,” he says, so he stuck his gum in the bottom of the cup to give it a little weight, and flicked it into the air. The cup spiraled around and around and around in the air, revolution after revo-214
CHRIS LEAR
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 215
lution, taking its time, and landed right in the hole. The man leaning against the trash glanced all around while the others laughed above him. They are still reveling about the feat when Berkshire, Elmuccio, and Slattery arrive at the hotel. The guys seem loose and relaxed, just waiting for tomorrow so they can claim their tickets to the Show.
RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
215
Lear 196-229:Lear 196-229 1/5/11 1:25 PM Page 216
Saturday, November 14, 1998
East Bay Golf Course, Provo, Utah
Mountain Regional Cross Country Championships
6:30 a.m.
Earning Their Shot
Wetmore and JD get in the van to go for a run at a place Wetmore picked out on a map of Provo. He never knows when he or his team will be back in town wanting a cool run, so it pays to explore. Besides, running this early lets him focus on his team without worrying about getting in a run of his own later on in the day. The chosen destination lies on the out-skirts of town and turns out to be a bit too rocky for a good run, but it beats running down the main drag and stopping at every other light . . .