Prepping for fall season started long ago for State College runners

When members of the State College cross country team step up to the starting line for their first meet of the season on Sept. 2, the expectations will already be high.

There are standards to maintain.

“At the beginning of the season we talk about expectations and individual goals,” senior Megan Petrine said Wednesday morning as the school held a fall sports media day at Memorial Field. “What we want to get out of the season.”

Winning 15 consecutive District 6 titles — and posting two straight top-5 finishes at the state championships — sets a high bar for the girls. The boys aren’t too bad either, winning the last four district crowns and adding three top-10 PIAA finishes over that stretch.

The Big Valley Invitational, the team’s season opener, will hardly be the first long run of the year. At this point of the summer, many girls are averaging 40 or 50 miles a week, the boys can be logging up to 70 per week.

That is assuming the boys and girls are on schedule.

“No matter how much you tell them, there are some that just don’t run,” Little Lions coach Dave Felice said. “But for some who are more serious, they will run.”

Many also run track and field, so they were conditioning all spring. Before school broke in June, Felice and girls’ coach Rebecca Donaghue Gilkes handed out a workout schedule. The plans are tailored depending on age and experience level, with heavier workloads for the team leaders.

The workouts include both individual runs and organized captains’ practices.

The schedule from Gilkes is a calendar, from the distances to run each day to other details like reminders to drink fluids and when to get new shoes. She also encourages runs on gravel and dirt roads to lessen injury risk.

“I’d like to think that most of them follow it,” said Gilkes, who has a number of team members, and plenty of other runners from around the state and beyond, at a camp near Somerset this week. “I know the summers are their time, and I understand if they can’t completely follow it. But I have had a number of girls follow it to a ‘T’ and they had great seasons. I respect everyone has plans and it’s hard.”

The kids got a week or two off when the track season ended, then it was time to get to work, gradually increasing the miles with the emphasis on distance and conditioning and not speed.

“We build up a really good base,” said Camryn Bendik, another member of the girls’ team. “When we start up our summer training, we don’t start with the 40 or 50 miles. We’ve all built up really strong bases of mileage that really helps to prevent the injuries.”

There is little concern for speed during the summer. Felice said he will be turning up the heat next Monday, when there will be speed and interval training during two-a-day practices.

The summer regimen also includes a couple trips to the school’s fitness room for some weight training each week — or some circuit training at home for those who do not want to go to the school — plus plenty of core work.

Gilkes said there is a day off each week, and athletes can choose to put their feet up or have an “active rest” with some crosstraining. Some supplement their workouts with hiking, cycling or swimming.

“I don’t know if a lot of people do it,” Bendik said of swimming. “I think it’s nice.”

Bendik also pointed out some will “run” in the pools if there are any injury issues to reduce the impact on bones and joints.

However, junior Anna Kwasnica has had a different, and rather uncommon, supplemental workout: figure skating. She has been on skates since she was 8 years old and used to compete. She can feel the benefits as the skating works a number of muscles in different ways.

“That kind of helps me stay in shape,” she said. “It helps me improve myself.”

They all find a way that works and do their best to stay on schedule.

As someone who ran competitively on an international level, Gilkes has a pretty good idea how to have to have the team ready for the season.

“The base, the summer training, is really crucial to a good season,” Gilkes said. “If you don’t do that, you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to be behind when the racing starts. It’s so important to have that strong foundation.”

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Prepping for fall season started long ago for State College runners."