Breaking down barriers

Here we are, firmly in the year 2017. For those keeping score at home (and I KNOW you are!), this is my 26^th year of coaching the track and cross country teams at Marist. I’ve been at it for almost exactly half my life. That’s a lot of seasons, a lot of athletes, a lot of IDEAS on how to coach a lot of athletes through a lot of seasons. During that time, some core beliefs have been formed. No need to reveal trade secrets here (not that I’m a rocket scientist, or anything), but one of my core beliefs, with distance runners (especially MALE distance runners) is that you do not introduce an event like the 3,000-meter steeplechase to a runner who has never seriously attempted it in high school. In the past, whenever the query has been addressed, something like this: “Coach. I think I could be good at the steeple. You think I could try the steeple?” My immediate, reflexive answer goes something like this: “Uh. No.”

The steeplechase is unlike any other track event. The “3,000-meter” part of it makes it a “distance” event, but the “steeplechase” part of it makes it far more than your average running event. Stop me if you heard this before, but the steeplechase barriers … well, they DON’T MOVE when you hit them with an errant foot, toe, shin or knee. It stays there. You go down, usually in a face-planting heap on the track. This is no laughing matter. We’ve seen some serious injuries incurred during this acrobatic, difficult and challenging event. Oh. Did I mention the water jump? There’s THAT too. It is not an event you enter lightly, with little or no experience. Right? Right.

Well. Sometimes an old dog learns new tricks. Sometimes, rules are made to have exceptions. This spring, three freshmen who have never done this event will give it a go. It is a tenuous experiment. If at any time I feel it doesn’t make sense for any of them in terms of safety, the proverbial plug will be pulled on it. But for now, the three smiling freshmen you see, sitting on a steeple barrier after attempting to hurdle it today in practice, will be training for and possibly racing the steeplechase event this spring: Stack, Levins, Hogue. In the interest of complete fairness, Stack said he ran it once in high school, a while ago, and it went poorly. So, that doesn’t count. Levins and Hogue didn’t race it in high school. In Levins’ case, he didn’t race ANYTHING in high school – he was a wrestler and baseball player during the winter and spring seasons.

All three of them practiced their barrier work today, clearing the barrier 10 times, after our silly 4x400 relay practice (that was GOOD FUN, by the way?) at the Vassar Track. After the first time over the barrier, I thought to myself, “Holy smokes (different, more descriptive, word used), what was I THINKING?” But they quickly got the hang of it. Each will develop their own hurdling style. It may not be pretty, but we’ll try to teach them effective hurdling techniques. The thing about the steeple is this: If you don’t face-plant or submerge half your body in the water, and if you are fit and tough, you can race it well. Form matters, but fitness and toughness matters more. That’s my perspective on it, anyway. Like any experiment or new venture, we will resist the temptation to judge it in the short-term. We will give it time, let it breathe. These guys are more than willing participants; I am an apprehensive but willing accomplice in their efforts. We’ll see how it goes. For one day, anyway, they are smiling, aspiring steeple freshmen.