Super Saturday Recap
BTC had a huge weekend of racing on the dirt and track led by victories from the Women's Squad in Tallahassee, New York and Boston. Read more for the full recap of all the BTC results from this weekend.
USATF Cross Country Championships -- Tallahassee, FL
The USATF XC Championships in Tallahassee kicked off a Super Saturday of performances for BTC. Emily Infeld, Courtney Frerichs, and Evan Jager all finished in the top 4, with Emily taking home her first USATF national title.
Emily and Courtney entertained pre-race dreams of holding hands across the line, but those were foiled by the stiff competition in Tallahassee. Emily would need both hands to break the tape. The early pace was controlled by our two BTC athletes and former NCAA XC champion, Molly Siedel. The pack was slowly whittled down to 5 by 7k, when Courtney and Emily Durgin started to come under pressure and lost contact. Those two settled into their own private battle, which Courtney would go on to win, duplicating her 4th place finish from last year’s event.
Meanwhile, Emily pressed on at the front, trading surges with Siedel as the pair broke away from the field. With a kilometer to go Emily threw in another big move. At first Siedel appeared able to respond, but up a steep hill with 500 meters to go she eked out a 10 meter advantage. As she crested the hill and sprinted towards the finish line her margin widened. Five years after running her last cross country race, she claimed the national title. She has been on a bit of a different training cycle while at altitude camp, “focusing more on speed but keeping my miles at the highest they have ever been.” Clearly the new training plan worked.
On the men’s side, Evan proved that some Ferrari’s are able to drive on grass. In his first cross country race since high school (more than 10 years ago), Evan was in contention for the win nearly the whole race. He was in the lead pack through about 9k. Even with 1000 meters to go he was still only three seconds back of the two leaders. Although unable to close the gap, Evan closed hard, relying on his strength he has built up through years of steeplechasing, to finish fourth in 29:31.
For more coverage on the USATF XC Championships follow these links:
NYRR Millrose Games -- New York, NY
It may have been freezing outside in New York, but a heat wave swept through the Armory on Saturday. Ryan and Woody got the meet started for BTC by running in the Dr. Sanders 3k. The early pace was fast but settled into a tactical affair once the rabbit dropped off. Ryan ran aggressively for the win, coming up a couple of gears short in the sprint and finished third place in 7:46.65. Woody, in his first race in nearly a year, ran conservatively near the back until one lap to go. Always confident in his finish (some teammates have dared to call him a Sandbagger), he swung way wide to move around nearly the whole field and finish fourth in 7:47.19. Both men are excited to get back to training after hitting the World Indoor Qualifying mark.
The best was still to come at Millrose in the form of the Women’s Wanamaker Mile. It was a day of firsts. It was Colleen’s first time running in the Armory and Kate’s first time wearing a BTC kit. The race was well bunched and tactical until 400 meters to go. With a lap remaining Colleen, perfectly positioned, took the lead and did not look back, although perhaps she should have. Having never broken tape before Colleen said she “just got so excited that I did the one thing I know I’m not supposed to do,” which is to celebrate early. Colleen threw up her arms in celebration which nearly allowed Kate to claim victory. In the end Colleen broke the tape in 4:30.05 with Kate finishing second in 4:30.08.
Colleen, Kate, Ryan, and Woody will all be at the USATF Indoor Championships in two weeks time looking for spots on the World Indoor team.
For more coverage on the Millrose Games follow these links:
Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invite -- Boston, MA
Not too far away from the Armory in New York City, Shelby and Marielle had a record day…literally. Both women ran a 3k with the goal of getting the World Indoor qualifying standard. They ran the majority of the race behind a pacer at 8:45 pace, well below the 8:50 Worlds standard. After the pacer stepped off, Shelby put the pressed on with the pace and pulled away from the field to claim victory in 8:36.01, setting a 15 second personal best and becoming the second fastest American 3k runner in history (only behind teammate Shalane Flanagan). Marielle, dawning the BTC kit for the first time, finished second in 8:40.20, and also set a massive second personal best by 14 seconds.
After making the World Indoor time standard look like a walk in the park, both women will head back up to altitude to prepare for USA Indoor Nationals in two weeks. While Shelby claims “defending my Indoor National titles from last year and make the Indoor World Championship team” are the main goals for the remainder of the season, she admits that “seeing my name at the top of the American [3k] record board would be amazing; and I hope to get another chance to possibly go for that this season.”
With most athletes competing for the first time in 2018, this weekend was hopefully only a sneak peek of what is to come from BTC the remainder of the year. The athletes will do their best to catch their breath before heading back into thin air and altitude camp in preparation for USA Indoor Championships, February 16-18 in Albuquerque.
Rubber to Pavement: BTC Transitions With The Seasons.
Bowerman Track Club finishes up its summer racing series, while others prepare for marathons and a Fall filled with mileage, base training, and Pumpkin Spice lattes.
Fifth Ave Fights and City Nights
Focusing on getting some speed back into their legs after the long grind of a World Championship year, Bowerman women Shelby Houlihan, Courtney Frerichs, Colleen Quigley, and Emily Infeld headed east this past weekend to close out their summer racing series at the Fifth Avenue Mile held in New York City. All moving down in distance, the event was a challenging but fun opportunity to end their seasons in style, flying past Central Park's trees in quick succession. Colleen led the way for Bowerman, taking 9th in a time of 4:20.6, followed by Shelby for 13th in 4:26.3, Emily for 17th in 4:30.3, and Courtney for 20th in 4:31.3. The crew was all smiles after the race, happy to have braved the challenge of a new event. Laughing Courtney said, "I set PB's at every split."
#MarathonManCamp
While the New York Squad finished up in the city, Chris Derrick and Andrew Bumbalough were off in the woods and mountains of Mammoth California (dubbed #MammothonMarathonManCamp on social media), getting themselves ready for the Chicago Marathon coming up on Oct. 8th. Hitting high mileage for several months and drinking in the natural setting of Mammoth, CD and Bumby are excited to finally be in the month out moments of the marathon. Having focused their training mainly on mileage and progressive long runs, Chris and Bumby have begun honing in their pace work now that September has arrived.
Now back in Portland, Bumby and Chris have rejoined the Bowerman boys still in the city to finish up their training and drink some finely brewed Portland Coffee that they have missed for so long. Andrew Bumbalough is excited to have another shot at the Marathon after his impressive debut in Tokyo of 2:13:58. Chris Derrick is looking forward to his own debut in Chicago where he said in confidence, "I just hope to not have a terrible last 10k." With his 10k prowess, I don't think anyone is worried.
BTC Athlete Spotlight: Emily Infeld
To give you a better insight into the dynamics of our team and the unique individuals that it's composed of, we will be releasing a series of athlete spotlight interviews. This week's spotlight is Emily Infeld. Check out Emily's interview and get to know her on and off the track.
Emily’s journey to Bowerman TC was one that began in uncertainty. After finishing up a tremendous career at Georgetown, she still had a fifth year of eligibility for indoor and outdoor track. Uncertain of whether or not to make the leap into the professional world, Infeld took a trip out to Portland to get a glimpse of her potential future. BTC athlete, Andrew Bumbalough, nicknamed “Bumbi,” was a nice Georgetown connection, and after getting to meet and train with Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher at the time, Emily became sold on the program and set out to train for the Olympic trials.
Infeld soon became one of the solid foundations of the budding Women’s side of BTC, and with Shalane as a training partner, they forged the path for the now extremely established Women’s group. Along with these formative years of training, a close-knit family culture began to form, which was important to Emily after leaving a very similar culture behind at Georgetown. As Emily navigated injuries and a less than ideal 8th place finish at the Olympic trials in 2012 during her senior year, Infeld felt it was time to take the leap and find out her true potential. Since joining Bowerman, Emily Infeld has had an impressive career, making the 2013 World Cross Country Championship team, the 2015 Track World Championship team where she took Bronze in the 10,000m, and most recently, her 2nd place finish at the 2016 Olympic trials, and 11th place finish in the 2016 Olympic 10,000m in Rio.
Fans of Infeld know that one her greatest strengths is adversity on and off the track. Behind some of her most astounding achievements have been battles with stress fractures and arduous hours of cross training. Despite riding the “ups-and-downs” of cyclic injury, Emily has unique insights when it comes to conjuring confidence on the day it matters most. By staying focused on what you can control, and not falling into the easy trap of“getting sucked into everything that has gone wrong for you,” Infeld notes that “no one has the perfect build up” when it comes to a big race, and staying grounded in the topsy-turvy reality of professional track and field is important. Though she feels she put on a happy face about her most recent injury leading into the 2016 Olympic Trials, Infeld truly felt extremely frustrated and a bit devastated about her situation. But by taking her own advice, she focused on each day, and each week, moving with positive momentum towards the trials. When toeing the line with such a talented field, Infeld says you have to be confident and “put your best self out there, whatever your best self happens to be on that day.” She cautions that there is no point in stepping on the line without confidence.
So what does the “best self” look like for a Bowerman athlete? Emily finds the trending social media title of #Bowermanbabes hilarious, but also a fitting example of the team dynamic the BTC women have. Bringing in individual talents and personalities raises the group up collectively. For example, doing speed work with Shelby Houlihan, who in Infeld’s words is, “so flippin fast!” and at the same time getting to grind mileage with the “tough and gritty” Shalane Flanagan, Amy Cragg, and Betsy Saina. Infeld finds herself in between the range of these talents, which has helped her grow as a professional.
Along with the day to day motivation of being immersed in a cordially competitive atmosphere, the BTC women have a family culture surrounded by laughter and the ability to be one’s silly self, as Infeld demonstrates with her variety of dance move descriptions. Being close with the Bowerman women allows them to hold each other accountable to their true potential, and gives them motivation at big meets like the trials. After Amy, Shalane, Emily, Betsy, Colleen, and Courtney, had all punched their ticket to Rio, Emily said that Shelby Houlihan, who was the last to race said, “you guys can’t leave me behind!” Emily on the other hand, was one of the first BTC women to race, and after talking with coach Jerry Schumacher about positive momentum, she wanted to set a good precedent and start off the trials on a high note.
Off the track, Emily Infeld recently adopted her little kitten Boots from the humane society, who has garnered instant popularity throughout Instagram. Along with taking care of her new “calendar cat” worthy critter, Emily loves to jam out to Blink-182, asserting herself as a “die hard” fan. All in all Emily approaches running and life by surrounding herself with good people, good things, and of course, good cats.