Just a brief update on my training and racing coming.

Training has been going well; I have been doing some good base work and long time trials. Most of which has been solo which has given me some well needed mental strength. Some sessions I have really being pushing it too hard and had to ease up. I’m starting to get some personal best times in the few races I have done so far, so I am looking to have some good performances when I start to race outside base training.

As for races coming up my main focus at the moment is the 10,000m NZ Champs in early January, but I will be looking for a good time at the John Walker night of Miles and a good 5000m mid to late December. I am hoping to make it to most, if not all of the classic meets in January and February. From there I will be building into my preparations for world cross, if I can get some funding, which will hopefully include racing at the International Track Meet in Christchurch.

Thanks for reading

Alex Parlane

For athletes, fewer places hold greater appeal than the United States, thus the significant number of New Zealanders in the NCAA. However, many seem to be ending up in the same spot – something that has been happening since New Zealanders first began competing collegiately in the US as far back as the 1960’s. 

The United States is very precarious terrain, as it represents a dramatically different lifestyle from anything in Australasia or Europe. I mentioned in an article no less than two and a half years ago that being in a place with several others in my situation as a young kiwi athlete living in the US would have perhaps made my transition to life in America that much easier - a rather benign statement in hindsight as confining yourself to a group of those similar to you is only another wall in front of cultural assimilation. Nonetheless, training and competing as a distance runner is about being both comfortable and in routine, as opposed to a typical twenty-something year old traveller looking to completely immerse themselves into the local alcohol fuelled debauchery. (although for some that description would be rather fitting) As a result, it is little surprise that those from New Zealand who head to American Universities with others from their country or historical background are those who transition most quickly in terms of producing quality performances. Although this is not a rule or formula for success, it is a trend - with pockets of New Zealanders frequently accumulating at particular institutions around the United States, often stemming from a New Zealand or British member of the coaching staff, or more frequently a continued presence after a kiwi athlete has had success.

 

The Kiwi Connection can be exemplified through a number of situations both past and present, though perhaps the greatest illustration of a ‘New Zealand Legion’ at a University in the United States has been Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado - the coldest town in the Continental United States.

 

Since the early 1980’s there have been eighteen New Zealanders run cross-country and track at Western, with the first being Keith Dowland and the last (as of now) ironically being myself in 2008. However, throughout the 1990’s in particular, Western was an absolute powerhouse – spearheaded by the accomplishments of its New Zealand athletes. One of these athletes was NCAA DII 1500m champion and sub-4 miler Steve Willis, brother of Olympic silver medallist Nick Willis.

 

Steve Willis first started the search for an American university in 1995 and was drawn to Western largely because of the Kiwi connection, which was compounded by the lack of readily available information on other schools that is available today, a common situation experienced by those that headed to the NCAA before the internet was what it is today. As a result, Willis relied heavily on the experiences of the other New Zealanders already living and training in the United States.

 

Often the only information about a school's program you could find was what you heard from the coach who called you at 3am because he didn’t know there was a time difference in NZ.  All the coaches talk a good game, so for me I placed a lot of value on what other Kiwis who were already over there said. Since Western had a link with Kiwi's and I knew Rees [Buck], [Phil] Spratley and Squish - that’s where I went.

 

A Kiwi presence can also be what sets several schools apart from each other. One of the difficulties about being in NZ is that you are typically unable to visit the Universities, meet the coaches, and tour the facilities. Thus, if there is already a NZ connection, the decision is largely already made for you. As mentioned though, this isn’t necessarily a fail-proof option.

 

A possible downside to having other Kiwis there was that socially, I probably relied on the security my Kiwi mates provided, rather than having to work at establishing my place as a regular guy on the team like everyone else. As a young guy it's probably a good thing to have to be out of your comfort zone, and have to work hard on developing new relationships, dealing with peoples differences etc. From a developing personal character perspective, looking back I think I could have done a better job at this.  In saying that, having the other Kiwis did provide a sense of stability that often lacks for young guys (and gals) living and competing on the other side of the world. If something went down with Coach, or another team member, or if you were just running crap, there were always the other Kiwis (or the 'family' as Squish and Sprately called it) to help you out and keep things in perspective. This was probably more of a factor that we realised at the time.

 

Moreover, even though a familiar environment provided by the presence of fellow nationals, the collegiate system is different for everyone, and as Willis points out, it’s crucial to explore all your options as much as possible in a rational fashion.

 

I went over with 1.51, 3.51 which now days would be easily good enough for a good D1 school, but I had no idea of that then. I went to Western because that’s where other Kiwis were, but perhaps accepting a D1 scholarship (I had offers in Colorado Springs, Iowa, Florida and some others) may have been better for my running.

 

It appears now that the legion of New Zealanders heading to Western State are over, yet this is largely due to the fact that through contemporary technology, coaches from universities all over America are readily accessible, culminating in Kiwis currently attending and competing for schools all across America; from Portland to Providence. However, as always, history seems to be repeating itself, with Kiwis once again settling in numbers at pockets of schools – notably Stony Brook and Providence as of late, illustrating that as it was for Steve Willis in 1995, the “Kiwi Connection” is often difficult to turn down. 

 

By Daniel Wallis

Simon Rogers, son of 1984 Olympic 1500m finalist Tony Rogers, has justfinished his first year at Purdue University in Indiana. Before leaving New Zealand Rogers finished 2^nd in the New Zealand Under-19 1500m, running 3:51.10, while that same year was 3^rd over 3000m in a time of 8:29.00. While struggling with injury over the cross-country and indoor track season, Rogers ran an impressive 3:46 1500m this outdoor season to earn a spot to the NCAA East-Preliminary round as a freshman. 

 

The Runnerstribe caught up with Simon to ask him about the season, adjustment to life in the US, and his plans for the summer. 

As the son of a 1500m Olympic-finalist, how did you perceive athletics growing up? Did you always want to run? 

 

I was always interested to learn about Dad’s running career and what athletics was all about. Growing up I took part in kids athletics but wasn’t really a stand out by any means. I was probably more concerned with my cricket or rugby games in the years before high school. But entering high school things changed a bit and I started to do some structured training for track and cross country, and by about 14 found that I wasn’t going to be an All Black so cross country became my winter sport. Then around 16 cricket was getting in the way of track, so that’s when I made the full-time commitment to athletics as my sport and to having Dad coach me.

 

How was it being coached by your father in NZ? Did running seem to fit in everywhere or was athletics left from the dinner table?

 

Running has always been a big part of my life, even before I even took part in it. A lot of family holiday’s were to running events around the country where dad was either in a coaching or organizing role, and I would love being immersed in the sport in any way possible. So when dad started coaching me, the only thing that changed was that I was now running as one of his athletes. It does become interesting when you leave the track after a workout and continue to talk about training or racing over cooking dinner on the BBQ, but it’s what I’ve always enjoyed about our relationship. It only been this past year that I have really come to appreciate how much knowledge Dad possesses as a high-performance coach and how much he has taught me over the years.

 

What prompted the move to Purdue?

 

The move to the States was always a goal of mine, and I feel I am very fortunate to be where I am. It was obvious that with so many of the young middle-distance guys my age leaving to the states over the past few years, that there is a huge advantage both in training and racing at a very competitive level. In my search for colleges I wanted to also take into account the academic side life, and chose a school that would allow me to continue with my degree in Sport Science and Psychology. Athletically being part of the Big-10 conference is a huge advantage as the level of distance running in our conference is very deep, with 25 guys running under 3.48 for the 1500 this season in our conference alone.

How was the initial adjustment? Does anything stand out as being difficult regarding the transition from NZ to the states?

 

Initially I guess I didn’t really know what to expect when I arrived last August, and this year has been huge in terms of learning a variety of lessons. The style of XC racing is very different from NZ in terms the aggressive nature of going out in around 2.40 for the first km in some races.

The big thing was just adjusting to a new program and the training over here, it takes some getting used to when suddenly you change aspects on your approach to training.

 

How is the training compared to what you were doing in NZ? What is a typical training week for Cross, Indoors, and Outdoors. 

 

During XC it took me a while to adjust to the heat and humidity of late summer and early fall in Indiana and as a result the workouts were pretty intense. One workout that stands out in mind was on a blistering hot day on our cross course where we did a 2mile tempo in 10mins then ran a mile to recover (7min pace) then into 5x1km at a fast pace with short recovery. We had lots of good workouts like this on our course which has some good hills in it, as well as intense fartlek sessions where the effort time is just faster than race pace, and the recovery portion is at steady run pace.

 

As for indoors, my training was just trying to get me fit as quick as possible after having around 6weeks out with an unfortunate ankle injury just 2 days prior to the conference cross country. So nothing really to spectacular indoors, just ladder workouts or 400s and 200s at goal race pace.

 

Outdoors I was finally feeling like I knew what I was doing, and felt somewhat normal again in terms of my fitness and consistency.  I had left off the year before in NZ at 3.51 for 1500 and just wanted to pick up from there. Typical training week this spring was around 40-45miles with 1 hard longer interval workout either Monday Tuesday, 1000s or ladders. A 7mile somewhere in the mid week, then some light 200s or 150s later in the week leading into the race for that week, with easy runs on the other days.

 

How have you found racing in the states different from NZ? How do you feel about racing three consecutive seasons? 

 

The volume of racing I did this year was defiantly greater than back home, and probably just so that I would be able to get as much experience in the first year here. With all those lessons in mind, I hope to race a little less next year so I can take my season all the way to Nationals in June. That will just take patience and consistency through cross-country and indoors.

 

Do you feel as if the deep level of athletes in the states has pushed you too a new level in performance?

 

Yea the depth here has pushed me to work harder and has defiantly led to me improving physical and mental toughness from where I was a year ago. Walking away from our conference meet last month after just missing advancing to the 1500 final by 0.02seconds, I realised that I will have to come back next year not only stronger, but with an even bigger aggressive and confident approach.

 

What do you like to do outside of training/racing? 

 

Right now I’ve been taking a summer class, which is a class normally over a whole semester squeezed into 4 weeks so that’s been keeping me busy. But generally when I’m not doing schoolwork I’m hanging out with the team - a great bunch of people. It’s really cool how we have such a range of people on our team, and both the men’s and women’s distance runners are coached by the same 2 coaches.

 

What are your training and non-training plans for the summer?

 

Once this class finishes up on the 11^th of June I’ll be hanging out in West Lafayette for a another week then will be heading home to NZ for 6 weeks of good solid training, where I hope to get some of my first ever weeks of 60+miles. I’m still a low mileage kind of guy, but hoping to set a much stronger base for next year.

 

Is your coach individualistic or is it very much a blanket training system for all the runners? Has your Dad played any role in your training since you have been at Purdue?

 

Our Coach takes great time and effort to individualize our training, and my mileage was slightly lower than my training partner for the mile/1500 so my coach realized that my background had yet to go beyond 50mile weeks. In cross the workouts are broken in to 3 or 4 groups according to fitness/ability level but the workout is still based on the same idea. But as we went through indoors and outdoors we became very individualized and by the 3.46 I was definitely seeing the benefits.

As for Dad’s influence, he has continued to provide great advice, especially in the way of helping me initially to adjust to changes and new approaches to training, as well as being there to bounce ideas off for training and racing. 

After finishing the world cross country feeling quite disappointed with my result, I arrived back in New Zealand where I had a short break from training. After my break I had a meeting with my coach and we worked out a solid training program starting on the 5th April leading up to the world juniors where I will be racing the 10000m (20th July). For the first 7-8 weeks I had just been working on getting my strength and fitness back that had some how disappeared towards the end of our track season here in N.Z .



I have now started doing a bit of faster stuff on the track to help sharpen up for world juniors. For the last 2months I have been living in Hamilton and have got together with a few local runners. We have a pretty good little group going now and I have been training with Michael Whitehead who has a 800m p.b of 1.52 and a 400m p.b of 49secs.  Since he has started training with me back in April he has lost over 5kg and is shaping up to run a good 1500m, he is hoping to run round 3.40-42. It's good to have someone fast to help out with my track training leading up to world juniors.



Also I have another training partner now in Cory Whiting who does most of my long runs and helps out pacing in my track sessions. It's pretty sweet to have people to train with now after training in Thames for the last 2 years and only having my dog to run with.

Thanks for reading. 

Aaron 

Micah Kogo Interview Video Interview - Pre Berlin World Champs

© 2009 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved. Published Saturday August 15, 2009

Brought to you by Edward Ovadia who is in Berlin with official IAAF accreditation covering the championships for Runnerstribe.com

Lisa Weightman Berlin World Champs Interview

© 2009 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved. Published Tuesday August 18, 2009

Brought to you by Edward Ovadia who is in Berlin with official IAAF accreditation covering the championships for Runnerstribe.com

2008 Japanese Olympic Trials - Men`s 1500m

 

 

 

 

 

 

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