- See Less -After a few standout performaces as an underclassmen in high school, German came to prominence in his senior year when he broke Marc Davis' course record by 14 seconds at the 2007 CIF Cross Country State meet. He then won the Foot Locker West Regional and placed third at the finals. A few months later he won US Junior Nationals in Corss Country and earned a trip to the World XC Champs where he lead Team USA with a 25th place finish. At the end of 2009, German was named to the ESPN Rise All-Decade Team as one of the best 7 HS XC runners from 2000-2009. In track, he really turned heads with two amazing performances. At the CIF State Meet, German ran 4:00.29 to break Ryan Hall's meet record and then came back 3 hours later to win the 3,200m in a blistering 8:34.23. This is widely considered the best HS distance double of all time. A few weeks later he broke Jeff Nelson's HS Two Mile record at the Nike Outdoor Championships, winning in 8:34.40. He also borke Galen Rupp's 3,000m HSR running an en-route 7:59.82.
As a freshman at Oklahoma State, German won the Big 12 Cross Country title, but a mid-race injury left him a disappointing DNF. He came back strong in indoor track by breaking the World Indoor Junior mile record twice, with 3:55.02 being his fastest. That time is also an NCAA record. He skipped the NCAA Championships to focus on the World Cross Country Championships after he defended his US Junior Cross Country title. At Junior Worlds, he lead Team USA with an 11th place finish. During outdoor track, German won his first NCAA title, winning the 1,500m in 3:39.00. At the USA Championships, German broke Chris Derrick's weeks old US Junior 5,000m record when he placed 5th in the nation with a 13:25.46. He was a finalist for the first ever Bowerman Award for his stellar freshman year on the track.
During his sophomore season, German struggled with injury, but still helped his team win Big 12, Mid-West Regional, and NCAA National team titles.
“this was the best workout on flotrack by far wit hthe humor and music and the workout itself”
1. Galactic - Bongo Joe
2. TV/TV "Let it Go"
3. Jupiter One "Fire Away"
Fernandez and Vail = Straight badass
“Is is just me, or is this WoW timeless?”
ran a 4:00 flat mile in HS!!!
wish i saw him @ the CIF Masters couple years ago..
Wish him the best tho!!!
You'd wear gloves too if you had to high five Vail after he took a whizz..
“Karl wrote:
his last name is Fernandez, that's a clue about how to say his first same. HAIRmon, not GERMAN, what did everyone take for highschool language? come on people it's not that hard lol”
http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-NMZFXC.html
some guys jumped in later so that their first interval was kept at a fast pace. german and vail running 5:06 miles doesn't benefit them as much as a 4:36 one (or whatever their first one was), and slower runners being pushed too hard in the first 2-3 intervals would mess up their workout.
great video
Cheers guys, great videos.
Bernard Rose 1974-1977
If true, that's quite a long rest for mile repeats for cross country.
-Ryan Hall having his vehicle wreck on the way to the airport before his Houston 1/2 performance...unlucky.
-Shalane Flannagan getting food poisoning, what was it, only three days before the Olympic 10k (?)...unlucky.
I know both of those two examples worked out well for those individuals, but I wonder if Coach Smith was more or less just referring to certain things that are out of your control. OK State's top 7 could be the best team in the nation, but if just one of their guys gets sick, sprains an ankle, etc. etc. - they could be #2. That, in my mind, is what this matter of "luck" is all about.
Great vid, Phenomenal team, Hopefully they have that little bit of luck to push them over the top.
Perfectly paced workout.
My 2 cents
Many are doing the same thing over at Letsrun.com
"They should have done it like this . . . "
OK State has a particular style of racing and this workout clearly reinforces it without turning this workout into the type of monumental effort that will put guys in the hole. Do you really think a few seconds here or there are going to make a big difference in their success. It's not all about the #s - it's about feel. Running faster as you go - mimicing the necessity to fight fatigue in a race situation.
Also - Keep in mind that this was done about a month ago and as Dave Smith revealed, it was the first set of intervals they had done on the season. If they did this again in late Oct / early Nov - I am sure it would be much faster and Coach Smith might have clear expectations for the guys on what paces they should be hitting. But maybe not . . . there's more to this than being a slave to a certain number.
4:30
4:25
hells bells.
they should have ran somethin like this...
4:40
4:30
4:25
last one all out, their top 4 guys should have broken 420 on the last rep.
It would be awesome to see a video with the Washington women as well (and Oregon, as someone mentioned below).
NCAA should be interesting.
GO OSU
Awesome video.
BRB, BALLIN.
This is the difference between you and the OkSt coach.
1. I think the people who would stop after 4 or 5 - were guys who should only really be doing 4-5 x 1mi anyway - it seemed to be the younger frosh and sophs
2. I think Smith is using the "Luck" stuff to illustrate that his team can only worry about running their best when it counts most - there is much that is out of their control (he seems to call it "Luck"). A common theme I have found expressed by many great coaches at the NCAA level.
2) as for what he said, i think you are digging too deep. he says the magic buttons, which seems like he's just having a little fun with that. as for luck, i would guess you are a high school coach. ncaa is a different meet. its a meet thats more about not messing up than running well. its only 10 days after the regionals so you have back to back 10ks. for any team to survive through such a long season, stay healthy, and race well in harsh conditions.....there's always a bit of "luck" involve.
don't dig too deep....you'll get a headache
A couple of questions to inspire discussion:
1. Is it effective to make someone stop if they are not able to complete the workout as designed? My thoughts - It would be a waste of a workout, at the expense of long term fitness gains, to not complete all 6 miles of work. Granted, teaching the importance of pacing is a great idea but I don't think it should precede getting in the desired volume and intensity. Great scare tactic maybe?
2. I admire Coaches humility but I would be worried as a member of that team if he is saying, "I don't know how to push the right buttons yet". Why would I trust you as a coach. Furthermore, did he really say "we need to get lucky". Maybe I am misunderstanding what he means by luck, but I think that is a horrible attitude to head into a national championship with. The only way I can see luck coming into play would be that other teams have off days because your team doesn't have the talent to compete. If you believe you can train your kids better than any other coach, you shouldn't need luck unless other teams are vastly superior in talent. Maybe this is what he was saying, thoughts?
Chris WHO?
Luke WHO?
I guess the big question is what the rest was between repeats?
brilliant move by Dave Smith with staggering the groups. Simply brilliant.
That was well worth the wait!
GO POKES!fikhx