How They Train: North Rockland's Chris Carrington

 

Name: Chris Carrington

Age: 17

School: North Rockland

Coach: Barry Baloga

Personal Bests: 1000m: 2:28.94; 1500m: 4:02.43; One Mile: 4:14.55; 800m relay split: 1:56

Accolades: 6-time League Champion

4-time Rockland County Champion

3-time All Section

2-time New York State Championship Qualifier

New Balance Games Mile Champion

2009 Indoor Mile All American

 

Typical Training Week

a.       Pre-Season (Opening weeks of indoor)

Monday: Hill workout
Tuesday: 30 minutes easy
Wednesday: Hill workout
Thursday: 50 minute long run
Friday: Hill workout
Saturday: 40 minute moderate run
Sunday: 35 minutes easy

-          Coach loves to kill us in the preseason. Can’t say it any simpler than that! Everyone hates the hill workouts but they truly do help build strength. We were doing this same format for nearly a month before we even stepped on the track for some intervals.

 

b.      Season (Indoor season)

 

Monday: 1.5-mile warm up. 2x200 (31, 30); 600 (1:29); 300 (42); 600 (1:30); 300 (43). 1-mile cool down.
Tuesday: 8 mile long run. Start at easy 7:20 pace and finish below 6-minute  pace.
Wednesday: 1.5 mile warm up. 3x150 at mile closing speed. 8x200 at 27 seconds. 3x150 at mile pace.
Thursday: Moderate 35-minute run
Friday: Easy 25-30 minute run. 100-meter strides at race pace after.

Saturday: Race Day.
Sunday: Easy 30-minute jog and/or ultimate Frisbee.

 

-          This is the part of the season I love the most because I love speed and I love intervals so it works out perfectly. This is where I surpass my PR’s because my workouts are falling into place. Coach keeps me between 30-35 miles per week at this stage.

 

Goals:  My goals for the outdoor season include me and the team. First off, the team is chasing some prestigious marks in several different relays! Our sprint medley relay is showing a lot of potential this season and we’re always trying to drop out 4x400 time. On both relays I just want to run my best and help the team our as much as possible. Individually, sky’s the limit! Coach peaked me perfectly in indoor so I can’t wait to see what I can crank out this outdoor season. Time-wise I have several goals including a 1:53 in the 800, 4:10 in the full mile, 3:50 in the 1500 and a sub-9:23 for the deuce. I want to focus on the 2-mile a little more this outdoor season than I did in indoor because I feel I have hidden potential in the event, but the mile will always be my main event. Finally, a state championship will always be my goal and I’ll work for it again this outdoor season!

Coaches’ Philosophy (by Baloga): For a any distance runner to achieve peak performance in state or national championship races they have to believe in the training they’ve done to get them there, have seen the “big picture” as early as possible and know that their coaches are devoted to helping them get to the top of that podium.  In my view, there are no “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” to this.  Any one of the exceptional Red Raiders I’ve had the pleasure to train that went on to win a state championship, national title or All-American honor we’re completely convinced they were going to produce championship effort on that day months before they actually competed.  The most recent examples of this were Chris Carrington’s stellar performances in the 1600m/mile run at the New York State and National Indoor Scholastic Championships.  Like any successful athlete, he suffered through physical and mental battles in seasons prior, yet his entire 2009 indoor season was executed as well as any athlete I’ve ever coached.  After numerous successes and an equal amount of failures, he got the “big picture” of what it was going to take to produce his greatest mile.  The “big picture” is putting everything life has to offer outside of track and field in its proper place.  In essence, the athlete makes a full investment in their training.

The beginning of our indoor season consists of a steady volume of “every other day” hill repetitions for the first month prior to racing with relatively low mileage throughout the entire season (usually averaging under 35 mpw).  The design and locations of these hill repetitions vary.  I don’t adjust mileage levels tremendously after the championship race phase of cross country as our athletes are already have highly developed cardiopulmonary strength and muscular endurance.  If they’re going to achieve maximum benefit from track work and beat great competition at the end of the track seasons, they have to be able to sustain the highest knee lift and leg speed possible.  When your own weight has acted as a force against you for so long, you’re naturally going to become faster and more efficient. Watch Chris Carrington’s indoor race from states and you’ll see what I mean.  Our steeplechasers have long benefited from this work and have produced great races at the end of outdoor too.  It’s demanding and I don’t recall any athletes admitting that they particularly like this phase of our training, but they commit to it fully because they believe that it will make their mechanics stronger and more efficient.