Coach Eby

WSU projects

2012-01-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have two big projects that I am working on at WSU right now. The first and probably the most important one is getting a hold of or trying to organize our alumni list. This is a huge undertaking because we have not done a very good job in the past of keeping track of our alumni database. This means that there are several different lists that we have to combine or make heads or tails of and then we have to find the most efficient way of communicating with our alumni. This is all in the early stages and we keep coming up with great ideas, which end up leading to dead ends or severe detours. I am bound and determined to get this figured out. As getting our alumni connected and engaged can help take our program to a whole new level if done properly.

The second project is trying to learn the ropes of meet management “shocker style” and trying to take some pressure off of Coach Wise and open him up to focus more on coaching and recruiting. We just sent out invites to the top High School athletes in the area to run at one of our meets. We are going to have High School sections of 60m, 60m Hurdles, 400m and mile at the Varsity Apartment Invitational on February 4th. This is something new and we hope that it helps bring some excitement to our indoor meet.

Hopefully we will see a lot of over lap between these two projects as we hope to include Alumni events in conjunction with our meets, such as VIP areas and Alumni socials after each meet.

the old guy out there

2011-10-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

I laced up my cross country spikes and ran an collegiate 8k for the first time since Oct 2003 yesterday. Man have I changed a lot. I went out nice and conservative. I was being passed by what felt like everyone in the race. I kept telling myself to stay calm, be patient and run my race. Just before the mile I peeked at my watch 4:50. I knew it was going to be a quick mile. It ended up being 5:09, I proceeded to say out loud, “man there are going to be a lot of people coming back.” I then started to pass and I was never passed again for the rest of the race. Looking back at the splits I could have ran harder during mile 4, I was really hoping to have a solid last two miles. I also felt that I was not willing to hurt enough the last 1000, 800, 400 meters. I picked it up but could have gone harder. All in all I am very happy with the effort and it was even a little quicker than I thought I would run. I feel like training is going very well and if I can stay healthy it could be very exciting. Time to move on. Lots of work left to do.

The next wave of running media???

2011-10-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to preface this with I think flotrack and runnerspace are doing invaluable things for our sport and we have come a long way from mensracing and fast-women, run-insight, letsrun or heck even chasing tradition. Would love to see someone take it to the next level. An online TVesque network. What do most guys do first thing in the morning, yep that’s right turn on sports center. It would be great to be able to turn on a running network with live shows or tape delayed morning shows
in the morning while I get ready to go to work and hear the latest updates on the running world. For example yesterday, there would have been a ton of things to talk about with all of the races that happened this past weekend. Giving the run down on all of those, who ran well, who didn’t, who didn’t run at all. Maybe talk about the regional polls. Today it would have been interesting to hear about people opinions on the national polls. I feel like with twitter, blogs etc that all the athletes do there would be plenty of stories as the week goes on. Plus it doesn't need to be limited to NCAA, could be road racing, High School, shoot they can talk about the BCS bowls and Super Bowl for weeks on end. With conference meets coming up that would be plenty to talk about. I feel like Run Junkies/runners space live is on the right track but its only scratching the surface of what could happen. You could sell or use the adds that are between videos as commercials during the show, you could sell a subscription, ie. chasing tradition.....

Something I feel that flotrack has gotten away from is the longer sit down interviews with coaches and athletes in between the meets. This is kind of what the site originally started with, Don’t get me wrong I love the interviews after the races, but would love to see more of these types of interviews come back.

BREAKING NEWS!!! I felt flotrack did a great job with the Alan Webb/Salazar break when it first happened but never really followed up on the story, where is he now, how is training going? Now Goucher and Yoder Begley have left as well. This is the point and time when you have to ask, what would ESPN do?

Conference mix-ups affect Cross Country and Track & Field too, find out what’s going on report about it and how it will change things up in our sport.

You may say, this is all fine and good Joe but there are only so many people working at FloTrack and they already spend a ton of time, how can they do more? They are located in a city with a major university. Maybe they could hire on interns to help with video audio and a lot of the behind the scenes work that would go on.

So these are my ideas, this is where I would love to see the next great breakthrough come from whether it be flotrack, runnerspace or a new motivated group of creative track/cross/running enthusiast. Thoughts???

toughness and focus

2011-10-13T07:29:00.001-07:00

Learning to run while being uncomfortable is the number one thing that a runner needs to learn. Because when it comes down to it, whoever is willing to hurt the most during a race is the one with the best chance to win. Each workout and or run is going to take a different level of focus and elicit a different type of pain, all of which as just as important as the next. Your long runs and tempo runs are going to be long grind where concentration becomes more important the longer you go. This is very important for being able to focus in the middle of the race, being consistent and grinding away at the task at hand. On the flip side V02 type work or short intervals is more of a sharp pain. The type of pain you deal with in the later stages of a race, when it comes time to take it up that extra notch and really make it hurt. I believe that when putting together a training program your different phases are going to have different goals and focus on different types of workouts, but you cant ever stray too far away from any one type of workout. Physiologically this is bad but also from a mental stand point you need to remember what it feels like to go though the different types of workouts. This is the main focus. Because as a runner you get better by running. Now if you want to get to the next level... you need to not only do the little things, but do them well. So yes you have to be able to hurt during tempos, long runs, intervals, and speed work but you also need to focus during what may seem like a menial task such warmup, drills, lifting, core etc... Now I feel that doing warm up etc are very very important and as i have stated in previous posts help make runners better athletes, but if you are going to spend the time doing it you better pay attention and focus, if you cant focus during seemingly simple tasks how will you be able to focus in the critical half way to 3/4 of a way though a race when it is so easy to fall asleep. This is a time where it is so easy to go through the motions and not focus on what you are doing, but the truly great ones do and can get that extra little bit from doing it.

Half Marathon

2011-10-12T15:50:00.001-07:00

Sunday I raced my first half marathon. It was more of a glorified training run, but I definitely was getting after it. I had a bit of a quick start and back it off a little on mile two. I then proceeded to fall asleep in mile three. For the next few miles I felt like I got into a good rhythm and was clipping off some good miles. Unfortunately when it came time to get after it and start cutting it down I started running out of gas. The last 4 or so miles hurt and I was trying to throw in surges to get back on pace, it just wasn't happening. Overall I was pleased with the race and felt it was a good step forward. There is still a lot of work to be done but i feel that I am on the right path and if I can stay healthy big things are just around the corner.

coaching on line

2011-10-07T13:23:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back I had a chat with a long time friend Tim Budic who suggested I start an on line training service. Charge a fee and write up programs for people looking for a coach. I think that this is a great idea. I love coaching, I write up workouts anyways, even if I don't have people to write them for, why not see if there are people out there who would be interested. Tim sent me a few examples of people that he knew for me to take a look at. It seemed easy enough, but i have yet to pull the trigger on this project. So I am asking you the readers of my blog, if there are any of you out there. Should I do this. Is there a market for this, do you think people would want me to coach them? Would love some feed back.

Dellinger Invite

2011-10-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

For any track and cross country fan getting to travel to Track Town USA is always a great trip, and for me getting to go back was very exciting. Our day started very early, 5:15, where we meet at WSU to load up the vans to head to the airport for our 7 am flight. Our travels to Portland included a layover in Denver was very uneventful, which is always the best way to travel. Once we arrived in Portland we drove to Eugene and checked into the hotel. We were located less than a half mile away from Pre’s trail and Hayward field., prime location We had a little down time to relax before getting our run in, during that time coach Hunter and I drove out to Springfield to do a test drive to the course. We made a few wrong turns so it was good to figure out where we were going. After arriving back at the hotel we headed out for our run. We jogged over and got a run in on Pre’s trail. I took the guys on the parts I remembered running on while in Eugune for the Olympic Trials in 2008. It took me a few wrong turns but it all started to come back to me. We got a great run in. One of the best parts for me was that there were all sorts of people out hiking, biking and running. We even had a few elite sightings. Jordan Hasay and the women of Oregon and Sam Chelanga both ran by on the runs. It is cool getting to see those type of people out putting in the daily miles, just like all of us do everyday. We finished up our night with some dinner at Track Town Pizza, which was delicious and a walk down to Hayward Field to take some pictures and do some touristy stuff.

As I said earlier Track town is a unique place. Friday morning after my run on Pre’s trail I sat down to breakfast and opened up the sports page and on the front page is a picture of Luke Peskedra and an article about the race and who would be running for the Ducks the next day. There are not many places in the country where a Friday morning Cross Country is the front page news in the local paper, although I wish it was, but that is a post for another time. After breakfast Coach Hunter and I meet up with Jenny Ashcroft a former Wichita State Assistant whom is now an assistant coach at Oregon and was nice enough to give Coach Hunter and me a tour of some of there athletic facilities. It was a very interesting experience and amazing what the backing of a company like Nike can do for your school. Later that afternoon we continued our sight seeing with some of the kids from the team by taking them to Pre’s rock on Skyline Dr. I have only been there twice and both times it has had an impact. How different would the world be if Pre would have made it around that narrow turn on the road about the city of Eugene and what impact could he have continued to have on the sport if he was still here today.

Later that afternoon it was time to get down to business. We drove out to Springfield to preview the course. There was a great atmosphere even the day before. I guess it helps when you have NCAA national champs and High School record holders doing workouts on the course. The course was in great shaped was marked very well and had a ton of signage. The team was very excited to be in this type of environment. I just hoped that they could take all that excitement and turn it into positive energy and race well the next day. Both teams finished up their easy run and did some strides followed by some stretching. As we drove back I felt that the team was ready to go and I started getting excited about the race the next day.

When we arrived at the course in Springfield the meet atmosphere was electric. They had upbeat music playing and the announcer was doing trivia with the crowd before and between races and keeping the fans entertained. They even had the man himself, Bill Dellinger as the honorary co starter of the meet along with Matt Centrowitz who just picked up a bronze medal at the world champs in the 1500.
After watching both races I felt that our kids stepped up to the challenge of the day and raced like they belonged. While both teams ran well this was a huge step forward for our guys team. This was the type of meet that was a great prep for our conference meet and regional’s. On both sides we had people in there mixing it up with some of the best runners in the nation and the world, you cant ask for much more than that. If we can continue down the path we are on we are going to have a very good November.

After the meet we made the 2 hour drive back to Portland because of an early flight the next day, and boy was it an early morning and a long day of travel, 4 am rolls around very quick. We arrived back in Wichita about 2 pm safe and sound and ready to get back to work with a great experience and a nice step forward toward the goal of winning MVC championship in Terre Haute in November.

writers block

2011-10-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

I am supposed to write a blog entry for Wichita State track blog, but I am having some serious writers block. I have not had not had issues with this in a very long time. Not very fun. I get a chance to write for something outside of my own blog and help the program and nothing.

developing the whole athlete

2011-09-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

I know I have written about this before but the more I work with distance runners and especially distance runners of the computer age I realize that you need to develop athleticism. As distance runners we spend so much time moving in the sagittal plane and some don’t even do that properly. There needs to be time spent working on becoming more athletic. Now don’t get me wrong you don’t get better at running by doing drills. But the more you can do the more you can do. If you cant stay healthy running miles you will never reach your full potential. In order to stay healthy or get stronger so you can run more you need to spend time doing functional strength and conditioning. I think you can do a lot of functional strength through incorporating into warm up and cool down activities. You can do a different series before easy runs, long runs, workouts, weight sessions. You can make some of these movements or drills core work, plyos, flexibility all wrapped into one. Functional strength should be worked on daily. Like running this is not something that can be improved immediately but you need to pay attention and make deposits in the bank often. Start simple and work to complex when the movements are mastered. Just remember the more you can do the more you can do. My two cents for the day.

Self education, expanding my horizons

2011-09-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

I am trying to take advantage of this time as a volunteer coach at a D I school to expand my horizons as much as a can. We have such a great staff at Wichita State and I am very fortunate that most are willing to share there knowledge with me. Some areas I am trying to expand on are functional strength training, new/different methods of athletic training, marketing of track meets and recruiting.

Weight Room
Being down in the weight room while other teams are lifting has afforded me the opportunity to watch Adam Ringler http://www.adamringler.com/in action. Every time I see his groups at work I pick up some new things. He has been nice enough to let me pick his brain and is going to teach me the basics of Functional Movement Screen and go over some of the basics of his philosophy. I get to do this tomorrow and I am very excited. This is an area I feel I have a good grasp on but could use some work on how to “put it all together.”

Training room
Our training staff does some very cool things that previous schools I have worked for have not done. Mainly Graston and Kinesio taping. I have been teaching myself how to use Kinesio tape on myself and some of the kids on my team last year. I have some basics down but hope to pick the brains of Jeff Deits http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=athletictraining&p=/FacultyandStaff/Staff/jdeits/ who has more practice and has read more about the subjuect. He also said he would be willing to spend some time teaching me some of Graston techniques using Guasha tools http://guashatools.com/ So I am excited for some of these new lessons.

Marketing
I have been put in charge of coming up with creative ideas on how to get peoples butts in the stadium at our home meets. We have some good ideas but we have 2 home indoor, 2 outdoor regular season and our conference meet. Ideas range from HS invite sections at indoor meets, to tailgate party, carnival and music at outdoor meets. There are a lot of conversations I need to have but it should be very interested to see where it all goes from here.

Recruiting
I am not allowed to recruit. Which for me kind of stinks. But I am involved in conversations and brain storming sessions with fellow coaches in the office at practice or lunch and have been coming up with some good ideas.. Coach Wise also let me barrow Meat Market which is a book about college football recruiting, great stuff.

All of these have been in addition to reading as many articles and journals as I can find about all things running etc… I feel like I am expanding and become more educated so if and when I get a more permanent gig I will be able to have informed conversations with all the different people Coaches have to interact with on a daily basis.

new goals, fresh starts

2011-09-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a very long time since I have updated this blog. I have a new goal of writing in here every day. So along with my goal of reading more everyday we shall see how this goes.

Since I last wrote in here Becky got a new job working for Sedgwick Co in the city of Wichita, so we have moved to Wichita and I have started as a Volunteer coach at Wichita State University with the cross country and track and field program. I have had people since I started coaching 7 years ago tell me that I needed to move to Division I. That was easier said than done, but WSU was nice enough to bring me on and it has been a terrific experience so far. Their coaching staff has over 90 years total experience at DI level and I have been trying to soak in as much as I can from the whole staff. I find myself following the different coaches around at fall track practice asking questions ranging from why this drill to what is next, and how do you progress from here.

So from here on out my goal is to write about my thoughts and experiences with this level. I hope you like it and if there is something you would like me to write about please let me know. I am excited to get back to writing. until next time......

Mentor's

2010-10-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have felt a little bogged down with some administrative things at work, ad during that time I have turned to some people close to me who have helped me though a lot of different rough patches in my life. The two people that I turned to this particular time were my Dad and Kori Stoffregen who is the head coach at DePauw University, whom i started my coaching career with as a Graduate Assistant. Both of them were able to give me very different sets of advice and both sets were great for me to hear and things that I can take and work on.

I read Seth Godin's blog this morning and was reminded of how fortunate I am to have many different people in my life that I can call and speak with, some are people my age or younger. Young coaches or friends who are going through the same situations that I am right now. Some are people with 15. 20, 30+ years of experience coaching who have been though and are still dealing with situations that I have pop up or just people who I have known for a long time who I trust that they will give me a straight answer.

All in all I have had some great learning experiences and it is nice to have people to turn to for help when I need it.

Dog Days of Summer

2010-07-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

As we plow through July, I have started spending more and more time in the office. I finally feel like I have my energy and motivation back after a long year. It has been fun the past couple of weeks we have started up group runs in town and it is slowly building. We had 8 this morning and have 5 or so on most. Hope that we can keep it going into the school year with the non students.

I have had an explosion of ideas lately and now its just a matter of me becoming more of an administrator which can be my least favorite part of this job and make the calls and rally the support to get some things done. On tap for next summer is a summer track series, a summer cross series, road race series, track and cross country camps and continue to grow the group runs.

As for now I am very anxious to get the kids back on campus and rolling. There is a ton of potential for both teams and with the right attitude we can achieve big things.

Next week I get to head home to OHIO for one of our two yearly trips. It will be great to see all our family and friends recharge a little then start xc season. I will be attending the NEO Cross Country camp for what feels like the 10th year now, which is always a great experience.

Learning opportunities

2010-06-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

So my plans of going to USATF meet did not go as smooth as I was hoping. Like everything in life other things poped up and a miss communication left me driving solo up I35 to Des Moines by myself. The drive went by a lot quicker than i thought it would. I arrived in time to watch the Women's Steeple prelims, which B Fran dominated and I am very excited to watch her run the final, and the 800 prelims. During some of the sprint races I saw Salazar walk by and we saw him sitting on the turn with the 10k's coming up. I thought it would be interesting to listen in to him while the race was going on and after the races, so I wondered over a sat a few rows behind him. Michael Johnson also happened to be sitting a few rows behind me.

I am very glad I went to sit behind him during both the men's and women's races. It was interesting watching him interact with his athletes during the race and hearing the small feed back him gave them after.

I also had a chance to sit down and talk with my friend Brad Hunt, who is the assistant coach at the University of Virginia. He gave me some great ideas about working with long sprint/mid distance guys and working on building "volume" without always doing longer runs. Something I had never thought of before.

All in all it was a great day and something I learned a lot from. Its funny that you can learn new things when you least expect it.

Really USATF, really

2010-06-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

I spent the past weekend at the USATF Championships. The experience was good for me because of the people I was there with and who I got to talk to. The meet itself was pathetic. I understand that it is a non championship year and the races are not going to be as competitive as the Olympic Trials, but I was not very impressed with how the meet was run.

The Crowd was absolutely pathetic. $20 a day to sit in the heat with minimal shade and not a single water fountain in the stadium is a little ridiculous. The last day the stands were maybe half full. There was hardly anyone on the back stretch at all. Mostly coaches or people watching the vaults, you need to do something to get people in the stands, revamp the schedule, drop the ticket prices, something….

As far as advertising was concerned you would not have known that there was a track meet going on in town unless you stumbled on to the stadium and asked someone. There was not a single poster, flyer, banner, billboard, or anything anywhere in town or around. It is sad when NCAA puts up billboards and posters around town for regional meets for Division III and USATF can’t put anything up for a National Championship. But they will pay $4000 to the winner of each race, and $3000 to second and down to $500 for fith and sixth. Why don’t we spend some of that money and try and put people in the stands. I feel like USATF needs to realize if there are no fans that there will be no sport. Our sport cannot survive on once every four years. There are too many people involved in High School track and field for our sport to be in the state that it is in. So why don’t we try lowering ticket prices, maybe even give tickets away, have fun kids activities, autograph sessions something to get kids involved, something to get peoples butts in the seats.

I understand that the races are tactical, most championship races are, but come on ladies and gentlemen if we want to compete at the world level we might need to run faster than the Jr’s are running. I know that depth was a big reason for some of these results and it is a sad state when a US National Championship doesn’t mean very much to people and they don’t even show up. I think that falls back on the USATF

There were several points in the meet where there were looooooong pauses. There was a 45 minute break at one point where they decided to scratch the women’s 200 to just semis and they did that the day of the meet. So we sat in the stands in 90+ deg heat and waited for 45 minutes with nothing going on. The field sizes at the meet were very small, and I do not understand this. This is a not championship year. Why not give some people a chance to run at a US national meet and get the experience. Make the field sizes bigger. I also heard several stories of people who did not find out if they were in the meet or not until a day or two out. USATF people have lives, they have to make travel plans, they have to get hotels and flights and some even have to take time off from work to go. One hammer thrower went to the meet even though he ended up not qualifying, but he was in the stands because he already had to pay for his hotel and buy the time he found out it was too late to cancel.

In summary USATF and track and field is in a sad state, the people in charge are not getting it done and if you were in Des Moines you would see that is the case. The National Championships should be a celebration of our sport each year and this was not.

Been a long time

2010-06-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted on here. And in that time a lot has happened, I don't even know where to begin. This year has had its ups and downs. Fortunately it has had more ups than downs. I have slept in more beds and couches than I care to remember, I have spent more time on the road than I ever have in the past. Between trips for the team going to meets and trips for recruiting it has been a very busy year.

For recruiting I have gone to California three times, Texas twice, Missouri at least three times. All of the trips were productive in one way or another. I have gone through patches where we would have 5 kids verbally commit and sign and others where I would have 5 kids tell me we were not established enough of a program, and who could blame them looking at our past. But I was not concerned with our past and knew if I just kept working and made one more call or made one more home visit that we would get maybe one more kid. As of today we have 28 new men and 10 new women with the recruiting not done just yet. In the past couple of weeks we have had a hot streak of men committing to the program. I am hoping that we can get a few more girls to come on board before the summer ends. Next year is going to be exciting.

As for the current team we have made huge leaps and bounds from where we were last year. Things can always go smoother and I still have a lot of learning to do as a young coach, but we are making some great progress. Both the men and the women scored more points at conference than they have in recent history and we had several conference champs and even a National Champ. I am very excited for what the future holds for McPherson College track and cross country.

Personally I wore myself down this year. I have still only had two days off of work since winter break. I have been sleeping in all of this week and plan on sleeping in until I feel my body has caught up with lack of sleep. 5 hours just doesn't cut it for me. I have stuck to my new years resolution fairly well and have been reading more. I have read several books, mostly about running or coaching and plan to continue to do this. I hope this summer that I will be able to read even more. My running has taken a hit due to injury the past few months but I hope to get rid of the nail that seems to be stuck in my heal in the next few weeks by meeting with a ART doc i talked with yesterday who has a practice in Wichita.

For now I think that catches up on where my life is. I hope this summer to get a good start on recruiting for next year, to get more organized with the administrative side of things and to read and learn a lot. I am very excited for what the next school year will bring and to see all the hard work this year pay off.

2010-03-07T11:48:00.001-08:00

Good national meet. Mitch was 5th with a vault of 15'11". On to outdoor with force.

What a difference a year makes

2010-01-28T19:26:00.001-08:00

Two more days marks my arrival in McPherson last year. I remember leaving Meadville and its 30 inches of snow in the rear view mirror and Becky and I headed west for Kansas. Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into but very excited for the future and our new start all by ourselves in the mid west. I arrived at McPherson with the assumption that all college teams were as serious as the programs I had been a part of or at least could easily be turned around into championship teams. I quickly found out that this was not the case. Almost on a daily basis I fought with people on the team trying to do things that I took for granted before I came to KS. Things like showing up for practice on time, doing a warmup, doing a cool down, actually coming to practice. I had some very hard weeks and some very hard days all of which were great learning experiences. Are things perfect today, no, will they ever be perfect, doubt it, are they better, much much better. Last year I dreaded going to practice just knowing someone was going to try to pull something or there would be some sort of confrontation. This year I love going to practice, we have a great group who works hard. Next Thursday we will have a meeting to decide who our team leaders are and what our goals for the season are. I am excited to see what this group can do, we have a lot of motivated people who want to do well for the team. It is an exciting time to be a part of McPherson College track and field.

Doing the little things

2010-01-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

As I get deeper into my coaching career and I look back on my own running, it amazes me how the little things make a big difference. Sleep, and nutrition being two of the biggest. Making sure you are getting 8+ hours of sleep a night and eating a well balanced diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Its hard to train at a high level and stay healthy when you are not getting enough sleep and putting the proper fuel into your system.

New Years Resolution

2010-01-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since I posted on here. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and has had a great start to the new year.

My New Year’s resolution this year is to read more. I want to read at least a chapter of a book a night, and to spend the first part of my morning at work reading blogs, research articles etc about training, coaching, recruiting etc… I felt that since I have arrived at McPherson I have not done enough reading. I have read a few books, but I need to stay up with the most cutting edge training philosophies and I figured this would be the best way to do it. Currently I am reading Brad Hudson’s book Run Faster. It has a lot of good stuff in it. It also has a lot of things that I am already doing, or things I can tweet to make our program better.

Another New Year’s resolution is to update my blogs more often. So I will try and make a post on my personal blog once a week and on the team’s blog around the same. I also would like to have my assistants be more involved with the blogging process.

Marathon Debut

2009-10-20T13:42:00.001-07:00

So this past weekend I made my Marathon Debut. The weather was very nice, 40-45 deg about a 15 mph wind but most of the time it was at our backs and I was feeling good going into it. Started off with a conservative mile and then one a little quicker. Was running with another guy and we started clipping off 6 or sub 6 min miles on the uphill portion of the course. I was still feeling good but didn't want to over do it too early so I backed off and let him go and ran a 6:26 mile and the plan was to settle in at between 6:10 and 6:00. being 9 miles in i started running at or bellow 6 min feeling very comfortable and smooth. my 12th mile was a 5:57 and I was just following the two guys in front of me who were in 2nd, and 3rd place. i took a left hand turn with a lady standing at the turn. I then noticed that the arrows were going in the wrong direction but thought maybe this was the part of the course were we doubled up. then i saw the 14 mile mark facing backwards, then i passed the leader coming at me. No one along the way said anything. I started getting near the half thon mark when a lady told me i was going the wrong way. About 5 seconds later Becky yelled, "they sent you the wrong way turn around." so i stopped and turned around. After that i felt like I was just not in it mentally. All of this happened on the air force base. Nothing about the air force base was good. The water stops sucked, the course sucked. I was still maintaining around 6 teenish miles for the rest of the race but i was all alone, no fans and not even sure if i was going the right way for the remainder of the race. I ended up finishing 3rd in 2:44:10

Splits were
6:24, 6:12, 5:56, 6:00, 5:49, 5:49, 5:51, 6:26, 5:52, 5:59, 6:00, 5:57, 14:35 (sent wrong way), 6:18, 6:13, 6:15, 6:30, 6:26, 6:08, 12:32 (split and water stop in same spot), 6:25, 6:29, 6:33, 6:08, 1:13

New Start

2009-09-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks my first meet as a head cross country coach. So far things have been a lot better as a first time head cross country coach than they were as a track coach. A lot of it has to do with the athletes knowing where I stand and setting up my expectations early on. I am excited to see where we are and how we do against different colored jerseys.

As for my training. I have had a down week which has been very nice but the reality of having an up week next week will set in soon and I will have to be a lot more disciplined with getting up and doing my runs in the mornings. It is hard to find time to get them in since I will be running farther than everyone on the team on most days. So far so good. Had a good 2 hour run last Sunday, was tired and sore from it but it felt good to get back to training and not just running to run....

With the past few weeks being very busy with Camp etc... my recruiting phone calls kind of fell to the way side but I got back on it last night and had some good calls. I need to keep plugging away and utilize the fact that Becky has started grad school and spends a lot of time studying to my advantage and make my calls then. I am excited to see what I can do with a full year of working with recruits. I feel we have a good base of athletes and if we can get another good year we will become very competitive very quick.

911

2009-08-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

Watching a special on 9/11. Some of the stories are blowing me away. They told a story of a women who's birthday was 9/11. Her husbands car was found in the rubble in the trunk of that car they found her still wrapped birthday present from her husband. How meaningful was that present.

NEO XC Camp

2009-08-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week back in OHIO for the annual NEO Cross Country Camp. They had two weeks of camp this year but because of Level 2 I was only able to make the second week. As usual it was a great week and got me motivated for the upcoming xc season. I had a good cabin, which is always key. I got a lot of miles in 93 and got to know a lot of new kids. It would be great if I could get a kid or two each year from Ohio to come out to Kansas.

Level 2

2009-07-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I was at USATF level 2 coaching school in Boulder CO. On the way out to boulder we drove through two hail storms. The second one was very bad, cars all over had windows busted out taillights out. We kept driving and made it through will only a few dents in the car so I feel fortunate.

I love Boulder and was glad I got to spend time there. On the flip side I wish I could have spent more time enjoying Boulder. I spent the first three days of the school in class from 8 am to 6:30 pm and would then go home and study till around 10 go to bed then get up at 5:30 to run in the morning. I passed my Sports Science test, which anyone who went to college with me knows that Anatomy and Physiology is not my strong suite. They kept the test questions to the basics so I felt very good about the test when I got done.

Next up was the throws section of the school. I was now in class from 8 am till 9:30 pm every day. When I would get home I would study for about an hour then go to bed. This whole week was very stressful for me. There was a lot of new terms for me to learn and techniques. All in all it was a difficult course but I learned a ton. I plan on going back and doing a different event area next year, depending on how the school progresses (there are changes coming down the tube) I will either do Jumps or Endurance.

I did get to spend some quality time in boulder on my runs. I stayed with my cousin and he lives within running distance of my favorite places. I got to run south creek path several time and in Chautauqua park a few times. Jay came down from Aspen area to visit and we got a few runs in as well, I had not seen him in over a year so it was great to hang out with him.

Up next for me is another road trip. This time back to OHIO for NEO XC Camp. It should be a good time.

beck wins 4th race

2009-07-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.thekansan.com/sports/x631615225/First-time-winners-claim-CTF-run-titles

I was off in Kansas City for a bachelor party this weekend for our old throws coach, so I was not able to attend the race. Becky managed to lock her keys in the car so she was not able to wear racing flats. With a point to point race she also had to get a ride back to the start line to meet AAA to sign for them getting into the car. All in all not a bad javascript:void(0)day hahahaha.

We went over to a friends house for a cook out. We had some burgers and played some washers. Budic would have been very disappointed at my awful display. This is the first state I have lived in where it is legal to set off fireworks on the 4th. It sounded like a war zone out side from 6 am till midnight. Crazy.

I have been very saddened by the loss of Michael Jackson. The world has lost the greatest entertainer to ever walk the earth. the end of his memorial service today summed it up for me with his daughter breaking down on stage. I think sometimes people forget that he was a person like you and me and had feelings too. I hope the world remembers him for the influence of his music and not the accusations and craziness that surrounded him. RIP MJ

Catching up

2009-06-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have been watching and reading a lot from Jay Johnson the past two days. I really like a lot of the stuff he does. I have incorporated the same things into my teams strength routine and have found great results from it. He has lots of videos on his web site. I highly suggest checking it out. http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/

I have had a real roller coaster ride the past few days with recruiting, but whats new. Had a great long weekend with my top 3 recruits.

Showed them all there is to see in this area of Kansas. They all had a good time. Two of them are now signed. I am still waiting on one, who happens to be the best of the three. These three would make a huge impact, possibly even take us to the next level in half a year. But only time will tell and right now I am just sitting and waiting for his response. Every time my phone goes off i get nervous and my heart sinks a little. You might ask why would my heart sink. Well I have had 2 girls and 2 guys who were a done deal tell me they are no longer coming to McPherson College next fall. Nothing that I could do, one has some Dr. apts and a follow up surgery, another wants a major we do not have etc.... So we will see where we are at in the next week. I am going start focusing on the class of 2010 starting Monday. So it will be back to the phones for initial calls with the goal of getting kids on campus for visits over the summer. So i will keep you updated.

My running has been very up and down. Now that the college and high school kids are back into the swing of things I am getting more miles in. I am doing what I can to hit every group run in the area that I can and running twice a day for the past few days. By no means am I fit, but I am enjoying running a lot more than i have since Feb. 1. I did a few workouts on the track Mt. Union style and had fun with that. I still have nothing to train for which I find hard. I need a goal and I need to go for that goal. If anyone has any suggestions for what you think I should be training for please let me know. I could use some help.

All in all the summer has been good. I saw a tornado for the first time in my life, its been hot, but I have had some fun. Hope things keep going in a positive direction on the whole.

Group Run

2009-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight is going to be the first group run of the year. I am hoping for a good turn out. My goal is to get the community more involved and unified. I see people running in pairs or by themselves all the time. I miss the days of running in big groups back home. I hope tonight goes well and that people spread the word. I have started a new website http://mcphersongroupruns.webs.com/ that has a calendar etc... to get people more involved. It will be interested to see where this goes.

I am also going to try and start up community track meets on Wednesday nights. And have a mini golden league type challenge to the series. More to come on this later.

It is nice have a little more time to try and get some sort of a running community going in the area.

Kansas State meet

2009-05-30T20:22:00.001-07:00

Very happy about how the recruits performed overall. I am very excited about next year after today. They seem excited about next year.

2009-05-29T16:08:00.001-07:00

Spent all day at kansas state meet. Lots of people running. It is crazy how big this meet is.

Recruting

2009-05-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I have been out to california twice this spring to try and bring in some good Community college people. The first time I went out there I was flying blind and just went to a bunch of meets and tried to talk to as many kids and coaches as I could. I feel like I was successful at this and was worth the time and money.

The second time was to seal the deal with a few of the people I met on the first trip. I was able to do that with my top guy. I hope to have a handful of them on campus in a few weeks to sign them and get them enrolled in school. We could have a very good team on the men's side with a few of them joining us. I have added some of pictures from the trip.

Great night

2009-05-08T05:06:00.001-07:00

Had a great night of recruiting last night. There is a ton of potential with next years team. Just need some pieces to fall in place now.

Ramzi Drug issue

2009-04-29T17:45:00.001-07:00

Freaking Ramzi getting caught just proves that a lot more athletes than people think are dirty. I doubt he was the only one in that final that was on a PED.

trying times

2009-04-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the most difficult seasons of my life. There have been individuals on the team that did not buy into my philosophy at all and have fought me the whole way. I am looking forward to next year. I feel that the kids we have coming back and coming in will help change the attitude at practice everyday to a positive one. As of right now we will have 13 new men and 6 new women. I am hoping to continue to add to this number. The kids coming in seem to be hard workers looking to succeed on the track and in the class room. I am still looking to fill a few more empty slots on the team, but we are heading in the right direction and if I can pick up a few more kids between now and August we will be fine.

Inspiration

2009-03-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

My mom bought me a John Wooden book for my birthday. First off the dude can flat out coach. I have picked up big time lessons off of each page. Almost everything the man writes is inspirational. I find myself just wanting to read this book all the time.

His big thing is SUCCESS. Not winning or loosing but being as successful as you can be, doing the very best you can in practice day in and day out. I have found myself gravitating to this the past few years. If I work with my team and prepare them the best I can do run the best they can when it counts that is all that matters. He also speaks of holding tight to your principles and being true to who you are. This is something that I have been struggling with more than I have in my life as of late, how strong do I put my foot down on things and what do I let slide. I need to make sure that I do not feel like I am being taken advantage of and putting the team first. Wooden was very big into making good decisions for the team and what is best for the group. This is definitely the direction I want my teams to head in.

Be a team, work as a team to be the best we can. If we are the best we can be and work at that goal on a daily basis we will be successful on the track but more importantly in life. I need to make this very clear in the recruiting process so that I am getting the people on the team that will buy into the system. So far I feel that I have done a good job of this. I also feel that the majority of the people on the team are buying into this as well.

I have also gotten inspiration for some recruiting pieces for next year. I am going to stick with the success theme, more to come on that I cant give all my secrets away :)

NAIA Natioanls

2009-03-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

So I learned a lot from our cross country trip this weekend. We drove 17 hours to Johnson City TN this weekend for the Indoor National Championships. In order to be competitive at the NAIA level you have to be fit, very fit and you have to be able to recovery quickly. There are heats for all events and several people were running multiple events over a three day period. The heats for the most part were quicker than I was used to at D3, there were not as many tactical races. It was an interesting experience and one that I walked away with a lot more knowledge on how to build a program at this level.

team dynamics

2009-03-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

There are some team leaders that are starting to emerge from the group slowly but surely. It is nice to have people that I can trust within the team. I had a class room session with the distance people to go over why they are doing the workouts and mileage that I am having them do. There were a few questions that came up on people wanting to know. I have wanted to do this since I got here but have felt strapped for time on a daily basis to fit in the things we need to do and get them off to night class, work, dinner or wherever else they go after practice. SO on Thursday we had an easy run so I decided to do it then. I went into the classroom and drew up a big calender and put all of our long runs and workouts up and talked them through the progression of everything. The exciting part about the whole meeting was that most of the group came out of it very excited not only for this season but for next year. I am going to do a much more in depth talk at cross country camp next summer, but I feel that the majority of them understand and buy in to what I am trying to accomplish.

Recruiting

2009-03-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

Recruiting is finally starting to come together. I have been havening some good conversations with the students who are interested, it has just taken me a long time to go through the list of prospectives and figure out who truly is interested in McPherson College. I have had a few phone calls and emails where I found out that they have signed with someone else before I even got a chance to talk with them, no surprise there. But I have also talked to a few Community College Coaches, Club coaches and High School coaches who have given me some names of very good athletes who are interested in small schools. I feel a have a very good shot at hitting my goals for recruiting and think that we might get more track athletes that originally anticipated. But only time will tell. I have several athletes coming to visit campus within the next few weeks starting tomorrow so I will keep everyone posted.

Work work work work

2009-02-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have spent a lot of time in the office this week. I have started to take a graphic arts class to become more savvy on photo shop, in design etc. so I can work on recruiting pieces on my own time when the inspiration hits me. the class has been fun and I have learned a lot.

With out having Beck here I have spent all of my time outside of eating and sleeping and running in my office working. I am in the office by no later than 8 am and have been going home around 10:30 at night after finishing up my phone calls. I am starting to make some head way with the recruiting process but I still have a lot to figure out with the scholarship situation. We do not have what you would normally think of for scholarships and things have to get passed through AD and admissions people. It has been a busy time but I have not felt over worked just yet.

Team Goal session

2009-02-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our first team goal session. The conversations were good ones and the distance runners even came back after practice to talk some more about what they want to accomplish and where they want to go with the team. I am very excited to collect all of the information and put it together. They are buying into the changes that need to be made and I feel we are turning a corner.

first team meeting

2009-02-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

My name is Joe Eby, I am very excited to be here today and have the opportunity to lead this team into the future. I wanted to have this meeting to let you know where I stand from the start. I want this to be your team, so you will set the direction but I want to give you some guidelines. I not only want this to be a competitive team in the conference but at the national level as well. Everyone who is willing to put the time and effort in to becoming the best athlete they can is welcome on this team and I will do everything in my power to help you reach your goals. But remember that this is not a club sport this is collegiate athletics and I want you to treat it as such. This school and this program can be successful. I know what it takes to build a successful team and I want each and everyone of you to help shape a be a part of it. But I also want the commitment from each of you to make this the best TEAM that we can.

I am a big believer in athletics as a life style. To me this means a proper well balanced diet, at least 8+ hours of quality sleep a night, meaning going to be around the same time every night and getting up at the same time every morning. No drugs whether recreational or performance enhancing and no alcohol. Having said that I am not naive to thing that college kids do not and will not drink alcohol but there is a time and a place and in season is not that time and place. If you are under the age of 21 keep in mind that it is illegal for you to ever drink alcohol so be mindful of your decisions.

For most of you I am not going to intervene in your training. Your event coaches are the experts in there area and it is going to stay that way. There will be a few minor tweaks to some procedures but not major changes. The distance and mid distance and long sprints will see the greatest change and we will talk about that in a few minutes.

Team Culture

2009-02-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

So I have officially been in McPherson for 2 weeks 2 hours and about 17 min. The first two weeks have been a journey for sure. I have inherited a talented but very small team who just need some direction and will become a much better team.

My first week here we had a meet and I wanted to see how they conducted themselves at the meet and how they went about warming up and cooling down and racing and eating etc.... How mentally prepared they were to race when they step on the line and how good were their race tactics. Well lets just say we have a long ways to go and I took a lot of little things for granted while I was at Allegheny and DePauw. There is no Sr. leader who just knows how to do a lot of the little things because when they were freshman someone taught them.

I also am going to have to break these kids down and build them back up. A little like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. There is lots of talent they just don't know the fundamentals . It is going to be an exciting journey and a challenge they I am up for and so far the athletes are up for.

the begining of a new adventure

2009-02-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

Becky and I started off from Meadville at around 5:30 pm. We drove through the snow until around 10:30 when we arrived in London Ohio where we stayed with our friend Ryan Ladd. He rents a very nice house on the outskirts of town. We stayed up talking with him for about an hour or so then went to bed.

The next morning we got up had some cereal and hit the road again around 8:00 am. Our next destination was Greencastle Indiana. We drove down 70 till we got to Greencastle. WHen we arived we met D-rock and Ellis for a short run around town. We then met up with Kori and Stacey for lunch. It was good to see the DePauw people. Unfortunetly they had just gotten a heavy snow so we were not able to run in the Nature Park. After lunch we jumped back in the car with St Louis being our destination. We drove past the Arch and past Wash U to stop at Cameron's house for a little while where we got to shower and talk with Cammy for a little before heading to Stiles house. We went to CiCi's with the Stiles family which was a blast. After dinner we went back to there house and hung out for a while before bed.

The last day of the trip was an early one. We had to get up at 5:30ish to make sure we got to McPherson in time so I could move the few possesions that I had into our new apartment. After a few hours of driving and at one point I thought we were going to run out of gas becasue there were no gas stations for miles, we made it safe and sound to McPherson.

I was able to get into my office and get some things aranged. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful. It was a long trip and I might add some more detail later and will add pictures for sure.

Finally here

2009-02-01T13:41:00.000-08:00

We finally arrived in McPherson yesterday at 1:30 pm. We drove straight to our new apt and signed the papers and unpacked the few things I had, then moved into my new office then ran then groceries then back to the office. I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time in the office trying to get organized until Becky gets back.

Today is the day

2009-01-29T04:01:00.000-08:00

Its finally here. The day I start my drive to Kansas. I am feeling better now that I know I am at least going to be heading in the right direction. My going away present from Meadville was about 20 inches of snow. My run yesterday was more of a training scene from Rocky IV than anything else as I ran up the sidewalks in knee deep snow. Today at 5:00 eastern time Becky and I will get in the car and start heading South, then west. We are going to stay in London Ohio tonight with our friend Ryan Ladd then stay friday night in St. Louis with our friend Jeff Stiles. Then Saturday we will finish the drive off and hopefully move into our new Town Home on Saturday afternoon. But there is a lot to get done before 5:00. I have to get my last run in Meadville in then there is an Assistant Coaches meeting talking about budgets, which I am going to sit in on to learn as much as I can, then I have to do some laundry, pack and get ready for the drive. The is finally here, I can't wait.......

can't wait to get there

2009-01-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

As I have been working from home the past few days I feel as if I am handcuffed a little. There are so many things that need to get done and it is very hard having to do it over the phone or just wait four more days till I arrive on campus. I made a few recruiting calls last night but feel out of sorts since it is so far into the year and these kids have already been on campus etc... I am also getting antsy about working with the team. I want to get started right away. I feel like I am no longer wanted at Allegheny but also as if I don't have control over what is going on at McPherson. So as I sit at our messy dinning room table and work away at what I can, I just have to be patient. I will be in Kansas soon enough.

Moving on

2009-01-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

I have accepted the job as head coach at McPherson College in McPherson Kansas. This is a very exciting time for me. This is my chance to finally prove that I have what it takes to build a successful college Track & Field/Cross Country program. As I spend my last few days at Allegheny College I think back to all the good times and things I have learned that have gotten me to this point. In a few days I will pack up my Jeep and start heading West down 70. I am very excited to arrive and start building a dynasty with the Bulldogs of McPherson College.

Recruiting Philosophy

2009-01-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

My basic philosophy is to find students that I feel would fit well at the school academically, socially, and athletically and recruit those students. When you receive questionnaires back or talk to a recruit you have to profile that student based on academics, parent’s income, major and athletic ability to make sure they will fit in at your school and work with those students. The goal is to increase the depth and quality of the team. This is done by not only improving people currently on the team but new recruits as well. As the team improves so will the level of recruits to the program.

Vision Statement

2009-01-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

To develop holistic people who are committed to excellence. The pursuit of excellence begins with the recruiting process and continues long after the athlete walks across the stage with their diploma in hand. It starts with bringing in student athletes that buy into the program and will become the leaders of tomorrow. It continues at practice every day, where everyone no matter what ability level is there early because they are excited to work towards a conference, regional and national championship together as a family. It starts with everyone holding each other accountable for their actions weather they are positive or negative. The goal is to win championships but more importantly to develop productive members of society through teaching time management, discipline and commitment towards living a balanced life.

Coaching Philosophy

2009-01-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

As a professor and coach it is my goal to be an influential part of each student and athlete’s life by helping them develop into a productive and positive member of society. Through teaching discipline, time management, and how to be gracious in victory and defeat students will learn the necessary life skills to prepare them for work beyond college. Many life lessons can be learned through athletics and academics. Students must learn how to work with others as well as how to balance their own individual goals.

My coaching philosophy is one of progression and patience through individualized training programs over the entire time the athlete is under my program. Athletes start out the season with base work and slowly build up their endurance and speed through different workouts to sharpen their skills for each championship season. The goal of each season is to be ready to run your best at the highest level meet for each particular individual, whether that meet is the national championships or a last chance qualifier before conference. The goal of each year is to progress to a higher level than the season and year before. During an athlete’s progression from freshman to senior year, they should be able to handle a higher volume and intensity of work and see improvement throughout their collegiate career. As long as the athlete is willing to meet me half way I will do whatever I can, within the rules, to make them better in their event, no matter what their ability level.

In the classroom my goal is to teach students the importance of life-long fitness and how that contributes to their health and longevity. With the growing problem of obesity in society today, my passion for living a healthy, active, lifestyle is something I will strive to pass on to my students. Through teaching students the basic knowledge of nutrition and physical health and as a role model for a healthy, active lifestyle, students will learn what it takes to live a long, healthy, fulfilling life.