Running with the Buffaloes: A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men's Cross-Country Team

by Chris Lear

"You're fine, Adam. You're fine. Trust it, Adam. Trust all your work."

frequent runs up Flagstaff will transform the meekest of runners into "Quadzilla."

"This is when everyone looks each other in the eye and realizes we're all here to do one thing in common: to train and be righteous. This is where they'll make this unspoken agreement."

Reese begins the meeting by offering a quote: "If you're not enjoying the journey, you probably won't enjoy the destination."

Once they elect to aim high, they are effectively empowering Wetmore to train them as hard as he sees fit to take them to that level. If they complain, he has but to remind them that they are the ones who decided they wanted to excel, he is merely following their prerogative.

"We're not here for training, we're here to hang out and be friends, because friendship is the foundation of our team. When the foundation is friendship, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to get through the season"

there is one leader steering the ship. "Here," he says, "there is no negativity about Wetmore. Everyone takes Wetmore's word as law."

Wetmore' system is based on the training principles of New Zealand coaching great Arthur Lydiard. It is a high-mileage program that emphasizes the development of his runner's aerobic capacity or endurance.

I want you guys to be businesslike in your approach; think like Clint Eastwood. We work every day, and when we go to town, we tie up the horse, spit on the dog, and we leave without a word.We do our talking with our legs.

The fundamental principle of training is to develop enough stamina to enable you to maintain the necessary speed over the full distance at which you plan to compete.

Lydiard taught Wetmore two principal ideas: 1. Anaerobic and interval training is overrated. 2. You must continuously develop your aerobic capacity-and pick a time to run well.

"suffer as much as we can to see how good we can be, safety be damned."

I look for a squiggly wavy road. That usually means it is a little out of the way dirt road."

The success of Cooper and Cleckler sent a message to all of Wetmore's guys: It does not matter how little talent you have, if you follow his instructions and work hard, you will succeed.

"When you live on monster island, someone's breathing fire every day."

As they approach four miles, Friedberg catches Goucher and Severy. Goucher looks back and shoots Friedberg a condescending glance mixed with surprise. "Friedberg!" he says. "What are you doing here?" "Just running," he says. "Yeah, but you're supposed to be running easy," Goucher replies, "and your easy is not the same as my easy." Friedberg's face is flushed, and the exertion is clearly affecting him. He does not respond, or slow down.

He proceeds to offer melon to any and all strangers passing by whom, in his estimation, "need the melon." "Oh, you see her," he says pointing to an attractive, petite blond, "she needs the melon. That guy, he needs the melon." Rejected once, Roybal will always ask, "Are you sure?" Some will reconsider and take the melon. Others will try to rationalize it, but to no avail. There is no explanation for Roybal's actions other than his desire to see people smile. No doubt, it is odd.

"'The right stuff' on this level," he says, "is some combination of these four qualities: talent, durability, determination, and courage.

He was ebullient this morning, and this was not by accident. "The team absolutely responds to me," he says. "If I show up at practice in a bad mood, no matter how good they're feeling, they'll feel worse because of me. I've got to remind myself every day that I've also got to be at my best in November. Jonathan Riley saved Stanford last year," he continues. "I want to make sure we win this year."

"Seasonal affective disorder," he says. "It comes with the changing of the leaves, and it's worse later." Also referred to by Wetmore as "three-week syndrome," it is his term for the collective neuroses that suddenly crop up at this time of year. The initial feeling-out period is now over and the density of training is starting to catch up to his athletes. It occurs to them that all the hard work that has been completed is but a prelude for the more strenuous workouts that have yet to commence. For those who are already overextending themselves, it is a painful realization.

In an even monotone he says, "No kicking," before repeating it a couple of seconds later. Out the back as the guys start kicking anyway, Sev recovers quickly to erase the gap and they finish as one.

Aker running with Ponce and Friedberg for the first 15 miles, they surged, pulling ahead in the last two miles. However, while this "racing" is discouraged on other campuses, it is accepted and understood as a matter of course on Sundays at CU. Jason Robbie explains: "There's only one thing you're out there to do on Sunday, and that's to better yourself by running as fast as you can. That's it. Dude, you don't wait for anyone."

printed the goals in large black letters. He hung the poster high on the wall of his bedroom, he says, "so when I woke up, I could see it. When I went to bed, I could see it. I was constantly thinking about what I wanted to do."

There was a blizzard in Massachusetts, yet every day, Goucher ran in preparation for the regional meet. "I have to turn this negative energy into positive energy," he told himself. "I have to focus on what I want to do, for the family."

When in doubt slow down.

In a sport that demands compulsion, sometimes the hardest task is having the confidence to rest.

"Look, Oscar," he said then, "four years from now, it won't matter. It's not about white, black, or brown. What everyone gives a damn about is green, and you'll be telling the punk who told you to go back to the hood, `Here are the keys to my Lexus, don't scratch it."'

The watch is useless; there's no sense using a watch. I'll be somewhere on the hill using ridicule and sarcasm.

They all want to be eagles, but they don't want to act like eagles, so we're going to have to do it ourselves.

"Don't get greedy. Bad things happen when you get greedy." Getting greedy, that may be why many of the men are getting hurt, but that is also why they are good.

"You don't have to put your event down on these yellow things. I know your event. Your event is to follow instructions."

I don't need to build you up. I don't want you to leave here smashing your head against the wall. Be businesslike, patient, and methodical. Do a little head smashing every day for one hundred days.

"Valenti, where were you?" he asks. "I was sick." Wetmore gives him a scornful glance, then turns to Goucher. "Gouch, where were you this morning? Have you finished your sinus medication yet? How did you manage to make it out here to practice?"

"At Nationals, you have to believe in big things. You gotta believe in miracles. After Nationals last year I wrote in my log, `Ran pretty well, but I gotta get out a little better.' We believe in our fitness, not in miracles. But somewhere I think we got to have faith that we can have a breakthrough performance"

The guys argue about how much Goucher should run today. He ran a total of 98 minutes yesterday. He is debating running eight miles this afternoon so that he remains on pace to hit a hundred for the week. A year ago, Goucher was averaging 84 miles a week. He does not want to slack now because he wants to maintain his higher volume for as long as he can. The guys tell him to relax and just run an easy half hour.

"I better find the guys, I don't remember how long to warm up. I seriously don't remember."

"Motivate! Motivate! Oh, ah, gonna kill somebody! Oh, ah, gonna kill somebody!"

It occurs to JD while he runs that the creek never stops moving. "My whole world has stopped," he says, "but the creek, it's still running."

All economy begins in the face and shoulders. Pick up the heels!

"my training and fitness govern my mind. My mind is completely reactive to my physical strength and my fitness."

In many ways, a race is analogous to life itself. Once it is over, it can not be re-created. All that is left are impressions in the heart, and in the mind.

He characterizes Chris as a man "without a theology and maybe without a God." "Without a doubt he loved life," he says, "and he embraced the uniqueness of his gifts. That must be the definition of faith. He had complete faith that life is good, and that his gifts were valuable."

The 30-30's, otherwise known as the "Master Blaster," is 30-second 200's with 30 seconds rest till you can go no more. It is scheduled for November tenth.

"Seventy percent of the best [high school] runners in the last ten years disappear. They're all gone, sitting on a hillside. In the top 25 at NCAA's, many of the big Foot Locker stars from `94 to'96 will be gone.They'll be back in the 30's and 40's."

"If you want to be successful in college, don't go to Foot Locker or run 8:55 [for two miles in high school]."

"How many people go to NC's and run better than they have all year? Ten percent? I don't want to go in having to run better than ever. I want them to think business as usual. If five of us run business as usual, we'll be alright."

"the more cranked up you are on rhetoric, the less likely you are to run well. You go out too hard the first mile, mile and a half, and run worse than you would have."

On that day Johnson told Roybal,"You know what, we have experience, we have to be calm, and we'll run better, even if it takes to indoors."

A lot goes through the mind when there is nothing to do but wait ...

"Yeah, but you gotta beat [Jeff] Simonich." Goucher shoots back, "It doesn't matter what happens at Regionals. What matters is what happens at Nationals."