Lincoln ranks among one of the top middle distance runners in the Big Ten Conference |
1. Entering the Big Ten indoor championships, you have the fourth best 800 meter time so far. How prepared are you for the championship meet along with the other events you will competing in?
I'm not really as prepared as I'd like to be right now, but I've come along a lot faster then I thought I would this indoor season so I can't really complain. I've been doing a lot of strength work so I think that will help me out.
2. At your home meet on February 15, you claimed the 800 meter title which included edging out Nick Willis of Michigan and Rob Myers of Ohio State. Was this a big confidence booster for you?
Yeah, that was a big race for me. It was the first 800 I had run all year so I wasn't really sure where i would be at. I would have liked to run faster, but we went out kind of slow, I think 54.4 or something, so that was a bit disappointing. I guess it made me feel pretty good to beat two sub 4 milers, even though it wasn't really their events. Since it was my first 800 of the season it definitely gave me the confidence that i'll be able to run a lot faster though.
3. As the Canadian National Junior runner-up in the 800 meters, what are your goals for the outdoor season and where do you plan to train over the summer after the collegiate season is over?
I guess outdoors I'm just looking forward to Penn Relays and Big Ten's. I didn't get to run outdoors last year and our 4x800 team is looking pretty good so contending for the 4x800 title at Penn Relays is definitely a goal I have. I'd also like to try and qualify for NCAA's and finish top 3 at Big Ten's. This year I'll be staying here in State College to train for the summer. I might go home to run Nationals but I'm not really sure as I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.
4. Penn State has one of the more outstanding indoor facilities in the country. Was this a strong factor in making your decision to attend Penn State?
Yeah, it was definitely a strong factor in my decision. I think that indoors is my favorite season and seeing an indoor track like that was awesome. To have the chance to practice on a track like that everyday is a huge benefit.
5. The Big Ten indoor championships were cancelled last year due to the death of your teammate Kevin Dare in the pole vault. How are the spirits of everyone on the team nearly one year later?
Everyone's spirits are actually pretty good, it was a really tough thing to deal with but everyone was there for each other the whole time. I think that it made our team closer and stronger then it was before hand and hopefully we can use that to our advantage this year.
6. What kind of base training workouts does your team endure leading up to the competition season?
We usually do some hill workouts once a week and a lot of repeat miles. Mostly we just do a lot of similar stuff to what we do during the cross country season, try to build a strong base for the season.
7. Head coach Harvey Groves has been at the helm at Penn State for over 30 years now. What is it like for you and everyone else to be under the direction of someone with such great experience and leadership?
We're all lucky to have a chance to be coached by Coach Groves because of that. He's been around the sport so long and been part of the coaching staff at international events with guys like Prefontaine and Shorter its just an honor to be able to run for him. WIth all the stories he has it makes it quite interesting to come to practice everyday too.
8. What has been the most difficult part of your athletic career that you had to overcome so far?
The hardest part so far has definitely been this past year. Last year I got a stress fratcure in my navicula (top of my foot) about two weeks before indoor Big Ten's. I think I tried coming back to hard to early, around mid April, and the stress fracture came back so i had to sit out even longer. Then this summer I was starting to run and the stress fracture came back again and there was another one in the bone beside it this time too. They considered giving me surgery but in the end thought it would be a best not too. So I just started running again this December, it was a very frustrating 10 and a half months. It's nice to finally be healthy and running again. I just have a lot of catching up to do.
9. What are some of your additional interests outside of running?
Basically anything that has to do with sports. I'm a really competitve person and I love playing sports. I played hockey for 11 years and soccer for 14, plus a bunch of others, track was just a way to stay in shape. But with my massive 5'8, 155lb frame (lol) track sort of turned out to be what I was meant to do.
10. Is there anything you do specifically before each race so all of your energy and focus will be driven the most towards that event?
The only thing that i really do is go through the same routine before every race. I do the same warm up each time or as close to the same as possible and thats about it. Up until maybe 3 or 4 minutes before hand I don't really get focused too much. I think that what you do right before the race really won't affect how you run that much. You just need to have the confidence that the training and the way you prepared leading up to the race was what you needed to do to be able to win. I think confidence is really important in how you run.