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Stanford Coach Chris Miltenberg on Season Plans
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Miltenberg looks at ways to Improve on 2013 NCAA Performance. At the beginning of the season the Stanford men and women both had a chance to trophy at the NCAA cross country championships. The men had a legitimate chance to beat defending champion Colorado with four potential runners in the top 12 and 2 of the top 3 returners (potentially a historic team) and the women had two top ten runners in Cuffe and Cranny. Since that time things have changed. Sophomore Sean McGorty came into the season with a back problem and recently Jim Rosa had surgery. Unfortunately the Cardinal women's #1 runner, Aisling Cuffe, has a sacral stress fracture. I spoke with Coach Milternberg a little before the Washington Invitational and we discussed plans for the season.
Adam Schneider (AS) - What was the game plan for the season for both the men and the women? Stanford Coach Chris Miltenberg (CM) - We want our runners to get a little more high level competition especially the younger runners. The home meet is fun but not a lot of pop. That's why we added Seattle. We wanted to take our less experienced runners and get more valuable experience at Seattle and other meets. AS - The women run 5k and 6k but the men run 8k and 10k. How are you approaching the season since the change in distances is so different for the men?
Miltenberg - The men and women are different. On the men's side other than Keelan and Mcgorty, the younger runners need all the racing experience we can get them. We are planning to run the regionals conservatively. Mcgorty and some of the others won't run regionals. The 6k and 10k different. With the 10k there is a fine line between the 8k and 10k. The women will keep getting racing experience up through regionals.
AS -Sean McGorty had back issues coming into the season. How is he doing?
CM - McGorty took summer really gradually. Last month was great. After getting to campus he went to Mammoth Lake. He doesn't need a lot of races to get sharp. We may just run him at Pac-12s and NCAAs. He is a few weeks ahead of last year when he finished 5th at Pre-Nationals.
AS - How is the team doing?
CM - We are in a very heavy training cycle. Jim had a great summer. Jim has a little soreness in his knee, he may be a little behind. Aisling has a stress reaction, a sacral stress reaction. She wants to be ready for November. We will look for what's best in long term development. She is back on the alt-G. Cranny raced until August. We have brought her along gradually (including Mammoth) . What we will get in Seattle (they were 2nd) is more reflective of the end of the season. McNamara and Fraser were the only ones held out.
AS - Cranny ran fairly low mileage in high school, how are you helping her adjust to college training?
CM- Jason (Hartmann) did a really good job of balancing volume and training. The key is to not get greedy. Everything is geared around long-term development. Everything is setting up the next 6-7 years. We have gradually increased her total volume. She is running 50m/week. She did that a few weeks in high school. We have brought up the intensity very gradually. We could have gone 15-20% more but we backed off.
AS - Can you tell me a little more about Cuffe's situation?
CM - There is a high likelihood of redshirting Cuffe. We already considered that anyway before the sacral stress fracture. Before the sacral stress fracture we had thought this is a great opportunity for the rest of team to grow. She could still run. In the year we won at Georgetown, Infield missed 5 weeks in sept-Oct. More importantly this will be really good for team development.
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