The LSU track and field teams are gearing up for another banner year this spring and are in the midst of a strenuous fall training regimen designed to help them compete against the nation’s best. The Tigers and Lady Tigers form the premier combined program in all of collegiate track and field with an impressive 31 NCAA championships and 47 Southeastern Conference championships all-time.
Second in a nine-part series updating LSU’s progress during the fall training season will focus on the middle distance and distance groups.
BATON ROUGE – While the LSU middle distance crew will be without the services of a pair of All-Americans from a year ago in departing seniors Richard Jones and LaTavia Thomas, the Tigers and Lady Tigers are preparing this fall for the 2011 season with another talented group of runners on their side.
With assistant head coach Mark Elliott leading the way, LSU’s athletes have spent time in the opening six weeks of their fall training schedule building an endurance base that will lead to maximum performance.
While the LSU middle distance runners have already logged hundreds of miles in training this fall, Elliott has decided to modify his regimen with increased mileage from a year ago while featuring a faster pace with longer rests between intervals. Athletes have individual training programs designed for their specific needs and run as much as 40 and 50 miles in training each week.
In addition, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have also taken part in extensive hill training and stadium runs for a way to help build their endurance base and lead to a successful spring season.
Not only that, but Elliott leads his squad through Olympic weight training and general strength training in the weight room two days each week while focusing on maximum repetitions using reduced weight.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in training to this point. It’s great to see our athletes train with this kind of attitude and intensity to prepare themselves for the season,” Elliott said. “Our group is not as big as it was a year ago, but we have a talented group of athletes who will help us work toward our team goals this year in 2011. You can see the kind of potential we have in training.”
Elliott also stresses the importance of the fall cross country season in the training of both middle distance and distance athletes as they prepare to compete in their respective events in the spring.
“Our distance runners are always in season with cross country in the fall and track in the spring, but cross country season also serves as a way for our middle distance athletes to build the endurance base they need to succeed in the spring,” Elliott said. “It helps us get our mileage up even more during the fall.”
Senior All-American Brittany Hall and sophomore Charlene Lipsey are back to lead the Lady Tigers after a 2010 season in which both competed in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships.
Hall, the sixth-place finisher in the women’s 800-meter final at the 2009 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships during her sophomore season, advanced to the national quarterfinals a season ago at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds held in Greensboro, N.C. Lipsey emerged as a NCAA semifinalist in her rookie season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships held in Eugene, Ore.
Sophomore Sadiki White will help set the pace for the men’s middle distance group following a freshman season in 2010 in which he earned a pair of All-SEC accolades. White was the SEC runner-up in the 800-meter run and a member of LSU’s second-place distance medley relay at the SEC Indoor Championships.