Blogs : John Wise

Back in the Saddle

Well the holidays are over and we are now back in the grind of the college track season.  Its like taking off from the top of a mountain on skis wondering what will happen on the way down.  Will I survive?  What obstacles will I encounter?  Will I make it to the bottom of the mountain alive?  Maybe I didn’t realize how high this mountain was?

We will hit the ground running this week as we head to Missouri for a 7-team invitational.  It will be our first meet as a complete (almost) team and we will get more of an idea of what kind of team we have.  The holiday break always produces struggles with training and coaching and the next few weeks will help us get our “track legs” about us for the rest of the season.  And after yesterday’s practice it appears we will need some time to be ready to run real hot times as a group.

Our new indoor track is done and we will practice there for the first time today (WOOHOO!).  We have already been talking about the prospects of hosting a meet or two next year at WSU during the indoor season.  I will try to link some pictures as soon as I can.  It is a beautiful new facility indeed!

Recruiting has been non-stop.  We have several top athletes making their way to WSU in the coming weeks and recently have received a verbal commitment from one outstanding athlete as well.  One down, about two dozen to go!

We also put on our yearly coaches clinic this past weekend and had about 60 local track and field coaches attend.  I think it went very well and luckily I only put a couple people asleep with my 50-minute talks about sprinting.

Happy New Year everyone and good luck during your indoor season!