Blogs : NCAA Division III Blog

Interview: Cait Bradley of Dickinson College

Cait Bradley is a senior at Dickinson College who finds herself in a somewhat unexpected position.  Although she was the 2^nd overall finisher at the Cross Country National Championships a year ago, she will have her hands full again as each of the top four women from last year returns to contest for the 2007 individual title.  Following a breakout year on the national scene where she earned All-American certificates in cross country, indoors (mile), and outdoors (steeplechase), Cait took time following her team’s annual Fall Break trip to answer some questions.  She talks about preparing not only with individual aspirations in mind, but also team-focused ones as Dickinson—having achieved a program-best 6^th place finish three of the past 4 years—looks to finally land on the podium.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you're from and how you got started running?
I'm from Fairfield, Connecticut.  A couple of things influenced me to start running.  My mom jokes that I started running to get away from my older bother but really first I loved to play soccer and I started running to get in shape for that.  I played soccer freshman and sophomore years of high school but decided to do indoor and outdoor track.  By my junior year I wasn't sure if I was going to make varsity and if I did I wasn't going to play because I was a goalie and our other goalie was amazing, so some of my track friends convinced me to do cross country, and here I am.

How do your PRs in high school compare to what you've done so far in college?  More importantly, how has your understanding of training, racing, and running in general evolved?
I didn't really start making significant improvements until my junior year of high school when I broke 6 for the mile in track, running 5:43, and senior year I ended up running 5:18 for my PR.  And for xc in Connecticut we run the 4k where my PR was 15:33.  So far in college I have made improvements on those PRs from high school sometimes in big steps and others not.  Like I didn't PR from my high school PR in the 800 until this past spring.  My high school program was really strong and we learned a lot about running and training but I think with experience comes a greater understanding.  Also learning from different coaches has helped to broaden my understanding of training and racing.

You've shown great personal progression, having garnered All-American honors just once in each of your first two years before picking up three All-American certificates (one in each season) last year as a junior.  What was behind that leap forward for you?
I think a lot of it had to do with adjusting to the training, especially from freshman year to sophomore year and last year really seemed to come together for all three.

Progression is another thing that Dickinson as a team must be looking for.  After posting a program best sixth place finish three of the past four years--and with losing only one of last year's top seven to graduation--is there a sense on the team that Dickinson can land on the podium this year?
A really cool thing about our team this year is we have a really strong pack and that our number 2 runner down to our number 7 runner for almost every meet has been someone different.  Having a really close pack is such a huge part about a successful team at big meets like nationals and I know that we would love to be on the podium and each year that is what we aim for but there are a lot of other really good teams out there, so we'll see.

What drew you to choose Division III, and Dickinson College in particular?
I knew that I wanted to run in college, so I talked to my high school xc coach and parents about it.  My high school coach and Dad really encouraged me to find a school that I liked first and somewhere that I could run at as a bonus but not the only reason why I would go there.  Dickinson was the first place, after a long search, that when I got on campus, I knew I wanted to go there with the advantage that their team was really good.

What was your training like this past summer?  What was your peak mileage, what kind of pace did you run on the typical day, and what did you do in the way of harder efforts?
During the summer our goal is to build up mileage to get a good base for the season.  My peak this past summer was 65 for about three weeks with mostly high 50s and low 60s for the others.  Our training is set up that the goal is just about the weeks total mileage so we don't really do any harder efforts during the summer but my average pace is anywhere from 7:30-8:00 on typical runs.

You emerged from last year's Cross Country National Championships as a hard-charging runner-up, which also makes you the second returning runner this year.  Do you see yourself as one of the favorites?  Does that change the way you approach training or racing this season?
Nope, I don't think it changes the way I approach training or racing.    For the most part I do what my coaches tell me to do and try to do it the best I can.  I think that’s important for any athlete to improve.  As for being a favorite I'm not sure about that, I think it's evident even from the results last year that there are a lot of really strong runners close together.

(Courtesy of Alison Wade, eliterunning.com)

What are your goals for yourself and your team this season and year?
I think it would be great if we could be on the podium, since I was a freshman the team has aimed for that.  For me, I just want to have fun and do the best that I can for me and to help out the team.

What is your favorite workout during the cross country season and what do you like about it?
My favorite xc workout is one that is actually coming up this week.  It's called sufferfest III, and depending on your particular mileage goals it varies slightly.  For me it's a 4 mile workout but you can split up the 4 miles any way that you want where each mile has to be completed in a certain amount of time with equal rest.  The time the mile has to be completed in is based off of your particular training pace.  For example you could have a time frame that you had to complete all of your miles at 5:40 pace so you would have to be done with the mile and your rest in 11:20.  But you could break it up that you did a mile and then took a 5:40 rest or you could do 8x200 at 42 sec with 42 sec rest or anything in between.  I like it because it gives you the opportunity to do what you want.  If you feel like doing 400s you could do 4 miles worth of 400s and that the faster you run your rep directly corresponds to your rest.

Who has been the biggest influence in your life and/or running?
It's hard to pinpoint one person that has been the biggest influence in my life and/or running.  I have a pretty big close family and think they all have influenced me in different but important ways.

What do you like the most about Dickinson cross country?
I like most about Dickinson cross country are the people I have met, my teammates and coaches.  I think it's a totally different way to go through college but I wouldn't have wanted to do it any other way.  I also really just love to compete and by being apart of Dickinson I am able to do that at a high level.

Most of your innumerable Centennial Conference individual titles have followed the same script: you go hard from the gun, quickly establish yourself as the solo leader, and run away with the victory.  What is the transition like from those races to the national level where the field is that much more competitive?  How do those Conference wins hurt and help you in your preparation for running for a national title?
I think our team does a good job of mixing up the meets during the year so some are what we experience at conferences but then others, like Paul Short at Lehigh, so that at nationals it isn't such of a shock and it helps to be able to adjust to the particular field.
I think the conference wins help a little bit in gaining confidence in my running.

What's the relationship between the track team and the other athletic teams?  What's the athletic culture like at Dickinson
I think there is a mutual respect among the athletic teams at Dickinson, people acknowledge the hard work your doing for your team and you feel the same way about what they are doing.

How do students (and professors) at your school view the track team and its members?
It's really individualized, some students and professors take an interest and others might not even know that that is something that you are a part of.  For example I had to take a Spanish midterm early last spring because of indoor nationals and when I asked my professor if I could he said on one condition: that as soon as everything is over you email me and tell me how everything went.

Having so many options open to you, what are your thoughts looking ahead to your post-collegiate days?
I am not sure what I want to do after graduation but I do know that I want running to be apart of it.  I want to continue to compete, hopefully at the club level, and recently I have been looking into coaching/ athletic administration internships.  But I'm going to take my time to figure it all out.

Do you follow running at the collegiate or professional levels at all? Would you care to confess to what extent you lurk on Letsrun.com or other message boards?
I actually didn't even know that letsrun.com existed until my sophomore year when some blog was posted with my name in it and I think I read parts of that one and one other that our coach sent out to our team this summer about the pre-season predictions, other than that I've never been.  I do like to follow running at the collegiate and professional levels because I think it's really interesting but I am no where near an expert.

Do you keep an online running log that you'd be willing to share?
Our team this year just started keeping logarun.com accounts but we have a team only page.  It’s a nice way to keep track of everything and a much more efficient way for our coaches to know what exactly everyone is doing, but because its only real purpose is to help our coaches better plan our training it isn't public.

Thanks to Cait for a fantastic interview.

Steeple

6:02 PM, May 30, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Man, Cait is awesome, great steeple at nationals