Interviews: Nolan Swanson of Fredonia State
(Photo courtesy of the Fredonia State athletics website)
Coach Swanson has been the head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country programs at Fredonia State since 2004 . At the Atlantic Regional the women’s team finished fifth and the men’s team placed 19th. Prior to that the women’s team tied its best-ever finish at the SUNYAC Championships when they finished second overall. The men’s team placed sixth overall at the SUNYAC Championships.
By: Derick Lawrence (11/10/2006)
What made you want to become a collegiate cross country coach and what steps did you take in achieving this goal?
I've been around sports my whole life. My father was a high school basketball coach. If I wasn't coaching, I'd still be running, so either way I am involved in athletics because that's what I've grown up around and been learning about my whole life. I achieved the goal of coaching in college by first being a professional track and xc runner for 5 years. I've learned from three great running coaches. And finally I was a volunteer asst. for the U of O women in the '03-'04 season.
You ran cross country and track at Wake Forest University winning seven ACC individual titles and placing fourth in the 10,000m at the NCAA Championships in 1999. Tell us about your collegiate running career (progression of training through the years, most memorable experiences, what you learned, etc.)
Progression at WFU with Coach Goodridge (now at Eastern Michigan) is really what my entire collegiate career was about. I was at WFU 5 years with being red-shirted, so my 10k progression was like a clock. Every year I pr'd 30:50, 30:20, 29:51, 29:11, 28:32. No injuries and that's how it can go. Coach Goodridge always used to tell me that it wasn't normal that a kid needed his body to catch up with his mind. I thought I could do anything and wasn't afraid to try.
My most memorable experiences come from races I won. My ACC XC title in 1996 was the first collegiate XC race I ever won. My ACC Indoor title in the 3k in 1999 was the craziest I'd ever seen an indoor crowd get for a race. The Stanford Invite 10k I won was to many - out of nowhere. I had to outkick 3 Stanford guys and an Oregon guy to win that, and I did with a :57. Finally, my Oregon invite 5k win in 1999 was a photo finish with Matt Davis from Oregon. Winning a 5k race at Hayward field will always be something I'm proud of.
Post-collegiately you finished sixth at the USA Cross Country Championships Men’s 12 km in 2004. You were also coached by former University of Oregon coach Bill Dellinger in a training group with Nick Rogers and Ray Hughes. How did your training progress from collegiate to post-collegiate running and what did you learn the most from being coached by Bill Dellinger?
Swanson at the 2003 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
(Photo courtesy of Mensracing.com)
Training with Nick and Ray every day in Eugene with Bill as our coach was professional running at the top. Nick made the Olympics in 2000. Bill coached so many great guys. I was just proud to be there. We trained for the Olympics. That's it. We all were going for it with everything we had. Nick made another couple of World Track and XC teams, I made a World XC team and Ray was 4th or 5th at US Outdoors in the Steeple. We had some amazing results, and absolutely crazy workouts. I learned so much from Bill. I'll save that for my athletes.
Would you briefly describe your program's training philosophy (volume, intensity, frequency, etc.)?
I use a lot of the things I learned from coach Goodridge in our program here. Progression is what it's all about at the collegiate level. Many of my Freshmen here run less miles than they did in high school. I'll increase volume with running maturity. We train for big pr's, not small ones, so workouts are tough. The tougher the workout, the lower the frequency here. There are many days I have no idea what the workout will be until I see the kids at practice, then I'll write one out based on comments, how they look, what the weather is like, how and what we've done lately. My kids think it's nuts, but there is no need to workout a dead tired group.
Who has influenced you the most in your coaching?
It's a mix between Goodridge and Dellinger. I use stuff I liked from both of them, and leave stuff out that I didn't like. Of course, I have to adjust things like pace, rest and volume based on if it's the men's team the women's team or my top group or another group.
Could you give us an example of a typical microcycle in your training program from September to mid-October of a cross country season?
There are no cycles in our training. We will focus on what we need depending on what kind of a summer my kids had, what time of year it is and what looks like it's missing. We like hills in the first half of the season and trail intervals. I'm not afraid to taper our kids for a mid-season meet either. Good confidence can be worth quite a bit.
Tell us about your men’s and women’s programs this season? What are your goals for your men’s and women’s programs heading into regionals?
2006 Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams
(Photo courtesy of the Fredonia State athletics website)
My women’s program is having the best season in school history. We finished 2nd in our conference this year, to #1 Geneseo. I’m frustrated we haven’t been on the NCAA poll this year. We’re good enough to be on there, and we’re hoping to qualify for the NCAA meet for the first time. We haven’t missed a beat this season with our workouts, and I think we’re ready for the Regional Meet (tomorrow!). We’ve been led this season by a FR., Jessica Bennett – who didn’t run XC in High School who has adapted to this program and XC very naturally. She was 6th overall at the SUNYAC meet. We graduate 3 of our top 6 to graduation so we’re relying on some recruiting to hold our spot in our conference and region next season.
My men’s team has had everything go wrong from the team standpoint. I had my #2 (Mike Pond) man from last year transfer for a major our school didn’t offer. My #1 man (Andy Forma) hurt his knee in the first couple weeks of practice, needed an MRI and missed a lot of the season so I haven’t raced him. He’s healthy now and getting ready for track. So, after all that, my new #5 and #6 guys have a sprained ankle and Achilles issue. So, basically our top 5 the last few meets are guys I expected to be in my #3, #4, #5, #6 and #8 spots before the season began. There have been bright spots individually. Senior Kevin Buzzelli ran an 8k PR last week of 26:42. Two of my FR, Tom Williams and Jared Newell have been between 26:49 and 27:03 most of the season. Some of my 6-10 guys have been getting PR’s too, but they still have a way to go if they are going to help our team.
What’s the running environment like at SUNY Fredonia? Where does the team train?
The running environment around FSU is very exciting. The high school team here in town is huge, about 80 kids. Many of them come to my summer camp that I run with my old training partner and Olympian Nick Rogers. We run in a lot of Grape Vineyards and know a lot of private trails that we haven’t been in trouble for running on yet. We have a nice series of trails on campus too, which we use for many XC workouts. For some long runs, we have both some New York State Overland Trails nearby and some rails-to-trails that we use. Our team especially likes some snow running up on the overland trails in the winter – it’s a lot of fun and the snow is usually powder up there. It’s about a 10 mile drive to those trails. For track work, we have an indoor fieldhouse. Lane 4 is 9 laps to a mile, and we use it, but whenever possible we go outside and use our bikepath for some tempo runs or even shovel out lane one on our outdoor track if there’s snow on it and the weather is decent.
Is there any running related training material (books, scientific journal articles, etc.) that you commonly refer to throughout a cross country season?
I mainly refer to my own training logs from the past 10-12 years. Like I said, I use stuff I liked and leave out stuff I didn’t. I don’t read any books or journals that have anything to do with training. I’d rather refer to my old training or call Coach Dellinger or Coach Goodridge for advice if I feel a kid is stuck. There is no substitute for experience.
What are your thoughts about the new qualifying procedures for the 2006 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships?
I think the new qualifying procedures are good for 6 of the 8 regions. The other 2 regions can’t like it much that they have so much competition and get limited to 5 teams at NCAA’s. I think our region is the 3rd strongest overall at the moment, and still under-ranked. Some of the teams that have been on the poll in spots 30-35 are not as good as our team, RIT or Plattsburgh. It’s a gift to a couple of regions that get to send 2 teams, and tough on some regions that get limited to 5. I don’t see a much better alternative though, unless you go to 1 auto per region and 24 at-large – that would be some good drama.
What are 2 key workouts that you incorporate into the peaking period of a cross country season?
Without giving away my peaking strategy that has worked perfectly over the last 2 years – I’ll be general. Race simulation and heart rate work are things we work on in the month leading up to a big meet.
What concepts do you believe are necessary for success of a collegiate distance runner?
The first thing a successful runner needs to have is a mind that believes they can do it. In Oregon I saw guys come into town with no more talent that in our conference or on my team. These guys watched professionals more often since Hayward Field was in town, and so the thought of a 26:30 8k was no big deal. When you see guys running 23:40, 25:30 isn’t even in the same world. I get frustrated by guys thinking that 26:00 is good or even 27:00. They need to want and expect way more than that. I think the Cortland men’s team has it going in the right direction. Hopefully Fredonia and the rest of the conference can raise our level of thinking too.
How do you balance coaching duties, family life, and competitive running?
Well I’m not really a competitive runner anymore. In about 2 months in 2004, I went from being a full time runner to having a full time coaching job and a son, Darien, who is now 2 ½. That was a lot to add at once. Personally, my running doesn’t compare to what it was, but I ran a 24:32 8k last Thanksgiving off about 4 weeks of training. 8 days before that race I strained both hamstrings doing lunges. I missed the next 5 days. I still think I can run, but I haven’t yet been able to manage coaching duties, family life and competitive running. Coaching and family life is barely being handled. There are nights I don’t get home before my son goes to sleep. Those are horribly guilty evenings.
For those that are aspiring to become a collegiate cross country coach, what would be the best piece of advice you would give them?
Experience is first. Either through personal running or being around running and people that know what they’re doing – experience is the first requirement. Be a volunteer somewhere. Work for cheap. There is not much money in running, so if you love the sport you should be willing to start a career for almost nothing. If you get good at coaching, it may turn into a ‘real’ job.
Thanks to Coach Swanson for a great interview.
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