Mind Over Mountain

Every three years, the runners of Eastern and Central Mass (well some of them) trek out to the boonies to run the State Meet at Northfield Mountain. For teams with expectations of qualifying for the state meet and doing well there, preparation for that race can begin months ahead of time, usually in the early days of September.

I know that was the case for the Newton North girls the year I was assistant there. We began doing hill repeats (up AND down) with the idea of preparing for the terrain at Northfield. In October, we traveled to the Bay State Invitational at Northfield, but only some of our runners competed. The rest ran sections of the course for a workout.

It was all for nought, however, as we finished sixth at EMass and didn't qualify for the trip out to the mountain.

Is such preparation necessary? Well, if you think it is or if you think it isn't, you're probably right. The course is challenging, of course, but isn't -- or shouldn't be -- so intimidating that you psyche yourself out before you even start up that big hill. I've said before that I think what makes racing at Northfield challenging is the unusual sensation of considerable hill-induced fatigue quite early in the race. If a runner can handle that sensation, and not get too upset by it, there's no reason to think it will ruin their race.

Personally, I ran exactly one race at Northfield, and actually it was a 10K -- two loops of something similar to the current course. It was quite some time ago when the USATF-NE decided to hold the New England Cross Country Championships there. It was hard, sure, but it was great footing, wide trails, and a lot of fun, I thought.

I had the advantage of having no pre-conceptions about running the mountain, so I didn't feel like there was any reason to get psyched out. It might have helped to do some preparation, but maybe it was just as well that I didn't worry too much about it. Just another race, and every race is hard. That's what we're prepared for, right?