Elliott ran 7:53.64 to win a "slow" section of the event and nab an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships; Garrett ran 7:55.50 to finish 4th in the fast section for a provisional qualifying mark. The meet was big one all-around for Minnesota distance runners, as Gophers Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough also cracked the eight-minute barrier.
Down the Backstretch caught up with the Heath brothers to get their take on their races. The pair will will race this weekend at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation meet, also in Seattle.
DtB: You both ran personal bests at the Husky Invite two weekends ago. Did you both expect big things going into the race?
Garrett Heath: Honestly, going into the race I was more sure of Elliott’s fitness than my own. He’s been healthy for a while now and was looking really strong in workouts. In terms of myself, I wasn’t
really sure what to expect, as I hadn’t raced on the track since last July at the Olympic Trials and that first race back is always kind of nerve-wracking.I haven’t had a chance to run a 3k fresh now for about 3 years because of always having to compete in the DMR beforehand, so I was pretty sure that I could get a new PR but not really sure by how much. I have been progressively feeling better in workouts since Christmas break and have been doing some more distance-oriented training than I did in the past when I really had to focus on running fast in the mile indoors, so my goal was to break 7:55 or so.
Elliott Heath: Going into this weekend I really thought that I was ready to race well. Training has been really consistent and my workouts were going really well leading up to the race. I gained some good indoor race experience and confidence when I rabbited my teammates in the 5k and raced the mile up in Washington 2 weeks ago, so I was pretty excited and optimistic about the race this past weekend.
Going into the race one of my goals was to break 8 minutes, but I also had my eye on the NCAA auto mark or something close to it that would potentially get me to nationals. However, going into the weekend Coach [Jason] Dunn really emphasized the importance of just getting involved in the race instead of mark chasing. Thus the main focus was to simply compete well and let everything else take care of itself.
DtB: Elliott, your 7:53 puts you #4 on the Stanford all-time list for the event -- behind big names like Riley, Robison, and Hauser and ahead of some other well known ones, including your brother. Are you a little surprised to find yourself in that company already?
Elliott: Considering the tradition of Stanford distance running, it is definitely exciting to make it on to the all-time list. I was a little surprised to find out that my time from this past week
end put me fourth on the list, but I don’t want to get caught up in times too much. Running a fast mark was great in the sense that it qualified me for NCAAs, but fast times don’t mean anything without results in big races, which is something that all the guys around me on the all-time list definitely have.DtB: Garrett, you ran in the fast section of the Husky 3K, describe how that race played out. We're you around the U of M guys much?
Garrett: Well, Elliott’s race finished right before ours started, so I knew that I could run fast based on what he had just done, but at the same time, I was a little nervous that I had just used up all my adrenaline cheering for him.
Even though it was the fast section and there were a lot of heats of the 3k at the meet, it was still pretty crowded on the starting line. I was lucky enough to get a spot in the first row and was able to get out well. I settled into third off the line behind another runner and the rabbit, who was supposed to take us through 800m – 1000m at about 62.5 sec pace. He ended up going a little slower than expected and then when he dropped off the pace slowed even more and we ended up coming through the mile at about 4:16 – 4:17.
By that point, everyone was pretty anxious and had been doing the tactic where they surge up to the front, move in, and then slow down to put themselves in position. As a result, I had been pushed back to about 10th place or so, but was still feeling better than I had ever felt in a 3k at that point. From there, things started to string out, with everyone basically maintaining their position until about 500m to go.
At that point, a couple of people who were behind me started their kick and moved past, and with about 400m to go I saw Hassan [Mead] and Chris [Rombough] for the first time as they moved past me. I tried to tuck in behind them for the kick, but Chris kept getting cut off and tripped up by some other dude who couldn't figure out how to run in a straight line. Anyway, with about 250m to go I finally started rolling with the U of M guys, and we were able to pick off a couple of small packs of guys who were ahead of us before finishing pretty close together around 7:55 or so.
DtB: Elliott, I know you had some injury setbacks since arriving at Stanford. Are you completely healthy now? How satisfying was the 7:53 in light of the struggles you've gone through?
Elliott: Since coming to school last fall I have had a few injuries that have kept me from being as consistent as I would have liked, but right now everything is going really well. Last year I had some shin problems for the first time in my life that continued to bother me on and off throughout the entire year. Because of that I made sure to recover really well last summer and build real gradually with my mileage leading up to this year and so far everything seems to be working.
I have been doing a significant amount more volume this year while staying healthy so that has been great. The only injury problem I have had this year was from slipping on the ice while I was out for a run back home over Christmas break. I hit my knee pretty hard and that held me up for a couple weeks but now I’m back to full strength. Cross country was disappointing for me individually so running well last weekend was satisfying to see that some of my training is starting to pay off.
DtB: There's been a coaching transition at Stanford. What's been the biggest change for you guys?
Garrett: The coaching transition this year has been amazingly smooth. It’s helped a lot that our old assistant coach, David Vidal, stayed around and filled [Jason Dunn] in on everything even before the cross country season even started. Also, it’s helped that Jason is a great fit for the program and his more distance- oriented training style really meshes well with almost everyone on the team. Besides me and a couple other 5th-years, the team is extremely young and, save one junior, consists of all freshmen and sophomores. So, having a coach who communicates a lot and is hands-on has really helped the younger guys progress into large contributors for us extremely quick. The biggest challenge has been learning all the new core drills, weights, and everything else that we now have to do.
Elliott: Having Coach Dunn as our coach has been great. Jason is a young and really motivated guy with a lot of organization and direction. I think he has been a great fit for our relatively younger team. I think the biggest change from last year to this year has been how often we meet. With Coach Tegen, we only met for practice three times a week, but now with Coach Dunn we meet 6 days I week, which I like a lot more. Meeting more often has created a lot closer team atmosphere and allows us to communicate more with the coaches. We do a lot of more strengthening and core exercises after practices than last year. Coach Dunn is a really personable guy and is all about doing the little things right, which I think is a big reason why I have been much healthier this year.
DtB: So, here’s the question people really want to know the answer to: Has the pecking order in the Heath family changed now with Elliott's 7:53 ... or don't marks for "slow" sections count?
Garrett: I already told him that we’re not counting that as a victory since we weren’t in the same race, but in terms of PRs, I’ve already conceded everything above the mile to him. I’m just trying to make it through college with a faster pr in at least one event, and if we’re in the same race, I’ve already told him that he’s gotta let me win.
Elliott: Well, I still have not beaten Garrett head to head, so he still probably has bragging rights. I’m coming after him though so he better watch out.
Photos -- Garrett on left, Elliott on right -- courtesy of Stanford University.
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