UCSB Women's track '08 - Bethany's journal
Bethany Nickless

Standford, Oxy
May 14, 2008

It has been tough to blog lately due to a lack of exciting things to write about. I guess that is all part of our sport though, is that it's not going to be perfect every time. I think that is what I am learning most this season. It's my senior season...everything is supposed to be perfect...right? It seems like this season has been one frustration after another. No need to dwell on that though, because it is officially championship season and I am excited!! Everything that has happened up to this point doesn't mean much come race day. With an expected high of 94 degrees, it's anyone's game...and I intend to make it my game.

Since it has been a while since my last blog, I will catch you up with all that has been happening, and hopefully give you a little more insight to Jim's view from the stands at Stanford. The reason I was at Stanford in the first place was because my race at Oregon the week before did not count. I ran 10:31.7 at the University of Oregon Relays, however it was not a legal race because someone forgot to put out the first barrier. How a place like Oregon forgets to do such a thing, I do not know...but it happened. So, no one's time from the race counts because we only did 34 barriers instead of 35 making it a non-legal race. While I already had the regional qualifying mark, I needed a faster time to guarantee that I got into the fast heat at the Regional meet. With all that being said, since the Oregon race did not count, I needed to go to Stanford to get a fast time that counted.

Right after the whole Oregon incident I was super frustrated. I didn't understand why I didn't count...and I didn't want to have to run another steeple the following week due to my hip. Then when I looked at the heat sheets for Stanford I was excited because now I had the opportunity to run against the best and get an even faster time because I knew that I was ready to run faster than a 10:31. It was an interesting trip. The rest of the team ran in a dual meet against Cal Poly on Saturday, so I drove up with Tetlo (800 meter All-American/ex-Gaucho/current assistant coach) and another assistant coach to go watch the meet in San Luis and then from there continued on north to the meet. It was weird being the only person from UCSB at the meet; a little lonely which I didn't really like. I found some good movies on TV to watch and watched the Olympic Trials for the triathlon during the day while waiting for my race. The atmosphere of the race was amazing. I was at a meet with the best of the best. You looked left there was Ryan Hall...right was Shalane Flanagan...and many other of the nation's best were all around. It's hard not to be in awe, but it's a cool feeling to know that I belong in a race with people of that caliber.

Warming up I felt great and ready to go, but once the race got going I did not feel so great. I got out right at the pace I wanted...a little faster than normal, but knew that would happen due to the competitors in the race. Everything strung out really fast and before I knew it I was in no-man's land with one girl about 10 meters ahead of me and another pack about 10 meters in front of her. I knew that I needed to push to catch up to her so I would have someone to run with me, but instead I just settled and kept the 10 meter gap the entire race. My normal competitive spirit was just not there. With about a lap and a half to go, I started stepping on the barriers (which I NEVER do). This caught me completely off guard and played with my head a little bit. It was there that I figured out that as my hip starts to fatigue everything starts to tighten up and I can no longer get that leg over the barrier. I pushed to finish the race with what felt like everything I had left.

This is Jim's description of the race from the stands:
Finally, the women's steeple. It was painful to watch Bethany, favoring her hip and driving herself without restraint. Seeing her on all fours at the finish, hurting--

To be honest, I did not really feel that I was favoring my hip...I am yet to actually feel pain in my hip during a race (thank goodness for adrenaline). However, I watched my race on video and was surprised to see how much I do actually favor my hip when I run. It's amazing how your body adapts so that I don't even feel that anymore. As for the part about "driving herself without restraint"...I appreciate the words...but I feel as if I was hesitant in the race. I feel as if my head was my restraint. Which I guess is not something that one would see from the sideline...but looking back, I let my hesitations control my race. Last but not least, my least favorite part...the all fours part...I don't know why I do that. I hate doing it...but I honestly just couldn't stand anymore. I most definitely was hurting...I think more mentally than physically. Yea, my hip was tight...but it wasn't agonizing. Seeing that clock read 10:32 knowing that I am capable of running 10:20 I wanted to quit, right then and there. Sure it's drastic thinking...but that just goes to show how irrational I can get when I am not happy.

It was a very long car ride home from the meet. I had 5 hours to think about my race...over and over and over again. It was not fun, but at the same time it was through that that I was able to figure out the mental issues I was having. The next day was back to practice...Time to learn from the race and move on.

Unfortunately, it was a little hard to move on from the race. The next week of practice (which was last week, actually) was not a very good week for me. I was fighting a cold and just felt run down all week. I only did one workout and it was not very good both mentally and physically. My coach wanted me to race a 1500 that weekend but come Friday I was still feeling less than stellar. Part of me wanted to tell him that I didn't want to race, but I knew I needed a confidence builder/final tune up before our Conference Championships. I am still not sure what exactly happened, but I left practice Friday pumped up and excited to race.

I was a little nervous about this race due to the sub-par performance of my last 1500. However, it had been 3 weeks since that race, so I knew I had 3 more weeks of solid training under my belt. I got into the fastest heat with the slowest person entered at a time of 4:32. My PR going into this race was 4:33, which I had run my sophomore year of college. The plan was to get out in about 72 for the 400 then run 73 or 74 for the next 2 laps and have a strong kick for the last 300. Well, I got out in 69 and did not have much of a choice as I was in last place at that point. I was hurting after about 300 meters and thought I was going to be in trouble, but I stayed strong mentally, and remained consistent throughout the rest of the race and managed to hang on for a new PR of 4:31!!! After 2 years of running 4:33-36 every single race, I had finally broken through. This race could not have come at a better time for me. I now feel that my wheels are starting to come back and it definitely gave me the confidence that I am ready to run fast come conference this weekend. Because of this race, I feel as if my entire season has done a 180. It no longer matters what happened at Azusa (the sub-par 1500) or at Oregon or at Stanford. I am fit and I am ready to surprise some people in the next few weeks. I feel as if now my season is just getting started. Looking back, this is the same feeling I have had for the past 3 years going into conference and regionals. Something about Championship season just gets me fired up!

So this is my schedule for the next few weeks:
Conference Championships at Northridge this weekend (steeple, 5k)
West Regional Championships at Northridge-May 30-31 (steeple)
NCAA Championships-Iowa-June 11-14 (assuming all goes well at Regionals)
Olympic Trials- Oregon- June 30 (assuming all goes well at Regionals/NCAAs)

If you want to make the drive down to Northridge this weekend, races are on Friday and Saturday (schedule is on www.bigwest.org) I know your support would be much appreciated by all the Gauchos!

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." --Confucious

Challenge Cup
April 11, 2008

The Challenge Cup was a very important meet for us. Not only is it a good look at what the competition is going to be like at the Big West Conference Championships but the UCSB women have won this meet the past 4 years in a row. Unfortunately, we did not get a 5th title, but we had some pretty good performances. With such a young team, it's hard to compete on a team level, but we are seeing improvements every meet and I am excited to see where we will be at come conference time.

I drove home the night before the race because I had an appointment with a hip specialist on Friday morning. The plan was to go to the appointment Friday morning and hopefully get the okay from him to compete on Friday afternoon. I was basically going to this appointment to figure out what the rest of my season would look like, or if I was even going to have a season for that matter. The result of the appointment was both good and bad news. The bad news being that I am going to have to get surgery eventually to repair the tear in my hip...the good news being that whether I get the surgery now or in 3 months is not going to make a difference. Basically, he gave me the okay to finish out the season. So, for right now, I'm not even thinking about the bad news part...all I care about is that I get to compete! ...And that is just what I did. I was entered in the steeplechase. Given that I was okay to race, my goal was to get a regional qualifier and get a race under my belt. The barrier for the water pit on the UCSB track is currently broken, and due to my hip I hadn't really done any hurdle work, so the hurdles and water barrier during the race would be my first ones of the season. The weather conditions were a little warm for my liking, but we can't always race in ideal conditions, right? I went out and did what I needed to do. I ended up running a 10:44 and winning and getting the regional qualifier. I didn't run as fast as I would have liked, but considering the lack in consistency of training, I will take it.

Also in the steeple was my roommate, Katie Voigtlander. She had a pretty bad hamstring injury at the end of track season last year that put her out for a while, so this was her first steeplechase back. She finished 3rd in the race running a new PR of 11:27. Not bad for her first one of the season!!

Danielle Domenichelli came off of her great 5k at Stanford to run a 4:30 in the 1500. That is equivalent to about a 4:49 mile. In the 800, freshman Sarah Roth continued to improve on her time, running a 2:16.

On the men's side, Mike Powers won the steeplechase in a time of 9:11 with Dillon Brook finishing second in 9:27. Julian DeRubira got a new 1500 PR with a time of 3:57. Jayson Hayes got 2 PR's in the 1500 and the 800 running 3:56 and 1:56 respectively. The most exciting race of the day for the men was the 800. Salim Benmohamed, a junior college transfer, led the race for the first lap then was passed on the back straight by a guy from Irvine. However, coming off the turn for the last 100, Salim made a move to pull up even on the guy. The last 100 meters was the classic battle of one moving ahead of the other and then the other coming back. It was neck and neck down to the wire. Unfortunately for Salim, he got the short end of the stick and was out leaned at the line. However, he ran a new personal best of 1:52! Gearing up for this weekend's 10k at Mt. Sac, Chris Ashley and Tim Aukshunas ran very strong in the 3k finishing in 1st and 3rd with times of 8:17 and 8:31.

Overall, I feel as if the team scores were not indicative of the great performances that occurred during the meet. It is sad to not bring that trophy home for the 5th year in a row, but I am proud of the improvement our team is making. I can only hope for what is yet to come.

We head down to Mt. Sac and Azusa Pacific to compete this weekend. Tim and Chris are entered in the 10k at Mt. Sac on Thursday night, while Danielle is entered in the 5k on Friday night. The rest of the team will be at Azusa on Friday afternoon. Two weeks from now a select few will be traveling up to Oregon for the Oregon Invitational, so a bunch of people are looking to get some pretty big marks so that they will be able to go. It should be a great weekend with lots of new PR's!

Our heroine, remembering what it feels like.

Not-So Fairy Tale Season, second installment
April 10, 2008

Hi! I'm back. You may not remember me, but I am the one that used to do consistent write-ups about the UCSB Gauchos. I was trying to remember my last post, and I can't even remember what it was because it has been so long. I do have a semi-good excuse...but I'll let you be the judge of that. You see, our program is going through a little rough patch right now. I realized that it is really hard to write about races when you don't really have anyone racing. The light at the end of the tunnel is starting to come into view, but the last few weeks our team has been plagued by injury and sickness. If I have counted correctly, I believe we have about 4 or 5 people with stress fractures and a handful of others (including myself) with nagging injuries that just won't go away; the kind of nagging injuries that have the potential to put you out for the season, but if managed correctly could not really affect training. Such is the life of the distance runner. I have learned that it's a big game of how hard can you push yourself and still stay healthy. The best runners are the ones that can figure out that balance. Unfortunately for me, I have not really found that balance yet.

After a few weeks of tightness in my hip, an X-ray, and an MRI, I was told that I have a tear in my labrum. The labrum is the cartilage that keeps your femur in your hip joint. I always knew about the labrum in the shoulder joint, but apparently there is one in your hip as well. Basically, it is the type of the injury that I can run through but only to a certain point. I have been able to do mileage, but not able to do workouts. I'm in a tough spot seeing that it is my last season. I don't really have anything to lose, but I am hoping to pursue a career in running, so I have to look long term as well. I was supposed to race this past weekend, but trying to steeple with a hip injury just didn't seem like a great idea. So, I am heading down south this weekend to see a hip specialist and hopefully he will be able to tell me whether competing is going to further damage anything. It is an injury that is going to have to require surgery at some point, but hopefully a cortisone shot can get me through the season and hopefully through Olympic Trials. So, if all goes according to plan, I should be racing my first steeplechase of the season this Friday at the Challenge Cup, which is a meet against Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, and UC Irvine.

As for results from previous races, there have not been too many, but we've had a few good performances. We had two freshman girls, Sarah Roth and Lindsey Brunner run 2:17 in the 800 at the USC Invitational on March 22. The following weekend we went to Fresno to run in the Cal-Nevada Championships. I thought my hip was fine so I ran a 5k. I ran 17:24, which I was not thrilled about, but for a first race, it got the job done. Danielle Domenichelli ran the 1500 in 4:32 which is not that fast for her, but considering she was running 90 miles a week just a few weeks prior, it is still pretty fast. Our boys ran really well in the 1500. Chris Ashley ran 3:52 and Mike Powers ran 3:56 (breaking 4:00 for the first time). Junior College transfer Salim Benmohamed came off of a bad race at USC to run a personal best of 1:53 for the 800. This past weekend we competed at the Stanford Invitational. For us, this meet is the real kick-off for our season. From here on out, every meet is pretty big and pretty important. As I mentioned previously, after this meet, things are starting to look pretty good for the distances. Danielle Domenichelli ran a 30 second PR in the 5k , running a regional qualifying time of 16:39. Chris Ashley also ran a regional qualifying time in the 5k with a 14:03, and Mike Powers ran a regional qualifier in the steeplechase with a time of 9:05. It was great to see these 3 performances; kind of refreshing actually. Our team has been wondering if fast times were ever going to come... and now we can see that they are. With our program, we do really big miles in January and February and part of March, so everyone is tired. But now we are to the point where the miles are getting cut back a little bit and people are starting to feel a bit more refreshed and I think the marks from this weekend showed that.

On another positive note, people are starting to come back from their injuries and so more and more people are doing workouts and stuff now, so it is fun to be working out with everyone again. I will know Friday what my plan of attack is for the rest of the season.

They say character is built in times of adversity. If that is true...our team has done some massive character building these past few months.

Soka Peace Invitational and a Not-So Fairy Tale Season
March 8, 2008

The name of the meet explains this weekend very well. Peace. The meet was a very low-key meet, but at the same time, it gave the team a great opportunity to get another competition under their belt and work on some different parts of their races. The weather was beautiful, the track was beautiful, the campus was beautiful, and the Gauchos set a number of stadium records in events ranging from the 1500 to the 110 meter hurdles.

On the distance side, we are still hurting a bit in terms of bodies, but those who did race definitely made a showing. In the 3,000 meters, Freshman Sarah Roth won the even in a time of 10:48. Fellow Freshman Catherine "Sparky" Murillo finished in second place with a time of 10:54. Katie Voigtlander, in her first race since last track season, finished just behind Sparky in 10:57 to complete the 1-2-3 sweep. Freshman sprinter Sheneice Vargas stepped up to run her first ever 800. She won the event in 2:20. In the 1500, Danielle Domenichelli took the race from start to finish and ran by herself to finish in a time of 4:37. Freshman Lindsey Brunner finished in 2nd place with a time of 4:56.

The season is just getting started and we are not fully in racing shape yet. We have only done about 3 workouts on the track so far. So, the excitement will come when the training picks up and the bigger meets roll around.

As for me, 2008 has not really gotten off on a very good foot training wise. As I mentioned in a write-up a few weeks ago, my training was interrupted by an Achilles injury. After about a week off, I gradually built back up and was running about 70-80 miles a week. I started doing workouts, and ran at the All-Cal meet. Things were going very smoothly and I was regaining my confidence and hope for salvaging my season. Unfortunately, a few days after the All-Cal meet, I started to feel some tightness in my hip flexor and IT Band area. The tightness continued to get worse, so as of now, I have only been able to run about 4-5 miles a day for the past week. It is frustrating not having the season that I wanted, especially when it is my last one as a Gaucho. However, I know I just need one race to run sub 10 in the steeple and I have about 2 months to do it. So, I just have to keep doing what I can do and stay confident in my previous 4 years of training. This is pretty much what my career comes down to. I need to keep my focus on the end of the season, and doing whatever I can do now to give myself the best shot at achieving my goals.

On a much better note, this Tuesday marks the last final of my undergrad studies. As of Tuesday, I will officially be a college graduate. I don't think it will hit me until after track season is over, but, come next Wednesday, I am a full-time runner. No school. Just working and running. It's going to be great! A little preview of what next year is going to be like for me hopefully.

For those who are going to be around this weekend, we have a dual meet against UC Davis at the UCSB track. Throwing events start at 9:00am and track events start at 12:00. Come check out our last home meet of the season.

Katie (blonde) and Sarah.

All-Cal Cup
March 1, 2008

There is not much to say for this past weekend's meet against UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, and UC Davis. It was a tough day to be a Gaucho. While our program is designed to peak around conference time and we are definitely not in our prime of competition yet, it's still always tough to go to a meet and get 4th out of 5 teams.

I guess for me it is just hard to be on a team that is not as good as we have been the past 4 years. Since I've been here, we have won this meet every year. This year, however, things were a little different. All in all, I think this is going to be a rebuilding year for our team.

I think the biggest thing about our team this year is that we are really young. I would have to say that over half of our team is freshman. The jump from high school to Division 1 competiton is a big one, so I think that it is going to take time for the girls to adapt. Another big thing is that our team is battling injury right now. It is hard to win meets when you can't put athletes in events to score points.

I'm not trying to be negative in any way, I just feel spoiled to have been on such amazing teams the past 4 years. This year is just going to be a little bit different. I know that everyone is going to improve greatly upon this past weekend's performances, and things are going to be okay in the end. The Gauchos always find a way to overcome adversity, and this year will be no different.

On the distance side of things, we only had 5 girls who were healthy enough to compete this weekend. Danielle Domenichelli ran the 1500 in 4:35 and then came back to run 10:00 in the 3k. Sarah Roth made her debut in the Gaucho uniform to run 4:50 in the 1500. Lindsay Brunner backed up her Gaucho Round-Up performance with a 2:20 in the 800. I opened up my season with a 10:09 3k. The time is not exactly what I wanted it to be. It freaks me out a little to know that I need to run 10 seconds faster, while jumping over things by the end of the season.

All in all, not a great start for the Gaucho women, but we are going to get there. We are going to get healthy, we are going to improve, and we are going to be ready come Conference Championships time.

Our next meet is this Saturday at Soka University down in Irvine. It is a pretty low key meet, but we come back for a home meet against UC Davis next weekend.

Gaucho Round-Up
16 February 2008

Well, the 2008 track season is officially underway. We started our season with the "Gaucho Round-Up", formerly known as the "Home Opener", against Westmont, Claremont Mudd-Scripps, and Pepperdine. This is always a fun meet because it is the first time that the new freshmen get to compete in uniform, and the first time that the sprinters and throwers and jumpers, who have been training since September, get to compete as well. It is a great opportunity for everyone to see where they are in their training. This year, the meet went very well. The Gauchos won 25 of the total 36 events, which led to team victories on both sides.

On the distance side of things, we are hurting a little bit in terms of depth. We are battling some injuries right now, so filling events with people is a little bit of a stretch. Some may look at this as a bad thing, but based on personal experience, sometimes a little injury at the beginning of the season could end up resulting in not burning out at the end of the season. Our team is known to be strong at conference when some other teams who start the season off well are struggling a bit.

While we may not have a lot of distance athletes competing currently, we still did very well at the meet, winning 6 out of the 6 distance events. Starting with the women's 1500, the Gauchos finished first and third with Danielle Domenichelli winning in a time of 4:51 and Courtney Carder, racing in the Gaucho uniform for the very first time, finished in 4:53. On the men's side the Gauchos went 1-2-3 with Chris Ashley taking the title in 3:56. 2nd place went to red-shirt freshman Jayson Hayes in a time of 3:59. Gabe Lopez finished 3rd in 4:01. The 800 was dominated by first year Gauchos. The women went 1-2 with freshman Justine Diaz winning in a time of 2:20 and fellow freshman Lindsay Brunner finishing right behind her in 2:22. Not to be outdone by the women, the men went 1-2-3 with freshman Ryan Martin winning in 1:56, junior college transfer Salim Benmohamed running 1:57, and Jayson Hayes doubling back with a time of 2:00. In the 3000 meters, Danielle Domenichelli came back after the 1500 to get her second win of the day in a time of 10:23. Freshman Breanne Strenkowski was 4th overall in a time of 10:40, with Courtney Carder coming back for her second race and finishing 5th in a time of 10:44. The men, with their 3rd 1-2-3 sweep of the day were led by Mike Powers, finishing in 8:43. Freshman Andrew Pilavjian was second with a time of 8:46, and Gabe Lopez was 3rd with a time of 8:47.

The meet was followed by our team's fundraiser, the 6th Annual Crab Feed, which is a semi-formal dinner with live entertainment, a silent auction, and a raffle and it is completely put on by the UCSB track & field athletes. Not only does it raise money for our team, but it also helps the team to come together and work as one. It was a very fun evening and a great way to finish off the day.

We had this weekend off, but will pretty much have a meet every weekend from here on out. Our next meet is down at UC Irvine for the All-Cal Cup. It is supposed to be a meet with all of the UC schools in California, but not all of them show up, so we tend to call it the "Some-Cal Cup". I will officially be starting my final collegiate season, opening up with a 3k. As of right now my 3k steeple PR is faster than my flat 3k PR, so my goal is to change that.

Also, just a heads up for all of you track fans...our next and final home meet of the season is on March 15 against UC Davis. We would love to have your support out there, so mark your calendars!

2008: It's going to be great!!!
02 February 2008

I believe the last time I posted was after Nationals for cross country, so I've got a lot to update you all with. After Nationals we all took about 2 weeks off to recover from the season and gear up for track. Compared to cross country, our track season seems like an eternity with meets just about every weekend starting in February with Nationals being the middle of June. So, after cross country, we tend to take a little bit longer of a break. The first few weeks of our track training is pretty much done solo over winter break. It is always such a nice feeling to come back from break and have people to train with again. It is also a time to see who did their work over break.

Right now, the team is basically just building up mileage and getting ready for our first meet of the season, which is February 16 here at UCSB. We have a few guys running 100+ miles a week and a few girls running 80-90 miles a week. Our workouts consist mostly of tempo runs and some hill circuits. On non-workout days, we have "double days" which consist of drills (plyometrics) and core work in the morning followed by a "recovery" run in the afternoon. We also have had about 10 recruits (guys and girls) every weekend since we've gotten back from break. It seems like only yesterday that I was on my recruit trip to SB, and here I am five years later about to be graduating. It's kind of a scary thought, but at the same time it is fun to be able to share my experience with seniors in high school about to make a very important decision. Our lives pretty much consist of running, running, running, and maybe a little school thrown in there now and then.

As for me, I ran into a little injury problem the first week back. I developed a little tendonitis in my Achilles which put me out for about a week. This completed the streak of getting injured the first week back from winter break every year of my collegiate career. Four of the five years was Achilles tendonitis. So, I guess it was bound to happen, it's tradition, right? What would a track season (or any running season) be without a little injury to break up the training? However, after a week of cross training I am back running and gearing up for a very long season. If all goes according to plan, I should hit 60 miles this week and should be back to hitting the miles I want to be in no time. In terms of school, I am basically done. Due to NCAA rules, as long as I am finished with all of my requirements, I only have to take 6 units this quarter and then I don't have to be enrolled in any classes for the spring quarter and will just be running track. So, my schedule for this quarter is basically one class and an internship in the track office. It's basically living the life of a professional athlete with a built-in training group who just so happen to be your best friends. It is pretty much the ideal situation for me, and I am very excited about it. I will be even more excited about it when I can get back to doing the high mileage and workouts that I want to be doing.

*One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more consistent in my postings...so let's hope I can stick to that one.
**Cheesy as it may be...my motto for this year... 2008: It's going to be great!!!