Coach Baker: Â Thanks. The front half of the race went as planned. We planned to put our top 3 as close to each other as possible because that seemed to be our strength this year. Our top 3 carried us to victory along with a strong performance from one of our seniors Rory who had been a fringe Varsity guy all year.
Training was weird heading into this cross season. We really didn’t expect cross to happen at first so I trained the guys for the track 3200 to get some college times in. Then heard about cross country pretty late and we just transitioned right then and there and did some more strength work and used the duel meets as workouts to get better prepared for grass running.
Chasing The Standard:Â Heading into the season, what were the expectations for you guys especially after a really strong 2019 campaign?
Coach Baker:  Obviously our goal was to win again but we wanted to be as dominate as possible. I think we surprised ourselves by how good we were last year. Last year’s approach was to remember that it doesn’t matter how good you are or how much of a favorite you are, you can still lose. But this year we wanted to win by as much as possible and show people we are the program to beat.
Chasing The Standard: How does it feel coaching at your alma mater? What’s it like winning your first season as head coach?
Coach Baker:  Coaching at my alma mater does make the transition to coaching and head coaching a lot easier because I pretty much know everyone already. It’s also helpful to not have to figure out where you’re going to race and workout because it’s all familiar to me.
Winning almost gave me that validation that maybe I do know something about the sport, many times I feel that imposter syndrome. Like what can I really do differently than the 100s of other coaches to do it. Also winning feels great at first but it wears off quick. I think this is good for the long term, because people generally just care what you’re doing for them right now. It’s never good to use past achievements as a crutch.Â
Chasing The Standard:  What sort of training plan do you give your guys? Are there any workouts you really like? Do you have a philosophy or mantra?
Coach Baker:  With meets only on Saturdays this year we worked out Tuesdays, with long runs Wednesday and sometimes did something extra on Saturday after the meet. I just tried to keep it simple, workout on grass and don’t dip too much into the same systems for harder effort days.  We do a decent amount of threshold stuff.
I just try to focus on us doing more than just the run for the day. Make sure we do the little things and make sure we are not just doing the same workout every week. Just make sure to get the most out of the guys, while keeping long term growth in mind.
Chasing The Standard:  You were an assistant for a couple years at CHC. How did that prepare you to step up as head coach?
Coach Baker:  Ha I was actually an assistant for 1 year. I’m not sure anything prepares you to be in charge of 50-100 high schoolers day in and day out. I knew that I would have no problem with the training plans and such. So I guess, Peter giving me an entire event group last year helped me to feel more confident actually engaging with the athletes and steering them in the right direction.
Chasing The Standard: Â Â While there aren’t any races now, what are some of your own running goals?
Coach Baker:  Yeah I wish there were races because I’d really like to PR in every distance because I feel I have a lot of soft PR’s for my ability level. At the moment I’m just trying to keep 1 foot in front of the other, motivation has been low. Ultimately keep running and try to stay fitter than anyone I coach.
2020 MIAA XC Champs Coverage:
https://chasingthestandard.com/2020/11/miaa-xc-championships-2020/