Cover Photo Credit:Â Jake Willard/TrackTown USA. @runjwill
By: Louis Foudos-louisfoudos@gmail.com/chasingthestandard@gmail.com
On June 24, Perry Hall High School and Virginia Tech Alum Vince Ciattei will compete on one of the grandest stages of track and field, the U.S. Olympic Trials, for the opportunity to race in the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. It’s not an easy journey for anyone, as it’s filled with the proverbial ups and downs. Â
Ciattei had a promising start to his competitive career, however, as he won the Baltimore County JV Cross Country Championships in 2010. As he notes, though, it was going to take a dedicated effort to continue to develop. In his junior year at the Outdoor State Championship, he won the 1600 and 3200. In his senior year, he followed up with the 800 and 1600 titles. Â
Moving onto college at Virginia Tech, Ciattei built upon his success with multiple ACC 1500 and 1600 titles. At the 2018 indoor NCAA Championships, Ciattei finished second in the mile, running sub 4. Later that year at the outdoor championships, Ciattei took the silver in the 1500, only a quarter of a second away from the national title.
Though Ciattei dealt with some inconsistency and injuries in college, he met one of his biggest challenges after he moved out west to take on the challenge of being a professional runner. He struggled with pelvis issues from 2018 to 2019, putting a damper on his fledgling pro career.Â
Photo Credit:Â @jaybendlinphoto
With a committed effort to getting back to running and training, Vince smashed through with a 3:34.57 1500 effort less than a month ago to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Ciattei will line up June 24 in Eugene for the first round of the 1500.
*****
Chasing The Standard: You recently ran a PR in the 1500 and in doing so qualified for the Olympic Trials in a few weeks. How did you feel during the race and how are you feeling heading into Eugene?
Vince Ciattei: I felt really strong through 1300m, and then got bumped around a little bit going into the final turn and lost some momentum. I think that cost me in the final 60m, but I was just about able to hang on and get the time! I’m feeling very confident heading into Eugene – even with a 3:34 PR now I’d still consider myself “under the radarâ€, which I like.Â
Chasing The Standard: What does a typical week of training look like for you now? How does your approach to training now compare to either college or high school?
Vince Ciattei: Now that we’re entering the championship season, my weekly volume will dip slightly and we’ll amp up some speed work. We do usually keep in touch with some trail/threshold stuff each week as well, and we have great trail options in Eugene like Pre’s Trail and Amazon. I think the biggest difference between high school/college and pro running is the number of races we do. Covid certainly hasn’t helped, but I’ve raced much less in my seasons as a pro. It took a few years to adjust to racing far less and maintaining more training volume year round. Â
Chasing The Standard: What are a couple of your favorite workouts or runs?
Vince Ciattei: Eugene and the surrounding areas have a lot of great running options. One my favorites for a long run is Dexter Reservoir, which has a gravel path that travels alongside the reservoir. A favorite track workout would be 300m cutdowns, to practice changing gears and closing hard.
Chasing The Standard: What’s been one of your greatest successes as a runner and what has been one of your biggest challenges?
Vince Ciattei: I think one of my greatest successes was winning the mile at ACCs in 4:01 in 2017. Until that point I was inconsistent with injuries and my mile PR was 4:06 – having run 4:09 in high school in 2013, I hadn’t progressed the way I’d wanted. That race was a huge breakthrough for me mentally. I proved I belonged at the conference level, which translated to the national level and eventually the pro level.Â
One of my biggest challenges was an injury in my pelvis in October 2018. I had just moved out to Eugene, and I spent the first 5 months here not running. I not only felt like it would be a huge mountain to climb fitness-wise to get back, but I felt like the social opportunities with new teammates were also passing me by. Thankfully, Coach Row and my physio at the time, David Campbell, stayed committed to me, and I made it out stronger. Just as importantly, I now feel like a real member of a team with a fantastic group dynamic.
Chasing The Standard: You had a lot of success in high school including a state championship in the 800 and mile. Did you see yourself lining up at the Olympic Trials one day? What will be your approach as you line up against a great field. including another guy from Maryland who has a pretty good resume?
Vince Ciattei: When I got more committed to running as a sophomore in high school, my main goal was to run D1. Running at the Olympics was certainly a dream of mine as well, but back in high school I don’t know if I ever saw myself lining up at the Trials with an Olympic Standard and a legitimate shot to make the team. My approach will be to race like I belong – a lot of the other guys have stronger resumes than I do, but anything can happen in a final. I haven’t been in a real championship race since 2019, and I much prefer them to time trialing, so I’m very excited.
Chasing The Standard: What advice do you have for the youngsters and those looking to take their running to the next level?
Vince Ciattei: Be competitive, but don’t worry too much about what other runners are doing. With Instagram and other social media it’s very easy to compare yourself to every other runner in the county/state/nation and their training/racing/etc, even at the high school level. I’m glad I didn’t have all of that when I was in high school because it kept me naive, and that’s okay! If you win a county championship but not the state title, enjoy the county title! If you win the state title but not the national championship, you’re still a state champ! Everyone has a different development curve. If you love the sport and continue to give to it, it will eventually give back.
2018 ACC Indoor Championship Mile Win
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfru_PDFJEc
2018 ACC Outdoor Championship 1500 Win
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKUKuRmg6hE
https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/4629744/Virginia_Tech/Vincent_Ciattei.html
https://www.instagram.com/vincentciattei/?hl=en
U.S. Olympics Trials Television Schedule
https://www.usatf.org/news/2021/robust-television-schedule-announced-for-u-s-olymp
U.S. Olympics Trials General Information
https://www.gotracktownusa.com/