Track & Field News Runner Of The Month
Nicole Blood

by Steve Bailey

Following her her victory at the Foot Locker Northeast Regionals, Nicole Blood of Gansevoort, New York, has been chosen the November Track & Field News High School Runner Of The Month.

In winning the 5000-meter race at New York City's famed Van Cortlandt Park, she defeated Aislinn Ryan, last year's Foot Locker national champion.

Blood was a member of the famed Saratoga Springs program that won the inaugural Nike Team National XC competition a year ago and later went on to set the national High School Record in the 4 x mile relay.

Over the past few years she has appeared at the head of T&FN lists in the 1500, mile, 3000, 2M and 5000. Last track season’s 10:15.00 (converted from the 3200m) and 16:30.90 led the 2M and 5000 lists. As a high school senior she is competing with the Fast Lane Track Club and did not compete for the Saratoga Springs team this fall.

T&FN: Congratulations on your performance. Can you tell us about your first big race of the season among other high school runners?

Nicole: Well thanks. It was an exciting race, really, because I hadn’t seen any of those girls since last spring, really. So we started and Aislinn [Ryan, Warwick NY] took it out really fast. She was in the lead for the first half mile—by herself and I was probably right in the first pack. I went right up next to her around the half-mile mark and really then it was just the two of us for the rest of the race until the last half mile where I started to pull away.

T&FN: How far ahead would you estimate she was?

Nicole: Not far at all, probably like 2 or 3 steps, but it was more her and then the pack behind her, so she was in the lead by herself.

T&FN: And then at the end?

Nicole: It was the last hill right before you go across the bridge?

T&FN: Did you feel like she was straining and you had the race?

Nicole: I felt great and she looked good too. I noticed before that downhill that we slowed down the pace a little bit. At that time she had a few steps lead on me, so I really decided to take off after that hill. I did that and she didn’t come with me. That made me feel a lot stronger. I felt a little bit tired before that, but after I pulled away I got a sense of victory and that made me feel a lot better.

T&FN: Was your plan to feel her out and see how she ran?

Nicole: Yeah, I knew where I was at in my training, but I didn’t know much of where anyone else was because I hadn’t been racing them all season; so I just wanted to feel comfortable the first mile and see who was around me and then really start to push myself.

T&FN: You weren’t going to make an attempt on the course record or anything like that?

Nicole: Yeah, it’s right around 16: 50. [Cathy Schiro’s course record of 16:46.0 is from 1984; Blood ran 17:42.]

T&FN: You do have the 2.5-mile course record at Van Cortlandt. How many course records in cross-country now?

Nicole: I’m not sure.

T&FN: How many big course records?

Nicole: Well I know Manhattan Invite [Van Cortlandt Park’s famed 2.5 mile course], my [NY State] federation course and my home course. Those were all last year that I got those.

T&FN: Because you’re no longer with the Saratoga HS team?

Nicole: Right.

T&FN: What prompted you to leave the program last year?

Nicole: It started with an IT Band injury. That happened right before Indoor States, but I continued running on it because I wanted to run States and Nationals. I had been training all season for it. And then after I ended that, the problem with our school is that by the end of our season—whether it’s cross-country or indoors—the next season has already started so that by the time we ended Nationals, outdoor already began so I really needed a break and my coaches were big into run to tolerance and you have got to help out the team. Which I’ve always been a team player. I loved running for the team.

T&FN: Looked like you were doubling and tripling last year.

Nicole: Right. It was a little too much and I needed a break. After I took the break a lot of drama occurred because of me leaving the team and I decided it was best for me to just continue on by myself. I took 5 to 6 weeks off totally.

T&FN: No running whatsoever?

Nicole: No. Five weeks of not running.

T&FN: What did you do to keep busy? Did you just go nuts?

Nicole: It was frustrating. I even went out rollerblading. I tried to do anything I could that didn’t have much pain, but with an IT Band injury it’s really tough to do much.

T&FN: Swimming?

Nicole: I tried a little bit of Aqua Jogging. After it started getting better I started to Aqua Jog, but for the first maybe three weeks it felt so bad that I couldn’t really do anything.

T&FN: How about free-style swimming?

Nicole: I didn’t even try that. I am not a very good swimmer.

T&FN: I recall that you enjoyed competing in other sports…

Nicole: Yeah, but swimming’s out.

T&FN: This year again there were four Saratoga girls that qualified for the Footlocker Finals. Caitlin Lane, one of the others, also hasn’t been running with the school. Has she been your training partner lately?

Nicole: Yeah.

T&FN: Did you train with her before you left the team?

Nicole: I was training more with Lindsey Fergusson and she was more with Hannah Davidson on the team. If we ever ran on runs I’d run with Lindsey. So once we both quit that was the first time we both trained together in workouts and stuff.

T&FN: Did she leave first or did you leave first?

Nicole: I left first. She was also injured. She had a foot stress fracture. Actually she had a few of them in one foot in her toes and stuff. She needed time off as well and same thing, they wanted her to run to tolerance and she was fed up with it. We weren’t exactly planning on running together unattached and stuff, but we started getting better together and going on short runs when we were able to and it went from there.

T&FN: And now her father is the coach? It looked like initially that you were planning to coach yourself.

Nicole: Yeah. My Dad was going to help me out because everyone really needs a coach. Every one has those days when you really don’t want to go out and run and you need someone to make you go out there. That was going to be my Dad’s job. After Caitlin quit—her dad was already a coach a few years ago for the Argyle HS team—a good group of 7th- and 8th-grade girls made up most of the team. So me and Caitlin were getting better together and I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go back to the team, but a lot happened, so I didn’t want to and Mr. Lane didn’t want to see our talent go to waste. He encouraged us to try to make things better [with the Saratoga coaches Art and Linda Kranick] and it wasn’t working so he started giving us training workouts and one thing led to another and now we’re a club.

T&FN: So your parents were there for you?

Nicole: Yeah, Dad was like, we can do this, because they knew I was a little bit worried. It was a huge decision but I knew that’s what I needed to do and really I was just going to focus on getting healed first before I even thought about coaching, so I wasn’t stressed out, and as I was getting better with Caitlin, it just came to be Mr. Lane, but my Dad was going to be there either way. It’s really like he’s my second coach because my parents go to every workout with the Lanes’ parents as well.

T&FN: Are there more than the two of you now?

Nicole: We have one other girl—Katie Peterson. She used to be on the team as well and also got injured. She had a foot stress fracture. She started running with us and she got a PR at Regionals last weekend.

T&FN: What was that?

Nicole: She ran in the sophomore race and ran 20:20 and her original PR was like 21:10. So she’s doing a lot better too.

T&FN: Do you remain good friends with your teammates?

Nicole: Some of them. We try.

T&FN: Do you hang out with any of them?

Nicole: I’ve heard that they’re not allowed to hang out with me. I try to keep good relations, but it’s tough when they’re not allowed to hang out. We went to States and Sectionals and cheered them on.

T&FN: Did you spend a lot of time with them last year?

Nicole: Yeah, that’s tough because they were my best friends and, well, I lost a lot. It was a big decision. It was really tough to do it. But I’m doing it and Caitlin is doing it too. Caitlin and me are hanging in there. And Caitlin and I hang out a lot ourselves and have fun.

T&FN: You see the others in school?

Nicole: We see them in school. It’s a little awkward knowing they’re not allowed to hang out with you, though. It’s tough.

T&FN: Well, tell me, what’s your new coach’s style? Is he a motivator or does he reason with you?

Nicole: He’s really good about listening to how I feel. After every workout, “how do you feel-- was anything hurting?” Really listening to what I had to say which is nice because—I mean we only have me, Caitlin and Katie. There are not many people to focus on, so he can really look at your training and really focus on you.

T&FN: How many were on the team at Saratoga?

Nicole: A lot. In the beginning of the season there was around 60 kids on the team.

T&FN: Wow

Nicole: Yeah. But it got down towards the end of the season. A lot of kids quit within the first two-weeks or so. It got down to around 40, but there is a lot--especially when track comes around.

T&FN: How has your training changed? What’s been the big shift in your daily and weekly routines?

Nicole: It’s pretty different. It took a while to get used to, but I feel a lot more relaxed now. We do fewer workouts. Saratoga did a lot of workouts. Maybe not as intense as we do now, but they just did a lot of them.

T&FN: What would a typical week feel like?

Nicole: At Saratoga we would do a tempo run on Monday--a three-mile run at 6:50 pace. Then the next day we’d do a cruise interval 1000-meter workout--about five 1000s with a 1-minute rest.

T&FN: What would you do those in roughly?

Nicole: It was around 3:30. And then Wednesday we’d probably do two 2-mile loops. We would do a 2-mile at 6:40 pace and do that again after a minute rest and then right after that we’d probably do 4 200s at all-out pace, trying to get our 800 PR. Keeping the total of your time. So we would run a 200, then rest 30 seconds and run another one and just go all-out. The next day after that we’d do another workout probably. Like 10 400s with a minute rest and try to hit my goal time of like 74 or 72. We did them on the track.

T&FN: This all cross-country season?

Nicole: Yeah.

T&FN: And all on the track except maybe the tempo runs?

Nicole: Yeah, unless it got snowy; [then] we’d plow the parking lot. It was an “L” shape and we just ran back and forth on that. So we always figured out some way to train. Bottomline, it was that everyday had to have something fast in it.

T&FN: Would you go through five days like that and then race on Saturday?

Nicole: More workouts Monday -Tuesday instead of the tempo stuff and then Thursday would be an easy run and Friday would be short stuff. We took big breaks before a race, but the beginning of the week had a lot of workouts. And then Sunday we would do a long run.

T&FN: How long?

Nicole: I think I upped it to 10.5 my junior year. Before that it was always around 9 miles.

T&FN: Now to contrast with what you’re doing now?

Nicole: Now my workouts have gotten a lot faster. For 1000s I’m hitting—3:15 was one of my best workouts. I hit four 1000s under 3:15, and then I did four 500s at the same pace.

T&FN: So you’re working out twice a week mostly and then racing? Mileage wise?

Nicole: I’ve done a lot more miles actually. At Saratoga I’d only gotten up to about 45ish. Over the summer this year, I got up to 60 and throughout the season I’ve been around 50 to 55 and then lately to compete we’ve brought it down to 45 and the week before Foot Locker will probably be around 40.
 
T&FN: You just finished up a workout today. What was it?

Nicole: Today we did 1000s and we did them on a grass loop and they were just cruise intervals (threshold), so we took a minute rest. We did five of them and Caitlin and I ran together and we hit 3:29 on all of them except the last one, we hit 3:28. We just felt really comfortable really smooth, so it’s really cool to hit the same time you hit last year, but do it on a grass loop instead of a track and feel awesome. So we were really pumped.

T&FN: You ran the 5000 last year on the track; was that with cross-country in mind?

Nicole: I wanted to get a good 5K time. That’s what I was focusing on because I never got to do that and I wanted to try something different. We knew Pan Ams wasn’t until August and by then you’d want to start cross-country training so we thought it would work out nicely. The Pan Am meet itself turned out to be slower than the Junior meet for me because it was something like 96 degrees and 99% humidity.

T&FN: When did you kick off your season finally?

Nicole: It was the Boston High Performance meet in May. I ran three of them; an 800 in 2:11, 3000 and a 9:29. We found random races where we got to race older women, which was exciting but at the same time it’s definitely different than racing high schoolers. The taste of competition doesn’t mean as much when a 22-year-old runs past you. You don’t get the same competitive drive.

T&FN: Are you disappointed you didn’t get to run the 2.5 course at Van Cortlandt again?

Nicole: Definitely. Pretty disappointed, because that was one of my favorite races. Also State and Federation. We went there and watched but it was tough not to race.

T&FN: Well, it was nice you got the records as a junior. Van Cortlandt has quite a reputation throughout the region and the country. When did you first think the record there could be yours?

Nicole: Two years ago when I raced it--when I didn’t get the record. I forget what my time was, but I remember the Kranicks saying to me that the record was only such and such more and I think I was a little over ten seconds off of it; so I thought next year why not go for it. That’s when I realized I kind of had a shot.

T&FN: How did you attack the race? What was your game plan for racing for the record?

Nicole: My first thoughts were about trying to get revenge with Aislinn because I lost to her at Great American. My plan was a lot more towards trying to beat her, and the record just came with it. We were neck-and-neck until maybe the last mile and I surged pretty hard so I didn’t have as much left at the end, but I pushed really hard right before the bridge and the record came.

T&FN: Did you see the clock in the distance?

Nicole: Actually I was dead by the time when I was finishing. I was looking up at the clock and I was like “Oh, man,” then the record popped into my head and I thought, “I can do this”. So I sprinted as hard as I could. I probably wasn’t going very fast, but it felt fast.

T&FN: You and Aislinn met six times last year?

Nicole: Yeah, the first time last year was Great American. She won that. I took 3rd in that race. Whitney Anderson was second. Then the next week after that was Manhattan Invitational and I won that one.

T&FN: That was the 2.5-mile course?

Nicole: Yeah. And then the next time we saw each other was States. I won States and she was 2nd. The next weekend after that was the Federation meet. I won that and she took 2nd. And then it was Regionals. I won that one and obviously the next one was Foot Locker and she won that one.

T&FN: It’s a fun rivalry for the spectators and the press, how does it affect you? Do you speak to each other?

Nicole: Oh, yeah. We’re very friendly. We have a lot of respect for each other. People say rivals; yeah we’re rivals, but not in the sense that we get on the track and really hate each other. It’s always a good race between us, and no matter who wins, usually both of us come out with good times and are happy with our races.

T&FN: Do you have any other favorite courses?

Nicole: I love our home course. The Federation course is my ultimate favorite. The first half of the race is all uphill so it’s really tough and you have to conserve a little bit and then the whole second half of the course is downhill and I’ve always had some of my best races there, so that’s probably my favorite—and its always muddy there too.

T&FN: A lot of people say that Van is a miler’s course because of the flat cinder-like terrain. Now contrast that with the Foot Locker course: what do you have to change tactically or competitively to go from one course to the next?

Nicole: Foot Locker’s a lot different because there are so many different surfaces. It’s a lot of grass, there’s woodchips—most of it’s soft really where you come from a course like Manhattan where it’s packed down and gravel and stuff. Really, you have to be careful starting out fast because the grass will get to you, but it’s not as hilly as Van Cortlandt either, so you don’t have to hold back too much. Whereas, the hills would get to you at Manhattan, you really have to be careful there because every mile is like a rollercoaster; [and] it’s also different because it’s a national race and there’s three times as many people up there with you than there is at Regionals, so you really have to go with the pack and see how you feel and when to make moves.

T&FN: Are you going to run any other cross country meets as a club team?

Nicole: Let’s see. I know we want to try to qualify for Worlds, but I’m not sure if we can find any cross country races to stay in shape for that. I know we’re going to do a few indoor meets.

T&FN: What are you going to try to focus on in track?

Nicole: I’m not sure. I’m feeling really strong about the two-mile. We’ve done some two-mile time trials at the beginning of the season and that looks good--on a road with a little bit of an incline, I ran a 10:26--but I’m really a miler at heart. I love the mile. I don’t know what I’m better in. I might be better in longer distances, but if I can work on my speed and get better in the mile, then I’d definitely choose that.

T&FN: What are some of the marks you want to hit?

Nicole: My outdoors, if I was to focus more towards the mile, I would love to break a 4: 40, but a PR would be great, so any thing under 4:40; and if I was to focus on the two-mile, my PR is 10:10 right now, so hopefully I can get it down to around 10:00. I guess it depends on which one I gear more towards.

T&FN: Are you going to put some relays together with your club?

Nicole: Yeah, we’re not all from Saratoga; there’s a couple of girls from Greenwood that are starting to train with us, so no record will count, but it will be a fun relay. I think we’ll have a good distance medley.

T&FN: What races are you planning?

Nicole: We didn’t look at too many outdoor ones yet. We’re mainly looking at indoor ones to go to. There are a lot of college invitationals we’ve been invited to.

T&FN: And you’ve already made your college selection. How many colleges did you think of initially?

Nicole: I had it down to a top seven at the beginning of the school year.

T&FN: Who were they?

Nicole: Obviously Oregon. UNC, Providence, Villanova, Michigan, Duke and Colorado.

T&FN: How did you finally narrow it down?

Nicole: Well, I wasn’t sure about Oregon because I didn’t get their letter. They had a lot going on [with the coaching search] so I couldn’t get a hold of them and they couldn’t get my number because they couldn’t get it through the school because they’re not allowed to give it out and they obviously couldn’t get it through the Kranicks. So I wasn’t sure about them. I had always wanted to visit there, but…

 My first visit was Providence and I really liked it there, but it was a nice college campus, but outside of the college campus there wasn’t much. So I wasn’t too sure about that one, but I loved the coach and the girls were really nice. And then I saw UNC next and I liked it there, but the only turn-off there was it seemed like all the focus was on football and basketball. I kept thinking about Oregon and I finally got their letter— Maurica Powell finally got a hold of me. I kept thinking about Oregon and how it’s based so much on running out there, so after I saw UNC, then I went to Villanova and again they’ve got basketball—and I had no problem with any of these schools really. I could have gone to any one of them and been happy. But when I went to Oregon, that was my last visit, and knew that’s where I wanted to be. Not only was it big in running, but also it was also big in other sports, so you can still go to football games and have a good time. Actually, their football team is doing awesome this year.

The coaches were awesome; the Powells were so energetic and coach Lananna is just huge. You know you’re going to get success with him and the team--I just really fit in with and everyone was really nice.

T&FN: Who took you around?

Nicole: I stayed with Zoe Nelson the first night and I knew her from Foot Locker the past few years. It was nice having known her and then getting to spend some time with her. The next night I stayed with Dana Buchanan. She was in an apartment. So I got to see how that would be.

T&FN: Was there anything in particular or just an overall feeling that you got from the visit?

Nicole: It was really the feeling that I got when I was there and then they showed me all the running trails and Hayward Field. I actually finished one of my workouts on Hayward Field. I did 400s with Bridget Franek—she was there visiting too—and we both had the same feeling. We were only supposed to hit a certain time for our 400s. We were supposed to hit 70s, and we just kept hitting 67s. It’s so hard to run slow on that track. It’s just a great feeling. That’s with no crowd, that’s when it was empty. So I can’t imagine what it would be like with the whole crowd there and wearing an Oregon uniform.

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