update

I cannot believe it been almost three months since I last posted!
Not much has been happening with dugganelites; the summer months here in North Carolina are not the best for racing. I am looking forward to fall, as the pace will increase! Two new runner to the group at are Martha Fuller and Bridget Landis.

Martha Fuller will be running her first Marathon on October 21!

Sara Day will be do a 10 miler also on 10/21; she has the Marine Corp Marathon the following week.

The summer months have allowed me time to reflect—it is funny that all three of us(Martha, Sara and myself) ran at High Point University together and here we are many years later…and I coach both of them! Unlike Sara, Martha has been away from the sport for a few years-- but she is back at it and doing great. The Goal we have set for her is 3 hours 30 minutes (and I know she can run it if everything goes well on the day.) Training is going well. Martha is in New York working--so we do everything over the Internet. What dedication! It a lot harder to run when your coach is not there with you, but she has been doing a great job of keeping me up to date with her training.

Sara Day’s training has also been a challenge. Try coaching someone hallways around the world in the hot sand box of Kuwait! Thanks to the internet, and Skype, Sara is able to keep up with her training regimen. Sara is planning to to run the Army 10 miler and then a week later do the Marine Corp marathon. Her priority is the marathon—so the 10 miler maybe just a jog! Training is going well and the goal is to get her time under three hours.

Richard McDonnell is getting back to full fitness after injuring his back. His training is going great, and we are almost back to where we were. He is anticipating some good race times in the fall.

The newest member of dugganelites is Bridget Landis. She is getting back into shape after the birth of her daughter, and we are planning on doing a half-marathon this fall. We just have to pick one!

Shannon McConnell Roof will be doing the Savannah Marathon on November 3 and is raising funds for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Please help to support her efforts: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nc/rnrsav12/shannonroof#.UCgLu7m7QEo.facebook
Shannon’s training is going very well (despite her hectic travel schedule).

The dugganelites runners are a small group—but I anticipate growing numbers this autumn. I love working with each one of them! They are a dedicated group, that followed their assigned schedules. As a coach, I’m very pleased with each one’s progress!

Boston Marathon with Shannon.

 Good, Bad, Ugly

Well let’s start with the bad, six weeks out from Boston Shannon got back into town after a business trip went for a run that was going ok until about 4mls in when she started to feel pain in her ankle. By the end of her 6mls run the pain had gotten worse. Sunday was to be a 20mls run day but that did not happen even though Shannon wanted to try run a few miles, I had her run on the treadmill for about a minute and shut it down a run was not going to happen. On Monday Shannon made an appointment with Dr. Fields and was lucky enough to get in to see him that morning, diagnosis was bursitis in the ankle. With only five weeks to go until the Marathon things where not looking good. So she was allowed to bike which was good so for the next 3 weeks Shannon was on the bike, some days twice doing up to 2 hour workouts.

The Good, then 16 days out from the marathon she did her first 2 mile jog which went well, the next day we did a 4 mile run starting at 7:40, 7:20, 7:05 and finished with a 6:45, all was well. By this time we had made the decision that if we were to run it was going to be for fun and not race.

The next 14 day went well, with some medium long runs and one 14 miler. We arrived in Boston on Friday, mid-morning, checked into the hotel, had lunch then went to the expo pick up numbers. Then it was out for a light six mile run. Saturday a short run before some walking around and back to the hotel to meet Shannon's parents . Sunday another short run, then to service and then to Fenway park which was my first pro baseball game. Sunday night Lori and Suzanne, Shannon’s friends, invited us over for dinner which was very nice, chicken and rice some good carbs and protein.

            Monday, race day, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly all in one. The Good, the plan was to get to start line about 90 minutes before the start which worked out great thanks to Cristina’s mom who picked us up at the hotel and dropped us at the start line. Were able to sleep in a little longer and had no queuing for buses. By 9am it was already 70 degrees, by 10am start time it was in the upper 70s.

The plan was to just run and have fun in the sun and not worry about time as the temperature was to get into the upper 80s by noon and Shannon was coming off an injury. The first ten miles went great we were having fun but then it started to get ugly for me, by now it was well into the 80s, Shannon was still cruising along and running well within herself. By 13 miles I had enough, I was done all I wanted to do was stop.

            This is where our roles changed instead of me being the one giving the encouragement to Shannon, she was giving it to me. The next 13 miles where Ugly for me, but Shannon stayed with me even though I told her to go ahead. I think she knew if she left me I was stopping. Over the last six miles I had cramps in both calf muscles and by the last mile they had moved up into by hamstrings As we rounded the corner unto Boylston Street I told Shannon to go “ I think I can make it from here”  So we made it to the finish, yes we had fun. What’s next??

Well it’s been to long since I updated this blog, but here we go, first of all two new members to the Dugganelite team, they are Richard McDonnell and Sara Day. Let’s start with Richard first: From Egg Harbor City, New Jersey now living in Greensboro and working for Lincoln Financial Group. I started working with Richard back in February almost a year after her started running. Richard is new to the sport but has already showed he can win races, the first time I raced against Richard was the Free to Breathe 5km race in Greensboro last November which was part of the Greensboro race series. He showed that day he was willing to give it everything to win as he battled with Tommy Boles over the last 200 meters for his first win  and spent the next 5 minutes on the ground trying to catch his wind after the race.

Richard called me early February and asked if I would coach him, I agreed, already two more first place finishes and he leads the Greensboro series, but that is only the start and we have a long way to go.

Sara Day on the other hand has been running since high school, a stand-out at Ledford high school, 1995 and 1997 North Carolina state champion in both 1,600m and 800m,  placed 3rd in state in cross country in 1994, Four-time all-state selection. Went to High Point University and before transferring to Wake Forest was 1999 Big South Champion in both 3,000m and 5,000m.

At Wake

Placed 5th at 2001 World University Games in Beijing, China in the 10,000m in a time of 33:21. Broke school record in 10,000m at 2001 US Outdoor Nationals, taking 10th place overall, and was the second collegian to cross the finish line, qualifying for the US National Team competing in the World University Games. Runner-up in 10,000m at 2001 NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors. Finished third in the 5,000m at the 2001 ACC Outdoor Championships, earning All-ACC honors and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Placed eighth in the 3,000m at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Championships, earning All-American honors and breaking the school record. Ran the anchor leg of the Distance Medley Relay team that finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors and breaking the school record. 2001 ACC Champion in both the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in both.

Since her college days. Sara Day has been serving the military for the past 10 years, and is an Army Captain in the United States Army.  She is a two-time combat veteran, serving during both Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08 and currently serving during Operation Enduring Freedom 11-12.

Last November Sara emailed me and asked if I would coach her again. I had worked with Sara while she was at High Point, known her talent back then and how hard she is willing to work I agreed but this was a new adventure for me as Sara is in Kuwait. So we talk every other week via Skype and I send her schedules each week. We have not set any goals yet but I already know what Sara’s goal is.

Next up the good, bad and Ugly

Boston Marathon: A change in plans for Shannon Roof

Greensboro's Shannon Roof will run her second Boston Marathon on Monday.
But Heartbreak Hill has arrived a bit prematurely. Roof, 30, developed bursitis in her heel in mid-March while running on a treadmill.


"Training had been going incredibly well," Roof says.
So instead of setting out from Hopkinton, Mass., in search of a finishing time around two hours and 55 minutes, she'll have to back off the pace and take it easy, running alongside her coach, David Duggan of High Point.
That's a disappointment, of course, for Roof, a veteran of five marathons who requalified for Boston 2012 with her time of 3:10:26 in last April's race. In October 2011, Roof cut her time by eight more minutes when she finished third among the women in 3:02:23 at the fast Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pa.
Roof answered questions by email about her injury and about Monday's race, and she also talks about one lofty goal:
RS: What does your injury feel like? And what’s been the remedy?
Roof: It's a sharp pain that made it sore to even walk. I took oral steroids, had a cortisone shot, and did not run AT ALL for three weeks. I only cycled. The heel finally got better after wearing a walking boot. However, I now have extreme soreness and pain in my calves from being off for three weeks.
RS: How do you expect this experience to be different for you, from the time you arrive in Boston until you reach the finish line?
Roof: I want to enjoy the experience this year. Last year I was VERY nervous and anxious. This year since I am not racing for a time, I want to finish without any more pain than I start with (I know there will be some) and to most importantly have fun. I am taking a camera with me and going to document the entire race. I also am not going to have the chip on me, so no one can track me.
RS: Regardless of gender, you’re one of the fastest marathon runners in the Triad. How have you been able to develop this level of speed?
Roof: "I am relatively new to running, less than five years. But I am a very determined person, so I think this helps. If I put my mind to something I will achieve it. Running is at least 90 percent mental, I firmly believe, so as long as I keep my head in the race, I will do well.
RS: What would you consider your best marathon performance, and why?
Roof: I would honestly say my first Marine Corps Marathon in 2009. I had no clue what type of ability I had and ended up qualifying for Boston in my first marathon (3:37). I enjoyed the run and had fun. I wasn’t as stressed about the time since I had no idea what my capabilities were. Now when I race, I put a lot more pressure on myself since I know I can do even better.
RS: How is David helping you as a coach, and what’s your goal with him?
Roof: David is an amazing coach, mentor and friend. He knows I have the ability to be an elite runner, and together we are determined to reach that goal. He is able to judge how I feel – whether it be pressure from work, life, family, etc. – and know what type of workout I need that day. He is incredibly in tune with the runners he coaches and is one of the most knowledgeable people I know.
RS: What's your favorite place to run in the area?
Roof: Salem Lake and the Irving Park area are my favorites.
RS: What do you really want to achieve?
Roof: Well I hate to put this in writing because now I will actually have to strive to make it a reality. But my ultimate goal is the Olympic Trials in 2016.

 

Posted by Eddie Wooten on Friday, April 13, 2012at9:43 am

Dugganelites Coaching

I enjoy coaching runners of all abilities. Whether you are training for the Olympic Trials or your first 5K. I've learned through 15 years of coaching that runners do their best when they train with a well-thought out plan and a supportive coach. I am available to help you with your goals. My rates are affordable. Your running will improve, and more importantly, you will have fun!

So what do I offer?

Customized training schedule done weekly

Daily connect with your coach via text, skype or phone

A schedule that meets your needs

Face to face consultation weekly

Weight training plan

Shoe advice

Nutrition plan if needed

Discounted sport massage

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contact:David Duggan

dugganelite@gmail.com

phone 336-259-5601

The Dream is on Hold

It’s been over two weeks since Kiawah Marathon, the final race for Molly to attempt to run the 2:46 B standard for the Olympic trials. It was not her day; we walked off the course just short of 13mls. So were we disappointed? Hell yes!

Disappointed, but proud of a young woman who had put her heart and soul into a dream that came within 8 seconds of being reality. As I look back I can say “what if”, what if in Myrtle Beach we didn’t have to run 11mls into a 14mph head wind, what if in Virginia Beach we didn’t have to run 7mls into 35mph wind gusts or what if she hadn’t got tripped and fallen, what if she had trained for Wineglass, (will come back to this one), what if she had people supporting her instead of putting her down. A lot of “what if” but if on any one of those occasions, had conditions been right, I’m sure Molly would have run a lot faster than 2:46.

Wineglass was a slightly downhill marathon in Corning, New York on Oct. 2. This was a place I’m sure Molly could have run the time if she had trained for it, so let me explain from the end of August to the week after the race I stopped working with Molly. The reason, well, Molly had so much going on in her life that the training was not getting done and if you are not doing the training then you don’t need a coach.

So for six weeks Molly did not do a long run over 13mls but still ran a 2:48.22, yes another chance gone down the drain, but a real learning experience. The week following the race we sat down and talked about were the last chance was going to be, Molly looked at 5 different marathons and then we narrowed it down. Yes we did look at the possibility of running two more marathons in a year where she had already finished 3, one in November and then a final one in December if she did not get the time, but that idea went out the window when she told me how she had trained for Wineglass. So the plan was one last attempt but we also needed as much time as possible to get ready. We had 6 weeks between Wineglass and Kiawah which was enough time, but the down side was we then only had 4 weeks to the Trials if she made it. The goal was to make it first then worry about that.

So to Kiawah, 9 days out we did a workout 4x2mls, Molly ran the workout with great ease, and was in great shape, she was in better physical shape than she was for any of the other marathon. Race morning things were great. We were staying in Condo just 400m from the race start line, we headed to start line 40minutes before the start time, got to the elite tent put our bags down and went for a jog. The race started the opening mile was 6:10, then we settled into 6:17-6:20 pace, but at 6mls I could sense something was wrong but did not want to say anything. Then, at 8mls Molly came up beside me and said “it not going to happen” so we talked about what she wanted to do. At first she still wanted to finish but as the miles passed the best choice was to stop, so just short of 13 miles we stepped off the course.

So what went wrong? I could say the same thing that did in Houston back in January and also again in August when she stopped listening to her coach, the mental side or the stress that she has been dealing with all year or the non-support from people what should have been by her side.
Sometimes it makes no different how good of shape you are in, if the mind is not there, (guess what, we have a problem), when people say they support you and then turn their back on you the day before your last chance to make the trials, who need friends like that. Then to top thing off, when I left she had a driver, who then bailed and she drove herself down. So she arrived in Kiawah at 9pm after a 5 hour drive. So once again we could say an outside factor cost her, being Molly’s coach and a good friend I often wonder how she just did not quit with everything she was going through but I will use a quote that Molly has used “ Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but rising up each time we fail”.
- Emerson

So where do we go from here? The dream is on hold but new goals are being set. Some are short term and yes 2016 is a goal, but for now, it let sort out a few things, relax, have some fun and let’s get back at it in the NEW YEAR.

High Point Marathon with Julie Smith

Started training with Julie the 5^th of July, her goal was to run and finish the North Carolina Marathon in High Point in November. This was not a first marathon for Julie, it was going to be number three but the first in 5 years. Her first marathon was a trail marathon which she finished in 5 hours 20 minutes, her next marathon was Ellerbe marathon the following March which she ran in 4hours 52minutes, talk about finding a hard marathon to run.

So the training started and like all schedules we had to work around a few things; a work schedule and two young kids, but we got the training done. Monday to Thursday Julie ran on her lunch break and then we did our long run on Friday or Saturday with Sunday being a recovery day or rest day.  The first week mileage was 23 miles and we built up to 43.

The good thing about running a home town marathon - there is no travel involved, you get to sleep in your own bed and eat as normally as possible. The marathon itself had been moved from the spring to the fall which put it in competition with a lot of other well established fall races. So what was the weather going to be like? Well on the morning of the race, start time temperatures were about 34 degrees and were to get up to 55 for the high.

The plan was for me to run with Julie and try to keep her at 10 minute mile pace; did not do a good job in the opening mile, I knew we were going out fast and told Julie to slow down a few times but still went through the first time in 8:43. I remember telling Julie: “you will pay for that later.” To my surprise Julie maintained a sub 10 minute mile pace for the first half of the marathon; in fact we were running 9:44 per mile but the next few mile where going to be hard. The other advantage of a home town marathon is you can train on the course. Both myself and Julie had run the first 16 miles of the course two weeks before; it also helped that I had run the course twice before.

So Julie was running great until the 18 mile mark, then that first mile started to tell, but to her credit she never stopped once to walk and crossed the line in a new PR of 4:33

Shannon Scott two marathons in 15 days (crazy)

First marathon Ridge to Bridge Oct 22 in Morganton NC, finishing in a time of 2:48.05 over a 9 minute PR and third place overall. Second marathon ING New York Nov. 6, finishing in a time of 3:02.53.

I first started to work with Shannon in January of 2011, for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC. On the day things were going great until about 7mls when he got sick but finished in 59:21 which was about 3minutes slower than we were hoping for. Now the first time I met Shannon is a different story, it was a Sunday morning run at the Salem Lake. I was there to run with Molly and Caitlin when this guy came over and asked if he could run with us, I said sure as long as you can stay with us. So when we were ready to start there was no sign of the guy so we started. At the two mile mark I saw him running and we passed him.

It was about two months later when I was at the lake again but this time with a group of guys that I trained with when I saw the guy again, but this time he was with the guys (it had been a few months since I had run with them) so he introduced himself as Shannon Scott. He asked me if I remembered the morning that he wanted to run with me I answered yes and asked why he did not wait. Shannon response was “well I thought you were an asshole when you said you can if you can stay with us but when you passed me at two miles I understood what you meant”.

Back then Shannon was just getting back into running; he had just gotten home from his second tour in Iraq and was a big guy for a runner - he weighed about 220lb. Shannon is not new to the sport, he ran track in College. His event back then was the 400 for which he ran 48 seconds. Shannon is not just a runner he also a cycles and is a triathlete.

Shannon has done Ironman St. George in Utah which is rated as one of the hardest Ironman courses in the world, in which he finished in 13h 26m 38s. In the last few months he has started to concentrate more on just running hence running two marathons in 15 days (yes as the coach it was crazy).

So back to Ridge to Bridge, Shannon’s fastest time was on this course, he had run it in 2010 and finished 8^th in a time of 2:57.45. His time this year 2.48.05, that’s 9 minutes and 40 seconds faster and moved him up to third overall. This time could have been faster, I biked beside and sometime behind, as part of the course was so steep I was having a hard time keeping the bike upright as the back wheel was skidding out from under me on the gravel, but at 5 miles in I asked how he was doing and his response was ok but my right quad is sore, not something I wanted to hear as the next 10 miles were all downhill and some of the downhill was steep. So Shannon backed off the pace a little and the fourth place runner caught up to him.

This was great for Shannon, because as anyone that knows Shannon knows, he will talk your ear off, so the chatter started and the miles passed. At 18 miles I handed Shannon his water bottle and told him “it time to shut up and start running” which he did, within the next ½ mile he was in 3^rd place and going away from 4^th, over the next few miles he continued to run 6.30s.

We found out later it was not this quad but his IT band that was the problem. So we have 14 days to get ready for New York. Well the original plan was to pace his friend Jeff who was going for a Boston qualifier time of 3:25. That went out the window when we found out that they both were starting in different area and would not meet until about mile 5, in New York that would be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.

So the plan changed; Shannon wanted to see if he could come back and go faster than Ridge to Bridge, not smart but he seemed to have recovered well and as we both knew he could have gone faster, we agreed to try and see. This time I followed Shannon on the computer. The opening few miles seemed to be going great but then the pace started to slow. He had started out on 2:46 pace and maintained this until about mile 7 then the pace started to slip to 2:47-2:48 and then around 22 miles it was 2:59, with the hard part of the course to come in Central Park. He finished with a 3:02.53. So when we talked later in the day he told me that his lower back had tightened up from all the sitting around before the start.

Even with this not a bad time, 15 days after running a big PR, but don’t be surprised, its not the first time he has done something this crazy, last year after running his Ironman he ran a marathon within two week of it, what can I say he’s a Marine.

Steamtown Marathon with Shannon McConnell Roof

Well, let me start my saying what a great race; after finishing 14 marathons before this one, I would put this one up there with Boston as a very well planned and organized race. This was one of those last minute races - I had not planned to go the full marathon but as we got closer to race day things changed. I had promised Shannon that I would pace her. The goal was sub 3 hours. Even though we did not get that goal, I am so proud of her.  She did get an 8 minute and 3 second PR and third place female overall.

The Steamtown course, when you look at the elevation on the course map, is down-hill from start to mile 22 but when you run it, that is not the case, yes the first 8 miles are down-hill and fast if you go with it, then you have a few rolling hills. Then from 14 to 22 is flat with some small hills, but from there on home is when the course becomes tough. The last four miles are rolling and the last mile is by far the toughest mile on the course. Boston may have Heartbreak Hill but when you turn onto Washington Street with just a mile to go and all you see is a hill in front of you for at least 800 meters, if not more, it can take the wind out of your sails very quickly.

So, as for Shannon, I started working with Shannon after she ran a 3:10.26 in Boston in April. We set a goal of sub 3 hours.  When you consider Shannon’s background before Boston were she was told she did not need to do more than 16 miles for a long run and never did speed work you would wonder how she finished Boston, never mind run 3:10.

May 18^th we started our base training for a fall marathon; the first week total was 34 miles. We built the weekly mileage over the next few months to a high of 65 miles. We also increased the weekly long run from 14 miles all the way up to 22 miles. By Steamtown Shannon had done 8 runs of 20 miles or more, which was a big change for her as her former coach did not have her going longer then 16mls for Boston, hence the reason for changing coaches. One of the problems we ran into was trying to do workouts in the last five weeks, with Shannon’s crazy work hours which she had no control over, we often had to move workouts or change them so she could do them on a treadmill.

Shannon is a coach’s dream athlete, communicates and works very hard. With Shannon’s busy work schedule it is hard some days even to get a run in but this is where her great communication skills come in to play. Shannon, for the most part, is able to give her work and travel schedule before I make out the week’s schedule; but we all know that schedule can change. She often runs on her own in the early hours or has gotten on a treadmill in a hotel somewhere in the US. Either way, within minutes of her finishing a run or workout I will get either a text or an email to let me know how it went.

Shannon only started running in September of 2007 and ran her first marathon in 2009, and finished in a time of 3:37. So in just over two years she has dropped her time by 35 minutes and as all athletes know the faster you run, the harder the PRs are to come by.

Back to Steamtown, we departed early Saturday morning from Greensboro and arrived in Scranton at 2:30 in the afternoon, checked into the hotel and then headed to the expo to pick up our numbers. Then it was back to the hotel to relax for an hour before we went for a 3 mile jog. Then off to dinner and an early night as we had planned to leave the hotel at 6am to catch a bus to the start. We arrived at the start and went into the gym to relax for a while.

We had planned to go for a short jog at 7:30, so Shannon went to use the rest room and as she returned she informed me of the time from last year. I already knew but had not said anything as I did not want to stress her out or put that pressure on her, because if we ran our goal time she would finish top five.

So I reminder her “let’s just stick to the goal” and if we are top five then that is a bonus. So we made our way to the start line and at 8am, with the firing of the canon, the race began. The first half mile was flat for the most part but then we made a right turn and the downhill started. We descended 244 feet in the next 400 meters, then after the first mile which we went through in 6:25 the course leveled out with a small hill. By mile 2(6:38) all I heard from Shannon was she need to make a pit stop, so we get to the first water station Shannon makes her porta pot stop (which we discovered later only took 17 seconds) mile 3 (6:35). Then the long downhill stretch started and the next few miles we went 6:21, 6:25, 6:26. After this the course started to level out and we started to run closer to goal pace which was 6:53. The first 7-8 miles it was hard to run slowly with the downhill.

We reached ½ ways in 1:27.50 and now Shannon was in 5^th place; this was faster than Shannon had ever even run for a ½ marathon. I asked Shannon how she was feeling, she replied she was doing ok but asked could we back the pace off a little. So over the next few miles we backed off to around 7 minute pace.

Then by mile 18 I could see the 4^th place woman but did not say anything to Shannon, by mile 19 Shannon could see her too as the gap was less than a hundred meters behind her. By mile 20, Shannon was now in 4^th place and again I could see the 3^rd place runner. This time I did point her out to Shannon as I knew she was begin to find going tough and now we were hitting the hard part of the course. By mile 22 Shannon was now 3^rd but this was also were the hills started. Over the next three miles the course was rolling with two nice climbs between 23 and 24 miles. As we reached the first Shannon made the comment to me “are those people walking up this little hill”.

As we reached 25 miles we made a right turn unto Washington Street, and as we turned the corner all I could see was a hill that looked like it was not going to end, that 244 feet we dropped in the first mile it looked like we had to run back up in the last mile. We crested the hill and had about 400 meter to the finish.

We reached the finish in 3 hours 2 minutes and 23 seconds which was an 8 minute and 3 second PR and a 3^rd place female overall. This is the first time for Shannon to ever place in the overall female, but there will be many more.

Mistletoe 5K and Half Marathon Training Program

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You want to run a 5km or Half Marathon, how about the Mistletoe on December 3^rd  , it does not matter if it your first, we will have you ready to run a PR.

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"I highly recommend this running program for any runner. David's coaching helped me build endurance to run a 10k and improved my 5k finish time by over 3 minutes."
-- Monica Winter

My background

So here it goes!! Born at St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, Ireland, was the middle child of seven.  Yes got three older brothers and two younger and my little sister.  I do not have a middle name and there is a reason for that, I was baptized right after birth as I was not expected to make it out of the hospital alive (I guess that doctor was wrong).

So fast forward a few years; went to Inistioge National School. I started late. I was 6 before I started school, (was having too much fun on the farm, I was milking cows by the time I was four). From there I went to Thomastown  VS with is much the same as High School in the US.  Only difference is, after three years you take your first exam, then you are meant to go on for another two year and do the leaving cert. I never made it that far, had enough after three years. So makes me ask a lot of questions (explain later).

Got started running when I was in my first year at Thomastown, by this time  two of my older brothers were also going to Thomasown VS and were running cross country. At first I had no interest in running. I was more into soccer but one evening I was watching my brother run around one of the fields on the farm and my late Father challenged me to run ahead of them and see if they could catch me (as always I’m up to a challenge) well neither one of them did catch me if fact I held the gap that I started with. So I was hooked.

So the next step was we joined a running Club in Thomastown and from there we transferred to St Joseph Athletic club, by this time my younger brother also had started to run as well, so now there were four of us. We had our own team and we were unbeatable.

For 13 years in a row we won the County Championship (which would be like a state meet in the US but you had to be over 16 to run in it). For the first 7 years it was a 6-man team and 7 1/2 mile cross country race, but then someone got the bright idea that our club could not be beaten so they reduced it to a 4 man team and shortened the race to a 10k. In fact they made it so much easier for us to win.  So we went on and won it for another 6 years; we lost the race for the first time in 2001, the reason we lost (I believe) I was not able to make it home for the race. I had finished my undergrad and was working on a H1B1 visa which will not allow you to leave the country and get back in.

I started my first training Log December 2^nd 1985 and I am still keeping account of the miles being logged.  One of these days I will add the entire mileage together.

 From my logs some PR’s:

Marathon: 2:32.55 Dublin should have run sub 2:25 but at 17mls I took a drink and by 18 miles I was throwing up

½ Marathon 1:07.47

10k road 30:40

5k road 15:01

The ups and downs of my running so far, well glad to say there are more ups than downs. Before coming to America 1990 was both a good year and a sad year, raced 34 times in the year, my best race was a 3.5 mile race which after the first mile,  was uphill the rest was either flat or downhill I covered the course in 16:31 for the win.

It was a sad year as my Father was killed in a road accident, but later that year he was looking down on us as we made history by going 1-2-3-4 in the county cross country championship.

1993 was marathon pr year. Ran Boston in April for the first time 2:42.46 and then came back in Oct. and ran Dublin in 2:32.55

1995 Came back to Boston for the marathon and in August came back on scholarship to HPU (could look at that either way)

1996 100 Boston Marathon, got my butt in big trouble for running this one (but would do it all over again)

Dec 1999 Graduated College (not bad for a high school dropout)

May 2005 getting my Masters (again not bad for a dropout)

So back to the part of asks questions later. I came to University in the US, with no leaving cert, no SAT or no ACT. How did I pull that one off, I have no idea but graduated with a 3.01 in my undergraduate and a 4.0 in my Masters, not bad.

So looking back on my years as a college athlete, my running was a disappointment. Yes I won races, yes I ran fast times, but did not hit the goals I set for myself. Why?  Well I believe the  reason was poor coaching, this may also have been a good thing, as this is one of the reasons I started to read books (on running). I knew what the coach had me doing was not working, and like all “ good” coaches he was not willing to listen. So after first semester freshman year I started to coach myself. Yes I did show up for team practice but the day’s workout was either already done or I used what was posted as my warm up.

This brings me to my Philosophy of Coaching.

1.       A coach is only as good as the athlete that he is coaching allows him to be. Let me explain, running is a sport and you get out of it as much as you are willing to put into it. 

2.       You are the coach not God, you do not know everything. This is where 90% of coaches fail, just because it works for one does mean it will work for everyone. No two bodies are the same.

3.       Coaching is based on trust, you as the athlete trusting your coach that he/she wants the best for you and not being afraid to talk with him/her if you feel things are not working.  There needs to be an open line of communication.

A New Start

I started to set this up back in December, but between one thing and another never got into the whole idea of blogging. My idea was to blog about coaching and the athletes I work with, back then it was just one, but now it has grown to seven that I work with on a weekly schedule. But first a little history about me.

Was born in Ireland, and lived there until August of 1995 when I took up a full athletic scholarship to High Point University. I am now a US ciziten but still like to call Ireland home and try to get home at least one a year.

My running backround started in the fall of '83 at the age of 16, up until then I played soccer, football and hurling which is the fastest moving game in the world and the toughest. Back then it was just something to do. I would say I started to train hard in the spring of 88 and run alot more races in Ireland from 5k to 10milers and place well in them. In 1992 I ran my first marathon in Dublin finished in 2:39.00. The next one was to be Boston in 93 and had such a good time I came back again in 95 but came and stay in Greensboro for two weeks before the race with my aunt and uncle who worked at High Point University The next thing I knew I was being offered a sholarship to run for them which, believe it not, I turned down three times before I agreed to come.

During my time at High Point University I was conference runner of the year twice in cross country, the university then moved from D2 to D1 and we could not compete at the conference level for two years. So I graduted in 3 and a half years. I volunteered for two years with Bob Davidson and worked with the distance kids, some may say I started the distance program, my first year we recruited Taylor Milne and Tommy Evans. During the track season I coached the winners in all the distance events from 800m to the 10k at Conference. In 2000 the University make a coaching change so I worked in Resident Life for the next four years.

 Then in 2003 I went back to school to get my Masters, again at HPU, in 2004 I started to volunteer with Wake Forest University track and cross country team, then in 2007 was employed full time. During the next three years I worked with some very talented athletes, but again to my misfortune in 2010 the university wanted to make a coaching change, so again I find myself looking and thinking what next.

 So in the mean time I have started to work with athletes that want to improve their fitness or run faster. They range form Molly Nunn who is 8 seconds off the Olympic trials down to people that want to run a 5km.

So the name of my blog "Dugganelites" come from a group that I enjoyed coaching while at Wake Forest, they were a group of walk ons, dare I say it but the head coach had no time for or did not want to make time for. So we use to joke of how it would be nice if some of these walk ons were to start beating scholarship athletes. It was not too long before they started to improve, the first step was to get them to believe in themselves; when you are told you cannot do something for a while you begin to believe you can't.

The first step was to challange them in workouts. I would have them do a workout that they believed they could not do but when they finished it, I would remind them of how easy it was.