Ahern’s Analysis

Feb. 7, 2000

Beth Ahern is a senior distance runner on the Clemson indoor track and field team. She placed fifth in the 3,000m and sixth in the 5,000m at last year’s ACC Indoor Championships. Ahern earned All-ACC and All-Southeast Region honors for cross country in 1998.

Ahern will provide a journal for ClemsonTigers.com to give fans an inside look at the Clemson women’s track & field program.

Saturday, February 5

We left this morning for the Gator Invitational, in Gainesville, Florida. The Good News Express pulled out of Jervey at about 10 a.m. and most of us started the trip off by eating breakfast. Afterwards, we either slept or did some homework-I did a little bit of both. At about three and a half hours into the trip, we stopped for lunch at IHOP.

After a well-balanced meal, and a rather rude waitress, we got back on the road. We began the second half of our trip singing. We passed the microphone around the bus and everyone had to sing a song.

Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs. Then, as things finally began to quiet down, our coaches put in a track video. We watched the 1990 Milrose Games and a meet at George Mason that was held just a few days later. The video really got the team excited to compete.

At around 6 p.m., we finally made it to Gainesville. We stopped at the outdoor track on the Florida campus so that everyone could get in her pre-race day workout. I run distance, so for me that was a 30-minute run, stretches, drills, and strides. This is what we do before every race, so it has become somewhat of a ritual for us.

After the run we went to the hotel, dropped off our clothes, and went to eat. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to shower, because we only had a little over an hour until we had to be back for the team meeting. Usually, we eat pasta the night before a race, but there was a horrible restaurant selection and I ended up having to eat Mexican. Lets just say that I will never do that again, the night before a race.

We met in the lobby at 9 p.m. for our team meeting. Our coach talked to us about stepping up this weekend. ACCs are only 2 weeks away and he wanted us to give that little extra that we had-to push through the pain. After the meeting, we all went to our rooms to relax. I took my long awaited shower, we did massages, and then I went to bed, because I had to get up early the next morning. Before I fell asleep, I visualized my race, looking forward to it, but not without some nerves. Beth Ahern is a senior distance runner on the Clemson indoor track and field team. She placed fifth in the 3,000m and sixth in the 5,000m at last year’s ACC Indoor Championships. Ahern earned All-ACC and All-Southeast Region honors for cross country in 1998.

Over the course of the season, Ahern will provide journal entries on ClemsonTigers.com to provide an inside look at the Clemson women’s track & field team.

Sunday, February 6

When the alarm went off at 6:45, the last thing that I wanted to do was to get up. I put on my uniform and warm ups and went to breakfast with a teammate. Our relay wasn’t until 10:30, but we always make sure to eat at least 3 hours before we race so that our food has time to digest.

We got to the track around 8:30am and relaxed. Fifty minutes before our race we started our warm up: a 15 minute run, stretches, drills, and strides. It’s basically a longer, more drawn out version of what we did the night before and it gets our legs ready to move in the race.

Our relay was the Distance Medley Relay, or the DMR. The legs of the relay are as follows in order: 1200, 400, 800, and 1600. I ran the mile. We ended up placing fourth, but we weren’t very pleased with our time. Also, most of us were running alone in the race, which makes it hard to run a great time. This was the case with my leg of the race, so I just had to work hard at pushing myself. After the race we did a 15 minute cool down, like usual. This helps our legs from getting tight and sore.

I ran the open mile at 2:50 p.m. and I did the same warm up and same cool down as before. There were a lot of people in my race and I got knocked around a bit and boxed in. So, all things considered, I was happier with this race, but still wanted to run faster. Luckily, there is always the next week.

We finally left the track at 8 p.m. and stopped at Wendy’s for a quick dinner. We pulled into Jervey at 3 a.m. and I was happy to be back in Clemson.