{"id":37702,"date":"2017-09-25T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=37702"},"modified":"2017-12-04T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T17:26:14","slug":"trojans-distance-runners-are-off-to-a-quick-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/09\/25\/trojans-distance-runners-are-off-to-a-quick-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Trojans distance runners are off to a quick start"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he\u00a0Trojan men dominated the podium taking first, second and third place in the men\u2019s 8 km cross-country race, the season\u2019s second Grand Prix event, on Sept. 16th, at Confederation Park.<\/p>\n

N<\/span>ewcomer, Matthew Travailing, a first-year student studying geometrics engineering technology, took first place with a time of 26 minutes and 52 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say running never gets easier, you just get faster,\u201d said Travailing.<\/p>\n

Travailing, in fact, is not a newcomer to the podium. Earlier this year he won the Canadian Mountain Running Championships in Canmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really good team and really good guys to train with, so I think we\u2019re going to have a good season,\u201d said Travailing.<\/p>\n

Travailing has been running ever since he got cut from his grade 9 soccer team, at which point he decided instead to try out for the cross-country team.<\/p>\n

Travailing is proud to be part of the Trojans\u2019 cross-country team<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a good reputation as far as running, and a good history in the Canadian college scene,\u201d said Travailing.<\/p>\n

Jacques Saayman, a second-year student studying business administration and a gold winner from last year’s nationals, placed second with a time of 28 minutes and 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still base season,\u201d said Saayman.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re trying to get as much mileage in as we can. Later in the season we will shorten up the mileage and pick up the speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Saayman was averaging over 100 km per week in Fort McMurray while training for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Co-head coach of the cross-country team, Bre MacEachern, has high hopes for this season.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The team has] gotten better and much more in-depth over the years,\u201d said MacEachern, who\u2019s in her fifth year of coaching the cross-country team.<\/p>\n

Cross-country running is an individual and team sport; runners are judged on their individual times and the teams placing in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unlike other styles of running because you\u2019re doing what you need to do for the team,\u201d said MacEachern.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like road racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cross-country running can be very physically demanding on athletes, especially at the beginning of the season when the training distances are longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it’s hard to tell whether you have an injury or not because you’re pushing yourself so far,\u201d said Saayman.<\/p>\n

Travailing makes sure he\u2019s running lots to build-up strength, lifting weights and building core strength on the side, eating properly, getting enough sleep and drinking lots of water.<\/p>\n

They say running never gets easier, you just get faster. – Matthew Travailing<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRecovery comes with getting stronger,\u201d said Travailing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour legs are always hurting. It\u2019s very physically demanding, but it\u2019s fun,\u201d said Saayman.<\/p>\n

Along with the exercise, being on the cross-country team provides a routine and structure that helps these students with their class work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very focused in class. I know I need to get my schoolwork done in order to focus on the upcoming race on the weekend,\u201d said Saayman. \u201cIt helps me to prioritize a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to run around school work\u2026I\u2019ve never been this organized in my entire life,\u201d said Travailing.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s team is well on course to reach its goal of placing in the top three in nationals in November. Over the last couple of years, nearly every single person has achieved a personal best at the championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could do that again that would be really awesome,\u201d said MacEachern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year the men’s cross-country team has a new star teammate, Matthew Travailing, running alongside teammate Jacques Saayman, last-years gold medalist, with these two the podium is definitely in sight. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":37753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Cross-country running ","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cross_country","8":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37702"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41114,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37702\/revisions\/41114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}