Photo: Ryan Addeo
BY: GAVIN WATSON, STAFF WRITER AND WILL NUNN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For St. Bonaventure University’s cross-country team success comes from the utilization of technology in training, and it all starts with the Garmin GPS watch.
The watch, which every runner wears during practice, documents their performance and vitals with an app called V.O2. The software allows head coach Bob Macfarlane to assess his runner’s progress and assign them custom workouts.
Each season begins with an hour-long lecture from Macfarlane on the science behind the team’s training, said sophomore Meghan Lex.
“[Macfarlane] and [assistant coach Sarah Lonzi] give us packets of information about our training, ” said Meghan Lex. “They use them to go through the makeup of our training and the biometrics behind it”.
This modern approach marks a huge change from the beginning of Macfarlane’s career.
“I used to do all this by hand for every kid,” said Macfarlane. “Now I can put their performance number in and it’ll populate the paces they need to be running.”
With one push of a button, Macfarlane can now send out a whole week of workouts for the athletes. The athlete then shows up to practice knowing exactly what the coaching staff expects of them.
With each runner using a watch and the app to track their data, Macfarlane can hold every athlete accountable.
“They get graded on [workouts], so we know what’s going on,” said Macfarlane.
Macfarlane said some of his athletes will analyze data on the app to find new ways to improve.
“The better kids … will say, ‘Hey coach, I raced this race last year. I ran my best time. This is the workout we did a week or two prior. Can I do that instead?’” said Macfarlane.
Freshman Layne Haught said he can already feel the difference in his training under the system.
“The technology has definitely gotten me to be in the best shape and fitness I’ve ever been in,” said Haught.
On top of running, the team lifts twice a week in the basement of the Riley Center. For these runners, strength training without building up muscle mass is the main goal.
“We do a good amount of bodyweight exercises to build strength, but also for injury prevention,” said Haught.
Macfarlane and his runners emphasized nutrition as being one of the most important aspects of the sport.
“Coach recommends us to talk to the nutritionist and encourages us to be mindful of our protein intake after lifting,” said sophomore Jayne Gavin.
Although much has changed in conditioning methods, the value of nutrition has always stayed the same, said Macfarlane.
“The old saying when I was running competitively is ‘you are what you eat’, and that’s exactly what it’s come back to,” said Macfarlane.
Macfarlane preaches that the program really does work. He said that 92% of the men’s team and 88% of the women’s teams finished last year with a new personal PR.
watsongr23@bonaventure.edu, nunnwg24@bonaventure.edu
