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Last
year, Brentwood (TN) Academy senior, Andrew Bumbalough had nearly
every top NCAA distance program taking an interest in him. With
PRs of 8:49.87 (two-mile), 4:10.99 (1,600 meters), and 1:54 (800
meters), he had a great combination of speed and strength. Leaving
no stone unturned, Bumbalough drew out the decision-making process
through the spring.
While
the schools waited, Bumbalough posted impressive performances. He
ran 14:32 to erase Alan Webb's 5K course record at McAlpine Park
in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore
in attendance. Two weeks later, he placed second to Ken Cormier
at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. In March, he stepped
down in distance and won the mile at Nike Indoor Nationals with
a time of 4:12.60. Then injury struck the normally-healthy Bumbalough.
That kept him out of the Arcadia Invitational, a top two-mile race
where he had set his personal best the previous year.
On
April 13, Bumbalough ended the recruiting speculation when he signed
with Georgetown. Shortly after, he returned to the track with a
different agenda. Focusing more on the 1,600m/mile and 800m distances,
he posted PRs of 1:53.99 for the 800m and the number two U.S. high
school time in the mile with his 4:06.53 at the Music City Distance
Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 4.
Three
weeks into his freshman year, Bumbalough has yet to don a Hoya uniform.
A minor injury this summer has delayed his debut until the NCAA
Pre-Nationals on October 15 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
MensRacing.com:
How did you make your decision to go to Georgetown?
Andrew Bumbalough:
On my visits, I tried to analyze each school and decide what I thought
would be the best fit for me, not only from a running standpoint,
but from an academic standpoint as well. [And I wanted to be] happy
in the [school's] environment. Georgetown fit all three of those
things very well. I feel really comfortable with Coach Pat Henner's
training. I really like all the guys on the team. It was just a
really good fit for me. I'm really enjoying it here.
MR:
Did Juli Henner's departure this summer affect you at all? [The
former Georgetown assistant coach is now at George Mason.]
AB:
Juli wasn't really part of my recruiting process. I'd met her, but
she didn't really recruit me. I was sad to see her go, because she's
produced several really talented runners. For me personally, it
wasn't really a huge deal because I knew that I was going to be
coached by Pat Henner.
MR:
How long have you been in school and how has the adjustment gone?
AB:
Classes started September 1, so I've been in school three weeks.
It's going really well. The running hasn't been too big of an adjustment
because a lot of what I was doing in high school is very similar
to the way Georgetown trains. The biggest thing is the weight lifting.
There is more of a focus on weight lifting here. I think it's really
good for me. After a couple of weeks of being sore, I'm really starting
to buy into that and I think it's really going to pay off once track
rolls around.
MR:
Can you describe your weightlifting program?
AB:
Generally, we lift three to four times a week. We do bench press,
core strengthening, and leg work. Another thing that I do is spend
a lot of time in the training room doing the little things that
I think will keep me injury-free. I was injured last spring, [because
I didn't do] those little things that college runners do that are
going to make a big difference, like icing. That should help me
out in the long run.
MR:
Last time I spoke with you was after your victory in the mile at
the Nike Indoor Nationals. Everything seemed to be going your way
then, but shortly after, you were injured and didn't run the Arcadia
Invitational.
AB:
The injury I had in the spring was never a clear thing. It went
away pretty quickly after we started to do some physical therapy.
For a while there, there was some hardship. As any runner will tell
you, you will get injured, but you just have to get out there and
do the little things every day that are going to keep you injury-free
next time. I was disappointed that I didn't get to go to Arcadia,
but it taught me a lot about how much I enjoy the sport and how
the little things I do every day can prevent injury.
MR:
After the injury, you came back and your focus was on the shorter
distances like the mile and 800 meters. Was there a reason for that
decision?
AB:
I'm sure my coach had something in mind there. I've never been one
to question the training. I do it. My coach decided that he wanted
[me] to do some miles and 800s. After Arcadia, there was never really
a good chance to do a two-mile except at the end of the season.
I really started to enjoy doing the mile. It was a good thing. Developing
speed is only going to help me in 5Ks and 10Ks later on. To be able
to run a 5K and 10K later on, you have to bust a good 800 and 1,500.
It was a lot of fun doing a lot of shorter stuff that I didn't get
to do my junior year. Running a really fast mile at the end of the
season was just a blast.
MR:
Can you summarize your 4:06.53 mile performance at Vanderbilt?
AB:
Fam [Anthony Famiglietti] was in that race. That was pretty cool.
I went out really hard. I went into the race thinking that if I
ran out of my mind, who knows, four minutes could have been a possibility.
And if I thought if I ran pretty well, I could have run between
a 4:00 and 4:07. 4:06.53 is where I ended up.
We
went out in 1:58. I haven't done that before, so that was definitely
a shock to the system. I came through 1K in 2:28, so we were still
rolling along pretty well. I was probably in fourth or fifth place
at that point. The pace started to take its toll on me a little
bit on the final lap. I was still able to hold on pretty well and
run a 4:06.53. It was a good race. I think I could have run faster
had I taken it out a little more conservatively, but I'm really
glad that I went ahead and put it out there [to] see what I could
run.
MR:
Why did you decide not to go to the Nike Outdoor Championships in
Greensboro, North Carolina, two weeks later?
AB:
I was ready for a break. I didn't see any huge reason to go there.
There were some things that I wanted to do, personally, with some
friends and family. I guess that was the big thing — being
able to do those things.
MR:
How has your summer training gone?
AB:
It started off really well. I had a few weeks where my hip flexor
was bothering me. I kind of had to take it easy and do some cross
training. The last six weeks, my training has been phenomenal and
I feel like I am back up to where I need to be for the coming season.
I'm not doing a ton of mileage. I'm doing about 60-65 miles per
week. It's all been extremely quality mileage, plus I've [done]
some cross training a lot and lifting. I'm looking to get my mileage
up to 70 miles per week or so, before some of the big meets start,
and try to work from there. I was injured this summer, so I can't
say that it was flawless, but I think it's going really well now.
MR:
In the past, you've maintained relatively high mileage. Can you
summarize what type of mileage and workouts you were doing in high
school?
AB:
My sophomore year, I was doing 55-60 miles per week. My junior year,
I started to do 65-70 miles per week. My senior year, I was doing
70 or occasionally 75 miles per week. Workout wise, we did a lot
of threshold running. In the winter, we would do hill repeats to
get ready for track. My coach in high school was not about overworking
the intervals. He was into developing [his athletes'] anaerobic
threshold, because he felt that was the way [runners] are able to
get better over time. He felt we didn't need to force ourselves
into shape and that there needed to be room for improvement.
MR:
What was your coach's name?
AB:
I had two coaches. Charlie Harper and Marshall Smith. They worked
50-50. They both had different ideas, but the combination that they
came up with was the perfect type of training. Coach Harper comes
from the old school ideology used by Jim Ryun at Kansas and that
era. My other coach [Marshall Smith] really gets into the physiology
of running. It was a really good combination and it was the reason
for my success in high school.
MR:
I don't see any results for you on the Georgetown web site. Have
you raced yet?
AB:
No, I haven't raced yet. I'm planning my debut at Pre-Nationals
on October 15. That's the tentative plan.
MR:
What is your outlook on the 8K/10K distance?
AB: I think it's going to require much more patience from me. In
a 5K, you can go out hard and settle in for maybe a mile. Then,
all of the sudden, you can start your kick or make a big move. In
the 8K, you have to be a little more patient and bide your time.
That will be a difference.
What may help me a lot is that I'm going to have a lot of teammates
to run with. I'll be able to learn a lot from them. We'll race as
a team and I'll learn along the way, and develop my own style for
that distance.
MR:
You ran one of the fastest two-mile times ever as a junior and you've
seen some success from guys who are now in college who you've beaten
or who had similar high school PRs. Do you have a positive outlook
on how you can perform in college cross country?
AB:
Definitely. I'm looking forward to it a lot. I think that with the
situation I am in here at Georgetown, with the coaching and the
team, I'm only going to improve. The best things are yet to come.
I'm really looking forward to it.
MR:
Academically, what are you studying?
AB:
I am taking a wide variety of courses because I don't know what
my major is [going to be] yet. The course that stands out the most
on my plate right now is my biology course. I'm in the class with
a lot of people who are on the medical school track. It's pretty
intense, but it is a lot of fun too.
MR:
I know it's hard to reflect when you've only been in school less
than a month, but what is some advice you can share with others
in your situation?
AB:
From an academic standpoint, and nearly everyone will tell you this
including your parents because it's true, you've got to use your
time wisely. You can't mess around all the time, especially at Georgetown,
academically. It's a very good school and it's tough. It's manageable,
but you have to set priorities and make sure you get your work done.
After
that, I consider practicing and training the fun part. That's the
payoff for working hard at school. That's when you get to go out
and train with all your friends on the team. Keeping a good focus
and keeping a good head on your shoulders is important.
MR:
I know you were recruited by a lot of top notch schools. Can you
give advice on the recruiting aspect?
AB:
I'd say that the first month of the recruiting process you want
to keep all your options open. You don't want to [rule] anyone out.
As the school year progresses, you really have to decide which schools
you want to keep talking to, because otherwise it's going to be
overwhelming and you are going to have 10-12 coaches calling you
per week. You have to narrow it down to maybe seven schools you
are looking at. As you talk to them on the phone, you may narrow
it down to the five that you want to visit.
After
taking all your visits, you can then decide which school would be
the best for you. And that's what it is all about — where you fit best
in college — and that is different for everybody.
MR:
You seem so levelheaded. You don't seem overly obsessive about your
running and what you want to accomplish. Any comments about that?
How do you manage your running aspirations?
AB:
Like you said, you can't place all of your value of yourself in
one thing. If you put it all in running, [because if] you get a
stress fracture, then you're toast. It's over and you are miserable.
You have to have a focus that you want to do well, but if you do
get injured, it's not the end of the world. Or, in school, if you
make a bad grade or you don't do well on an assignment, then it's
not the end of the world there either. You have to keep yourself
spread out while keeping a focus.
(Interview
conducted September 21, 2005 and posted September 28, 2005)
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