In an effort to reduce a high coach-to-athlete ratio, the cross country program brought in coach Tim Sykes to help lead the women's team.
There were simply too many people for two coaches.
That is the problem Clay Calkins and Mitch Bentley were faced with until the new women’s assistant coach, Tim Sykes, was brought aboard this season.
Bringing in Sykes
During the previous few years, Calkins had Bentley assist him with designing workouts on both sides, but Calkins had to juggle 36 athlete's lives, and Bentley was doing his best to individualize the workouts. In 2015, Calkins is scheduled to make a base salary of $68,382. Syke's salary was not available via OU records request.
“Any additional bodies that you can have to help with recruiting and coaching is great," Calkins said of Sykes. "More personal contact from coaches to athletes is always a good thing."
Sykes was still part of the staff when it was just Calkins and Bentley and has been since 2013, but he was a volunteer assistant that was more of supplemental assistance.
Now he designs the workouts for the women’s side, which has allowed Bentley to focus on the men and gives Calkins an overview approach.
“With this sport, there’s an individual component within a team sport," Sykes said. "(The women) are starting to see that working together as a team in practice, doing this not only for themselves but for one another, the university, the coaches, the program and the girls that go out and run with 10 miles with every day."
Sykes understands the goals of the Bobcats, what kind of teaching the women respond best to and how to communicate with all the runners.
Yet, getting there may be more difficult than just implementing a top-down ideology. Sykes makes sure his runners understand the process of the work he has them do.
“In cross country it’s never instant gratification. You always see it a month from now," Sykes said.
Implementing training methods
The Bobcats believe in two main training concepts, the first being "progression."
“Everybody is a progression from the year before," Sykes said. "So we progress the training volume, intensity and milage duration progressively for each athlete."
Sykes realizes when the women are ready to move on to more difficult training. Yet, not all the athletes have the same amount of experience or are able to move on at the same time.
This brings up the second concept of Ohio’s training: "individualization."
Ohio works out in two-week cycles, and Sykes said everyone learns and improves at a different pace.
“Each of these ladies is different," Sykes said. "So I try to tweak things with groups of them. So if some of them are handling the hill circuit a lot better than others, then we’ll come back to that in two more weeks. If not, then some of those ladies might do something slightly different in two weeks."
Senior Kayla Scott added that the individualization that the women get is unlike any other training aspects she’s experienced since coming to Athens.
“Tim is very hands on," Scott said. "He plans all of our workouts and he makes sure we’re recovering well. He keeps us accountable."
Ohio is in an "endurance" phrase, meaning runners are being worked rigorously so they can be in "race shape" by the time major races begin.
During endurance building, there are the “easy days” and there are the "hard days."
“An example of a hard day," Sykes said. "Well, we met yesterday at Peden at 6:40 a.m. and we went up and we did nine miles worth of hills before most of Athens was awake."
As for the "easy day:" “We did a 30-minute pool workout this morning at 6:45 a.m. just to shake out. And then they’re going to run six to eight miles for the freshmen and sophomores and seven to nine for the juniors and seniors,” Sykes said.
Controlling the "Little Things"
Sykes said he doesn’t believe he has brought any unfamiliar workouts for the girls, but he is creative with how he uses Athens as a training tool.
“In terms of new things, we are utilizing all the training spaces here that Athens has to offer," Sykes said. "We’re up in the Ridges usually once or twice a week, utilizing hill circuits up there. We’re over at the horse track at least once a week, utilizing the 800-meter gravel."
When it comes to the nutrition of his runners, Sykes said the Bobcats treat “food as fuel," but he does consistently educate the women on healthy eating habits, getting enough sleep before practices and keeping stress levels low.
He calls it “controlling the little things,” and he believes if the runners set themselves forward with productive habits now, that it can lead to a MAC Championship.
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