I'm considering attending Western State College next year. Can anyone give me any info on the school or the program? -besides the obvious(that theyre awesome and 4time nat. champs)
thanks everyone
I'm considering attending Western State College next year. Can anyone give me any info on the school or the program? -besides the obvious(that theyre awesome and 4time nat. champs)
thanks everyone
You can find out a lot on their websites: http://www.western.edu & http://www.western.edu/ath/Welcome.html
thanks, ive looked at those sites before, i know all the facts about the school, i was wanting more of a runners opinion on the school.
thanks again
Did you read the interviews with the coach and athletes linked from the XC pages?
It's a no bullshit kind of program. If you go to WSC, don't expect to spend a lot of time partying, or anything like that. Coach Vandenbusche is a hard knox coach, but he is fair. Buy into the program and stay focused, and you will be fine.
Great school, social life is a bit scarce but this is good for running. Vandenbusche is a great motivator and gets the best out of his athletes and at the right time of year. If you are serious about running and can handle coaches old style of his way or the high way then this is the place for you. I love it and would recommend it to anyone. If you want more info give me your email address and I'll talk to you more about it.
thank you guys so much. actually yes i'd love to get more info, my email is
whats the training like, and what is there to do in gunnison?
training program.
just as hard as any school in the country, probably harder because of the '7703 altitude.
pretty high mileage(depending on the runner)
WSC is wicked competetive(or atleast it seemed that way) because there are so many runners competing with eachother for spots. I guarantee you that they leave all-americans home every year during xc
what to do in gunnison? Running is about it. Spend a lot of time just hanging out with the guys on the team. If you have the energy, get up to Crested Butte and do some skiing.
SOUNDS FREAKIN AWESOME, all I want to do is focus on my running and school work. and what ive been needing is a group of guys willing to put in hard work with me, western sounds like my kinda place. How far is the crested butte from wsc?
so how much did you guys improve while you were at western? I hear alot about vandenbusche being crazy strict, what kinda things does he do?
He's an hard knox type of coach. He doesn't like the guys to party. He wants you to buy into the program and stick to it.
Crested Butte is about half an hour from Gunni.
bloomers:
how did you do while at western? are you still there?
Western is the place for you if you are about hard work and dedication. If you llike to party then don't go. Coach V. has and will kick people off the team for that sort of stuff. But that is because he wants it to be the best and that he won't settle for mediocre. He has set up a great tradition and wants to keep it that way. As far as guy who have improved here are afew:
Jason Donald 10min plus steepler now 8min50's,
Josh Eberly (roughly) 9min 30 2mile, 14min06 for 5km.
Will banks 4mins 9secs for 1500m freshmen year sophmore year ran 4min05 for the mile.
Just to name a few. I don't think anyone has not improved since being there atleast some. Crested Butte is about 32miles away from Gunni. The training is awesome endless trails and high elevation. All sunday runs are done over 10000ft. Only time of year that is tough is winter as they do get a lot of snow and this can sometimes be hard for training. But you can always find a place to run. The road are always cleared pretty early by the city.
Not much esle to say really, as this sums it up. Maybe email coach if you have anymore questions as he would love to hear from you. Go through the link on the website. I'll email you with my email address though.
their average SATs are 990 if you are looking for acedemics it my not be the best place to go, if you are going just for running go fot it
just wrote:
their average SATs are 990 if you are looking for acedemics it my not be the best place to go, if you are going just for running go fot it
bloomers?
http://www.western.edu/ath/teams/mxcountry/profile_wm/lisablomme.htmlOff topic, but I was wondering, is there any benifit from doing long runs at 10000 ft as opossed to 7000-8000?
me wrote:
All sunday runs are done over 10000ft.
just wrote:
their average SATs are 990 if you are looking for acedemics it my not be the best place to go, if you are going just for running go fot it
Granted this school is no Harvard or Stanford, the team has been All-American academic for both the men and women for as long as I can remember. That is one thing Busche stresses a lot is "getting a good return on mom and dads investment" as for the college itself 80% of the faculty have their PHD's and of the other 15% 5% have their masters, and the other 10% aren't professors. As for the night life, just because coach doesn't approve of partying doesn't mean there isn't anything to do. I've been here for 3 years now and haven't gotten bored yet. The team is real close on and off the field, everyone could pass for cousins or brothers,(except for banks of course he would have to be adopted) but for the most part it is a good program. The only set back is the winters they get really cold (the other night it got down to -14) but if you can belly up through the winters, you can survive anything. As far as running and workouts go I am sure it is no different than any other team, you start with the mileage you have been diong and then work your way up as you get stronger. There aren't any magic tricks or secrets, he just really stresses being healthy and the "little things" I will send you my e-mail address if you have any other questions. It would be great to see you up here, but good luck in whatever you decide.
Off topic, but I was wondering, is there any benifit from doing long runs at 10000 ft as opossed to 7000-8000?
me wrote:
All sunday runs are done over 10000ft.
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potential to build more capilary beds! no no no, theres no running @ 10,000ft in the winter, unless you drive about an hour to Buena Vista or Fair Play.
related to bloomers wrote:
as for the college itself 80% of the faculty have their PHD's and of the other 15% 5% have their masters
Wait, you mean there are profs there who do NOT have a phd??!!!
Before you make some kind of accusation about Western, CU-Colorado Springs also have teachers that don't have PhDs. Try upper level undergrads teaching courses. How f**k up is that?