University of Minnesota Athletics
Captains Corner: Madeline Strandemo
11/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
By Ellen Larson, Athletic Communications Student Intern
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Gopher women's cross country team is into the postseason, preparing for the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Iowa City, Iowa, on Friday, Nov. 11. Gopher Sports caught up with co-captain Madeline Strandemo before the meet to talk about the season so far, her goals, and the final tune-ups heading into the NCAA postseason.
Gopher Sports: How has the season been so far?
Madeline Strandemo: I think that overall it's been a gradual uphill. We've had a few performances here and there that definitely could have been better than they were. But I think on the whole, we've gradually been improving and we're going to continue improving into the end of the season.
GS: How has the season gone for you personally?
MS: Like for the whole team, I think there have been ups and downs. With training, too, sometimes you feel really good on a meet day and sometimes you feel terrible. But I feel like I've reached a lot of the goals I set for myself, so I'm happy about that.
GS: How are you looking to build on your eighth-place Big Ten finish going into the Midwest Regional meet?
MS: I'm going to build on it by doing less, actually. I'm just continuing the taper. I really benefit from tapering, I think. I'm not a super high mileage person, just because in track I do shorter stuff compared to the 5K/10K group, I do shorter races (the mile, steeple). I think I'm just doing less and continuing to freshen up by gradually reducing mileage each week going into regionals, and hopefully nationals.
GS: How is the team feeling going into a big postseason meet like regionals?
MS: To be honest, I feel like they don't know what's ahead of them, because a lot of them are so young. But they're definitely excited. I'm trying to help them better understand what to expect. We have three freshmen in the top five right now, so they don't really know what to expect but I think that can be a good thing, too.
GS: How has having so many freshmen and young runners performing so well affected the mindset and energy of the whole team?
MS: I feel like it's definitely affected it. Usually it's a big group of seniors with a couple younger people traveling, but this year it's quite opposite, with very few seniors or upperclassmen traveling and a ton of underclassmen. I think the vibe is really different with them learning, as opposed to having people who already know what they're doing on travel trips. This group is really good about being fast learners, so it doesn't feel too elementary.
GS: What is the team's biggest strength going into the postseason?
MS: I think we're coming off a good Big Ten performance, and our biggest strength is that every single meet we're learning and getting better since we have such a young group. I think that'll be our strength. We know that we're going to keep getting better into the offseason.
GS: What is the team looking to improve on in the last week and a half before regionals?
MS: Well, we don't really do much speed at the beginning of the season. We mostly do big, bulky workouts to help with endurance to carry us through November. Now we're starting to add in a little bit of speedwork, which I think will help freshen us up, since the workouts get shorter. They're pretty intense, but they're shorter and faster, and they don't wear on your body as much.
GS: Do you have any more personal goals for the rest of the season?
MS: Well, thinking about the regionals meet, I want to be in the top ten. That would be really cool. We'll have to see for nationals.
GS: How has this year been different for you?
MS: When we were traveling, I used to not be responsible for a whole lot, since I was the young one. There were a lot of fifth- and fourth-years last year that took me under their wing and helped me along the way. I think that's the big difference for this year -- I'm that leader now. But, I had awesome leaders last year to teach me how to do it.
GS: How has the academic year been so far?
MS: It's been pretty good. I only have 13 credits this semester, so that's nice. I'm a double major in marketing and Mandarin, so in the past I've taken 17 or 18 credits most semesters. It's nice to have only 13 credits for senior year. It feels good.
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Players Mentioned
