*Confirmed* Harvard XC Unorthodox Training Method?

Does anyone know if Harvard Women's XC takes transfers?

Would Gibby recruit someone if they are transferring from another Ivy League school?

Any Harvard runners able to answer or give any information on transfers to the program in the past?

Running/strength circuit training is very common among XC skiers.

Joaquim Cruz also did this.

^ interested to hear if anyone has any info on this. Would a coach take someone from within the ivy league?

Transferring into an Ivy school isn't THAT common, let alone for an athlete to do so. I think the only time I've heard of it recently was a Cornell HJer (Montez Blair) transferring in (previously at Navy and Iowa Central CC). He ultimately got a few All-American honors before he graduated in 2014. There was a Harvard XC girl who transferred out of Harvard after her freshman year (2016-17) TO Oregon (2017-18 season) and then BACK to Harvard (Judy Pendergast, graduated in 2022).

I'm sure an Ivy coach would accept an Ivy transfer, but the question is how quickly their previous school would release the transfer so they can participate.

I think Gibby has always experimented with different training ideas. When he was at Michigan I trained with some of his guys in Flagstaff over the summer. They were running downhill miles around 4:30 and started their long runs at 6:00. The explanation was that even at altitude they wanted to hit certain paces and not lose touch with them. This was in late July early August. Their results also sucked that year.

it is very rare but I guess they possibly would. given it's probably the tightest-knit conference in regards to recruiting/academics/geography, it would definitely be a little more tense/personal than transferring from an Ivy into another conference.

basically, get ready for some potentially awkward interactions at heps/ivy league tri meets/regionals, etc

Just saw this post on a Harvard XC “takeover” of some running news Instagram page. Although no trap bars to be seen, this all but confirms the weight-training-during-long-runs allegations; Harvard runner, Joe Ewing, claims to be 6 miles into long run while his teammates in the background are seen doing some sort of core/strength routine. Also in some early posts, some of the team members are seen loading dumbbells into/out of the van, although might be reading into this too much. Pretty cool to see Alex Gibby integrating some old school training philosophies into his increasingly unorthodox training regiment.

Don't believe the OP for a second, but in theory not any different than the circuits that Vin was using at Dartmouth back in the early 80's.

This should not be a big surprise. It is likely that many top programs practice similar circuits; although, perhaps not to the same extent as Gibby over in Cambridge. There is only so far that VO2 and threshold work can take you. Eventually, more is needed for increases in fitness. For the East Africans it is Blood Doping. I do not think it is far-fetched at all to think that certain coaches may try to gain an edge with a more legal method. I know that Billy Mills often incorporated circuits on his long runs, but these typically included only body weight exercises.

spent some time with these guys a few weeks ago and can confirm the above. not something i've seen before and definitely unorthodox, but the results speak for themselves.

The word is "regimen," dear. A regiment is something quite different.

Ready to see this team next year in xc

I'd occasionally run 'easy' at 5:40 when I was in low 14s shape, but I also was doing relatively low mileage so this was possible. Still, for the sub 13:20 athletes, 6:00 is a jog and very aerobic

None of this surprises me. I know for a fact during the Gibby years at William & Mary they would often do tempo runs with lacrosse balls taped in their mouths. Constricted to only nasal breathing. I believe they were 7th at NCAA's that fall.

The 80/20 rule of 80% easy running at the ventilatory threshold and 20% medium/hard intensive running trumps everything else. End of thread