Perspectives from Lamar Men’s Cross-Country Coach

After months of tough offseason training, the Lamar Men’s Cross-Country team is ready to showcase their endurance against the elite competition.

With a historically deep roster, expectations will certainly be high for this talented group of runners. But through much experience, Coach Jerry Martinez has learned that preparing his team at an intense level will prove to be critical.

Staying focused is a must if the team wants to excel, Martinez noted.

“I think we had too many distractions. To be a good distance runner, you must focus almost entirely on running and that’s very difficult for the young guys to do,” he said. “I coached at Strake for 15 years, and all the (elite) runners that I’ve had at Strake and even at Lamar were the ones that could focus. The ones that can’t (focus) are never any good. They’re essentially just guys hanging around.”

Commitment-wise, the offseason can also be challenging.

“Offseason training is happening from May to August and the toughest part of it is that all the students and parents plan vacations. That breaks up the continuity of the team working out, because you can work out for three weeks in a row and then you’re gone for five days and that isn’t beneficial,” Martinez said.

Despite the challenges, Coach Martinez has established a very demanding, yet strong basis of a routine for his runners.

“We have 32 guys on our team – six of them are on the scout, meaning that they just work out three days a week at Memorial Park – Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The other guys are more intense, so they additionally run at St. Johns on Tuesday and Thursday. We’re very fortunate to able to use Saint John’s track early in the morning,” he said. “We do a ton of miles. Running miles builds a firm base and a firm routine for the kids. We spend three to four days a week on that and we spend the other couple days on the track to work on shorter distances.”

When asked about his favorite memory as a cross country coach, Martinez did not have to think far back.

“In answering this question, I will only relate to just Lamar. I really think that two Saturdays ago was the most satisfying (memory) I’ve had in a long time as far as coaching distance runners – reason being – in the past, we’ve only had one or two guys that are really good and nobody else,” Martinez explained with a smile. “You need five (elite runners) in cross country. I’ve never had this many guys that could really compete. They work hard, I push them hard and I expect them to be very successful.”

The cohesiveness and strength of Coach Martinez’s roster is not a lucky coincidence. With great poise and patience, consistent player development and tenacious training, he has been masterfully planning an elite team for the future.

“I have been slowly but surely putting together this roster not only for this year but for the next three years,” he said.

Despite the elite talent, it will always be a “new day, same terrain” mindset for Coach Martinez. As they continue to prepare for the next pivotal meet, all eyes will be on the team.

“The thing to remember as a coach in any sport is that each decade changes the person you will be working with. These children that we have now are different than the ones we had before. You have to coach them differently than you did 10 or 15 years ago.”

This article was also published in Lamar Life Magazine.