By wpengine November 25, 2003
Wheeze, cough, snort, spit. That’s me this Thanksgiving as I run in my first turkey trot. Along with a few hundred other amateurs trying to burn off the day’s stuffing and pie, I’m going to get up early, put on my gray New Balances, and try to finish a 3.2 mile jog in 27 minutes. My calves will probably start to burn, and the ‘ole lungs will gasp for breath, but one thing will keep me going: the thought that Chris Schaeffer’s workout is far more grueling. Schaeffer, a senior in the Ag School, will start his turkey day with a two hour swim. Hopefully, by the time he’s finished free-styling the equivalent of the English Channel, I’ll have crossed the finish line of my run. Later on, while I anoint my quads with Ben Gay and exercise my pointer finger channel surfing for football games, Schaeffer will hit the road with his two younger brothers for a “light” half-hour jog. His brother, a senior in high school, runs a 4:22 mile. And this is Schaeffer’s off-season. “It’s sort of a tradition,” Chris said of the fraternal jaunt. “It makes us hungrier.” Feel pathetically out of shape? So do I. But take solace in the fact that Schaeffer is one of the best athletes in America — and perhaps the best at Cornell. As a member of the under-23 U.S. National Triathlon Team, he runs, swims, and bikes better than most of us could even dream of. He has 4-percent body fat, a six pack, and the resting heart rate of a corpse. He’s an Olympic hopeful among us. “It all started when I was in fifth grade, and I ran a really fast mile in gym,” he said a la Zoolander style. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m good at this. I should do more of it.'” Those middle-school inklings paid off. Last semester, Schaeffer spent several weeks at the U.S. Olympic Training facility in Colorado Springs. There, he worked out with other members of his U-23 team and underwent various physiological tests which revealed startling data — he’s in really good shape. “They do a lot of testing out there, like VO2 max, and watching your swimming stroke on video,” said Schaeffer. “We also did about one-and-a-half to two hours of interval training on the bike, ran to get a lot of base mileage, and did about one-and-a-half hours of swimming every day.” This semester, Schaeffer’s back at school, and you’ve probably seen him around. Perhaps he and his Trek road bike have passed your Honda going up Buffalo Street, or maybe you almost choked on your CTB coffee when he blasted by you running through Collegetown. “Right now, I’m in the off-season, which means I don’t have much of a structured training schedule — just swimming four or five times a week, dieting, and jogging,” he said casually. “But when I’m in season, I go on four-week cycles where I’ll train about five to six hours a day for three weeks, then take it easy for one week.” Though strict, the regimen has paid its dividends. Over the past few years, Schaeffer has traveled from New York to Mexico, and Washington to Puerto Rico, competing against some of the world’s best triathletes for a chance at making the 2008 Olympic team. “My goal right now is to make it to the games in Beijing,” he said. “I’m going to take off next semester to start training hard for that again.” Though a broken ankle has hindered Schaeffer’s performance lately, he feels confident that diligence will get him back to peak condition soon. But regardless of whether he wins gold in China or misses the boat, Schaeffer thinks everything will turn out all right. “Honestly, I wake up in the morning and get to go out and exercise,” he said. “Even if I don’t make the Olympics, I have fun everyday.” And this Thanksgiving, isn’t that all that really matters?Archived article by Everett Hullverson
By wpengine November 25, 2003
After a well-earned day of rest, the men’s basketball team will lace ’em up again tonight as the Red takes on Colgate at 7:00 p.m. in Newman Arena. Cornell (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) leads the all-time series 68-50, but has lost its matchup with the Raiders (0-1, 0-0 Patriot) each of the last two seasons. “We lost to them last year, and they handled us pretty easily,” said junior center and co-captain Eric Taylor. “We haven’t played well in the Colgate game the past two years.” Cornell will look to buck that recent trend tonight in the team’s second contest of the year. Coming off a hard-fought loss in its home opener against Georgia Tech on Sunday, the Red have had only a single day to recover. On Sunday all five Cornell starters played at least 31 minutes, with senior co-captain Ka’Ron Barnes missing only one minute of the contest. The team, however, isn’t worried about its physical state. “It’s too early in the season to be tired at all, and we did have a rest day [yesterday],” said Taylor. “We’re all used to playing back-to-back games, because that’s how the league works,” added junior forward Gabe Stephenson. “This is the kind of game we need to win if we expect to make the NCAA tournament — playing a team like this on our home court with not a lot of rest.” The real issue is not with physical fatigue, but more as to how easily the Red will be able to come down from the emotional high of its season-opener, which drew over 4,100 fans to Newman Arena. “I’m more concerned with where their heads are mentally,” said head coach Steve Donahue. “We’re coming out of that atmosphere of excitement on Sunday and we have to be mentally ready to get it done on Tuesday.” Standing in Cornell’s way is Colgate senior forward Howard Blue, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds in the Raiders’ opening loss to Princeton. The 6-7, 240 -pound bruiser has had success against the Red, scoring 17 points in last season’s 76-58 victory over Cornell. “We’ve got to deny him the ball, especially on the low block,” said Taylor. “He’ll be a key for them. Last year, he played well against us and we lost.” The Red has accounted for Blue in its gameplan and will call upon Stephenson, at 6-8 and 230 pounds, to contain him at the start of the game. Stephenson will hope to cut down on Blue’s rebound total from the Princeton game, eight of which were on the offensive end. “He’s very good at using his size down low,” said Stephenson. “I’ll have to come out and play harder than him to neutralize him. “I pride myself on my rebounding; that’s what I do for this team. I think I can keep him off the glass better than Princeton.” Ultimately, the outcome of the game will come down to the energy and focus the Red brings to the floor. Called “Game 1 of our Revenge Tour” by Stephenson, the team wants to make a statement in tonight’s game. “These guys know what we need to do,” said Donahue. “They’re hungry to compete. If they go out and work hard, they’ll get a win.” “We’re ready for the challenge,” said Stephenson.Archived article by Per Ostman