For the many runners who had races on the calendar this year, the future is unknown. The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has halted all kinds of races—from local local 5Ks to major marathons to the Olympics—She Won a Race Using Runners World Training Plan.
Aidan Tooker, a middle-distance runner at Syracuse University, has come to know these feelings of uncertainty well—first when he spent the first few years of his track career at Syracuse trying to break four minutes in the mile, and now with the postponement of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
“What most people are dealing with right now is the uncertainty of racing and training,” Tooker told Runner’s World. “I had planned my whole spring around the Trials.”
Tooker, 21, ran his first race—a 5K in his hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York—in fourth grade and hasn’t stopped running since.
“I ran it with my dad, and it was really enjoyable,” Tooker said. “I realized running came pretty easy to me, so I joined a summer recreation program and really got into it. By the end of that summer, I was faster than my dad was.”
He went on to become a standout at Saratoga Springs High School—among other titles, he was the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Section II Champion two years in a row (his sophomore and junior year) and was named The Saratogian Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2013 as a sophomore. Additionally, he was the runner-up at the Nike Cross Regional race in 2015.
As he headed into his junior year of high school, he knew he had to begin thinking about college. A solid running program would no doubt be a factor in his decision.
“I did an unofficial stop-by at Syracuse University, since I knew some guys on the team already from high school competitions,” Tooker said. “I could feel there was a lot of energy, like they were headed toward the top. They wanted to be competing for national cross-country titles. Everything just kind of clicked.”
In 2016, Tooker started his Syracuse track and cross-country career out with a bang, showing promise in the mile and the steeplechase. In one of his first few indoor track meets as a freshman, his coach, Chris Fox, told him a sub-four-minute-mile was within his reach with some focused training. But getting there was just as much—if not more—mental than physical.
In his first attempt, he was on pace with only 200 meters to go, but ended up running a 4:02. His subsequent times didn’t budge: Tooker ran a 4:02-minute-mile two years in a row.
“I realized there was this huge mental component to it,” he said. “Guys on my team were doing it. I had to trust that I was in good shape and just race, rather than focusing on the goal.”
This shift in mindset his junior year sealed the deal: At the 2019 Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic—Tooker’s third sub-four attempt—his time on the scoreboard read 3:59.39.
“It’s about being present and relaxed,” he said. “That high caliber changed my perspective of what I was capable of.”
While Tooker was strong enough to clock under four minutes in the mile, the steeplechase was where Tooker’s true passion and talent lie. Back in his sophomore year, he ran an 8:30.10 on Day 2 of the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships. In the finals two days later, he crossed with a time of 8:37.17, good enough for 11th place overall.
“It was so beyond anything I’d hoped for,” he said. “It opened my eyes to the potential of making the Trials.”
This grit, determination, and ability to dig deep translated well to being able to deal with getting injured. Last spring, Tooker suffered a stress fracture—his first ever injury—in one of his femurs. After a summer of rehab, Tooker returned for his senior cross-country season in the fall, only to suffer another stress fracture in his other femur after just one race.
“Following both of those injuries, I wasn’t quite back in shape for the indoor season, so I prioritized the [spring] outdoor season and making the [2020 Track Trials].”
The team was set to compete at the 2020 Stanford Invitational in April, the first outdoor meet of the season, but it was canceled due to COVID-19.
“For a while we weren’t sure what would happen. They were talking about closing meets, but I didn’t let it into my mind,” Tooker said. “This spring I was going to get to run [the Trials] qualifiers, but they were canceled.”
Tooker, like most college students across the country, was forced to leave the Syracuse University campus and head back to his home Saratoga Springs for safety reasons. Online classes and no track practices became the norm as he finished out the rest of his spring semester. It was difficult for him at first to have no immediate goal or race date on the calendar. But then he remembered what a similar position he was in just a year earlier.
“Those injuries last spring set me up mindset-wise to be prepared for uncertainty,” he said. “I think, at this point, that it’s a cool opportunity to just enjoy running—to go out the door because you want to rather than because you have a race to prepare for.”
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“I’m trying to stay motivated—it’s definitely a different beast having no real thing to train for.”
To help himself stay focused, he decided train for a time trial, where he ran about 75 miles a week with a lot of tempos and long runs. Now, he’s running about 65 miles a week to stay in shape. Normally, he would cross train on bike at school, but he doesn’t have any equipment right now. His teammates are also doing what they can to maintain their fitness without access to Syracuse University’s training facilities.
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While Tooker was supposed to have graduated this year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) extended eligibility for student-athletes affected by coronavirus back in March, so he decided to take advantage of that and extend his undergrad school year and cross-country and track season into 2020-21. As of now, though, Tooker is taking the rest of the summer to stay in as good of running shape as he can be until he returns to Syracuse.
And of course, the Trials are still Tooker’s number-one priority when racing resumes.
“Everyone is in the same boat,” he said. “There could be much worse things. The more time I have, the better I can train.”
