About the Coach...
Joshua Forrest: Running Profile
• Jamaica High School Cross Country Team,Queens, New York City, 1970-1973.
Varsity runner (5 th on squad).
• 42nd place (of approximately 600 runners) in Queens Borough High School Cross Country Championship, 1973.
• Trained under the late Dan McClimon, head coach,men's cross country team, University of Wisconsin, 1973-1974.
• 6 th place (of about 200), Cross Country Mountain Race, regional championships, the Alps of southern France, Aix-en-Provence, October 1975.
• 5-mile PR: 27:27.
• Kenosha Track Club member, Madison, Wisconsin, 1976-1980.
• 1980s/1990s: Trail and road-running in West Africa (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau);
Southern Africa (Namibia ); Cuba (rural trails); Lisbon (north woods, Portugal);
Montreal ( Canada); Chicago (Ill.); Milwaukee (Wis.); Burlington (Vt.);
New Orleans (Mo.).
• September 2003, PaceSetter 5k (3.1 miles), Schenley Park, Pittsburgh , Pa.,
8 th place overall (out of 100); 1 st place 45-49 age group. Time: 19:59.
• Board member, West Penn Track Club, 2003-2004.
• West Penn Track Club volunteer assistant, 2004-present.
• July 2005, John Woodruff 5k (3.1 miles) in Connellsville , Pa.: Place: 41 st overall
(of 92); 3 rd place 45-49 age group. Time: 21:44 .
• Total years (as of 2007) as a distance runner: 37.
Coaching Philosophy :
• Persistence pays off;
• Focus on (build up to) a few key events each year;
• Hill training;
• Alternate distance and speed work;
• Swedish 'fartlek' training;
• Occasional track workouts; Trail running;
• More trail running;
• No-distraction running; Flat-terrain pace running (to learn how to run a specific pace);
• Self-diagnosis as you run;
• Promote patience to run a steady pace, then insert rapid-pace increases,
and finish strongly;
• Injury prevention techniques;
• Avoid over-training;
• Stretching (before & after);
• Soft-surface training;
• Promote hard running with rigorous academic studying;
• Learn time-management techniques;
• Promote healthy food consumption and non-alcoholic drug-free lifestyle;
• Consider college cross country as the basis of a lifetime of running and health maintenance;
No matter what - finish the race.
The La Roche College women's cross country program competes in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), part of the NCAA Division III, and typically runs six or seven meets (competitions) in the fall cross country season. The season begins in late August and normally extends through late October. Cross country meets are almost always run on Saturdays.