"All you can ever give is your best on the day; do that and you can be proud of yourself no matter the results.’"
That’s the best piece of coaching advice that Mark Carroll, Head Coach of the B.A.A. High Performance Team and the B.A.A Running Club, was given as an athlete. Mark hails from Cork, Ireland, and came to the United Stated to study at Providence College in Rhode Island and pursue his running career.
“I started running around the age of 12 in the school cross country events in Ireland and I joined Leevale Athletic Club around the same time. I loved the feeling of running hard and fast from the start. I grew up just half a mile from the Irish countryside with easy access to farmland where I could run as much as I wanted. I was very lucky to get to cruise through the fields with beautiful scenery almost every day.”
The accolades for Mark began in his junior years becoming European Junior Champion over 5,000m in 1991. Seven years later - with many world-class performances during those years - Mark won a bronze medal over the same distance in the 1998 European Championships.
In 2000 he became the European Indoor Champion over 3,000m and competed in the 5,000m at the Sydney Olympics. He also represented Ireland at the Athens Olympics four years later. Mark should have had a hattrick of Olympics under his belt but had to withdraw with a late injury before Atlanta in 1996.
“5000m was my main distance but I am most proud of being able to compete at a high level at events from the 1,500m to the marathon over a long career.”
In 2002 he upped his distance to 26.2-miles for the New York City Marathon and finished sixth in a time of 2:10:54.
Following his impressive and varied racing career, Mark moved onto the coaching side of the sport – a change that felt easy.
“Transitioning from athlete to coach came quite naturally. I coached some younger Irish international athletes back home and set up training camps. Those years prior to taking my first job State-side made it easy to lean on those experiences (good and bad) to guide the athletes I coached.”
In 2009 he took on the role of Head Cross Country Coach at Auburn University – one of the top track and field institutions in the U.S - and after eight years moved onto Director of Track & Field at Drake University for two and a half years. During this time, Mark also coached the Irish national team for the 2010 European Championships and 2012 London Olympic Games.
In 2019, Mark moved east to join the B.A.A. Now residing in Newtonville, he is a regular on Heartbreak Hill like many of the B.A.A. Running Club members. The club has taken strides forward since he took the lead role with three components to the club –high performance; racing team, and the club level—so there is something for everyone.
“The vision for the club is to grow in numbers to be the biggest and most diverse club in New England. We have seen our women’s membership grow considerably over the last year and we will continue to add programming to appeal to runners of all ages and abilities. We also want to be competitive in New England and national competitions in the open and masters' divisions!”
Mark started by adding two coaches – Sarah Dupre-Healy and Scott Cody – and together they created a recruitment strategy to spread the word about the club and what it offers.
“We want to be seen as a running club in Boston for everyone. This Fall we are introducing some new programming in Watertown. Morgan Uceny will conduct eight strength and conditioning sessions and we will also have runners' yoga all free of charge for our members.”
What are some of the most important coaching traits in Mark’s opinion?
“It is important for a coach to see the bigger picture and not get too excited about any one workout or one week of training. The coach should know where the athlete is in the training plan and phase of training relative to the season targets/goals. A good coach should build confidence in the athlete through consistent work that culminates with peak performance when it matters.”
After years in the sport, the most important piece of advice he gives to athletes now is the reasoning behind the training philosophy.
“Some of the things I say most often to athletes are for them to understand why they are doing a workout and not to overtrain. There are times to push (train hard) and times to pull back (rest or run easy). Many athletes tend to overtrain so their training log looks good, but I advise on being ready to race and what happens on race day is more important!”
Mark has some parting words for anyone interested in the B.A.A. Running Club:
“I would say come on out and give it a try. We welcome potential members to come along and meet the team, try a run or a workout. We will also provide information on the many benefits of being a BAARC member which are about the best of any club in New England!”