Conroe Oakridge senior Joe Austin ran a PR last weekend at the Conroe Oakridge meet. His 1:53.27 PR was nearly four seconds faster than his previous outdoor PR. His time is the state leading boys 800m outdoor time. We talked to Austin to see how he felt and what he thought about that race. We also checked in with him to see what kind of workouts or practices he had been doing that led to his top performance.
TXMileSplit: How did you feel after running the 1:53.27?
Joe: Running a 1:53.27 felt pretty great. It was comfortable for me but I just need to start running more miles.
TXMileSplit: Were you expecting to run almost a full 4 second PR?
Joe: I was, I knew mentally I was ready to break the school record, and I knew if I pushed myself on the second lap I was going to run a pretty solid time.
TXMileSplit: What kind of training has coach had you on this far in the season to lead to the PR?
Joe: So far coach has had me do repetition workouts while mixing in interval and threshold workouts, soon we will be doing interval and fast paced workouts in the up coming weeks.
TXMileSplit: Your 4x400 also ran a 3:16, how excited were your and your teammates after dropping the 2nd fastest times in the state?
Joe: We were pretty excited, we still know that we can drop a couple more seconds as well.
TXMileSplit: This year, you made the change from football to cross country and you had a really successful season considering it was your first time running cross country. Was your coach and your teammates expecting a 15:18 (3 miles) and 16:03 (5K) from a former football player?
Joe: To be honest, no one expected me to run those times, not even me, but by the first meet we all knew what I was capable of accomplishing.
TXMileSplit: This past fall, Conroe Oakridge qualified for State for the second straight time. How was it coming into an established and successful group? How was the experience of running at State?
Joe: The Cross Country guys were very balanced and focused on their goals to make it to state and we all believed in ourselves 100%. It felt great joining the team and I'm glad they accepted me. State was a pretty amazing feeling and an unforgettable moment.
TXMileSplit: What are your goals and expectations for your senior year?
Joe: My goals and expectations for this year are to stay consistent with my times every meet and to also get top 3 in state.
TXMileSplit: Where are you going to college?
Joe: I'm excited to continue my track career at Texas State University and can't wait to compete at the next level.
-Fun Questions-
Q. What's a fun fact about Joe Austin?
A. A fun fact about me is that I love fruit snacks on track meet days.
Q. What does your meet playlist consist of?
A. I usually listen to Lecrae and Kevin Gates.
Q. Do you prefer Whataburger or Sonic?
A. Whataburger.
Q. Outside of running what is your favorite hobby?
A. My favorite hobby is playing the drums.
Q. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
A. I would want to live in Australia so I can have the accent.
