PHILOSOPHY/PERSONAL STATEMENT
What I seek for the runners I coach is their "gold-medal" performance. A personal gold-medal performance is what might be called a supreme achievement for that individual. For what athletics is all about is the pursuit of excellence. When you have prepared yourself very well for the challenge, and have raced at the peak of your physical and mental resources, there comes a sense of fulfillment and achievement that more than compensates for all the effort. You gain a dimension of character that you can call on whenever you have to.
TRAINING METHODS
No one system works for all athletes. The key to successful training is to match the training loads to what the individual athlete benefits from. For some athletes, that might mean more weekly mileage, for another that might mean scheduling two water workouts per week because more running results in breakdown. Generally, we stress the importance of base fitness, the periodization of speed work, and not over racing.
GOALS FOR THE RUNNER AND TEAM
I have goals for our team and I have goals for each individual. For the team, we always have it in our minds to be a top national class team. Locally we have good competition so it usually goes hand in hand that if we can compete in our own backyard we can do very well on the national scene as well. History has proven this. For individuals on my team, I am typically trying to help them move up two or three levels of competition. So that if they are already a strong local performer, I am trying to get them to move up to a national class performer. If the athlete is a strong national class performer, I am trying to get them to an international class level of performance. In other words, I see my job as a coach to help the athlete to improve.
EDUCATION AND ATHLETICS
I love the sport, but it is no substitute for a good education nor a career. In its place, the sport brings a wonderful zest and excitement to life. But it is critical not to allow the sport to get in the way of the full development of other aspects of life. The primary purpose for attending college is to receive a strong education and to lay the ground work for one[apos]s career. The key to success in athletics and academics is to budget one[apos]s time wisely. We often find that when runners are running well, their academics are going well too. That is because they have their priorities straight and they are focused on what they want to achieve.
COLLEGIATE COACHING HIGHLIGHTS
In his tenure at Boston University, Lehane has coached two Olympians, two NCAA Division I National Champions, 47 All-Americans and over 20 IC4A/ECAC individual champions. He also guided Rich Peters to a runner-up finish in the mile at the 2012 NCAA Championships. Nine of his athletes have qualified for the World Cross Country Championships. Included in this total is two-time U.S. National Champion Lesley Lehane, who placed fifth overall at the 1987 Cross-Country World Championships to help the United States squad to the team title. Under Lehane's guidance, the Boston University men's cross country team has successfully qualified for the NCAA Championship field 10 times and posted three top-10 finishes. Most recently, individuals qualified for the NCAA Championship in 2012 and again in 2014 while at least one harrier has earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in each of the last five years.
BU has also excelled on the conference level under Lehane's tutelage. The women's cross country team has won 17 conference championships, including the 2013 and 2014 Patriot League titles. The men's cross country team has won 11 conference titles and took home its seventh New England championship in 2015. Lehane is a 17-time America East Coach of the Year and two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year.
BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in Boston, Lehane graduated from Boston State College in 1970 with a B.A. in English and Secondary Education. Coached on the collegiate level by the renowned Bill Squires, he set school records in the 800m and mile runs, and earned NAIA All-American honors in both his junior and senior years. He later earned a master's degree in reading and language from the University of Lowell. After teaching developmental and remedial reading for five years in the public schools of Maine, Lehane began his collegiate coaching career at Boston University in 1982. Lehane and his wife Lesley, who is a former Terrier runner and track and field coach, reside in Brookline with their three sons, Blaize, Elliot, and Aidan.
