Matt Steiger Shares His Strategies


Matt Steiger of La Crescent class of 2018

Personal Records:

400m - 52.9 (split; ran right after my 800m PR)

800m - 1:59.82

1600m - 4:21.10

3200m - 9:38.12

5K - 15:52.80 (recent PR at Lake City Invite)

State XC 2016 - 2nd Place

State XC 2015 - 17th Place

State XC 2014 - 37th Place

State T&F 2017 - 3200m, 4th place; 1600m, 4th place

State T&F 2016 - 1600m, 4th place

Where were you born?

I was born in La Crosse which is right across the river from my hometown of La Crescent. I have lived here since I was a baby. The bluffs make in a great area for running. I weigh 126 pounds and am 5 feet 10 inches tall.

What sports did you play when you were young?

Throughout my childhood I loved football and running. I played tackle football for my local Boys and Girls Club football team in 6th grade. It was my first time in organized sports and I had tons of fun playing. However I always knew that I would be a runner. My dad was a great runner himself in high school (9:21 3200m) and I always knew that I would follow in his footsteps. The next year I joined Cross Country and Track to start my running career. I'm not quite sure on how many letters I have but I my best guess would be eight letters for track and cross country combined (I have earned a varsity spot since 8th grade).


The top five individuals returning from last year in Section 1A are yourself, Nick Meyer of Wabasha-Kellogg, Josiah Eide and Caleb Jones of Rochester Area Home, and Alec Ille of Blooming Prairie.  What are your predictions for the section meet?

Section 1A will be tough like it always is. Individually I feel confident that I can take home the section title but anyone can always come up and challenge for it. It is still early in the season so it's hard to tell the exact form of the other top runners in the section but I do expect them to be as strong as they've ever been.

As for the team title it will be tough for us to repeat our success last year due to the loss of our top-notch senior class. Rochester Area Home School and Plainview-Elgin-Millville will definitely be tough teams to beat; expect the section meet to be decided by a few points.  Nevertheless we are still capable of doing great things this year. We have many young runners on our team that will improve tremendously throughout the season. Our first meet showed much promise and we will continue to improve and gain strength. I believe we can make podium again this year.

Give us a description of your training over the years.  Have you changed what you have done from year to year?

The workouts that I have done have been the same in both type and volume since when I started in 7th grade. Coach Mark "Abe" Abraham gives us a variety of workouts to train the many different systems required to be a well-rounded distance runner: hill running for leg strength, long runs for aerobic base and recovery, interval training run at both VO2 max and Lactate Threshold pace, and even sprint training. I value recovery a lot and will almost always take a day off on the weekend to help myself reset for the upcoming week. I sometimes even take the whole weekend off if I feel it is necessary. I also focus on running with good form. Doing so helps prevent injuries and makes me a more economical runner.

Do you have a favorite workout?

I enjoy all of the workouts I do, but I have always been partial to night-time long runs around LaCrescent. It is fun to hit all of the different parts of town without having to worry about any traffic. Recently I have tried combining many of our major routes into one huge route. It seems like I can run forever at night! I sometimes wish we could have meets at midnight.


Who are your favorite athletes? Why?

When thinking of favorite athletes, Steve Prefontaine will always top the list. I admire his tenacious running style and persistent work ethic as well as his contribution to amateur runners around the world. I have read the book "Pre" by Tom Jordan multiple times. Reading and learning about who Pre was is always great inspiration. I encourage every runner (and non-runners too) to read it.

What spikes, shoes, apparel, etc. do you wear?

I wear Saucony Freedom ISO's for trainers and Nike victory XC 3's for spikes.  As for every day its short shorts in summer and running tights in winter.

What is your diet like? 

I don't watch my diet as much as I should but a common meal I have before race day is salmon and pasta. I don't drink pop; I dislike the carbonation.

Tell us about your race strategy?  

For the 1600m I prefer to go out hard the first two laps. I believe in the race that I PR'd we went out in a 2:08 800m. In my earlier season PR Zack Emery (recent graduate of LaCrescent) took himself and I out in 61 seconds for the first lap. That of course was too excessive but it was fun to try. When running 5k's the plan is similar. The first 1600 is fast with the second 1600 somewhat slower. The last 1800 is run with whatever I got left. I may switch up those tactics throughout the year.


The Boys Class A race in cross country last fall was perhaps the best one of the four races!  It would be wonderful to know what it was like for you, what your strategy was, and anything else you want to share from that great race.

Last years' cross country state meet will be one that I remember for a long time. I was very comfortable through the first mile and was happy to sit in the back of the main pack. The second mile didn't go as smoothly especially when we got out into the prairie section. The pace started to pick up on the slight downhill coming out of it and I was still in the back of the lead pack.

Coming across the two mile mark I thought for sure that I was going to be dropped at any moment but I tried my best to stick with them. I knew that all I had to do was make it to the hill at around 4k and if I could get there in good position I could allow myself some recovery on the long downhill. Thankfully I found myself right where I wanted to be at the top of the hill. The front group had broken up slightly at that point but I felt confident that I was going to make it to the end with the four or five other remaining guys.

I was in great position just before the steep kick-up 150-200 meters or so from the finish and at the top I was in 2nd position right behind Declan Dahlberg of Mounds Park Academy. I see the finish and start to kick but at first it didn't dawn on me that I actually had a shot at winning the race. But then I thought to myself, "Holy crap...this is the state meet...why am I not kicking harder?!"

At that point I put all I had into that final sprint and told myself to go until I drop (which coincidentally happened). For a few seconds I believe I had a slight edge over Dahlberg but then he started to pull away once again. We both fell across the line with him first, me second, Carl Kozlowski of Lake City right behind in third place.

What are your plans for after high school?

Several colleges from all three divisions have contacted me but I haven't made any decisions on where I want to go yet.