In the running world we have various types of runners. Theoretically speaking we all work really hard as runners. In the context of personality type, i grativate as coach both introverted and extroverted ahtetles. In this particular case, where the mixture of hard work, talent and personality is what we find in Rishabh Prakash from Burlington High School now a freshmen attending Cornell University. Over the past two years I have started to develop a rapport with this amazing talent and better human being. Honesty is the best policy he is missed this year. However we are going to check in with Burly's Finest.
Info:
DATG: First & Last name: ?
Rishabh Prakash
Social Media Instagram: rishabh_prakash_
Twitter: RishabhPrakash8
Facebook:
Age: 18
HS Graduated & year graduated: Burlington High School Class of 2019
College: Cornell University
Events: Distance and XC PR’s:
Mile: 4:14.88
2 Mile: 9:08.02
5K: 14:46.89
8K (XC): 24:22.30
10K: 30:10.5
DATG: How are you man ? How are things at Cornell ? I’m doing great man! Things at Cornell are going great! It’s been an adjustment getting used to college but I think I’ve finally gotten into a nice routine and I’m having the time of my life.
DATG: What's your major ? Computer Science and I’m hopefully trying to minor in Business
DATG: Seems like yesterday watching you crush it here in Massachusetts, you had an amazing high school career. Where there any lows if so when ? It is inevitable that every great runner has some lows in their career, and a runner is defined by not only by their successes but also by how they have bounced back from their lows. For me, the biggest low in my high school career was senior year indoors around All States. I was amidst my best season of running and thought that I was poised to have a great run in the two mile, and thought that if I could stick with Ryan Oosting for the majority of the race, I could break 9 and make the race one to remember. There was a lot of hype around that race and I definitely let that pressure get to me. Unfortunately, I got sick a few days before the race, and despite that tried to put myself in the race and consequently died hard to something like a twelfth place finish and a very shitty time. I was very down on myself for almost a week after that race, but was able to get over my sickness and use my disappointment/frustration as motivation to run well at Nationals two weeks later.
DATG: When did you start to believe that you were in the best runners in the area ? State Coaches my junior year was definitely a turning point in my running career where I realized that I truly was one of the best runners in the area. I led that race nearly gun to tape (before being outkicked in the last 150 lol) and ran 4:24, which was a massive PR for me at the time. I beat a lot of talented runners in that race and it really showed me what I could achieve in my high school career.
DATG: Is their preference in favorite season or track event ? In Massachusetts, and Eastern Mass especially, we’re definitely spoiled in that we get to run at either BU or Reggie, two of the best indoor tracks in the country, for nearly every meet, so there was always an opportunity to run fast. So during high school, indoor was definitely my favorite season, and I don’t see that changing in college. Event wise, I thought I was a miler junior year and then moved up to race the two mile consistently senior year. In college I think I’ll be a 3k/5k runner, but I honestly love to race anything from the 4x400 to the 10K and just race in general, and think my versatility and range is what makes me a good runner.
DATG: How is Upstate NYC treating you ? Gets cold and alot of snow ? How is that working out for you ? So far, the weather has not been that much different from home in MA, but we haven’t really hit peak winter yet so I can’t judge. If anything it’s just a few degrees colder than MA and snows more frequently, but the weather is pretty manageable for someone born and raised in the Northeast. The trails in Ithaca are amazing though so when the ground wasn’t covered in snow during XC season I was able to hit nearly all my mileage on soft surfaces with scenic views which was really nice.
DATG: Go to Cereal: Lucky Charms or Froot Loops
DATG: Biggest adjustment in College so far ? From Academics to Athletics ? Freshman year in college is really all about adjustments, and how well you can adjust is a huge determinant in your success both academically and athletically. Being a student athlete at an academically intensive school like Cornell has been far from easy. The workload is exponentially higher than high school, and time management is very key to ensuring you are successful. For a decent amount of my first semester, it felt like my life was really just doing schoolwork with running being my only break from that grind, but I have slowly started to have more time for myself. Athletically, running itself doesn’t change other than a slight increase in volume. The biggest change from high school has been the emphasis on all the little supplemental things, such as post run lifts, hurdle mobility, and recovery, that we do every day that adds to the length of practices, but are vital to staying healthy.
DATG: Funfact you know I am gamer. Are you ? We have a Nintendo Switch set up in my dorm so I play a lot of Super Smash Bros Ultimate with my roommates and teammates.
DATG: Favorite High School moment ? Third Place and All American in the Two Mile at Nationals. Being an All American was a goal that I had for so long so to be able to finally achieve that was surreal.
Team wise, winning State Relays indoors my senior year was my most memorable moment. We had a tough couple of losses in dual meets leading up to Relays that decreased our confidence as a team, and injuries and other factors really left our team shorthanded. Despite the adversity, we exceeded our expectations in multiple events and were able to defend our Relays title. I think if you ask Coach Carr to tell you his favorite meet throughout my four years, he would pick that Relays meet - it’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him.
DATG: Your taking a road trip and you can only play 3 albums what albums are there ?
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, since every road trip needs Kanye and that is
undoubtedly Kanye’s best album 2. Big Bootie Mixes #1-#16. If you don’t know what Big Bootie Mixes are, they’re basically
one our long mixes that top pop hits of the past 6-8 months, plus a few rap and rock throwbacks, but remixed to be up-tempo with EDM beats in the background and quite a few bass drops. They’re great for warmups and road trips, and playing all 16 would get you through 16 hours of driving. 3. A present day rap album, maybe today something like Astroworld or Drip Harder.
DATG: Your School alumni Paul Hogan had an amazing career Post High School at Umass Lowell, has he mentored you or provided guidance along your journey ? Paul has been a huge mentor through high school and I’m sure he will continue to be one through college. More than anything, he has served as an example to look up to, and a runner that I can strive to be like. I remember freshman/sophomore year in high school when everyone would talk about Paul’s greatness, and thinking to myself “I wanna be like that.” And as I got faster and realized that his records were actually attainable, I would look at the school record board every day and it would motivate me to try to break his records. Seeing Paul’s success as an NCAA All American, and now as a pro runner for BAA, is something that will definitely motivate me throughout college.
DATG: How is the Culture on the Cornell team ? I would say that our positive and supportive team culture is our strongest aspect and will be one of the primary reasons behind our success in future years. It was also one of the main things that drew me to Cornell during the recruiting process. We all hold each other accountable towards our own goals and push each other to be better versions of ourselves, while working our
asses off every day at practice. At the same time, we are all best friends and have tons of fun outside of practice together.
DATG: If you could play another sport what would it be and why ? Probably soccer. I played soccer growing up until high school and it was always my favorite sport until I started running. I’m also a huge basketball fan and can give any of my teammates the work in 1 v. 1, so either soccer or basketball.
DATG: How was it to be coached and trained by my main Coach Matt Carr ? It is something I am very grateful for - to have had the opportunity to be coached by one of the best coaches in MA. Aside from writing killer workouts and training plans that contributed to my improvement, he definitely brought the best out of me as an athlete and truly made me believe that I could be the best. One of the biggest takeaways I will take from Coach Carr is in regards to goal setting, in that he would always say “if you achieve all the goals you set for yourself, then your goals were too damn easy.” Aside from that, practice was a blast every day with Carr’s sarcastic humor and memeable personality.
DATG: How was your first XC season in College ? Any Highlights ? Overall, it went pretty solid. There were ups and downs but as a whole, it was a great first season. My first big invite, Paul Short, was a huge surprise in that I ran 24:22 for 8K (way faster than I expected to run) and placed really high. From there, I had a terrible race at Pre-Nats where I DNF’d, and a not as bad but still kind of terrible race at Heps. A lot of things like nervousness, bad fueling before the race, and stress from school, contributed to those shitty races, but I was able to improve on those things and run 30:10 at Northeast Regionals, and our team finished 9th running all sophomores and freshmen (with one junior) so our future and room for improvement definitely look bright.
DATG: What are your short term and long term goals ? Short Term: Run 4:08 for the Mile and 8:10 for 3K indoors, and score at Heps (Indoor), and hopefully sub 14:20 for 5K Outdoors. Long Term: Break 4 in the Mile and 8 in the 3K, win Heps as an Individual and as a Team, make NCAA’s as an individual
DATG: I noticed that Prakash family isn't done yet with running ? Baby Bro is on the come up huh ? Introduced him here first and last name so the audience can check for him ? Do you believe he has learned anything from you
Rithikh Prakash. Remember the name. He actually just broke 5 (4:55) in his first indoor mile a few days ago, so he’s definitely got a bright future. I definitely hope he has learned a good amount from me, just being at my meets and seeing me run the past four years. More than
anything, I just want him to have fun with the sport of running during these early years and not feel pressured to run crazy fast, and eventually pave his own legacy.
DATG: If we had an ability to go back in time and you could have a conversation with Freshman Rishabh who is entering his first track season what would you share with him that you think he could benefit from ? I would tell Freshman Rishabh to just have more fun with it. Running is such a mentally taxing sport, so if you are always dialed in 24/7 and focused on running fast in every single race, the sport becomes less fun and you go into races feeling more pressure and nerves than necessary. There are hundreds of opportunities to race, and every shitty race has the potential to be followed by a great race. I feel like I was too dialed in too early on, and would tell my younger self to just chill out a little bit more and have more fun with running, because it truly is an amazing sport with amazing people! Other than that, I would tell freshman Rishabh to keep working hard, and to stay patient. I was a bit of a late bloomer and would get down on myself early on when I saw freshmen and sophomores running crazy fast, wondering what I could do to be like that, but the truth is, all I could have done was stayed patient and let myself mature while putting in the work. So - have fun with it and stay patient and improvement will come!
DATG: You know I need that Cornell Hoodie or Beanie ? Size Large thank you kindly. Gotchu!
DATG: What can I do to make the podcast better ? Just keep grinding out content man! You also have a lot of outreach in MA, and I’m sure a lot of other runners would do Q&A’s like this. I think the public would love to read more content like this.
Looking forward to seeing you crush at the IVY Championships
Dreams Are Tangible Goals
Previously on DATG: Questions to my Former Self w/ Aaron Lucci
Previously on DATG: Questions to my Former Self w/ Catarina Rocha