Gary Miller was still tired several days after last weekend’s New Balance Invitational in New York City.

The Illinois men’s track and field middle-distance runner was still feeling the strain from the multiple-event competition, something he will experience at the Big Ten Championships in just two weeks.

“Coach (Wayne Angel) had a good strategy; a lot of guys from the Big Ten don’t have the experience of doubling-up and tripling-up (events),” Miller said. “This past weekend was not a chance to go out and run your best time, but a chance for your body to learn how to double and triple.”

Fortunately for Miller, after the intensity of the meet, his coaches have run less taxing practices than usual leading up to Friday and Saturday’s Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.

“It’s more relaxed this week in terms of training. It’s a very light week because this is an important week,” men’s head track and field coach Wayne Angel said.

Despite the relatively easy week of practice, the Illini will not be taking it easy at Iowa, as the added rest will only make them fresher to compete.

“We’ll be fresh and ready to rock-and-roll,” Miller said. “This weekend … is our last shot to prove ourselves before Big Ten. We have this meet, an off weekend and then Big Ten, so for a lot of guys, it’s their last time to go to an event and see how they stack up and how their times stack up.”

The Illinois women’s track and field team is facing a similar situation. Coming off of last weekend’s breakout performance in which almost all of Illinois’ competitors achieved season bests or personal bests, women’s head coach Tonja Buford-Bailey made practice during this past week less intense as well.

“It’s more relaxed,” Buford-Bailey said. “I think we kind of know where we are now. It’d be nice to make a few more improvements, some kids I know want to run a little bit faster.

“Other than that, I think we know where we are and we just want to get some more solid performances before the conference meet.”

The Illini women will head to Iowa with the men, expecting high finishes coming off of their week of relative relaxation. Sophomore sprinter Tamika Robinson stressed that even though things are winding down, the team is trying not to look ahead to the Big Ten Championships.

“We’re staying focused taking one meet at a time, basically each meet we want to be competitive,” Robinson said.

But it will be difficult to go to Iowa without thinking about the Big Ten meet because of the numerous Big Ten schools that will be competing, including Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue and Minnesota.

“This is our first time that we’ll see a lot of Big Ten teams on the same track,” Miller said. “Everyone will race, but at the same time will think ‘I’m going to watch him,’ so it’ll be interesting and give a nice twist to it.”