Interview by: Mario Fraioli

Deena Kastor, shown here at the NYRR Mini 10K in March, will line up for this weekend's Dodge Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon. Photo: PhotoRun.net

She’s won numerous national championships, captured an Olympic bronze medal, and is the only American woman to ever run under 2 hours and 20 minutes for the marathon. In the last seven months Deena Kastor has added an even bigger accomplishment to her already robust resume: that of world-class mom.

The 38-year old gave birth to her first child, Piper Bloom, this past February. On Sunday she’ll contest her longest race since her pregnancy, the Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon. The reigning Olympic Trials Marathon champion, Kastor is on a quest to make her fourth Olympic Team this coming January in Houston.

We caught up with Kastor just a few days before she took the starting line in San Jose.

Competitor.com: Deena, the Dodge Rock n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon will be your first race over 10K since the birth of Piper. How excited are you heading into the half this weekend?

Deena Kastor: I love the half marathon distance. I definitely look forward to improving my fitness over the next few months as we get closer to the marathon trials and probably doing another Rock ‘n’ Roll half somewhere in the country before the trials in January. But for me I like to have the motivation of getting ready for races, so San Jose was a great fit and it’s just right across the Sierra Nevada mountains where we live, so I’m really excited to get there and just test my fitness a little bit at the longer distance. I still haven’t had too much high mileage in my training but definitely love this distance and look forward to the race.

Since having Piper in February you ran the New York Road Runners Mini 10K in June and most recently the Cow Harbor about 10K two weeks ago. Talk a little bit about the progression that’s occurred between those two races.

I was really far from being fit (at the Mini 10K) but was just really excited to get back into racing and being apart of the running circuit again. I just got back from the Cow Harbor 10K two weeks ago and that was more of a realistic shot of trying to get out there and win a race. And I fell short of it with Janet (Cherobon-Bawcom) tearing up the roads this summer. I was second place there so I just look forward to progressing every week. Piper’s seven months old now and it just seems like as the weeks and months go on I’m climbing back into fitness. It’s been a real steady, but great, climb back to where I want to be.

So is it safe to say then you were pretty encouraged by your result at Cow Harbor?

Yeah, and I just feel as the weeks go on I get stronger and stronger. It’s been a gradual progression. I’m hoping to time it perfectly so that I’m at my fittest come January. But I was really happy with the Cow Harbor race and it seems that even since then that training has gone even better, so it’s just been exciting to watch, almost witness myself gaining that fitness back that I used to thrive on. So to look back at my log over the past few months it’s hard to believe almost. I’m excited and confident and feel that I’m a totally different runner now than I was just a couple of months ago.

Speaking of regaining that fitness, how has your training changed since you’ve had Piper? Have you had to compromise mileage or intensity at all?

Yeah I think just because since I took more than five months off of training I did have to start back gradually and I’m just now getting close to hitting 100-mile weeks, where I used to run 120 to 140 miles a week, so just starting to get back to the triple digits mileage-wise. But I’m really just trying to focus on quality more now and so it seems that my morning runs, which is our more intense session, our harder session of the day, I’m a lot more focused on getting the best out of myself for those couple of hours and then when I’m home I get to be a world-class Mom and spend time with Piper. I’m just really grateful that both Andrew and I have the flexibility to watch out daughter grow on a daily basis, so we’re at a pretty fun stage right now and instead of just having that steadfast schedule in the evening I just kind of get out the door and do that second run whenever Andrew comes home from work and is able to take Piper and play with her while I get out and do my second training run and core work. So it’s really been a lot of fun. I think my days used to be pretty running-focused and getting in naps everyday, where as now I’m probably not napping as consistently but I sure sleep a lot at night.

Interview by: Duncan Larkin

Morgan Uceny has been on a tear since winning the 1,500 at the USA Track Championships in June. Photo: PhotoRun.net

American middle-distance runner Morgan Uceny’s race results from two years ago look nothing like the numbers she’s posted this season. In 2009, Uceny managed a sixth-place showing in the 800 meters at the USA Outdoor Championships. Later that summer, she ran a handful of races on the European track circuit, and posted season’s best times of 2:00.06 and 4:09.95 for the 800 meters and 1,500 meters, respectively.

What a difference two years has made.

Uceny, a member of the Mammoth Track Club who is coached by Terrence Mahon, has been lighting the track on fire this summer. She isn’t just beating other Americans (she won the 1,500m at the USA Outdoor Championships); she’s beating the rest of the world, too. In the weeks following her come-from-behind victory in Eugene at the end of June, Uceny has impressive victories at the Athletissima (Lausanne) and Aviva Grand Prix (Birmingham) Diamond League meets in the 1,500 meters. And then, on July 19 in Lignano, Italy, Uceny showed her versatility as a middle-distance specialist, winning the 800m with a career best 1:58.37.

All told, out of 12 appearances on the track in 2011, the 26-year-old Cornell University graduate has been victorious four times (including heats) and found herself on the podium 10 times.

What is the secret of her success? We caught up with Uceny from her European training base in Lucca, Italy, where she is preparing for next month’s World Championships, to find out the answer to this question.

Related: Uceny Rising up Against The World’s Best Milers

]]> http://running.competitor.com/2011/08/interviews/into-the-spotlight-exclusive-interview-with-morgan-uceny_33979/feed 0 http://running.competitor.com/2011/07/features/uceny-rising-up-amongst-worlds-best-milers_33851 http://running.competitor.com/2011/07/features/uceny-rising-up-amongst-worlds-best-milers_33851#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:56:02 +0000 Super Administrator http://running.competitor.com/?p=33851 She’s having a dream season on the track.

Written by: David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Morgan Uceny came from behind to win the 1,500m at the U.S. Track & Field Championships. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Morgan Uceny may be having dream season on the track, but the gifted middle distance runner who runs with the colorful choker necklace laced with plastic beads is no dreamer.

The daughter of a bricklayer and a school transportation administrator from Plymouth, Ind., about 50 kilometers south of South Bend, Uceny has moved methodically from obscure but promising Ivy League athlete to two-time national champion and the current Samsung Diamond League points leader at 1500 meters.  In 12 appearances this year she has recorded ten podium finishes and four victories (including heats).  In her last seven races she hasn’t finished lower than third, and has set career best times at 800m (1:58.37/#2 USA for this season) and 1500m (4:01.51/#1).

“It’s been a long, slow, steady process, I think,” Uceny said today via Skype from her European base in Lucca, Italy, just northeast of Livorno where she shares an apartment with Mammoth Track Club teammates Alistair Cragg and Angela Bizzarri.

Uceny, 26, who rarely ran the 1500 meters in college, said that her move to the 1500m was a function of the extra strength she has gained over the last four years, especially under her present coach, Terrence Mahon, who is best known as a marathon coach.  Uceny joined Mahon’s group in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., in October, 2009, where she does most of her training with teammate Anna Pierce, an Olympic steeplechaser turned champion middle distance runner.

“My progression in my distance has also kind of been the same as my progression in training groups and different coaches,” Uceny explained.  ”I think as I changed groups and done different training I’ve been able to realize where my strengths are more.  So, obviously, at Cornell I was doing strictly 800′s and 400′s because we had the four-by-four relay, so I really didn’t have that many opportunities to run 1500, or I just didn’t want to.  But the move to Michigan, then to Terrence, and (I) started doing more strength work I realized that doing the longer intervals wasn’t as hard, and I was actually pretty good at them.”

Uceny credits this strength for her smooth-striding form in the final 300 meters of her races when many of her opponents are tying up.  She has shown a knack for gaining the right position through the penultimate turn, then having the power to choose her own path to the finish and whisk by her competitors.  She did just that in winning the USA title at 1500m last month, and both the Athletissima (Lausanne) and Aviva Grand Prix (Birmingham) 1500m titles over the preceding weeks.

“That’s definitely attributed to Terrence and the work we’ve been doing,” Uceny said.  ”Starting with last year we started working on changing some things with form.  The first year is kind of learning it all, and I think this year things connected a little more and we were able to make some more progress.  Last year, I was able to maintain form maybe through half of the race.  So, I’ve just gotten a little stronger and able to maintain that longer and longer.” She continued: “I definitely do more weights, more mileage, and more long runs.  It’s kind of a little bit of everything adding up.”

Moreover, Uceny’s vast experience at 800 meters has given her a tactical edge in 1500-meter racing, she believes.  This is especially true since her Cornell team raced indoors often where gaining the best position on the track is critical to success.

“Obviously, the shorter the race is, the less time you have to make a mistake.  Or, if you do make a mistake, the consequences are amplified because of the shorter distance.  So, going into the fifteen, I have more room to make mistakes, but I don’t think I make as many, or I don’t make them in critical spots.  Because if you get boxed in in the 800 you can just really ruin your whole race.”

At the Herculis meeting in Monaco on July 22, Uceny finished third behind Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal –twice the world 1500m champion– and Morocco’s Btissam Lakhouad.  Although she ran her career best time and a USA leader, she feels a tactical error may have cost her the victory.

“In the fifteen in Monaco I think I made one crucial mistake with 200 meters to go,” she lamented.  I lost contact for a second with Jamal, and I felt that cost me a little bit of ground.  Who knows if I would have beat her, but I definitely put myself more at a disadvantage.  Things like that are good to go back and see what I messed up on and learn from those experiences.”

Matt Centrowitz earned a spot on the U.S. 1,500m team at next month's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Shalane Flanagan nearly breaks U.S. 5,000m record.

Written by: David Monti

(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

The outcome of the men’s 1500m at the Meeting Areva in Paris Friday night, part of the Samsung Diamond League Series, cemented the United States’ middle distance squad for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in August.

After a very tactical 1,500m final at the USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon on June 25, none of the top-four finishers –Matt Centrowitz, Bernard Lagat, Leonel Manzano, or Andrew Wheating– had achieved the IAAF “A” standard of 3:35.00 this season. All four men ran in tonight’s Paris race, and each got under the “A” standard, led by Lagat who finished third in 3:33.11. Manzano was sixth in 3:33.66, Wheating ninth in 3:34.39, and Centrowitz 11th in 3:34.69.

“Great race tonight!” Manzano posted on his Twitter feed. “3:33.6 my legs are finally coming back after a rough year. Converts to about a 3:51 mile.”

Lagat, who won the USA 5,000m title, had already said that he would only contest that event in Daegu, leaving Centrowitz, Manzano and Wheating to represent the USA in the 1,500 in Daegu.

The USA women’s team for 1,500m had already been decided. American champion Morgan Uceny ran a swift 4:03.91 in her final in Eugene, well under the 4:05.90 “A” standard for women. Runner-up Jenny Simpson clocked 4:05.66 to lock-up her spot, and third-place finisher Shannon Rowbury –the 2009 World Championships bronze medalist– got under the “B” standard of 4:08.90 when she ran 4:06.20. Since full teams can have two “A” standard athletes and one “B,” Rowbury is also guaranteed a team spot because she finished in the top-3.

Also in Paris, the outcome of the women’s 5,000m left the status of the USA team for Daegu in that event still up in the air. USA champion Molly Huddle (who did not run in Paris), already has the “A” standard of 15:14.00, but Eugene runner-up Hastings ran 15:14.31, just missing the mark. On Friday night in Paris, Hastings ran slightly slower: 15:15.30. That means that while she definitely has a team spot (an “A” plus a “B” athlete is fine), the third place finisher in Eugene, Angela Bizzarri, does not.  For Bizzarri to get on the team, she’ll need Hastings to run the “A” standard (forming an A-A-B team), or Bizzarri can run the “A” standard herself (forming an A-B-A team). Both Hastings and Bizzarri are coached by Terrence Mahon of the Mammoth Track Club in Mammoth Lakes, California.

Shalane Flanagan, who won the USA title at 10,000m in Eugene and will compete in that event in Daegu, also ran the 5,000m in Paris last night. Finishing fourth in 14:45.20, she came achingly close to taking back her national record from Molly Huddle. Huddle, who ran 14:44.76 at the Van Damme Meeting in Brussels last summer, had broken Flanagan’s record of 14:44.80 in that race.

Despite a shaky start to his training cycle, Ryan Hall rebounded to run one of the fastest marathons in history.

Despite a shaky start, Hall makes a thrilling return to world-class fitness and runs one of the fastest marathons ever.

Written by: T.J. Murphy

In October, after health problems forced Ryan Hall to withdraw from competing in the Chicago Marathon, the American decided to make some substantial changes. One that drew considerable speculation was his decision to leave Terrence Mahon, the top American running coach based in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and to take over the task of his own programming. And if you went back in time to this winter and asked Ryan Hall about how it was, you likely wouldn’t have received an answer that would have given light to the idea he would run a sub 2:05 marathon.

“I knew I had to get on top of my health,” Hall said at today’s press conference following the race, saying that this was his first task in revitalizing his running career. In his dealing with ailments, Hall’s comeback into world-class running fitness was not a smooth one. “In the winter, I didn’t even like running,” he said, commenting on the difficulties of this return.

He elaborated saying the changes made to his coaching situation enabled today’s race. “I have a team of specialists I’m working with,” he said, adding that the new situation freed him to try different things that showed in his performance. And now, Ryan remarked, “I’m really enjoying it.”

On the blistering pace, Ryan said he was simply flowing with how he felt. “I never planned to go sub 62 minutes for the half-marathon. I felt smooth and comfortable and was really enjoying the crowd.”

Hall also said that deep into the marathon he knew he was a part of something special. “I was running 2:04 pace and I couldn’t even see the leaders,” he said with as smile. “I was just enjoying it all and loving the Boston crowds. I think I should move here.”

Ryan Hall setting his U.S. half marathon record. Photo: Courtesy of Asics America

The owner of the fastest time ever recorded by an American at the Boston Marathon (2:08:41) assesses his new approach to running on the eve of his third attempt to win the world’s oldest marathon.

Interview by: Matt Fitzgerald

Ryan Hall has a lot of doubters these days. His decision last fall to part from coach Terrence Mahon and guide his own training by listening to his body, and through prayer and biblical principles, has caused many in the running community to question the soundness of Hall’s mind. The notion that Hall is heading down the wrong path seemed to receive some validation in March, when he ran poorly at the New York City Half Marathon, finishing 21st in 1:03:53.

Ryan Hall himself is not worried, however, as he made clear in this interview at Friday’s elite athlete press conference in Boston.

Competitor: We know your general approach to training changed. But how much did your training itself change—the workouts, the mileage, etcetera?

Ryan Hall: It wasn’t a huge departure. I was still doing the 15-mile tempo runs and stuff. I know those things work. They’ve worked for a lot of people over a number of years, whether it was Deena doing them or Meb doing them. I mean, Terrence knows his stuff. I still think he’s one of the best marathon coaches in the world. So there’s no need to go completely crazy changing everything. I just needed to structure things a little differently for my own personal needs, which at the time meant resting a lot more than I was.

Some of the workouts I changed up. Interval-style workouts I’ve done a lot different. But I gain confidence from those same big runs I’ve done year in and year out.

You’ve said that part of your new approach is to be more responsive to your body and your intuitions in steering the course of your training—being more willing to improvise. So did this approach take your training for this year’s Boston Marathon in any surprising directions?

No, nothing too crazy. I started doing some different stuff, like doing sprints in the middle of some of my easy runs. But I’m going to explore some more of that stuff after Boston, especially if I’m going to hop on the track and do some speed work. I might try switching things up pretty drastically, just to see how my body responds.

Has your new approach to training brought some of the joy and passion back into your running as you hoped it would?

Yeah, totally. I’m having a blast every day in training. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed running more than I am right now. Flagstaff has been really good for me, and even more so for Sara. She’s really thriving right now, and that alone makes it totally worth it for me.

How important is Monday’s race in terms of validating the new direction you’ve taken, not for the doubters out there but for yourself?

That’s an important distinction to make. I think for everyone else it’s like this big, “Let’s see how this goes” sort of thing. At least that’s how I perceive them perceiving it. But for me it’s really not. I feel like I’m just getting the ball going. After working through a lot of health issues, I feel like I’m finally in a spot where I can train really effectively. Things have gone really well over the last six weeks or two months or so. That’s just going to continue to get better and better. So I’m really confident, regardless of how Monday goes, that things are going to continue to snowball and get better and better.

If that does happen, would you like to see your example have some influence on other runners, who may be locked into a certain way of doing things?

Yeah, I think we need some freshness in U.S. running. Athletes and coaches need to open up their minds to different styles of training, and maybe mixing things up. You never know what’s going to be the big thing that really shifts American distance running, and positions guys to start doing some special stuff.

I’m going to keep changing things up until I find something that works—something that really works. All of a sudden I’m like, woah, this is what I’ve been missing. It’s like a science experiment. I’m learning how to do and how not to do things.

Isn’t that half the fun of the journey—including even the mistakes?

Yeah, totally. I mean, mistakes are going to be a part of it. I need to learn to give myself grace and not be perfect every time out—not expect every workout to be completely perfect. It’s hard to do. I think it’s really important in this process of searching and exploring; you feel like a frontiersman, exploring uncharted territory.

[sgi:MattFitzgerald]

Ryan Hall is part of a loaded men's field at this weekend's New York City Half Marathon. Photo: Kurt Hoy/Competitor

He’s racing the half marathon to prepare for Boston.

Written by: Chris Lotsbom
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved.

New York — Storylines flood the sixth running of the New York City Half Marathon, which will be contested here in the streets of the Big Apple on Sunday. One of them surrounds Ryan Hall, the American record holder in the half marathon, who will be racing for only the second time since deciding to coach himself at the end of last year. He last raced here at the 2009 ING New York City Marathon where he finished fourth.

“I’m excited for this race,” said Hall, who has been training in Flagstaff, Ariz., since breaking away from the Mammoth Track Club and coach Terrence Mahon.

Hall said his transition from being part of the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., team to being self-coached has gone smoothly.

“Sometimes I think you’re in a situation that’s not working out and the temptation is to change everything, when really you just need to tweak it five percent,” Hall continued. “I learned a lot from Terrence over my years there, and what I did worked initially and worked for a while. But I just needed to kind of tweak it a little.”

The biggest change for Hall has been the extra recovery which he has allowed after workouts. Taking more easy days and having more flexibility has given Hall the freedom to do what his body tells him, he said.

“Terrence was really good about taking my feedback and applying it to workouts. But I knew every Tuesday was an interval day, and if you didn’t do your intervals Tuesday then you missed your interval chance,” described Hall. “I felt like we were really married to this seven-day schedule, where it was like we had to fit in intervals, tempo run, and long run in seven days, and I needed more rest between workouts.” He added: “But I loved training with the Mammoth crew.”

Hall, who is preparing for the Boston Marathon next month, is running in his second race of 2011. He placed second in 62:20 at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston on January 29.

“I’m realizing more and more that getting completely healthy is a process, and it takes time and patience,” Hall added. “Maybe more time than I initially thought, but every week is getting better and better.”

Hall said he does not plan to return a month early to Boston like he did last year before running 2:08:41 to become the fastest American ever to run the Hopkinton to Boston race. Instead, he will come from altitude a few days prior to the race, something he is testing out here.

On Sunday, Hall will be facing an extremely talented American and international field, which features eleven Olympians and seven men who have run sub-61 minutes. Former ING New York City Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi, three-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, and half-marathon debutant Galen Rupp are also competing. International entrants Gebre Gebremariam (Ethiopia), Mo Farah (Great Britain), Marilson Gomes dos Santos (Brazil), and Peter Kamais (Kenya) will also be toeing the line in Central Park.

The NYC Half Marathon will feature nearly 10,000 runners who will begin with a loop of Central Park, then head through Times Square, to eventually finish on the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan.

Josh Cox will make a run at Thompson Mugwana's 50K world record this Sunday at the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Josh Cox aiming for 50K mark this Sunday in Arizona.

Written by: Duncan Larkin

Three years ago, the Josh Cox naysayers were out in full force. After his DNF at 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, Cox looked like a runner whose best days were behind him.

In 2000, a few years before guys like Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, and Dathan Ritzenhein began taking their shows to the roads, Cox was one of America’s up-and-coming marathon stars. He set a personal best of 2:13:55 for the 26.2-mile distance at Chicago that year, but then, almost as quickly as he made his way up the U.S. list, his marathon times slowed down. Significantly. Anonymous bulletin board posters called for his retirement, and despite Cox’s own claims that he was ready to make a comeback, the skeptics turned their backs on him.

All that changed on January 18, 2009.

On that day, Josh Cox smashed Alex Tilson’s American record of 2:51:48 for the 50K (31.05 miles), turning in an impressive 2:47:17 clocking—an average pace of 5:23 per mile. Despite lowering the record by over four minutes, however, the experience was hardly ideal for Cox. He threw up six times and had stop to use the bathroom twice during the race. “Today, wasn’t my day,” he said afterwards.

Cox wasn’t satisfied with taking down Tilson’s record–it was South African Thompson Muguwana’ world record of 2:43:30 he was going after.

At 22 years, Thompson’s record is one of the oldest distance marks around, and one Cox has had his sights on for the past two years. He will take another shot at it this weekend at the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix.

“Things have really come together the last six weeks,” Cox said of his training. “I’m in PR marathon shape, which bodes well for the 50K record attempt.”

Cox has been logging impressive mileage to prepare for the race, averaging 130 miles per week during the fall and winter. He says he’s even reached a few weeks in the 150s. During the week, Cox focuses on three main workouts: 5-10 miles worth of intervals, 6 to 18 mile tempo runs, and long runs in the range of 16-30 miles. Between workouts, he runs–easy.

“Workouts are the stone,” he says. “Mileage is the mortar.”

Ultra running can be mostly an individual sport, but Cox takes pleasure in training with others. As a member of the Mammoth Track Club since the summer of 2009, Cox is coached by Terrence Mahon. According to Cox, Mahon has “full control” of his training program.

The now self-coached Ryan Hall is gearing up to run the 2011 Boston Marathon. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Will the third time be the charm?

Written by: David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

The fastest American ever at the Boston Marathon, Ryan Hall, has decided to restart his marathon career at that historic race next April, organizers announced today.  His appearance will mark the third consecutive year that Hall, 28, will run America’s oldest marathon, one of the five commercial races of the World Marathon Majors.

“I am excited to be part of the John Hancock elite team for the third year in a row,” Hall said in a prepared statement referring to John Hancock Financial, the Boston-based insurance giant which provides the funding for the race’s elite fields. “I can’t wait to be back in Hopkinton in April ready to test myself over the most historic marathon course in America.  I love the Boston Marathon and hope that both my experience training on and racing in the Boston Marathon will lead to something very special in the 2011 race.”

Boston will be the first marathon Hall will contest without the coaching of Terrence Mahon of the Mammoth Track Club.  Hall left Mahon’s group to coach himself after withdrawing from the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last October citing fatigue and over-training.  Under Mahon’s coaching, Hall broke the American record for the half-marathon in 2007 (59:43), set a USA marathon debut record of 2:08:24 in London in 2007, won the USA Olympic Trials marathon later that year in a championships record of 2:09:02, then became the first-ever American-born athlete to break the 2:07 barrier, clocking a 2:06:17 personal best at London in 2008.  Hall, who also finished 10th at the Olympic Games marathon in Beijing, and remains the second-fastest American ever behind former world record holder Khalid Khannouchi.

At Boston, Hall has enjoyed qualified successes.  In his first attempt on the hilly course from Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay in 2009, the Stanford graduate did much of the leading in the first half of the race, fell all the way back to 9th place in the race’s middle stages, but battled back in the hills of Newton to finish third in 2:09:40.  In 2010, Hall was again up front early, fell back, but rallied to finish fourth in 2:08:41, the best time ever run by an American in Boston.  He was, however, well behind the winners Deriba Merga of Ethiopia (2009) and Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (2010) both years.

An American man has not won the Boston Marathon since 1983 when Greg Meyer prevailed in 2:09:01.  But the resurgence in USA marathon running in the last ten years has at least put Americans in contention again.  American men have cracked the top-5 in three of the last five editions of the race (two in 2010, one in 2009 and three in 2006).  Hall has done it twice, and clearly finds Boston’s traditions alluring.

“Regardless of the day’s results, all of us who take on the unique journey of covering the 26.2 trying miles to Boylston Street can all say we partook in history,” Hall concluded.  “I am training with eager anticipation for the opportunity that the Boston Marathon offers, believing that all things are possible.  What better place to break through than in Boston?”

Middle-distance ace Anna Pierce is aiming for a spot on the podium at next summer's IAAF World Championships. Photo: PhotoRun.net

The 2008 Olympian is now known for more than just her wild hairstyles.

Interview by: Megan Whitney Kinney

Olympian Anna Pierce is perhaps best known for her fast times and funky hair colors. The talented middle distance runner lives and trains at altitude in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., under coach Terrence Mahon. Pierce is a multidimensional athlete whose had great success at 800 meters, 1,500 meters and the steeplechase. This past summer Pierce took first place in the 1,500 at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and at age 26 she’s accomplished feats most other elite middle-distance runners can only dream of accomplishing over the course of an entire career. She’s broken 4 minutes in the 1,500 meters, run under 2 minutes in the 800 and took first place in the steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008.

Competitor.com recently caught up with Anna “Fierce” Pierce to talk about her most recent track season, what it’s like training with Terrence Mahon and The Mammoth Track Club, as well as what her goals are heading into this winter and the upcoming indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Competitor.com: Where are you are in your training right now?

Anna Pierce: Right now I’m just building up to peak mileage. This past week I was at about 70 miles, so it’s just kind of getting back in the groove of things. I just started doing workouts maybe two or three weeks ago. So, just kind of getting in shape basically.

Did you take a break after the outdoor season?

Yeah, I took about two weeks off. I usually take three weeks off, but for some reason I just felt a little more anxious to get going this year than I have previous years. And then we went on vacation to Hawaii, and then we came back here.

Looking back at your 2010 outdoor track season, how did it go? What were the accomplishments and were there any disappointments?

It was definitely up and down. In terms of accomplishments, I was really excited to win the 1,500 meters at USA’s. That was my first 1,500 outdoor title that I’ve had, so that was exciting for me. That was definitely the highlight of the season. After that, it was a lot of up and down. Through Europe, I was focusing on the 800 and the 1,500 and I felt a little disjointed with that. It never really gave me too much of an opportunity to do a big training block. The schedule messed with me a little bit, and I never really found my groove. So, I was a little disappointed. But I still feel like 2010 wasn’t a big focus for us, so I probably wasn’t as geared up for it mentally as I should have been. I will be for next year because it’s a world championships year.

Were there specific lessons or takeaways that will impact your training?

A lot of it is just being able to let go of disappointments. I tend to beat myself up a little too much over things I might not have accomplished, goals I didn’t reach. Not PR’ing in 2010 was kind of a weird year for me, because I’ve PR’d pretty much every year since college. So, I think just not getting too caught up on disappointments from 2010, and looking at what I did accomplish, even just in practice. I know I was in very good shape. A lot of it is just trying to be a little more low-key about 2010 –it wasn’t really that big of a deal.

So for 2011, do you already have specific goals in mind?

Terrence and I had a meeting as soon as I got back to Mammoth and outlined the main points of 2011, which of course is [the] world championships podium, and then moving back from that, would be making the team at USA’s. So those are the two major goals. Then everything else, American records, stuff like that, doesn’t motivate me quite as much. So, I’m just trying to look at that podium finish as the primary goal.

So what’s next for you on the horizon in terms of racing? And what events do you plan to focus on?

I think for 2011, the 1,500 meters is going to be my primary focus. I’ll also run some 800’s and I’ve even been tossing around the idea of an early steeplechase. The 1,500 is definitely going to be my focus. In terms of the next competition that we’re going to be doing, I think Morgan Uceny, my training partner, and I are probably going to go over to Europe –which I’ve never done before for indoor track season, but to try to nail down traveling a little bit better, because I’m kind of a terrible traveler. I think it would be good for us to just do like a short trip over there, bang out a couple races, and then come back. Just kind of shake off 2010 a little bit, and gear up a little more for outdoor track in 2011.

What’s it like working with Terrence? In what ways have you developed under his guidance?

He’s pretty intense. He’s like a really competitive guy. So we understand each other pretty well because I can be extremely competitive as well. He knows how to make me kick, and it’s kind of funny. It’s like the third year, and I was just saying to one of my teammates the other day – I feel almost like a veteran. It’s kind of silly, at 26, to be a veteran, but I feel like we’ve got a good groove. We communicate really well. I feel like we just don’t have to go over all the little things we had to the first two years. If I have a problem with something I just bring it up, and he says, ‘I don’t know – I’ll think about it.’ And he comes back and fixes it, or explains to me why he’s not going to change it. So, I like the relationship that we have. It’s pretty good.

Coach Joe Vigil flanked by two of the athletes he coached, Jen Rhines (left) and Amy Rudolph. Photo: David Monti

Bronze statue erected in honor of influential running coach.

Written by: David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Joe Vigil, one of the most influential distance running coaches in American history, was honored by his alma mater, Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo., last Saturday with a life-sized bronze statue of him.  Vigil, 80, taught and coached at Adams State for nearly three decades.

“They usually dedicate bronze statues to dead people, but I’m not done yet,” Vigil quipped at the unveiling ceremony.  ”I have more to learn and a lot to do.  If you make one person’s life better in your lifetime, then you’ve had a great life.”

Over 300 people were in attendance, according to the running industry trade group Running USA, including Vigil’s most famous athlete, Olympic bronze medallist Deena Kastor.  Vigil began to coach Kastor, then Deena Drossin, after she graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1996, taking her to the high altitude of Alamosa where she famously trained through the brutal winters there.

“On behalf of the 300-plus people who are here, we can go home with the peace that we have celebrated a great man who has left such a footprint on our hearts and our lives,” Kastor said.  ”We walk away with a sense of obligation to teach and touch lives in the way that Coach Vigil has done all his life.”

Vigil compiled an amazing record as a coach at Adams State, an NCAA Division II school.  His teams won 19 national titles in both track and field and cross country, and Vigil’s win-loss record was a staggering 3,014-176 over a 28-year period from 1965 to 1993.

But it was Kastor’s accomplishments which brought Vigil global recognition.  Blessed with talent, but not yet completely dedicated to her running (her 5,000-meter PB was only 15:52.80 in college), Vigil convinced Kastor that she could truly be great if she applied herself and followed his coaching.  By the year 2000, under Vigil’s coaching, she dropped her 5,000 and 10,000-meter best times to 14:51.62 and 31:51.05, respectively, and won the USA Olympic Trials at the longer distance.  The following year, Vigil coached her to a USA marathon debut record of 2:26:58 at the New York City Marathon, and the extra strength Kastor built from her marathon training set her up for a break-out year in 2002 where she won the USA cross country title, set a national record for 15K (48:12; lowered the following year to 47:15), won the silver medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, set a world best for 5K on the road (14:54), and a national record for 10,000 meters (30:50.32).

Those accomplishments set the stage for Kastor’s blossoming as a marathoner.  In 2003, Vigil arrived in England for the London Marathon with Kastor, clutching a computer-generated graph which he said showed that Kastor could run 2:20 for the marathon.  She nearly did, running an American record 2:21:16 to finish third.  The following year Kastor won the Olympic bronze medal in the marathon in Athens.  Terrence Mahon took over coaching Kastor in 2005, helping her to lower her American record to 2:19:36, notching victories at both the Chicago and London Marathons.

“I did not cross over (with Vigil), although I talked to him frequently that first year,” Mahon explained in a text message.

During his career, Vigil was selected for 18 international coaching staffs including the Olympic Games (twice), IAAF World Cross Country Championships, World Track & Field Championships and Pan Am Games.

Ryan Hall announced on Friday that he will no longer be coached by Terrence Mahon and will not train in Mammoth Lakes this winter. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Marathoner does not name new coach; will not train in Mammoth this winter.

Written by: Mario Fraioli

A day after his now former Mammoth Club teammates said he would be splitting from his longtime coach Terrence Mahon, Ryan Hall confirmed on Friday that those rumors were indeed reality.

“I believe we are all dynamic individuals and thus change is an inevitable part of life, Hall wrote in his Steps Foundation blog on Friday afternoon. “Recently, I prayerfully decided that it was time for me to make a change in my running career and withdrawal from the Mammoth Track Club.”

Friday’s blog entry was the first statement on the matter released by Hall, who is reported to be vacationing in Central America with his wife, Sara. Running Times senior editor Scott Douglas broke the story on Thursday afternoon and Runner’s World’s Peter Vigneron reported that Mammoth Track Club members Anna Pierce and Josh Cox said Hall confirmed his decision with them via e-mail earlier this week. The couple’s names no longer appeared on the Mammoth Track Club’s website as of Thursday.

Hall, who pulled out of this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon after a disappointing 13th-place finish at the ING Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 19, expressed gratitude throughout his entry “for all that our coach, teammates, and town have invested in us over the past five years.” He went on to write that he and Sara will not train in Mammoth this winter and that the couple is looking to explore other training venues, although he didn’t name any specific locations.

“Though we do intend to spend time training in our home, Mammoth Lakes, this change will allow us greater flexibility in both our day to day training and in our location,” Hall wrote. “Sara and I will plan to train in a variety of locations at both sea level and at altitude, whatever makes most sense for the time period as I prepare for a spring marathon.  We will likely not be training in Mammoth until the spring or summer due to the long winter.  I believe this flexibility will give us a greater capacity to maximize our training.”

So, who will coach Hall? Although he didn’t provide a clear answer in his blog, it seems he will be largely self-coached and will gather advice from a number of unnamed resources.

“I will be using some different sources to shape my training,” Hall wrote. “Over the past 14 years of running I have developed a keen body awareness, which I will use on a daily basis, as well as advice from various experts, and prayer to ultimately shape my training.  I believe that operating in this manner will allow me to run with a new level of faith and excitement.”

For More: The Steps Foundation

[sig:MarioFraioli]

Ryan Hall has reportedly left coach Terrence Mahon and the Mammoth Track Club. Photo: PhotoRun.net

His teammates confirm split, say he won’t relocate from Mammoth.

Written by: Mario Fraioli

Rumors are swirling that top American marathoner Ryan Hall, who pulled out of this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon after a disappointing 13th-place finish at the ING Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 19, has split from his longtime coach, Terrence Mahon and will no longer train with the Mammoth Track Club.

Hall, who is currently vacationing in Central America with his wife Sara, has not yet made any formal announcement regarding this decision. The couple’s names no longer appear on the Mammoth Track Club’s website, and Runner’s World’s Peter Vigneron reports that Mammoth Track Club members Anna Pierce and Josh Cox say Hall confirmed his decision with them via e-mail earlier this week. Pierce has said the Halls have no plans to relocate from their current home base of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., however the New York Times is reporting otherwise.

“A change of location may be good for his career,” Flynn is quoted as saying to the Times. “Sometimes runners need a little change in scenery. There’s not any ill-feeling with the club or the coach.”

Stay tuned for more from Competitor.com as this story develops.

For More: Running Times, Runner’s World, New York Times

Meseret Defar won her debut half marathon on Sunday with a little help from Ryan Hall's coach, Terrence Mahon (pictured right). Photo: PhotoRun.net

Terrance Mahon. Photo: New York Road Runners

The Mammoth Track Club coach helped Meseret Defar get to the starting line on Sunday.

Written by: Duncan Larkin

Seconds after watching Meseret Defar cross the finish line victorious in her debut half marathon yesterday in Philadelphia, I watched the multiple time world champion run up to Terrence Mahon–better known as Ryan Hall’s coach–and give him a big hug. Walking over to where they stood, I overheard Defar thanking Mahon repeatedly.

“No problem,” a smiling Mahon told her. “I’m glad it helped.”

Glad what helped? What had Mahon done to deserve all this praise from an athlete he didn’t even coach? I know the running world is a tight-knit community, but seeing an Ethiopian track specialist hug an American marathoner’s coach seemed a bit incongruous.

I knew Mahon was from the Philadelphia area and had run the course many times as a competitive athlete and while working at the Bryn Mawr Running Company. Did he share some secret tips about the course with Defar? Since it was her debut at the 13.1-mile distance, I wondered if Defar received some sage half-marathon racing strategy from Mahon beforehand. He wasn’t her coach, so what could he have possibly done for her?

I had to get to the bottom of it.

I tried Defar first. After throwing her a few softball questions about the race, which she fielded in perfect English, I inquired about Mahon. “Why did you go up and thank Terrence after the race?” I asked.

“What?” she replied.

I tried again, this time speaking slower and motioning over to Mahon, who was standing nearby talking to one of his own athletes, Ryan Hall. “Terrence Mahon, Ryan’s coach over there: Why did you hug him after you won the race? I heard you thank him for something. What did he do for you?”

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t understand.”

I’ve heard about East African runners pretending not to understand difficult or undesirable questions, so I got suspicious. The plot was thickening.

Mahon had the answer. “She had a problem with her leg the night before,” he told me. “It was tendinitis. She needed therapy on it. They asked me to help out since I had worked on Ethiopians before.”

“I guess it paid off,” he said grinning.

Since Defar had just used her legs to outkick the best Kenyan road racer in the world, it seems Mahon’s magic touch paid off indeed.

****

Duncan Larkin is a freelance journalist who’s been covering the sport of running for over five years. He’s run 2:32 in the marathon and won the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race in 2007. His first book, Oxygen Debt, was recently released.

Josh Cox says Ryan Hall is ready to win.

Ryan Hall’s closest running buddy says he is ready to win in Boston Monday.

Interview by: Matt Fitzgerald

Few people know Ryan Hall better as a runner and as a person than his close friend, teammate, and frequent training partner Josh Cox. An accomplished marathoner in his on right, Cox can offer a unique perspective on Hall’s preparations and readiness for Monday’s Boston Marathon. Cox took a break from his preparations for the May 30 Comrades Ultramarathon to share that perspective with us.

Competitor.com: How much training did you do with Ryan in this training cycle?

Josh Cox: He’s been back in Boston for a couple of weeks, but before that we did a fair number of runs together. Early on I did a fair amount of training with him—intervals and long runs and all sorts of stuff. But as my training got more specific to Comrades and his training got more specific to Boston we didn’t overlap as much. We did a lot of our maintenance runs together but not a lot of the hard sessions.

From your perspective, how well did this marathon ramp-up go for Ryan?

It went well. Every marathon buildup is different. Terrence [Mahon, who is Hall’s and Cox’s shared coach] is always tweaking things, and they did that with this build-up, so it’s hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons with past ones. Boston is different from a Chicago or a Berlin, where it’s essentially a time trial, so the training is a lot more simple. You just build the engine and get as fast as you can get. There’s not a lot of strategy. You just get really fit and try to hold on to the pace. Whereas in a championship race like a Boston or a New York, there is a lot of strategy. In Boston, your split at halfway if you’re in the lead group could be 1:02 or it could be 1:05.

After Boston last year Ryan commented on how uneven the pace was. They would run 4:20 pace for 600 meters and then settle back into 5:00 pace. That kind of running is what makes the Africans so good—they do a lot of it in their programs. So this time Ryan did a lot of work where the pace was being toyed with a little bit. We’d do 1,000-meter repeats with the middle 400 at 62 to 65 seconds and then we’d settle back in.

So his buildup has gone well, but we had a tough winter in Mammoth and we were driving down [to lower elevations to train] almost every single day. Getting out of the altitude and going to Boston to spend time on the course is going to reap big dividends for him. We’ve been messaging each other often over the last couple weeks and I know things have gone really well for him there. I think it bodes well.

He’s still a young marathoner. He’s very, very, very talented. I know that he will win Boston someday. Will it be this year? Who knows? It has to come together on race day. It took so many years for Meb [Keflezighi, who trains on the Mammoth Track Club with Hall and Cox] to finally win that marathon major. He was the silver-dressed bridesmaid for so many races, and people always asked, “When is he finally going to win?” And he finally did, and I know that day will come for Ryan as well.

Were there any noteworthy setbacks in his training?

He battled a cold, but everyone on our team did. But it wasn’t anything super bad. Meb had his knee tweaked. If I had to choose one or the other, I’d take the sickness. Because if you’re healthy, the legs are feeling good, everything’s good. Also, it can be a blessing in disguise, because you ease back on the hard sessions and the body can really recover.

He only did one tune-up race—the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January, which didn’t go very well for him. Did that bother him much or did he shrug it off?

He shook it off. It’s hard to even call that a tune-up race. It was more of a rust buster. It was so early. We hadn’t even done any workouts. We’d just had the holidays, and he was running, but he still wasn’t doing the tempos the way that he’d do in his build-up. It was just a chance for him to get out and race. And [Simon] Bairu comes in and he’s super fit, and he ran a great race. Simon’s a great runner, and I take nothing away from his win there, but Ryan wasn’t anywhere near peak fitness.

More generally, do you have a sense that Ryan sees himself as being in a bit of a rut? His first two marathons were very satisfying for him, but it doesn’t seem he’s been as well satisfied with his last few marathons.

It’s hard, because Ryan has the ability to hit the 500-foot homerun. People see that and they go, “Where’s the next Houston [referring to the place where Hall set his American half marathon record of 59:43]? Where’s the 2:06? But when you run 2:06:17 [as Hall did at the 2008 Flora London Marathon], there’s not a lot of room to improve. That is a phenomenal time. People are talking about a rut when Ryan just placed third and fourth, respectively, in Boston and New York. That’s a testament to how great a runner Ryan is. To even have this conversation—“Do you feel you’re in a rut that you have to break out of?”—Dude, the guy was podium last year in Boston!

Sure, Ryan wants to win, and wants to keep the upward trajectory. But with any kind of endurance sport, things take time. And you need that race-day magic. You need things to come together. Ryan was as fit as he had ever been going into New York. It’s all there. But unfortunately, in our business, you get judged on two days of work a year. The guarantee you get with Ryan is that you know that every single time he gets out there, he will do everything in his power to have that great performance, but how do you find that race-day magic on those two days a year when you have these big events? That’s the real trick.

There’s probably no better indicator of whether a runner is ready to produce a great performance than confidence. How is Ryan’s confidence level at this point?

I think it’s really good. I think going to Boston [early] has been good for him. Getting on the course and getting familiar with it—he’s done repeats, he’s done long runs, he’s done tempos on the course, and I think it’s really helped his psyche. Hopefully on race day it comes together. Ryan will have a shot to win in Boston.

[sgi:MattFitzgerald]

Interview by: Duncan Larkin

As soon as the starting gun went off in last year’s Boston Marathon, Ryan Hall bolted to the front. For the next 3 miles, battling a slight headwind, Hall dictated the pace with a blazing 14:35 opening 5K, throwing the race chock full of superfast East Africans into confusion. Although he didn’t win, Hall still managed to make it onto the podium, finishing third. Hungry as ever for a victory, Hall, 27, returns to Boston this year. If he is able to pull it off, Hall will be the first American man to win since 1983.

We conducted the following email interview with Ryan as he put the final touches on his race preparations in Boston.

Competitor.com: Though you finished fourth at last year’s New York City Marathon, it wasn’t what you had hoped to accomplish and you were admittedly not too pleased with your performance. Would you describe that race as a setback of any kind? Did you learn anything about yourself in that race? Will you run NYC again?

Ryan Hall: Disappointing races are only setbacks if you let them discourage you. I was disappointed but I learned a ton from it. I am sure I will return to NY one day and hit it right.

How is the Hall Steps Foundation coming along? What have your biggest challenges been in starting a foundation? Since you are focusing on poverty in Africa, have you considered consulting with or using African runners to help promote the foundation? If no, why not? Clean water/poverty/disease–all the challenges in Africa are extremely daunting. How will you measure success with your foundation?

Well, our goal is to contribute to ending global poverty. This will not happen through one person or one organization. The whole idea behind the Hall Steps Foundation is for everyone to get involved and take a step. It is only through our collective efforts that we will accomplish our goal, but with that said, every small step of every individual touches lives. The foundation is already a success because it has touched one life and it will continue to be a success. I will
not allow it to be measured by numbers.

Last year at Boston you took off–trying to catch the pack off guard, changing the dynamic of the race from the beginning. In hindsight do you think that tactic worked in your favor? Do you have any similar surprises planned this year?

It is hard to say if it worked or not. I was very proud of my third-place finish and may have finished much further back if I hadn’t pushed early, or maybe I would have won if I wouldn’t have. We will never know so I don’t waste energy thinking about what-ifs, especially this far removed. With that said I have a much better understanding of the course this year and will race it differently than last year, but how the specifics will play out I do not know.  This is what makes running the race so exciting.

What are you doing differently in training for Boston this year? What kind of workouts are you doing? What’s your mileage been and how has it differed compared to last year?

My mileage is about the same (140 at the highest). I spent some more time at sea level and spent more time taking care of my body with self-therapy.

Mo Trafeh recently ran the fourth-fastest U.S. half marathon. you see him as a threat to your half-marathon record?

It is only a matter of time till my record is broken so I don’t really sweat it. It’s either going to be Mo or Dathan [Ritzenhein], or Galen [Rupp] or whoever. That’s the nature of records. I’ll be happy to pass my record on and try to improve upon it myself. I knew Mo from high school. He is a great guy and has a lot of talent. I am excited to see him doing well and pushing the envelope of U.S. running.

As you look forward to 2012, how will you approach next year? What marathons are you looking at?

Well, I am running the Chicago Marathon in the fall and then I don’t really know beyond that.  I am excited for 2012 as it will hold great opportunity for me but I am trying to get to the place where I am living in the moment and every day is sweet.

After Ritz had been training for last year’s London Marathon, he broke the 5K American record thanks to his enormous aerobic base. Are you compelled to follow in his footsteps and get back on the track? Why not try to make the Olympic team on the track as well as the marathon?

I think it comes down to following your heart and w hat you are passionate for. I love the marathon and don’t have a huge desire to get on the track and have a full-blown season. With that said, my heart can always change so I am open to it. I feel like God created me to run the marathon and do something special in the event. Until I accomplish this end or God tells me otherwise I will not relent.

How is your relationship with Terrence? Not assuming it’s bad, but would you ever consider being coached by someone else or training anywhere else other than Mammoth?

I feel very blessed to work with Coach Mahon and have my teammates on the Mammoth Track Club. I see no reason to consider change at this time. Bloom where you’re planted, right?

Most people reading this want to get some pointers from one of America’s best marathoners. What is one workout you recommend to all marathoners regardless of ability? And why do you consider that workout so important?

I would say that if I could only manage one workout a week it would be a tempo run. I would suggest that everyone should set an aggressive goal marathon pace and to start extending the distance they are able to run for this distance as the weeks of training progress.

Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor are not just the favorites to win Sunday’s P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon. They are also teammates on the Mammoth Track Club based in the remote mountain town of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. In addition to the men’s American record holder in the half marathon (Hall) and the women’s American record holder in the half marathon and marathon (Kastor), the team’s ranks also include three-time Olympian Jen Rhines, 2009 New York City Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi, multiple NCAA Division II national champion Scott Bauhs, multiple NCAA Division I national champion Alistair Cragg, 5K national champion Sara Hall, seven-time NCAA All-American Amy Hastings, 2008 Olympian Anna Willard, and steeplechaser Jonathan Pierce.

Mahon with Mammoth Track Club members Sara Hall and Deena Kastor. Photo: PhotoRun.net

The Mammoth Track Club is coached by former UCLA cross-country and track coach Bob Larsen and former 2:13 marathoner Terrence Mahon, who is also married to Jen Rhines. Mahon spoke to Run Now from his home in Mammoth Lakes shortly before leaving to Phoenix to watch Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor race P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon.

Run Now: How did the Mammoth Track Club get started?

Terrence Mahon: It was right after the nonprofit organization Running USA was created [in 2000]. At that time U.S. distance runners were doing very poorly internationally. We had sent only one woman and one man marathon runner to the Sydney Olympics. So this group saw that as a call to arms to try to put together a project to bring back U.S. distance running.

The model they looked at was what worked well in the ‘70s and ‘80s with all of the clubs and post-collegiate support systems that were out there. This was around the same time that coach Vigil had retired from Adams State [College in Alamosa, Colo.] and Bob Larsen had retired from UCLA. They were asked if they would be willing to coach such a program and that’s how it started.

You began coaching the team in 2005, after Joe Vigil retired. What was that transition like? I imagine that you and Vigil have many similarities in terms of coaching styles, but also some differences.

As an exercise physiologist, coach Vigil taught me all of that stuff and that’s still what we use to this day. What I brought to the table was that at that time I was doing a lot of strength and conditioning and sports therapy, so I started to integrate that more into the system than we had in the past. Then over the past couple of years I have started to bring biomechanics into the mix.

Right now the big difference with us is that I integrate all of that into the program, whereas it was sort of contracted out in the past—Deena had her own personal trainer, Meb had his own personal trainer, and so forth. It’s much easier for me to oversee everything because I know what’s going on and how to cycle all those different components from a stress standpoint.

The biggest rivals your athletes face on an international level are the East Africans. There are a million different explanations for their dominance, one of which is their group training system. Do you see your team as an answer to that advantage?

Yes, but the difference is that the Ethiopian and Kenyan training camps are very federation driven. So if you want to go anywhere and do anything you need the federation’s permission. But at the end of the day you have large groups of athletes training under one system, and that’s what drives the bus and leads to continued success year in and year out.

In our group you see the same thing. The young athletes are learning from the older athletes. There’s a camaraderie in training, and they push each other, so that everyone is getting just a little more out of it every day.

What special advantages does your location in Mammoth Lakes offer the team?

Mammoth is very unique in the United States in terms of elevation. Mammoth [elevation 7,900 ft.] is a little higher than the other training sites in the country. Flagstaff is a little bit lower [7,000 ft.], Boulder is significantly lower [5,200 ft.]. We have to deal with things like snow, but we are uniquely situated so that we are able to get to lower altitudes where there is much better weather very quickly. We can do our own “high-low” model based on an individual athlete’s need or just on what’s going on with the weather. We don’t have to move all the time, like, “OK, it’s wintertime, now we have to go to Florida.” We can just go up and down the mountain.

The other part of it is that, at least at this point, Mammoth is a very secluded town. There’s not a lot to do: one movie theater, one grocery store. So when athletes are here, they know they are here to train. Coming off the mountain takes a little bit of work, so when they go to race, they don’t race just for fun, or just to get one in; it’s because they’ve trained for it and they’re ready and it’s serious. It makes them think twice before planning some random race, because it’s often a two-day trip to get there.

It’s similar for the Ethiopians and Kenyans, where they are flying to the U.S. or London or wherever. You’re talking about an 18- or 20-hour plane ride, so you leave home only when you mean business.

You alluded to the benefits of your athletes pushing each other in training. But is there also some risk of their overcooking themselves by racing in training?

That’s a combination of two things: one is athlete maturity and the other is coaching. The job of myself or Bob Larsen as a coach is to control the athletes when we see that’s getting a little out of hand. At the same time, as the athletes get a little older and more mature and self-confident, they know what they need to do to get from A to B. Sometimes that means competing a bit and other times it’s letting the other guy go or sitting in behind the guy who’s stronger that day and getting pulled along.

There’s a transition with every new athlete that comes in. Typically they were the best athlete wherever they were—in college, their prior club or wherever. They’re not used to getting beaten in practice. So the transition over the first year is getting used to that and finding how they can work within the system so they don’t feel like they’re racing every day.

I imagine one of the other challenges you face is balancing group training that takes advantage of the team environment with individualized training that meets the needs of each individual athlete. Is that a tough balance to strike?

Yes and no. It’s just a little more time consuming from a coaching standpoint. Each one of our athletes has an individual training program. But 70 or 80 percent of the time, they are training with one another. It may mean that one runner does segments of some other runners’ run, or they do one interval or two intervals together that fit their common need and then do their own thing for the rest of the workout.

I think most of the athletes would say that it’s a good combination—they get the benefits of individual and group training at the same time.

Besides performance, what other factors do you consider when selecting new athletes to join the team?

We take a look at the [athlete’s specialty] event, and how that fits in the scheme of what we have here. Sometimes it gets a little redundant if you have six people running the same event. That doesn’t make much sense. I like little clusters of people running the same event.

Age is also an important factor. I’m a big one for a mentoring system. I like to have athletes of different ages in the same event.

Other than that, it’s two things: A) Does this person have the talent to be a world-class runner? Because our orientation is definitely toward not just developing national-class runners but runners who can get on the podium internationally. And B) Does this person work well within the dynamic of our team? We have to make sure that everybody there knows what the overall goal is for everybody. Because they spend so much time together, if there’s not a good harmony there it’s bad for everybody.

How is your team funded, and can paying the bills be a headache for you?

Our goal with the program from the get-go was to be an outside-the-box type of program. What I look at particularly is that athletes have a limited number of years to earn an income in this sport. The typical career is four to six years, and you get the unique ones that are eight- to 12-year careers. Some of the other teams are sponsored by a shoe company. You’ve got the group in Oregon that is sponsored by Nike and the Hansons’ group that is sponsored by Brooks. We never wanted to limit an athlete’s ability to earn an income in a free market society. So we didn’t want to lock ourselves into working with only one company. The downside to that is that it’s much harder to get sponsorship because we can’t offer opportunities to have sponsor logos on an athlete’s uniform because that’s driven by the athlete’s contracts.

So we’ve had to look elsewhere. The town of Mammoth Lakes has been tremendously supportive of us for the past four years. And we’d probably be nowhere without all the help of the New York Road Runners. While we have athletes like Ryan, Deena, and Meb who make a good living in the sport, we do have trouble luring a sponsor in to see that our goal is to produce many great athletes. That’s a three- or four-year process for the new athletes. Look at where Ryan was when he first came out of college. He needed assistance. Scott Bauhs—a new kid like him needs assistance. If we’re only looking at the top guys we’re missing the big picture, that this is a long-term plan.

We want to keep this going for years and years to come, and that’s where the funding is needed, to create both the infrastructure for our group and to create a scholarship system for the young ones to get up to the level where Deena is now.

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Find out how your company can sponsor the Mammoth Track Club at mammothtrackclub.com.

Deena Kastor hold the American record for the marathon. Photo: PhotoRun.net

In this exclusive interview, the American marathon and half marathon record holder discusses her lifestyle for success.

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

Deena Kastor, 36, is one of the most accomplished American distance runners of all time. She owns the American record for the half marathon (1:07:34) and marathon (2:19:36) and won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic Marathon. One of the secrets to Kastor’s long-term success is what you might call her “comfort zone.” Early in her career, Kastor found the perfect coach (Joe Vigil, now retired), the perfect place to live (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), and the perfect all-around lifestyle to support her running, and she has never deviated from this winning formula.

We interviewed Kastor about her comfort zone shortly before she flew east from her home in California to provide reporting for NBC’s television coverage of the 2009 ING New York City Marathon, which was won on the men’s side by an important character in her comfort zone: her longtime Mammoth Lakes Track Club teammate Meb Kelflezighi.

Competitor: In your mind, why have you been able to race so successfully for so long?

Deena Kastor: I chose a coach [Joe Vigil] who I believed was the best and most knowledgeable in the world, so I trust and believe in the program. So it was very easy to come to practice every day and just follow the protocol. Being part of a competitive running group, we get an incredible amount of quality work done together.

But I believe the leaps and bounds that I made over the last several years have come from outside the training environment and how we choose to recover. During a workout you’re breaking down soft tissue and really stressing your body. How you treat yourself in the time between your workouts is really where you make your gains, recover, supercompensate and gain strength to attack your next workout.

It’s easy to get to practice and focus at that time, but I make a conscious effort to focus on the time between workouts in order to get the most out of my recovery to maximize my training.

What is it about living and training in Mammoth Lakes that seems to agree with you?

Mammoth is a town of 7,500 people, and everyone who lives there is an athlete of some sort. We have skiers, mountain bikers, climbers. We’re just the runners who fit into this extraordinarily fit community, and it definitely shows in the support that we get from everyone outside of our training group. It’s fun to be connected to the community in that way.

Almost every world and Olympic champion in running has lived and trained at altitude. We are at 8,000 feet of altitude, which is similar to Kenya’s Rift Valley. We know we are at optimal altitude with an optimal community situation—we really feel grateful for where we are.

I’m a homebody. I love to be at home and get into that training zone. The optimal buildup to any competition is a two-month period at home in Mammoth Lakes, and the simplicity of a mountain town where I can focus on getting the work done and recovery. The time in between I fill with chiropractic and massage and acupuncture and ice baths and proper nutrition immediately after workouts.

Since Joe Vigil’s retirement in 2004 you have been coached by his protégé, Terrence Mahon. What was that adjustment like?

Coach Vigil’s training was nose to the grindstone every day. Terrence’s training has a little more of a middle-distance philosophy mixed in, with neuromuscular recruitment and explosive workouts mixed with endurance workouts. Terrence’s training is really well rounded and has made me a much better all-around athlete in the second half of my career. I think both coaches were perfect for the time that I had them. Coach Vigil instilled an incredible work ethic, and Terrence has made me more of a well-rounded athlete.

When you look at the workouts we’re doing, we’re all doing pretty much the same thing, from the recreational runner to the elite distance runner. Our workouts are similar: We’re doing interval sessions one day a week, long runs one day a week, tempo runs once a week. The difference comes with the elite runner being able to dedicate so much time to recovery. Also, we believe in our coaches. If you’re second-guessing your program or second-guessing the coach you’re operating under, chances are you’re not going to be fully committed to the workouts you’re doing on a daily basis.

You seem to thrive on continuity in your coaching and other supporters.

I’ve surround myself with people I believe in: my therapists, my coaches, my manager—I’ve chosen the best people in the trade. When I go to work every day I know that I am being helped by the best professionals and that gives me an extreme amount of confidence.

I think anytime you commit to a coach, commit to a team, commit to a training environment, the continuity that you get from that is going to pay off in the future. I notice that when I have to travel, my training suffers in the weeks that I spend away from the coach and the team. Terrence has created a dedicated group of athletes who love meeting to practice together and feed of the support that we offer one another.

Do you have some favorite workouts that you have relied on for many years to build your confidence?

I really gain the greatest confidence from putting together weeks upon weeks of solid training. It’s not really a matter of walking away from a session of mile repeats and saying, “Wow, I’m ready.” It’s running a session of mile repeats two days after a 24-mile long run and following that up with a tempo run just under race pace—it’s putting in the work week in and week out that’s really what I thrive on.

My favorite workout to do is four times two miles at 9,000 feet. It’s an elevation that taxes me, whereas when I do intervals and other sessions at 7,000 feet I’m usually able to do them quite easily. But when I go up to 9,000 feet and do these two-mile repeats it really taxes me and it feels really good afterwards. Trying to hit five-minute-mile pace at that elevation is a really daunting task, but it’s a workout I really thrive on and love doing.

I gather that over the years you have developed a daily routine that works well for you. Can you take us through a typical day in the life of Deena Kastor?

I wake up at about six o’clock and then eat breakfast and then take the dog for a walk. As soon as I get back my husband [Andrew, a massage therapist by trade] will stretch me out and get me ready for practice. At 8:30 everybody meets for practice. Whether it’s a hard day or an easy day I’m usually back at around 11:00 or 11:30. I’ll eat a snack and then take an ice bath and then eat lunch right afterwards. Then I lay down to take a nap. When I wake up I eat another snack, walk the dog again and do my second run. At 4:30 I meet my trainer at the athletic club for a gym session. Then I come home and prepare dinner for my husband and myself. It’s usually early to bed.

I try to sleep 12 hours with my night rest and my nap combined. I am sleeping half the day, but I found that it allows me to be more energetic when I’m awake.

What do you do for social life?

Running is my social life. Every day I get to interact with people who share the same passion I do.

Of course, in a way we’re on the same team. We’re both coached by Terrence Mahon, the Mammoth TC coach and head of Run Mammoth, the coaching service that has prepared my program. But being on a team in running is a bit different than in other sports. If you’ve run on a cross-country team you know that, yes, it’s a team event but it’s not like the team members aren’t dying to beat one another.

OK, so indeed one will be able to measure how far I am behind Hall in NYC with a sundial, but apparently I have additional threats to consider. Like Justin Nyberg, a staff writer at Outside Magazine who is blogging on his preparation for the NYC Marathon, just as I am. He too is on the Run Mammoth team (thanks to Asics, we both have temporary access to the coaching of Mahon and brain trust). Nyberg is shooting to go under 2:40.

I’m a big fan of Outside, but that will not deter the inevitable smackdown between the two of us through New York’s five boroughs. (I request age-grading and a head start).

Check out Nyberg’s Q and A with our exceptionally skinny teammate:

http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/fitness/

Follow former 2:38 marathoner, and current editor-in-chief of Inside Triahlon magazine, TJ Murphy as he trains for his return to the marathon at the 2009 ING New York City Marathon. TJ will be getting “back on the bus” of marathon training with the guidance of elite coach Terrence Mahon under the Asics Editor’s Run NYC Marathon program. Learn more about Terrence, his athletes and his programs at www.runmammoth.com.