Flanagan Putting In The Work For Half-Marathon Debut
Chris Nickinson Dec 18th 2009, 12:44pm | PrintReport |
FLANAGAN PUTTING IN THE WORK FOR HALF-MARATHON DEBUT
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
Reigning
Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Shalane Flanagan has been putting in
some longer runs for her half-marathon debut next month in Houston, and
she's not happy about what it's done to her feet, at least
aesthetically.
"I used to have really nice looking feet,"
Flanagan told reporters yesterday during a teleconference hosted by USA
Track & Field and the Aramco Services Houston Half-Marathon. "But
I can say that my work is definitely reflected in my toenails."
Flanagan,
28, the USA 5000m and 10,000m record holder, has entered the USA
Half-Marathon Championships on Jan. 17, after a four month layoff from
racing. Her last race was the IAAF World Championships 10,000m on Aug.
15, where she finished 14th, a long way down the results list from her
third place, American record run in the Beijing Olympics.
"Berlin
wasn't all that I had hoped for," Flanagan explained. "I trained
really hard, and really well throughout last year, but had some medical
stuff that held me back." She added of her season: "It kind of ended a
little sour that it wasn't what I was capable of."
Flanagan had
a magnificent season in 2008. She won three USA titles (cross country,
5-K on the road, and 10,000m), and lowered the American 10,000m record,
twice. Running with New Zealand's Kim Smith and behind pacemaker Rose
Kosgei of Kenya, she ran 30:34.49 at the Cardinal Invitational meeting
at Stanford University, then ran a sizzling 30:22.22 in the Olympic
final to break her own record and clinch her first Olympic medal.
Her
2009 season started out on a high note, setting an American indoor
5000m record of 14:47.62 at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. But after
moving to Portland, Ore., to train under Jerry Schumacher, Flanagan's
legs seemed to lack their usual snap as she adapted to Schumacher's
program. She didn't win a single race in six more appearances after
Boston last year, and finished as low as 11th at the Prefontaine
Classic 1500m.
"Those low moments I find to propel me to work a little bit harder," Flanagan said.
But
watching both the Boston and ING New York City Marathons from lead
vehicles this year, Flanagan has become charged up about the prospect
of running farther. She sees her upcoming run at Houston as a first
step towards the marathon, although she isn't sure yet when that might
take place. She's just feeling her way along.
"I would love
to," she said of running a marathon, "but I have no idea until I
actually go out there and run a half. I'm just going to take it one
race at a time. I'm definitely flirting with the idea. I'm trying to
prove to myself and my coach that I can handle the training.
Ultimately, my coach has the best idea of what I'm capable of."
Flanagan
only recently returned to Portland with her husband and manager, Steve
Edwards, who has also been her training partner during the fall while
the couple was home in North Carolina. Flanagan has found her longer
tempo runs to be very challenging.
"What I call gut wrenching
workouts," she said. "When my stomach is just turning and I can't tell
the sky from the ground. It's learning my body in a whole different
way."
Part of what she said Schumacher is trying to teach her is
patience. On the track, Flanagan would tend to run flat-out. But in
the half-marathon, the pace will feel slow and she'll have to show
patience to be competitive at the finish line. Schumacher called the
longer distance "a mental test."
"I think in my training I've
had a hard time just relaxing and not just attacking," she admitted.
"In the half I've found I have to calm myself down, almost waste time
and let it come to me a little bit more."
In Houston, race
director Brant Kotch and his elite athlete coordinator David Chester
have put together a solid field, including defending champion Magdalena
Lewy Boulet and runner-up Kelly Jaske. But neither of those women have
Flanagan's track credentials, and her 30:22 on the track is equivalent
to a 67:30 half-marathon by one reliable conversion formula.
Interestingly, that's four seconds faster than Deena Kastor's USA
half-marathon record.
But Flanagan isn't focused on time yet,
because she's still racing against the distance. "I want to test
myself and push myself in the last couple of miles to see where I'm
at," she concluded. "I could run 1:12 that day and be really pushing
myself, or I could run 1:08. I'm going to focus on winning and let the
time take care of itself. I love running fast and running fast usually
means that I can win."
ENDS
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