You recently clocked the A qualifier at the Payton Jordan invite. Were you expecting such a strong performance at this stage of the year?
It was definitely my goal to get the A standard at Payton Jordan, and I was confident that I could get to the line in that sort of shape if things went well. It was a shorter lead-up of quality training than I would normally have for Stanford, after coming back from an Achilles injury at the end of last year. I was able to put together a few consistent months, without many setbacks at all. Having said that, it’s always a massive relief to get the time, and in the end I only JUST got it after a pedestrian first 5k of 14:09.
How did your training stint in the US go?
It was awesome, I love going to Mt Laguna to train with Nic Bideau’s MTC crew. There was a great atmosphere and team spirit amongst the group, and this definitely helps to get through the hard work. I managed to put together a solid 5 weeks leading up to the Payton Jordan race. It’s tough training, but it really works. Out of the 6 of us who raced Payton, I was the only one who didn’t run a PB.
You were sidelined with an achilles injury late last year. Once you were up and running, you were quickly back in form. How did you manage this so quickly? And what type of cross training did you do?
It didn’t feel too quick for me, and I still feel that I’ve got a while until I hit top shape. Hopefully this will come at the Beijing World Champs. The key to my return to decent shape was patience, progressive increases and a lot of treatment. I was cycling, swimming, aqua-jogging and walking as well as training in the gym which all helped when I was able to start running longer and faster.
You just raced the Gifu half marathon. How did it go?
I had hoped to run 61 – 62 minutes if conditions were good, however it ended up being quite hot so it then just became about racing. I ran 63:41 for 8th place in the end, but it was a great experience.
Is a marathon on the cards post Olympics?
Yeah, I’ll be looking to step up sometime after Rio.
Favourite food in the US?
There was a little restaurant next to the Gym we were training at in a town called Julian. On Saturdays we would go straight to the Gym after a massive hill session – so by the time I was done in the gym I was always ravenous. The burger at this place was a definite highlight of the whole trip.
