Interview with Benita Johnson
by Andrea Haver

Benita Johnson, who finished 14th in the ING New York City Marathon 2004, will return to New York on Saturday, June 11, to run the Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K in Central Park. (Photo by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)

Coming off of a stellar sixth-place finish at the 2005 Flora London Marathon, Australian Benita Johnson, 26, is gearing up for this Saturday's 34th running of the Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K in New York City's Central Park. Johnson holds personal best times of 8:37 for 3,000 meters, 14:47.60 for 5,000 meters, 30:37.68 for 10,000 meters, and 1:07:55 for the half-marathon; her 3,000-meter, 5000-meter, and 10,000-meter times are Australian national records. The gold medalist at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 8K, Johnson placed 14th at the ING New York City Marathon 2004 in 2:38:03. She is part of training group that includes countryman Craig Mottram, winner of the May 22nd Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park.

Johnson has been training recently in Boulder, Colorado; she also trains in the mountains near San Diego, California, and in London.

Fast-Women.com: How is your training in Boulder going right now? How was your workout this morning?
Benita Johnson: Good — I did some fartlek training. I'm still recovering from the [Flora] London Marathon so I'm not back into full training yet.

FW: I've heard you mention that you always take two weeks off after a marathon and are confident that you can get back into shape quickly after you start up training again. Has your recovery gone well?
BJ: Yeah, well, I took two weeks off after London, and in that time I flew back to Australia and moved into a house we just bought in Melbourne so it was very busy. I had a lot of things to do in Melbourne and we were there for 10 days, then flew straight over to Laguna Mountain in San Diego and I started my training up there with Craig Mottram and Sonia O'Sullivan. Up there, I was only really jogging; I was hoping to start training sooner but my body just wasn't recovered as quickly as I thought this time — so I have only really started my hard training this week. I'm very healthy now and I'm fully recovered, so the [Mini] on Saturday will really be a starting point to see where I'm at and see how much work I've got to do before the World Champs in Helsinki in August. [Note: Johnson has been named to the Australian team in both the 5000 and 10,000 meters.]

FW: How does your preparation for a 10K road race differ from a track 10,000 meters? Is it very similar?
BJ: Yeah, it's very similar. I do road races even in the track season. The reason why I do it is because I love road races and I love the fact that you can run with the crowd. I love the fact that there will be so many other athletes running and so many girls running out there, doing their best. I love women-only events, and just ran one in Hyde Park before the Flora London Marathon.

FW: Would a win for you in the Mini have even more meaning after Craig Mottram's big win in Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park on May 22?
BJ: Certainly. Craig winning [the Heathly Kidney 10K] is great motivation for our training group and we're very close and supportive of each other. I love to see him doing so well. I'm not in top shape at the moment, so it'd be very hard for me to win. I'm really using this race as a guide to see where I'm at and to continue my preparation for World Champs.

FW: And as you continue your training for August, what is your mileage like?
BJ: When I'm in hard training, I'd run certainly 100 miles a week very easily, but I also get up to 190 or 200 kilometers [approximately 118 to 124 miles] in marathon training. At the moment, my mileage isn't very high, but mainly just because my body needs the time to recover. I'll definitely be at 100-plus miles throughout June and July.

FW: How does that break down into workouts during each week?
BJ: We'd be on the track once a week, do a fartlek once a week, and probably a longer pace run — ;a hard, sustained effort — ;and then a long run on Sundays. I'll also be doing a few track races in Europe, so we'll vary the program a bit based on what's coming up.

FW: How long is your long run when you're in 10K training?
BJ: Between an hour thirty and two hours. Two hours is basically the longest I ever do; I'll occasionally do 2:15 before a marathon but that's it.

FW: Do you do one run a day or double days?
BJ: I run twice a day every day except Sunday. I also do a lot of body strengthening exercises, which are very important to keep your muscles strong and prevent injury. My husband, Cameron, is the physiotherapist for our whole group; he treats Craig and Sonia and does a fantastic job. It's very hard to avoid injury all the time. I got a very bad injury last year which really hampered my preparation for the Olympics.

FW: Do you feel like you're always balancing between wanting to run harder and needing to back off to prevent injuries?
BJ: Yeah, it's a very fine line, and I think to be the best on the world, you've got to be on that fine line [of hard training]. And if you overstep it even by half a centimeter then problems will happen. You've just got to know your body and know what to do when you're not training, recovery-wise, to make sure you come back up for the next session.

FW: You used to play field hockey. Do you have time for any kind of hobbies now? What do you do when you're not running?
BJ: Well, I've done a couple of university degrees, so I'm not studying anymore, but I am currently writing a few articles for couple of magazines in Australia. There's a new Australian running magazine which is just getting launched in the next couple of months, and I'm helping them out with that. And also the topics are advice about international travel and what to do when you're in another country diet-wise, so it's not aimed at just runners but also the general population who don't know much about hat to do when they go overseas. We're so isolated in Australia, that any sort of practical advice about things is pretty well-taken! [laughs]

I'm also enjoying a bit of beading as well, which is great to do in America because the shops are fantastic. [laughs] There are really good shops here in Boulder. I'm doing necklaces but also getting into wire beading as well. I always like learning new things and keeping busy.

FW: I know you just moved into a new house in Australia, and you've been training in Boulder for two weeks, but you also live half the year in England. Do you find the travel distracting, or is it refreshing to have new courses to run on?
BJ: Well, that's a good question, because certainly, being from Australia, we can't live year-round there because it's so isolated. To be the best in the world, we've got to be racing the best in the world and that's why we've got to travel. My manager, Nic Bideau, has done a great job, not only coaching me, but also setting us up so we've got a house in London that's our home as well. My husband, Cameron, and I have a little unit there, and Craig Mottram lives 50 feet away in his little unit. [laughs] In London we feel like we're at home, and in Australia we feel like we're at home, and in America we know exactly where we go for our training. We feel very comfortable in the environments that we go to, so I don't find it a distraction. I just really see that it's just part of being an elite athlete and trying to be the best in the world. And we couldn't be as good as we are if we didn't go to altitude training, so that's why we come over to America so much. But certainly, you've got to be very careful on the overseas flights and really look after yourself when you get to your next destination and not train too hard in the first couple of days.

Another thing is, you've just got to relax when you travel so much because things always go wrong with flights, and you just can't get worked up. Probably being Australian, we are fortunate that we are relaxed by nature.

But we really enjoy coming to America. I would love to live a bit longer in Boulder if I could. We're living with Steve Jones and I've had a good opportunity to get to know him a lot better. A guy from our training group, Andrew Leatherby, lives here, so I've been doing a lot of training with him. The trails are fantastic and it's just such a beautiful place.

FW: Anything else that you'd want to share that I haven't asked about?
BJ: Well, my little sister, Caitlin Willis, placed second in the national championships in the 400 meters this year! She's running about 53 seconds, 52.9. She made a big breakthough, so she'll probably run in the Commonwealth Games. Our trials are in December and the Commonwealth Games are in March in Melbourne. It's quite a big deal in Australia. It'll be the first time that me and my little sister are on a team together.

(Interview posted June 9, 2005.)