Interview with Colleen De Reuck
by Abigail Lorge

Colleen De Reuck heads to her second-straight 8K title at the 2005 USA Cross Country Championships. (Both photos by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)

De Reuck on her way to a win in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon.

A four-time Olympian and a former world record-holder for 10 miles, 41-year-old Colleen De Reuck has been one of the world's top road racers for more than 15 years. De Reuck will compete in the 2005 Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K on Saturday, June 11, in New York City.

De Reuck competed at three Olympics for her native South Africa before becoming a U.S. citizen in December 2000. In 2004, just shy of her 40th birthday, she ran 2:28:25 to win the U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Women's Marathon and qualify for her fourth Games. (Hampered by a foot injury, she struggled to a 39th-place finish in Athens.)

This season, De Reuck has raced well on both the roads (she won the USA 25K Championship by more than three minutes, setting a masters world record of 1:25:15) and on the trails (she won her second consecutive 8K title at the USA Cross Country Championships and placed 13th—the top American—in the long-course race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships). She ran 33:40 to place fourth at the 2005 Bolder Boulder 10K on May 30.

De Reuck, who placed fourth in the 2004 Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K, which was reserved for American Olympic hopefuls, is a former schoolteacher has lived in Boulder, Colorado, since 1993. She and her husband, Darren De Reuck (who also serves as her coach), are the parents of a 10-year-old daughter, Tasmin.

FW: You had some pretty serious injuries coming out of the Athens Olympic marathon, right? You had plantar fasciitis?
CD: Yes, but it wasn't plantars, it was the ligament on the lower part of my foot. It was on the outside of my foot. So it was like fascia inflammation and tendinitis.

FW: How much time did you take off from running after the Olympics?
CD: Seven weeks.

FW: And how long did it take for you to get back to serious training?
CD: I took a long time to come back again, training. [I was] running every second day for a few weeks, and then running every day, so maybe 12 weeks after Athens.

FW: You must have been encouraged with your victory at the USA cross country championships—your first big race back—beating Jen Rhines pretty comfortably. [Note: De Reuck's margin of victory in the 8K race was 20 seconds.]
CD: Yeah, that was great, because I just love cross country. So it was nice to do that.

FW: Then you went to Jacksonville for the USA 15K Championships, and finished fourth.
CD: That was a good, solid race. You know, that was all I could do on the day. It was nothing special but it was a nice, solid race.

FW: Did you go straight to France from Jacksonville for the World Cross Country Championships the following week?
CD: No, I came back home [to Boulder] and then went to France.

FW: That's a tough travel week.
CD: Yeah, but you know, my husband, Darren—he works and I have a daughter in school and activities. So you have to come back.

FW: You were 13th overall—first American—at the World Cross Country Championships. How did you feel about that?
CD: I was pleased with that because I've been suffering from a chronic hamstring injury as well, so my training wasn't that great. And so I was scared that if I went out too hard, my hamstring would say, okay, that's enough. So I was far less assertive at Worlds than I normally am. Normally I will just lay it out and go for it. But I was a lot more cautious this year. But I was happy with 13th place, yeah.

FW: How long has the hamstring been bothering you?
CD: I've had this hamstring on and off for a while but it started hurting me real bad in the Olympic marathon because my foot was injured so I was running differently. So I really strained it badly. So it's been pretty sore. I went to acupuncture, muscle balancing, and physical therapy. Eventually I just had two cortisone shots in my hamstring, and it helped somewhat. It didn't help one hundred percent. But we have a good physical therapist here, Mark Plaatjes. [Note: Plaatjes, the 1993 marathon world champion, also emigrated from South Africa and became a U.S. citizen.] He's a runner himself so he knows what to say to runners and how to treat them. So I see him once a week or every second week for my hamstring now and I go in twice a week to ultrasound. So he's helping me take care of it. I can run with it. Some days it's just more sore than others but I can still run.

FW: In April you were fourth in the More Half-Marathon, held in New York City's Central Park. Was that just a training run for you? [De Reuck ran 1:23:04—6:20 pace.]
CD: I was invited to come and just participate, being a master. But I had just had my cortisone shots. I had taken 12 days off running, so I just jogged it because I didn't want to take any risks.

FW: Was it a fun event for you?
CD: Oh yeah. Just to run around… it was a great event. I really enjoyed it. You meet so many women runners that are just starting. They were doing the half-marathon, or this was their first marathon, and they just feel so much more comfortable when they're in just a women's field. You actually also get inspired by them, because some of them work all day, and they've got kids, or they're single mums but they still get out there and train.

FW: And then in mid-May you won the USA 25K Championships in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
CD: That was great. Once again, I just go into the race and run as hard as I can with the training. Some races I rest up more than others and I just go as hard as I can. Yeah, I was very happy with that one, because it's a tough distance, it's not a distance that you do often. I just thought I'd take it as a half-marathon, but then the last little bit was harder.

FW: Why aren't you racing the Freihofer's 5K [held on June 4] again this year? Is it because it's too close to the Bolder Boulder and the Mini?
CD: Yeah, I've done that in past years, when I've done Boulder on the Monday, Freihofer's on the Saturday and then the Mini the following week, and I can't do that. I need more time to recover now.

FW: Did you enjoy racing in the Americans-only field at last year's Mini?
CD: Yes, I did. It was great because there were a lot of good American girls all running in the same race, so it was like a championship. But this year they've got an exceptional field, haven't they?

FW: They've got Lornah Kiplagat, and Benita Johnson…
CD: Yes, she's actually training in Boulder, I just heard.

FW: Which elite runners do you tend to see in Boulder when you're out on a training run?
CD: I just hook up with a bunch of girls that I train with. We actually don't see that many people. I only start training once my daughter's gone to school, so it's not that early—it's only between 8:00 and 8:30.

FW: Let's look ahead to the Mini 10K. Would you say it's your kind of course because Central Park is so hilly?
CD: Yeah, I like that course because it's definitely not just a fast course. I mean, girls run fast times on there, but it's definitely a strength course. I enjoy that—the different rolling terrain. And then running in Central Park is neat because there are still people out there in the park, doing their own training [laughs].

FW: How do you approach a race like this, from a competitive standpoint? Do you have a specific goal? Or is it just about doing the best you can do on that day?
CD: That's it, that's me, nothing special, no over-analyzing anything. You know, I'm going to go there, and just give it all I've got.

FW: Do you still get nervous?
CD: Yeah, I still get nervous. Basically the night before, when things slow down and you start thinking… I do get nervous, and Darren's like, 'You've been doing this for 22 years. How can you still be nervous?' I'm like, 'I still get nervous.' But you know, the morning of, it's fun. You wake up, and you're doing something—you're getting ready for the race and you're warming up, and then it [the nervousness] is gone. But the night before, yeah.

FW: The race sponsor, Circle of Friends, has an anti-smoking mission. Were your parents smokers?
CD: My mum and dad did smoke. My dad stopped before my mum, and then eventually my mum stopped.

FW: Your parents were both runners, right?
CD: Yeah, my dad did ultramarathons in South Africa. [Her father, Frank Lindeque, introduced Colleen to running. He died of a heart attack while running in 1994.] My mum—she wasn't even a sports person—and then she stopped smoking and she was eating candy and that's why she thought she had better start exercising. And so she just started jogging. I remember, I had to jog in front of her [laughs]. She wouldn't let me run behind her or next to her.

And that's why the Circle of Friends is a great event—because there are still so many kids that start smoking. We run on a bike path past Boulder High School, and there's a little bridge underneath there, and sometimes in the morning there are so many kids just smoking there. And Boulder's generally a healthy city. It's one of the first places to have non-smoking facilities—restaurants, et cetera. But you know, the peer pressure is just so strong. So, it's just a great message if you bring your kids there [to the Mini]. I have a friend, Tania, who comes from New York, and she's going to go back there to visit her family, and she's trying to get her family to come and walk the race with her. And her 12-year-old niece is going to do it. What an event, to show that you can give up smoking and you can take up another habit, a healthy exercise habit—running—and to see women that are participating in this. I think it will make such a good impression on a youngster that maybe they won't succumb to peer pressure because peer pressure is just so strong.

FW: Do you have any fall marathons planned?
CD: If all goes well, I plan to do Chicago.

FW: Do you meet with your training group [Katie Blackett, Colleen Stroud, and Jeanne Hennessy] every day?
CD: We just meet on our workout days, which are Tuesday and Friday. And we meet for a long run on Sundays. We all [have to] fit it in our own schedules. They work part-time or full-time and so we try and juggle it.

FW: What's your coaching relationship with Darren like? Is it collaborative, or is it mostly him dictating to you what you should do?
CD: Yeah, he will tell me what to do. But then I'll say, 'I think I need a little bit more of this or that,' and then he's like, 'okay, yeah,' or 'no, I think you've done this, don't worry.' So yeah, he basically tells you what to do.

FW: Are you pretty rigid about sticking to your planned schedule, or if you're not feeling well one morning when you head out the door, will you adjust?
CD: Oh yeah, I adjust, I've learned now [laughs]. When you're younger, you just do everything, even if you're on your death bed, you go and do something. But I adjust, and sometimes if I have to do, say, eight miles in the morning and four in the evening, and then I'm like, 'well, I don't have time to do eight in the morning,' so I'll only do six, and then I'll do five in the evening. Sometimes I miss a second run, and it's just what happens.

FW: Do you run twice a day most days?
CD: I run twice a day four days a week.

FW: When do you fit in the second run?
CD: I do it in the evening, or sometimes when Tasmin has activities, then I'll take her to the activity and then I'll just run from there. Sometimes in the summer she'll bike with me.

FW: What kind of strength training do you do?
CD: I lift weights twice a week and I do Pilates twice a week.

FW: Pilates on the reformer machine, or just on a mat?
CD: No, I have to do the reformer because it helps me stretch a little bit more.

FW: Do you go to a class?
CD: Yeah, I go to a class. Because I find that if I'm at home I've always got chores to do, and then instead of just sitting and stretching I'll fiddle around at home. So if I go to a class… I belong to Flatiron Athletic Club, so I'll go there, just do a class there, I lift weights there. And we run from there because it's quite close to some trails. And I actually taught a little class there on plyometrics and running drills and some core strength. [I've done it] for the past few months, so that's been nice.

FW: It must be exciting for the recreational runners to have an Olympian as their instructor.
CD: It's fun to see how in the beginning of the class they can't do anything, and then they just improve drastically. It's great.

FW: What do your two weekly speed workouts consist of?
CD: One will be longer, and one will be shorter. I like to do a lot of fartlek. I don't like running on the track. I do a lot of fartlek that's just [based] on time and effort, and that's how I like running.

FW: Is there a bread-and-butter workout that you always have done that you judge your fitness and readiness to race by?
CD: No, I just mix it up and it's just on how I feel. I just do fartlek, mixing up different times and if I just feel like I'm flying and I feel good then I think, 'now I'm ready.'

FW: Have you found you need more recovery as you get older?
CD: I definitely need more recovery between the hard days. That's why I've gone down to two workouts [a week], and not three. Katie and them that I train with, every now and then they do three workouts a week, and I just do two because I just need more time to recover between the hard workouts.

FW: You said after the World Cross Country Championships this March that you're 'slipping a bit.'
CD: Oh, I am, I'm not running my personal best times anymore.

FW: But when you ran 15:47 [a masters world record] at the Freihofer's 5K last year, did that make you think, 'I'm 40, but I'm still really fast, really good at this?'
CD: But I used to run 15:30, you know, so my times are getting slower.

FW: Is there a secret to your longevity? Is it because you just really love it?
CD: I think it's because maybe I'm not so intense with my running. I'm doing other things than just running. I don't just run and get massage and have a nap and then run and just do that. I have other things, you know. When we were in South Africa, I taught [school]. And coming to the States, for a year, we did nothing but just run. And after that I was pregnant and I've had a child, so I'm doing other things. So my whole life isn't consumed just by running. And I think that helps, because it's not so intense. But I believe you have to be intense like that to get real good. But [this] is just what I've opted to do.

And then I always have little breaks during the year. I take time off, and it's not just once a year that I take time off. I do have easy weeks and some time off during the year. I just feel like I just need time off.

FW: You're obviously still very competitive at the elite level, but is masters competition something you think about for the future?
CD: Not really. It's good because when you're 40 it gives you another lease on running because then you can have another category and you can compete. I think the categories are great for people that start running late in life and are still very competitive. But for me, running is my job, that's how I get paid. So in masters, there's not that much money. I know there are masters out there that run every weekend—marathon, marathon. Some of the Russian athletes do that, and I can't do that; I need time to recover. And there's not a lot of financial rewards in masters running. So, for the time I will have to give, for what I'll get out of it, I don't think it will be financially [worth it]. I'll have to go into another job.

FW: Do you still have goals in terms of what you want to accomplish competitively, or do you just take it race by race?
CD: Mostly I take it race by race, but there are… I wanted to make the cross country team for Worlds, so that was a goal I said at the end of last year, for this year. And I'd like to run a good marathon, so that's my goal.

FW: Does it bother you that your marathon PR is a bit slower than what all your other times indicate you could do? [Note: De Reuck has run a 1:08:38 half-marathon; her best marathon is 2:26:35.]
CD: I do believe that something went wrong in my training for my marathons. I don't think I hit my potential for my marathon. I can do a good marathon in October. But I don't think it would be what I could've done [in the past]. I'm going to just see what I can do in October. I don't think I'll run a fantastic time, but I definitely would like to run under 2:30.

FW: In the weeks leading up to the Olympics last year, were you training almost exclusively in the pool because of your injury?
CD: Yes, I was. I was running in the sea, actually. Because we were at the isle of Crete [for the] training camp. [Note: The U.S. Olympic track team held a pre-Games training camp on Crete, about 170 miles from Athens.] So I did my hard workout in the pool in the morning and I did my easy jog in the evening on land. So my main workouts were in the water. And then Coach Bob Larsen [assistant coach for men's distance at the Olympics] said, 'Why don't you just go in the sea?' It was nice and warm, it was totally clear, and it was calm most days. So it was just gorgeous. I did a three-hour run in the water. In the swimming pool that would've been just boredom, but in the sea it was nice because there would be kids swimming.

FW: How do you mentally get through a three-hour run in the water? Wasn't it tough being alone for that whole thing?
CD: Yeah, but it was the Olympics. Now I'm looking back and thinking, 'Gee, was I crazy or what?' But you were training for the Olympics and it wasn't just a race for you. It was something much bigger and larger.

FW: And did you just not feel well during the race?
CD: Yeah, I thought my foot would come right and it didn't. I didn't know what was happening. So it was just painful, from the very beginning.

FW: So it was only a matter of your foot? Fitness-wise, you felt well?
CD: Oh, I was… I had done some workouts [in my] best times ever, and I was feeling good, and yeah, it was a big disappointment. Because the course was tough and it was tough conditions, so it wasn't like the speedy girls who were going to do well. So I was looking forward to it and quite excited, but you know, things happen, things happen for a reason. Don't know what the reason is yet [laughs], but they happen.

FW: Did this feel a lot different from your first three Olympics because you were representing your adopted country?
CD: It was very special because, you know, I never expected this. After 2000, South Africa said they'll never pick me again for any team so I thought well, I'm not going to represent them, I'll just do what I want to do. And I never thought of looking four years ahead. So that was really a fantastic experience and the 2000 Olympics, I only knew three people on the [South African] track and field team because I'd been away from the country and there's always new people coming and going so I didn't really feel part of that team. So it was great being part of the American team [in Athens]. Ah, it was just priceless.

FW: Did you go to the track to watch competition on the days after your marathon?
CD: Yeah, I went to the track almost every day.

FW: Are you in touch with [1992 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist] Elana Meyer at all?
CD: Yes, we do e-mail each other. She used to come to Boulder and train every now and then, but she's retired. She e-mailed me and said, 'I retired and it's great.' [laughs]

FW: So you were friendly when you were both running for South Africa?
CD: Yeah, we actually saw a lot of each other once we were running internationally because we would run the same races or she'd be in Boulder training and we'd see each other. Because when we were in South Africa, in isolation, she lived in Cape Town and I lived in Durban, which was far away from each other. We'd only see each other at nationals, and you'd go for the weekend, run and come back. That was one good thing [about moving to Boulder]—we got to see each other more.

(Interview posted June 8, 2005.)