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Interview
with Heather Hanscom
by Jessie
Sackett
Heather Hanscom, sixth-place finisher at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon
Trials and winner of the 2003 Marine Corps Marathon, has a history that
lends itself to grandiose phrases like "rising to the challenge"
and "strength in the face of adversity." She had an impressive
college career, including James Madison University's fifth all-time best
in the indoor 5,000 (16:52:23 in 2001) and ECAC qualifying times in the
indoor mile, 3,000, and 5,000 and outdoor 10,000. She struggled with injury
and illness, though, and never quite ran to her potential.
The scope
of that potential became apparent in 2003, when her coach, Matt Centrowitz,
pushed her to move up to the marathon. When Centrowitz and Hanscom's teammates
suggested she was capable of running sub-2:40 in her debut at the Marine
Corps Marathon, she didn't think she could run that fast — but she
went on to win in 2:37:59. That win paved the way for an outstanding 2:31:53
in her sophomore marathon, the Olympic Trials in April.
As well-known
as these successes is the challenge she faced her freshman year of high
school, when she had surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor. By the
end of that year, though, Hanscom was literally back on track, proving
to be a talented middle-distance runner for her high school's two-time
state championship team. On October 5, 2004, she celebrated 12 years of
being cancer-free.
Hanscom,
who runs for the Pacers Racing Team in Alexandria, Virginia, and is coached
by American University's Matt Centrowitz, was considered a wild-card contender
to make the Olympic Team. Although she was three places shy of qualifying,
the Trials pegged her as one to watch in the upcoming season. Since the
Trials, however, she has only raced once, with health problems forcing
her withdraw from a number of races, including the New Haven 20K. But
she's healthy now, and sat down with Fast-Women.com to talk about her
difficult summer and her plans for the future.
Fast-Women.com:
Congratulations on the Trials. How did it feel to have two breakout performances
within six months?
Heather Hanscom:
Thank you. It was good — since they were close together it didn't give me
much time to think about anything else.
FW:
Did you surprise yourself with your performance, or did your run at Marine
Corps make you realize you'd be capable of more?
HH:
Once I ran Marine Corps, I realized that [marathon running] was something
that came a little more naturally. It was something that I enjoyed more
than I thought I was going to. I'd only run one marathon before the Trials
but the closer it got and the better my workouts went, I realized I could
really do something. I didn't have a specific goal for
time or place, I just figured I had nothing to lose, so I wanted to see
what I could do.
FW: Did you watch the Olympics? Did you have
any 'wish I were there' pangs?
HH: I was hooked on the Olympics. I watched as much as I could.
The Sunday of the women's marathon I had to work so I was in the lab for
10 hours [Note: Heather works as a researcher at the University of Maryland].
A friend called me and gave me 'play-by-play' commentary. Last Sunday,
I watched the marathon for the first time, with my dad. Even though I
knew the outcome, it was very exciting and gave me a little extra spark
for racing again, a nice booster. Although I was thinking about how much
had wanted to make the team, I am happy with my race at the Trials. I
did the best I could that day. I believe everything happens for a reason.
I learned a lot from that experience but I am definitely looking forward
— and working toward — 2008.
FW:
You've talked in the past about running competitively at other distances,
such as 10K. Is that still a goal, or do you plan to focus on the marathon?
HH:
I definitely want to be a versatile runner. I want to be able to run a
lot of different events, and be competitive at them, but it's going to
take me a little longer to be competitive at the national level at 5K
and 10K. It doesn't come as naturally to me. But I do think that to be
a better marathon runner, I have to be a better 10K and 5K runner.
FW:
So are your workouts geared to shorter distances now?
HH:
Yes, [they are] much different than I was doing for the marathon. I'm
having to get used to it. Tuesdays are interval days — miles, 800s.
We've been doing a lot of mile repeats the past few weeks. For Thursdays,
I'm on a three-week cycle: hills, track, tempo is the name of the game.
One Thursday I do hill sprints. The next Thursday I'm on the track for
short, quick reps like 12 x 300. [The third week] is a long tempo on the
canal: mile easy, 10 mile cut-down, mile easy. And then back to hill sprints.
Saturdays are either long runs or longer track workouts that combine doing
something quick, then something long, maybe a harder run or longer interval,
and then something quick again.
FW:
Who are you training with these days?
HH:
I do my long runs with the Pacers guys — Mike Wardian, Chris Farley,
Erik Kean, and Edmund Burke. I do my workouts with American University
— Keira Carlstrom and some of the other girls, depending on what
the workout is.
FW: Can they keep up with you?
HH: Now that we're doing the shorter stuff, yes! It's good
because Keira and I have different strengths. She's very good at the shorter
intervals and the speed stuff, and I'm stronger on the tempos and the
longer runs. We're polar opposites, so it works well.
FW:
You're still being coached by Matt Centrowitz , the head coach at American.
You've talked before about what a great, trusting relationship you have,
but his instincts about you and the marathon must have increased that
trust even more.
HH:
Of course! Sometimes it's frustrating because I don't understand why I'm
doing everything, but I just have to trust that it's going to work out
in the end. I've only raced once since the Trials [34:24 at the Circle
of Friends New York Mini 10K on June 12] because I had some setbacks this
summer, and I wanted to be gung-ho and start racing again. I know it's
better that I didn't, but it's still frustrating because all I want to
do is race.
FW:
Can you tell us about the setbacks you experienced?
HH:
I was really sick. No one could tell me what was wrong with me. I was
nauseous, like being carsick all the time. And it felt like someone was
blowing a balloon up inside of me; my legs would get so swollen I couldn't
straighten my knees out. It was pretty bad. I went out to see David Ramsey
out in Kansas and he fixed me. My adrenal glands weren't working.
FW:
What kind of doctor is he?
HH:
He does holistic medicine. He tunes into your biorhythms, uses neurolymphatic
release, acupuncture points. Various methods, he just listens to your
body and then corrects whatever is wrong. It's kind of hard to describe.
He's in Olathe, Kansas, but he travels all over.
FW:
How long did you have symptoms before getting treated? How long did it
take you to start feeling healthy again?
HH:
I started feeling symptoms way back in May. They just kept getting
worse and worse. So the Thursday before Labor Day, I flew out to Kansas.
I was there until Sunday and [Ramsey] worked on me twice a day, every
day. Thursday and Friday I wanted to die I felt so sick. By Saturday I
started feeling better and by Sunday when I flew back I felt like a new
person. I felt like myself again. I had energy, I could function. My family
noticed the change, they were glad I was back.
FW:
How did your past health history affect your reaction to your illness
this summer? Do you tend to jump to the worst-case scenario, or do you
believe you can handle anything?
HH:
I'm really happy because October 5 was my 12-year mark, cancer-free. I
tend not to jump to the worst-case scenario, I've learned to be more of
a positive thinker. I know that it could be worse. I just talk myself
out of the sickness/situation and try to take care of the little details:
extra rest, more vitamin C. My coach said that I need
to stop that because I let little things, or big things that I think are
no big deal, build up and then have to deal with much bigger ramifications.
This summer is a perfect example. But I have learned that how you look
at a situation, including your health, with either positive or negative
energy will directly affect the outcome.
FW:
We're glad to hear you're feeling healthy again. Do you feel like you're
getting back into shape?
HH:
I do feel healthy now. It is amazing. I didn't realize how badly I was
actually feeling until I felt normal again. My running is going much better
also. It took about a week for my legs to feel good on easy runs. Now
in workouts I don't feel like I'm struggling to get by or hanging on for
dear life. I now feel like I'm in control of the workouts, mentally and
physically. That is a very good feeling.
FW:
How did your difficult summer affect your racing plans for the fall? [Were
you planning to run a fall marathon?]
HH:
I never planned to run a fall marathon. I love the marathon, but the worst
thing is afterwards, having to take a month to get back into training
and workouts, and I figured I had done that for a year, and I just wanted
to race consistently and have good training.
I had a
lot of races picked out over the summer, but it always [ended up that]
the week before I'd be so wiped out and not having good workouts, and
I would have to pull out of the race. That's what I've been doing all
summer. It's very frustrating.
FW: So what are your racing plans now? Some journalists
have speculated that you're considering the 2005 IAAF World Championships.
HH: I don't know where that came from! I'm looking at the [USA
Cross Country Championships in February], that's my immediate goal. Of
course international competition is always a goal, but I haven't specifically
sat down, and said, 'I want to run this race.'
I think
I'm running at a Penn State cross country meet on the 16th. American University
is going up for the meet and I'm going to tag along. [Note: She finished
eighth in Penn State's National Invitational, running 20:46 for 6K.] I
haven't picked out a race in November yet, but December 4 is the National
Club Cross Country race in Portland, Oregon. So I'm hoping to run that
one also, and then race again sometime in January.
FW:
In addition to training, you're a coach for Miles Ahead, a training program
organized by the Pacers Running Store. How do you like coaching?
HH:
That's fun for me, I really enjoy it. We're training a group of people
for Marine Corps and the ING New York City Marathon. It reminds me of
why I run, the fun of it. We meet them on Wednesday nights and Sunday
mornings. We customize their workouts and their times, and develop their
own training programs. I think of myself as a pseudo coach, because I
don't really know what I'm doing, I just do what my coach tells me. I
just enjoy the atmosphere.
(Interview
conducted October 9, 2004, and posted October 25, 2004.)
Nothing
contained herein may be reproduced online in any form without the
express written permission of the New
York Road Runners Club, Inc.
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