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Interview:
Sonia O'Sullivan
On June
8, 2002, Sonia O'Sullivan will join a stellar field at the 30th anniversary
edition of the New York Mini 10k in New York City's Central Park. O'Sullivan
spoke to reporters in a May 22 teleconference to announce her participation
in the race. O'Sullivan gave birth to her second child, Sophie, on December
23, 2001. Just three months later, she finished seventh in the 4k at the
World Cross Country Championships, helping the Irish team to a bronze
medal. One week later, she won the Tesco Italiano Five-Mile Road Race
in Balmoral, running 25:16 and defeating Romania's Gabriela Szabo and
Australia's Benita Johnson. O'Sullivan then headed to California to compete
in the Carlsbad 5,000 April 7th. Suffering from what seemed to be food
poisoning, she finished seventh in 15:38. After a stint of training at
altitude in California, O'Sullivan traveled to the World Half Marathon
Championships in Brussels, Belgium, where she finished 14th in 1:10:04.
O'Sullivan will next compete at the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday, May
26 in the 3,000-meter race before heading to New York City for the New
York Mini.
On
her current training location:
Sonia O'Sullivan: I'm in a place called Laguna Mountain which is about
an hour from San Diego (California), and it's at 6,000 feet... We were
here for three weeks after World Cross Country, then we went back to Europe
for a couple of weeks. Now I've been here just a week and I'm going to
stay until next week, before I go to New York.
On
her quick post-pregnancy comeback:
I think it was easy to get back into training and get really fit again
because I stayed really fit while I was pregnant. I trained every day
right up until Sophie was born, not running all the time, because halfway
through I got injured and I had to change my training regime. I just kept
the same amount of time I would normally run and went to the gym and went
on the exercise bike and did some spinning classes, which I think kept
me really fit. I also continued with my normal weight training sessions.
I just kept the same routine, so then it was quite easy for me to continue
training and to start back into proper running training once Sophie was
born.
On
her preparedness for the upcoming Prefontaine Classic 3,000 meters:
I feel pretty good, I had a pretty good track session last night down
in San Diego with some local guys. I feel that this 3,000 meters will
really help me to run really well in New York because I ran really well
in Balmoral after running in the World Cross Country. So I think once
I get one quick run in my legs, I'll be ready to run really well in New
York, and I'm really looking forward to it.
How
the New York Mini fits in with her overall plan for the year:
The women's Mini Marathon is something that I've always wanted to do,
it's something that I've read about and heard about over the years. In
'93, '94 and '95 when I was really intensely into running all of the Grand
Prix track races, it wasn't really appropriate. But now I feel like I've
won a lot of races on the Grand Prix circuit and I want to do different
things. I still want to run really well at the European Championships
this summer, which is in August, so I feel I can pick and choose my races
and I don't have to stick to the norm of all the Grand Prix races. I've
been there and done that before, and I want to do different things. You
know, as you get older you need different things to motivate you, I think
Irish people in New York City will be great.
On
how the Mini Marathon 10k in New York will compare to the women's-only
race in Dublin:
I'm sure it will be great, I don't think there will be as many people
running in New York. I think in Dublin, it's more of a mass-fun-run type
race. New York, I think will be a much more competitive race. Also, there
will be a lot of the other fun-runners out there who probably run around
Central Park every day.
On
the competition (Milena Glusac, Deena Drossin) at the New York Mini:
I don't really know a lot about Milena but I know that Deena Drossin has
been running really well this year. I met up with her at Carlsbad and
she ran fantastic there, then she went and ran the American Record in
the 10,000 on the track. She's definitely really fit, she's shown us how
fit she is and I feel like I'm getting there. I think I'm improving all
the time, so every time I go out and run a race, it's kind of unknown
how good I'll run. I definitely expect to run better than I have been.
Whether
her whole family will travel with her to New York:
Definitely. They're all out here with me on the mountain. [We'll travel
to New York] I think the Monday beforehand. They'll definitely be there.
On
balancing family and training responsibilities:
I think the main thing is you have to be really organized. You have to
plan your day the night before. You have to know exactly what you're going
to do. Before I go to bed, I talk to Nick: Okay, this is what time I'm
going to run in the morning, I've got to be back and take a telephone
call, how we're going to travel, things like lying out my clothes the
night before or the girls' clothes. Everything has a place and it makes
things easier for me. The thing is with training, you can't run all day
long. It takes an hour, hour and a half in the morning and then another
hour or so in the afternoon. The rest of the time you spend relaxing as
much as you can and hopefully find something for Ciara and Sophie to do.
On
the remoteness of her location in California:
It's the type of place where, on the weekends, it can be quite busy and
I think this weekend, being Memorial weekend, there's going to be a lot
of people up here. But during the week, there aren't many people around.
We stay in these cabins that belong to the Laguna Mountain Lodge Resort.
There's a shop and a post office, and right kind of parallel to where
we are there's a trail called the Pacific Crest Trail that runs from Mexico
to Canada. You see people walking past and they stop off and pick things
up in the post office, that's the kind of people you talk to and meet
during the day. At the moment it's just myself, Nick, Ciara and Sophie
here. We've been here a week, but today three athletes from Australia
are coming to join us, and then the following week we have another girl
coming from Australia to run as well.
Her
plans for this summer's European Championships and whether she'll defend
her titles in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters:
I would like to think that I can do both of those. The 10,000 meters is
on the first day and it's just one race. The thing at the moment is that
I don't have a qualifying time for either. I've been selected to run in
both as long as I run the qualifying times, so I'll more than likely have
to run a 10,000 meters on the track beforehand.
On
the appeal of women-only road races:
I've run all-women road races in Dublin and London, and I've run one in
the Netherlands and in Milan... I think it's just a different feeling
when it's an all-women's race. There's kind of camaraderie amongst the
women and everybody's out there trying to be as fit as they can and there's
a lot of good stories behind the women who will be running in the race.
A lot of them will have families out there, the big thing is that the
dads come along with the children and everybody has a good day.
On
what motivates her, particularly in coming back from pregnancy:
The number one thing is that I really do like running and I enjoy it,
I'd hate to have to give it up. I think when you're away from the competition
for nine or ten months, and I still feel young and fit and healthy, there's
this competitive thing inside me that really wants to get involved again.
I feel there is something that I haven't done yet and there are plenty
of races around the world that I haven't run in. Of course I'd like to
run in the Olympics again and maybe improve on the silver medal.
On
her marathoning plans:
I'd definitely like to run one. I have run one, in Dublin in 2000 (she
won in 2:35:42), but I just ran for fun, I didn't train for it or anything.
That's something I would definitely like to do, train to run a marathon
properly and run as fast as I can.
On
switching back and forth between the track and the roads:
It's all pretty much the same training because basically, you run a lot
of miles. I run a long run on Sunday and the only thing that might change
a little is maybe the track sessions during the week. This week, because
I'm running [the Prefontaine Classic 3,000 meters] on Sunday, I've got
two shorter-type track sessions lined up. The main part of that is to
put on some spikes and try them out because I haven't worn spikes for,
I don't know, a year and a half. Then next week maybe I'll do a few longer
reps before the road 10k, but overall the training is pretty much the
same.
On
her experience with the U.S. collegiate system (she graduated from Villanova
in 1991):
I think it was really good for me. The first few years I was at Villanova
I was injured and didn't run so well, then the third and fourth year I
had to make up for that, and I did by winning the NCAA Championships a
few times. I think maybe if I had come in as a freshman and won NCAA championships
and won all the races then maybe it might not have been so good because
you'd feel like you were stagnant and doing the same thing over and over
again. But because it took me those four years to kind of improve and
develop, you know I was still growing and everything, I got injured and
learned a lot from that. I think it was definitely a good growing-up period
for me, because I think there is that gap that needs to be filled between
being a junior athlete and being a senior athlete. A lot of the time athletes
try and take a shortcut and they think they can go from being a 17- or
18-year-old really good junior to being the best in the world and it doesn't
always work out. I think the college system is great because it gives
you that kind of bridge in there to compete at the right level for you,
and then you can move on from there.
On
the suggestion that women's road records need to be set in women's-only
races:
I think that's a good idea. The track races are all run separately so
why should the road races not be? When you run in the World Championships
or the Olympics, the marathon, the men and women don't run together. I
think it should be all-women's races. It's good to have races where men
and women run together, but then they should have other races, which are
more special, where they're separate.
About
the fact that this would eliminate many road races from record consideration:
Well the thing is that road records anyway are basically course records,
because every road race is different. You can't really compare the New
York City Marathon to the London Marathon or the Dublin Marathon time-wise...
I think the only true records are on the track.
Whether
she's in favor of the IAAF starting to keep road records:
It doesn't bother me either way. The only difference I suppose is when
you go to road races if they're going to have big bonuses for world records
and if it's a mixed race or a women's-only race. It's just going to come
down to a financial thing really, I think, for people. I think the feeling
of going out there and running fast, whether you're in a mixed race or
in a women's race, a lot of the time when you're in a mixed race you end
up running by yourself anyway.
On
Paula Radcliffe's New York Mini 10k record set last year (30:47), which
is close to the World Road Record (30:43) and whether she plans to chase
it:
I don't think I'm going to go into the race thinking I want to run any
particular time. I think the main aim for me will be to try and win the
race. I think the field is very competitive, Deena Drossin has already
broken the world record for 5,000 on the roads this year, so it's possible
to win the race you'll have to break the World Record. I don't know, I
think I'd rather be involved in a competitive race than a solo time trial.
That's what I would expect this race to be, quite a competitive race as
long as everybody's running as fast as they can on the day.
On
the suggestion that Deena Drossin may be the favorite:
Well I don't really know who else is running, maybe there are some good
African runners like from Kenya or Ethiopia, maybe the Russians... I really
don't know who else is in the race that would be able to keep up. There
may be some good Japanese runners as well, like the girl who beat Deena
[at the Cardinal Invitational 10k]. I suppose when we see the final list
and get an idea of what the other girls are thinking then we'll have a
better idea who to key off of. But Deena will definitely be up there in
the mix, so it would be worth following her and see what happens at the
end.
On
which surface (roads, track or cross country) she prefers:
I think I still prefer the track, when I'm really, really fit and really
ready I think the track is... I don't know, there's something about it.
And it's got to be in the right place as well. All championship races,
when you're really fit and really ready, there's just a different feeling
that takes over your whole body and a different energy system. You start
to feel like you can do anything. I don't know, it's not always easy to
get yourself to that level, but when you do, it's the greatest feeling.
I think with road races, maybe it's different when you pick out a marathon
and you train really hard for it and you focus on that one event, you
probably get the same feelings, but I don't know that yet. And cross country,
the World Cross Country, in some ways that's where I began running so
emotionally it would be one of my favorites. It's a break from the track
and it's the surface that I train on practically every day.
On
drug use in the sport:
I don't like to focus on thinking about people who are cheating or who
might be cheating because I think then I'm distracted from what I'm trying
to do. The one thing I know is that when I line up on the start line,
if there's somebody else on the start line who's cheating, or who's taken
drugs, I know that I have one less thing to worry about than they do.
I don't like to get involved in it too much. I think it's good that the
IAAF is improving their drug testing around the world and I think they
have to try and stay ahead of people who are cheating because, you know,
they're really only cheating themselves. You've got to go around with
some kind of conscience in your head and I'd hate to have to think about
anything like that every day out running. I know I have nothing to worry
about and I go out there and enjoy my running every day and, you know,
drink tea and coffee and eat normal food like everybody else in the world.
On
talk that she may run the London Marathon in 2003:
Actually, I never said that I was going to run in London. I was
asked the question if I was thinking about running a marathon and I said,
"Yes, I'd love to run a marathon, I don't know exactly when or where."
But because people were talking then about Paula and London, they assumed
that I said I wanted to run the London Marathon. Of course that would
be the most convenient one for me because I could take the train to the
start. I definitely would want to run a marathon but I haven't seriously
discussed it with Alan (Storey), my coach, yet. At the moment our main
goal is to get back from having a baby in December and get back to being
the best that I can be at the events that I know and the events that we
both know that I'm good at and that I can be the best at. Once I've gotten
back to that level, we can start talking about the marathon.
Whether
she'd consider running the 2004 Olympic Marathon versus sticking to the
track:
Oh no, definitely it will be on the track. I used to think the 3,000 was
my best event, and in some ways it probably still is, but it doesn't exist
for the Olympics anymore. Now I feel like the 5,000 is the event that
I have to concentrate on, I think that's the best place for me to try
and win a gold medal.
On
whether her oldest child, Ciara, understands what her mom is doing and
if she ever joins in:
She does [understand] now, yes. I was running up a hill the other day
and Nick, Ciara and Sophie were waiting in the car for me. She kind of
came down a bit and started to run ahead of me, she went ahead way before
I could get her so it was impossible for me to catch her. She was laughing
that I couldn't get her. She also has her moments, in the morning she'll
say, "Mommy is not going running. Mommy is not putting on running
shoes." So she knows when I'm going out the door and sometimes she's
not too happy about it and I just have to go and leave her. But as soon
as I'm gone, two minutes later she's off doing something else.
On
coming back from pregnancy this time versus the last:
In some ways it was easier to come back this time because I knew that
I could do it. After Ciara, I think I tried to rush things a little bit
and it was nearly a competition for me to see how quickly I could get
back and how quickly I could be fast and back running normal. In the process,
I got injured. This time around I was much more conscious of taking my
time getting back into training and gradually getting back up to the top
level. The main aim this time around was not to get injured. Luckily so
far I've managed that and hopefully we can keep going along those lines.
And also, training [while pregnant with] Sophie, I was a lot more confident
in what I could do. I think with Ciara I was going into the unknown because
I hadn't been there before. This time around I just knew, I knew what
heart rates I could train at and I just knew how I felt and what was right.
Final
comments:
I'm really looking forward to running in New York. It's one of those places
where I think there will be a lot of energy and it will bring out good
performances in all the athletes. Hopefully I'll feel fantastic on the
day.
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York Road Runners Club, Inc.
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