Keeping Track of... Amber Trotter

By Alison Wade

Amber Trotter competes at the 2001 Foot Locker West Regional. Photo: Brian J. Myers @ Photo Run

Trotter on her way to a record-setting win at the 2001 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Photo: Alison Wade/New York Road Runners

PAST AMBER TROTTER FEATURES ON FAST-WOMEN: Post-Foot Locker Interview (12/8/01) Pre-Foot Locker Interview (12/7/01) Pre-Foot Locker Bio

When we last spoke to her, Ukiah (CA) High School senior Amber Trotter had made history earlier in the day by running 16:24 for 5,000m to win the 2001 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Her time broke the old course record at the Oak Trail Golf Course in Orlando, Florida by 31 seconds and put her 40 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Trotter's performance had many speculating about what she could accomplish on the track later that school year. Unfortunately, the outdoor track season wasn't to be. She competed in a couple races but was ultimately forced to cut her season short due to injury. In a couple weeks she will begin her college career at NCAA Division III Middlebury College in Vermont.

Fast-Women.com: When you returned home after winning Foot Locker, what was the reaction like in Ukiah and at school?
Amber Trotter: People were pretty excited about it, even though I think a lot of people didn't even quite understand what it was I had won. A lot of people asked me if I was going to go to the Olympics, and mostly couldn't seem to comprehend that even if I could, I might not want to. I think people in the community were more into it than the kids at school... My calculus teacher got really into it though, and had our whole class watch the video.

FW: What kind of training did you do in the early part of the winter and how did it go? Did you take a break after cross country?
AT: I took a two-week break after cross country, then slowly started building mileage, back up to 60 or so. Then started doing a little more intense work -- fartlek and stuff -- but I was so careful not to overdo it, not to overtrain. I ran in two pre-season meets, with no speedwork behind me, not pushing it at all; I ran 5:03 (for 1,600m) and 10:20 (for 3,200m). And then something went wrong. I think cross country skiing set it off. It turned out to be piriformis syndrome, but it took forever to diagnose it. By the time we did, it was pretty bad. So I took like two weeks off, biking and aqua-jogging - ach! - came back feeling okay, and started trying to train. It went downhill fast, and has been up and down ever since. I gave up all hopes of [running] track -- which was really hard -- focusing instead on other areas of my life. A month ago, I had a couple weeks pain-free, where I ran 40 or so miles a week, and then all the sudden my sciatic nerve flared up again. All the muscular stuff seems [to be] gone -- I've been working so hard to build it up, my right piriformis muscle had like wasted away, but the nerve just won't calm down. So now I'm doing a lot of swimming, which seems to help.

FW: Can you give us a description and timeline of your injury? How long did you try to run through it? Did racing make it worse?
AT: I did attempt to race through the pain, and that definitely made things worse. As is the all-too-common story, I probably should have stopped running a lot sooner and taken a lot more time off. The thing is, though, I've had a million other irksome pains in various places in my legs during intense phases of training and I've taken ibuprofen, iced, stretched extra, and they've all gone away. So how was I to know that this one was different? And nobody seemed to know what was wrong with me, which seems weird now as everybody and their brother now seems to have had experience with piriformis syndrome.

FW: What's the current prognosis? Are you able to run at all?
AT: After three weeks off, I've run three miles the last three mornings with only slight discomfort and I'm supposed to continue my exercises and stuff and gradually increase length and speed and see how things go.

FW: What kinds of crosstraining have you been doing?
AT: Lots of cycling and swimming. Once I was able to stop being miffed that I was doing that instead of running and start to enjoy them for themselves, things got a lot better.

FW: Have your doctors suggested anything you can do to help aid the healing process?
AT: "Avoid sitting at all costs." This has been difficult and often amusing!

FW: Despite all of these frustrations, were you able to enjoy the usual senior year festivities like your prom and graduation?
AT: Of course. Prom was a lot of fun, although the dance itself was fairly lame -- it was in the cafeteria and they played terrible music. A group of 14 of my friends and I had a wonderful dinner at one of my closest friends house -- his mom cooked us an incredible dinner. Then after the dance we all drove out to my best friend Alison's house to celebrate her 18th birthday, which happened to be the same day. Alison's and my parents threw us a huge graduation party at my house, where we have both a pool and hot tub, with lots of good food and a live reggae band... I actually made a speech at my graduation -- we had to audition -- and I was really glad I did and I probably would not have had I been putting all my energy into track.

FW: What else have you been up to this summer?
AT: I've been working as a waitress, and trying to spend as much time as possible with my friends, boyfriend and family. Last weekend, I went to a huge reggae festival with a bunch of amigos and this weekend Solomon (my boyfriend) and I are going to Santa Cruz for a family reunion with my mom's family. He and I are sad about separating, so we've been taking lots of fun weekend trips together, to Berkeley, San Francisco, and the coast. I sit on this rolled up towel that we call my doughnut in the car and we stop very frequently. He's been so supportive.

FW: Can you think of anything positive that has come about because of this injury? Anything you've learned? Experiences you've been able to have?
AT: Many positive things have actually come out of this injury, or out of a lack of a competitive track season, rather. Logging 60-65 miles a week in addition to traveling to meets, plus all the energy spent preparing mentally, having to be constantly conscious about eating and sleeping and drinking, etc., etc., is pretty darn time-consuming. Not having that was incredibly difficult at first, but then I started doing other things and really enjoying them. Every weekend I didn't compete in a championship race, I made sure I did something cool that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. During Redwood Empire, I went to this Women's Herbal Symposium with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousins. During [the Meet of Champions], my boyfriend and I watched some of the races and hung out in Berkeley... We spent the night with his grown sister and her daughter and had so much fun together. The weekend of state meet, one of my best friends and I spent the entire weekend on the coast doing all kinds of fun things...

I've had time and energy that I wouldn't have otherwise had for my family and friends, my boyfriend, my garden, my piano playing, myself. I decided to audition to make a speech at graduation -- something I never would have attempted while competing. I ended up being selected to speak and it was a very rewarding experience. I've always known that there was a life outside of running, but hadn't experienced it in a long time. Too long, perhaps. I've also always been a fairly impatient person, and this has certainly been a lesson in patience. It's been very much of a shift in mentality, too, from always pushing my body and treating it like a machine to drive as hard as possible to treating it as gently as possible...

FW: When do you leave for college? Does Middlebury have any sort of outdoor orientation trips and do you plan to go on one?
AT: My mom and I will drive to San Francisco Tuesday, August 26th and spend the night with my aunt, uncle and three cousins so I can say good bye to them. We'll spend Wednesday hanging out and shopping in the city and then fly out at 6:30 on the 29th. Middlebury has an incredible outdoor orientation program, but I won't be participating, because all the fall athletes stay on campus during that time and train. When it was time to sign up, it never occurred to me that I wouldn't be back to training full time by now.

FW: What advice do you have for other runners who encounter injuries or setbacks?
AT: Be patient! It's comical, really, how many runners get injured and get told, 'Take time off,' 'Let your body heal,' 'Don't come back too soon or too hard,' etc. And then they go right ahead and start running too soon, too fast, or both. That's certainly what I did, several times, actually. But it's that same strength and stubbornness that makes runners able to do the things they do... It's also important to stay positive. I believe in the power of thoughts and Ii believe that positive energy heals. Life is so much more enjoyable when you're able to see things in a positive light!

FW: Do you currently plan on trying to compete in cross country for Middlebury this season?
AT: Not initially, certainly, but I hope that by the championship part of the season, I'll be able to be a part of the team. We'll see, though. If I have to wait, I'm willing to do that.

(Interview conducted August 8, 2002, posted August 14, 2002, Updated August 20, 2002)