Post-Race Interview with Bobby Lockhart Interview, 12/8/01

Bobby Lockhart and Tim Moore battle down the home stretch. (MensRacing.com Photo)

Bobby Lockhart on his way to a course-record-tying win at the 2001 Foot Locker South Regional. (Photo by Brian J. Myers)

By Parker Morse

Pre-Race Interview with Bobby Lockhart | Bobby Lockhart Bio

How did you see the last mile of the National Championship?
I started picking it up a little bit in the last half-mile. I guess Tim came with me. I didn't really know who was with me. Then Tim and I were back and forth, back and forth. I knew it was going to be a tough race to win, and I knew that Moore was a tough competitor. He's been running really well. It was a tough battle, it came down to the end, and I guess he had a little bit more in him today.

Did the race unfold the way you expected?
We went through the mile in about 4:40, and 4:40 was fine. I hit the two mile in about 9:32, and I figured it would be below 9:30, I actually figured it would be faster, because I've gone through faster at two miles this season. But the weather is bad, it's really humid, it's hot, it takes a lot out of you. Nobody wanted to lead. Moore and I took it over there. It was a good battle. He had just a little more. I'm pretty cool with it. Of course I'd like to win, but it was a good race.

What's next?
I'm going to keep training for the (USATF) Junior Cross Country Championships in Vancouver (WA). It's cooler out there. The heat gets to me. I do heat training, I did a lot of it getting ready for this race, but I still don't like it. It's a killer down here. I was pretty bummed after last year. Wet, cold, I don't care, but I don't like heat.

You'll do well at Wisconsin, then. They always seem to have the muddiest, snowiest media guide.
Yeah, I can't wait. The team's great, I got along so well with them and the coach, it was like and instant bond. It's the perfect school for me, I think, a nice college town, Madison's a great city, academics are good. The team's good, they're young and talented, I really got along with them. And the training around there, you can't beat it. I'm sure Colorado's nice too, but Wisconsin's great.

What was your training like leading up to Nationals?
This year has been a big change for me. Last year I was only doing about 50 miles a week in the summer, 35-40 during the season at most. Now, this summer I got into the sixties, and I'm slowly building up, and it's made a big difference. This season I had five seventy-mile weeks, that's why I was staying pretty low-key. And I had some fifty milers, and then I've been tapering since then. My workouts have been going great.

How do you get seventy-mile weeks during the season, when your base phase should be over? You're not running twenty-mile long runs, or anything.
I do maybe a twelve-mile long run, but I might double two times a week. I've done a lot of hill workouts, fartlek, interval-like training. It's on my quality days that I get the most mileage. I would really emphasize taking easy days, though. You can't go hard every day.

What led to this year's big change?
Mark Strickland has been working with me this year, and he's made a huge difference. I'm still adjusting to that kind of training, because for the last two or three years I was just doing whatever, you know, whatever the team does, I do. I was getting some training in, but a lot of it was talent. And now I'm really starting to adjust, and starting to know what I have and what I can do. I can definitely run a lot more mileage, but my coach doesn't want me to. So I figure if I keep building my base up, I have a lot of room for improvement. I'm hoping to develop a lot in college.

Do you have other runners you can train with?
I train by myself, but my coach and I do long runs together. He monitors my speedwork, and he does the same workouts I do. So he knows how I'm feeling. If he's feeling tired, he knows I'm probably feeling tired too. It's worked out really well this year. It's definitely a lot better than what I've been running.

So how are you going to adapt your training for the Junior Nationals?
Actually, I think we're going to go for eighty. I'm only doing one race indoors, to qualify for States - so that's two races indoors, with States. But making the Worlds is the real focus. But I'll be getting the base in. I haven't decided what I'm going to do in outdoor this year. I don't know if I'll try to break four, maybe. I don't want to say that I can do it. But I want to run a fast mile, run a fast two-mile, and 5,000.

That's a good goal, then you can define fast for yourself.
Yeah, kind of. We'll see. I think I have good leg speed, but I think I'm going to be more of a 5,000 kind of runner in college, 5,000 and 10,000.

Do you feel a lot of pressure to reach the Alan Webb standard?
Not at all. I know he set the stage for future high school runners, but Alan, he's one in fifty years. You don't just stumble across them. He's helped build the sport for us, and you can see that everyone's been running a lot faster lately. I definitely credit that to some of the runner like Webb, Ritzenhein, and the group two years back like Sage. The college kids are running so much faster now. The whole U.S. is building up to the rest of the world, and I think we're doing a good job. I like being in the position where kids can look up to you, and say they want to run like you. Other than that, I want to run fast, and I think that's the main goal for everyone.