Melissa White of the Michigan-based Hansons-Brooks Distance Project will do the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Her personal marathon best is a 2:37:53 for 14th place at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. Her 26.2-mile debut was a 2:39:21 in Chicago in 2006. White's 2009 race results include a 1:12:40 for sixth place at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, a 50:48 for fifth place at the USA 15K in Jacksonville, and a 32:42 Ekiden 10k split in Yokohoma. She was 14th in the 10,000 at the USATF Championships in 33:34.64. In 2008, White won the Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon in 1:13:05. She won the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in 2006 and 2007. The well-traveled White, a massage therapist, has competed in Ekidens in Japan and China and in half-marathons in India and Brazil (she was 21st in the World Half Marathon in Rio de Janeiro in 2008). She was the 2003 NCAA Division III indoor 5000-meter champion at SUNY Geneseo.You're been running for a long time, but this is only your fourth marathon. Is this part of the Hansons philosophy, not to have you do to a year? We noticed you didn't do a spring marathon.
Melissa White: No. I actually didn't so any last year either. About two every year, year and a half or so is the most they want you to do. My big reason for not doing one was that I did Chicago in 2006 and then Boston that following spring, so I did my first two pretty quickly. I skipped the fall and then did the spring Trials, obviously. I felt like wasn't recovering enough between marathons. It was kind of my choice to one this year, which I think was a good idea, and just do some shorter stuff. So now it's time to go back (to the marathon).
You had some good performances earlier this year at the USA Half and USA 15K. You were happy with those, I assume.
MW: Yeah, those two, and then my Yokohama 10k was my fastest 10k I've ever run, so that was exciting. And then I finally broke 16:00 on the track (for 5000 meters; White ran 15:56.37), just jumping in. It was good to get some shorter distances. I feel like I'm a little bit faster at those distances, so hopefully that will show in the marathon now.
In April, did you decide you were a little weary and take a break from running for that reason?
MW: We did. We had planned a break anyway. We were going to do the (USA) 15K and then the Stanford 10,000 (on the track). Desiree (Davila, her teammate) actually ended up not even doing Stanford. She took a break before that because her 15k didn't go too well, and it probably should have been a sign to us that maybe we were trying to stretch out this segment a little too long. But I did go to Stanford. It wasn't horrible (White ran 33:32.88), it just wasn't what I was hoping for. I didn't accomplish what I wanted. After that, we knew it was definitely time to take a little break, just a little time off - no injuries or anything, just a little scheduled down time.
So when you went to the nationals and ran the 10,000 (in late June), what kind of shape did you think you were in?
MW: I actually thought I was in good shape. My workouts had been the fastest I've done. I was really hoping to go under 33:00, but it just didn't seem to come together. I don't know if it was a lack of tapering 'cause I felt like I was in good shape, but my race just didn't show that.
What races did you do over the summer?
MW: We didn't do a ton. I did Peachtree (the 10k in Atlanta) after nationals. I ended up running the same time on a hilly hot course as I did on the track, so that was kind of depressing. And then we took a little break again just to gear up. I did Crim (the ten-miler in Flint, Michigan in 57:33 for 11th place) and the Chicago Half Marathon (in 1:14:55) but those were both marathon-paced efforts. I wasn't racing either of those. They were basically workouts within a race. That was kind of fun.
Do you do the same 26.2-kilometer "simulator" ran before your marathon as the Hansons men do?
MW: Pretty similar. Carol Jefferson, Patrick Rizzo and myself went down to Chicago (the half marathon). The three of us are going to the marathon, but we're all training at different paces. That's why this time they (coaches Kevin and Keith Hanson) actually put as in a half marathon so we could get some people around us and replicate a race a little bit better instead of having us just go out our door and a half marathon or 16 miles at marathon pace. So we changed things up just a bit this time.
How encouraged were you, and happy for her were you, with what Desiree Davila managed to achieve (a 2:27:53 marathon for 11th place) at the World Championships in Berlin?
MW: That was awesome. I knew she was in good shape. We actually haven't trained together in months now. But I could tell from what I heard about her workouts that she was going to do a good one. And it's hard, because I was watching the computer and you don't see anything about her until all of the sudden she crosses the (finish) line. Where was the build-up? She kind of comes out of nowhere, but I saw Kara (Goucher), who finished just second in front of Davila) and thought "oh my gosh, there's my teammate, right there." That was pretty cool.
This will be your first time in the Chicago Marathon in three years. Is there anything different about it than what most people think - that it's an incredibly flat fast course, and your hotel room is fairly near the start?
MW: That's definitely nice. And it is flat, it's not hilly, of course, but you get a little up and down in there, more than people expect. You hardly even realize it when you're out there, but there are some bridges that you go up, so it mixes it up a little bit. I think the coolest thing about Chicago is the spectators. It's such a big event. You almost don't even pay attention to where you're going because there are so many people everywhere. That's one reason I wanted to go back.
You've been to Rio de Janeiro for the World Half Marathon. What's your impression of the atmosphere down there as a site for the 2016 Olympics?
MW: Of course I'm disappointed that Chicago is not having it because that would be awesome for all of us here (the Hansons athletes live less than five hours by car from Chicago). But Rio was beautiful when I was down there. And I know a lot of people say it's not a super-safe area. But I never felt threatened or anything down there. You just have to be smart about not going out at night and that kind of thing. But it was gorgeous down there. I think they're going to do a great job.
Have you got an idea of what kind of pace you want to go out at in Chicago, with a particular goal time in mind?
MW: I've been training basically for a 2:32 for this whole segment. Things have gone well, so knock on wood, it all comes together, and we get a good weather day, not too rainy or windy. That's what my goal is.
You're part of a massage therapy business with Chad Johnson (who's doing the Detroit marathon this fall), aren't you?
MW: Yes. It's Hansons Massage Therapy. And then I also work out at Oakland University. We do massages at their Rec Center there.
How many hours a week are you doing that?
MW: Well, I work one day in the store (the Hansons Running Shop's various outlets) still, so that's five hours. And I usually go anywhere from ten to 15 massages a week. I'm working about 15 to 20 hours a week.
You're obviously doing a lot of muscle-intensive work and are on your feet a lot as a massage therapist. Does that interfere with your running at all? Do you find yourself tired from doing all this, or does that sort of replace the kind of core workouts Brian Sell does?
MW: It helps sometimes. And I've done a better job this time, during my training this time, of making sure that I don't overwork myself. I've definitely been caught up in that before. It's hard to turn down massages or working too many days. So I'm taken my store hours down to just one day a week. I've been lucky during this whole thing. Everybody who's scheduled massages has done it at a really good time so I've been able to get my runs in or go to the gym. I haven't felt overwhelmed at all this time. But I have made the mistake before of working too many hours.
What was your weekly mileage at its peak in preparing for Chicago?
MW: Mostly, it was between 120 and 130 this time.
And are you someone who enjoys the taper before the marathon, or do you find yourself getting nervous?
MW: We don't do a huge taper. We're trying to do a little more this time, kind of by my request. It's kind of nice. Even though last week I ran 100 miles, it still feels like not much when you're coming down from 120 or 130. You have to ease in there at this point and realize you're not going to get any fitter (before the marathon). You can't hurt yourself now.
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