Blake Russell, a 2008 U.S. Olympic marathoner who placed fourth in the 10,000 at the recent USATF Championships (in 32:46.73), will do the Quad-City Times Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa on Saturday – which will be her 35th birthday. She plans to do the ING New York City Marathon in November. Russell gave birth to a son, Quinn, in April of 2009. She was eighth in her comeback race at the USATF Cross Country Championships in February.
Russell was third in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:32:40 and was 27th in the Beijing Olympics in 2:33:13. Her fastest marathon was a 2:29:10 for sixth place in Chicago in 2005. She was fourth in the 2004 Trials in 2:30:32 after leading much of the way. Russell was the 2006 USA Cross Country champ (for the longer 8K course). Her track bests include a 15:10.58 for 5000 meters and 31:35.25 for 10,000 meters. As a University of North Carolina undergraduate, she won the 1500 and 5000 at the 1997 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. She later earned a masters degree in physical therapy from Elon University. Russell lives in Pacific Grove, California, with her husband John and son Quinn and is coached by Bob Sevene.
What's it going to be like to train in the Monterey Bay area for the whole summer? Do you not get hot and humid days there?
Blake Russell: Oh no, never. Our year-round temperatures our 65; I think that's the average. The summer is what they call "June gloom." with a thick fog, like a marine layer. Sometimes the sun doesn't really come out that bright at all. It's rare to get over 70, unless you go inland by about 10 miles or so.
Do you normally leave that area to do altitude training?
BR: No, I never have. Before we moved, I was just always working full-time and it wasn't an option. And with John working a "real job," he couldn't come with me. And now with Quinn, it's just not really an option. If I was earlier in my career, I might have tried, but I've just missed the opportunity to try it now.
So you're doing the Bix 7 on Saturday. How did you feel about your performance in the 10,000 at the USATF Championships, and are you nicely recovered enough so that you think you can well in Iowa this weekend?
BR: I do. I was really happy with the ten. I obviously would have preferred not to lead most of the beginning. But considering where I was – I haven't had that much time to do a lot of track and any sort of speed stuff, we're still focusing mostly on strength. I was really happy with it. I was hoping for top three. Considering that I started running mid-June last year – and not even what my coach would consider "official training" until January because I had so many sleep problems with nursing and all that good stuff – I did well. It's been almost a year and I'm starting to feel back to normal and feeling better each week. I took couple of days off after nationals (USATFs) just because it was good timing and we were moving, and then I just started back at it.
You've just moved within the area, I take it.
BR: Yeah, just a couple of blocks away. My husband said he didn't think we could move any closer to my mom, but I managed to find a house that was closer.
Have you been able to put in enough work that you think you might be a better runner today than you were at USATFs, that you could produce a better performance at Bix?
BR: It better be. That's the plan. I'm definitely going in feeling I can be running with whoever's in the race and go in and try and be really competitive. I think for track nationals, I knew I wasn't in great track shape, but it's a little different for the roads. If anything, I'm stronger vs. faster at this point.
Did you do any races between USA Cross Country and the USATF 10,000?
BR: I didn't. I really wanted to do a 5K on the track, the Payton Jordan Invitational (at Stanford), and Quinn ended up getting sick that week and then by the end of the week I was sick, so I couldn't do it. That was the only race that I'd planned to do, and there wasn't really all that much going on the month before track nationals. I just decided to stay training. The Stanford race would have been great because it's just up the coast and you don't have to worry about traveling. One day, I'll get a 5K in.
We're giving a lot of coverage right now to Paul Radcliffe's and Kara Goucher's pregnancies. How much training did you actually try and do while you were pregnant (Russell's pregnancy became very shortly after her 2008 Olympic marathon)?
BR: Actually, I felt bad from the start. I think that's how I knew I was pregnant right away, because I just could not put one foot in front of the other. And it was more of an overall body fatigue. I was running four or five days a week up until about six and a half months and then I got a little sickness and lost momentum. After that, I just kind of was running one or two days a week and trying to walk. I got really uncomfortable. I ended up gaining probably 40 pounds, and that's a lot of extra weight to carry around, so I was suffering pretty bad.
READ ON...
ShareThis