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TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHONOctober 30, 2014Desiree LindenNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK DESIREE LINDEN: That's exciting. The thing I'm lacking right now is speed. So going to Chicago or Berlin, something like that, would be really, really challenging for me. It has no pacers and tough conditions, tough courses. So it's really, really fast racing. That's how the trials are and how the games will be, if I'm lucky enough to make the team. It fits a lot of those things really well. Q. This is your first USA marathon, and the conditions for Sunday look a bit sketchy, with high winds up to 18 miles an hour, maybe up to 30. Temperatures in the 40s. I know you trained in Michigan, so you're used to the cooler temperatures. But what have you been told, what preparation for battling those conditions? DESIREE LINDEN: Sure. I think coming in, I kind of expected it to be a brutal condition type day, in the big city with the winds blowing down these wide open streets. It's sort of in the back of my mind that that's what we would have. I wouldn't say I've been lucky, but I've had plenty of days with workouts in very similar conditions, just heavy winds, and I'm doing a lot by myself. I think I'm ready for it. All running through the same thing. Time is not that important. It's all about competing. So whoever gets through the conditions the best. I'll look at it more closely as we get closer to the race. I think it will switch ten times before we actually get there. Everybody has different predictions. We'll deal with it when we get there and see what it actually is. Q. Are you worried being in front if you're running into a headwind? DESIREE LINDEN: Not really. There's no one in the field who's especially large. Especially in the women, it's not like‑‑ I'm not going to go out and block wind for anyone. I'm not going to do a whole lot. So I don't feel like there's anyone that will be at an advantage. If you're out front, it's not ideal, but it's not the worst thing in the world. You just have to race a little harder. Q. How has this build‑up gone? I know you guys basically do similar stuff. DESIREE LINDEN: Yeah, it's been pretty traditional. It's gone really well. I think we trained a little easier than we did for the Boston training, which is kind of nice. I'm surprised at how he raced there based on the build‑up work. It's come along a little easier this time. So that's a good sign. Q. How about the benchmarks, similar? DESIREE LINDEN: Pretty similar. I wouldn't say they were‑‑ the times weren't necessarily great or better than the Boston build‑up, but I felt more comfortable doing it. So that's a good sign. Q. Do you still do that 26K, 26 miles? DESIREE LINDEN: We shook it up a little bit this time, and actually that's one that got kicked out. So it was a lot more just longer routes, 2 by 3, 2 by 6, 4 by 2 1/2, big volume days but not that one extended longer run. Q. So strategizing your career, what's the issue with a race like this where you're very unlikely to get a magic time?  But it's much more a matter, as you said, of competing. So why did you choose this run over Chicago or Berlin? I'm totally with you, but just wondering your reasoning. DESIREE LINDEN: Kind of working back from the trial date and filling things in. Right now my strength is my strength, so we've been working on that. I don't think I have the speed right now to go to Chicago or Berlin and make it really worth it. So here I can come in and practice racing and practice competing with a good field. Those are all things that are going to be important to the trials and hopefully to the games, just racing, and that's what you have to be good at. Q. You mentioned that time is not as important here. You also said that maybe 2:25 is a time you're looking at. Is it a matter of trying to go at that pace for a while and seeing how that feels? What is your strategy based on the rest of the runners and the conditions and all those factors out there on the course? DESIREE LINDEN: We kind of looked at a 5:30 mile pace for a perfect day. There's no wind in your face. On this course, I think it's doable. We will make some last‑minute fine tuning to the game plan based on conditions, but it will be what feels like that 5:30 race. If it's super windy, it is what it is, but I'll look for that 5:30 pace. Q. If the wind is against you for most of the course but with you for the last five or six miles. DESIREE LINDEN: That's not the worst. Q. Some say that may be an advantage to you, that on a perfect day, people run for their PRs, and your PR is not up there with some of the Africans, whereas adverse conditions become more of a field leveler. DESIREE LINDEN: I absolutely agree with that. You take out the pacemaker and take out all of that time travel feel, and you just go and race. I had that in Boston too, where I hated the tailwind. I didn't care about the time. I wanted to try and win. I think, if it had been a little bit warm or a headwind, people get frustrated by that sort of thing. I think that it doesn't really shake me up as much as other people, which is kind of a bonus for me. I think I need those adverse things to maybe throw people off their game because Mary Keitany is at 1:05 half‑marathon. If she is on her A‑game, she's going to beat me. I need something to break that up, and this is a great place for that to happen. Q. You're probably used to, doing a lot of training up in Michigan, dealing with adverse conditions year round. DESIREE LINDEN: Yes, there's always elements to be battled in Michigan. I've certainly had those in the training build‑up. Q. How was the summer for you? I know back here it was the most mildest one we've ever had, I think. DESIREE LINDEN: It was pretty mild. Definitely a nice summer. Q. I wanted to jump back to your Olympic plans. More about how American women are doing in the marathon right now. You ran a good run in Boston. Shalane is trying to go for the American record. Deena Kastor just set the World Masters half‑marathon record.  Who do you think are the main challengers for the Olympic team? How do you feel you guys are doing heading into the next months? DESIREE LINDEN: Boston was huge for me because I felt like it put me back in the conversation. I do want to keep moving forward instead of looking back, but there's certainly a nice pack here clipping my heels for sure. Anybody could break through at any time. Bersagel here looks great. Kleppin looks great. Obviously, Mary just had a huge run. Kara is coming around. It's really exciting to talk about all the names because there's so many people running great right now. You have to keep looking forward and figure out how you're going to get a little bit better and a little bit better. So it's exciting, and I think this weekend's very important. I want to take this opportunity to kind of establish myself as one of those frontrunners for the spot. Hey, if you want to make the team and we go out at 1:12, are you ready for that? I want it to be outside of the comfort zone of the people that are clipping my heels. So it's a good opportunity to practice that and see where I run. Q. I want to take this in a different direction. With Mary Keitany is coming off having a child and running a great half‑marathon. Obviously, you don't have a child yet, but what are your thoughts on trying to come back, going through that process? Have you talked to people about it? Is it something that you think you could do during your career? DESIREE LINDEN: It's not‑‑ it hasn't really been on my radar. The children thing is like super frightening to me. So I just don't even talk about it. But it's cool to see that so many people have done it and done it well. It's very doable. I'm sure it's incredibly challenging. It's a thing that you can run through and stay relatively fit. So in terms of, when you think about a big injury, you're just losing fitness, losing fitness. You can stay pretty healthy. It's nice to know, if I do go down that road, I'll have plenty of people who have gone through and really good support helping me through that process. Q. Your first time running in New York, is it daunting or no big deal? DESIREE LINDEN: I think it's been daunting for a long time, but I wanted to get past that before I race here. I feel comfortable running in the city and dealing with all the press. There's a lot of hype around the event. So I kind of felt like I've taken a long time to get comfortable with it, and now I'm ready for it. I kind of find it exciting. Q. What kind of race do you think will play out? Is do you think it will be a come from behind tactic? Do you think Keitany will kick out hard? DESIREE LINDEN: I'm definitely going to find what feels like the right effort for me given the conditions. It will be interesting to see how they'll play their cards, especially with the wind. Deba had no problem last year going for it, even with high winds. We'll see if it's the same strategy for how she decides to manage it. I'm going to follow my own pace for the first 20 and try to get there really efficient and race from there. Q. Have you toured the course? Did you run a lot of the course? DESIREE LINDEN: I did. I came out in June and covered it over three days, different parts of it. So I've seen it and run it, but it's not as familiar as like the Boston for me. Like I know every turn on that course and every bump on the road. So it's kind of makes me hesitant, but I think it keeps you focused. It will be fun. It looks like a fun course. Q. It's different than Boston, but do you like hilly courses? Do you like the flat ones? Does this work to your advantage? DESIREE LINDEN: I think the course will suit me really well. We've done a ton of strength work. This is my third marathon in a row really. So I have that base built up, and I have that strength built up. I think that really highlights the strength. I think it will be good for me. I think if I went to Berlin or Chicago, I think I would actually struggle. It's something I'll look for in the future. Q. Leading up to the Olympic trials, are you planning to do another marathon next year or something different? Do you have any idea yet? DESIREE LINDEN: I know the speed stuff is a weakness right now for sure, but we'll work on a big chunk of speed work. How it fits in, I don't know. You have basically a whole year to play with. Kind of sit down after this and see what I really need. Q. Do some track stuff? DESIREE LINDEN: I wouldn't be above doing track stuff, but one step at a time. Q. I was wondering if you could talk about your goals, what you're hoping to accomplish on Sunday. DESIREE LINDEN: I think, looking at training and stuff, I felt like 5:30 was a pace that was very realistic. We'll look at the conditions and kind of decide on that and feel it out by effort when we get out there. But at like 5:20, you dial back and adjust your plans. We'll look at the conditions and decide what the plan will be. Q. [ No microphone ]? DESIREE LINDEN: Not necessarily, I think the effort that I put in is to get me to 20, and hopefully I do that efficiently, and I can look up at 20 and say let's race. I don't think it's far off from some of these top runners, top five, top three. If it breaks right, you never know. But, yes, getting to 20 in an efficient way and then racing from there in. Q. What made 2014 the year to run the New York City Marathon? DESIREE LINDEN: I think the build‑up after 2012 has been just getting strength work in and getting comfortable with the marathon, and it's been a lot of miles and longer strength workouts. I think this is a course where I can really peak at, and having the advantage of all that work under my legs. It should be good timing for getting out on the course. Q. How has your training gone? Have you had any interruptions, injuries or otherwise? DESIREE LINDEN: Nothing major. I think we all run into things along the way, but nothing that would compromise fitness by any means. Pretty basic, standard workouts. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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