|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
UNITED AIRLINES NYC HALFMarch 20, 2016Tatyana McFaddenErnst Van DykNew York, New York Q. Tatyana, to what do you attribute the starkly different result this year compared to last year? TATYANA McFADDEN: Last year I was running in a new chair. That was pretty difficult just to kind of figure out how I wanted the chair to be. It was a lot of things I needed to fix on my chair. But this year, it's a year later. It was fixed for a couple months -- it was fixed right before Boston last year. This year was really important for the Half to kind of set me up really nicely for Boston and really nicely for the rest of the season. Running around 52 today was a really, really good time for me, just knowing that Central Park is really hilly, there's a lot of ups and downs. To get out of there pretty quickly and to finish under 60 minutes for the Half is really good. Like I said, that will be a perfect setup for getting ready for Boston and London and Chicago and New York, and most importantly, the Olympic games as well. Q. Did you feel fairly early on that you were feeling good and that it was going to be a good day? TATYANA McFADDEN: From the first climb and after the downhill, my competitor Manuela caught me, and I hit the other climb, and I just didn't see her after that. Just kept hitting the climbs as hard as I could. Coming down Seventh Avenue, it was pretty rough. So I just kind of took it at a higher speed of what I could since the roads were fairly rough. But then coming off in the last two or three miles, that was such a great stretch. A little windy, but it was a good way to pick up consistency of speed again. Q. It was cold out there. Ernst, you were saying on the TV how cold you were. Did that affect your racing at all? ERNST VAN DYK: Yeah, because I'm coming from summer. When I left home, it was maybe 100 degrees, and you come to 30, whatever it was out there. So it's kind of a shock to the system. It's really tough, especially if you have a lot of muscle, like I do, a lot of bulk, it takes a while to warm up. And then we sit on the finish line and we freeze, and then you go, and there's a climb. So it really, really hurts, and it hurts from there on through the rest of the race. I'm a little disappointed. I really wanted 45 minutes today. That was my target. So I'm two minutes off pace, but I'll attribute that to the rough roads we faced through Times Square. I slowed down quite a lot there because it was just so hard to see where to go. I probably lost maybe even a minute because Aaron Pike gained right back up to me, the leader, as I pulled through the park. But then I was able to stretch it out again on the concrete, on the highway. It felt good. Q. Do you think the cold weather created the faster times a little bit? ERNST VAN DYK: No, I think it's just the direction of the wind. TATYANA McFADDEN: Yeah, the direction of the wind. ERNST VAN DYK: The direction of the wind because last year it was opposite to what it was today. We had a bit of help through the hills in the park, but then we had that long four mile stretch straight into it. This year we had it against it through the park on the hills but behind us on the four-mile stretch. It's a mental thing because, if you're going for four miles without taking it into the wind, it kind of wears you down. Today it helped a bit. Q. What's it like going through that tunnel? TATYANA McFADDEN: It was cool. I liked going through that tunnel. I could hear myself clunking because I was on quad spokes. Oh, cool, clunk. ERNST VAN DYK: It was horrific coming out of it because the wind almost pushed you sideways. TATYANA McFADDEN: The wind was really bad. ERNST VAN DYK: It was like running into a wall. TATYANA McFADDEN: Straight off, pretty much. ERNST VAN DYK: It was off the water too, so it was a cold wind. Q. Welcome to the East Side. And how did it feel making that return? What were you thinking right before you hit the tape? TATYANA McFADDEN: I'm here. ERNST VAN DYK: I was like, Please don't hit anybody. Please don't hit anybody, because there's a bunch of guys, and I don't think they realize how fast we're going. They don't realize that we can't stop like a runner does. I was like please don't hit a reporter or don't hit anybody. Q. You went right into the photo group. But they cleared out? ERNST VAN DYK: So I slammed on my brakes. No, they didn't clear out. I slammed on my brakes. It's always scary, same thing in Boston too. It's like nowhere to go. They're just there. Q. You came close to the person on the tape too. ERNST VAN DYK: Yeah. Q. Nice. Well, what's next? Obviously, Boston. TATYANA McFADDEN: Boston, one month. ERNST VAN DYK: Three weeks of hard work is what's next. Three weeks, and then we do it all over again. Q. So you'll head home and then come back? ERNST VAN DYK: Yeah. Q. So you are going to go back home? ERNST VAN DYK: Why would I want to be in this cold weather? Q. It's supposed to warm up. When will you show up in Boston? ERNST VAN DYK: Probably by Thursday. Five days, that's enough. Expensive city to be. Q. Did either of you learn anything out there today about your racing that will help you in Boston? Did you discover anything today as you were going through the day? TATYANA McFADDEN: I've gotten better on the downs, more confident, per se. Not as braky so much, which is really good for me. So I was able to keep that continuous distance. Through that winding down was a little bit harder for me, and that's when Manuela caught back up. So we were together a little bit until the climb. And then I relaxed and focused on the downhill and took it a little bit better. So that's what I've really been working on for Boston. Q. Did your plan today go exactly as you thought? Did it change anything? Your race plan, did it go exactly as you thought it would? TATYANA McFADDEN: Yeah, it went pretty smoothly. You always have A, B, C, D plans. It went according to my plans today. Q. What was the B plan? TATYANA McFADDEN: I don't know. ERNST VAN DYK: Sprint until you catch up. TATYANA McFADDEN: Exactly. Catch back up. Q. Was there a moment where you felt it was getting away ever? Or do you feel like you had it from when you were starting? TATYANA McFADDEN: I mean, it was way too early to tell. We were together in the beginning for a little bit. Because Central Park, it's so hilly up and down. It's too early to tell. We could tell more when we got out to Times Square and after that. That's when you would have to plan more tactically. Q. What's the favorite part of the course? Is there a favorite part of the course? Times Square maybe you're saying? TATYANA McFADDEN: Times Square, it was pretty cool to go through it. I took a moment to -- because it's only closed twice a year for us, New Year's and here. So that was pretty cool. Lots of crowds, lots of support through that part. And the tunnel was really nice, just a nice stretch where there's no wind or anything. So it was fast. It was really fun. Q. And no toll. TATYANA McFADDEN: No toll. Q. Did you guys see the kids who were in wheelchairs who were coming out to the race? TATYANA McFADDEN: I didn't. ERNST VAN DYK: I didn't see them. Q. They saw you. It was so sweet. They were really excited. TATYANA McFADDEN: That's really exciting to see the wheelchair racers coming out as well. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|