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U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS: WOMEN'S MARATHONApril 18, 2008Deena KastorBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS KEVIN NEUENDORF: Thanks, excited to be with you guys here today as we continue our Bound for Beijing teleconference series with the U.S. Olympic Committee. It's my pleasure at this time to introduce Mr. Tom Surber, who will moderate today's call. TOM SURBER: Thank you very much, and good afternoon, everyone. We're glad you could be with us, and we're very pleased to have Deena Kastor with us today. She really needs no introduction. Deena, thank you so much for being with us today. Just real quick from me, could you tell us how your training has been going, and are you as prepared as you would like to be for this event coming up on Sunday? DEENA KASTOR: Thank you, Tom. Yeah, I am so excited. Our plane landed in Boston last night and I was joking that it was phase 113 of 115 to go. It seems like it's been a long haul in training the past few months, but I feel ready and excited to be a part of this Olympic Trials. I feel very well prepared, and I think I had a little ghost from the 2004 Olympic Trials kind of undermining the distance and the competition a little there that I'm not going to make that same mistake twice. So I'm very well prepared for this Sunday's race and know that between the competitors and the 26.2 miles that I'm going to have my work cut out for me. TOM SURBER: You mentioned the 26.2 miles. I'm sure you've had a chance to see the course by now. What are your thoughts on the course they've laid out for you? DEENA KASTOR: I love the course here in Boston, both the traditional historic course, as well as the race that they have set up for us in the trials this weekend. I came out in the fall of last year to preview the course and then also ran on parts of it this morning as part of my last workout training runs, so I'm very excited to get it underway, and with the beautiful weather conditions we have and a seemingly fast course except for the first couple miles where we go around Boston Common to drop down onto the loops that we'll be competing on for four rounds, I think it's setting up to be a fast day out there. So we'll get a nice, honest team out of this race. TOM SURBER: Before we turn it over to questioning, I just want to let the ladies and gentlemen of the media know that our time is limited. We only have a little over 20 minutes or so. So at this time let's open it up to questions from the media. Q. Thinking back to 2004 when you entered Olympic Stadium, it's such a vivid picture of you crying and stuff, when you think back to that scene, what comes to mind? DEENA KASTOR: I guess what comes to mind when I think of Athens was just a great preparation, which is what every marathon starts with, and really just the support I had along the way. I have always accredited my success to the team of people that surround me. I've been very grateful in my support system and the knowledge that I'm surrounded by. I could never be a coach and could never be a manager and could never be as supportive a spouse as what I have here in my team that's with me and helped me prepare. So I guess I'm smart enough to know I don't know everything and to get the right people on board to allow me to fulfill my dreams. Q. I'm curious, just given the local ties to so many women running on Sunday, does that give an edge to runners like yourself and Joanie and Kate? DEENA KASTOR: I'm not sure I understood the question. Q. Just wondering, with yourself, you have a lot of local ties in this area, as does Kate and Joan Samuelson. Does that give you an edge in the race on Sunday? DEENA KASTOR: I definitely feel that when you're out there running a marathon that support is everything. I definitely feel a tremendous amount of support coming back here to Boston with family and friends and an entourage of people that all believe in me and have helped me get to the starting line healthy. And it's my job on Sunday to perform well to show them and honor the work that they've put into this. So I feel very grateful for the family and friends that travel with me and that are here in Boston welcoming me and supporting me this weekend. Q. I believe if I'm not mistaken, your last marathon was -- was it last year in Boston? DEENA KASTOR: My last marathon? Q. Correct. DEENA KASTOR: Yes. Q. It's a little while, a year, but not that uncommon. How do you feel about approaching the distance again? DEENA KASTOR: I feel great, a little bit of -- I guess I learned a lot from Boston last year to be so well prepared and to have the few days leading up to the marathon kind of go wrong and realize that I didn't have it on that day, which your fitness is never wasted, so I took that and got on the track and gave myself a break from the mileage and the distance to speed my legs up a little bit and just take a break from the -- I guess how taxing a marathon and marathon training can be. So I feel very refreshed, and our training in Mammoth has been great. I was down in your neck of the woods in San Diego for a few days to decompress before heading here to Boston. I definitely feel like a little marathon break was well worth it, and it refreshed my spirit and allowed me to prepare so well for these trials and hopefully for Beijing, as well. Q. What went wrong in terms of your last couple of days before Boston last year? DEENA KASTOR: I guess I would prefer not to discuss female issues with the press. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the intensity of your training, maybe give us a couple examples of your mileage and some of the training routines that you have, and how did you come by that philosophy and embrace it? DEENA KASTOR: I guess the marathon is mostly just getting out there and performing each day when you're tired from the day before, so in that an example would be a 12-mile tempo run on a Friday morning, then a 10-mile run the following day, Saturday, and Sunday coming back and running a 23-miler with the last four miles being a hard effort. Those are pretty taxing weekends when we have to come back after a hard effort to perform and go a long distance. I definitely feel like those weekends have prepared me well for this race this weekend, and my only battle wound to show for it all is a black and blue toe from weekends like that. I really feel that those were huge strength builders and have prepared me tremendously for this weekend, and I have high hopes that my main goal is to make this Olympic team, but secondly I'd like to win the race in a very fast time. Q. Just to follow up, who sort of bred that philosophy in you, and why do you think you have taken to it so well? DEENA KASTOR: I guess I just am a good listener. I listen to what my coach tells me to do. I know he's the best coach in the world and know that he's going to prepare me well for this race, so I just leave everything into his hands. When he tells me to run a certain distance, I ask him how fast to do it, and we're on from there. So I just have a tremendous amount of faith and belief in my coach and the training programs he's set up for me as an individual but our entire training group, Running USA group in Mammoth, California. We've got a wonderful coach, a very knowledgeable coach and we don't take that for granted but appreciate it and are extremely grateful for him. Q. What type of times do you expect on Sunday? DEENA KASTOR: I'm pretty sure the race is going to go sub-2:30, so I'm hoping for about a 2:25 if all goes well. Q. Can you remind me, what are your local ties? Did your parents grow up in Hull? DEENA KASTOR: My mom was born and raised in Hull, and we've come back every summer of my childhood for a month to spend summers on Nantucket Beach, where my grandparents lived. So yeah, it's a great place. We have cousins and aunts and uncles that all live in the area still, so it's always fun to come back and visit and be a part of this race together. They've been a part of the Boston Marathon, whether it's being on the -- mostly being on the sidelines, being a part of this event for much of its history, so it's fun to be able to come here and be a part of it with them. Q. Obviously you were a big favorite in 2004, finished second at the Trials. Two questions: Was that disappointing? And you're in the same situation again this year; do you feel any pressure whatsoever? DEENA KASTOR: It was disappointing in 2004 because I wanted to win that race, but I guess I didn't want it or respect it well enough back then. So that was my biggest mistake. I know not to make the same mistake twice. Here I'm not feeling pressure but feel the support of everyone around me and feel confident in my preparations and my hunger to get out there and fulfill my goals for the rest of the summer. Q. Can you talk a little bit more about the group out there in Mammoth and what it's like, the lifestyle and who you train with, and what's the altitude out there? Just kind of what is your routine like out there? DEENA KASTOR: Mammoth lakes is in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, a beautiful setting for our training group there. We have about a dozen people, mostly getting ready for the Olympic Trials, on the track. But Kate O'Neill, who will be running here in Boston this weekend, and Ryan Hall, who's already on the Beijing team and had a great performance in London last year, have our focus on the marathon. It's just been a great supportive team that we could all be preparing for distances anywhere from 1,500 meters to the marathon and be supportive and incorporate our workouts together so we can be there for one another. The success of one person is the success of the entire group, and it started with Ryan in New York City, continued on the indoor track with Jen Rhines and Sara Hall, and then Ryan again in London last weekend, and hopefully Kate and I making the Olympic team this weekend, and then onto the track trials. We really are just -- besides having one another, we couldn't have the group without our coach Terrence Mahon keeping us all together and knowing what it takes individually, both physically and mentally, for each of us athletes to get to the top of what we're doing, which I think is a gift on his part. Q. Just to follow up, what's the altitude out there? What are the trails like? Any description of that? Do you guys eat together or live together? I'm not quite sure what your arrangements are. DEENA KASTOR: We do usually have a couple of condos that a lot of the athletes stay in, minus the people Ian Dobson and Terrence and Jen and my husband Andrew and I all have homes up there. But for the group, they get condos and live together. We meet at 8:30 every morning at our favorite coffee house, the Looney Bean, and head out for practice from there. We meet twice a day every day, except Sundays, which we just have one long run, and it's 8,000 feet is where the town rests, and we train anywhere from 4,000 feet altitude to 9,000 feet altitude, depending on the workout. Q. It just sounds like such an ideal environment for you guys. Is it kind of all -- is it kind of isolated and everything kind of revolves around running, or what else do you guys do up there to relax? DEENA KASTOR: Mammoth is a pretty isolated place, and since it's probably in our contracts that none of us can utilize the mountain to ski or downhill mountain bike race, we are stuck with mostly running and running-related things. We do get together for dinner parties, or we'll find Australian Day to get together or whatever the case may be to get together as a group to enjoy ourselves. Mostly it's training twice a day and getting in the weight room for another session in the day, so our days are pretty much filled with training and training-related things. The nearest airport is three hours away, so it's not like we can buzz around and stay busy doing other things. But I think that's what's created champions out of each and every one of us is the simplicity of our life up there and the tremendous amount of support we get from the community and the town of Mammoth Lakes itself. Q. Why did you decide to go there and base your life there? DEENA KASTOR: Mammoth Lakes is a destination for runners down south, both in community colleges, colleges and high schools. They go up for camps in the summer months for team camaraderie, and I was one of those pipsqueaks in high school that were coming up for a couple weeks at the end of every summer. We now have estimated about 20,000 kids that come up in the summer months to train in Mammoth with their teams, which is an exciting figure that they've come up there to be a part of the mountains, and not necessarily gain physiological benefits that any coach or scientist would speak of but really just the simplicity and the camaraderie of being together with your teammates, which is just equally beneficial. When Andrew and I met in Colorado and wanted to move out to California, both knowing Mammoth Lakes is such a beautiful place and that altitude was just an easy choice to move there, and the community embraced us from the very start. Q. I know that you've mentioned before that you're a really good sleeper and that you're big on naps. You told us about that strenuous weekend program that you do. Is it 10 to 11 hours a day of sleep? DEENA KASTOR: Yeah, I mean, we got in last night. I slept for eight and a half hours and just got in a two-hour nap before the press conference. So I'm still good at that. Q. I know that you're not in San Diego that much, a little bit for altitude training, but do you come down here two or three times a year for five days or so? DEENA KASTOR: Yeah, and I love coming down to San Diego and Chula Vista area to see the area grow and the training center be in such high demand. I've been coming down there since 1999 to utilize the training center, some years more often than other years, but it's always great to go down there and see the community grow and be supportive of Olympians and Olympic dreams, and I'm very grateful to have that facility there. It's definitely the place I go to to narrow my focus before big competitions, and this was no exception. As I'm getting ready for the Olympic Trials and hopefully later this year getting ready for the Olympic Games, I'll call the Olympic Training Center my home for a while. Q. Were you here for maybe like five days before you headed to Boston? DEENA KASTOR: I was there for 12 days. Q. I'm curious if you've given much thought to the regular marathon on Monday and what you expect from that field, and also how much you're going to miss running that course this year. DEENA KASTOR: I think it's extraordinary that the BAA has taken on the Olympic Trials when they have such a huge event going on just the next day. But it's definitely just amazing that the women's Olympic Trials can be a part of one of the greatest sporting events that our country knows. I'm very honored to be here and race on Sunday as well as stick around and be here on Monday to be supportive of the masses that will be running. I always appreciate -- I love to run and race, but I'm also very appreciative of being on the sidelines and offering my support when I can. So I'll be excited to be there on Monday to greet the runners passing by. Q. Do you know where you'll be? DEENA KASTOR: I think probably more towards the finish line. It's a pretty inspirational place to be when you can see the emotion and -- I guess just the emotion of the people crossing the line, anyone from the winners who are excited, all the way to the people closer to the back of the pack in the 15,292nd place that sometimes show more enthusiasm than people breaking records. Q. Have you ever gotten to experience that race before from the sidelines? DEENA KASTOR: Not the Boston Marathon, no. But some marathons that I have witnessed have really been some of the most inspiring moments of being able to watch people cross the finish line who have worked just as hard as the elite athletes. Q. Have you given any thought whatsoever that this might be your last Olympics? DEENA KASTOR: No (laughing). I always take it one race at a time. It's usually when I am competing that that's my narrow focus and I don't know what I'm doing next. In this case, I know that if I make this team, my next competition or next big focus would be Beijing, and after Beijing I'll see what goals pop up. But I really am driven by my goals, and it's the only thing that gets me out there. If I don't really believe in something or want something bad enough, I can't get out there on a daily basis to put in the work necessary. So I'll see what creates itself after this summer as far as the rest of my career goes. Q. Talk about the progress that you've seen in American distance running and perhaps your role in that. DEENA KASTOR: It's definitely been an honor to be a part of the growth and resurgence of American distance running, both on the men's and women's side, seeing people break down barriers and be inspired by one another. I think it's in a wonderful place right now to continue to grow, that we have tremendously talented athletes coming up, younger athletes graduating from college, a couple years out of college, that show a huge amount of potential both physically and mentally to take on the challenges to be one of the best in the world. It's wonderful to see, but we haven't seen the peak of it yet. I think we're definitely in the beginning stages of it, and it'll be exciting to see what comes out of American distance running in the next four to eight years. Q. Any theories on sort of what happened in the lesser years when American distance running kind of fell off the face of the map? Why was that do you think? DEENA KASTOR: I think everything has its peaks, valleys and plateaus, so it was just a plateau. Once you start getting good performances, it seems to gain momentum. Now you have over 100,000 people trying to enter into marathons each other in our greatest cities, so that in itself is extraordinarily exciting, that the masses want to get involved. As far as the elite level, as soon as you see people winning medals in Olympic Games or in World Championships like this past track season, or in Ryan Hall's performances in the Olympic Trials in New York City, as well as London last year, those are the kind of performances that inspire people and really make people believe that there's a lot more possibility in each one of us. So I think it's a beautiful thing that these performances keep coming out, and the more concentrated great performances we can have, the more impact the athletes now will have on the future generations to really believe that they have what it takes to be one of the best in the world. Q. Following on that theme, do you think Americans were training hard enough? Has that changed? Do you feel that Americans have upped the ante in terms of their training regimen? DEENA KASTOR: No, I believe that the training is pretty similar over the past decade and will continue to be similar over the next decade. I think that the difference is more of a mentality shift and paying attention to the other details of training, the weight lifting, the nurturing and napping and ice bags and massages and the things that we do on the side to recover better for our next workouts. But more emphatically the belief that we have what it takes to be up with the leaders and can participate on a global level rather than just a national level. TOM SURBER: With that I'd like to thank everyone for being with us. I know you had a press conference before this teleconference call. Thank you so much for your time. You're very, very generous. We wish you and all the rest of the competitors great success for your competition on Sunday, and we know the top three finishers who make the roster for Team USA will represent us very well in Beijing. Thank you, everyone. End of FastScripts |
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