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Adam
Goucher finished second in the 4K at the 2005 USA Cross Country
Championships February 12. After a disappointing 2004 season, which
saw him get eliminated from the 5,000m in the first round at the
U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, this was a comeback of sorts
for Goucher. Goucher and his wife, Kara, moved to Portland, Oregon,
after the 2004 Olympic Trials to try something new. They now train
with the Nike-funded Oregon Project under coach Alberto Salazar.
On
his training situation:
I train on the Nike campus every day. There's a Nike house where
some of the athletes live, but Kara and I live somewhere else. We've
got a townhouse right now. We wanted to come out and get a feel
for it. We still own our house in Boulder. We didn't want to sell
that, move out here, and decide this wasn't the place for us.
I've
really just started. I only did the oxygen thing about three weeks.
I think it's going to be a benefit; you've really got to take every
opportunity you can. There are a lot of people out there, athletes
who are on EPO, and you've got to do the best you can with what
you've got.
On
his uneven record in the last few years:
Today was only my third good race for a long time. I only raced
twice last year. The year before that I hadn't raced at all.
On
his new coach, Alberto Salazar's approach to training:
It's so different. He's got such a different mentality than [Goucher's
former coach, Mark Wetmore]. A lot of old-school stuff, the way
Pre used to run, and all those guys back in the 60s and 70s. It's
old-school workouts, and it's good to have his perspective on things
because he's been there. And sometimes he forgets, and he says,
'Ah, you can do anything, I've been there, I did that.' And it's
like, 'Yeah, but you were one of the best ever.' I've learned a
lot from him; it's nice to have him be so confident and positive
and supportive. It's endless, how he believes. And that's key.
Workout-wise,
we do a lot of longer repeats, which is something we didn't really
do in Colorado. We do a tremendous amount of core strengthening
and body work, which is something I'd never really done before.
And there's a lot of physical and technical support, with doctors,
therapists and trainers to keep the body healthy.
On
Salazar's expectations of him:
He's not shy about it. He says, 'I know you're going to be under
13 minutes, you're going to do this, you're going to do that,' he
tells me. Sometimes I say, 'Whoa, one step at a time.' But it's
good.
On
how he's applying the available resources:
I see an active-release therapist, Justin Whittaker, twice a week
on average, I get massage twice a week. I'm constantly having body
work done. I'm just staying on top of a lot of the preventative
stuff.
On
whether that allows him to maintain a heavy training load:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm training harder... I can train just as
hard as I've ever trained, but without the worry that I'm going
to break the next day. Because if something pops up, very quickly
I've got someone there to take care of it and help me get through
it.
On
his racing plans:
I'm thinking about doing the 8K road race in New York after the
World Champs, then taking a few down weeks and just training hard.
Then I'll come back in early spring.
On
whether he feels like he is back where he was in 1999:
Not quite. Not yet. I think with a few more races under my belt,
I'll be back. I think it's a lack of races over the last couple
years. There's a certain element to being out there competing, and
out there on the course, on the track, head-to-head with people,
that if you're not doing it, or you haven't really done it successfully
for the last couple of years, it takes some time to get back into
it.
[This
race] was tough, but it's what I needed.
On
the differences between the short-course cross country and track
racing:
It's fast from the gun. It's pretty fun. It's over quick, but this
course, it doesn't look too bad, but it's bumpy and it beats you
up. You feel it right away.
On
training for short course rather than long course:
This was the main race. I felt like this was the best preparation
for me. For where I am and what I'm focusing on this year, it's
really getting back in to the same things. I still want to focus
on getting fast. I want to improve my 1,500 PR. I feel like if I
want to run sub-13:00 in the 5K I need to run 3:34, 3:35. So I still
want to focus on the shorter stuff, the faster stuff. Doing the
12K cross didn't fit in as well with the rest of my season.
(Interview
conducted February 12, 2005, and posted March 9, 2005)
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Adam
Goucher.
(Photo by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)
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