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The men's 5,000m was one of the most interesting races of the
championships. Coming in, there were three athletes who already
had the World Championships "A" standard of 13:21.50,
defending champion Tim Broe, Adam Goucher, and Jorge Torres, and
two more who were just ticks away, Ryan Hall, and Ian Dobson.
When
Broe burst away from the pack in the first kilometer, Dobson and
Hall saw their chance. They followed Broe, caught him, and then
paced each other until, with two laps remaining, Broe again pulled
away, this time to win his third title in the event in a record
13:12.76. Hall followed Broe initially, but as he began to tie up,
it was Dobson who took second (13:15.33), with Hall third in 13:16.03.
All three were under the "A" standard, and all three were
under the U.S. Championships record.
Q:
What are you feeling right now?
Ian Dobson:
That was definitely the most exciting race of my life. So many times
this season, Ryan and I have been the only two people I've seen.
Tonight it worked. If it had been anybody else, I wouldn't have
taken the lead [to help out], but it was Ryan, so I took it, and
just said to myself, 'Stop thinking, just run.' I stood at the finish
and thought, 'I'm ready for 13:10.'
Q:
Have you been able to train consistently since running cross country
in the winter?
Ian Dobson:
I was hurt in the fall. I've had a few slumps in the middle, like
the conference and regional [track] meets [Pac-10 and NCAA West
Regional, respectively]. I feel like we kept doing the training
we needed to do, and I just needed a little taper to make it pay
off.
Q:
And now you're Helsinki-bound.
ID:
This is a dream come true. We're training with each other every
day, and now we can't even believe this is happening. We work hard
together, so it's not a fluke, but I still feel like I'm going to
wake up from this sometime.
Q:
Did you expect to run that fast?
ID:
It surprised me a little bit. I thought we might get the standard.
I wasn't sure, but I thought 13:15 without a rabbit was out. Then
Tim took it out, and he helped us get out. That's so important.
At NCAAs, we were four seconds back at 3,000m, and that's a big
four seconds to make up. It's nice to have a little bit of padding.
Q:
So the difference between this race and the NCAAs was having someone
else to run with?
ID:
Yeah, Ryan and I ran all alone there. We weren't running conservatively;
we put everything out that day. But it was a warm day at NCAAs.
Q:
Do you feel like the season is a little long, now?
ID:
Yes, it's been a long year. I can't wait until next year, I'll be
in the position Tim's in now. Tim's going to run awesome this summer.
He's able to do it right. I think next year I'll really be able
to do it right.
Q:
What do you do to hang on to this level of fitness?
ID:
We do the right training throughout the year, and we don't get started
on VO2 max stuff too early. We won't start to turn our legs over
too early. We'll do strides throughout the year, but as far as hard
miles, we just started that recently. We did a lot of threshold
this year, just to build a base.
Q:
Are you still working with Andy Gerard?
ID:
Andy's our guy. We've come a long way since last spring. To tell
you the truth, this year has been more of a challenge than last.
Andy and I got along real well last year. This year, we still get
along great on a personal level, but this year I've had a little
more input. He's been great, he listens to it, and he's the kind
of coach who's not afraid to say, 'Yeah, let's reconsider and think
of something else.'
Q:
What's next for you?
ID:
We've got to talk to Ray Flynn. We haven't been able to make any
plans. We've had to wait until this one. Now that we know how this
went, we can make plans.
Q:
Will you train through, or will you try to race?
ID:
That's a good question. I think I'll probably go back and do some
work for a bit. I'll do some work, then try to get a few races before
Helsinki.
Q:
When Ryan took the lead, he dropped the pace by two seconds (per
lap).
ID:
Yeah, Ryan did a hard lap in there. We needed that, too.
(Interview
conducted June 24, 2005)
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Ian
Dobson.
(Photo by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)
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