Interview with Rod Koborsi

by Mario Fraioli

Recent Georgetown graduate Rod Koborsi will make his professional road racing debut this weekend at the CVS/pharmacy 5K in Providence, Rhode Island, which also doubles as the national championship.

A native of Houston, Texas, the 23-year-old Koborsi had an impressive spring on the track while finishing up his eligibility as a Georgetown Hoya, running school records of 28:32.49 for 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational on March 31 and 13:35.49 for 5000 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 13. On June 23, in his first race as a post-collegiate, Koborsi ran 13:44.35 to finish 11th in the men’s 5000-meter final at the USA Track & Field Championships. Later in the summer, Koborsi set personal bests of 13:26.65 for 5000 meters, at the Heusden KBC Night of Athletics meet in Belgium, and 7:48.40 for 3000 meters, in Lignano, Italy.

Koborsi, who finished seventh in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships in June, was an eight-time All-American in cross country and track while at Georgetown. Before his recent track successes, Koborsi made his mark as a cross country standout, placing 11th in the 2000 Foot Locker Championships as a high school senior, as well as finishing as the top American junior at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships. As a collegian, Koborsi finished as high as tenth at the NCAA Championships in cross country, a feat he accomplished as a junior in 2004. Koborsi is still coached by his college coach, Pat Henner.

MensRacing.com: This past summer was your first as a post-collegiate following four years and a graduate year at Georgetown. As far as your daily routine goes, how is your life different now than from your days as a student?
Rod Koborsi: My daily routine is not very different from what it was last year. I took a couple evening graduate classes during the summer, which is basically what I did all year my fifth year. I have one class left and a long thesis to write to finish up my master’s. The main difference between now and my collegiate career is the increase in focus. I have no excuse not to run at the top of my potential now, because running is my job. It’s what I do.

MR: Have you signed with an agent and/or shoe company yet?
RK: I signed with Mark Wetmore and recently have been lucky enough to wear the Reebok jersey. Mark represents [former teammate] Chris Lukezic, and all I heard were good things about how he treated Chris and the rest of his athletes.

MR: How is that working out so far?
RK: So far I am very happy. [Wetmore] trusted Henner and I when we said that I was ready to run very fast, considering the rough ending of my college season, and he still got me into some great races. As for Reebok, I wanted to represent a shoe company that has a growing commitment to track and field. I didn’t just want to wear gear and say, “These are the guys that are helping me run professionally.” I want to run for a company that I fully support and can say great things about.

MR: Are you still living in DC?
RK: Yeah, I’m still living in DC, and living in a house with four others who are all connected to running in different ways. Fleet Hower is finishing up his eligibility at Georgetown. Steve Meinelt [who graduated from Georgetown last year] is training to run a marathon, and should easily make the Olympic Trials next year. His girlfriend, Katie, teaches and runs marathons. Rebecca Walter is with us for a semester, training and volunteer coaching for the girls’ team until she goes back to the University of Michigan to finish off her eligibility. It’s an interesting combination of people that are all connected because of our running experiences.

MR: What factors led you to stay?
RK: By far the main reason I’m staying in DC is to be coached under Pat. I left Houston to come to Georgetown because I was impressed with his training techniques and the way he developed his athletes to run after college. I am where I am today because of Henner. It’s a situation that works, and you should never change a good thing.

During my rough patches at the end of college, I had an overwhelming amount of support here in DC that eventually helped me to become comfortable with the idea of running after college. Henner was always there guiding me, even when I was a pain to deal with. Lukezic told me I could crash at his place during the summer so I wouldn’t have to pay $1,000 to sublet an apartment before my lease started in August. Ben Cooke, a former pro runner himself and manager at the Georgetown Running Company, told me I could have a flexible work schedule there if I wanted to. Friends and former Georgetown track alumni would come up to me and offer to help out to make sure I would continue running even if the cash wasn’t there. Obviously, I passed on their help, but it means a lot to have that kind of support around here. It came to the point where I did not need to worry about the materialistic junk to determine what I really wanted to do with my life after college.

MR: Now that you’re no longer on the team at Georgetown, who do train with?
RK: My training will be a combination of running on my own, with the Georgetown team, and a lot of workouts and long runs with Lukezic and [Alan] Webb, especially during the main season.

MR: How often do you see Coach Henner now that you’ve graduated, and how has your relationship changed, if it has at all?
RK: I either see or talk to Henner pretty much every day. My house is about a 5-10 minute walk to Georgetown and literally a minute from the trails that we train on. I like it because, while I will do different things as a professional runner, I can still watch and run with the Georgetown guys as my coach sees fit. They are a good group of guys that should make a huge impact on the college scene, especially with the talented young runners they now have.

MR: What does a typical week of training look for you right now at this time of year?
RK: Last year, I ran roughly 80-90 miles a week. While I was in Europe and now, I’m probably stuck between 50-60 miles a week, with very easy running between workouts. My typical week during the year included about 10 runs a week, with two days of strides, two days of weights and/or core exercises, two workouts, and a 14-18-mile long run, depending on the time of year. An example of a workout week for me would be something like 4 x 2K with 90 seconds rest, from 71-second pace [per 400m] down to 67-68-second pace on Tuesday. Friday would be something like alternating sets of 600, short rest, 300, from 3K down to mile effort, with a decent rest between each set.

MR: What are your primary focuses and goals for the rest of 2006?
RK: My goals for 2006 are to just have fun and compete. Anytime I do that, I end up fine. I want to make the Worlds team in either the 5K or 10K. I can see myself running at least under 27:45 and 13:15 next year. I just want to go out there and not be afraid to take some risks and go out with the top guys, even if it means going through 3K in 7:50 for a 5K.

MR: Speaking of Coach Henner, you improved significantly in your time at Georgetown. Talk a bit about Henner’s training philosophy, how you adapted to it, and why you think it worked so well for you.
RK: My high school coach, Al Lawrence, among his other accomplishments, was the Olympic 10K bronze medalist in 1956. He is a great man and mentor who believed I had the potential to be one of the best runners in the country and a future Olympian back when I was only 14. He talked me into putting all my energy outside of high school into running. Naturally, I looked for a coach that was very similar to Al in personality and training philosophy.

Our training at Georgetown is a combination of many things, some emphasized more than others at different points of the season. In the fall, mileage, weights, core exercises and our long run are emphasized heavily, although none are performed to excess at any point. During the racing season, workouts become emphasized increasingly more, while our number of recovery runs increase.

MR: Many runners on the professional level, when they’re not running, like to put their feet up and live the lazy life, so to speak. What do you like to do when you’re not running? Are you more the type to sit around and watch TV and play video games, or do you prefer to get out of the house?
RK: I would think I’m kind of in between. You have to be somewhat lazy in between runs to fully recover from training. When resting, I either watch TV, read books or the newspaper. This year, if I have the time, I would like to do some freelance work for research in the economic development field. It’s one of my primary interests.

MR: Earlier this past spring you ran pretty significant PRs in the 5K and 10K, and finished seventh in the 10K at NCAAs. Talk a little bit about your final collegiate season and what you attribute your small breakthroughs in those races to.
RK: The end of my collegiate season was unfortunately very sub-par for me. Before our conference meet, I started feeling sick and I went on antibiotics for a couple of weeks and started to worry and freak out. By nationals, I just stopped listening to Henner, who continually had been telling me not to worry about the future and to just compete and have fun. Running no longer became fun because I was stressing out. I was worrying about my future, and it cost me a chance at finally getting an individual national title for my team. I remember hitting four miles and seeing [Josphat] Boit take off. All I could think was, “I don’t like this. Looks like I’m not going to win; this sucks.” That should never happen. I should have just looked at the other guys in front of me and tried to beat them. I learned a good lesson.

MR: How did you snap out of that mindset?
RK: Before my trip to Europe, I just went back to enjoying things and began to train and compete well again. It’s something that I will face countless times in high-profile races, and I can promise it won’t happen again, because I realize now how easily you can psyche yourself out by over-thinking.

MR: Later in the summer you finished 11th in the 5K at USAs, in what seemed to be a fairly tight chase pack behind Bernard Lagat, Chris Solinsky, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Adam Goucher. What led you to choose the 5K over the 10K for your first post-collegiate national championship, and how did you feel about your race?
RK: We chose the 5K at USAs simply because we knew it was going to be the most competitive. Unfortunately, I was still racing with weights on my shoulders and did not compete well. I was way too anxious during the race. You can’t get away with that in a championship 5K.

MR: You went over to Europe for the first time after USAs and significantly bettered your PRs in the 5K and 3K. Talk a little bit about your experiences over there, both racing and otherwise, and how it differed from what you were used to in the collegiate system.
RK: I raced five times in Europe. My first three weeks, I ran a 7:48 3K, 13:26 5K, and then 13:33 at London. I later got second in a tactical 3K in 7:55 and finished off with a rough 13:39 5K.

I had been told by my coach and others of what to expect. It consisted of lots of traveling, some uncertainties, and a whole lot of relaxing in between races. Some people complain about the uncertainties and it hurts them, and others go with the flow and it doesn’t become a big deal. I just didn’t stress out about it.

MR: Talk a little bit about the 5K in London.
RK: In London, I was able to toe the line with guys like [Kenenisa] Bekele, Lagat, and [Craig] Mottram. As expected, it went out faster than any other 5K I had ever run. After about 6 or 7 laps, [Jorge] Torres and [Dan] Lincoln dropped out of the race for their own reasons, and I found myself in no-man’s land. The pack had gone out in something like 7:53 [for 3K], and I was at around 8:04. I really believe I could have run 13:20 on that day if I was at the right place, but I guess I will have to save that for next year. It was an experience I will be replaying in my head for many months until I do it again next year.

MR: You’re racing the 5K road championships this coming weekend in Providence. Given your long spring and summer racing season, what factors played a role in you deciding to contest the event?
RK:The 5K this weekend will most likely be my last race before I take a break. I just want to finish the season having fun, competing hard, and not worrying about time.

MR: Is road racing something you think you’ll gradually turn your attention toward, or would you still like to keep a track focus over the next few years?
RK: My focus for at least the next couple of years will be to run as fast as I can on the track. If there are road races that fit into my schedule, then I will consider running them, but it will not be a top priority. I can see myself moving up to longer events such as the half-marathon and marathon eventually, but not quite yet.

MR: The Olympic Trials are less than two years away, and I imagine you’ll be gunning for them. As of right now, what event would you like to focus on, or is that something that you haven’t decided yet?
RK: Being part of the Olympic team is definitely my main goal for the next two years. I’m not quite sure yet what event I would want to run, but I think by then I will be very competitive in both the 5K and 10K.

MR: American distance runners, especially those coming out of college the past few years, have really started to step things up to the point where we are starting to have a significant impact at the Olympic and World Championship level. What do you attribute this to, and how does it feel to part of the “revolution,” so to speak?
RK: Ha-ha, revolution—I like that. I wouldn’t quite consider myself part of the revolution yet, but I’m proud of where I am, but it is nowhere near my expectations. As for the improvements in overall American distance running, I think it is a combination of factors. First off, the past few years seem like it’s the first time that runners have been able to make a living and focus on training and reaching the top of their potential. To this, I mostly credit the shoe companies. However, as Bob Kennedy once said, major improvements in track and field will come when runners with great potential who have yet to show it still receive enough support to focus on training post-collegiately. There are also great training groups like Hansons for the marathon and Gags’ and Salazar’s group on the West Coast to help support and develop runners.

I also credit the athletes who have been on the scene for so long such as Ritzenhein, Webb, and [Ryan] Hall, who all graduated high school the same year as I did. If two of those guys bonked in college and eventually quit, we would not see younger runners believing they can make it. I have had the pleasure of chasing those guys since my junior year in high school. Whatever I ran was not fast enough, because they ran much faster. Without those guys, I might have felt satisfied running a 9:00 two-mile. I also train with Lukezic now, and he’s someone I have watched go from a 4:03 miler to a 3:33 1500-meter runner, and a guy who now strives to be the best in the world in the next couple of years. The bar has been significantly raised.

MR: Anything else you’d like to add before we wrap this up?
RK: One more thing. I could be wrong, but when I watched [Matt] Tegenkamp run 13:04 at Stockholm on TV while in Europe, all I could think was that this guy went from 13:25 to 13:04 in one year. Yes, he probably trained harder and wiser than previous years, but what seems to be overlooked and what I would credit a lot of his success this season is his willingness and the discipline to commit to going out in high 7:40s through the 3K, staying relaxed, and believing that he belonged at that level. Plain and simple. The improvements that American distance runners are making is not just through training harder than previous years, but because they now actually find no reason why they can’t run 13:00 or 3:31 in the near future. The expectations have been raised, and I’m planning on being a major part of that change.

Interview conducted September 14, 2006, and posted September 14, 2006.