Interview with Matt Gonzales

by Shannon Martin

Matt Gonzales, 25, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is returning to competition after nearly a year-long hiatus, due to multiple injuries. At his first race back, the Lilac Bloomsday 12K on May 6, he placed 12th in a world-class field, with a time of 35:27. On May 19, Gonzales will compete in the Healthy Kidney 10K, which is also stacked with world-class athletes including Craig Mottram, Khalid Khannouchi, and Dathan Ritzenhein.

Gonzales graduated in 2005 from The University of New Mexico, where he was an All-American in cross country and track. He has placed phenomenally well in major championship races in cross country, on the track, and on the roads, including major runner-up finishes behind Meb Keflezighi at the USA 15K Championships in Jacksonville Florida, in 2006, a runner-up finish behind Dathan Ritzenhein at the USA 10K Road Championships in Mobile, Alabama, in 2005; and behind Simon Bairu at the 2004 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Gonzales placed sixth in the 5000 meters on the track at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. He is still coached by his college coach, Art Acevedo.

MensRacing spoke with Gonzales a few days before the Healthy Kidney 10K. He tells us of his return to racing, his potential race plans for 2007, and some unique opportunities he has had in his career, including competing in a marathon relay in Japan in 2005 and guiding 18-year-old Renn Bailey, a visually impaired runner, in many races this past year.

Editor's Update: Matt Gonzales ran an impressive race at the Healthy Kidney 10K; he finished in sixth-place with a time of 28:50.

MensRacing.com: I understand that you're just getting back into training after recoveringfrom an injury. How has training been going?
Matt Gonzales: Training is going pretty well; I’m still in the pretty early stages of my training. I’m still doing a lot of base work. I was injured for so long, I haven’t raced in about a year and I've been injured for eight or nine months. I’m trying to get back into it and so far it’s been going okay.

MR: Well, I’d say that your performance at Bloomsday demonstrates that your training must be going quite well, especially for being in the early stages.
MG: Yeah, I did okay. I feel like I could have done a little bit better, but I went out a little too conservatively. We’re just kind of worried about the foot and the ankle, so we didn’t push too hard in that race.

MR: So, what type of injury are you recovering from, exactly?
MG: I had some ligament problems in my right ankle. I slipped on a rail in Mexico last year at a race. Then, right after that injury, I got plantar fasciitis in the right foot, and then I developed an Achilles problem in the right foot as well.

MR: What was your approach to rehabbing your foot?
MG: Just a lot of time off, and I tried to do as much cross training as possible. I went to the PT [physical therapist] a lot too, to have them rub it out.

MR: Are you feeling stronger?
MG: Yeah, definitely. I had to start from scratch when I came back. I first started training again in February, and I feel a lot stronger now than I did then.

MR: Running the Healthy Kidney is a somewhat exceptional situation for you since you are just getting back into racing. The field is incredible this year. Do you have any particular goals?
MG: The field is really tough [laughing]. I just want to go out there and stay relaxed first of all, and I want to run a lot harder this time around, not like Bloomsday, so hopefully I will finish up a little bit higher. I’m just going to go out there and try to keep the mind clear and just do the best that I can at this point.

MR: Have you raced in Central Park before?
MG: No, I haven’t. I went out there to watch the [ING] New York City Marathon, but I haven’t competed in New York yet. I really love New York, so I’m actually really, really excited for this race.

MR: That’s great to hear. What are your track plans for this season?
MG: I’m not going to get on the track until U.S. Championships. Hopefully, I’ll run a 10K at U.S. Championships, and then we’ll take it from there this summer. Hopefully, I’ll get in a couple of races in the U.S. and maybe get a couple of races in Europe somewhere.

MR: Let’s rewind a little bit to 2005. I'm curious what it was like for you to run on the USA team for the Chiba Ekiden in Japan, where you won the bronze medal. Running USA ranked that race as the second most memorable moment in U.S. distance running in 2005. Tell me how it was to race with that team of Ryan Hall, Ian Dobson, Brian Sell, Fernando Cabada, and Josh Moen.
MG: The Ekiden was awesome. I had never done a race like that before. I was just really excited as soon as I saw the team that we were sending over there. It was a really strong team. Everybody was really fit at the time; I was really fit as well. It was a great experience being with those guys out there; it was such a solid team. It was such a different atmosphere. It was great competition too.

MR: What has been your most memorable race?
MG: My most memorable race was probably [ the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2004, where I was runner-up. I have really, really mixed feelings about that race. I did well, better than I ever did at NCAA [Championships], but I still feel that I should have won. I was 2.3 seconds behind Simon Bairu. That was the first year that he won out of two back-to-back years. He’s a heck of a competitor. It was pretty stacked that year [In addition to Bairu, the field included: Josphat Boit, Matt Tegenkamp, Josh McDougal, Ryan Hall, Aaron Aguayo, Richard Kiplagat, Robert Cheseret, Rod Koborsi, Martin Fagan, Andrew Carlson, and Brent Vaughn]. That is my most memorable race, both good and bad actually [laughing].

MR: Are you training on your own in Albuquerque?
MG: I have been training by myself ever since I got out [of undergraduate school]. We’re trying to get some people down here. We won’t really work on that though until the fall, until everybody is finishing up with their year. Right now, everybody is pretty cemented in their training, but we’re definitely looking for people to come down to Albuquerque.

MR: I assume that you feel that Albuquerque is an excellent place to train.
MG: It’s awesome out here. It really is. There are just so many places to run for any occasion. The climate here is pretty decent year round, so that makes it really, really nice to train out here.

MR: You actually have a B-standard qualifying time for the Olympic Marathon Trials based on your 10,000 at the Cardinal Invite last year [28:22:33]. Are you considering going to the Trials in November, or are you waiting to see how your foot holds up?
MG: We’re still not sure what we're going to do with that. WIt’s 50-50 right now. We’re still being very cautious with my foot.

MR: What are you incorporating into your training for injury prevention, particularly with your right foot?
MG: I'm doing a lot of plyometrics, not a lot of explosive plyometrics, but a lot of balancing stuff. Right now, we’re starting to add some more explosive plyometrics into my training, to keep the strength up. So, mainly we’re rotating the plyometrics and the balancing is for keeping the small ligaments strong.

MR: And I suppose you're sticking with some strength training.
MG: Yeah, I weight-lift three times a week. It’s real light stuff, and it's all injury prevention stuff, nothing really big, just making sure to get all the muscles and small ligaments strong that you wouldn’t be able to strengthen otherwise.

MR: What type of workouts you are doing in this base phase of your training. And what is your mileage?
MG: Well, I have transitioned. When I was in college, I did straight interval base training. Now we’re doing distance-based base training. I’ve never been a high- mileage kind of a guy. I’m probably averaging 85 to 90 miles a week right now. And like I said, I’m doing a lot of plyometrics. I’ve only been on the track twice so far. I’ve been doing workouts like 12 X 1K, a lot of long stuff; I’m working on a lot of VO2 Max stuff right now.

MR: One last thing I want to ask you about, which I find unique and intriguing, is the fact that you've been racing as a guide for a blind high school student, Renn Bailey. How did you get involved with this?
MG: The head coach, Matt Henry, of UNM called me one day and asked me if I could do him a favor because all of the UNM cross country team was at a meet, so he asked me if I could go to Santa Fe, my hometown, to help this kid out at a race. It’s about 50 miles north of here, so I just drove up there and helped him, and I just fell in love with the kid, and I've been helping him ever since. He’s an amazing kid.

He’s a senior in high school. He’s going to a very big meet in Boston on June 2 [the Vision 5K, which is designated by the US Association of Blind Athletes as the National Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired]. I'm thinking I may go out there to help him with that race; I’m pretty excited about that.

MR: How does it feel to run with him and see him perform well, compared to running on your own?
MG: The kid really opened my eyes. When I first helped him, I thought it would be really difficult. I didn’t know what to expect, but he is so in tune with himself, with his body, and the race, that it’s really not hard to guide him. I just felt so comfortable with him; it felt really natural for me for some reason, especially on the track. We’ve come to the point where I don’t even need to tell him when we are coming into turns. I just help to pull him out of the lane in order to pass people, and stuff like that. So, we’ve just started working really well together. He has such a drive; he just commits himself to excellenc. He inspires me.

I started working with him in October, while I was recovering from my injury. What really inspired me was how much Renn improved throughout the year. Like for the track season, in late February or early March, he was running 11:35 for two miles, which is really good, but he dropped down to 10:36 in six weeks. That’s a 59 second PR. He also PRed by 16 seconds in the mile; he dropped from 5:09 to 4:53, so that’s amazing. Like I said, he doesn’t let anything stop him. He worked his butt off, and did what he had to do, achieving his main goal, which was to qualify for state championships.

MR: Wow, that’s great to hear. Good luck to you at the Healthy Kidney on Saturday.
MG: Thank you so much! I’m looking forward to it.

Interview conducted May 14, 2007, and posted May 17, 2007.