Interview: Abdi Abdirahman

by Kevin Beck

Abdihakim ("Abdi") Abdirahman, a two-time Olympian in the 10,000 meters for the United States and a strikingly consistent big-race performer throughout his professional career, will make his marathon debut Sunday at the ING New York City Marathon 2004.

The Nike athlete — who after the Olympics in August left his usual base in Tucson to train with other Team USA California members (including fellow ING New York entrants Meb Keflezighi, Brandon Leslie, and Ryan Shay) in Mammoth Lakes, California — has made not only the past two Olympic teams but also the last five U.S. World 12K Cross Country Championship squads. In the same span, the 27-year-old Abdirahman, a native of Somalia who became an American citizen in January 2000, has finished outside the top three in the 10,000 at the U.S. Outdoor Track & Field Championships just once, winning the event in 2001.

Abdirahman first took up the sport as a second-year student at Pima Community College in 1996, logging a 15:20 in his first 5,000m race after a friend cajoled him into coming out for the team owing to his runner-esque physique. After transferring to the University of Arizona the following year, he embarked on a short-but-successful Division I college career, placing second to Adam Goucher at the 1998 NCAA Cross Country Championships and collecting two Pac-10 titles in 1998 (in the 5,000 and 10,000m) in outdoor track. Last Friday, Abdirahman was inducted into the University of Arizona Athletic Hall of Fame.

The self-described basketball nut, while not yet introduced to the marathon, is no stranger to the roads. He has placed second to Keflezighi in the last three Jacksonville Gate River runs, the event serving each time as the USA 15K Championships; his 43:29 there in 2002 came in the second road race of his life. This spring, coming off a U.S.-leading 34th-place finish at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgium, he set a personal best in the 10,000 (27:34.24) at the Cardinal Invitational in April and placed second in that event to Keflezighi in July at the Olympic Trials in Sacramento. After running to a 15th-place finish in Athens, Abdirahman regrouped and dove into the most intense stretch of training of his life.

MensRacing.com spoke to the amiable Abdirahman on the eve of his departure for New York City from Tucson, where he had spent several days relaxing.

MensRacing.com: Obviously, you and the other U.S. Olympians running ING New York have been pretty much flat-out since at least the spring. Have you had much of a chance to reflect on your second Olympic Games?
Abdi Abdirahman: Not so far. The season is still not over, so I can't review things quite yet. I'll have a chance to do that and to figure where to go next after this weekend.

MR: From a results standpoint, the Olympic 10,000 didn't go as you'd hoped.
AA: You know, my preparation for the Olympic 10K was my best ever and I felt as if I really gave it my best shot, so I can't be too disappointed. Sometimes in spite of putting in the effort, you don't get the results; that's just part of the sport.

MR: Did you take any sort of post-Olympic break?
AA: Yeah, I took about five days off to recover, then started my training for New York.

MR: Who's coaching you now and where have you been training?
AA: David Murray [Abdirahman's coach during his University of Arizona years] is still my coach, but Joe Vigil has been coaching us [the Team USA California contingent] specifically for the marathon. I've been in Mammoth Lakes, California, for the past two months, training with Meb [Keflezighi], Ryan Shay, and Brandon Leslie.

MR: Do you train with the group mainly on hard days or essentially all the time?
AA: We do both hard runs and easy runs together. It's all helpful.

MR: When did you first consider running New York and when did you decide for sure that the race was a go?
AA: I was actually planning on running in 2003, but an achilles injury prevented me from running. I knew that if I was healthy and feeling good I would run it this time — 2004 is a good year for me to run a fall marathon because I'm fit from all of the Olympic-related training and racing.

MR: You've said in the past that in spite of your success, you haven't been as serious about running as some — including yourself, perhaps — might expect. Has that changed with marathon training?
AA: That's true, but really it has been over the past two years that my training has changed. Before that I would do 60 or 70 miles a week, with my highest being 80 or 90. Other runners at my level in the 10K were certainly doing more, but it seemed to work for me. But I do feel that to be the best I can be, I have to put in 110 percent, so I have been training 140, 150 miles a week now. That's at 9,000 feet above sea level.

MR: That's a big jump. Have you managed to dodge minor injuries and other setbacks?
AA: I had a minor hamstring problem that went away quickly. When doing such high mileage it's common to experience little setbacks, sure. That would mean I would train 10 to 15 miles a day for a couple of days instead of 15 to 20 miles or more.

Overall, I've been blessed. I really have to give credit to Meb and the other guys. We all have our days when we're "on" — sometimes it's me but at others it's one of them, and I don't think I'd ever be able to get the same training in by myself.

MR: Do you see this increase in volume and focus translating into big improvements in other areas of your running?
AA: Exactly, definitely. The strength from this training will transfer to cross country and to the track. Not only physically, but mentally. We were running 26- or 27-mile long runs every week. That was tough, but not as tough as I feared it would be. And we always do the long runs hard.

MR: What was your last 'official' marathon-training workout?
AA: On Saturday I did a pretty easy six-mile tempo run. That was at sea level, which felt great.

MR: You've touched on the idea that training for a marathon is new territory no matter how great your previous accomplishments. In recent months, have you learned any lessons, been hit with any surprises, or experienced any revelations?
AA: I was surprised to be able to duplicate some of my better sea-level workouts from before while running at high altitude. I responded very quickly and very well to the longer runs and the tempo runs. For example, I've been able to run 4:50 pace for 10 to 12 miles at 8,000 feet.

MR: Obviously the 26.2-mile distance is a wild card at this point, but what do you envision as your best, or favorite, event?
AA: Well, I haven't run the marathon yet, but I have done the training for one, and really, it's not as bad as people said it would be. Everyone says, 'You must do this,' 'You must run at least that many miles.' You get afraid of it. But actually doing the marathon training, you find out it's not so bad. Sure it's hard work, but I have fallen in love with it.

MR: As a seasoned competitor new to the marathon, how are you approaching Sunday's race?
AA: I believe that if I don't get too excited in the first half and think of the race as beginning at 20 miles, I will be in great shape. They say you have to respect the distance and I do — the training forces you to do that. When you run against the best not only from the U.S. but from the rest of the world, it is very exciting. My intention is as it always is, to run against the field as a whole and not just against the other U.S. runners. Regardless of where I finish, if I run the way I want to, I will know I have put everything into it, both in training and in the race. When I do this, I am the happiest I can possibly be.

MR: Did you know during college that you wanted to continue as a professional runner?
AA: To be honest, no. Even when I graduated in 1999 I wasn't sure I wanted to keep going. But with no contract, I finished third in the U.S. Nationals that summer in the 10K and then Nike signed me. [Note: Abdirahman, who unaware he was not yet eligible to compete in a U.S. championship, was later disqualified.] I thought, 'If this is something I can get paid to do, why not?' The next winter I made my first U.S. national team, in cross country.

Since then I have made every national or Olympic team in cross country and track except for 2003, when I was fifth at Nationals in the 10K missed going to Paris. But I needed that race, I think, because it was a turning point that led me to train harder than before.

MR: Most runners at your level have been competing since high school and have older 'idols' of long standing. You're in a different situation. Whom do you admire in this sport, past or present, and why?
AA: I would have to say Meb [Keflezighi] and Bob Kennedy. Bob, especially, has done an amazing amount for the sport. And Meb, when I was in college, was two years older than me and [won] two NCAA cross country championships, which I thought was incredible. Since then I have learned he is an incredible person as well, and he has become a great friend.

MR: What about running drives you the hardest? Where's the love?
AA: What keeps me in? I just want to keep improving. Every year, I want to set new personal records, even if by a single second. When I can't do that anymore I'll hang up my shoes.

(Interview conducted November 2, 2004, and posted November 4, 2004.)