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There
aren't many firsts left for Clint Wells when it comes to racing,
but on November 2, he'll cross a big one off his to-do list when
he makes his 26.2-mile debut at the ING New York City Marathon.
Since graduating from the University of Colorado in 1998, Wells
has displayed George Young-esque range, posting top-five national
rankings in the steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000. The 28-year-old,
a four-time All-American while at CU, has also qualified for a pair
of IAAF World Cross Country Championships — once at 4k and
once 12k.
Wells,
who grew up in tiny Craig, Colorado, and now lives in the Boulder
area, missed much of the spring racing season due to injury and
illness. He did turn in a promising marathon tune-up — an eighth-place
finish (1:00:41) at the USA 20k Championships in New Haven, Connecticut,
earlier this fall. Coached by Arturo Barrios — the first man to break
one hour for the half marathon and a New York City Marathon vet
himself — Wells owns personal bests of 8:23.26 (steeplechase), 13:27.52
(5,000m) and 27:56.90 (10,000m).
MR:
After your 10k leg at the North American Relay Championships on
October 11 you said you "couldn't the get turnover going." Was that
just a bad day or more a function of still being in heavy training
for New York?
CW:
I think it was more a function of heavy training. So far this week,
I've felt quite a bit better than I did during my race. So, yeah,
I'm looking at it more positively than I was a week ago.
MR:
Do you plan to race again before New York?
CW:
No.
MR:
What will your peak look like?
CW:
I had a little bit of downtime prior to that last race. I had a
few easy weeks in there because I was so tired. I didn't get in
as much as I wanted to, so my coach wanted me to run a little bit
more this week and train a little bit some next week. I'm only going
to go into the race with about a week's taper.
MR:
How did your training go this summer?
CW:
I felt like I had a pretty good build-up. I had about 13 weeks where
I built up pretty well, but after those 13 weeks, I started to get
a little fatigued. I had about two-and-a-half to three weeks where
I was down on my mileage. Now, I'm going to be up for about 10 more
days. So I'll have like a seven- to 10-day taper.
MR:
How big of an impact did being hurt and sick for much of the spring
have on your preparation for New York? Did it prevent you from getting
in as much [training] as you would have liked?
CW:
No, after I took some time off — I took three weeks off [while]
I was hurt and sick and that happened to be during the outdoor track
season — it really kind of helped me get my legs back underneath
me and I got rid of my injury. It actually helped me take care of
myself a little bit better. I started seeing a chiropractor because
I was out of line — that's probably why my hamstring was bothering
me. It didn't hurt my buildup at all and it actually probably helped
to have that time off.
MR:
How has your training changed from what you would be doing, say,
to race 5,000m or 10,000m on the track?
CW:
It's changed only slightly. I've just been doing some longer runs,
as [often] as once a week for my long run, and I've been doing longer
repeats at a slower pace. Two mile, three mile repeats, 12 800s,
that kind of thing, but not quite with the same intensity as I would
have during 10k training. I guess also, my evening runs, I'll add
on an extra 10 minutes. Instead of going five or six [miles], I'll
go six or seven — that type of thing.
MR:
There are quite a few high level marathoners in Boulder. Have you
picked up any good tips on running New York or just about the marathon
in general?
CW:
As far as New York specifically, a few. My coach has run it and
Shawn Found has run it before. They've described the course in general,
as in where the hills are and that kind of thing. So, I kind of
have a general idea... Nothing earth shaking as far as tips are
concerned.
Marla
Runyan's husband Matt (Lonergan) said, 'Make sure you don't go in
too tired, go in kind of fresh, don't overtrain and don't race too
much before New York.' Obviously, you go in fit, but not fried.
I think Marla had done 120, 130 miles a week before Boston and she
did less before New York and her New York performance was a lot
better than her Boston performance, because she just went in so
tired from trying to train too much for it. That was some decent
advice.
MR:
So you haven't seen much of the course during your trips to New
York for other road races?
CW:
Only the last 10k. I haven't really seen any other parts of the
course. I know Central Park pretty well. I've run there quite a
bit. I've done two races there, but I've also run there a lot.
MR:
Other than the New Haven 20k, have you run any races at longer distances?
CW:
No, New Haven is the farthest race I've done up to this point. [New
York] will be the first time I've ever actually covered that distance
in a day, even including doubles. It'll be new.
MR:
What are you looking for time-wise?
CW:
It's kind of hard to say because I've never run that [distance]
before and I don't want to go in making any bold predictions. We
have a rabbit that's going to go out in around 1:05:30 for the half
and my plan is to go out with the leaders of that pack...and then
adjust the plan based on how I feel. If it's too fast, I'll slow
down a little bit, and if it's comfortable, I'll try and hang in
there. Some other advice I've gotten is to save a little for Central
Park because that's where people start to come back really fast
if they've gone out too fast.
MR:
Has the range of American performances at Chicago — guys going
out hard an struggling late while others had more success playing
it conservative — had any affect on your plan for New York?
CW:
Yeah a little bit, because some of the guys I raced against in New
Haven didn't do so well at Chicago. Maybe they got in a little bit
in over their heads too soon. But it doesn't really change my plan
all that much, I still have to be able to go run based on how I
feel and what I think I can do.
MR:
What attracted you to the [ING New York City Marathon]?
CW:
I've really liked running the New York City races I've done so far.
The New York Road Runners do a really good job of taking care of
their athletes, and not only that, I really enjoy going to New York
City. That whole organization has been good to me, and also they're
the ones who came to me and asked me if I wanted to run it. I didn't
really have any other offers. David Monti discussed it with me,
back in February, the possibility of running New York City. It sounded
like a good time to start preparing to run marathons. I was going
to build up a pretty good base this fall anyway, so it didn't really
change my plan as far as training is concerned. So, I decided to
just go ahead and see how I could do at that distance.
To
me, New York [is] the marathon I [am] the most excited to do. I
didn't want to go to Chicago because it just seems more like a time
trial. Everyone just tries to run as fast as they possibly can.
Of course I do want to run fast, but I want it to be a challenging
course and an exciting race. I've heard the fans [in New York] are
great. Everything about it just seems to fit for me.
MR:
Has the marathon always been something you've pictured yourself
running?
CW:
Yeah, I've always thought about it. A few years back, I planned
on doing it in the fall of 2004 after the Olympic Trials. But because
Dave Monti and the Road Runners Club came to me and made me an offer,
I decided to start a year early.
MR:
If someone were to come up and ask you, 'What event do you run?'
what would your answer be?
CW:
Primarily a track runner. People do come up and ask me that and
I say, 'I'm primarily a track runner; however, I am doing my first
marathon.'
MR:
Do you have a favorite event?
CW:
I like the 10k and the steeple a lot.
MR:
Any plans to go back to steeple at some point?
CW:
Yeah, I think I am going to try to steeple again in the spring.
MR:
Is there anything you can take from the steeple and apply to other
events?
CW:
Not so much. It's such a different event. You can kind of relate
the 5,000 to the 10,000 and — it's a stretch certainly —
the 10,000 to the marathon, but the steeple is just a whole separate
event. The pace is kind of slow relative to other events. It's more
like a cross country type race than anything else.
MR:
What's kept you around the Boulder area since your graduating from
school?
CW:
Mostly, I just really like the city of Boulder. I really enjoy living
here. Plus, all my friends were still here and I've been to so many
other places and there wasn't really anywhere else that I think
is a better place to train. Not only are there numerous trails here,
but I know all of them and how far they are. I just didn't want
to go some place else where I would have to find a bunch of new
runs. Also, the fact that it's at altitude. For the distance running,
that has its positives and negatives, but I'm used to training up
here.
MR:
Has it been difficult staying afloat as a post-collegiate athlete?
CW:
It actually has. My first three years out of college, I had to have
a part time job. So it was always tough trying to train once or
twice a day and go to work for five to nine hours a day at the job
I had. Honestly, it actually wasn't that tough because I enjoy running
so much. It wasn't that much of a hassle for me. I just enjoyed
going to practice and what I was doing. At the end of 2002, I got
a sponsorship with Nike and I've been able to stay afloat with their
help, without having to work.
MR:
How did you come to be coached by Arturo Barrios?
CW:
For my first year-and-a-half out of school, I was essentially coaching
myself. I was doing well. I made a world team in cross country in
the 12k and I PRed outdoors doing what I felt was right for me.
He actually came to me and a few other of my [former] Colorado teammates
and offered to coach us...he thought he could help us out. At that
point, I was wanting to have a coach and try a different kind of
program than what I was used to. He offered that, so we talked about
it and I decided to give it a try. It's worked out really well for
me so far. In the steeplechase, within six months I took 11 seconds
of my PR and then in the 5,000 and 10,000 I've made huge jumps in
the last few years. It's a program that's worked really well for
me, even though I know some people it hasn't worked well for. But
that's like any coaching situation.
MR:
What training philosophies unique or different?
CW:
One thing that was totally different was that I was only running
once a day under Mark Wetmore at Colorado, and I started running
twice a day five days a week under Arturo. That was a big change
for me, a big adjustment. We do a lot more longer intervals in general.
Even during cross country and track, we're doing a lot more 3ks,
2ks, mile repeats all the time. Under Wetmore, towards track seasons
we would stop doing that stuff and do 200s and 400s, especially
if you're a steepler. I was always 200s and 400s at a pace I would
never even run in the steeple. I just ended up killing myself, burning
out. With Arturo it's generally a more modest pace, but longer stuff
and that was something that worked well for me.
MR:
With whom do you do most of your training?
CW:
The Army [World Class Athlete Program]. I do all my track stuff
with them, and I train probably 70 percent of my runs with them.
The other stuff I do on my own.
MR:
How did you get into running initially?
CW:
In middle school, I'd always win the mile in PE. And I did well
in the Presidential Physical Fitness test. Also, my Dad ran the
mile in high school, so I was kind of interested in running a little
bit and I kind of could tell that I was better than everyone else
in my town. In eighth grade, the high school kids from the cross
country team came down and were recruiting [a little] because my
town was so small. My senior [year] we might have had five to seven
guys on the team, just enough to fill the roster. So, I got talked
into running cross country my freshman year of high school and that
led to me running track. It just kind of started going from there.
MR:
Did you consider going to college anywhere other than Colorado coming
out of high school?
CW:
Yeah, I thought about going to Adams State College because Joe Vigil
was coaching there at the time and that's were my high school coach
went. I also took a trip to Colorado State. Those were pretty much
my options. I wanted to run Division I, so that took Adams State
out of it and then it was a choice between CSU and CU. When I was
recruited, one of the guys who took me out at Colorado — a
guy whom I had raced in high school — said there was this new
coach named Mark Wetmore coming into town that was pretty good.
That kind of helped me make my decision. Honestly, it was more of
a gut feeling. It just felt like it was the right place for me.
MR:
How did running for Colorado shape you as an athlete?
CW:
That's a good question. Well, being on the same team with Adam (Goucher)
and Alan (Culpepper) definitely taught me how to find personal reasons
to continue to run, because I wasn't getting any publicity and I
was never really in the spotlight with those two guys on the team.
Sometimes in high school, you win state or something like that and
the publicity and attention you get keeps you excited. I wasn't
getting that when I went to Colorado, so I had to internally find
reasons to keep motivating myself to be competitive. Mark also taught
me a lot about training and listening to my body as far as how I
feel and whether I'm overtraining or not running enough. I definitely
learned how to challenge myself to the limit. It was a good program
to build strength, physically and mentally.
(Interview
conducted 10/18/2003, posted 10/27/2003.)
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