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Dan
Browne will run his third marathon in the men's U.S. Olympic Marathon
Trials on February 7 in Birmingham, Alabama. In his debut at the
distance, he won the 2002 Twin Cities Marathon in 2:11:35. His second
marathon — last fall's LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon — didn't go as
well, as Browne made pit stops en route and struggled to finish
24th in 2:19:37.
Since
early 2002, Browne has been coached by Alberto Salazar as part of
Nike's Oregon Project. Before that, the West Point graduate ran
as part of the Army's World Class Athlete Program. In addition to
his win at Twin Cities, Browne has won national road titles at 15K,
20K, and the half-marathon.
MensRacing.com
spoke with Browne three days after his final pre-Trials race, the
Halliburton International Half Marathon in Houston, where Browne
finished second in 1:03:08 to Gilbert Koech in a controversial sprint
finish.
MensRacing.com:
How are you feeling three days after the half in Houston?
Dan Browne:
It was a good effort. I definitely feel confidence from the performance
itself. I think I'm recovering pretty fast. I'm definitely not training
all that hard between now and the Trials.
MR:
Did you taper for the half, or train through it?
DB:
No, I wouldn't say I tapered for it. I was still running 18 or 19
miles a day earlier in the week. I did 10 or 11 Friday, the day
I got there, with just one easy run the day before. My legs felt
a little heavy the day before, probably because I was running in
the morning and it was a two-hour time difference, but I knew I
would be fine in the race.
MR:
With the Trials three weeks away, were you running more for a certain
time, or for the win?
DB:
When the Kenyan [Gilbert Koech] took off two or three miles into
the race, I thought to myself, 'There's no point in going for the
top American spot.' At around four or five miles, I made an effort
to push to catch him and try to win.
MR:
A half-marathon three weeks before is pretty textbook. Did you have
a time goal in mind leading up to the Trials?
DB:
Yeah, the goal was to run between 1:03 and 1:04, so I achieved that.
I knew my training was going well. I feel like a different runner
than before Chicago. I'm more rested — I had a good little break since
then. When I'm tough and hungry is when I race best.
MR:
Was your time a relief, given that your last race before the half
was a 29:16 10K in Spain on New Year's Eve?
DB:
Well, 29:16 might not sound all that great, but the way we ran the
race showed me I was fit. [Editor's note: Browne was second at the
Sao Silvestre 10K in Barcelona, Spain.] There were Moroccans and
Kenyans in there, and some good Spanish guys, and they surged really
hard, and I matched them. Coming off that 10K…people could
see that time and think things weren't going well. That's the thing
with results — unless you're there, you can't really tell exactly
what happened.
MR:
So how do you rate your fitness now compared to before Chicago?
DB:
You know, training is cumulative — you build from year to year.
By remaining injury-free, you can progress from season to season,
year to year. That's been one of Alberto's philosophies that I completely
agree with, incorporating breaks to stay fresh and injury-free so
that you can accumulate fitness. I knew that, eventually, after
Chicago, after I gave my body a break, I knew I would come back
stronger than ever, and ready to roll at the Trials. I'm definitely
not underestimating my competitors. I want to go in as the underdog.
MR:
When you say 'break,' do you mean nothing at all? Crosstraining?
Just jogging? What?
DB:
For two weeks after Chicago, I did nothing at all. Well, I don't
mean I literally just sat for two weeks, but for two weeks just
regular types of things, like hanging out on the beach. No running,
no crosstraining. My body needed to relax and do nothing.
MR:
And then what?
DB:
I got back into it slowly, just easy running at first, maybe 40
or 50 miles the first week, and a steady progression upward from
there. The important thing is that the desire was there again.
MR:
Building up to a peak of what mileage?
DB:
Probably around 130 for a few weeks. It's not been all that different
than my training of the last couple years. What's more important
is that after my break…Alberto's term is 'upswing,' I'm on
an upswing of good training, progressing well, after my break. Alberto
likes to emphasize that rest is a critical part of training. I'm
feeling good coming off a break that I didn't have to take because
of injury, so when I started again after the break, I was fresh,
physically sound, hungry. Lots of times you have your best training
and races within a few months of that kind of break.
MR:
Alberto wasn't exactly known for rest and two-week breaks when he
was competing. Are there other things where he says, 'Don't do as
I did because…'?
DB:
That's what makes him such a great coach. He's willing to observe,
learn, change something if it isn't working. He's been there, he's
done it. There's not much I'm trying to do that he didn't accomplish.
He definitely has strong feelings about some things that he did
wrong.
MR:
Such as?
DB:
Just in general overdoing it, including too many races without giving
himself a break. He's adamant now about a two-week minimum off after
a marathon. If after those two weeks, you feel good, then you can
get going again, slowly.
MR:
What else?
DB:
I think sometimes he holds us back in workouts. I know there have
been times when I would have gone faster in workouts. There's usually
an obvious reason for why he pulls the reins back on us in a workout.
He knows he did workouts too hard too soon before an important competition.
I know he's kept me from doing that. It's the typical mentality
of a motivated individual to want to push like that.
MR:
Who all from the Nike Oregon Project is running the Trials?
DB:
Phil[emon Hanneck] and Mike Donnelly and myself.
MR:
Do you still all train together most of the time?
DB:
We've kind of been on different schedules. We get together for some
harder efforts, but really, Alberto has had a different build-up
for each of us. I didn't even know Mike was doing the Trials until
a few weeks ago.
MR:
Umm, I thought the deal was that you all lived in the same house.
DB:
No, not anymore. Mike moved out of the Nike house a while ago, and
I bought my own place. [Laughs] Fear not — I have an altitude
room there, I'm still the bubble boy. But the program has evolved.
For example, we have middle-distance guys now, coached by John Cook.
MR:
Like who?
DB:
Trinity Gray, Richard Smith, Julius Achon. Also some Kenyans.
MR:
How else has the program evolved?
DB:
[Laughs] For me, the biggest thing is that I'm no longer living
the frat dream. I'm living on my own. It's nice to have my privacy.
Like anything in life, if things are always the same, you get stagnant.
MR:
Has the training changed?
DB:
After Chicago, we made some adjustments, putting emphasis on different
key workouts. Alberto is very much of the philosophy that if something
is not working, you look for another solution. After the fall, we're
not as focused on really, really long hard runs. We're more into
progression runs, where you get faster throughout. For example,
in a 20-miler, we might do 5:45s for five miles, then 5:20s for
five miles, and 5:00 pace for the next five. I think we eased off
on the race simulations. I feel like my body has been more rested
going into races since we made that switch.
MR:
Now that you're living on your own, have you changed what you do
with the altitude room?
DB:
I pretty much sleep at 10,000 to 14,000 feet. I probably average
12,000 feet. That seems to work well for me.
MR:
What about at other times? I thought in the Nike house you were
also supposed to sit around at altitude when you weren't sleeping
or running.
DB:
I've been doing a lot around the house with buying my own place.
And my altitude room is small, in the bedroom. So mostly it's just
been eight or nine hours at altitude, when I'm sleeping.
MR:
You're coming into the Trials having run two marathons that turned
out a lot differently.
DB:
Polar opposites. Let me tell you, the pain in victory doesn't hurt
nearly as much as the agony in defeat. When I finished my 2:11,
I felt like I was floating. The 2:19, it felt like I was crawling
across the line.
Like
most things in life, it comes down to desire and timing. I timed
it pretty well for Twin Cities. In my build-up to the Trials, I'm
looking back to that period to try to get myself in that similar
mindset and situation. It's that 'upswing' I mentioned before.
MR:
What was different about Chicago?
DB:
I had been training hard since January, and the race was, what,
October 12th? 13th? I ran the World Cross Country Championships,
the outdoor World Championships, the Pan Am Games. I had no real
break the entire year — maybe a few days here and there. I
tried to continue to push and was just tired. When you're that fatigued
and you try to keep pushing — Alberto calls what happens to
you 'hormonal imbalance.' If you keep digging long enough, the well
is going to come up dry.
MR:
And you had more problems in the race itself, right?
DB:
[Laughs] You mean going to the bathroom? I've made the necessary
adjustments and have had no problems since.
MR:
How do you think the Trials will play out?
DB:
Of course, there are tons of possible scenarios. In generic terms,
I think the pace will probably be fairly conservative early on.
At some point, probably past halfway, someone is going to throw
it down. Do you go or hold back? Depends who it is, whether you
think holding back is the right thing to do. Most races are a battle.
The marathon is a war, with many battles going on. You have to be
ready for a good fight. I'm assuming everyone will be on the top
of their game, ready to go at it and ready to race. I definitely
do not want to underestimate my competitors.
MR:
There's a long time between the Trials and the Olympics. If you
make the team, will you definitely run the marathon in Athens?
DB:
If I qualify, yeah, I definitely see myself running the marathon.
It's hard to say what will happen in the spring and summer, whether
I'll be on the track. Alberto doesn't want to talk about it. The
important thing is the Trials. In this day and age, you've gotta
put first things first. I haven't gone out in two months —
this race is the biggest deal in my career so far, and I'm not going
to do anything to jeopardize it. Real opportunities in life like
this are few and far between. The truly wise person sees it for
what it is.
MR:
What do you mean, you haven't been out for two months?
DB:
Oh, it's more of an attitude. Going out dancing, clubbing, drinking,
that's definitely taken a back seat. It's never a priority, but
now… It doesn't mean I don't enjoy life. I have a good life,
but I also have a goal.
MR:
Does part of your commitment to the Trials stem from your religious
faith?
DB:
Absolutely. I believe God gives us all gifts. I've been given the
gift of running. My duty in my life is to use that gift to glorify
him. It's an attitude I bring every day to training and racing.
MR:
If you're saying you run partly to glorify God, does that mean that
as you gain renown through running, you use that opportunity to
share your faith, or does it mean at more of a private, personal
level?
DB:
It's kind of a platform. Faith is a personal thing, but also a public
thing. You shouldn't be ashamed of your faith. Whatever success
God allows me through my running, I let it be known that I draw
my strength through him. It's the highest form of respect you can
show for your creator.
I've
read a couple of good books lately — The Purpose-Driven
Life, and Life Wide Open, by David Jeremiah. My friend
Josh Cox gave me that book. To live life wide open…it's about
how to live life with passion. Whatever you do, do it with passion.
How many people do you know who have achieved success without having
passion?
MR:
What else do you read?
DB:
A book called The Power of One. It's also a movie, although
I haven't seen the movie. I try to steer my reading toward things
that will motivate me. I'm always asking people for books that motivate
them.
One
of the many things I've garnered from The Power of One is
a saying I like: 'First with the head, then with the heart.' That's
really my mentality going into competition; in a lot of ways, it's
how I race. Typically you'll see me in the middle of the lead pack,
not pushing the pace. First with the head — you don't take
off at 4:40 pace. Then with the heart — at the end, it's all
out, wide open, full bore.
At
my new place, I don't have TV, so I've been getting my entertainment
from other sources. I find myself reading a lot. You've gotta use
your mind to keep it sharp.
MR:
Don't take this the wrong way, but you sound like you could be a
motivational speaker. Do you ever do any public speaking?
DB:
Yeah, I do it all the time. When I go back to Texas where some of
my family is, I speak at schools a lot. I do the same thing occasionally
here in Oregon. I talk about what it means to be successful.
To
be honest, it's one of my favorite things in life, to inspire people
to do things they might not do on their own. That's the direction
I see my life heading when I'm done running, whether that's as a
coach, a motivational speaker, a boss. I have a passion for running,
but I also have maybe an even greater passion for inspiring people.
(Interview
conducted January 21, 2004 and posted January 30, 2004.)
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