|
|
 |
Craig Mottram will take to Central Park, New York on Saturday looking to break the record for the 10km course and measure his progress in 2006 against that of 2005.
Mottram spoke earlier this week with American Journalist Peter Gambaccini about the Commonwealth Games, his progress since, his aims for the year and just what he might be capable of achieving in New York.
A Brief Chat with Craig Mottram
Craig Mottram of Australia, the 5000-meter bronze medalist at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, will defend his Healthy Kidney 10K road race title on Saturday in Central Park in New York. Mottram, nicknamed "Buster," won the Healthy Kidney 10K a year ago in 28:28 and came back to the city in September to defeat Alan Webb in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. Mottram won a silver medal in the 5000 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in his home city of Melbourne this winter but then fell in the 1500-meter final and finished ninth. He won the two-mile at this winter's Reebok Boston Indoor Games in 8:26.54. Mottram's 2005 track season included an Australian record 8:11.27 two-mile victory in Sheffield, England and a narrow loss to Kenenisa Bekele, 12:55.55 to 12:56.13, in a 5000-meter race in London. Mottram was fifth in Oslo in a mile in 3:48.98, just six-hundredths of a second behind Webb. He set his 5000-meter best of 12:55.76 in 2004. The 6'2" Mottram is a former triathlete. He is coached by Nic Bideau. Mottram spoke to reporters this week by teleconference:
On returning to race in New York: "I've been up here in Boulder for the last three weeks, getting over, I suppose, the Commonwealth Games that we just had in Australia and refocusing my mind and the group's mind on the European summer season which is coming up in the next couple of months. Last year, I was able to get into New York and run fantastically well and put a good mark on the board. And I think the aim this year is to and try and run quicker and try run under 28:10, which is the course record (set by Paul Koech in 1997). I've been asked a couple of times why I want to go back to New York and run. Firstly, because it's a fantastic place, and as Mary (Wittenberg, the New York Road runners President and CEO) says, I've got two wins in two starts there and I love going to Manhattan, it's a great city. Last year, we got a good indication of how the training was going. This year, running the same course at the same point of the year will give us a better indication, again, of how the training's going.
"We've changed training locations at this time of year. We're up in Boulder, where last year we were in Laguna Mountain in San Diego. We're trying something a little bit different. I'm pretty confident, actually--things are going really well--that the race this weekend is going to go great. I'm really looking forward to it."
On tactics in a race like the Healthy Kidney 10K: "You definitely alter what's happening during the race. You have to think on your feet a little bit. But we're not going to have a flat out attempt at trying to break the course record. (But) we're assuming that the pace is going to be pretty quick. We'll see what happens in the first couple of kilometers and assess it from there. I have a pretty good group of people that I've been training with here in Boulder who are going to be running as well. If it is going slow, we'll be sure to pick it up and make it a strong honest race. At this time of the year, you don't really want a race that's going to go 9K nice and easy and then a kick over the last K (kilometer). You want to get an honest test of fitness in it. I think that's what it's going to be. The course has got a few hills in it, and I think it's a perfect challenge at this point in the year."
On his mindset after the Commonwealth Games: "I'm looking forward at the moment. The Commonwealth Games, as I said, over the Australian summer (the American winter) was my single focus for that period in time. But now that's been and gone. My single focus is performing well this weekend and then carrying my form into the European summer. As exciting and disappointing, as I suppose, the Commonwealth Games were, that happened a couple of months ago, so we've now got to move forward and progress and improve on all the races I did last year."
On the 2006 World Cup: "I really want to run well in New York on Saturday and use that to catapult myself onto the rest of the European season. Later on in the summer--the European summer that is--there's World Cup, which is in Greece. I'd like to run two events there, the 1500 and the 3K, and try and win both, and use the rest of the summer leading up to that as preparation, and trying a few different things to improve my 5K for next year's World Championships in Osaka."
On going to World Cross Country after the Commonwealth Games: "I am lucky that after Commonwealth Games, I had the World Cross a week later to occupy my mind. It gave me something else to focus on. It was a solid run there, but it wasn't great (he was 11th in the 4K). And then I was lucky again that I've got a base in London and I was able to stay away from Australia and focus my mind on the upcoming European season, which can always be a challenge when you're coming off a event like the Commonwealth Games. I had a couple of weeks in London where I just relaxed with some of the people in my group. And my brother is London, so I caught up with him; he actually ran the London Marathon, so I did a few runs with him and had a joke getting to watch him run. So I took a bit of a low key approach for a few weeks. In the last month, I've been getting pretty serious and back into it. I'm looking forward to putting on good performances in the next few months.
"With the disappointment I had in the 1500 (at the Commonwealth Games), I think that gave me a fair kick in the ass to knuckle down and train even harder. I trained as hard as I could for the Commonwealth Games, and unfortunately, that (the fall in the 1500) happened. That's part of the sport. In one respect, that was a good thing, I think. It made me mentally a lot strong. It made me a lot stronger person and, an athlete. One who wants to go out and run even harder and try and win even more."
On the weight of Australian expectations for him: "It just came to a head in Melbourne, because all the eyes of the country and the rest of the Commonwealth were on Melbourne for that couple of weeks. The pressure on me to perform was higher than I've had at any other time in my career, and that sort of hit home (for me) the expectation and the amount of interest that there is on me. Because I live out of Australia for so much of the year, I'm able to get away from that and focus on
performing well and running well. I think that's a big part of the reason I'm so motivated to try and do well and try and prove myself and show the people in Australia and around the world that we've got some good distance runners and I compete against the best in the world."
On future improvements: "The 1500 is an event that I haven't fulfilled my ability in, as is the 5K and the 10K and even the marathon. There are plenty of events left in track and field and road running that I want to improve at. The 1500 is one that definitely later this summer you'll see me running more of. I want to get the Australian record down to as close to 3:30 as I can.... It would be great for myself to run a good 1500; it's going to also help me with my strength over 5K. It's important, especially in major championships, to have a very good 1500 time on the boards and have that kind of speed."
On athletes like himself and Alan Webb excelling from 1500 up to 10,000 meters--and making adjustments to cover that range in a season: "At this point in the year, everybody's coming off a lot of base work. Alan ran a great 10K a couple of weeks ago in Stanford. If you spoke to him about it, he's done a lot of miles, a lot of longer reps, and that's all conducive to good 10K running. I think that's part of the reason he showed great strength in that race. As the European summer kicks on and gets on further and further into the year, your ability to run a good 10K will go down. So this point in the season is the best time to be running a 10K.
"With reference to different races at different distances, yeah, you do have to change your track a little bit in the weeks leading into it, defending on what you expect to get out of the race. If you're expecting a really fast race from the start, then you've got to get comfortable at running, for the 1500, 56 and 57 seconds a lap. For the 5K, you've got to get comfortable running 62 seconds a lap. There are just the little subtle differences that need to be implemented that close to race, but the general theory still remains that you've got to be fit. I said to a guy a couple of weeks ago that there are eleven and a half laps before the bell in a 5K, and if you can run 50 seconds for 400 when the gun goes, that's great. But if you can't do it after eleven and a half laps, what's the point? You've got to be fit and you've got to be able to use the speed that you've got after already running eleven and a half laps, and there are not many people who can do that."
On Anthony Famiglietti, a Healthy Kidney 10K entrant who has run 27:37 on the track this spring: "That's a great run by him, and also Alan (Webb, who ran 27:34) and also (Dathan) Ritzenhein (27:35). They all put on a good show at Stanford a few weeks ago. It would have been great to have run there myself, but we've all got different priorities. And obviously, Famiglietti and myself are going to go head to head this weekend in New York and I think it's going to be a great race, coming off the back of his performance, anyway. He's in good shape and he'll be one to watch."
source Athletics Australia - www.athletics.org.au
|
|
|
