Interview with Adam Goucher

By Geoff Decker

Adam Goucher, 33, has been a top American distance runner since high school, when he won the Foot Locker National High School Cross Country Championships in 1993. He won four NCAA titles while running at the University of Colorado and three USA Cross Country Championships, and he finished sixth in the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He finished 13th in the 5000 meters at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. His personal bests include 13:10.00 for the 5000 meters and 7:34.96 for 3000 meters.

The last year for Goucher was one of ups and many downs. After running the 5000 meters in the IAAF World Championships and finishing 11th in 13:53.17, he had surgery on an injured ankle. He was back training full time when his father died in March. Shortly after, he injured his lower back, which severely compromised his training for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field. Goucher dropped out of the 5000 meters and finished seventh in the 10,000 at the Trials. Goucher's wife, Kara Goucher, will be competing next month at the Beijing Olympic Games in both the 5000 and 10,000 meters. The Gouchers live and train under coach Alberto Salazar in Portland, OR.

The NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE on July 27 was Goucher's second competitive half-marathon. NYRR talked with Goucher in New York City two days before the race. [Editor’s note: Goucher finished 19th in the NYC Half in 1:06:06.

New York Road Runners: It’s been almost a month since the 10,000-meter Olympic Trials race. At the time, it seemed like you were pretty hard on yourself for not qualifying, despite having only three weeks of training leading up to the race. Have you had a chance to reflect on the race or been able to take anything from that performance?

Adam Goucher: Once I got over feeling sorry for myself, things have been going well. I’m hard on myself and it takes a lot for me to realize that what I did was pretty good considering where I was, so I’m kind of at a point where I realize I did what I could do, and I took what I could get out of it. Overall, I can look back now and say, “Okay, it sucks, and I’m still frustrated with it, but it is what it is.”

NYRR: What happened in the last few weeks to make you decide to race a half-marathon? Why did you choose the NYC Half-Marathon?

AG: Right after the Olympic Trials, we started talking about what we could do next. We thought about the options and said, “Let’s do something different. Let’s have some fun.” I just kind of wanted to get in something that I haven’t really done before, but I knew that I’d have fun with. I ran a half-marathon last year [the 2007 BUPA Great North Run in England, where he placed sixth in 1:03:17] and that wasn’t really something that I did to race. I had raced the 3000 meters the day before but I was with Kara, who was racing, and I was just like, “Ah, what the hell.” It seemed kind of cool to try it. And I had a blast. It was so much fun. In track everything can be so intense. I want to enjoy running again, so that’s what I’m looking to do.

NYRR: In such a short period of time, what kind of adjustments in your training did you and Alberto make to prepare for Sunday’s race?

AG: I’ve done some longer stuff. I was kind of tapering down for the Trials and cutting back a little bit so it’s kind of like balancing back the mileage. There’s been some longer, more half-marathon race-pace-specific stuff. Like the other day, I did like six by one mile at 4:30 pace. The workout before that was a 15K at race pace. I’ve been trying to push the rest a little bit and keeping the recovery short. There’s not really much you can do in that little three-week period. It’s just about getting the legs back under you and getting used to running aerobically rather than that fast stuff.

NYRR: The NYC Half-Marathon field is stacked with experienced road racers who are traditional world-class half-marathoners and marathoners. Does that intimidate you at all? What’s your confidence like heading into the race?

AG: My main goal is to get in there and race head-to-head and not worry about anything else. I don’t think anyone can tell what’s going to happen or what I can do. There no reason I can’t go in there and, in the end, maybe even win the race. It’s a possibility. But going up against people who have the experience of doing it, I’m just going to feed off them and see what they’re doing throughout the race. It’s kind of like going into this unknown.

NYRR: Is this a sign of a shift in term of your competitive horizon? Are you starting to wean off the track circuit to focus more on road racing?

AG: It’ll be a little bit of a shift. I will do more fun races like this as a way of getting ready for longer distances. I still have a lot of goals I want to take care of on the track. I will most likely run a 10K at the end of the season this year in Brussels, and that’ll probably be it for the year. I think after the race this weekend I will have a better idea if I’ll want to pursue the marathon this year, so it’s going to depend on how this goes.

NYRR: When is your first marathon going to be?

AG: I don’t want to half-ass it, but running in a [marathon] major this fall is definitely a possibility. New York would be a great place to do my first marathon. It’ll come down to if it’s right for everyone. This is a place I’ve always loved to race. I’ve seen the marathon a few times and just to feel it, the excitement, is something that I’d like to be a part of. It’s different from grinding away on the track for 15 years, and I still want to do that, but it’s at that point where I want to branch out. [Road racing]’s a lot more laid back. It’s not so intense. Everyone seems to be having a good time.

NYRR: How did the death of your father affect your training leading up to the Trials?

AG: I think I went through every stage in the grieving process. For me, there was a healing period missing him, which I still do every day, but it helped to be able to honor him because I knew that’s what he’d want me to be doing. He wouldn’t want me to stop running or be so consumed with grief that I couldn’t continue training. At the time, training was going great and I was just getting over my foot surgery. I was bouncing back and everything was great until two months out from the Trials, when I injured my back. And that’s what ultimately killed me: the five weeks that I couldn’t train leading up to the Trials. I could crosstrain and that’s all I did. I did what I could do running-wise but it was so painful. At that point it was like, “Come on, enough’s enough. Can I catch a break?”

NYRR: From your experience in dealing with this year’s appeal to be admitted into the 10,000-meter race at the Trials, is there anything you think that could be done to improve the process through which athletes are allowed to race?

AG: I think that the process is there to equalize the field. Every athlete had the chance to make an appeal and whether or not that appeal was made in time makes a difference. If you’re at this level, you have to know what the rules are. I don’t think it was unfair by any means. The appeal I made was based on what I did last year, in running injured at the World Championships and placing well.

NYRR: You have an incredibly strong cross country resume. Should cross country be an Olympic sport? How do you think your strengths in cross country will translate on the roads?

AG: I’ve talked about that a lot and I think it’d be great. It could be even in the Winter Olympics. I think cross country to roads is probably a pretty close match. Someone who’s good in cross country is probably going to be pretty good on the roads. Hopefully, I’m going to prove that.

NYRR: What are your thoughts on Kara’s first Olympic Games, and have you tried to impart any wisdom on preparing for it?

AG: With World Championships and other big races with Kara over the years, I’ve been able to help prepare her. But at this point she’s so experienced and so good at what she’s doing, she's teaching me now.

Interview conducted July 25, 2008, and posted July 28, 2008.