Interview with Deena Kastor

By Shannon Martin Morehouse

Deena Kastor, 35, fulfilled one of her life’s dreams when she earned a bronze medal in the marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Following that, she won the 2006 Flora London Marathon with a stunning American-record time of 2:19:36. She opened up this year with her sixth victory at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL, the site of the USA 15K Championships.

Kastor lives in Mammoth Lakes, CA, runs for Team Running USA, and is coached by Terrence Mahon. Her husband, Andrew, is one of her two massage therapists; she has an acupuncturist, a strength coach, a chiropractor, inspiring teammates, a companion pet dog named Aspen, and thousands of fans across the world, who will be cheering for her at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon in Boston on April 20, as she attempts to make her third Olympic team.

This year, Kastor dreams of winning the Olympic marathon, but she is not taking for granted the fact that she has to place in the top three on April 20 to earn a ticket to Beijing. New York Road Runners had the pleasure of speaking with Kastor about the complete dedication required to be a professional runner. With modesty, maturity, and thoughtfulness, she reveals an enthusiasm for life that can only make us admire her more as the best American female marathoner in history.

New York Road Runners: The Trials are less than a month a way. Are you getting excited?
Deena Kastor: Yes. I have felt great at practices. I’m excited about the competition and know that I have to be completely ready for it. In 2004, when I was preparing for the Trials, I was kind of looking beyond it to the Olympic Games. I wasn’t respecting the Trials enough, and as a result, I paid the consequences greatly [Kastor experienced fueling issues and faded at the 24th mile, where Colleen De Reuck passed her. Kastor finished in second place, one minute and 13 seconds behind De Reuck].

This time around, I’m respecting every single one of the runners out there; there’s no telling what strengths people come up with when they are vying for a spot on the Olympic team. I know that every woman will be ready to give it her best. You also can’t take for granted that your body has to go 26.2 miles and that’s not an easy accomplishment no matter what your fitness level is. I do feel that I’ve prepared diligently for this race; I can’t wait to get it over with and that’s always a good thing, to get to the starting line, anxious like that.

NYRR: What are your thoughts on the criterium course?
DK: I love the idea of a criterium course because it gives the spectators a good vantage point to see positions changing and how athletes look each time they come around, which I’m sure is going to be drastically different each time [laughing].

I watched the [U.S.] Olympic [Team] Trials [men’s marathon] in New York and it was so exciting and makes you, as a spectator, feel as though you are a part of the race. I really feel that making the crowds more excited makes the runners more excited. It’s also a way for the athletes to measure progress; on each loop, you will be able to tell if your pace is fading or picking up by comparing it to how you felt on the last loop.

NYRR: In a recent interview, you recognized that your teammate Kate O’Neill has been a great training partner, but that you also consider her a threat on the starting line. Tell us a little bit about what it’s been like to see her transition from a 10K specialist to a marathoner.
DK: It has been an absolute joy to watch Kate. Just last fall she started training for her first marathon [the Bank of America Chicago Marathon] and it was obvious how much she thrived on marathon training. Her training lead us to believe that she was going to run well in Chicago, but whenever you see a training partner put in the work, you always cross your fingers on race day that they can pull it together. On a day that was extremely warm for marathon conditions, Kate ran a beautiful race and was third overall. It got her and our entire training group excited about the possibilities of what she could do at this distance. And her training this time around is a little more aggressive, and we’ve seen great progress in a very short amount of time. Seeing her pull her training together on race day last fall proves that she’s amazing at this distance, and a great competitor. You add the Olympic Trials competition, and the thrill of attempting to make her second Olympic team makes the Trials pretty exciting for her.

NYRR: Are there any other women in particular who you think are ones to watch out for on race day?
DK: Yeah, Elva Dryer is always a great competitor. We’ve been competing against each other for years. You never want her too close when it comes to a finishing kick. She’s tough. And there’s Desiree Davila who trains with the Brooks Hansons project. She’s had great half-marathons and is a part of a team that knows how to put it together. They already have Brian Sell on the Olympic team, so it would be pretty exciting to get a female athlete on the team as well. They know how to prepare for marathons, so I wouldn’t count her out either.

NYRR: What are your plans for immediately after the Trials—a small break?
DK: Yeah. I’m hoping to come out of the Trials recovering quickly and well, which is part of the reason why I emphasize getting into great fitness for it, so that it helps my recovery afterwards. I’m hoping to take a couple weeks off and get back into training again, which is a pretty short break for me.

In that [break] time, we’ll have our little visit to our beach house in southern California, where we love to relax. As a gift, my mom has already gotten us Wicked tickets in L.A., so we’ll be able to go see a show, which Andrew and I haven’t ever had the privilege of doing, so we’re pretty excited to do that.

NYRR: You have said many times that the ancillary factors in your recovery and rest are just as important as the training itself. How about you describe a sample day in Deena Kastor’s life?
DK: Okay, I’ll give today as an example. We work out at 8:30 a.m. every day. Before the workout, my husband Andrew stretches me out. For about an hour, we go through a stretch routine and do any strengthening exercises that I have to keep on top of. On a weekly basis, we [runners] get little imbalances, one calf being stronger than the other, or a hamstring getting weak. For instance this morning, I had to do some left hamstring exercises before practice, to get it firing. It’s important to be attuned to changes on a daily basis.

Then, I get my bag packed for practice. The weather varies, so I want to be prepared for everything. I pack a big bag filled with clothes and food. Today we did 5 X 1-mile, and 2 X 800 [meters], so I needed to make sure I had some proteins and carbohydrates in my body right away to start the recovery process.

When I get home, I eat a little something when I’m in an ice bath [laughing], and then after sitting in the cold water for 10-15 minutes, I get a massage. Some days, I get acupuncture as well, or chiropractic. Then, I take a nap, which is also important for the recovery process so that your body is resting up for the next workout.

When I get up from a nap, then we’re off to gym for strength work, which we have emphasized greatly this year, getting in the weight room and doing drills, plyometrics, weight lifting, and core work. After that we go for a 4- to 6-mile run, and then we go home and refuel again, and get to bed early to prepare ourselves for the next day. So, the days are pretty monotonous and regimented. There isn’t much room to do errands and that [laughing], so you need a willing spouse or someone to help out. Being a professional runner is a full-time job.

NYRR: I think a lot of people are unaware of the in-depth training and recovery involved in running as a profession.
DK: Right. Workouts don’t really vary from one athlete to the next. We all kind of emphasize the same things: working different energy systems, whether it’s aerobic or anaerobic—a tempo run one day, intervals another day—and having your easy days in between., Runners across the United States follow these patterns, but what sets the elite runners apart is the ability to recover between the runs so that the runs are of greater quality.

NYRR: As for the muscle imbalance issue, it’s pretty important to recognize how your body can shift on a weekly, even daily basis. How do you assess those imbalances?
DK: Your body is never the same on a daily basis; there’s always a tightness, or a soreness, or a weakness somewhere. We have to stay on top of these to make us better than anybody else; we try to focus on the really small things that can make greater differences over time. Keeping the imbalances in check helps us to prevent injuries.

It’s pretty easy to know your body when you’re in a groove and everything is going great, so you’re obviously using that as a benchmark. Also, my coach, Terrence Mahon, is a brilliant—he’s not just a man with a stopwatch. He has a lot of knowledge and expertise in the field of coaching and beyond that. He’s a great healer and wonderful at assessing our mechanics and how we’re doing on a daily basis. Really, it’s a huge task on his part; he’s able to keep our entire training group healthy and is able to assess each one of us on a daily basis. It’s a really engaging position for him; he never has to wait for us to come to him with something that’s nagging us. He can usually see it before things arise. We’re very fortunate to have such a deep coach.

NYRR: Are you still able to fulfill your non-running passions, like cooking?
DK: [Laughing] Yes, I have bread rising right now!

NYRR: What are some of your recipes these days?
DK: Jon Dunham, the producer of Spirit of the Marathon was here, and I made avocado enchiladas; I’ve gotten a lot of requests for that recipe and I have it posted on my website. I came up with that recipe three years ago, and it continues to be one of my favorite things to cook. I also like to make gnocchi from scratch. I serve it with melted butter and sage or sometimes with pesto. Right now I’m trying to perfect a recipe for trail bars, using almond butter, ground flaxseed, coconut, and sesame seeds. I’m trying to get them delicious without falling apart. So, I’m in battles of perfection everywhere; I’m always trying to perfect something in the kitchen, or in my training, or racing. It’s great—there’s always something to strive for and work toward whether it’s in the kitchen or out on the road [laughing].

NYRR: Your positive attitude is contagious. Terrence has said that it is your enthusiasm that drives you. What are the roots of this amazing enthusiasm? Do you feel that you have always been enthusiastic?
DK: Yeah, I guess I have always been enthusiastic. It’s not that I only have enthusiasm in running; I have passion in everything that I do. When I’m taking a break from running, I use that same energy to explore all the backcountry trails that I possibly can, or play in the kitchen a little more, or entertain. We love having friends over and I love being able to prepare a great meal for friends and sit around for hours sharing it. My parents have always been excited and excitable about anything from working to vacations to running errands, so I most likely learned to be so passionate from them. And I’m grateful that I can have such passion in my everyday life; I love being able to share it with my husband and the people around us.

NYRR: A lot of the younger athletes who train with you at Mammoth Lakes refer to training with you as a “humbling experience.” Do you see yourself as a mentor to these athletes?
DK: I’ve never considered myself a mentor because we’re really all out there pushing the limits, so I would guess that we gain inspiration from each other. There’s no doubt I gain inspiration from each one of them. We’re all out there putting our hearts and our souls into each day, whether it’s a recovery day or a hard day. To see my training partners break barriers in practices, whether they’re mental barriers or physical barriers, is so exciting. We all share the excitement of working toward goals and we all respect one another because of the physicality of our profession. It’s not easy to have such a strong focus and make decisions throughout the entire day each and every day based on the performances and goals you have ahead of you.

NYRR: Let’s look ahead to Beijing. Assuming you make the team, are you concerned about the air quality and what are your thoughts about Haile Gebrselassie’s highly publicized decision to opt out of the Olympic marathon due to the air quality?
DK: I think that maybe his decision not to run the marathon has gotten blown out of proportion a little bit. There’s never just one factor that makes decisions for us athletes. And I’m sure it’s not just the pollution in Beijing. He could want to run a fall marathon because he can get a better paycheck out of it [laughing]; there are so many factors in making choices like that. In making that kind of decision, I just feel as though it is the Olympic Games and everyone is going to have to run in the pollution. It may be a little harder to recover from. But if I make the team, I’m going to be very grateful to be heading to Beijing to represent the United States at this distance.

Interview conducted April 1, 2008, and posted April 7, 2008.