Posted: April 21, 2007

Athletics: Powell, Flanagan teleconference excerpts

USATF on Friday hosted a teleconference with Shalane Flanagan and Suzy Powell, both of whom broke American records last weekend. Flanagan, who broke the 3,000m American record indoors this winter (8:33.25 at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games), broke the women's 5,000m AR outdoors over the weekend with her time of 14:44.80 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Powell won the Maui "Big Wind" Discus Challenge in Wailuku, Hawaii, with her record throw of 67.67 meters/222-0. Excerpts from the teleconference are below. Suzy Powell Q: Tell us about your record throw. A: I've had some coaching changes, and I'm working with Dan Pfaff this year. Having his guidance on a daily basis has been a huge boost to my training, to have the technical expertise along with the guidance. I've been telling people that to throw so far so early is a nice reward for all the work we've done. We've done lots of volume and lots of technical work. I can't say the record comes as a surprise, but I'm certainly enjoying it. Q: Suzy, you had this record once before [in 2002, when her mark was not ratified due to the throwing sector sloping downward]. Is there any satisfaction in throwing the record in an atmosphere with much less doubt? A: When I broke the record in 2002, I wasn't aware there was any problem with the field. For years, people had been throwing there and getting qualifying marks. So initially, I thought everything would be OK in 2002, but lo and behold, there were issues with degree of slope. It's gratifying to be in that kind of shape again and throw those sorts of distances. Bud Rasmussen and Bart Templeman did a great job in setting this up. The field was pre-certified, making sure that if someone were to break a record, it would hold up. Maui has been a good island for me. I was married there in '04, and one of my mother's wishes before she died was to go to Maui, so it has a special place for me. Q: What are your goals for the World Championships? A: Just to be able to be in good enough shape to throw 65 or 66 meters in stadium conditions. We are very process-driven, so we're just sort of chipping away to get to that point. Q: Dan Pfaff is known more for jumps and sprints than for throws, isn't he? A: He made the comment that he would be known as a throws coach again. He's coached some great throwers, including a javelin thrower from the Bahamas (Eve Laverne) who was sixth at the 2004 Olympics. Q: Where are you training in California? A: A good friend of mine, a land developer, has donated a parcel of his land and we've built a 10,0000 square foot indoor facility in addition to some outdoor jumping and throwing areas. It was a good opportunity for Dan to spread his wings a little bit. What we're trying to do at our facility at Tiger Bar Sports ( http://www.tigerbarsports.com ) is give post-collegiate athletes a place to train. After graduation, a lot of us bounce around between locations and coaches. A lot of places see events like ours [throws and other field events] as a liability, and they are space intensive. That's why we built it. We're on Twitchel Island, across the river from Rio Vista. We're using about 10 acres of this property. Right now we have Amy Acuff, Tye Harvey, Becky Holliday and other people showing interest in training here. Shalane Flanagan Q: Tell us about your race. A: Like Suzy, I had been training pretty hard, and to have it translate into a race is pretty nice. Before the race, my coach said I was capable of running anywhere from 14:35 to 15 flat. We knew that if the weather was good, we had a chance, but it is very early in the season. To have it all work out was pretty nice. I thought I was going to be real close [to the record], and I usually feel I thrive off of competition. So to run fast by myself was great. Q: What do you think your time would be comparable to if you had the Ethiopians there to pull you around the track? A: I like to think that by the end of the summer when I'm running with some of the top women, I'll be able to run about 10 seconds faster. That effort felt very comfortable until the last 1,000. Q: When is your next competition? A: I am looking to run locally here at North Carolina, they are putting on an elite meet with throwers and distance runners. I will help pace my teammate Erin Donohue. I won't run another 5,000 until USAs. Q: Are you going to have no races against international fields? A: Not for the 5k until after USAs. I'm going to be running the 1,500 at Prefontaine (June 10), and hopefully that brings together an eclectic mix of people. For 5ks, not until the summer will I run an international one. With the 5k, I don't believe you can run too many in one year. I took off a few days this week, with active rest, and we've been unpacking from our move back to Carolina, so that's a workout in itself. I'm recovering from that race [at Mt. SAC], and it makes me realize that if you want to run quality 5ks, you can't push too many upon yourself. Given that I'm a year off my surgery, I don't want to push things too much. I want to be selective about my races. After USAs, I'll run one before Worlds. Q: Why did you move back to North Carolina? A: We consider Carolina home, and my coach lives in Florida, so it was closer to him. My training partner lives in New Jersey, so Carolina is a good meeting place. I had an amazing experience for the last year, thanks to Nike out in Portland, but we're big family people so it's great to be back in North Carolina. Q: Take us through the extra bone in the foot process. A: My anniversary of my surgery was yesterday. The kind of state I was in last year was pretty pathetic. I was down and in pain, and if somebody told me that I'd break the American record in a year I'd have laughed. [For more on Flanagan's surgery and her training/recovery from it, see theUSATF teleconference transcript from January 31 at USATF.org. Q: What is your goal for Osaka? A: I tell my coach all the time I just want him to put me in contention. My ideal situation would be to hang with the Africans for as long as possible and just be in contention. For biographies of Suzy Powell and Shalane Flanagan, visit USATF.org.