Running fans are to be forgiven for doing a double take when they discovered Blake Russell won the USA Marathon Championships on March 15. She secured the title running a 2:34:57 at the L.A Marathon, where she placed third and finished as the top American woman. Russell, 39, came on the marathon scene in 2003 when she won the Twin Cities Marathon in 2:30:41, the fourth fastest American debut at the time. She took fourth at the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials, ran 2:29:10 at the 2005 Chicago Marathon, and was the sole U.S. female finisher at the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing. But since her 27th-place performance in Beijing, Russell hadn’t finished a marathon, despite three attempts.
“I just couldn’t seem to get it together,” says the mother of two young children.
Russell dropped out of the 2011 Boston Marathon, the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials and the 2014 New York City Marathon. Not finishing New York was a particular blow because after struggling with injuries in 2011 and 2012, she’d finally made it through a solid buildup. “New York was devastating,” Russell says.
So how did she snag her first national marathon title and a third-place finish in L.A. four months later? Here are five things that helped.
place performance in Beijing, Russell hadnt finished a marathon, despite three attempts
At mile 10 of the New York City Marathon, Russell felt like crap and a cranky hamstring flared up. She dropped out, but did so sensing she still had a fast race in her future. “I knew there was a PR in there,” she says. So she searched for another race that would let her recover from the training and the emotional drain, but still let her capitalize on her fitness. L.A. fit the bill. She took most of December off and still had time for 11 weeks of solid training.
She Made Big Changes
Russell took the saying “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” to heart and decided to coach herself. Bob Sevene, her coach since 2001, who also guided Joan Benoit Samuelson during her peak years, served as a consultant. Russell asked herself what she needed and trusted her gut when it told her to ratchet up her mileage and get off the track.
Russell’s weekly mileage has always hovered around 100, low for an elite marathoner. By adding a second run in the evening—a workout she used to skip because she didn’t want to shower again—her mileage rose to 115 to 120. “It was actually a bit of a shock,” she says of the reality of running more than 100 miles a week.
Russell moved her speedwork to the roads, in part because the monotony of the track had gotten to her and because she believed the repetitive motion had contributed to her injuries. But her primary reason was because if you raced on the road, it made sense to train on the road. The shift was eye opening. Russell couldn’t hit her paces at first and was “sore in ways I hadn’t been in years,” she says. Mentally, the roads were a blast of fresh air. “I found I really just needed a straight line,” she says. “It was just me and my GPS out there and I really prefer it.” The change paid off. A few weeks before L.A., she tested her fitness on the track and ran an 800-meter workout in 2:25, faster than she’d run in eight years.
Races & Places
Russell was not a fan of long, marathon-paced workouts. In previous buildups, she got away with doing the minimal number at the shortest possible length. This time, the long workouts were the centerpiece of her training. She increased the number of times she did the workout (to roughly once every two weeks) and extended the length from 12 to 15 miles (at a 5:40 pace). The longer workouts proved so effective, Russell intends to do more of them prior to the Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2016. “They made me feel much stronger in the race, particularly the last 3 miles, which in the past, have been a death march,” she says.
She Set Priorities for the “Extras”
“When you’re a mother of two kids, time is limited,” she says. “I’d sit on the floor to do core work and all of sudden there were two little people jumping on me." So she used the time she did have wisely. Russell let go of weights and core work and focused on her essentials: ROLL Recovery on her injury-prone calves, and eating carbs and protein after a workout. “It might mean a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the drive home from a workout, chocolate milk, or a smoothie with some almonds, but I make sure I eat within the 30-minute window,” she says.
Including a no-panic attitude about the weather
Russell’s personal record in the marathon is 2:29:10, clocked at the 2005 Chicago Marathon. She trained for L.A. with 2:28 on her mind, but unseasonably hot temperatures eliminated the chance of a fast time. “I just took a ‘whatever, no panic’ attitude about the weather and approached the race tactically,” she says.
Russell wore a watch but didn’t look at it. She stayed with the front pack, hydrated well—a lesson she brought forward from the heat of Beijing—and watched her pace.
“Miles 18 to 22 are mentally viscous for me, but at 17 I knew I was going to make it, and that was huge after having not finished the others,” she says. Russell picked up the pace, but then made herself pull back until mile 22. There, she dropped Japan’s Mao Kuroda, securing third place and running 2:34:57 for the women’s American marathon title.
