So what have you been up to? I retired from elite competition in 2013 and since then I’ve been doing lots of running-related things. I qualified as a UK Athletics coach last October, so now I’m doing coaching workshops and helping out at St Mary’s University at Twickenham. A bit of one-to-one coaching, a bit of coaching by email – I’m developing that side of my work. I’ve also been writing: I do a blog for Run England to encourage people to take up running.
I really realise now how running has been a massive benefit to me throughout my life, and how I get miserable when I can’t run! So through these activities I’m really trying to help other people enjoy it, especially more women and girls. I went to a all-girls school and my parents really encouraged me to get into sport, and I see now how that really helped me build self-esteem. So many teenage girls and young women have this fear of failure, of being judged, and I think that can be so damaging.
Where’s your favourite place to run? I live in Teddington, so Bushy Park. The cricket pitches there are fantastic, the grass is so smooth and soft underfoot. But I also love Richmond Park and Oxford, which is my home town. The city itself is beautiful, but it’s also blessed with fabulous open spaces – Christ Church Meadow, South Park and out of the city into the Cotswolds.
Do you remember your first-ever race? I’m not sure I can! I can remember a few memorable ones from when I was much younger. Probably the most memorable early race was running the open mile at my school sports day with my art teacher and realising that I had some talent for distance running. I didn’t find it that hard, and I loved it. My teacher would always do this thing where he would be in the lead and then in the last 10 yards pretend to have a stitch or a broken leg so he wouldn’t win!
When people ask you for a training tip, what do you say? Enjoy it.Through my career, when I’ve had bad patches through injury or poor performance or over-training, the enjoyment goes. Then I ask myself: “Why am I doing this?” So, find a way to make it enjoyable. If you have a busy working life, get up early to do it and then it’s done. If you don’t like training by yourself, find a friend to run with. Find a way of running that you enjoy – that’s really crucial. Also, keep it simple. It’s a really simple sport and, in this digital age, I think we overcomplicate it with apps and gadgets that detract from the enjoyment and essence of it. I ran my half marathon personal best without a watch. And somehow I just felt liberated and I ran a brilliant race. Somehow not checking those splits made me feel I could freely race.
So do you wear a running gadget? Yes, I do use a Garmin. Heart-rate data is useful for me because I am quite OCD, everything is intense for me. So the danger for me is that I overtrain, not undertrain. So the Garmin can be useful to tell me to back off a bit. But I am conscious that I mustn’t become a slave to it, so I might switch off the lap time so I’m not looking at every kilometre split; or just not look at it. That’s really all I use – I don’t use apps.
Do you listen to music? Not when I run. On a treadmill, yes, but not outdoors. That’s really about safety as much as anything else. Years ago I was mugged walking back from an evening out, and after that I just felt … you’ve got to be aware of what’s going on around you. But also, when I’m running outside I love seeing what’s around me, I love being in nature. In a gym, then I do find that boring, so I listen to music or podcasts. Woman’s Hour, the News Quiz [Friday Flyer and Mara go into lengthy side discussion about how Sandi Toksvig shouldn’t have been allowed to leave.] Oh, and one of my favourite podcasts for the gym is Desert Island Discs, because you have that huge archive.
What would you eat on the morning of a race or a hard session? Before a marathon I used to eat Japanese rice cakes, called mochi, because they’re just very simple, easy-to-digest carbohydrates. But I would also add some protein and vegetables to bring down the GI, and a bit of miso soup because it’s salty and that helps you retain fluid. Now I’m experimenting and doing a bit of a low-carb high-fat diet – it’s called nutritional ketosis, to encourage fat burning. So now I eat cheese, eggs, some vegetables, coffee … Though I haven’t been competing since I’ve been doing this diet. When I was competing I would eat very little before a long run: just a piece of toast and a coffee. I can’t run fast if I feel heavy and bloated.
What about afterwards? What’s your post-race indulgence? Chocolate! Chocolate cake. I was always trying to keep my weight down when I was competing, though, so wouldn’t eat that much. Sometimes just the thought of it would get me through a really hard run, then afterwards I wouldn’t even have it.
What’s the worst thing about running? Injury, without a doubt. It’s very stressful. When I was competing, it was my full-time job. Of course, I love it, and I was very privileged to do a job I really loved, but it was my living as well, so if I couldn’t race … And you don’t know when it’s going to get better. When I’m not running, my mood goes down.
What’s the best thing? Just feeling good about yourself and feeling fit. When you go out to run, there’s just nothing better. You feel strong, as if you could do anything. It builds your confidence, makes you feel good and calm.
Do you ever run barefoot? No. I know it’s a big thing, but for me, my view is: if you’ve grown up barefoot all your life, your feet will be well conditioned – but, as an adult, I’ve grown up wearing shoes all my life. Why would I suddenly get rid of shoes? For me, it’s just a massive injury risk.
So, the Diamond League has been very badly scheduled, hypothetically speaking. Mo Farah and Usain Bolt are on at the same time. Who do you watch? Mo, definitely. I’m an endurance runner. I don’t know Mo very well, but I was competing in GB teams when he was younger, a long time ago, so to see someone while he was developing who is now the best athlete in the world … Also, I know the pain he will be going through every day in training. The hard work, year after year after year. I’m not saying sprinters don’t work hard, but it’s a different kind of work.
Who is the greatest runner ever? I would say one of the pioneers of women’s running: Joan Benoit; Joyce Smith; Katherine Switzer. Because living in this time womens’ running is normal. But, not that long ago, women were not allowed to do races – people thought women couldn’t run more than 800m – I’m fortunate to be living in a time when people don’t have those mad attitudes. But it took courage and strength from those women to break down those beliefs.
Mara Yamauchi is supporting Run It, a campaign from Join In to put more volunteers into community running clubs and events. For more information, visit joininuk.org/run-it
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