Interviews

8-1/2 Questions with the E.L.F.

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Elizabeth Fedofsky writes one of my favorite triathlon blogs on the Net. She’s witty, sharp, and one hell of an entertaining writer. In fact, readers of the Outdoor Journey picked her blog as the best tri blog of 2006. Cut through the humor and you’ll quickly see that she moves faster than a dog with turpentine on his ass. Elizabeth is a five-time age group national long course champion, duathlon world championship medalist, and All American triathlete. In fact, she just earned a slot for the big game in Kona this fall. I thought a conversation with Elizabeth might help us all gain a bit more insight into the running aspect of triathlon.

1) Question: Tell us a bit about your running background…

Fedofsky: I walked on to the track team during my sophomore year in high school. Honestly, I was in it for the jacket and figured you didn’t need much talent, skill, or equipment to participate in track.

The next year, I decided to try cross country. I loved it! Not so much competing, but the camaraderie, testing my limits, and working towards goals. I ended up participating in track and cross country for the last two years of high school. I wasn’t very fast. The other girls on my team were state champions running 5-minute miles. My best was 5:56. It’s nice to know that now I can run much faster than than proving that things do get better with age.

In college I didn’t participate in any organized sports. I was a rec center junkie. I was the girl in the gym on a Friday night at 11 p.m. climbing the StairMaster and reading books on the bike. I had my 90-minute cardio routine that I did every day. How I never got injured or burnt out is a mystery.

After college, I continued working out. The night before Thanksgiving in 1998 I decided would run a 5K the next morning. To get ready, I ran 7 miles on my gym’s indoor track…the night before. I ended up running a 21:30 5K and thought to myself, “Huh, I kind of like this.”

From there, I made it a goal to do a triathlon the next year.

So, my running background is from high school cross country and distance track. My track events were the 800, the mile, and 2-mile. Two miles on the track is not fun! I think the best I ever ran was 12:56. The other girls on my team were cracking 11 minutes!

I’m glad I wasn’t very fast or competitive in high school. I think I would have ended up injured or burnt out. I walked away from all that running healthy, but more importantly, with a love for running, friendships, and working hard toward a goal.

2) Question: I assume then that it was running that lead you to triathlon? Did you have much experience with swimming or cycling when you made that switch?

Fedofsky: It was running that led me to triathlon. Actually, it was the fact that the town I lived in hosted a women’s-only triathlon in June. I thought it sounded like a fun goal to try. So in March of that year, I inquired at my gym about getting a personal trainer to help me reach that goal. They directed me to Sue Welker. As far as triathlon goes in northeastern Illinois, Sue Welker was the woman that got it all going. She gave me a plan to follow.

With that said, she taught me how to swim “for real.” As a kid, I had a few summers of swimming lessons, so I could swim a few laps, but not for very long. I remember the first time she watched me swim she said “I like that you take your time and swim slow.” So, honestly, not much has changed!

I also had no background in cycling other than I knew how to ride a bike. I had a mountain bike that I borrowed from a boyfriend at the time and I used to do hill repeats on that thing. These days I go back to that hill and think to myself “what hill?”

About two weeks before the women’s tri in June 1999, I realized I had forgotten to sign up for the race! All that training and hard work…and now the race was full. Thankfully, Sue knew someone not using their slot (illegal now!) so I competed as that person. That was the first, last and only time I did that.

As for the race, it was so much fun! I think it took me 1:27 to do the sprint distance. I remember my top concern was “how will I hold my hair back after the swim?” Spoken like a true 24-year-old girl.

Anyway, I still remember the first time I swam 16 laps continuously in the pool (knowing the sprint tri was about 800 yards). It was one week before the race and I thought to myself “I can do this.”

3) Question: From your experience, just how important is the run when it comes to a short course triathlon?

Fedofsky: This is a great question. As a runner, I look at the run as the best part of the race. Hands down. But not the most important. In fact, even the best runners can have a bad run because of this one thing: the bike.

A lot of triathletes put so much time into training for the run and to me that doesn’t make much sense. First of all, it’s risky in terms of injury and wear and tear on your body. Secondly, it doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t ride your bike. What I mean is that unless you have taken the time to learn how to cycle efficiently, you will not put together a good run in a race. It’s more than just being a strong cyclist and a fast runner. It’s about getting the most power out of your bike while pedaling efficiently. Efficient cycling leads to fast running in a race. Often, the better you get at cycling the faster you’ll run.

Honestly, I don’t run any faster this year than I did two years ago. It’s that I’ve gotten faster, better on the bike, and that has paid off for the run.

4) Question: How would you suggest someone new to the sport start training for the run of their first sprint triathlon? Just cross their Nikes and head out the front door to see if they can knock off a 5K?

Fedofsky: Assuming this person can already run 30 minutes straight, here’s what I would suggest: I would spend 1-2 days a week just running with the focus on proper running form (turnover, arm carry, trunk lean/posture, stride length). A brief meeting with a good runner/coach can often give you the key techniques of good form to incorporate into your run.

Another day I would do a run with some speed work. Not repeats on the track. Rather, the type of speedwork where you push for one minute, back off one minute, etc. Do a few sets of those.

I would also do at least one run off the bike (brick). This need not be a long run. Just 15-20 minutes at most. This can be done two ways: push the first mile off the bike then settle into a pace; or gather yourself for a mile and then finish fast.

I would also spend time working on cycling efficiency, getting properly fit on a bike, keeping cadence at 90-100 rpms, and addressing and leg strength
imbalances.

5) Question: What if our new athlete can’t run for 30 minutes straight yet? Should they start in small increments like running for five minutes? Then seven? Then 10? Or should they try the run-walk method of jogging for one minute, walking for four, etc.?

Fedofsky: I always say run a minute, walk a minute. When you can do that for 20 minutes, then progress to run two minutes, walk one minute. When they can run 30 minutes straight, that’s when the shift becomes more “intermediate” running with a “lite” version of speedwork, overdistance, etc.

6) Question: What advice would you give to a short course triathlete who wants to drop their run time? Let’s say they’ve been competing for at least two seasons, but just can’t get their running act together..ahem, like me. They’re running 10-minute miles or slower and can’t seem to crack that magical barrier. Should they focus on more endurance or more speed work? Or does that matter at what point they are in their racing schedule for the season?

Fedofsky: If you’ve reached a plateau with your running my suggestion is this: Mix it up.

In other words, mix up your routes, vary your terrain. Variety is the key to running better. Treadmill runs, trail runs, hilly courses, tracks, concrete and so forth. All of these will add u to faster running.

As for key workouts, be sure to include at least one day a week of ‘harder’ work. That might be a short track workout, a fartlek run, or hills.

Also, be sure to run your easy runs easy. A lot of people don’t reap the benefits of the other runs they do because they don’t allow their recovery runs to help them recover.

In my opinion, you should do one day of harder running all year round. Now, I’m not suggesting track workouts in the winter, but pick-ups, fartlek, strides…anything to get the legs moving faster.

7) Question: Let’s talk for a minute about strategy on the run. For a sprint, you have to cover 5K. Should you go out full blast from the beginning or coast the first half and then turn on the afterburners at the turnaround? Should your strategy change when going from sprint to Olympic distance?

Fedofsky: For a sprint, my strategy would be to gather yourself for the first 5 minutes then descend. You should finish all out in something that short.

As for Olympic, I would push the first three miles at a comfortable pace; building throughout. But once you hit that turnaround it’s time to let it go. You should be completely spent by the end, pushing the last 400 meters like you are on a track.

8) Question: Can you tell us about how this strategy worked for you in a recent race?

Fedofsky: I was running off the bike at Memphis in May (click to read her race report). It’s a time trial start so I had no idea what my position was. I ran the first three miles at what I thought was a hard pace, then I hit the turaround (out and back course) and realized a trail of women were right behind me. I picked up the pace and negative split that run, pushing the pace right up to threshold and holding it there. The last leg of that - across the grass - into the finish line felt more like the end of 400 repeats on the track rather than a race.

8-1/2) Question: I understand you recently started to take triathletes under your wing for training. How can someone contact you if they are interested in hiring you as their coach?

Fedofsky: I’m interested in working with athletes who are interested in making a commitment to themselves and their goals. Anyone can benefit from a coach - from beginners to elites. Athletes can contact me at ef1278@yahoo.com.

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