One on One with Jessica Ruthe

NZR: With Chicago marathon only a few days away. How do you feel?   JESS: Pretty relaxed actually.   NZR: I read that Nina Rillstone struggled with the “pressure” when she stopped working and became a full time pro. Tell us about your decision to stop working and how you and Ben made this team decision?   JESS: Well…. I am still kind of working when I am at home. I went back to NZ for 4 weeks after being up here in Boulder in July and worked every day – just relief teaching though, so it's a lot less stressful. I think that's the main thing with work….it just depends what type of work it is…stressful, physical draining etc.. With relief teaching, it's a lot less stressful and a lot less physically demanding (as I am not PE teaching only relieving classroom subjects).

The decision…well… After each running trip away (World X..etc..) I would return to such a mess at work and my students would be so far behind in their work. It was really stressful for me because I hate that feeling that you are not doing your job as well as you could be. I'd fly back into NZ and be a work the next day like a zombi…and have all this work to catch up on and I'd be so stressed that I could't sleep and then obvioulsy running would be the last thing on my mind! Not to mention the stress prior to the trip, when I had to sometimes set 2 – 3 weeks worth of relief. I often didn't have time to mentally prepare for the actual race that I was going to be competing in until I was on the plane. It just used to get so hectic!

Also, I'd chat to all the other athletes on the running trips and I came to realise that none of them worked anywhere near full-time…it was like…What am I trying to do here – everything.

Ben is so supportive, so he encouraged the change (I think he was just sick of having a grumpy wife). His theory was…”well I gave it everything when I was younger, and you need to give it a go”. Poor thing is probably back in NZ right now starving cause he is living off one wage – paying a mortgage etc…while I am living the life of a professional athlete – but not getting paid a thing from any organisation, sponsorship or from any funding….except from the Ben fund!

NZR: 2007 has been a pretty good year for you with some solid track runs and a couple of really good road races. Tell us about how you planned this year?

JESS: Well…Things didn't really start out that well this year. I got extremely aneamic around May/June without realising. After I ran the Huntly 10K which went really well (off of high mileage) I ended up coming down sick…I was put on anti-biotics for Broncitis, which totally striped my system of everything good, including any iron that I actually had (not that I knew that at the time). I then tried to run the ChCh a week later, which was terrible, I wanted to drop out from about half way! I just thought it was because I still hadn't recovered from the Broncitis…So I had blood tests and the Doctor was like…how are you even walking let alone running with a ferritin of about 6 (that result came in after my horrible run in the ChCh Half).

I was meant to be going over to Europe for the track seasion and Tony Rogers had already done a lot of work getting me into some great races (5000m/ 10000m). But because I couldn't do any intense training or track sessions for about a month (while I was having a series of 10 iron injections – one every second day – ouch!!!) it meant that I just couldn't get myself into any kind of track shape. So…… then Robbie and I had a chat and decided that I might as well come to Boulder (if the iron levels got up enough) and do some good focused training and have a race or two. Which turned out to be a great plan.

Boulder went so well in July. Five weeks of training with no stress or distractions was such a new thing too me. To start with I almost went nuts, I was like…how am I going to do this for 5 weeks!! But once I got into the swing of everything revolving around my training sessions (eating, resting, sleeping etc…) it becomes normal! It was great to live with Nina too. I got to learn a lot about Marathon preparation while she prepared for some big races, like the NY Half and the World Champs. So the Boulder environment did me the world of good…. and I had a complete turn around. I went over to Maine for a big road race (Beach to Beacon) at the end of my training here and that went better than expected. I was ranked like 15 th out of 15 elite athletes in the field and totally freaked out about the race….most of the ladies had run like 31 low for 10K on the track and there was a 65 min half marathoner and a few sub 2.25 marathoners and I was like….S*&t, I am in real trouble here. But I managed to race well and ran through almost the entire field over the second half and finished third in 32.39 (almost as fast as my 10000m track PB). After that race I returned to NZ for a few days ….. and flew over to Aussie to race the City to Surf the next weekend. I was really relaxed about it….and just happy to see Ben again. We got put up in the Sheraton and just had a nice time, eating well and making the most of the spending money they give you to use in the Hotel. So winning the race (almost beating you- Roz) and running a good time was a bonus.

I think that the good form was a combination of actually having a good amount of Iron in my system (for maybe the frist time), the fantastic training environment and also the altitude. That's why I decided to come back up here for the month prior to Chicago .

NZR: I understand that since getting up to Boulder the first time you have been seriously pumping some miles. Tell us more about what it is like to train there and who you run with up there etc?

JESS: During July, I wasn't really doing too many miles. I had to watch out how hard and how much I was doing for the first couple of weeks, because of the altitude and not knowing how I would respond to it (everyone is different). I started of with a really easy week of about 80 miles then hit a 100 in the second, 105 in the third, 110 in the fourth and then still about 90 the week going into the Beach to Beacon. Most of it was alone because I being on a different programme to Nina. We did try and co-ordinate runs together when we could – which was really nice, we figured out that we train pretty similar pace, so it was nice to train together at times. I was a little worried though, being my first time at altitude I didn't want to train too hard and Nina had already been up here for a couple of months this time and two months last time…..so I was pretty hesitant to train with anyone.

This time around I've adapted a lot faster…sessions have been a lot easier and I have been recovering a lot better as well. I've been doing around 105 – 110 miles a week for the past 8 weeks (so not going over board). I have 2 sessions a week, one tends to be longer and more marathon specific and the other a bit faster, maybe even on the track. Robbie's training is really well balanced and very well thought through! He's a great coach, very knowledgeable!

The terrain up here is fantastic. Great trail runs, mainly off road and you can go hilly or flat…awesome areas for session all marked out with km's and miles….

NZR: Is it true that you will be using your business class tickets to the UK (won at the City 2 Surf) to travel to the London Marathon in April even if you hit the Olympic A standard in Chicago?

Yes…It will be noval to actually travel with my husband!!!!

I am not going out in Chicago with the entire intention of qualifying. It's my first marathon and I think that it would be disrespecting the Marathon distance to think it's going to be that easy! I just want to enjoy my first one and run as fast as I can! If I qualify it is a bonus….so that's why we are planning for London also.

NZR: You have been up to Boulder twice now in a matter of weeks. Is it a bit anti climatic coming home?

JESS: Yes… It really made me realise what a good thing American runners have! Athletics is huge up here – it's like rugby in NZ! People know who you are and they follow your results. More people probably know me up here than in NZ, after only being here for a couple of months. I had a guy in the Boulder Running shop approach me yesterday because he had seen me out training and wanted to wish me luck in Chicago.

Also the racing here is another level…the road races are international races…and there are always stars that turn up, even at the local races!

NZR: Racing at home must be very anticlimactic seeing as Kate and Nina haven't raced much here for a while. Do you try and position yourself against guys in local races? (e.g. Joel Martin and me)

JESS: I love racing at home too. I always feel nervous in raciong in NZ because you never know who is improving and who may give you a challenge on the day.

I love racing the guys though!!! I think half the reason that I ran well at City to Surf was because I could see you (Roz) in front of me!! Yeh, I've got a bone to pick with Joel, he sat on me a couple of years back at the ChCh half and then just passed me on the line…I was not happy! Gavin Stevens is my favorite to race though! I was really disappointed that they didn't start all the fields together at National Road Champs this year!

NZR: Coming from a family of such athletic prowess was running always the sport for you?

JESS: NO! My parents discouraged me from running (and still do in a way – they don't put any pressure on me at all). They always wanted me to do my own thing...so I played hockey pretty seriously as a youngester. That's why I only started training seriously at 24 years old.

NZR: Any plans to start breeding super athletes yourself?

We are always trying! Ben is especially keen!