This weekend Jordan Hasay will make her 10k debut at the 2013 Stanford Invitational. Hasay, a 17 time NCAA All-American, is a former national champ indoors at 3k and one mile. Throughout all her all-american honors, Hasay has only finished outside of the top four on two ocassions (18th in XC as a frosh, 8th in outdoor 5k). We got to catch up with Jordan before her jump up to the new distance this weekend.

Hasay's PRs
800 - 2:08.32 (2012)
1500 - 4:10.28 (2011)
Mile(i) - 4:33.01 (2011)
3k(i) - 8:57.46 (2013)
5k - 15:37.39 (2011 - 15:40.30i in 2013) 

1. Why did you decide to run the 10k to open up your final collegiate outdoor season? When did you know you would run the event?

We decided in September that I would give the 10k a try this year. Coach Lananna had wanted me to try one last year but it just wasn’t good timing. So we had always said in 2013 I would at least try one and once Maurica started coaching me in September we really laid out a plan to train more for the 5k/10k as opposed to the 1500/5k. We decided in September that this meet would be a good opportunity to open up in the event. This time around, Maurica doesn’t want me to shoot for any certain time. I’m just going to go out fairly conservatively and try to have a good second half.

2. Is this an event that you will look to focus on during outdoors and/or moving down the road in your career?

The whole idea right now is to just try it out. I’ve never really mastered the 5k and I think that was a result of trying to run a good one off of mainly 1500m training. So if anything, hopefully running a 10k and training for one will help my 5k because I still have a lot of improvements in that event. Ultimately though we think my best event will eventually be the 10k for awhile.

3. What kind of training have you been doing in preparation for your first 10k?

I’ve been doing a lot of mileage and a lot of long tempo and progression runs. Throughout the early fall and all winter I was in the mid-80s. I also got up to 8 mile tempos. My longest before this was 4, so it’s been a big jump. Also the workouts in general are just much longer, much more time on my feet. I’ve really enjoyed the training so far and it’s helped me to practice staying relaxed and tough for long periods of time.

4. A few weeks ago before indoor nationals you tweeted "PRs in practice are a good way to end the last hard workout before nationals!"….what was the workout and the PR?

Haha, yea, we just did some mile repeats (5:12, 5:00, 4:45) but then I ran a 400 in 58.3 which was a PR for practice.

5. After you left the indoor championships, how did you grade your individual performances? What were positives you took away and what were things you will look to improve upon?

I am happy with the way that I performed, especially in the 3k. I think I performed to my fitness level, which is what one always hopes for. I felt really relaxed for the first half of both races, which showed us I’m in good shape aerobically. We know that what I need to work on is my speed and increasing the pace of my interval workouts. These just need to get faster… we’ve been progressing them along slowly in order to not get injured or overtrained. So in terms of improvement, we still have a long ways to go and a lot of harder workouts to run before June.

6. You referenced indoors that Abbey D'Agostino was currently at a different level, how will you look to close the gap?

Kind of as I said above, in the interval workouts. I just haven’t done the type of workouts she has done. We had to play catch up a little bit because last year I was training more for the 1500m, and wasn’t doing much tempo work and longer intervals. So, it’s been a process and I’d certainly like it to move quicker, but I also trust Maurica and trust the overall plan.

7. What event do you feel is your best shot to win your next NCAA title? Why does that event stand out?

Hopefully the 10k….we’ll see after this first one. The goal with this one though is just to feel it out. I’m not shooting for a specific time and plan to go out really conservatively. Maurica just wants me to get a feel for the event. After that, we will assess where I am in terms of fitness and maybe run another one at the Payton Jordan meet and shoot for an A or B standard.

8. In the ideal world, how does your senior season at Oregon finish up?

I’d like us to win the triple crown. I think out of all of my memories of college I’ve really learned that it’s not necessarily about individual titles. It’s much more fun walking a way from a meet with everyone essentially a winner, celebrating a team championship. I feel blessed to have had 4 great years of being a part of a really special group of people both on and off the track. That said, of course I would like to win an NCAA outdoor title of my own, but ultimately I will hopefully have some more chances to chase individual titles. So, this being my last NCAA team championship, the main goal is just to contribute as much as I can to the triple crown.

9. What is one thing about the Oregon Ducks that people would not know based on stats, results and history?

Hmm..this is a tough one! I think that like you said everyone knows Oregon based on its history. But it’s a lot more than that and that’s why I think we’ve been able to have so much success in the past several years. It’s like a family to me, especially this year. After the first night of NCAA indoors this year, we didn’t do so well in the DMR, so we knew we really had to run well on Day 2. That morning in the team meeting, Coach Johnson called us all together and just said, “Just be Oregon and you’ll do fine.” Then he said that we could, “sail the ship or sink the ship and sink or sail, we all go together”, and ultimately he said whatever happens we all sink or sail together… And that’s really how every day is at Oregon, that’s what it means to “Be Oregon”. We function together and everyone is accountable for everyone. We are also blessed to have a whole community behind us that understands the sport really well and makes Eugene a fun place to live and train.

10. What has been the best advice teammate Alexi Pappis has given to you….on or off the track?

Oh man, I don’t know if I can answer this one in just a few sentences! Alexi only joined our team in September, but very quickly she has become one of my best friends. She just has an amazing positive energy and ability to bring out the best in people. I couldn’t imagine this year without her. We do pretty much all our runs and workouts together, even double days. She’s taught me to be tough and to believe in myself and in each other. When we are working out or racing together, we tell each other that when we get tired, the other one will do the work for both of us. It’s just this cool connection and we work really well together knowing that we will both keep each other honest but also share the burden of getting the work done.


Best of luck to Jordan this weekend at Stanford. You can watch Jordan's 10k along with all of the races this weekend live on Flotrack Pro. To sign up, click here.