RE:RUN San Diego 2013May 4, 2013 by Mitch Kastoff
Where've You Been, Susan Kuijken?
Where've You Been, Susan Kuijken?
We haven't seen too much of Susan Kuijken, at least in the States. The two-time NCAA champion looked poised for a breakthrough after graduating from FSU, but she wasn't able to replicate her success at the 1500m. Training and living in Australia, Kuijken looks to be on the road back after running her fastest 1500m since '10.
So far this season, Kuijken hasn't lost a race. Her debut was a 9:11.59 3k in Christchurch on Feb 2; then a 4:09.66 1500m in Hobart on Feb 23; 15:43.20 for 5k in Sydney on Mar 9; 4:18 in a road mile in Auckland on Apr 1; and 4:10.53 for 1500m in Melbourne on Apr 6. Kuijken will return to the U.S. to run the RE:RUN San Diego Invitational Mile.
We feel like your 2012 season ended prematurely. You ran at Payton Jordan (4:14.50) and some Diamond League Meets, but your season ended after July. What happened?
The 2012 season was definitely a disappointment for me. After Payton Jordan I improved my season’s best to 4:10 in Shanghai, but from there things just went down hill and I never got close to the qualifying standard. I felt really tired by the end of June and I knew it would be stupid to try to keep racing, I just needed a break.
I also felt it was time for a change, so I got in touch with Nic Bideau to ask if he would coach me. I went over to London to train with his group (Melbourne Track Club) for a week and loved it straight away. It was great to be training in a group again, although it was pretty obvious there was a lot of work to be done when I did sessions with the other athletes. I basically started off from scratch so we decided not to rush it and therefore not do any more races until I was ready to compete again.
This year seems much different. Earlier this season, you won the Briggs Athletics Classic in 4:09.66, which is your best seasonal time since '10. What's changed in your training?
The biggest change is that I am consistently putting in the hard work. The sessions are longer than before, but also more in control. I run a lot on softer surfaces like a grass track and horse track, which makes the sessions harder, but at the same time easier on the body. Hills have also been a key element this year; one hill session a week plus a hilly long run every Sunday. Overall I’m just a lot stronger and I seem to handle the training much better than in the previous years.
Speaking of training, we were sent a "winter workout" video of you and Zoe Buckman down in Melbourne, Australia. How is training with Buckman? More importantly, how is doing intervals on grass and horse tracks?
It’s great to be able to do my sessions with Zoe. We definitely have different strengths and weaknesses, but we try to help each other out wherever we can. Once a week I do a tempo on a horse track where the grass is quite long and not very smooth. It’s like doing a tempo and stability exercises simultaneously, which is helpful for me because of all the lower leg problems I’ve had in the past. The grass track session is more like running on a manicured golf course. It probably still slows you down a little bit, but the biggest benefit is that you don’t have to deal with the impact of a real track throughout the ‘winter’ training.
I’ve come a long way in the past 9 months and each race I’m gaining more confidence.
In the video, you said, "The goal is represent Holland at the World Championships in Moscow, but it's not really something that's on my mind the whole time." With the way things have been going, do you think that you can wear the orange vest in August?
When I said qualification for Worlds wasn’t on my mind all the time I was probably being cautious more than anything, after having to deal with so many disappointments over the past couple of years. Things have changed now though and I feel that with the progression I’ve made in training qualifying for Moscow is something that will just naturally follow if I keep doing what I’m doing. But simply making it there is not a big enough goal anymore.
What's on the schedule for the rest of the season?
At the moment I’m on a 4-week training camp with MTC in Mount Laguna, California. After the meet in San Diego I will go back here for another training block until Oxy, where I’ll do the 1500m.
Then I fly back to Holland, base myself there for the European season and go over to London every now and then to spend a week with the rest of the group. I will focus on the 1500m, but I’m also planning on racing a 5k on the track.
If things go well you should see much more of me on the European circuit this year. Hopefully I get to finish off the season in New York at the 5th Avenue mile.
What brought you to RE:RUN San Diego?
The race in San Diego is just around the corner from Mount Laguna and will be a welcome distraction to break up the training camp. I like the idea of combining a road race with a track meet and I’m hoping to get a peek of the ElliptiGO mile before my race. The last time I did a mile (except for 5th Ave Mile & Auckland Queen Street Mile on the road) would have been back in college, so it’s about time to seriously improve on that track PB.
What's the single most interesting thing about training abroad?
Finding good cheese and coffee. Or that might be more of a challenge rather than an interesting thing. I never feel like I’m training ‘abroad’ really because I feel at home in Australia, Holland and the US.
Whenever I travel from one place to another the one thing I look forward to is training in a different environment, so I guess I could say change of scenery. I’m really enjoying the trails in Mount Laguna at the moment, but also can’t wait to run in the forest back in Holland.
Would you rather fight one duck-sized horse or one hundred horse-sized ducks. Why?
I don’t think I would fight just one duck-sized horse, probably way too cute to keep as a pet, carry around in my running bag and perhaps even go for a run with. One hundred horse-sized ducks would be my worst nightmare; I’m scared of any kind of bird because they always seem to attack or swoop me while I’m running. I’m guessing you planned on asking the question the other way around though, in which case I would go with one hundred duck-sized horses. My elbows are quite sharp so I think 50 left and 49 right elbow throws should do the job and I’ll still keep the last one.
So far this season, Kuijken hasn't lost a race. Her debut was a 9:11.59 3k in Christchurch on Feb 2; then a 4:09.66 1500m in Hobart on Feb 23; 15:43.20 for 5k in Sydney on Mar 9; 4:18 in a road mile in Auckland on Apr 1; and 4:10.53 for 1500m in Melbourne on Apr 6. Kuijken will return to the U.S. to run the RE:RUN San Diego Invitational Mile.
We feel like your 2012 season ended prematurely. You ran at Payton Jordan (4:14.50) and some Diamond League Meets, but your season ended after July. What happened?
The 2012 season was definitely a disappointment for me. After Payton Jordan I improved my season’s best to 4:10 in Shanghai, but from there things just went down hill and I never got close to the qualifying standard. I felt really tired by the end of June and I knew it would be stupid to try to keep racing, I just needed a break.
I also felt it was time for a change, so I got in touch with Nic Bideau to ask if he would coach me. I went over to London to train with his group (Melbourne Track Club) for a week and loved it straight away. It was great to be training in a group again, although it was pretty obvious there was a lot of work to be done when I did sessions with the other athletes. I basically started off from scratch so we decided not to rush it and therefore not do any more races until I was ready to compete again.
This year seems much different. Earlier this season, you won the Briggs Athletics Classic in 4:09.66, which is your best seasonal time since '10. What's changed in your training?
The biggest change is that I am consistently putting in the hard work. The sessions are longer than before, but also more in control. I run a lot on softer surfaces like a grass track and horse track, which makes the sessions harder, but at the same time easier on the body. Hills have also been a key element this year; one hill session a week plus a hilly long run every Sunday. Overall I’m just a lot stronger and I seem to handle the training much better than in the previous years.
Speaking of training, we were sent a "winter workout" video of you and Zoe Buckman down in Melbourne, Australia. How is training with Buckman? More importantly, how is doing intervals on grass and horse tracks?
It’s great to be able to do my sessions with Zoe. We definitely have different strengths and weaknesses, but we try to help each other out wherever we can. Once a week I do a tempo on a horse track where the grass is quite long and not very smooth. It’s like doing a tempo and stability exercises simultaneously, which is helpful for me because of all the lower leg problems I’ve had in the past. The grass track session is more like running on a manicured golf course. It probably still slows you down a little bit, but the biggest benefit is that you don’t have to deal with the impact of a real track throughout the ‘winter’ training.
I’ve come a long way in the past 9 months and each race I’m gaining more confidence.
In the video, you said, "The goal is represent Holland at the World Championships in Moscow, but it's not really something that's on my mind the whole time." With the way things have been going, do you think that you can wear the orange vest in August?
When I said qualification for Worlds wasn’t on my mind all the time I was probably being cautious more than anything, after having to deal with so many disappointments over the past couple of years. Things have changed now though and I feel that with the progression I’ve made in training qualifying for Moscow is something that will just naturally follow if I keep doing what I’m doing. But simply making it there is not a big enough goal anymore.
What's on the schedule for the rest of the season?
At the moment I’m on a 4-week training camp with MTC in Mount Laguna, California. After the meet in San Diego I will go back here for another training block until Oxy, where I’ll do the 1500m.
Then I fly back to Holland, base myself there for the European season and go over to London every now and then to spend a week with the rest of the group. I will focus on the 1500m, but I’m also planning on racing a 5k on the track.
If things go well you should see much more of me on the European circuit this year. Hopefully I get to finish off the season in New York at the 5th Avenue mile.
What brought you to RE:RUN San Diego?
The race in San Diego is just around the corner from Mount Laguna and will be a welcome distraction to break up the training camp. I like the idea of combining a road race with a track meet and I’m hoping to get a peek of the ElliptiGO mile before my race. The last time I did a mile (except for 5th Ave Mile & Auckland Queen Street Mile on the road) would have been back in college, so it’s about time to seriously improve on that track PB.
What's the single most interesting thing about training abroad?
Finding good cheese and coffee. Or that might be more of a challenge rather than an interesting thing. I never feel like I’m training ‘abroad’ really because I feel at home in Australia, Holland and the US.
Whenever I travel from one place to another the one thing I look forward to is training in a different environment, so I guess I could say change of scenery. I’m really enjoying the trails in Mount Laguna at the moment, but also can’t wait to run in the forest back in Holland.
Would you rather fight one duck-sized horse or one hundred horse-sized ducks. Why?
I don’t think I would fight just one duck-sized horse, probably way too cute to keep as a pet, carry around in my running bag and perhaps even go for a run with. One hundred horse-sized ducks would be my worst nightmare; I’m scared of any kind of bird because they always seem to attack or swoop me while I’m running. I’m guessing you planned on asking the question the other way around though, in which case I would go with one hundred duck-sized horses. My elbows are quite sharp so I think 50 left and 49 right elbow throws should do the job and I’ll still keep the last one.