National Champions!

An Interview done by Jim Ferstle of Down the Backstretch: Downthebackstrech.blogspot.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012

Meghan Peyton Talks About 2012, the USATF XC Club Championships, and 2013

Photo by Gene Niemi

Team USA Minnesota's Meghan Peyton finished off 2012 with a bang.  She led the team to the USATF Club XC team Championship, earned a trip to Scotland, and took a step toward her first goal of 2013.

Down the Backstretch:Winning a National Championships is always nice.  Did you go into USATF Club Nationals confident, hopeful, with or without expectations in regards to the team championship? 

Meghan Peyton: We went into the Championships confident that we could win. We knew that there would be some other strong teams like the Boulder team, but thought that as long as we all had solid races that we could achieve our goal of winning the national title.  

DtB:  Once you got to Lexington and saw the mud, aside from thinking: “This is real cross country,” did the conditions change any of the plans, expectations going into the race?

MP: Personally, the mud didn't change any of my own expectations. The mud was a factor for every runner out there. It being a championship race, I knew that it would take a strong race to place in the top six(she finished fourth), which is what it took to qualify for the USA team going to Scotland.

DtB:  Seems like the team members had different approaches to the race: Jamie took off with the leaders, you and Ladia sort of worked together, McKenzie was trailing behind you two(could she see where you two were or was the course too hilly and twisty for her to see runners ahead of her), and Heather took a tumble.  When did Heather go down and did any of you see or know that Heather fell during the race?  Give us something of a summary of how things unfolded.

MP: The race got out fast, the first mile being the most flat section on the course -- we went through the mile at 5:11 pace. I felt that it was a good pace, putting me near the front but I still felt in control. For the next mile and a half it was just grinding away at the hills and mud. 

There was a little pack of us behind the lead pack pushing each other. We could see the leaders the entire time. At about 2.5 miles the pack started coming back to us, Jamie (Cheever) with them. I knew we would catch up. So on the last downhill before the long climb to the finish I pushed hard so that I would catch up with Jamie. I knew she needed some support because she was in no-woman's land, which is a hard place to be when you are hurting. 

As I caught her I cheered for her telling her "You can do it, come on Jamie". We all needed to finish strong, and I think it was pretty admirable how she had put it out there on the line and, even once her early fast pace caught up to her, Jamie still finished really strong. None of us knew that Heather had fallen until we had all crossed the finish line.  

DtB:  When did you know you won the team title?  Was there a big celebration or a more retrained one?

MP: When we all finished the race we didn't know if we had won or not for about half an hour or so. We knew that Boulder would be our biggest competition, and they had taken first and second place. We didn't know where their other runners had finished, but we did know that Heather had taken an unfortunate spill in the mud, but had the strength to get up and keep running for the team. 

So we waited anxiously for about 30 minutes until they finally posted the results. When the results went up, Lance Elliott (one of our team's board members who was traveling with us and also raced) came running back to our van with the results and said: "We Won!". We were all excited, but Heather was excited most of all...jumping up and down with relief.

DtB:  Are the three of you that qualified planning on taking the trip to Scotland in January?  Did Jamie or McKenzie get spots on the US team because others in front of them aren’t going?

MP: Yes, Ladia, Jon (Peterson, fifth in the men's race), and I are going to Scotland for sure. We think that Jamie(who was seventh) will also likely make the team based on other competitors who said that they will not go, and because she also did well at this year's USA Open Cross Country Championships which took place in February.

DtB:  You’ve had a busy life this Fall with school, helping out with the Augsburg team, and your own running.  How do you juggle all those “balls in the air?”

MP: Very carefully! I don't need any of them falling to the ground. I think the only reason that I am able to juggle all of them is because I have good support groups in each area of my life, and because I'm a planner. I always try and stay ahead of the curve. I did have to start using a paper planner again this year (which I have not done since I graduated college) because my life is going in a lot of different directions.  No day is the same as the day before. A busy life keeps things interesting. 

DtB:  Was 2012 a productive year?  Did you achieve any or all of the goals you set—if you set any—at the beginning of the year?

MP: 2012 for me was a learning year. Anyone who looks at my results from the past year could probably safely assume that I unfortunately didn't achieve the goals that I had set at the beginning of it. From 2008-2011 I had steadily improved -- moving from consistently placing in the teens in races and working my way up to finishing in the top seven at most National Championships.

As with most people in this sport, I had big aspirations for 2012. However, some inexperience with the marathon, and also finding out that I had low B12 and low Iron (both essential for energy production) put those goals out of reach this year. But, I haven't given up. I still have the same big goals -- I've just had to push them out a year or two. 

DtB:  What are the plans, goals of 2013?

MP: My goals for 2013 are to, first of all, continue to improve as an athlete and person. Secondly, I want to represent our country at the World Cross Country Championships, and also want to compete at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In the Fall I plan on competing in a marathon -- maybe one that is near and dear to us all--Twin Cities in Motion's Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  

This is where I am- This is where I'm meant to be: Keep it clean, people.

This is where I am- This is where I'm meant to be: Keep it clean, people.: Call me old school, but I think the beautiful and most exciting part of running is that it is an opportunity to see what the untainted human...

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This post is a follow up to my previous post. If you need another reason to actually sit down and take the time to find what truly makes you happy and define your true calling- watch this video. Yes, I know it is an hour and fifteen minutes long but you will not regret watching one minute of it. I challenge you to just watch the first five minutes, if you are not hooked within that span of time; feel free to turn it off. But if I was a betting woman, I would say you will watch it from start to finish. Enjoy!

Exploring Happiness

This fall I have begun my graduate studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, where I will apply myself to the earning of a Master of Arts in Leadership (MAL) degree. I recently had to write the following short essay and I thought I would share it with you all. I think each of us should take some time to explore what it is that makes us happy! 

Over the past week I have learned that happiness is very subjective. Throughout history many different philosophers, including Buddha, Confucius, and Abraham Maslow have written on the topic of happiness. Much research is still being conducted today and one of those theories being test by the U Penn Authentic Happiness Center (2012a) is how the three approaches to happiness: a pleasant life, an engaging life and a meaningful life, all work together in each of our lives. This essay will be an exploration of what role each of these three approaches to happiness plays in my own life.

A pleasant life is the enjoyment of the more superficial parts of our existence. According to the Approaches to Happiness Questionnaire this approach is of the least importance to me. However, it is still an essential part of my overall happiness. I know I would not be as happy in my life without the material things. For instance when Cole and I bought our first house, we were so excited and could not wait to share it with our family and friends. Up until this point we had lived in a 500 square foot apartment, and while we were perfectly content and happy there we were even more excited to have our own home. The first thing Cole did was walk around with a video camera in our new home and post the video to the web for our families to see. But this excitement was fleeting. Now that we have lived here for three years, while we still love our home and it makes us very content, we discuss at least once a week the features of our next home. We get overly excited about the possibilities that it may hold. I know this house will always hold a special place in our hearts, because it was the first, but there will always be the next thing to be excited about too.

The engaging life is by far the most important approach to happiness for me. On the Approaches to Happiness Questionnaire I scored in the 85^th percentile compared to others who had taken the survey. Life is made engaging by putting to use your signature strengths in your work, friendships, love and leisure. Through my involvement in Thomas Morgan’s class, Leading Authentically, I have discovered that my four dependable strengths are that I am disciplined, trustworthy, responsible and optimistic. I have crafted my life in such as way as to put these strengths to good use. In 2010 I gained my official title as a coach at Augsburg, but I had been coaching unofficially for years. I started my coaching experience with my mom. My mom is a supermom, always there for her family even if that meant neglecting her own health. So after 10 years of essentially not exercising at all, she hit an all time high with her weight and was visibly upset with herself about it. So I took my four strengths and extensive knowledge of running and got her to be active again. It was not easy, especially at first. At the time I was in college living 2,000 miles away from her home in Knoxville, Tennessee. So I could not be there every day to see if she got out the door for a run. We started small, alternating between mostly walking and a little running. However, I had to call her on the phone every day to make sure she did her run. Much of the time this phone call would end with a disappointing “no”. But I did not let these small failures curb my enthusiasm or hers. Two years after we started this quest together, she ran her first marathon, of which I ran 17 miles with her. Today, she now runs a few marathons a year and does the training on her own. She has completed six marathons to date with the goal of doing one in every state! It is accomplishments like this that give me everlasting joy and help make my life complete.

The meaningful life is the use of the same strengths that I mentioned above in service of something greater than myself. To me coaching is that something. I believe sports, especially running, are a vehicle to teach people about themselves and society. Sports help with both human and social development. They can contribute to social cohesion and tolerance, as well as be a conduit for physical and socio-economic development. Furthermore, sports – like music and art – are a universal language which can be used for social and economic change by bridging cultural gaps, helping to resolve conflicts and educating people in ways that nothing else can. I believe that by being a coach I can help guide people in a way to make a meaningful impact on their lives both physically and mentally which brings great meaning and fulfillment to my life.

The three approaches to happiness – a pleasant life, a engaging life and a meaningful life – work in unison to make my life happy. While some of these approaches are more important to me than others, without all three being in balance I do not think I would be as happy as I currently am. I feel very lucky to have found a passion that I believe in and the means with which I can share that passion with the world.

U Penn Authentic Happiness. (2012a, September 15). Approaches to happiness questionnaire. Retrieved from http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/results.aspx?id=266&it=0

National Running Day June 6th and Portland Track Festival

Calling all Portlanders and Tualatonians! (Those who live in or around the cities of Portland or Tualatin, Oregon)  Come on over to Lewis and Clark college on Friday the 9^th and Saturday the 10^th to cheer on some great athletes at the Portland Track Festival! Just to name a few of my favorite big names that will be there: Katie McGregor – multiple time National Champion and World Championships participant; and Carrie Tollefson – 2004 Olympian; and me of course!

 I will be running the 10,000m again on Friday night, June 9^th.  The third time this season is going to be the charm – the time of 32:45 is going down!  (Just to recap – the 10K in Boston went well; I ran 33:11 for second place)

I am particularly excited about this race because it will be a homecoming of sorts for me.  I went to high school at Tualatin High School, just 10 miles down the road from the Lewis and Clark College. I have spent many hours running in Tryon Creek State Park which is a great park to run in located right next to the school. I have many nostalgic memories of running with Brent “Mac” MacDermot and Taylor “White Bread” Hallvik , as well as my high school besties Lindsay Hallvik, Mallory Freed, Colleen Godfrey and Amanda Bateman Evans – just to name a few.  Mac and Taylor have already promised to come and cheer, if anyone else wants to join in it would be most appreciated!

When I hit the time of 32:45 (the trials “A” qualifying standard) it is going to be an extremely exciting moment. Not only will it be a confirmation of all the hard work that I have put in, but it will also qualify me for sure for the Olympic Team Trials in Eugene two weeks later – another place I have special memories associated with because I won 6 Oregon State High School Championships titles there. Not to mention all of the history associated with the many running greats who have called Eugene home. Needless to say June is shaping up to be a very exciting month.

ALSO - Don't forget that June 6th is National Running Day. Visit www.runningday.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/runningday. Join in on National Running Day as the country takes strides towards leading healthier, fitter lives. Taking part is easy. Just wear your running shoes, grab a friend and go! 

I RUN...because I can't imagine life without it! 

Tell me and the world why you run?!?

I hope to see you all there on the 9^th and down in Eugene for the trials.

Godspeed

~Meghan

"I get knocked down, but I get up again"

OK, decision made – this weekend May 19^th, I am going to be in Boston at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet, being held at UMass – Lowell,  to give the 10K another go. This time, instead of running  32:00 flat pace to start out, I am going to start a little more conservative and just aim right at the trials A standard,  32:45 pace with the goal of building on each mile.

But, the 10K this weekend will not be my first race this week!  On Thursday I am going to again compete in the annual TC 1mile/ USA 1 mile Road Championships. It is a race that is near and dear to my heart because it takes place right here in downtown Minneapolis.  Talk about “home field advantage”!

You will be able to watch the TC 1mile live on http://www.runnerspace.com/USA-1mile

Tune in on Thursday evening to see myself and two of my fellow Minneapolites , Heather Kampf and Elizabeth Yetzer, shine in front of our home crowd!

Until next week – living well, dreaming fast.

~Meghan~

The Road to Eugene

“California Love” – Ok, so that isn’t the song that I have been singing lately, but it is where I spent the last two weeks with teammates Jamie Cheever and Matt Llano. While we were not singing along to 2Pac, we did become obsessed with Los Angeles group Maroon 5 and their new song “Payphone”! This was only appropriate because Los Angeles is where our journey began.

We flew out on Wed. the 18^th from MSP to LAX to get ready to race at the MT. SAC Relays. The relays are extremely popular because the weather is always perfect and the best talent shows up there to compete. Of the 5 years that I have competed at Mt. SAC, only once has the meet been delayed due to water on the track - no, not because it was raining, but because a water main burst under the finish line! Otherwise, every year has been ideal. As the sun goes down over the San Gabriel Valley, the wind disappears, the temperature drops to a perfect 50-60 degrees, the crowds gather with their kettle corn and water bottles to watch – the raised arm of the starter, cuffed in orange, the report of the starter pistol – the races are under way.  

There are several races before my own, so when I arrive at the track an hour and a half before my race, the meet is in full swing. I sit in a grassy area at the back of the stadium, sipping on my water and waiting for the appointed hour to arrive when I will start my warm-up. I’m running the 5K on this night, trying to get a new PR, 15:35 would be awesome! Once my warm-up is all done I head over to the “hipping tent” (where you get your hip numbers for the race) and put on my Mizuno Osaka spikes. Ready to go!

First mile: 5:04 – great 15:42 pace, just right at my PR. I know I need to work on the next two miles.

Mile 2: I still feel good and still clicking off the splits I want for the first half of this mile. But, at about half way the wheels start to become a little unglued.

Mile 3: I maintain my position in the race, but I’m not going to hit the time I want. Final time: 16:14

Bummmmmmer. Workouts have been going really well, so I am surprised to not have the leg speed that I wanted.  In years past I would have been devastated, but I am trying a new approach. I just tell myself “Shake it off, it’s just one race. Next time will be better. It is still only April and all the important races are still to come.”

Mt. SAC concluded, we moved on. We flew from LAX to SFO the next day, where we would spend the next week. We have plans while we are in the Bay Area to stay with a relative of a friend and his roommates (did you catch that? Yes, that means we are staying with someone none of us knew). So we have an address and a phone number – let the adventure begin.

So once we arrive at SFO and get our rental car squared away, Matt call the people we will be staying with – all who are fantastic athletes that competed for Stanford (Elliot Heath, JT Sullivan, Brendan Gregg, Whitney Liehr, and Jake Riley) - but no one answers. We decide to drive to the address we have, since it is an hour drive, and hope that by the time we get there we will get in touch with one of them.

We reach the house an hour later, and I think Jamie and Matt are excited to get out of the car, because the last 15min of the drive were EXTREMLY curvy. The house sits almost at the top of a mountain, and the road to get to it is very scenic, but you have to drive slowly and avoid all of the bikers that are challenging themselves to get up the 4 mile climb. When we get to the house, we still have not heard from its occupants, so after a few minutes of looking around on the front porch I decide to try the door knob….lo and behold it’s open! Sweet.

 We let ourselves in, and are immediately aware that indeed it is the right house by the number of running shoes that greet us at the door and the NCAA trophies that stand proudly on a shelf. Whew, we sigh with relief. At least we know we are in the right place. So we settle our bags in and head out the door for our long run. Hopefully our roommates will be back when we are finished with our long run.

Out the door the three of us go to find the awesome running trails that we were told about. Find them we did, and they were awesome, but they were also super hilly; a fact that was only exacerbated by the fact that we had all raced the day before. I was tired. We made it back to the house an hour and forty minutes later, and still no one is home or has answered the text message that we sent. So we shower up and I call my brother-in-law Kyle to meet up for dinner. Pizza at Patxi’s is just what the doctor ordered after a very long day of travelling and running.

After dinner we make our way back up to the house, and are greeted by a driveway full of cars. At last! Once we are inside and make everyone’s introduction, we find out that the group had been at the beach all day, because it was one of the first beautiful days to be had in the Bay, and there was no cell reception. It really ended up not being an issue at all that we didn’t get to talk to them before we got to the house, it really just made for an adventurous day!

The rest of the week went by smoothly. We made some great new friends, got to explore San Fran for a bit – including going to Alcatraz, and rest up for our next races at the Payton Jordan Invitational.

The next Sunday, race day finally arrived. And we all tried to relax and get ready for the evening when we would race. Jamie was scheduled to run the steeple at 6:40pm, myself the 10K at 9:07pm and Matt also the 10K at 10:20pm. The evening started off well with Jamie matching her PR in the Steeple with a 10:02, though she was slightly disappointed because she wanted to run the Olympic Trials ‘A’ standard of 9:55, but it was her first competitive steeple of the year and I have no doubt that she will get the time she wants in her next attempt.

I was up next – I started off at a brisk pace, because I wanted to hit a huge PR, 5:10 at the mile, 10:20 at two miles….final time 33:26. Again, my legs didn’t have the juice that they needed to finish at my desired pace and to make matters even a little more disagreeable, I missed the Trials A standard of 32:45. So the question now is, will my previous time of 32:59 make it into the race? That is what I currently analyzing… trying to figure out what my next move should be. Run another 10K? Switch gears to another race? Not one ounce of me doesn’t want to be in Eugene this June, so I am going to have to think long and hard about what I am going to do next.

Stay tuned for more on what my strategy will be...

Spring Break - Runner Style

SPRING BREAK! I spent the last week running up and down the mountains in Angeles National Forest during the Augsburg Track and Field teams’ annual spring break trip. I love running and exploring new places so the week was basically a week in running heaven. One of the runs we did while we were out there will go down in my lifetime as one of the best ever. We started the run at about 3,000 feet at the Chantry Flats. I am still trying to figure out why it is called the Chantry Flats because we were smack dab in the middle of a mountain, and it wasn’t flat!

 To begin the run we dropped 400ft down into a valley and trotted along a beautiful creek raging with spring rain and snow melt. It was a beautiful 60 degree spring day and the sun was shining bright (this fact will be important later in the story, so keep it in mind).

The beginning of the trail was wide and flat, because every Jane and Joe hiker could make it the first mile or two of the 9.5 mile round trip loop that we were planning on doing. However, a few miles in and the trail turned to a single track nightmare when it comes to running. There was every obstacle you could imagine – steep cliffs, rocks, roots (The trails reminded me of many runs in Forest Park in Portland, OR with my high school coach Brent MacDermot – and him bent over laughing until he cried because I had tripped on a root and managed to smash a banana slug all over my stomach). So our pace was slow, but it didn’t matter because it was supposed to be a recovery day and the amount of uphill running we would be doing that day would cause our heart rates to spike regularly, making up for the fact that the pace was slow.  

As we were running along I tried my best to take in my surroundings, which was difficult to do because I wanted to make sure I kept my eyes on the ground and on the three boys that were following on the trail behind me. On our drive up to the flats my coach Dennis had joked that we would be gaining enough elevation in the run to see snow, and we all laughed at the notion. However, 3000ft later once we caught our breaths we really did run into the snow! We couldn’t believe it. Here we were in the middle of mountains just outside of L.A. and we were running through a light dusting of snow. The views from that elevation were breathtaking. The Los Angeles skyline, which was actually clear that day because of a spring storm that had blown through the day before, as the backdrop to the lush green mountains and the sparkle of the ocean. But the best part of it all was the sounds…

Remember how I said it was a sunny and 60 degree day? As we approached the top Michael asked me “What the heck is falling all around us?” To which I replied “ICE”. As we were climbing the mountain the ice that had been coating the upper layers of the trees began to melt and fall off in quarter size chunks! Once I got over my fear that one of us would be knocked unconscious by a falling ice chunk, is when I heard it. The ice as it cascaded off the trees and fell to the ground sounded like a symphony of soft wind chimes playing all around us.

Finally we reached the peak of Mt. Zion and began our long winding journey back down the mountain on the aptly named Winter Creek Trail. We zigged and we zagged all the way down the mountain, finally reaching the base where we then had to climb another sharp incline 400ft back out of the valley. OUCH! When we finally reached the flats again an hour and forty minutes (running time) had passed, but it was completely worth it.

Being able to do a run like this is one of the many reasons staying in shape is worth it for me. I’ll be thinking about our run through the Angeles National Forest when I hit the roads this week in Minneapolis.

Marathon Reflections

So sorry to have disappeared for a while, but after the Olympic Trials Marathon I didn’t know what to say… but these lyrics by Crossfade (generally not my type of music) kind of explain how I felt. 

So you found out today your life's not the same 
Not quite as perfect as it was yesterday but 
When you were just getting in the groove 
Now you're faced with something new 
And I know it hurts and I know you feel torn 
But you never gave up this easily before 
So why do you choose today to give it all away …

I started out that morning feeling as confident as I could feel going into something that I had never done before. I had the training under my belt and I was surrounded on the course by people I love. A beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was sung by a fellow competitor (Esther Erb, props to her!) and the race began. I tried to settle into 5:45 pace with the pack that I was with, but the group was anxious so the pace was a bit erratic… jumping between 5:39-5:50 per mile. The first ten miles flew by in what felt like the blink of an eye. It was at about this time that I started to feel the blister on my right foot forming. I could feel that it was there, but I put it out of my mind as best I could. The competition was more important. 

I made it to half way, still on 2:32 marathon pace, still feeling strong. I continued to get my fluids and clip away at the miles on the 7 mile loops course. Coming in toward the start/finish line on the second loop, nearing 18-19 miles I was starting to feel my hip flexors. I felt like I was having trouble pulling my leg through my stride. I had slowed a bit, to 2:34 marathon pace, but I was still feeling optimistic. I was still close to my goal per mile pace. I could do this! I had lost my group and was running alone, but I was clicking away at the miles getting closer with each stride to my destination.  
I made it to mile 22 and I was coming unglued. My legs felt like they were hardly coming off the ground. But I was so close. I could fight through another mile!

I got to mile 23 and the 180 degree left hand turn in the course. My blister by this point was really bad; I had to kind of dance my way around the turn because I couldn’t push off on my right foot. I was starting to get passed by other competitors who had paced their races a little better. Only three miles, I told myself, so close. You can do it.

The mile 24 mile marker loomed. I looked at my mile split on my watch and swore that I saw 6:45…I thought that I had slowed by over a minute per mile. (When I later looked at my splits it was a 6:15 mile, not 6:45) But that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. When I saw that and that I was getting passed by people I knew I should beat I gave up. At mile 24, with only two miles to go I walked off the course and burst into tears. I have never felt so ashamed of myself. Not once in the 13 years that I have been running competitively had I ever not finished a race. And now I can say I never will (consciously) ever again. The feeling of giving up is the absolute worst. 

I learned a lot from that day and now that I have had time to think it through and get back to training and racing I can continue the song…

Well it's not so bad y'all 
Together we all fall 
Just as long we get up we'll stand tall 
We shouldn't waste another day 
Thinking 'bout the things that we forgot to say 

I know we have given 
All that we can give 
When there's nothing to lean on 
Well, I remember this 
All we make of this lifetime 
Is always here within 
And remembering that's why 
We should never give in

One day soon I will do another marathon, and this time I know without a doubt I will succeed.
For now, I am back to training and racing, getting ready for my next big adventure- the USA Olympic Track and Field Team Trials in June! I already have qualifying marks in both the 10K and 5K. In the early part of the season I will see if I can better those marks to put me in a better position going into the trials. So I will get back to writing and letting you all know how it is going! 

Thanks for all the support. Yours in running!
~Meghan~

Marathon splits:
6:16, 12:05, 17:45, 23:29, 29:09, 35:02, 40:53, 46:34, 52:25, 58:17, 1:04:09, 1:10:03, 1:16:01, 1:21:59, 1:44:00, 1:33:54, 1:55:00, 1:46:04, 1:52:15, 1:58:30, 2:04:02, 2:11:03, 2:17:27, 2:23:42

Running Times

Hey all, here is another interview done by Sarah Barker for Running Times. Check back soon for the race and weekend recap!

5 Minutes with Meghan Armstrong Peyton

This former middle-distance specialist talks about her evolution to long-distance runner in time for the Olympic trials marathon

By Sarah Barker
As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine

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If you had told Meghan Armstrong Peyton a year ago she’d be doing a 3-hour run on a treadmill and thinking about mid-race nutrition, she’d have laughed at you. As a 4:17 1500m runner, Peyton, like most middle-distance runners, thought of patience in terms of seconds, not hours. But a paradigm-shifting 1:13:56 half marathon two years ago in Houston qualified her for the 2012 Olympic trials marathon and set the gears in motion. In the past six months, she’s transformed herself into a mid-race fueling marathoner. Recently, she placed seventh (1:14:57) in a tune-up race at the Rock ’n’ Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon in December, was second in the Manchester Road Race (4.75 miles, 25:03) in November and placed sixth (in a 55:09 PB) at the U.S. 10-mile championships in Minneapolis in October. The Olympic trials marathon on Jan. 14 in Houston will be her first attempt at the 26.2-mile distance.

Running Times: You were a 3K/1500m specialist throughout high school and college until your last year at Iowa in 2008, when you moved up to the 10K. Why this big jump to the marathon?

Meghan Armstrong Peyton: I strongly believed I was a miler until my junior year at Iowa when I went to nationals and did not make finals again. I was heartbroken. My coach tried to convince me that I could be good at longer distances, and I liked 5K, so I thought I’d give the 10K a shot. I ran 10K at the Peyton Jordan Invite and exceeded my expectations. [She ran a 32:59.11 at Peyton Jordan last May in Palo Alto, Calif.] History repeated itself when I joined Team USA Minnesota. Dennis Barker [coach of Team USA Minnesota] first planted the seed of the marathon in early 2011, maybe March. I laughed at him, told him I didn’t think so. He just told me we didn’t need  to decide right away, that we could wait until after track season. Well, track didn’t end the way I thought it would, and I was forced to do a lot of soul searching. I looked at other people who had improved on the track after doing a marathon. And I’m not one to back down from a challenge. If it goes well, fine. And if it doesn’t, it will make me stronger on the track.

RT: When was your first 20+ mile run? First 3-hour run? How did that go?

MAP: At Iowa, I never ran more than 13 or 14 miles at a go. Until the fall of 2011, I had never done more than 20 miles. My first 3-hour run, in early October, didn’t go so hot. I ate while I was at work four hours prior, then went out by myself with one GU packet. That’s it. No fluids. The last couple miles, I felt like my head was disconnected from my body — I had to physically slap my face to clear my head. The next one was on a treadmill, not because I love the treadmill, but because I know Houston will be in the 50s and it was in the 20s here in Minnesota, so I wanted to prepare for the heat. I also had fluids right there and I tried out this Perpetuem drink by Hammer that I intend to use in the actual race. It went really well; I felt good the whole time and had no stomach issues. I was mentally fatigued from being on treadmill.

RT: What’s been your most challenging marathon workout? 

MAP: Probably an hour tempo run at 5:40 pace, followed immediately by 30 minutes of alternating 1-minute hard/1-minute easy. I warmed up about 3 miles and eked out a mile cool down. I accomplished the goal of the workout, which was to run a long time at slightly faster than marathon pace. It was encouraging.

RT: I assume you’ve had to really exercise patience.

MAP: Yeah. I’ve certainly gone out too fast in a 3K and it wasn’t pretty, but I finished. The price [of going out too fast] is higher in a marathon. I’ve practiced going out slower and being happy with that and knowing it’s the best thing to do because no one knows or cares who’s in the lead at half way or 20 — I want to be there at the end.

RT: Have you had company on your long runs? 

MAP: A lot of them, no, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There are going to be segments of the race when I’m not feeling good and it feels like you’re the only one suffering, but by training alone, I know I can get through that. I was able to do 23 miles once with Katie [McGregor] and I was asking her what to expect, picked her brain. That was really helpful.

RT: Your coach is into visualization — what’s the marathon you’re envisioning? What possible problems are you preparing for?

MAP: I’ve envisioned being strong at the end. I don’t want to think about all the things that could go wrong — don’t want to psyche myself out. I’ve thought about missing a water bottle — I’ll try and grab water at a regular water station — but mostly, I try not to freak out about things I can’t control. It’s too much to expect to escape without something — chafing or blisters or whatever — but in the race, you’re so focused on competition, I’m just thinking about clipping away miles and finishing strong.

RT: This trials has more virgin marathoners than any previous — how do you think that will effect the race? 

MAP: Probably not in a way that I would personally notice. I’ve been watching the known big hitters like Shalane and Desiree. In the past, the low 2:30s got on the podium, but I’m wondering if that will be true this year. It sounds like Desiree has been training for 2:22 pace. If she goes out hard, I can imagine Shalane would be on her heels. So there may be some people going out very fast. I’m prepared to be patient, sit back a ways and go with a pace I know is for me, probably 5:45-5:50 to start.

RT: You’ve been called a 'wild card' for the trials — what are you holding? What are your goals?

MAP: I wasn’t really aware I was called a wild card. [laughs] I’ve been happy with my races this fall and I beat some people that have run impressive times in the marathon. Like many people, my goal is to make the Olympic team. If that happened, I’d be ecstatic. But I’d be happy in the top 10.

RT: Do you have a pre-race ritual?
 
MAP: I shave my legs the night before. Must be the night before the race.

RT: Will you become a marathoner from here on out?

MAP: I can’t answer that question until I finish the race. The training is tough but doable. I’ll see how I feel. I will definitely go for the 10,000m on the track in Eugene, and I'm thinking about doubling in the 5K, too.

Marathon Week Interview

A nice interview done by Lance Bergeson from the Des Moines Register...

Meghan Armstrong Peyton will be a huge wild card when the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials begin on the morning of Jan. 14 in Houston.

The former University of Iowa four-time All-American has a half marathon best of 1 hour, 13 minutes, 43 seconds and finished a respectable fifth at the 2011 USA 5-kilometer and 15k championships and sixth at the 10-mile championships last year.

But the 25-year-old Team USA Minnesota runner has never attempted the marathon distance.

“Obviously since it’s my first one I have some trepidation going into it,” Peyton, pictured, said Tuesday. “I’m nervous, but I believe that when I get to the hard part of the race, mile 20, I have to believe in the hard work and training I did. I’ve done the best training I can.

“I would really like to think that I am a wild card. I intend to be vying for one of the top spots. That’s my goal.”

Peyton is a track runner by nature. She was the 2008 Big Ten champion in both the indoor 3,000 meters and the outdoor 10,000. She also holds the Iowa school record in the 1,500 meters (4:17.41).

She didn’t believe it was too much of a strech to try a marathon, especially after taking seventh at the Dec. 4 Las Vegas half marathon during a difficult training cycle.

“I told (coach) Dennis (Barker) when we first went into this that I didn’t have a desire just to do a marathon,” Peyton said. “I wanted to do it to be a contender (at the trials). I did some soul-searching before I started training. I did think I could do it. He (Barker) thought I had the talent to do it.”

Peyton has mixed fast-paced tempo runs with longer runs. She had never gone past 18 miles until training for the marathon. She has bumped up her mileage from 90 miles to 110 during her marathon cycle. She even completed the marathon distance on a treadmill to acclimate herself to any possible heat Houston will have.

“I’ve tended to trade off between fast workouts and marathon workouts to work every muscle fiber,” said Peyton, a physiology major at Iowa. “I’m a strong believer in working every system. Knowing that I can cover the distance definitely gives me the confidence that I can make it through the race.

“The biggest thing I learned about myself is that I’m stronger than I previously have known. I’ve put in these long runs without added effort.”

The Oregon native has taken advantage of a mild November and December in the Twin Cities. “We have really lucked out,” she said.

Peyton also vacationed with her husband’s family in Hawaii for nine days over Christmas. After returning from Maui, she was instructed by her coach to do all of her final workouts on a treadmill to maintain the benefits of training in the Hawaii heat.

“Probably the biggest factor is the heat (in Houston),” Peyton said. “I’ve practiced taking in my fluids. That shouldn’t be a drawback. I’ve got to hope for the best for the weather. I’ve covered my bases with my treadmill training.”

All of the racing Peyton did in 2011, which included a win in the Miami Half Marathon, has prepared her for the race conditions she’ll face in Houston.

“I definitely think it (2011 racing season) was a big step in the right direction,” Peyton said. “It was fun to go out to these races and be in the hunt and post fast times.”

Peyton knows she has to be smart with the marathon. She cannot go out too fast or risk having a meltdown in Texas’ largest city.

“I want to get in a pace that’s in the 5:45 or 5:50 range,” Peyton said. “Clip away the first 10 or 15 miles or so and then really drive it home from there. It will come down to the day and how I feel from there. The biggest thing is not to get too anxious and believe in myself.”

UP NEXT: West Des Moines’ Jason Flogel has battled to stay healthy for his first Olympic marathon trials race.

To read more about running and triathlons, follow me on Twitter (@LanceBergeson)

Tags: meghan peyton

T-minus 10 days to the OT Marathon!

Happy New Year! It is now T-minus 10 days. I can’t believe it is the last two weeks of training before the Olympic Trials Marathon. Our holiday trip to Hawaii flew by. Cole and I spent 9 wonderful days with the Peyton side of the family on the island of Maui. The trip was planned over a year ago, but it turned out to be perfect timing to get in some great heat training just in time for the marathon.

Since returning to Minneapolis, I have strict instructions to do all my runs on the treadmill so that I can maintain any benefits that I got while in Maui. Because although by Minnesota standards this is still a very mild winter, the mercury here is still far below any thermometers you will find in Houston. I don’t have any room to complain though, because at this point in my marathon cycle the runs are far shorter than ones that I completed just a few weeks ago.

My taper has really kicked in now. This week I am only scheduled to run 61 miles and next week in the 40’s and that includes the 26.2 mile race. The legs are feeling good and alive! It’s a feeling one only understands after putting your body through the ringer week, after week, after week. Like a New Years Eve firework…you light the fuse and the rocket works so hard to obtain lift-off, and it continues to burn and work as it gains altitude, and finally BANG! All of the remaining energy is put into one brilliant and beautiful moment. For me, that moment will begin with the BANG of the gun at 8:15am on Saturday January 14, 2012!

If you need some inspiration, or a reason to tune in to NBC’s broadcast of the trials then take a look at this short video clip that features four of my Team USA Minnesota teammates! I got goosebumps watching it. 

                                                              WATCH HERE!

Make sure to stay tuned next week for the final countdown.

GO TEAM USA!