Molly Huddle, photo by PhotoRun.net
The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon will be the marathon debut by Molly Huddle. The American record holder at 10,000m and former AR at 5,000 meters has moved to a distance that many expect her to succeed. Again, this is her first run at 26.2 miles. Here is Carolyn Mather’s feature on Molly Huddle.
MOLLY HUDDLE TAKES ON THE BIG APPLE
Olympian and American record holder Molly Huddle has always wanted to run the TCS New York City Marathon, and on Sunday that dream will become a reality. Molly says the situation is a bit surreal and she asks herself “what am I doing here?” She feels fresh coming into the race and has the normal nervousness. She wonders how it will go, but having observed Molly for a few years, I suspect she is ready to go. She finished her last workout on Tuesday and has been resting since then.
Molly states she has no dream of winning as she has a very healthy respect for the other ladies in this very competitive field. But she aspires to be in the top five or six and to be the top American. She cut short her trip to the 2016 Olympics in Rio after setting her “bittersweet” American record in the 10,000 meters finishing sixth. She has averaged a 110 miles a week in the build up phase for her marathon debut.
Her longtime coach, Ray Treacy, told her before she even qualified in the 5000 meters at the Olympic Trials in Eugene that she would only be doing the 10,000 in Rio. Her build up has included one two and a half hour run in the heat of Phoenix. Her longest run has been over twenty three miles. She trained there for a month in preparation and had her husband, Kurt Benninger accompany her in much of her training. She missed two long runs due to some minor tendinitis in her left heel. But her chiropractor, Dr. John Ball, has been with her assessing her bio mechanics as he wants to help her to be her very best. She calls him “a really smart guy”.
Training in Phoenix where the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs train, she is hoping for a bit of that magic on race day. After all it has been much less that 108 years since an American woman took the top spot in New York City!
Molly wonders how it will go, but having observed her for a number of years, she is a fierce competitor and will certainly have the crowds cheering her to the finish line. Her toughest work out was three weeks ago. She had to do it on her own and after a three mile warm up, she did three times three miles at 5:10-5:15 a mile pace with a two minute rest between each set. She has only been on the track four times since Rio.
Molly has gotten more advice than she probably wanted, but her most interesting was from two time Boston winner British Olympian Geoff Smith who advised her to treat the race as an understated long run. She has been told to be patient and drink before she is thirsty. So she is ready to dive in and prepare for the last 10K. She plans to use lemon-lime Cytomax in her elite fluids bottles and try to get down four gels. Geoff is much more hard core and told her not to worry too much about fluids. After all he only used water sparingly.
Molly is apparently very trusting of her coach and one of her longtime sponsors told me she never wants to know her workouts ahead of time. He stated that she probably will not know her race plan until Ray tells her before the race. I warmed up with Molly and Amy Cragg before the ten mile national championship and she is very humble, intelligent and caring even though her competitors on that morning had already conceded first place to her.
If Molly makes it comfortably to twenty miles, she will be in the mix for a podium finish. Her track speed will bode well for her. Molly is the new face of women’s distance running and I see a stellar future for her in the world of marathon racing.
