Andrea Walkonen KWIK-E

April 10, 2009

At the Stanford Invitational, Boston University senior Andrea Walkonen got her NCAA-automatic qualifying time in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 33 minutes, 13.66 seconds. Walkonen's not going to be racing much as she's going to focus on the 10,000 at Nationals.

You're still a bit of an “unknown” although you were All-American in cross country and indoors. Do you prefer it that way or would you rather be a high-profile athlete?

It's kind of fun to be one of the unknowns because people are shocked when you show up and do something. They're like, “wow, where'd she come from?” It's kind of fun being an unknown. I like it.

What was “plan b” if you didn't get the auto at Stanford?

Actually, you know what? My coach, Bruce (Lehane), usually if he's pretty confident that I can do something than I'm confident that I can do something. He was pretty sure that I would get it. There really wasn't a plan b, to be honest.

It was going to happen no matter what?

Yup. I was going to go for it no matter what. There was no reason not to.

And did you feel pretty comfortable running it?

Oh yeah! That felt great. It actually felt easy...so that's definitely a good sign with Nationals to come.

Are you going to take time off now and train for that 10k specifically or are you going to throw some 5ks in there?

I think I'm going to pretty much just focus on training for the 10k right now. Conference is the first week of May and I think I'll do the 10k there. Then pretty much just training for that 10k at Nationals this year.

Your personal best is low 16s for 5k, right?

Yup. 16:03.

Do you know that you have 15s in your legs?

I do. I do to be perfectly honest. That race wasn't run very smart and I still ran 16:03. If I'd run it the way I was supposed to, then I'd definitely been sub-16.

Isn't it tempting to come off of a new personal best, like at Stanford, and try to set another one in the 5k?

It is. It's very tempting. I thought about it this morning, I thought, “I kind of want to race the five to see if I could go for the school record and a personal best.” It's very tempting...but I do what my coach tells me to do because he knows what he's doing. If he says, “no fives” then no fives. I'll have to just brush it off and keep training for the 10.

Have you had any setbacks along your development as a runner? Injuries?

Yes, I have. My junior year, I had surgery on my right foot, because in 2005 I broke a bone in my foot. I didn't realize it and ran on it for two years and the two pieces of bone separated and pulled apart in my foot. One of them ended up in between my nerve and second metatarsal. Basically when you hit your funny bone and it tingles and it hurts...well, that's what my foot felt like for about six months until I had the surgery. Two weeks after the surgery, I was back to running almost full mileage. It was a quick recovery.

How did it come to your attention? Was it a gradual thing or was it like one day you took a step and could tell that something was drastically wrong in your foot?

It was pretty much that I took a step and something was drastically wrong. It had been bluing for the two years and I had been running on it and that's what made it worse and worse, but it actually popped up at outdoor Nationals my sophomore year, in the 10k. That was the year I had to pull out of the 10k, unfortunately, and it was because of this foot injury. I got tripped and I didn't fall, but that foot kind of jammed into the ground a little bit harder. As soon as it hit there was immediate pain and I got another five laps before I just couldn't handle it any more. It was excruciating.

Can you explain your mileage and training a little bit?

I do pretty high mileage because my focus is on the 10k. The longer I go, the better I tend to get. Cross country season I put in a couple of 100 mile weeks, so it was up there, but I average between 70 and 90 a week. Then, in indoor track, it gets cold and stuff and I don't run outside as much. I cut back on mileage and that was really good for me. It was good mentally and physically to get a little bit of a break. I cut back to maybe 60 and 75 a week. I'd say more in the 67-70 range as an average. My mileage is going to start going back up because of the 10k. I focused mainly on the 5k for indoors and didn't really need high mileage. Now that I'm back in the 10k, I'm getting back into 70 to 80 mile weeks again. It will be gradual and I'm not there yet. I'd say that I'm at maybe 73 miles a week. For training, you've got your standard interval workout, where they get tougher as we get toward the 10k. I had my first 10k workout the other day, which from the sounds of it, I thought I was going to die...but once I started doing it, it felt great. I definitely know that I'm built for the longer distances.

Does that mean you want to move up on the roads after you graduate or what are your plans?

After school is done, I'd really like to go pro. Bruce and I have been discussing different clubs and groups that I might be able to run for. I haven't really looked too much into it because I'm trying to get through this season and do some good work here for BU as running goes and hopefully make a good name for myself. I feel like that will really help...and so does Bruce. I haven't thought too much beyond this year as far as what I'm going to do. Ideally I'd like to go pro, but it's a matter of someone recognizing you. I'd love to run for Nike or something huge like that, but that's definitely a hard fish to catch. We'll keep trying though and see what happens.

As far as distance is concerned, would your distance be above the 10k?

Probably yes. Some people think I would be a good marathoner. I may go as far as marathons. I'd one day like to do an Ironman, just to say I did it, but I don't want to do Ironmans as my main event. I'll most likely do marathons, 10ks and half-marathons. That will be my limit.

You come out of high school as a multiple state champion and were probably looking at multiple colleges, why did you decide to stay in New England, when you probably could have went somewhere warmer? What kept you there?

I think what kept me here was the recruiting. Bruce was the best recruiter I had. He's very positive and very interested in what I was doing. By him being interested in what I was doing, I was interested in what his team was doing. That really caught my attention, the way he treats his athletes. I loved working with Bruce from day one, so I think he was probably the main reason that I decided to stay in New England. That and that I'm a big home body in school. I was originally going to go to UNH before I even thought about running. I was going to stay in New Hampshire to be very close to my family. I love my family to death and we do a lot together.

What are you hobbies aside from running?

I'm like any other college kid. I like going to the movies. I'm not a big partier. I'm a big fan of the beach, which is one thing...there are no beaches around here. I like to hang out with my friends. I have a good friend on the crew team and when she's racing I try to get over there and watch her on the river.

In your Flotrack video interview I saw the big tiger tattoo on your shoulder, how painful was that?

How painful? Give me a scale?

1-100.

It was up in the 70s. It was pretty painful.

Are you done for a little while? You've obviously got a good threshold for pain. Are you looking to your next tattoo?

I'm definitely thinking about my next tattoo. The tiger's my seventh tattoo, so I'm thinking about eight and nine at least. I don't know what I want or where I want to get it. It will take some planning before I actually get it. As far as pain thresholds go...I'd say I've got one of the highest.

That's what enables you to run with broken bones in your foot for two years and not know it.

(Laughs) Exactly. My coach, the other day, asks me, “do you have any nerves left in your body?”

What is the driving force inside of you that makes you want to compete?

Just the fact that I can. It's as simple as that. It makes me want to do it and I want to do it. I think it's also the support that I get from family and friends. They think it's great what I do and race for them, you know? I go out there and do it for them as much as I do it for myself.

You're in the 10k for Nationals, which is half the battle. What are your goals for that race?

I would like to run sub-33 if I can. Ideally, I'd like to win it. Everyone would like to win it. Why not? Why not go for it? If I have a shot at it, I'm going to go for it. Hopefully I'll be able to run under 33 minutes. My school record is 32:41, so I'd like to get that, but I won't beat myself up if I don't get it. I'd definitely like that though.

Can you give me a crazy running story?

Hmmm, I'm trying to think. Once when we were running out in San Francisco, there are a bunch of crazy people there. I think this is just a weird run-in. There was a guy running around with a shopping cart. In the shopping cart was a big sign that said something about Jesus loving us all or something. He was running around with no shirt on, he had a speedo on, but he had a big plastic butt, so it looked like he was naked from behind. That was definitely one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had running. I was like, “oh, dear”.

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#3	Anonymous Coward April 12 at 2:34pm GO BU! reply
#2	Anonymous Coward April 10 at 11:58am great interview reply
#1	Ryan From Flotrack April 10 at 8:17am andrea is pretty cool, if you haven't ever seen her here is her interview after the stanford invite 10k Andrea Walkonen, BU Get the Flash Player to see this player. reply