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Current Public News
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| Carly Graytock: True Grit |
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| 3/29/2008 |
When she toes the line in Boston on April 20th, Carly Graytock will be competing in her second Olympic Trials, something that she does not take for granted. After having to drop out of the 2004 Olympic Trials in St. Louis, Graytock was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms, a potentially fatal condition.
With that in her past, she has posted impressive results at the Boston Marathon, placing third and fourth in 2005 and 2006 respectively. In fact, she qualified for the 2008 USA Olympic Team Trials Women's Marathon at the 2006 Boston Marathon with a personal best time of 2:43:19.
Graytock lives in Cambridge, MA with her longtime boyfriend, Terrance Shea, who recently represented the B.A.A. at the U.S.A. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in New York City. Graytock trains in Cambridge, typically along sections of the 2008 Olympic Trials course, giving her a true home course advantage.
She recently shared her thoughts on traing, racing, and competing in the Olympic Trials:
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Q: I guess we can start with the basics - age, occupation, residence and your significant honors and awards.
A: I am 29 years old and I live in Cambridge with my boyfriend Terrance Shea, who also runs for the B.A.A. I currently work full-time at ImmunoGen, Inc. in the Analytical and Pharmaceutical Sciences department, but as of April 15th I will be a full-time student at Cortiva Muscular Therapy Institute where I will be enrolled in a 12 month program for massage therapy.
While in high school (Forest City Regional, PA), I was PIAA All-State in cross country and track. As an undergraduate I ran cross country and track for Bucknell University. I was a member of the first women’s team to qualify for the NCAA cross country championships, which is still one of my fondest running memories. I also made the All-Patriot League team several times in cross country and track (5k and 10k) and I won three Patriot League 10k championships as well.
Post-collegiately, my most significant running accomplishments probably would be qualifying twice for the Olympic marathon trials and finishing among the top 20 women at the Boston Marathon in 2005 and 2006. I once came very close to a USATF-NE title in the outdoor 5k in 2002, but I got out-kicked at the line by a sneaky Kasie Enman, who was not running for the BAA at the time.
Q: How long have you been running competitively and when/where did you get started?
A: I started running competitively when I was 13. Up until that point I wasn’t a conventional athlete. I was a dancer, which I did for 15 years, and a gymnast. I was involved with dancing and gymnastics through clubs outside of my school. I started running because I wanted to be part of a school team and since I was terrible at every other sport (I scored four total points in my two years on the junior high basketball team and I had two hits and a lot of strike outs in the two years I played Little League baseball), I decided to try cross country in 8th grade.
Q: Did you have immediate success or did you have a breakthrough race that convinced you to continue to pursue the sport?
A: The distance we raced in 8th grade was only 2 miles. I did ok my first year, but nothing spectacular. I ended up breaking my foot in a freak hide-and-seek accident during track season that same year and thought I was done with running. However, the following year I was able to run on the varsity XC team and the distance was upped to 5k. I figured I’d give it one more try to see if I had any luck with a longer distance. To my surprise, I had a breakthrough my first race of freshman year. I attribute that largely to putting in summer mileage, at the encouragement of my then coach Ed Osburn. I’ve had several other breakthroughs along the way that have kept me in the sport and each time I attribute it to a long period of putting in mileage and hard work.
Q: Were you recruited to run in college?
I was and for the longest time I thought I wanted to go Villanova or Stanford since they had such strong women’s teams and they also had very good academics. I really wanted to go somewhere that had an excellent academic program and also would give me the opportunity to develop as a runner and be part of a competitive team. My first official college visit was to Bucknell and I instantly fell in love with it, both from an academic standpoint, but also from an athletic one. Art Gulden was the coach at the time and he was one of the few college coaches that I felt believed in me and wanted to see me get the most out of my potential. He also fostered the mentality of running as a team and working together, which I really liked. After that, any other school I visited or looked into had to measure up to the standard that Bucknell set.
Q: How did you end up in Boston/New England after college and why did you decide to join the B.A.A.?
A: My first year out of undergrad was spent in Lawrence, KS. I had enrolled in a Ph.D. program in chemistry at the University of Kansas and planned to be there for ~5 years to complete my degree. For a while I was ok with scaling back on competitive running, but that didn’t last too long. I trained by myself for several months and somewhere in that time I started dating Terry, who was living in Boston. He offered to coach me long-distance for my first half marathon. During this time I grew disgruntled with the midwest in general and the Ph.D. program in particular. I also found that I was enjoying training for a longer distance. I ended up leaving Kansas at the end of my first year and eventually relocated to Boston in the fall of 2001.
There were several reasons I moved to the area. One was Terry, of course, but the others included Boston/Cambridge being a hub for Biotech, the industry I wanted to work in, and the other was that Boston was one of the few places at the time that had a good post-collegiate running scene. Terry was already a member of the B.A.A. I met with Jeff and some of the women on the team and it seemed like a great opportunity for training – much better than running by myself at 5am every day in Kansas.
I left Boston and the B.A.A. for two years (October ’03-December’05) to join the Hanson’s-Brooks Distance Project (now powered by Saturn). It was a great opportunity and I learned a lot about marathon training from my experience out there, in addition to meeting some great people. Being away from the east coast, and Terry, took its toll on me and I eventually came back to Boston and asked Mike and Jeff if I could rejoin the B.A.A. I took a lot of what I learned in Michigan with me and I still apply it to my training today.
Q: How is the Trials different from other races?
A: To be honest, I’m approaching the trials as I would any other marathon. I don’t like to put too much pressure on any one race. I’ve had a few setbacks over the past few years so I wasn’t as fit as I would like to be going into the preparation for this marathon. I’ve been taking things one week at a time.
Currently, I’m primarily just pool running because I sustained a compound injury at the beginning of March. I’m putting in the work and hoping I’ll be able to represent the B.A.A. well when the trials roll around. I ran in the last marathon trials, but I had to drop out around 18 miles because of some health problems. I was determined to make the next trials and to be ready to run well when they came around again. It’s a little frustrating that I’m not quite healthy as the trials approach again, but I’m trying to work with it and hope I can get to the line healthy and ready to compete as best as my fitness will allow.
Q: How have you maintained your focus on the Trials since qualifying?
A: I had different training segments between my qualifier in 2006 and now. Each segment had its focus, but the big picture was always pointing towards the trials. In between injuries I’ve been able to mix things up a bit with one other marathon (Chevron Houston, 2007), some mountain races, and some shorter distances (10k-20k). I don’t think I’m well suited for doing one marathon after another so I tend to throw in a segment every now and then that makes me focus on sharpening what little leg speed I have.
Q: How have you been able to stay healthy?
A: As I’ve alluded to in some of the previous answers, I haven’t been too lucky with staying healthy for too long lately. Pretty much since the summer of 2006 I’ve been off-and-on injured or sick. This is definitely the longest stretch I’ve ever had with setbacks. However, I have a hard time giving up. When I’ve been injured I’ve been adamant about maintaining fitness with cross-training, primarily pool running. When I’ve been able to stay healthy I try to be on top of the little things like stretching, stability and strengthening exercises, massage, ice baths, refueling properly, and resting.
I have a core group of people that have helped me with my injuries along the way and I feel very indebted to them for how much they have helped me hold together my mangled body: Tom Michaud (chiropractor and wunder-doctor), Maureen Bruno Roy (massage therapist), Brian Fullem (podiatrist), William Brady (ART), Garth Savage (PT), and Jen Evans (acupuncture).
My experiences with injuries and rehab has been the driving force behind my enrolling in massage therapy school. I’ve learned a lot about the body and injuries through my own experiences and through the knowledge of the medical professionals I work with. I’ve been inspired by those that have been able to help me along the way, particularly when I’ve been at low-points in my running. I want to be able to give back by helping other frustrated and injured athletes who have been or might one day be in a similar situation to mine. I think it makes a big difference when you work with a doctor or therapist who is/was an athlete or who at least works with athletes on a regular basis and understands how their bodies differ from most sedentary folks.
Q: How do you balance work and running?
A: To quote Terry, “by giving up a social life”.
I am fortunate to have a job that allows me flexible work hours and a lot of independent projects. I can set my own schedule most days and since I both live and work in Cambridge, and I have a shower at work, I can run as my commute. This saves a lot of time and stress and allows me to balance high mileage with 40 hour work weeks. (I’ll have to come up with another schedule in the next few weeks though because ImmunoGen is moving to Waltham and I’ll be working there part of the week and going to school part of the week.)
I also am able to schedule most of my “maintenance” appointments (with Michaud and Maureen) in the evenings after work. I find that as long as I’m good about time management and getting things done efficiently, then I am able to balance things rather well. I think I’m one of those people that functions better when balancing several things at once.
Q: What are your goals for the race?
A: Well, right now the primary goal is to get to the starting line healthy. After that, I’m going to try and compete as well as I can. Hopefully there will be a group of women running around the same pace as I am and we can work together. I’m not putting any strict time goals on this race since I will not know exactly where my fitness stands. I just really want to run by effort and place as well as I can in the race.
Q: How much training have you been able to do on the Trials course?
A: With running into work most weekdays, I’ve been on the Cambridge part of the course countless times over the past two years. It’s a pretty common route for me. I was also able to do the full course with tour-guide Terry and Kate O’Neill when she came to preview the course. Up until I got injured, I was incorporating the course into some long runs and I had done some workouts on the stretch between Mass Ave and the Royal Sonesta on the Cambridge side of the river.
Q: What do you think of it? Does the course suit your running strengths/style?
A: I think it’s a great spectator course and I think it might lend itself to fast times as long as the wind isn’t too bad. The biggest challenge may come from crossing the Mass Ave bridge multiple times. No matter how nice the weather is, it almost always seems like you’re running in a wind tunnel when you run over that bridge.
I don’t think it’s the best course for my personal strengths. For some reason I tend to do better on more challenging courses, when it’s a more rolling course or when there are hills in the middle of it (i.e. miles 16-21 of Boston). That said, I think the familiar setting of a place where I love to run, especially along Memorial Drive, will serve as a great motivating factor.
Q: Do you have a race strategy mapped-out?
A: Not necessarily. Since my build up has been curtailed by a recent ankle and back injury, I’ve had to revamp my training. I’ve been in the pool for about three weeks now and I’m trying my hardest to make my efforts comparable to marathon training. This is definitely the most experimental marathon prep I’ve ever done.
Right now I’m not entirely sure what a projected marathon pace would be for me. Given that, if I’m able to run the race I’m going to do what I can with what fitness I have. As I said above, I’ll run by effort and hope I have other women running a similar pace that I will be able to work with.
Q: Do you have any pre-race rituals that you will follow?
A: Immediately before a race the one “ritual” I have is nothing more than a Starbucks venti Americano. It’s not for luck, it’s purely for the caffeine.
Prior to my marathons, I do a caffeine taper in the final two weeks leading up to the race. I don’t need it as much at that point since my training is reduced some, but I also find it makes the effects of caffeine on race day more noticeable. Terry mentioned that he does this in his pre-trials interview (reference 10/19/07 on the BAA running club webpage). He totally stole the idea from me.
Q: What are your post-trials running plans?
A: First and foremost the priority will be to take a complete mental and physical recovery. After that I will assess where my fitness is and address any lingering injury issues. Then I’ll start thinking about some shorter races for the summer. I do have one race in the books, provided I’m healthy. I just signed up for Mt. Washington and I look forward to improving on my first race there in 2006. It’s also looking like we might have a strong women’s team going so it would be pretty cool if we could take the team title. Other than that, I will play things by ear and hope that I can finally get a solid year of healthy training in once the trials are over.
Q: What is your favorite distance to race?
A: I like the marathon because I do think I’m better suited for the longer distances, but I might like the half marathon a little bit better. It’s a good balance of strength and speed and when I’ve trained specifically for that distance I’ve really enjoyed competing in the event.
Q: Do you have a favorite race (or races) that you enjoy competing in?
A: It would probably be the Boston marathon. One of my most favorite race experiences was my first Boston marathon in 2005. Prior to that, I had only been a spectator of the event. I had trained on the course when I lived here from ‘01-‘03 and had heard so much hype about running Boston. It wasn’t until I ran it for the first time that I could truly appreciate what it was that everyone talked so excitedly about. There was so much energy from the spectators and familiarity with a course I trained on often. It was such a positive experience both in terms of enjoyment of the race and in how I performed.
Boston has now also become a family event. My father has run Boston three times and he will be running it this year as well. And now my brother Jesse will be running it for the first time. It’s really fun to have that common experience with my family. I’m hoping to eventually rope my other brother, Adam, into training for a marathon with the eventual goal of qualifying for Boston.
Q: Do you have any runners that you particularly admire?
A: I have been inspired by so many runners who I have crossed paths with over the years. The biggest inspiration is Terry. He is the most level-headed and knowledgeable runner I know. He is the biggest proponent for using the enormous New England running community to train together as a whole. And I think quite a few runners have benefited from this.
I’m also inspired by quite a few of my current teammates. This past year has presented many of them with obstacles – be it health, family, or career. Each one of them has shown tremendous strength and tenacity in handling and overcoming these obstacles. Some of us are scattered throughout the New England area, yet we stay in contact and give each other a resource to vent to or a note of encouragement when needed.
One other runner that I highly admire is my old training mate, Dot McMahan, a member of Hanson’s-Brooks. She came into that program as a 1:21 half marathoner (no marathon) and has progressed nicely over the past three years to a 1:13 half and 2:43 marathon, though I’m sure she’ll run a lot faster at the trials. She is one of the fiercest competitors I know and she works her butt off constantly. It’s been quite inspiring to watch her progression over the years.
Q: What would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment in the sport thus far?
A; I guess I would say completing the 2005 Boston Marathon. That was a big milestone for me. It was exactly a year after a DVT (Deep Venous Thrombus) in my calf and PEs (pulmonary embolisms) in my lungs – a time that led me to believe I may never run competitively again, let alone a marathon. I remember enjoying every step of that race because I felt like my body was finally back to normal and I was getting the most out of it. I was truly enjoying running again. I ended up running a then PR and finished in the top 15. It was quite satisfying to make the awards stand at such a well-respected marathon and it served as a major comeback for me.
Q: What is your advice to other marathoners?
A: There are probably two major points that have stuck with me after several years of high-mileage marathon training. First, improvements and results aren’t always seen immediately. You can have an awesome segment of training and still not run any faster than your current PR’s, but that doesn’t mean your training is all for naught. Sometimes it takes a few cycles of mileage and workouts before you really can see improvements. And sometimes it may seem like you plateau, but then all of a sudden you have this huge breakthrough without really having changed things too much. As hard as it may be, it really is important to be patient and keep plugging away at it. Barring injury or any major setback, continued work usually yields good results. Sometimes it just takes years to get there.
The second thing is to never take running for granted. I’ve had a few things come up in the past four years that have derailed my training and put me in a situation where I wasn’t sure about my future as a competitive runner. When things are going well and you have one success after another it’s very easy to think you’re invincible and to take the simple act of running for granted. I think it’s important to appreciate being able to get out there and put one foot in front of the other when you can. I really try to keep this in mind particularly during a stretch where I might not be hitting workouts the way I want to or not racing as well as I’d like. I’ve spent way too much time in the pool the past several years, so when I can get on solid ground and can run pain-free I make sure to mentally note the enjoyment I get from running. And then I try to keep that in mind as I start ramping up the intensity and mileage. It’s a good thing to hold on to later on when I’m buried under training fatigue and might be lacking motivation.
Q: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
A: I want to thank the B.A.A. for the amazing support over the past several years. This club was my first exposure to post-collegiate group training and it segued well into my time with Hanson’s-Brooks. I am very thankful that I was welcomed back into the club when I came back to the area two years ago. There was no question who I wanted to run for when I came back. I think Mike, Jeff, and Suzanne all do a wonderful job helping the hundreds of runners who make up the club.
I also need to thank the continued support of the Bucknell running alumni network and I also want to thank Kevin and Keith Hanson for giving me the opportunity to train with the team for a couple of years. The training knowledge I gained there has been one of the biggest factors in shaping me as a marathoner.
Finally, I have to thank Terry for all of the effort he has put into my training the past seven years. He was the main source of encouragement with regards to me becoming a marathoner. I’ve learned a lot from him and continually feel grateful for his help and guidance.
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