Lindsey Anderson

At one point Anderson considered a move to the marathon, but will be competing in the steeplechase in Beijing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

July 14, 2008

Photo by Victah Sailer

Lindsey Anderson set a personal best of 9:30.75 in her second-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene and will join Anna Willard and Jenny Barringer on the American team in Beijing. Anderson had been third in the 2007 USA Championships in 9:40.74; while at Weber State in Utah, she was second to Willard at the 2007 NCAA Championships. She was tenth in her first round heat at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. She had set a collegiate steeplechase record of 9:39.95 earlier in 2007, but that mark has since been broken by Barringer. At the beginning of 2007, her steeplechase best was 10:20.91. The 5-foot-3-inch Anderson was seventh in the 5000 at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships after winning the 3000 and 5000 at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships. The former Lindsey Olson is married to Mark Anderson. In high school, she was a five-time Utah state cross country and track champion and a soccer and basketball player. She is coached by Paul Pilkington and lives in Ogen, Utah.

The U.S. is sending the same women's steeplechase trio to Beijing that it sent to the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. There was a lot of talk about Anna Willard and Jenny Barringer before the Trials. Did you have a strong sense that the three of you have separated yourself from the rest of the American steeplers or did you think there were other legitimate contenders also?
Lindsey Anderson:
I thought there were other legitimate contenders, and with about 800 to go, I actually expected there to be (Lisa) Galaviz and maybe Delilah (DiCrescenzo) and maybe (Carrie) Messner, those other girls who had run in the low 9:40s (or better, in Galaviz's case) to be right up there with us. I knew that Jenny and Anna would be up there and I knew that if I could stay with them with 600 to go, I'd be able to do it and pull through. I thought it would be a little bit tighter race than it ended up being.

At what point did you really feel it had come down to you three?
During the race, I feel that everyone's still there, almost. But my coach and my husband both said that with about 1200 to go, they were like "OK, she has to stay in this group and at this pace and she'll make it and be fine." They were saying that with three laps to go, it was looking really good. I honestly didn't know how far back they were (those behind the top three). I was just concentrating and just going.

Jenny Barringer had made some comments indicating that the final would be fast, and she controlled it and made sure it was. You'd run 9:39 last year and 9:41 earlier in 2008; did you figure you'd probably need a personal best, something close to 9:30?
Coach Pilkington and I thought it would take a 9:35 or faster to make the team, and we were planning on it being a fast race and set up on American-record pace, and we were hoping it would go out like that. We wanted that kind of race to give myself a shot so I wouldn't have to go out and lead it and try and push the pace. It turned out to be a perfect set-up, and it was great, and Jenny did a great job taking it out and going for that pace.

You ran 9:41 in May. Since you're no longer a collegian, that counts as "early" in your season. That must have made you feel really good at that point of the year.
It did. I felt really good about that race at Stanford. Maybe three weeks before that was my first steeple (at Mt. SAC). It wasn't very fast, I was just getting back into it. So to come back and run a 9:41, that close to my PR, was really good. Then I came back about a month later and ran another 9:41 (at Occidental College), but I was by myself and didn't really have any competition and just wasn't able to run faster than that. So that race was a little bit frustrating, but it was still good because I felt really good during the race and was pretty confident about being able to run faster at the Trials.

This is your first year of track not being a collegian. In 2007, you had the long season and kept going through the World Championships. This past fall and early winter, you didn't have the collegiate obligations you'd had in the past. Did you structure the year differently, taking some time off and building up more slowly?
Once I got back from Japan and the World Championships, I took a few weeks off and was able to rest. I didn't have to try and hurry and get back in shape for cross country. I was able to slowly build back up. I did a lot of base training in the fall and into the winter, a lot of tempo run stuff and things like that. I was able to not race a ton and just pick and choose where I wanted to run. It was so much better.

Did you do road races or indoor track races during that period?
I did do one indoor race. I ran a 3K. It wasn't very fast. I was getting back into speedwork. Then the week after that I came down with the flu and was sick for a week. So I wasn't able to run at all, and then I started running again and then I got sick again for another four days. In the early spring, I did an 8K in New York (in Central Park). That was a lot of fun; that was pretty much my first road race. I was coming in to get the experience and have fun with it and I really enjoyed it.

Do you think you'll try and do more road races in the future?
I would love to, and I might do a few this fall after I get back from the Olympics. I'll probably do some track races, too. We haven't really decided yet. We're going to focus on this now for a little bit and then we'll decide when I get home.

In your base period, how much is your mileage?
In most weeks, it would be between 83 and 85 miles. I'm still training with some of the girls who ran at Weber State and just graduated and will continue running—and also some of the guys on the team, and Coach Pilkington will come out and run a lot with us. I've definitely got some people to run with, which is nice.

Do you work on technique a lot or do you not find that necessary to do?
In the steeplechase, we work on technique, for sure, a lot. we'll start in the spring doing hurdles drills and hurdles stretches. Once indoor season ends, we'll start doing track workouts that incorporate hurdles. After distance runs, three days a week, we do hurdles drills. We run intervals once a week doing hurdles; the other times, we just run flat.

Most distance runners are just going straight ahead. In a lot of areas like the hip flexors, it's must more important for you to be loose and flexible than it is for the average distance runner.
Definitely. Going over 35 barriers a race, your legs get fatigued a lot faster, so it's important that you have those hip flexors and other muscles you wouldn't normally use—like the stabilizer muscles, when you're landing—it's important that they stay strong, and you start building them up even before you start doing the hurdles stuff.

You won a bunch of Utah state championships in high school. What led you to the choice of Weber State? Did you entertain the idea of going further away?
I thought about it. But I was dating my current husband at the time, and he was going to Weber, so that came into effect. That wasn't obviously the main reason, but it definitely helped. And I was either going to run or play soccer, and if played soccer, I would have to have gone out of state. And I didn't really necessarily want to go out of state because of Mark and because of other stuff, too. Some of the other colleges around here recruited me, but Weber State was the one that recruited me the most for running. And I liked the coaches and I liked the school.

How old were you when you started running?
Actually, not really until high school. Oh, I guess I could say that in middle school, we had to run the mile every other week or something, and I'd always beat the boys. That was my goal every time we ran. So that was kind of what got me started.

What are your immediate plans in terms of travel or other racing? Are you going to Europe or will you stay here?
Until I go to China, I'll stay here. I fly out on July 29, around that, and that only gives me about three weeks (Anderson was interviewed Thursday 7/10), and I wanted to get in some good solid training, and my coach feels the same. So we just decided to stay here so that I could get in three solid weeks before I have to travel again. If I didn't, I feel like I would lose a lot, traveling and then coming back and then having to go over again.

Will you do any kind of time trials?
When I went to Osaka (in 2007), I actually did a 1500-meter time trial while I was there, and Anna Willard came and did part of it with me. I possibly might do one of those when I get to the training camp over in China, or I might do one right before I go over.

Anna seemed quite happy that you'd made the Olympic team. You'd been roommates in Osaka, right?
We were. We spent about three weeks there. We got along really well, we had a lot of fun. We're definitely competitors once we get on the track—all three of us, me, Jenny, and Anna. But we all get along really well after, especially me and Anna, because we had that time in Osaka. She has a really fun sense of humor and we get along that way because I like to joke around. I probably am more serious than her in some aspects, but overall, she's just a really fun girl. She's got a really neat personality.

Before you started to do this well in the steeplechase, you were actually thinking about becoming a marathoner, weren't you?
Yes, I was. I actually had paid the Chicago Marathon entry fee before all this other stuff started happening for me and I was planning on racing there. But I probably won't move up for a little bit now. I'll stick it out with this (steeplechase) for a little bit now and see where it goes. But I know that I'll eventually move up to the marathon.

Well, considering the weather in Chicago last fall, you're lucky you missed that one.
I know. That was brutal.

Do you think racing in Osaka gave you a sense of how hard the steeple is on the global level, and what to anticipate in Beijing?
Definitely. It's going to be tough competition. Right now, I'm focusing on making the final and then I'll see what I can do in the final. It'll be some tough competition. When I was in Osaka, even though I knew the times people had been running, to be able to actually race against them and see how I matched up with them was really good for me. Even when I was racing, I was saying "man, I know I can race with these girls." And now I'm getting a second chance.

At the beginning of 2007, you were a 10:20 steeplechaser, and then that year you ran 9:39, and now, lo and behold, you're an Olympian. Eighteen months ago, this probably wasn't on your horizons, realistically, was it?
Right, it wasn't. It became real to me when I hit the Olympic standard, when I ran 9:46 at the beginning of my senior year (at Weber State). Then I was like "oh sweet, I get to go to the Olympic Trials." Then, if I continued to progress throughout that year, I was like "man, I could do well at the Olympic Trials." I made the team for Osaka and that gave me a lot of confidence. After that, the focus was on to the Olympic Trials, everything will be geared up for that. It's been so surreal to me, still.