Interview with Professional Runner, Ann Gaffigan (Part I)

Posted June 4, 2007 at 12:08 PM by Bridget Sullivan

Section: Special Features, Interviews

Her Active Life is excited to share our two-part interview with professional steeplechaser, Ann Gaffigan.  In Part I, Ann discusses how she got into the steeple, who inspires her, her training, and her most recent and widely read blog entry from her site, steeplechics.com. In Part II, Ann offers some incredibly insightful remarks about eating disorders and body image, how she handles disappointment, her Olympic goals, and her personal life philosophy.

Ann graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2004, and quickly made her mark in the professional ranks by setting a then American record of 9:39 in the 3,000 m steeplechase at the 2004 US Olympic Trials. She followed that performance in 2005 by finishing 5th in the USA championships. Before becoming a professional runner, Ann was an Illinois state champion, an NCAA All-American, a Big 12 champion, and Nebraska’s female student-athlete of the year in 2004.  Under the direction of Nebraska coach Jay Dirksen, and with her sight firmly set on the 2008 Olympic Trials, she trains upwards of 100 miles per week.  The Beijing Olympics marks the official inauguration of the women’s steeplechase as an Olympic event.

In addition to her running accolades, Ann is a computer programmer/web systems developer with a degree in Computer Science, and she is webmaster for the popular site, steeplechics.com. Her Active Life (HAL): Before getting into your upcoming season and your goals for 2008, I am sure a lot of people wonder about this, and I am sure you get asked this question a lot, but how did you gravitate toward running the steeple – which is arguably one of the toughest races on the track?

Ann Gaffigan (AG): When I arrived at Nebraska my coach, Jay Dirksen, articulated that I was an all around athlete and he thought that I could do really well in it, and I said “okay.” It was pretty rocky at first.

HAL: Do you consider yourself a steeple pioneer? 

AG: I’ll consider myself that if I make the 2008 Olympic games.  There are a lot of women steeplers that deserve recognition, but they are very under the radar, like Lisa Nye, Elizabeth Jackson, and Karen Harvey.  Those women were really the pioneers.

HAL: Have those women been your inspiration for the steeplechase?

AG: Absolutely.  My freshman year I went out to the NCAA Championships to watch because I didn’t qualify, and I watched Elizabeth Jackson run – I think she ran 9:41 to win that year.  She was a pioneer for women as well.  She was the first woman to be a champion in the event, and I just couldn’t even fathom running a steeplechase that fast, let alone run a regular 3000 meter that fast.  To see other women do that was obviously an inspiration . .. .you know you can do it too.

HAL: Can you talk a little bit about your training? Do steeple chasers do anything unique for their training that other middle distance runners do not?  It actually looks like you do a lot of 10K and even marathon training.

AG: I think training is different for everyone.  I know some steeplechasers who train for the mile as well as the steeple.  I know some steeplers who train for the 5K as well as the steeple.  I am someone who is always kind of training for the higher distances.  The distance training gives me the strength that I need to run the steeple, which is definitely not a short event.  But we don’t ignore speedwork by any means.  I think you have to be pretty well rounded, and you have to get the mile speedwork – the mile lends speed, as well as the endurance you need for the 5K.

HAL: When you are getting ready for a competition, what does a week of training look like?

AG: It depends on the time of year, but usually during steeplechase season, on weeks off, I try to steeple once a week. So if I’m not competing one week, I will do a steeple chase workout, which means, for example, 5 x 1000 m with steeplechase barriers and the water pit for the last 800 meters.  So I will run a 300 of no barriers and then hurdle for the last two laps for each 1000.  For the other hard workout of the week, earlier in the season I will do a tempo run, and if it’s a little later in the season, I will do a track workout, like a ladder or 12 quarters.

HAL: Your mileage typically hits 100 during certain training periods, but when do you bring it down?

AG: I do high mileage in my base training phase, which is usually in the fall or winter for me. In the season, if I am healthy, I usually hold it around 70 miles per week and then during the end of the season I really taper.

HAL: Do you do any form of cross training?  Do you lift weights, or is that more in the off-season?

AG: I don’t actually ever lift weights, but I do core exercises and hurdle drills, which are basically strengthening exercises with your own body weight.  We use medicine balls and do a lot of sit-ups and push-ups and variations of those.  A lot of the hurdle drills involve squatting and hip flexor strength and hip flexor flexibility. 

HAL: Have you always been into cross training?  Was there a huge transition in your routine from high school to college and then from college to the professional level?

AG: When I was in high school, I just tried to do everything I could get my hands on. I would go swimming and then lift weights – there wasn’t a set plan for it.  When I was in college, we started to do core exercises and hurdle drills consistently with a specific purpose.  That was when I really got into that body of work and core training specifically for distance runners. I think this training really helps you keep your form when you’re tired and when you’re at the end of your race.  We have seen that with a lot of people from the Nebraska team that I help coach.  We’ve seen them be able to finish better.  A lot of times people get to the end of a race and their form really falls apart because they’re working hard and they’re tired – all that does is slow you down and it uses extra energy so we’ve really seen people be able to finish stronger in races because their core strength is there and they can keep their form when they’re tired.

HAL: in your most recent blog entry, you wrote about your disappointing race at the Drake relays, and about an unsolicited comment from a random fan.  As a professional runner, how do you handle the disappointment, and how do you handle outside comments from people who think that training more or less or eating more or less will improve your overall performance?

AG: I consider myself to be pretty good at handling disappointment because I’ve been inconsistent over my own career as a runner. I’ll have a great race or a great season and then come back the next season and won’t be running up to my potential.  I try to trust myself and know that I will get back up there eventually, but this year has really tested that because I haven’t PR’d since 2004, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone 3 years without having at least one really good season, even though the other seasons might have been below my expectations.  So this season is definitely testing that; it’s been more disappointment than I’ve ever experienced, at least the length of time that has passed since I’ve succeeded.

A lot of people might think that when you are a professional, and if you do everything right, then everything will go the right way, and I think that’s not really true.  You can do everything right and you still only have so much control over everything that happens, unfortunately.  That’s the name of the game . . .

I had a disappointing finish at the USA championships last year and I was really down in the dumps about it.  I felt embarrassed; you feel like everyone watched your race and thought “oh my gosh, why did she run so terrible?” But, in reality, that’ not what happens, and when you look at the results from the national meet, you’ll see every year some big name that had a terrible performance, and who knows why . . . but the point is that it happens to everyone.

Regarding the comments from other people, I think most people are well intentioned and they really just want to help you, but I think it’s unnecessary for someone to give you detailed advice when they’ve only known you for a couple hours and they don’t know anything about your training.  For them to think that they can give you advice that is going to be better than the people that are close to you, like your coach, I think is a little much and a little intrusive.  And weight is an issue that is very sensitive to women especially (I cannot speak for men), and if someone needs to be talked to about weight, it needs to be by someone who they know and they trust . . . not by a stranger.

Photo: Courtesy Kathy Green and Steeplechics.com