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Fasil Bizuneh competes at the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder.

Interview with Fasil Bizuneh

Posted on February 23, 2007, Interview conducted February 17, 2007

By Dave Milner

Fasil Bizuneh has been on a tear lately. After setting PRs at 20k (59:43) and 5k (13:55) last fall, he clocked a 2:18:14 marathon debut at the 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. Bizuneh then bounced back with a PR and fifth-place finish at the NTELOS 8k (22:32) on November 11. One month later, he set what was then a three-minute PR of 1:02:59 at the Wellstone Dallas White Rock Half Marathon, winning the race in an exciting sprint finish and ending 2006 on a very high note.

Evidently, racing in Texas is something that suits the 26-year-old. Just a month later, returning to the Lone Star State for the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, he clocked another big PR, finishing second in 1:02:20 and beating out Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi in a sprint finish. Bizuneh’s performance earned him $6000 and a spot on the team that will represent the U.S. at the IAAF World Road Running Championships in Italy in October.

On February 10, Bizuneh earned a spot on the U.S. team for next month's IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya by virtue of his seventh place finish at the USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder.

Bizuneh grew up in Indianapolis and ran collegiately for Arizona State University, where he was a four-time All-American and three-time Pac-10 runner-up. As an ASU frosh, he was the top U.S. finisher at the 1999 IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships, placing 24th. As a post-collegiate runner, he started out with the [now defunct] Big Sur Distance Project in California, but his career has seen a big upswing since his relocation to Bristol, Tennessee in the summer of 2006 to train under coach Scott Simmons. Dave Milner caught up with Bizuneh in Flagstaff, Arizona a week after the USA Cross Country Championships.

First of all, congratulations on making the team for Mombasa. I know it wasn't the finishing place you were shooting for, but you must excited to making the trip to Kenya.
Definitely. I'm very excited to be making a return to the World Cross Country Championships after an eight-year gap.

It looks like meet director Pete Julian and his crew put on quite an event in Boulder and really put cross country in the sporting spotlight, even if only briefly.
Yeah, I can't say enough about the great job that Pete did with the event. I think that the work he put in for the past two years really showed on race day. He has set a new standard for the US Cross Country nationals, and it will continue to benefit athletes who participate in the national meet for years to come.

You spent the three weeks before the race in Boulder, and also tuned up with a win at the 'The Best Cross Country Race on the Planet' (which doubled as the snowiest meet on Earth) two weeks earlier in south Boulder, a race you won comfortably. Tell us about that.
There were supposed to be some other bigger names that were going to run in that meet, like Adam Goucher, but they decided not to run because of the snow. I was hoping for it to be a little more competitive, but with all these guys who dropped out, I figured I'd run by myself most of the way. I stuck around [with the pack], running very conservatively for the first lap, and then I went after it. It was a good event that was also well organized by Pete Julian. There was no way I was going to skip the race just because of the snow.

The early forecast for February 10th called for more snow again, so I figured those guys were missing out by not running that race, but the snow melted and it ended up just being muddy at nationals.

Having spent three weeks in Boulder and two months in Flagstaff prior to that, what were the biggest differences you noticed, in terms of the elite running community in each place, and between the cities in general?
In Flagstaff, it's a smaller, cozier atmosphere. Less traffic, more trails, fewer professional runners [on a permanent basis]. Because of the [High Altitude Training] Center [directed by Dr. Jack Daniels], pro runners will pass though for a month or two, but then move on.

I didn't get to see any of the trails in Boulder because they were snowed over. I mostly parked at Coot Lake and ran on the dirt-packed roads around the Boulder Reservoir. And [I did] some of my shorter second runs [of the day] on the Boulder Creek Path, which is a concrete path running parallel to Pearl Street , near the CU campus.

Did you hook up with Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Culpepper, or the Torres brothers for any runs?
I was living with Jorge in the 'Fight Club,' so I ran with him a lot, and would go to the track at the same time as he did.

The 'Fight Club?'
It's the name of the house that he and his brother bought while they were still in school. When they bought it, it was pretty beat up—the roof leaked when it rained. It was similar to the house in the movie Fight Club. They rebuilt on the property and now the house is pretty nice. Anyway, I ran with him a lot and would go to the track at the same time as him. I did one long run with the whole Boulder [Performance] Training Group the day after the 'Best Cross Country' race.

Talk about your race at nationals briefly. You ran with Dathan Ritzenhein, Adam Goucher, and Jorge Torres through the first kilometer (2:51) and then let Ritzenhein go early on and ran with Alan Culpepper and Torres for the next 3k, but then seemed to go through a particularly bad patch on the third loop. Was something wrong?
I felt terrible. I think going out in 2:51 put me in to oxygen debt and I was never really able to get my legs underneath me after that. Jack [Daniels] says that running evenly or negative splitting is the best way to race at altitude. But I wanted to take a shot at winning, so I think I did what I had to. I would definitely say that I went out too fast, though, and I ran below my potential because of that. The last 25 minutes were very painful. I felt much worse after this race than after both of my 1:02 half marathons

But then you more or less maintained the same pace.
Yeah, I just had to gut it out to make the team. I think in general, the runners ahead of me were also paying the price for the fast early pace, except Culpepper.

Of the other runners that qualified for the team, one was James Carney, with whom it looks like you had a real dog fight, one was Zach Sabatino (a teammate of yours in Belfast in 1999) and another was Michael Spence (who went from 10th to fifth on the last 2k loop). Did these guys, in particular Sabatino and Spence, surprise you?
I trained with Carney in Monterey and knew that he's very talented. He was sixth in the 2004 Olympic Trials 10,000 and he was fifth at the [Gate] River Run last year, but he tore his plantar [fascia] during a track workout shortly thereafter and is just now getting going again. I wasn't familiar with Sabatino or Spence, but Spence was rolling. I saw some pictures where he was around 16th at halfway. He had an impressive run.

How did you cope with 'Jonesy's Surprise,' the pit that had many runners on all fours and sucked off James Carney's shoe on the last lap?
I just slowed down and checked my footing each time so I didn't fall. I just came out of it a little more tired each time.

The last time you ran in the World Cross Country Championships in Belfast in 1999, you finished 24th in the junior race. Beating that finishing position in the senior race would seem like a lofty, but attainable goal for you, based on your recent form. Do you have a goal in mind yet for that race, or are you going into it with an open mind?
Yeah, I would consider top 20 at Worlds a pretty successful trip. I would be real happy with that.

Will you run in the NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean) Championships in Orlando on March 3rd, or will you stay in Flagstaff to train?
Yeah, I'm running NACACs. It will be a good altitude break before the Jacksonville River Run [15K] as well. In between, I will be flying up to Charlotte where my brother lives, getting a rental car, and heading up to Bristol to clear out my room in the apartment.

You are slated to run your second marathon, in London, just four weeks after the World Cross Country Championships. The 2006 USA Cross Country champion, Ryan Hall, skipped the US Nationals meet last week since he and his coach thought the Mombasa would interfere with his marathon preparation. Is that not a concern of yours?
No, I think it's plenty of time to recover. I'm not worried. I'm not afraid to race a lot, and Coach Simmons and I believe that these races fit well into my buildup for London.

I know that Coach Simmons is not a big fan of tapering for races that are stepping stones toward a major race. But given the travel, time difference, and total contrast in climate, will you have a down week before the race in Mombasa? And what kind of mileage will you run in the four weeks between Mombasa and London?
Well I hit 120 last week, and will keep it there through the NACAC cross country race. I'll drop down to 105 the week of [the USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville], go back up to 120, and then drop to 100 the week of Mombasa. The three weeks after Mombasa will probably be 120-mile weeks, but then I'll cut it right back the week of the London Marathon, probably getting 85 miles that week, including the race.

The national team members' itinerary will involve a lengthy medical preparation, a very long flight (average flight time is 21 hours from LA, 18 hours from New York) and long airport layovers. And then, after it's all over, you'll get back on the jet for another 20-hour journey home. Have you and Coach Simmons pondered the idea of staying in Europe (London is two hours behind Nairobi)?
No, we haven't considered that. I was going to come back to Flagstaff for a week, go down to LA for two weeks, and fly out to London the Sunday before the race.

Speaking of London, you are certainly jumping in at the deep end in your second marathon. There are currently 10 sub-2:08 guys entered in the race, including Haile Gebrselassie, world record holder Paul Tergat, Olympic champion Stefano Baldini, Morocco’s double world champion Jaouad Gharib, and the reigning London champion, Felix Limo of Kenya. It's one of the highest quality men’s fields ever assembled for a major city marathon. Are you a little nervous to be toeing the line with that kind of field?
I am not intimidated by this field, nor do I plan to race them. I am going to London because it's a fast course with good weather. I also think there will be slower pace groups. I think that I'm prepared to be around 65 minutes at halfway.

Your training partner Fernando Cabada clocked 2:12:47 in his debut in December. Is that a time goal you have in mind, or do you think you can go faster?
My half marathon in Houston certainly points to a faster marathon, but I think my main issue will be fuel, getting my fluids and gel in. I didn't do a very good job with fluids in Twin Cities, but I also think I'm a different athlete now.

At Twin Cities, you started cramping due to what you thought was dehydration. Do you think you have addressed your fluids concerns now?
I'm getting better at drinking on the run. At Twin Cities, I was afraid of a) losing time, and b) upsetting my stomach, and I didn't drink enough early on. In a marathon you really need to start drinking way before you feel thirsty. In Fukuoka, Fernando took a drink every 5k, and he did great. I'll be drinking more, earlier on in London.

Last week, I did a 21-mile run at 5:44 pace, at 7,300 feet, with Ryan Shay and Brandon Leslie, drinking every three miles. I've been using PowerBar Endurance Sport Drink in training and it has been working really well with my stomach, which, I guess, is pretty sensitive. I definitely plan on using it in London. It's pretty cool, because it comes in single-serving powder packets that you can mix with 20 ounces of water. It's very convenient because you can just dump it into a water bottle and shake.

I find it ironic that the running community in Boulder sold USATF on the fact that the USA cross country trials should be held there, since that is where the best cross country runners in the US are, yet the top four finishers (Alan Culpepper, Adam Goucher, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Jorge Torres), all of whom have Boulder connections, are skipping World Cross because it's in East Africa. But that's where the best cross country runners in the world are. What are your thoughts on this?
I think that for me, the World Cross Country Championships is a good preparation for the outdoor track season or a spring marathon, but each athlete is entitled to come to a decision with their coach about what the best plan is for them. But it's unfortunate that we will not be putting forth our best possible team. At the same time, it will give some up-and-coming runners a shot at some valuable international experience.

Although the meet is being held at a resort, and you are likely to be resting and concentrating on your race rather than cruising around downtown Mombasa, are you at all concerned about your safety and health in Mombasa?
No, I'm not too worried. My mom always says, 'If something bad is going to happen, death will come to your door.' You can't always protect against something bad happening if you want to live life to the fullest.

What kind of shots are you required to have before you go to Kenya?
There are quite a few shots: hepatitis A and B, polio, tetanus, yellow fever, and some others. They gave us an information packet in team processing after the race. But I have a lot of the vaccinations already from when I went to Ethiopia in 2000. I went with my family to visit relatives for about three weeks in the summer of 2000.

Although, superficially, the Kenyans would appear to have an advantage with the race being held on their doorstep, most of the top Kenyan runners have never been at sea level outside of Europe and North America. Do you think America's top runners are skipping this because they think they can't run with the Africans in Africa, or because of a concern over the required shots, travel time, and logistics?
Probably more the latter issue.

You parents are Ethiopian. Were you born there?
No, I was actually born in Frankfurt, Germany, where my parents lived for one year before moving to the States.

Do you know yet who else is on the men's team for Mombasa?
At this point, I think that it is Spence, Sabatino, me, [Andrew] Carlson, [Matt] Gabrielson, [Celedonio] Rodriguez, and [Ryan] Shay.

We're sorry to hear you're leaving Tennessee to relocate to Flagstaff, but you've inflicted enough damage on the road race records and rankings. What prompted the decision to move? Did the NASCAR fans in Bristol drive you nuts?
No, Bristol was a good step in the right direction for my running career in terms of connecting with [Coach Scott Simmons]. But now that Scott and I have gotten to know each other much better, he can coach me over the phone and via e-mail pretty well.

I've really responded well to the the altitude stimulus, and Flagstaff won me over in many ways. The High Altitude Training Center is able to offer me some funding. There are world-class training partners in and out of here all the time. And If the weather is bad, Sedona is only 40 minutes south, 30 degrees warmer, and more than 3,000 feet lower. And, finally, Phoenix, where a lot of my friends from college are, is only two hours away. Two of them actually flew out to Boulder just to watch me race last weekend. There are two awesome Ethiopian restaurants in Phoenix as well, which you can not find in Bristol.

Is Coach Simmons' 'diamond' approach to training (which involves simultaneous progressions of different training types, with little tapering) vastly different from the philosophy espoused by your previous coach, Bob Sevene, while you were with the Big Sur Distance Project?
Yes, it's vastly different than anything I've ever done before. It seems to be working very well for me as is reflected by my dramatic improvement over the past year. It's definitely a case of working smarter and not harder, because I felt like I was working pretty hard the past three years with mediocre results.

Dr. Jack Daniels is a great resource for you there in Flagstaff. Is he someone you will bounce ideas off?
Yes. I'm in his office three or four times a week just hanging out. He has such a wealth of knowledge and experience with coaching and dealing with athletes.

Although you racked up some good prize money in the last four months of 2006 and won $6,000 in Houston. Signing a shoe contract with New Balance in January should provide some financial stability and allow you to race more sparingly on the roads this summer and concentrate on lowering your track PRs. Is that the plan post-London?
Yeah, I think I can lower my current PRs substantially.

How did the deal with New Balance come about?
My agent, Chris Layne of Total Sports, already had a relationship with New Balance and he was able to convince them to take a chance on me in July of 2006 with some gear. After some good performances, they decided to get behind me in a more formal manner. I really enjoy training and racing in their gear. I mostly train in the New Balance 825s. It's a lightweight trainer with a single piece upper.

Do you plan on running the 10,000 at the USA Championships in June?
I do plan on running the U.S. track championships in June, especially because they are in Indianapolis, where I grew up and many of my friends and family still live. I have the 'B' standard from last year, but I plan on running much faster over 10k at the Mt. SAC Relays nine days before the London Marathon.

The 'B' qualifying time for 10,000m for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan this summer is 28:06 (the 'A' standard is 27:49). Are breaking 28:00 and stamping your ticket for Osaka part of your goals for the summer?
I think the first priority for me is to be competitive at the US championships. If I'm good enough to be top three in Indy, I shouldn't have a problem running 27:49.

What about running the marathon in Osaka?
I have no plans to run the World Championships marathon in Osaka. After London, my next marathon will be the US Olympic Team Trials in November in New York City.

Going back to your last visit to East Africa, did you train with any elite Ethiopians in Addis, or were you just visiting relatives and being a tourist?
I didn't see any elite Ethiopian distance runners. It seemed that when I was running, I had even more people staring at me like 'What are you doing?' than I do here in the states.

Well, in Mombasa I'm sure you'll have a more appreciative audience, unless you're beating the locals. Good luck.
Yes, I'm sure I will. I'm excited to take on the world's best runners on their home turf. I'm sure it'll be a tough race—the World Cross Country Championships always is—but I think it will be a valuable learning experience too. Thanks.