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Anna Willard competes for Michigan at the 2007 Penn Relays. (Photo by Tim O'Dowd - www.irishrunner.com)

Interview with Anna Willard

Posted on May 1, 2007, Interview conducted April 30, 2007

By Madeleine Marecki

Perhaps the most impressive performances produced at the 113th Penn Relays, held April 26-28, was that of the Michigan women's collegiate record-breaking 4x1,500 meter and 4x800 meter Championship of America relay victories. The team of Anna Willard, Katie Erdman, Geena Gall, and Nicole Edwards crushed the competition and the former collegiate records in each event, winning Thursday's 6,000 meter relay in a time of 17:15.62, besting the 17-year-old national mark of 17:18.10 set by Villanova. Two days later, the four dominated again, this time breaking the 23-year-old collegiate record set by the University of Tennessee in the 3,200 meter relay. Michigan crossed the line in 8:18.78, smashing the former record of 8:20.22.

Graduate student Anna Willard was a huge part of these two performances. Willard, a former standout at Brown University, mustered the fastest split in the 4x1,500 meter relay, running a 4:13.9. She then ran a 2:04 leg in the 4x800 meter relay, helping propel her team to another triumph. For her contributions, Willard was named the female relay athlete of the meet.

Initially, Willard might have been somewhat of an unknown to those unfamiliar with her accomplishments. However, the writing was on the wall for Willard's breakout performances. As a senior at Brown, the Greenwood, Maine native captured 10 school records, six of which were in individual events. She also earned All-American honors in the distance medley relay during the 2006 indoor track season and the 3,000 meter steeplechase during the 2006 outdoor season, when she placed sixth at the NCAA Championships in a time of 10:06.83. With just one season of eligibility remaining, Willard chose to don the Maize and Blue uniform for her final outdoor track campaign.

Congratulations on your team's record-breaking performances in the Penn Relays. Was setting the collegiate record the primary goal for the team?
Yeah, definitely. That was the number one goal. The win obviously would come as well. That was our goal and it's been our goal for a couple of months. We've been talking about it since indoor track. It's an inside joke like we talked about in that press conference, 'eyes on the prize.' We have fun with each other during practice. Nicole [Edwards] would always say to me after a workout, 'Hey Anna, are you keeping your eyes on the prize?' It's kind of silly but this is a big deal, especially for the girls at Michigan because they haven't had an opportunity to go to Penn and they've been begging Coach Mike [McGuire] to go for years. It's Katie Erdman's senior year. She's been waiting for five years for this. It was a really big deal for them. I felt like in a lot of ways I was showing them the ropes, so that was kind of fun. I was feeling like a veteran there.

You were named the female relay athlete of the meet. Can you talk about what the honor means to you?
I felt completely elated after they told me that I was named relay athlete of the meet. My coach had sort of mentioned something to me the night before. He said, 'You know if you run a good split in the 4x800, you could be named the athlete of the meet.' But I put that away in the back of my mind because obviously the goal was to look to win the 4x800 and break the record. That was more important to me. That was, more than anything, just a bonus.

I mean, Penn Relays, at Brown, I went three of the four years I was there. To be at this level now, it's kind of shocking.

Can you bring us through the 4x1,500?
Katie Erdman led off for us. She ran a really strong leg. She got out hard. We wanted to run away with it and not think about the competition and click off our splits because we knew we had to average 4:19.5 in order to hit the record. So, we were just really trying to get after those times.

So she went out hard. She's stronger in the 800 meter but she's definitely a very good 1,500 meter runner. But she didn't really have the competition she needed to hit that split. She ran a 4:22, which is still fantastic. She did a really good job. And so I heard that and I was thinking to myself, 'I need to run 4:15. I need make up as much time as possible' so that I can afford Nicole, who is our anchor leg, a little bit of a margin of error there, depending on how she's feeling.

So Geena, our second leg, takes over and now there's a lot more competition for Geena. I believe there's Duke, BYU, Georgetown, who are all very close to her. She actually got passed twice but in the final straightaway, she put a kick in and handed off first to me. I don't remember hearing her split [Gall's split was 4:21.4]. Once she handed off to me, I was pretty nervous.

I had visualized this race so many times, probably since last year. I was very mentally prepared for exactly how I wanted my race to go. It just went exactly according to plan. My coach was reading splits from where I received the baton, so my first one was a 67 point, which is exactly what I wanted. The next was 68, which was perfect so I came through at 2:15. From there, I wanted to push that third lap. I ran 3:24, so that was another 68 and I was like, "Alright, you are on." I felt really, really smooth. I just wanted as much as possible just to gap the girl behind me. I could hear her breath and I actually didn't really know who it was. Later I found out it was Georgetown. I wanted to put as much of a gap on them as possible so that didn't even need to be a factor.

So that last 300, it definitely started hurting, but I just really tried to hammer it home as much as possible. I don't know, I just felt really, really smooth and really, really confident. I could tell with Mike yelling my splits, he seemed really excited. [Willard split 4:13.9 while Edwards anchored in 4:18.3.]

So that 1,500 was a PR?
I ran 4:18.9 last year after NCAAs in a twilight meet. So that was my PR from last year. I haven't run a 1,500 in a while, but I ran two miles indoors, and I ran a 4:42.

After the 4x1500, did you and your teammates quickly stop celebrating and start to refocus?
At our press conference, they asked us, 'What's next for you, are you going to celebrate?' My immediate response was, 'Tomorrow, 3:10 p.m. We're winning another one' [laughs]. I think more than anything for our team, they were gunning for that 4x800 record. It was a big deal for Mike. It stood longer. I think in comparison, it's a little bit harder to get.

Can you talk about how the 4x800 played out?
In that race, it switched up a little bit. Geena Gall led off for us. She was competitive. She had a pretty fast leg. She had some people to run with. She was by no means by herself. She handed off in first [Gall split 2:06.5] to Nicole with a pretty decent gap. Then Nicole gets the baton. She maintained a significant lead for probably about 700 or 650 meters and then Sarah Bowman from Tennessee came up on her shoulder and started challenging Nicole but Nicole hung very tough. She doesn't have as much quick 800 meter speed—she is definitely more of a 1,500 meter runner—but she hung really tough and she handed off in first to me [Edwards split 2:05.7]. That was great for me because I just wanted to get out and not have to worry about anybody else. I think in an 800 it's definitely helpful to have someone there, breathing down your neck, but I just wanted to get out and run the splits I needed to in order to break the record. I got out in a 59 low, a 59 one or two, which is definitely a second faster than I've ever split in an 800. I was feeling it in that last 200 for sure. I think I came in through a 1:31 through the 600 and then closed in a 32 point. I was trying as hard as I could to finish as quickly as possible.

Honestly, when I finished and I heard 2:04, my immediate reaction was, 'We didn't get it. There's no way. I screwed it up.' It was pretty much exactly the same as my PR but I felt somehow I let us down or we didn't quite perform like how we did the day before. Then Katie went out and blew it up. She split 58 and I was freaking out on the infield, flailing my arms. Nicole's down, sitting on the ground, she's not watching the race. Geena was kind of quiet. We all had such different reactions. When she finished in a 2:02, I was ecstatic! It was shocking, that's what it was.

What would you attribute your performances to? I think there are people out there wondering, 'Where did Anna Willard come from?'
I honestly don't think it's a surprise. This is exactly the way I've planned my season to go. Everything's another stepping stone. I've been waiting all year whereas a lot of people might be saying, 'Who is Anna Willard? Where did she come from?' It's just because I hadn't competed since last year's outdoors, so I haven't had really that opportunity that other people had to get in the spotlight, which is good because it afforded me the time to do high mileage. I was running in the 80s. I had a really good base. I didn't have to worry about racing as much. I'm very under-raced. I'm not going into the tank at all. I feel really fresh.

You only have this outdoor season, so you had all this anticipation leading up to this final season. Were you at all anxious?
I think it was a lot harder for me last semester when I didn't have cross country, knowing that I could have really helped our team, especially at Nationals. That was hard for me to not to compete because I'm a really competitive person. Not being able to go out there and help my team was really, really difficult, so that was definitely hard for me. But once January came around, I had a whole new sense of focus. I started trying to capitalize on every little thing that I could possibly do to make myself a better runner. I made sure I was eating really balanced meals, getting a lot of consistent sleep, staying on top of my studies, and just making sure that nothing was a distraction. [I did that] also so that the pressure of the upcoming season would not be overwhelming.

I think my first race was [laughs]—I was really, really excited. It didn't exactly go according to plan. I really wanted to bust out and run a 9:10 in my first 3k. I ended up running 9:23, which was still a five second PR for me but it was way harder. I remember I was standing on the line grinning and I was just really excited being in the uniform and I think that enthusiasm might have taken away from the performance.

Where was that race?
It was at Arizona State, the Clif Bar Invitational.

So did you feel like you got that excitement under control after that race?
Yeah. It was kind of a slap across the face. This season is not going to be handed to me. It's something that yes, I've worked really hard for, but there's a whole other component. You have to be competitive and you have to have that fire—that you really love running. I want to attack every race and put it all out there. All this preparation, it really means nothing. I have to be ready to actually do the job. At Stanford, I was a lot less jittery and nervous. I was really relaxed and focused. I got back into my old rhythm of things. Stanford went really well.

You split something pretty fast in the 4x400 this season right? What did you run?
54.6.

Let's talk about your range here. You split a 54.6 400 and you ran a 15:53 5k. It seems like you can run most anything. Do you still consider the steeplechase as your main event?
I don't know. I'm very excited about the steeple. I've been working on it since October. I've been doing hurdle drills and always working on my hip mobility. I've been trying to keep my flexibility, so I'm going to do more yoga, stuff like that. It's something I'm always focusing on. Steeple is important to me. It's what I went to Nationals individually last year. It's kind of my baby, I guess. I really like it. I feel like I have more of an advantage in the steeple, being a little more athletic in general. I have a little more upper body strength. I guess that's why I sort of have an affinity toward the steeplechase.

I don't think of myself strictly as a steeplechaser. I think people are asking me this question because I haven't run one yet this year. The race was cancelled at Sea Rays so I haven't had the opportunity yet. My coach and I are taking it one race at a time, seeing how each performance goes and then kind of reevaluating what do I want to run at Nationals, what's going to be best for the team, [and thinking about] USAs after Nationals. As of now, the steeplechase is a new event. It's not as competitive as the 1,500 and 5k, obviously. And also, in the same breadth, it's not as strategic. So, I'm really excited to run a steeple.

When will you run the steeplechase?
Definitely at Big Tens. I'm going to run the steeple and the 5k.

Can you lay out your future racing schedule?
I haven't run an open 1,500 yet, so I'm going to run a 1,500 this Friday night at our home meet. Lindsay Gallo, a professional runner who graduated from Michigan and runs here, is going to pace me.

What are you trying to hit?
I think more than anything, I just want to get a good qualifying time, get Regionals. After that 4:13, I probably would like to PR. That's always the goal. I talked to Mike a little bit about it and he said I'm going to try to go out 2:12 to 2:14, go out a little harder and see how it feels. I think I'm pretty strong right now.

So you're going to then do the 5k and steeple at Big Tens. What happens after that?
We get another week off in between Big Tens and Regionals, and then we're in Columbia, Missouri for Regionals for the Mideast Region. We talked a little bit about Nationals. We talk a lot, Mike and I, we go back and forth. Anything can happen, things can change. It's hard to say right now.

Can you talk a little bit about your training over the past few years? What kind of mileage were you running at Brown?
I increased five to ten miles every year at Brown. I was 50 to 55 freshman year, 55 to 60 sophomore year, junior year up to 65, and senior year 70 to 75. This fall, I didn't go over 82 to 83. I probably stayed 75 to 80. Of course, I'd take a day off every two or three weeks, so sometimes I'd have a low week. I don't like to focus on the number too much. I tried to see how my body was feeling, which I didn't actually do the best job at. I had an Achilles problem. I had to take four weeks off. Thinking about it now, actually, it was probably a really good thing. I got to take a little time off and that pushes my season a little farther back right now.

What adjustments did you have to make from running at Brown and running at Michigan?
I was tired a lot. I was definitely tired adjusting to the mileage, adjusting to the new coaching. Also, I think a huge thing I had to adjust to was the pacing. Our recovery runs that we ran at Brown was 7:45 to 8:00 minute pace. Here, we run slowest would be 7:15 pace. Our distance runs, I had to adjust to that. Our long runs are a long escalation basically. Some of them would be down to 6:15 pace, which was a shock to my body. That took a little getting used to. That could have contributed to my Achilles problem.

What's your mileage this season now that you are racing?
I didn't want to dip into the 80s anymore. It wasn't necessary; I'm not a 10k runner. I haven't gone over 75. I keep it between 60 and 75, and there's definitely down weeks. If I have a race, like if I run an 800 and my long run is the week before, I'm probably at 50. Like at Penn, I was only at 55 or something. It's not a big deal.

What kinds of workouts do you like or react to best?
I really like when we do four-mile tempos a lot. I think the speed stuff comes naturally to me. That's not something I think I have to work on as much. It definitely helps to have those sharpening exercises, but the four-mile tempos, they're hard.

What pace are you running the tempos in?
I start off around 5:50 to 5:55 and I drop eight to ten seconds per miles. At the end, I'm usually no faster than 5:20.

What were the big changes in general that you took to reach this new level in your running?
I think it's a whole other year of maturity, being a fifth year, knowing that I'm invested in the sport. I feel that I've come into my own as a runner and as person. I'm not running just to be a well-rounded person anymore. I'm not running to finish out my senior year with a bang. I want to continue running after college. I see myself with a future in it. I love running. I think more than anything, I am really in love with it now. I guess that just means I don't want anything to screw that up. I am eliminating the things that might detract from that, but not going crazy. I am very social and I like to have fun and like anybody else, it's always a good time to go out. But don't get me wrong, I am extremely serious. I take this very, very seriously. I definitely feel like I have fun and go out with my friends, but that just means something different this year, maybe that means not [staying out until] two in the morning but going to bed at midnight. It's a definitely a different mentality now.

What are you planning to do after this season?
It's hard to say anything positively right now just because it's still up in the air, every weekend something new. It's kind of hard to say what I'll be doing. I want to keep running. With whom, I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to stay in Ann Arbor and keep going with Mike. I have a pretty good repertoire with the girls on the team. I really like them. I feel like I want to help their team a little bit more, so maybe helping out coaching a little bit with Mike would be fun.

What attracted you to Michigan?
Well, Michigan is amazing as far as track goes. They were third in cross country this year, and that's even when they weren't running at their best. We had a lot of people not run close to what they could have run, I think. We have a very talented team, from middle distances all the way up to the 10k. When Mike was recruiting me, he was always very, very honest with me. I really liked that. He didn't sugarcoat anything for me. We had a pretty good understanding of each other right off the bat. One of the high points was [when he said], 'Anna, no matter what workout you're running, we'll have somebody who you could run with and who has a PR that's better than yours and is going to push you.' That's what I wanted to hear because at Brown, towards the end there, there was just me. That got kind of hard. I could have gotten a lot better. Also, his training was really compatible with [Brown University] Coach [Craig] Lake's, so that wasn't that much of a transition. They had very similar coaching and training philosophies.

Would you like to add anything else? Any final thoughts on your experience at the Penn Relays?
I'd say Penn Relays was probably one of the most exciting and memorable things that has happened to me in my life, not to mention just in my running life. It was absolutely phenomenal. That was a feeling I don't think I can ever replicate—I mean, hopefully it can happen at Nationals! I just feel like Penn Relays, especially for the rest of my team as well, is like a stepping stone. We're just getting off on the right foot. It's just the beginning of the season for us in a lot of ways. By no means am I tapered, so there's a lot of good things to come. It's a really exciting start.