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Meet The Guest

Veronique Marot

Personal Best's

10mile - 53:49

20mile - 1:53

Half Marathon - 71:17

Marathon - 2:25:56


CV

European Championships 1986

Olympic Games 1992

London Marathon Winner - 1989

Houston Marathon Winner - 1986, 1989 & 1991

 

 

Questions

How did you get involved in the sport?

I started running in 1973 at age 17 because my PE teacher had noticed that I was the only one to ever finish our little half mile run round the school - the other girls were too busy chatting! She entered me in the French equivalent of the county championships and I finished high enough for the winner of that race to suggest I should join her Club. Of course no sooner had I joined her Club that I stole her boyfriend which created some friction but that is another story.

Were your parents involved in the sport?

My parents never did any sport and they knew so little about sport that my father rang me a few days before the 1992 Olympics to find out a) whether I was competing in Barcelona - which I was, and b) which event I was doing - the marathon. So no special support there from parents.

When did you start to take things more serious in running?

For two years I trained about twice a week. Then, after the French equivalent of 'A' levels, a new boyfriend convinced me that all this running would give me bulging muscles and so I stopped for two years. I started training again when I went to York University in 1977 and, one year later, ran my first marathon, the Barnsley marathon. York University Cross Country Club had dreamt up this interesting project: that the whole club should do the marathon and so we did - unfortunately no one had told us that we should train for it so we all lined up on the starting line with average weekly mileages of less than 20 and a long run not exceeding 10 miles! I finished in 3 hours 55 minutes which included a tussle with a policeman who wanted to remove my training partner and best friend from the race because he thought she looked ill! I won the tussle (she did want to carry on) and she finished in the same time as me.

How was your first marathon experience?

The conclusion I drew from this first attempt at the marathon distance was that I, who thought of myself as a tortoise, was, like the tortoise, capable of outpacing other runners provided the race was long enough! I did not however increase my weekly mileage until after graduating from York University. I decided to train seriously for that famous race - the annual Barnsley marathon and in November 1980 achieved a breakthrough - 2hrs 55 minutes and a win to boot.

How was did your first London Marathon go?

I ran 2:46 in the first ever London marathon in 1981 and I thought then that this was my ultimate limit! I then spent the next year backpacking round South America and doing very little training. Back in England in the summer of 1982, I decided to do the Sandbach marathon. One small snag: I only had 6 weeks to train for it. No problem since I was used to running marathons on little training. I did run Sandbach and did win it in 2:55 but one knee rebelled against doing 26 miles on a weekly diet of about 26 miles. Once recovered, I rejoined the group running from Leeds University Sports Centre, met my future coach Brian Scobie (and the father of my children) and the rest is history. Brian persuaded me that, with a little bit more mileage, a little bit more hard and fast training and a little bit more competitive spirit, I could go a lot further than the 2:46 posted back in 1981. He was right as I ran 2:37 for 7th place in the New York marathon in October 1983, 2nd place and 2:33' in the same race in 1984 and 5th place but a new British record in Chicago in 1985 in 2:28'04''.

So what made the difference?

More running, a more structured approach of course but also a vibrant group which would set out every weekday lunchtime from Leeds University Sports Centre. The group included people like Angie Hulley, Greg Hull, Martin Roscoe, John Sherban, Lucy Taylor, Julie Holland, Anne Buckley and many more who may also join our weekend or evening sessions, like Sarah Rowell, Jill Clark and Sheila Catford. Virtually a who's who of female distance running in the 1980s. The Tuesday evening fartlek was done with the likes of Brian Hilton and many other seniors from Leeds City AC. The common thread running through each and every training run was that an easy run was a luxury to be enjoyed only rarely. Sometimes, this was because some smart alec who had not trained hard the day before would suddenly decide he was someone and would try and take the run on. This meant that the rest of the group would have to teach him (or her) a lesson and this would inevitably lead to a faster and faster pace. And then pride was always at stake. The Wednesday run was a 15 mile effort from the University to Roundhay and back via Shadwell and Meanwood. A mere stroll at sub-six minute mile pace with a last all out effort going up the ridge to Hyde Park - you had to be first entering the ginnell. Greg Hull still remembers the day he thought his head was going to explode at the top of Meanwood ridge.

So this was our strength - the group action - and our mental toughness came from this daily fight against ourselves and against fellow runners who were just as tough and as eager as us. And then there was the schedule.... Brian's schedules!! They were evil! They relied on hard work, more hard work and rest was just a dirty word. And races? Well races were to be taken in their stride with no easing off before them.


What was so special about Houston, a Marathon you won 3 times?

I ran the Houston Marathon 6 times with 3 wins, one second place, one third and one DNF. It was conveniently placed on the calendar since, being held in January, it enabled me to run 3 marathons in a calendar year. Also it was well organised, very friendly, the prize money was good and the weather generally clement as it was Texas and rarely windy. The only other marathons held at that time of the year were either in Europe (very cold) or in Japan (Osaka - cold, windy and a women's only race which is tougher mentally.


What was your routine the morning of a big Marathon?

I have always been a relaxed about that. Not much point in warming up too much since there are 26 more miles to run. I would generally run about a mile (or even less) half an hour before the race and then stretch all the major muscles. I would have my breakfast as late as possible so about 2 hours before the race in London with a banana or so an hour before. In Houston, where the marathon used to start in front of our hotel, I would often be finishing my biercher muesli about an hour before the race. I would drink a lot of water the day before and take only water during the race. I never took special drinks. I would have my last drink of water at the 20 mile drink station (as you cannot metabolise a drink taken later). The reasoning behind eating so late is because I was always able to start my long run straight after breakfast and felt that eating late gave me extra energy in the last few miles.

How important was your coach?

Brian Scobie was my coach throughout my running career, from 1983 until 1993 and his advice was invaluable. It was also very important at the beginning that he could lead the training runs and dictate the pace. Aged 42 he ran 30' for 10,000m, 65' for the half and had run 2:21 for the marathon so he knew what it felt like. His advice was especially useful at getting me faster - I could clearly run a marathon on no training - but his schedules and the training group he assembled made all the difference. The slowest female marathon runner in our group of 4 ran 2:33 (the others ran 2:28 and 2:30 respectively) and there were several sub-32' female 10km runners training with us as well as quite a few decent male runners.

What was the best and worst thing about being a distance runner?

When you are running on air and winning you can savour the feeling for many miles but when things don't work out then the agony lasts for ever!

Did you watch Paula finally break your British record and run a new world record?

I did watch her and I was proud of her achievement since she had not just broken the British Record by a few seconds or even a couple of minutes, but by an amazing 7 minutes. I had predicted back in 1996 that Liz McColgan would not break my record but that Paula would - it was nice to be proved right!

 

Training

Interval work

How many times a week?

We used to do between 2 and 3 sessions a week of interval work. Only one session would be on the track, the other(s) would either be on the grass or on the road.

Can you give an examples of a key session?

In winter we would often do either a hill session or a 10 mile fartlek session. Each hill took 30" to 35" to run up and we would start with 20 of them, adding 2 each week until we got to 30. An example of a track session would be 8x800m or 8x1,000 with 200m jog.

What was your hardest session?

One of the hardest sessions I ever did was 6x1mile on a broken down track near Glasgow on my own. 

When would be your last hard session before a race?

I would not ease up before a race unless it was a marathon. I would start easing up 10 days before and only do 14 miles instead of the usual 20/22 on Sundays. The last hard session would be on the Friday, 9 days before or the Sunday (short race)

Would you do any other strength work outside of running?

No, no and no. I just ran! It wasn't common for runners to do anything else in the 80s.

 

Mileage

Extract from training Diary below:

1st January 1989 - Morpeth to Newcastle - 2nd in 76:42, 10 seconds behind Angie Hulley who broke the course record by 1 minute 33 seconds

15th January 1989 - Houston (Texas) marathon - 1st in 2hrs 30'16" then 2 weeks recovery before starting the training for London 89 which was as follows:


Week 5                                  

 

S -  21 steady                    

M - am 10 pm 4               

T  -  am 8  pm swim         

W - 15 hard  

T - am 8 pm track

F - treadmill 9m

S - 11steady                 

Total - 95m                    

 

Week 6

 

 

S - 23steady

M - am treadmill pm 4

T - am 8 pm 13 (10fartlek)

W - 5easy

T -  7easy pm 16x400m

F -  Treadmill 11m

S - 9steady

Total - 99m

 

Week 7

S - Hastings ½ - 73'

M - am 9 pm 4

T - Treadmill 10 pm 5

W - 15hard

T - am 7 pm 6x1000m

F - 10 Fartlek

S - 9 easy

Total - 94m

 

Week 8

 S - Stafford 20 - 1:53 1st

M - am 9 pm 5hard

T - treadmill 11hard

W - 15hard

T - am 8 pm 12x400m

F - am 10 pm 6

S - 12hard

Total 105m

As I said above - rest? Luxury! We used to dream about rests.....

 

 

Racing

Did you go into races with a plan?

Yes, I knew how fast I wanted to go and stuck to that pace

What were your strengths and weaknesses when racing?

The strength was my ability to keep going at the same pace. The weakness was that I found it difficult to go fast at the beginning and struggled with changes of pace, especially negative splits.

Did you race as training sessions?

Yes which is why I didn't ease up for races - they were all stepping stones to the ultimate goal which was the forthcoming marathon

Did you ever have superstitions before a race?

No

Any regrets?

I wish I have given myself more time to recover from the Houston Marathon in 1990. I resumed hard training too soon and tried to increase the mileage which resulted in getting sore muscles for 6 weeks and ruined my World Marathon Cup in London 1991.


Training Base

I trained mainly in Leeds, West Yorkshire but also did some altitude training in Switzerland (whilst doing fell races) and in Boulder. In the autumn of 1988 I spent 2 months in Albuquerque doing altitude training which, I think, helped to make me stronger as I went on to win Houston (January 1989) and London (April 1989). From October 1990 until May 1991 I train in Wooster, Ohio, mainly on my own. 


Rest / Recovery

 

I normally had a week of no running then two/three easy weeks depending on how taxing the marathon had been. I have run (I think) 38 marathons in total. My last marathon was in London in 2005 (aged 49) when I paced a friend to 3:29.

 

Lastly.....

Are you still involved in Athletics?

I am and still run 3 times a week I cannot do more as my knees won't let me. For many years (12) and until last year I was president of Leeds City Athletic Club and also for 3 years managed its UK Women's National League team (and helped the team to reach National League status and avoided relegation). For the past 9 months, I have been coaching and running with a group of female friends who wanted to get fitter and run their first marathon which they did in the Spring. One ran 3:45 which is not bad on 3 runs a week.  

Former London Marathon winners off to meet the Queen

 

Veronique Marot

 

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