Conversational Pace: Sonia Samuels

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Following a top-20 finish in the marathon at last summer’s World Championships in Moscow, Run Fast’s latest signing, Sonia Samuels, says she is taking a break from the demands of the marathon distance in 2014.

The former Loughborough University student clocked 2:33:41 to enjoy an encouraging marathon debut on the streets of the UK’s capital in 2012 before going on to better that mark by almost three minutes – and running inside the World Championships qualifying standard – to 2:30:56 in Berlin later the same year.

However, after making an impressive summer championships debut for Great Britain in Moscow last summer, Samuels has decided to give her body the mental and physical break from marathon training this year – and the focus more on speed seems to be bearing fruit already after a personal best on the roads at the Trafford 10k last month.

Arriving back from a stint of altitude training in Kenya just two weeks before, Sonia crossed the line in 32:57 and finished second only to former European Indoor 3,000m champion Helen Clitheroe.

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Sonia’s confidence-boosting performance sees her sitting second in the current UK rankings and the almost thirty second improvement on her previous road best saw her go inside 33 minutes for the first time.

“I arrived back from Kenya two weeks earlier so I was looking for an indicator on how things were going,” said Samuels. “Having felt very flat and race rusty at the Reading Half Marathon the week before [where Sonia finished 5th in 73:23] I felt I had blown the cobwebs away and was ready to race going into Trafford.

I was very ill last November/December time, which prevented me from doing any physical exercise, so it has taken a lot of patience and support from my coach and family to get back training and racing again. Trafford gave me such a big boost of confidence going forward.”

In a career that has seen her establish herself at the forefront of British women’s distance running, including National 10,000m gold in 2011, Sonia recognises that she’s not done yet and says “it’s achieving those highs that continue to keep me committed and motivated to train and race the best I can.”

Sonia at the 2012 London Marathon
Sonia at the 2012 London Marathon

The thirty-four year old has demonstrated her expertise over cross country throughout her career, with English National junior XC champion, BUCS XC gold, English National XC silver and European XC team bronze medals in amongst her medal collection.

The years of strength built-up over the mud appeared to pay dividends at last summer’s World Championships in Moscow.

“Last year was an amazing journey for me – making my first major summer championships and having the opportunity to line up against some of the best athletes in the world was brilliant.

The marathon build-up itself can have its ups and downs but when everything clicks it feels like you are ready for battle. The conditions for the race weren’t ideal for marathon running – 2pm in very hot temperatures – but it was the same for all the athletes out there on that day.

I was aiming to make the top-20 so to finish 16th was a great result. However, without meaning to sound negative, I don’t feel I had my best race that day. It was a steep learning curve dealing with the conditions and procedures of a championship marathon.”

Up until she linked up with her coach Terrence Mahon last year, Sonia relied heavily on her husband and fellow-athlete Nick Samuels – who himself has ran 1:49/3:44 over 800m and 1500m respectively – to organise her races and plan her training.

After a brief meeting with Tom ‘Kiprop’ Payn in Eldoret Airport at the beginning of March, Sonia hopes her new partnership with Run Fast can help lighten the load a little more on her husband and says she is looking forward to seeing what opportunities might arise and how the relationship with Run Fast evolves.

“Nick, my husband, did everything with regards organising my races and until I linked up with Terrence Mahon last year he was also planning my training. He also helps out with pacing some of my workouts, doing his own training too and that is on top of a full-time job.

So, when Run Fast said they would be happy to help, I was keen to take the pressure off Nick! I’m really looking forward to working with Run Fast and seeing what opportunities the partnership brings.”

 

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