The Victory Lap: Emma Bates🏆
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We’d like to thank Emma’s sponsor UCAN, for supporting this week’s Victory Lap and making this interview available to all readers.
Emma Bates was a 12x All-American and NCAA Champion during her time competing for Boise State. After college her success eventually continued on the roads and she has since thrived at the marathon distance. Most recently, the 2019 USATF National Marathon Champion ran 2:24:20 to finish 2nd at the Chicago Marathon, which has qualified her to represent Team USA at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.
You had a massive performance at the Chicago Marathon, but just a few months before, during the outdoor season you seemed to have a string of subpar 10000m races. Was that just a by-product of prepping for a fall marathon? And if not, how did you get out of that funk to have such a great run in Chicago?
I honestly didn't know what the hell I was doing, you know? At the start of the year, I didn't know where I was going to be. My life had crumbled beneath me. I was trying to figure out where I should live, for one — where I would be happy.
I looked at Team Boss, and I loved what their whole thing was about. I knew that Joe [Bosshard] is a very chill coach, a very laid-back coach, and I knew that adjusting to that team and his training, it was going to be a process. So going into the track season, it was like, well, we know that I'm going to run a fall marathon, but what do we need to do right now until that point? Because there were no marathons that we could do right then — not even really any half-marathons or road races at that time.
So we said let's just focus on the track. I didn't really have any expectations. I wasn't going to try to make the team in the 10000m or anything. I knew that wasn't in the cards. I just wanted to get my feet under me again, try to get fast again, and try to work the different systems in order to make marathon pace feel easy — or at least easier. It was always all about the fall and getting more efficient with my stride.
So doing even slower 1k-rep stuff during the track season, that was to biomechanically get more efficient. That was the main thing. Yeah, I had higher goals for the 10000m — like, I wanted to break 32, I wanted to be in the top 10, if I could. But I think I went a little too hard too soon.
We were running in Crested Butte, at 10,000 feet, and I just had never trained that high, at that level. I was trying to stick with Emma Coburn and all these women that are just more experienced at that altitude. So I think I was overtraining a bit.
I knew I needed to take a really good break after the track season. So for like, a month, all I did was really, really easy runs until ramping back up into the Chicago Marathon training block. It was a hard time. I didn't feel like things were clicking. But I trusted the process and I trusted Joe that we were going to get there eventually.
What is it about the coach-athlete dynamic that’s working for you right now?
I think in the past, I've had coaches that are a little too hands-on. I don't really like being told what to do. But with Joe, it's more of a collaboration. I don't feel like he's an authoritative figure. If I feel like something's not right, I tell him, and then we adjust. And I mean, that's only happened like a couple of times.
He knows me well enough now that he can tell if certain workouts or certain long runs aren’t clicking. But I knew that it would take some time for us to really understand each other in that respect. He’ll pull me back a lot more now if he sees me pushing too hard and going into the well or riding that fine line.
That's something that's really been great: having him there for certain big workouts. He doesn't have to be there all the time, and with the team that we have, he can’t be. We're getting some younger people in, so they need a little bit more attention.
It's great to have him, but I mostly joined the team for the team aspect — just being surrounded by people that have the same values and have the same goals and who are just getting their shit done. We're adults and we have been at this for long enough that I don't need somebody to hold my hand. So that's been really, really nice, for him to just kind of let me do my thing.
From an outsider’s perspective, I’d say it’s a little unique that the standards are set by the team and not just from the coach in some top-down way.
I think it stems from trust. You have to trust your athletes to get stuff done when you're not around. I think that a lot of other coaches run into the problem of wanting to control everything, and then they end up having to control everything because the athlete doesn't know how to do it on their own.
For us, just going to practice, we have a lot of fun. But it's all business in the sense that we all know what we're here to do and so we get it done. It's just like another day at the office. It flows really, really well because of that.
Have you officially been confirmed to the World team?
Yes. Well… I never actually got an email saying that I was on the team. They emailed me saying “you need to confirm.” And I was like, well, you haven't offered me the spot. But yes, I guess.
I’m pretty sure all of the women that made the team have said they’re going on social media, and none of the men have.
I didn't even know I made the team until Sara [Hall] posted about it and I was like, well, I guess I need to reach out to see if I made it. I had no awareness. So the fact that she posted, I just posted because she did — and then Molly [Seidel] did because we did. So yeah I don’t actually know.
I love this sport sometimes.
Have your goals changed since qualifying for Worlds, assuming you’re actually on the team? And is there any hesitancy running it at all because you’ll surely be missing a big payday opportunity by not running one of the major marathons?
Yeah, I'm not getting any money going to the World Champs. But I put in my heart and soul into training so that I can make teams. And so to actually make this team is something that is incredibly special, and I don't want to take that for granted.
I could have done Boston — that's a nice paycheck just to show up — but I passed on it because I don't think it makes sense for me to race that close to the World Championships. I think that some people can do it. Sara and Molly are going to. They have proven that they can bounce back pretty quickly after marathons.
But I know myself, and I know what I need: train like I did for the spring of last year. Do some speedier stuff, some 10ks and half marathons, in order to feel better going into that summer marathon season.
Yeah, it's a weird time and I really want to do a marathon in the fall. But the focus is completely on the World Champs, representing the country, trying to be in the top three. And that is just so special because it's on US soil. I can't mess with that.
Are you guys planning on doing anything different with your preparation compared to Chicago?
Before Chicago, I didn't race at all. This time I'm going to be doing some races in the spring. But I think Joe really was excited about my training and there were no problems to correct before Chicago. And so I feel like we're going to pretty much do the same things.
I may go somewhere a little bit warmer just to try to acclimate a little bit more. We were lucky here in the summer in Boulder, in terms of being able to run a lot of workouts and a lot of long runs in the heat. I think that helped me a lot for Chicago. For Worlds, I want to prepare myself for, you know, 116 degrees in Eugene if that's going to happen again.
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Let’s talk about Chicago a bit. Did you anticipate that kind of performance? And now that you’re officially a marathoner, do you plan on trying to run any of the faster courses like Berlin or will you stick to the U.S. majors?
I wanted to run Chicago because at this point in my career I think I am able to run really fast. And so we went after Chicago instead of New York because I wanted to, one: podium, and two: run really fast. We were shooting for like 2:22 to 2:21. I think that's the shape that I was in.
But with the weather, you just have to adjust. It’d be dumb to not slow yourself down a bit from the beginning, at least. That was hard to grasp going into Chicago — knowing that it wasn't going to be fast — but the other goal was to podium and so I just wanted to be in the top three.
And to your other question, I like doing the more domestic races, because there's just so much more hype behind them. You can go to Berlin or London, but there's just not as much excitement behind you. I just love going to Chicago or New York because people know your name and people come to cheer for you. I just like the atmosphere way better. I'm not saying in the future that I won’t go race Berlin or London, but I want to stay domestic as much as I can, you know, doing Chicago, New York, Boston.
It's not just about running fast. I mean, Keira’s record was phenomenal, but I look at somebody like Molly Seidel and I'm just so much more excited about her performances, just because, you know, she’s placed really well. She's gotten third at the Olympics and fourth at New York and all these things. So for me, as a fan, I like those kinds of performances better rather than going out and time trialing. But it's nice to have both, Keira doing that and then Molly doing what she's doing. It's good for the sport.
When it comes to marathon fueling are you the scientist type or it-doesn’t-matter type?
I probably land somewhere in the middle. With my background in exercise physiology — that's what I went to school for — I know that you have to fuel properly and there's a science behind it. But I don't like to get too caught up in it and stress out.
I like to practice on long runs and certain workouts and just kind of go off of feel. I'm not measuring things out. But I do know what worked for me in my workout, and what's going to work in the race, and trust it.
I've had problems with over-fueling, I think, during certain training blocks and marathons, and I feel like I'm starting to figure it out. I don't need quite as much as I previously thought, which is an easier thing to address. With UCAN, I've been using less because it's slow-releasing, and so there are no spikes or crashes and it’s more steady throughout the entire long run or entire workout. I feel like I'm a slow-burning person… I don't burn very hot, and that's why I'm not as fast, but I can go for a very long time.
With your teammate Dom Scott’s recent half marathon performance are you two going to be working out a bit more together in the future?
Yes and no. So she is still focusing on the track for this World Championship, then I think her goal is to do a fall marathon, hopefully. But we've been doing everything together this entire winter, before Houston and everything.
It's been really nice to have her because, you know, I was planning on having Laura [Thweatt] and that didn't quite pan out, training with her full-time. I was like, shoot! I'm on this team and I'm the only marathoner. So to have Dom doing the half marathon now and just crushing that… we can workout together and key off of each other. Knowing that she ran that fast, it means I'm in pretty good shape right now, too. And for her, like holding on to me during long runs helps her gain confidence because of my performance at Chicago. It's a really good back and forth right now, and I really like the dynamic. She's my favorite person to train with — she's so even-keeled. If you're fast on certain splits, it's not that big of a deal, it's been a really great thing. I'm excited for her to slowly transition into the roads, which I think would be post-worlds.
Where are we going to see you race next?
I might do that 10000m in Los Angeles, the Sound Running meet, because Maddie [Alm] and Dom are going to be doing that. Trying to qualify for USAs, and I'll probably just hop in just to get that race feeling again. And I don't think I'm supposed to announce it yet but I’ll be running [REDACTED… sorry, folks!] That’ll be the next big one.
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