Exams over... now Muir rollercoaster is picking up speed
AT the precise moment when Laura Muir’s final exam results drop, she could quite easily be pulling several Gs while accelerating from 0-128 miles per hour in precisely 3.5 seconds.
As befits a track athlete who has made her name by knowing when to step on the gas and leave rivals trailing, Muir remains something of an adrenaline junkie. Rollercoasters are just her way of winding down.
Even as the Scot enjoys a welldeserved break at the Californian thrill ride capital of Six Flags, testing her nerves on such rides as El Diablo, Nitro and the bonemelting Kingda Ka, she will already be thinking about how to go faster. And faster still.
Finally done with the veterinary studies that have seen her effectively marry full-time work with a career in elite athletics, how quickly might Muir run this year?
Just how much more can she squeeze out of her talent, without the distractions of performing life-saving surgery on cuddly — and not-so-cuddly — animals?
‘I’ve still run a 3.55,’ said Muir, citing her personal best for the 1,500 metres as evidence of what can be done while competing as a ‘part-time’ athlete. ‘Can I run faster than that? I don’t know. But the past few years have been so good, it will be exciting to see what a bit more time will deliver.
‘Sometimes, when you have that extra time, you aren’t as productive as you are when you have only a shorter time.
‘But it will help more in terms of preparation for competitions. I won’t have to be flying from one place to another very quickly, having to dash here and there.
‘The recovery side of things as well, I can focus on recovering better from sessions and not get stressed out about getting reports in those kind of things. It will be nice just to be a bit more relaxed and be able to dedicate.’
Coach Andy Young, who was in attendance with Muir when she was named ambassador for the 2019 European Indoor Championships in Glasgow yesterday, quickly made a crack about squeezing more training into the gaps left by university.
Muir agreed: ‘Yeah, there will be a bit more training in, as well. We have trained at a modest level, so we can introduce a bit more bits and pieces here and there
‘The course over the past year has been really busy in terms of working all day, at least eight till five, eight until six, then you would have nightshifts, you’d be on call, working weekends.
‘I worked three out of four weekends in April in the lead-up to my exams. It’s a bit too much.
‘You know what your priorities are. The veterinary studies are very important to me, so is my running. So, I just didn’t have any free time. I was willing to accept that to finish my studies and to continue running.
‘I did quite a lot of running when I was on a few rotations, on call at eight at night or 12 at night.
‘You have to stay overnight, so I would run round the campus with my phone on, in case any emergencies came in.
‘I told them: “Right, I’m only five minutes away if there’s an emergency, I’m just looping around the campus, so I can run back if needed”.
‘My finals took a lot out of me. The past couple of months have been stressful, but that is expected with exams and things.
‘I train six days a week, every week. In the run-up to my exams, I managed to do that every week, I didn’t miss any training at all.
‘If I can get a bit more rest and recovery, I will be back on track and where I want to be for the summer.’
Muir made the decision to skip the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast specifically to finish her studies.
With the restraints placed on vet students, who have to complete their degree course within a set time, it made sense. But it was still a tough call.
Fortunately for Muir, she was too busy to spend time wistfully watching TV and wondering about what might have been.
She revealed: ‘I was on placement at an animal hospital, so I didn’t manage to catch too much of the Commonwealth Games.
‘It was only when I was on a lunch break I managed to catch a bit of it. I watched a couple of the distance races back, I saw that Jake Wightman had done really well and I watched Eilidh Doyle’s race. I remember it was just before Jake’s race I think, and I was due to go into surgery.
‘I was waiting to scrub in on a surgery and either the surgery was running a bit late or something and I was going to miss it. But it was fine.’
Only a bit upset that she missed out on the koala-cuddling welcome afforded all Team Scotland athletes when they arrived in Australia, Muir is a great example of a polymath capable of succeeding on more than one front.
If anything, having the lives of animals in her hands has helped to make her a less jittery competitor. And vice-versa.
‘Both are quite a high-pressure environment,’ explained the 25-year-old.
‘You can be standing on the start line for an Olympic final or you can be doing surgery on a patient. Both are high pressure, in a slightly different way.
‘That’s helped me a lot. Because I remember doing bits of surgery for the first time, thinking: “You know what? I’ve done some pretty stressful things in my life — this is okay”. I could keep calm. So, I’ve taken experiences from both to help with situations in each of them.
‘They’re very relatable and they’ve helped each other.’
There will be a few nerves when those final results are posted to the online university portal next Wednesday, Muir revealing: ‘I will be in America next week, so luckily I will still be able to get my results.
‘I might be on a rollercoaster when I get my results! So, I could be going: “Yeah …” Or I could be like: “Yeah!”.’
I trained six days a week right up to my exams. It has been stressful