A conversation with Fionnuala McCormack
The Kilcoole AC star on her love of the club, running, and looking forward to a scone with Bill Porter
IN terms of preparation and plans, the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has to have had a seismic impact on your life with the postponement of the Olympics until 2021 and the cancellation of all sporting events. Firstly, how have you adapted since the restrictions, and secondly, how difficult is it to plan ahead given the uncertainty about the future in the short term?
We are very lucky where we live that we have nice places to walk and run right on our doorstep and we have a garden that I will forever be trying to tame so I’m kept busy avoiding attempting to plan for anything. Planning for anything as everyone knows right now is pretty much impossible so I suppose the only thing we can all really do is live in and for the moment.
Can you give us an insight into what an average training day/week for you was before and after the lockdown?
I generally train on my own so I haven’t had to change too much. One added benefit is that Al (Alan McCormack) is now working from home so I don’t have as many early morning runs.
I was in a general base phase of training before the lockdown started, I didn’t have any major races coming up so I was lucky.
I had run an Olympic qualification time in Chicago last October so I wasn’t planning to run a spring marathon.
Away from training, how are you and your family coping with the lockdown? How are you keeping occupied?
My husband is a lecturer in TUD so he is working from home here at the moment and myself and Isla spend most of the day that we are not training trying not to distract him.
We spend quite a lot of time looking for ladybirds, birdwatching and barking at the passing dogs!
Kilcoole AC recently celebrated their 50th anniversary – what does that club mean to you as a person and as an athlete?
We were actually lucky to get our 50th celebration in before the lockdown. It was a great night reminiscing with everyone, looking back through the pictures and scrap books and celebrating successes past and present.
It is only when i paused to reflect back that I really appreciate how much the club has been a part of my life.
If it wasn’t for Kilcoole AC I probably wouldn’t be who or where I am now.
When I was seven, I joined a running club that had a great sense of community and I loved it from the start. I loved running but I also loved the games, the friends I made, the competitions, the bus journeys, the penny sweets from PJ’s, the Nutella sandwiches on the bus journeys home.
I was also lucky that from the start I had great coaches, Peter, Audrey and Miriam Savage who coached us as little kids, John O’Toole who coached us as big kids and then Pat Diskin who coached me all the way to the Olympics.
That I still call these people friends shows how much the club means to me even still and anytime I can win a national title in the Kilcoole singlet is a special day for me because I know it also means something to them.
Ye became parents over the last two years, has parenthood been what ye were expecting or had imagined and can you sum up how much life has or hasn’t changed since Isla’s arrival?
I’m not sure anyone can fully know what they are letting themselves in for when they have kids but I know I wouldn’t change any of the last two years.... none of the parts involving Isla anyway, maybe some of the running results I would.
The biggest change for me was probably much less traveling on my own. Before Isla was born, I would often have traveled to races and spent a month at a time away training on my own, once Isla arrived, we went to all my races and training camps as a family which is great.
How special was winning the team medal with your sister, Una, at the European Cross County Championships in December and how much of a role has she played in your running over the years?
Winning a European medal with Una was very special but I think we were probably both even more excited two weeks earlier when we stood on the national podium together as individual medalists.
Ever since she followed me to Kilcoole AC many years ago Una has played a major role in my running over the years.
When she was little, she was my number one supporter, then we became team mates, (we won the national road relays for Kilcoole together in 2011) and then roommates at internationals (we shared a room both times I won Euro cross gold, she was on the under-23 team then though).
When you look back over your career, what are the races that stand out in your memory as the following, and why?
Special: Scotstown, Monaghan, February 2001, won the national Junior Cross Country Championships,
Toughest: Of the ones that didn’t end in heartache, probably Rio 2016, the Olympic marathon.
Most satisfying: Budapest 2012, European Cross Country Championships, defending my title and leading the Irish team to team gold as well.
Most frustrating: Don’t even get me started on this one.
Big race day – Although every event will be different, take us through your day from wake up to bedtime. Are you a creature of habit? Do you like a routine or are you much more freestyle?
I would say I am probably more freestyle, I don’t even wear matching socks on race day.
I think it is important to be able to go with the flow a bit because often flights or buses are late, food is different in different countries, plans are changed last-minute and if you are a creature of habit this might throw you off your performance.
How strict is your diet and can you give us a glimpse into your daily dietary delights?
Strictly calorie dense, as a marathon runner I need a lot of fuel to function and it is not always easy to get enough in, so I need to snack all the time, on top of normal meals.
Can you describe the stages you go through in a cross country or marathon both mentally and physically and do you have a method or a structure for dealing with each stage even apart from the tactical side of things?
A cross country race usually only lasts about half an hour so when you start doing marathons that lasts five times that, what you usually tell yourself when you are about to start a cross country race, ‘sure it’s only a half an hour, it’ll be grand’. In the marathon the drinks stations help a lot because the race is almost broken into 5k segments for you.
You recently spoke passionately and strongly in relation to the controversial Nike Vaporfly in early February where you said: ‘World Athletics have let us down. I feel they were weak, and it makes me sad.’ Where are you now with this decision and can you elaborate on your thought processes on same?
I still feel the same but I have probably said enough on this issue.
In 2021 you will compete in your fourth Olympics and as pointless as this question might seem given how far into the future it relates to and the amount of uncontrollables that exist between now and then, do you have any sense that the hunger will be there to join a very elite number of people who have competed in five Olympics for Ireland?
Even going to my fourth Olympics seems a long way away right now but I do think the hunger will still be in me to hopefully aim to compete in both the next Olympics and the 2024 Olympics.
I can’t see myself ever retiring from running so if I am still in a position to be able to qualify in a few more years I think I would definitely go for it.
Staying with Olympics – can you put into words what it means to be an Olympian, to take part in the Olympics, to pursue your sporting dreams at such a supreme level?
The Olympics is the pinnacle of the athletics world so for most athletes it is the ultimate aim but once you get there you just want more; a higher position, a better race, a medal.
So once one cycle is over you immediately want to start working towards an opportunity to perform on that stage again, I don’t think you really stop to look at what being an Olympian is until it is all over.
Proudest day as a Wicklow woman after a race or event?
When I won my third Junior National Cross Country title in a row in Avondale in February 2003. Before those nationals we had county training sessions in Avondale where all the clubs came together and trained; we had previously had county championships and Leinster championships there too and I had done many hill sessions in Avondale with Mick Byrne, MJ and Bill Porter.
My Dad along with many other members from all the clubs in the county had set up the course the days before the races and everyone in Wicklow Athletics had a role to play on the day or was running in the races.
I was sick with nerves. I felt under pressure, I was on home turf and I had to win. I’d won the last two years; this was my last year as a junior and Athletics Ireland were only going to select one junior woman and one junior man for the World Cross Country Championships.
I had so much support on the course and I looking back now i actually think i enjoyed the race, I loved how tough it was and in such a beautiful setting and by the last half a lap I was clear to enjoy it all. I crossed the line that day relieved but also proud to be from Wicklow and a part of an event that is still talked about in athletics circles in Ireland to this day.
Can you sum up the human hurricane that is Bill Porter who I’m told shares the same birthday as yourself?
Rumour has it Bill was out giving it socks for his 21st birthday in Clouseau’s (Ashford) the night I was born. I don’t think he has stopped since. He is a force of nature. He is so full of energy and good humour it’s infectious.
Bill is someone you can never say no to, because he is always asking on someone else’s behalf; whether he is firing muck at a nun at a hospice opening or selling energy gels to a sprinter, you can’t help but smile.
As well as a birthday we also share a love of running and scones.
Myself, Al and Isla are already looking forward to tea and scones in Avondale Sports with Bill after the pandemic passes.