Change of Coach, Same Intentions

By Scott Bush

Sometimes slowing down and stepping back allows an athlete to see what needs to be done to take the next leap forward. For Colorado-based star Alisha Williams, that's exactly what an injury in 2014 did for her. With a renewed focus on getting strong and racing fast, Williams is ready to go after lowering her track PRs, including a 15:09.23 5k best. With a new year comes a switch in coaching, as she heads to train with Michael Aish. We caught up with Alisha as she prepares for the USATF Half Marathon Championships, discussing her coaching change, where she's focused in 2015 and a variety of other hot topics.

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Scott Bush (SB): The USA Half Marathon Championships are almost here. At this point in the season, how has your training been going and how are you feeling heading into the big race?

Alisha Williams (AW): Training is going really well. I've been focusing on a lot of strength work, so I think that will help for this race. I've been slowly getting back into shape since my last injury and it feels like things are starting to come together.

SB: You’ve mixed up your racing a bit over the past year, focusing a nice amount of attention both on the roads and the track. With it being a World Championships year on the track, do you see yourself focusing more on track in 2015?

AW: The plan in 2015 is to focus on the track again. I haven't been able to put together more than one outdoor track race the last two years, so I feel like I have some unfinished business on the track. If I get hurt again this track season, then I'll focus on the marathon since I know my body can handle that training.

SB: You announced recently that you're switching coaches to Michael Aish. Why the switch?

AW: These last three years have been filled with ups and downs. I had some of my best races under Scott, but I also have had a lot of injuries. I learned a lot about training and myself as an athlete under Scott and feel really grateful for the experience. Ultimately I just wasn't happy with how things were going, so I decided it was time for a change for me. I went with Mike because he has been a mentor of mine for years. He was one of my college coaches and I had a lot of success under him, I made a junior world cross team and qualified for the Olympic trials in the 1500 my junior year of college. 

Bri Nelson is also coached by Mike, she made the switch just before I did, so I am looking forward to training with her. We were both coached by Scott prior to Mike and we know we work out well together and have good chemistry. I'll also train with Nicole Aish, we've trained together in the past and are really good friends. Those two have definitely helped make the transition easier. Ultimately it's up to the athlete to be successful with a coach and training group that is 100% invested. I believe I have found that, but I am realistic that there is going to be a transition period so I needed to do it sooner rather than later. 

SB: I know the switch of coaches is still recent, but is there anything you'll be doing a little different with Coach Aish?

AW: It is still new, so I don't have a really specific answer for you. It will be more structured around training blocks. So in this phase I doing some hill work and focusing on strength. We are also going to build in specific breaks. I'm the kind of person, where if I am even slightly in shape, I want to race. There are all of these amazing opportunities out there and I pretty much want to sign up for all of them. I love racing, even when I know I'm not 100% fit. I train to race and sometimes I race my way back into shape. It's part of who I am as an athlete. 

Because of that, it was hard for me to take breaks unless I was hurt because there was always another race I wanted to do. I always set goal races every year, but my track record at goal races has been either that I ran poorly, dnf'd or dns'd largely due to injuries. I'm hoping that building in longer breaks and more specific training blocks will help prevent this, but there's never a guarantee and I am aware of that.

SB: You raced the Great Edinburgh Race this past Saturday. How do you generally recover from such a quick turnaround in very hard race efforts?

AW: BUPA went considerably better this time around than the last time I ran. I was second to last in the race in 2012 and then ran the marathon trials the next weekend, which was my debut and I finished 14th. I'm not really nervous about the turn around since I've done it before. It probably isn't ideal, but these last two years of injuries have taught me that nothing is guaranteed. It's an honor to compete internationally for the US and I wanted to have that experience again. 

It fires me up to go on these trips, really any running trip, but especially these ones. It's pretty special to be able to have these moments and I don't want to look back and think, why didn't I go? European XC is really low on my list of running aptitude, mountain running is probably the only thing below it, but I went out there and gave it my all. I'm looking forward to racing on solid ground again at Houston. For the recovery part, I'll just try to sleep as much as possible and get back to my routine. 

SB: Outside of your training runs and workouts, what type of supplemental work do you put in to strengthen yourself as a runner? What's a typical week look like for you?

AW: This is changing for me under my new program. My main supplement to training now is the ElliptiGO. I use it for both recovery and additional training. My last two injuries were stress fractures, so I'm using the GO to take away some of the pounding from running. Scott would have us aqua jog the evening after a hard workout for 25 minutes. I will continue that because I think it helps with recovery. I added in more core and some light weight body lifts on my own over the last year or so to try to work on some imbalances. Mostly I would do Jay Johnson's videos, which are really helpful. 

I am going to work on building something in that is more specific to me, but it has to be done slowly. I do PT exercises at night when watching TV and I will continue to do those. I am also going to start doing form drills again, which I used to do in college. Marathon training turned me into a bit of a shuffler, so I'm trying to open up my stride again. Overall, I'm running less so I have some extra time to add in a few things.

SB: It’s a New Year, so...any fun resolutions you care to share?

AW: I’m going to try to follow Aaron Rodgers advice and just relax.