3:33 1500m man, Mark Fountain, is one of Australia’s fastest ever 1500m runners. Currently based in Arkansas, in the USA, Mark has had an impressive career which culminated in him winning a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 1500m in Melbourne. Although not as well known, Mark has a better personal best than Craig Mottram over 1500m. We catch up with Mark as he prepares for his assault on a Beijing qualifying standard.

Profile:

- 1500m: 3:33.68. 3rd fastest Australian of all time.

 - 1 Mile: 3:53.24. 4th fastest Australian of all time.

 - 1 Mile Indoors 3:54.77. Australian record

 - 1000m indoor 2.20.3 Australian record

 - 3rd place, 2006 Commonwealth Games, Melbourne.

RunnersTribe: Mark, thanks for agreeing to this interview. You got injured last year racing in Monte Carlo and the Osaka World Championships and consequently needed surgery. What happened and are you now over this set-back?

MF: Yes. Last year was a pretty rough year for me injury wise. I had two hernia operations in May after having a lot of trouble with my stomach for a few months. That was injury number one. Injury number two was a bit more sinister. I had been having a fair amount of trouble with my groin for quite some time and then I fell in a 1500m race in Monte Carlo with 200m to go. I landed heavily on my left knee in the fall and, to cut a long story short, I ended up cracking my pubic bone. I finally got a right diagnosis from Tim Barbour and the Australian Medical staff in Osaka. My performance in Osaka was very disappointing, but that’s life. I certainly wouldn’t go into such a competition with an injury ever again. I started back training on January 1st and after a slow start, I feel I am right on track now and ready to race well and pain free again.

RT: How is the training in Arkansas going? Obviously you are hoping to run an A-qualifier by June 23rd, what races to you have lined up over the next few months ?

MF: Training has been going really well. My coach had me training pretty much on my own for about 4 months just doing lots of 8-10mile steady-state runs and 4-6mile fartlek type sessions. I have only been on the track 5 times now since Osaka, but feel I am a lot stronger than I have ever been. My coach and I decided to hold off on working on my speed until later in the season as my main goal is to peak for the Games. I am confident I can get the A-qualifier while still holding off on the speed and saving it until the latter part of the season. I have races lines up at the Adidas classic in LA next weekend and at the Reebok Classic in New York two weeks following.

RT: You are originally from Victoria, Australia. How important was your move to North America? Do you feel you could have achieved the same things if you had remained based in Australia?

MF: The move to Arkansas was the best move I have ever made, both personally (I married Erica Sigmont who was at university over here) and for my running…..ironically enough I guess I have Said Aouita (former Moroccan world record holder and controversial former head coach of Australia’s distance program) and Athletics Australia to thank for that. My coach over here is truly remarkable and I owe all my current success to him. I have been very fortunate to have great coaches from an early age. Tom Kelly took care of me from the age of 12 till I was 18 and then Bruce Scriven and now John McDonnell. Whilst they are all great coaches, John really knows how to get the best out of me….I think he often knows how I feel more so than I do. That enables him to either push me or take it easy on me. I also have great training partners Alistair Cragg from Ireland, Josephat Boit from Kenya, Dan Lincoln and Seth Summerside from USA also there is a handful of 3.40 1500m runners at the University. The group make’s runs easy and training sessions competitive.

RT: A lot has been discussed over the years about the inefficiencies of Athletics Australia and the need for changes, particularly with their selection process. Are there any areas in particular that you think need improving in order to make the system more beneficial for the athletes?

MF: I think being in the southern hemisphere we are at a huge disadvantage right off the bat. Our trials are about 4-5months earlier than most countries in the world and the majority of our athletes are forced to peak too soon in order to qualify for the big meet, resulting in a lot of our athletes being burnt out by the time the Championships roll around. If you look at the Sydney Olympics which was probably our most successful the trials were only one month before the Games. I think the best solution would be to push our season back two months and have the trials in May or June and not February. We have the weather in Australia to make it possible, and this would have our athletes at their peak at the most important time.

RT: Altitude tents seem to be a hot topic at the moment in colleges throughout North America. You yourself use one. How have you found it? Have you noticed much benefit and doesn’t it make it a little hard to get a good night’s sleep?

MF: I actually purchased a CAT hypoxic tent in April of this year and have been sleeping around 11000 feet. Although I have only been sleeping in it for about 6 weeks, I do think they work. I feel I can recover in a shorter amount of time between repeats. My wife and I also have asthma, and we have both had improvements with that. Some people say that it is harder to get a good nights sleep, but we have not had that problem at all…if anything, we have had a deeper nights rest. I think people adapt to altitude conditions differently, but I can already feel like the tent has been a benefit to me.

RT: Can you talk me through a typical week of training during your winter and summer training phases?

MF:

Winter
Monday: am 5miles pm 10miles steady in 49-50min
Tuesday: am 5miles pm 10miles and weights
Wednesday: am 5miles pm 12miles
Thursday: am 5miles pm fartlek 4-6miles of repeats from 30-90sec
Friday am 5miles pm 10miles and weights
Saturday am 14miles
Sunday pm 5-8miles very easy and weights
Total 90-95miles

Summer
Monday am 5miles pm track longer repeats or a ladder ie 1600-1200-800-600-500-400-300-200
Tuesday am 5miles pm 8miles and weights
Wednesday am 5miles pm 10miles
Thursday am 5miles pm track quicker repeats ie 8x400s (90sec/rec) in 56.5
Friday pm 10miles and weights
Saturday am 12miles
Sunday 5-8miles and weights
In track season I generally do 6-8x100m strides after most runs
Total 80-85miles

RT:Do you lift weights?

MF: Yes I do. It is more of a circuit actually. It consists of:

4way hip 3 x 10 each leg
Squats 3x10 each leg
Lunge 3x10 each leg
Leg ext 3x10 each leg
Hamstring curl 3x10 each leg
Back 2x50
Abs x 500
Arm running x 100 (sometimes dumbbell exercises as well)
I do the 100 sit ups as a recovery between the main leg exercises. All leg exercises are done as singles (I do this to try and maintain an equal balance between both legs). The circuit is more designed for general maintenance and injury prevention rather than weight gain.

RT:Do you have any track sessions which stand out as being your favorite or most worthwhile?

MF:In season my favorite session is an 800m down. Its an 800-600-400-300-200 and may have a 500 as well if coach is being nasty. We start in around 1.50-51 and work down. Also the 8x400s are a good indicator to me, along with an 8-10mile steady state.

RT:How about pure speed development, what sort of speed training do you incorporate into you training?

MF:I am pretty fortunate to have pretty good natural speed so I try not to work on that area all that much. I feel I am better off training other areas such as lactic tolerance or endurance. I have a theory that I could train all year working on my speed and improve my 200m time by about .50sec but if I trained more toward a 10km I could improve by almost 1minute….there is a lot more to gain from longer work than pure speed. I won’t ever do anything shorter than 200m repeats and I only get to do 200s a few days before a race for turnover.

RT:You are sponsored by Adidas and thus are a full time athlete. Do you think you could reach similar heights if you had to balance training with a regular job?

MF:I am very fortunate to have Adidas as my sponsor. I find that I really do better when I can rest during the day between training sessions. For me ,working throughout the day would be detrimental to my running. However, I think it differs from athlete to athlete. Some athletes like to have full days to take their mind of training, but having Adidas support me, I have the opportunity to give everything towards training, and resting between…while also having time to hang out at the local coffee shop!

RT: Mark, thanks for the interview, all the best for your Olympic qualifying campaign. We hope to see you line up in Beijing.

 MF:Thanks very much and best of luck with the website….I am already a fan of the video section!!!

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