Blogs : NCAA Division III Blog

Interviews: Laura Paulsen of Johns Hopkins

(Photo courtesy of the Johns Hopkins athletics website)

Paulsen is a freshman at Johns Hopkins University.  This past weekend she finished second overall helping her team to a third place finish at the Centennial Conference Championships.  Her second place finish was the highest individual finish ever by a Johns Hopkins female runner.  A third place team finish was also the highest ever team finish in school history at the Centennial Conference Championships.  A first place individual finish at the Gettysburg Invitational on October 14^th marked the fourth time of five races that she finished as the overall individual winner.

By: Derick Lawrence (10/22/2006)

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself (where you’re from, what high school you went to, how you got started running)?

            Well, I lived in Westford, Massachusetts for my first five years, Cupertino, CA for the next four, Boulder, CO for the four after that, and then I’ve lived in Baltimore, MD for the past five years. I went to high school at the Bryn Mawr School for Girls, which is only two miles away from Hopkins, so it’s fun to run there every now and then to see my old teammates and teachers. I think I’ve been running all my life, but I really got into running in high school. I actually tried out for the tennis team at first, but got cut, so I joined the cross-country team because they didn’t have tryouts or cuts. My first season went really well, I think I was the number five varsity runner by the end, and so I just kept running for the remaining eleven seasons of cross-country and track throughout high school.

What were your PR's in high school (cross country and track)?

            For cross-country my best 3 mile time was 18:19 and my best 5k time was 19:21. I ran a 5:09 1600, 11:09 3200, and 2:19 800 for track too.

What was your training like this past summer?

            Coach van Allen gave me a summer schedule to follow that started out with around 40 mile weeks and then increased up to around 70 mile weeks by the end of the summer. I had never run that much before, but I think it was a good way of building up my endurance for cross-country season. He had me running from six to nine times a week for runs from morning runs of three miles to long runs of fourteen miles. I had never run more than eleven miles before this past summer, so to have an easy day of nine miles was a little difficult to mentally, but not so much physically, get myself motivated to do. Because I live so close to Hopkins, I was able to run with some members from the team, which was really fun because by the time pre-season started, I had already met some people on the team and was able to hear about what the upcoming season would be like.

What is your favorite workout(s) during the cross country season and what does it include?

            This season we’ve done so many 1000m repeats I feel like I could run the two different loops we have backwards and blindfolded. Our other workouts have been short intervals at mile race pace and some long tempo runs at our threshold pace. We haven’t really done any hill workouts since pre-season, which is fine by me because I don’t like running hills very much. My favorite workout has probably been running mile repeats where we run a mile four times at our slightly slower than race, but faster than tempo pace with around two to three minutes of recovery.

What are your goals for this cross country season (individual and team)?

            We have Conferences coming up on October 28^th, so I’m hoping everyone is able to run really well there. It would be awesome to win, but my plan so far is to stay with the top girls and see how I feel during the race. All the girls have been running really well this season too, so hopefully we’ll be able to have a great team finish too. After Conferences, Regionals is on November 11^th where I’m really hoping to make it to Nationals. I know that’s a pretty ambitious goal, so for that day I think that if everyone can just run as fast as they can and be happy about how they finish, that would be a great goal to achieve.

Do you walk, bike, or drive to class and/or practice? If you bike or drive, what kind of bike or car do you have?

            I live on campus, so I walk to all of my classes.

How has the transition to college life been going for you (living on-campus, academics, etc.)?   

Wyman Quadrangle

(Photo courtesy of the Johns Hopkins website)

            I’m really enjoying college so far. The transition couldn’t have been better – I love running with the team, studying for all of my classes, and spending time with the great friends I’ve made. It’s definitely a lot different from high school, but I like how much more freedom and responsibility I have now.

What are the dining options like at Johns Hopkins University?  Does most of the team eat together?

            There are several places to eat at Hopkins, but a lot of people from the team normally go to the main cafeteria after practice. It’s nice because the team is so big, that at any point during the day, you’ll probably be able to know someone from the team in the dining hall. The food is pretty good and it’s fun to talk to everyone, but it’s sometimes bad because it’s easy to waste a lot of time there.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

            Ten years from now I see myself as a second year orthopaedic surgery resident who runs during her free time. As of now, I’m planning on going to med school to become an orthopaedic surgeon. Hopefully I’ll still be running, but maybe not as much as I do now.

Is there a certain cheer or routine the women's team yells or carries out in the team huddle prior to a race?  If so, could you describe it for us.

(Photo courtesy of the Johns Hopkins cross country team)

            Prior to the race, Coach van Allen usually gives us a quick pep talk and then we’ve been just yelling “Go Hop,” which is alright, but hopefully we’ll come up with a better cheer for Conferences.

On the day of a race, is there anything you do to mentally prepare yourself (i.e. pre-race routine, listen to music, read a book, etc.)?

            What I do before a race normally depends on the race I’m running. If it’s a smaller race, I just follow along with the team – warm up together, stretch, get people excited to run, etc. If it’s a really important race though, I sometimes get nervous, but I really try to mentally prepare myself for the race either by listening to music, doing a longer warm up, or just separating myself from the team for a few minutes to calm down. I try not to get too nervous about races because running and racing should be fun, but sometimes getting a little nervous is inevitable.

You recently won the Gettysburg Invitational on the 6k course helping your team to a 2^nd place finish.  Could you describe this race for us and your thoughts looking back at this race.

            Before the race, I thought that Loyola was going to be running their number one girl and so I thought she was going to be a pretty tough competitor. Once the race got started though and I didn’t see her, I started to relax and smile while maintaining a good racing pace. Coach van Allen told us that we should try and stick together more as a team, so during the race I was hoping that everyone was able to run with the person they were supposed to and that they were having a good racing day. I was really happy when I found out that we had beaten Loyola, they are a Division I school, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that well at Conferences and Regionals.

What's the running environment like at Johns Hopkins University?  Where does the team train?

            We have several runs that we do and then three main places where we do workouts. There are a few trails near campus that we run on a lot, which is nice because then we aren’t running solely on pavement. When we don’t have a meet on the weekends, we usually get together and Coach van Allen has a bus drive us to a nearby, but sometimes not so nearby, trail. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the trails that we run on, but they look like pretty basic trails – they are lots of trees and a small stream that runs along the trail and an occasional street that you have to cross – they’re good running routes.

Any parting words for readers?

            Just run happy J

Thanks to Laura for a great interview.