Not many athletes will confess to a mildly dramatic improvement, late in their career, thanks to a largely undetectable increase in their blood value. Although that’s only one perfectly natural reason why Lizzie Lee is now first Irish woman in line for selection for next summer’s Rio Olympic marathon.
After running 2:32:51 in Sunday’s Berlin marathon - knocking over five minutes off her previous best - Lee is now safely inside the 2:42:00 qualifying standard for Rio. She’s not yet certain of selection, but at age 35, Lee is now the fifth fastest Irish woman of all time, with every chance of making it to Brazil.
Given she only started competitive athletics at age 26, and combines her running with a full-time job with Apple, in Cork, it’s a significant breakthrough - and Lee credits at least some of it to the perfectly natural process of childbirth. Last summer, having narrowly missed out on the European Championship marathon in Zurich, she gave birth to daughter Lucy, and since then, there’s been an extra pep in her step towards Rio qualification.
There is still some debate as to how pregnancy may help female distance runners in the long run. Red blood cell count does increase, improving endurance and oxygen capacity, although in recounting Sunday’s 2:32:51, Lee also points to a more psychological advantage.
“The last few miles of Berlin were the hardest thing I’ve even done,” she says, “and yeah, harder than childbirth. They think there is an increase in cardiac output, after childbirth, and I certainly feel stronger. I was carrying an extra two stone, for much of the pregnancy, and trained through it, too, up to 13 weeks before.
“So it’s a bit like altitude training for about six months. You’ve lost some blood, and your heart is beating faster, and in the end all that increases the cardiac output.
“Then there’s the childbirth itself. They say if you can deal with that, you can deal with any pain in the world. And you can. The difference with the marathon as well is that when it got really hard, I knew I only had two miles to go. With childbirth, I’d no idea how long it was going to go on.”
Lee was back at her desk on Monday morning, and also credits the extra appreciation of work-life-running balance that has come since the birth of Lucy: she also credits an extremely supportive husband, Paul Kelleher, and a network off support from both sides of the family, without which the Rio dream would never have even started.
“There is that calming effect with motherhood, too, even though most people wouldn’t say I’m a calm person. I injured my hip in the national half marathon, in August, and the same day Lucy was quite sick. So I wasn’t stressed at all about the injury. I was just worried about her, being sick, and not knowing what was wrong with her. So there’s a sense of perspective there. You don’t sweat the smaller things as much.
“And if I had run badly in Berlin, I was still flying home on Sunday evening for a cuddle, with Lucy, with the husband, all the family. It really brings that balance, sense of perspective.”
Then there’s Donie Walsh, the famed coach at Leevale AC in Cork - himself an Irish Olympic marathon representative, in Munich in 1972: without Walsh, Lee might never have begun competitive running, having started out in the triathlon, while working in Chicago.
“No, I didn’t have any junior career, so of course the Olympics were never in the conscience until very recently. That triathlon in Chicago was also raising funds for Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, and Eamonn Coghlan was there. Afterwards Eamonn took me aside and said I wasn’t a triathlete, I was a runner. Still, I stuck with the triathlon until 2009, when I came back to Ireland, and joined up with Leevale.”
Not long after that, Walsh convinced her to abandon the bike and the pool, and soon Lee was leading the way in the Cork cross country scene - the first international breakthrough coming in 2012, when she was part of the Irish team that won gold at the European Cross Country in Budapest. She also tried to qualify for the London Olympic marathon, although fell short with her 2:46:33 debut in Rotterdam. Somewhat ironically, missing the 2014 European Championships also proved perfect timing.
“By then I was 33, really wanted to have a baby, so the choice was wait to see about Zurich, and forget about Rio. But we were just married, then I got pregnant, and so the baby came first. Hopefully it’s all worked out. I’m certainly not counting my chickens. There are plenty of good women to run yet, before Rio is decided.
“But all that was in my head in Berlin, missing out on London, and Zurich. There are no shortcuts in the marathon. You just have to get the work done. Talent will only get you so far. I’m not talking myself down here, but I know I’m not the most talented runner in the world. But I know I’ve put in the graft, the hard work, and have the head for it now, too. I can talk myself out of bad things happening.
“We’ve done a 22 mile run in Cork, every Sunday morning, for the last year, unless there was something big on. That’s the groundwork. And I wouldn’t be still running if it wasn’t for Donie. He rang me very second day during my pregnancy. Not many coaches would call a pregnant woman, for nine months. And it’s always fun at training, always banter.
“I’m taking a short break, then all the training and preparation is about Rio. I’m not presuming I’m going, not at all, but I’m in contention, and I’m going to train like I am, until someone tells me I’m not. Because if I do make the start line in Rio I want to be in the best possible condition I can be.”
PANEL: Top 5 fastest Irish women marathon runners:
