When people talk about the future of American women’s distance running, from the 10K to the Marathon, the diminutive Weini Kelati routinely gets elevated high on the list aspirants.
That was especially true following her American record half-marathon debut in Houston, in which the 27-year-old representing Under Armour Mission Dark Sky came up big in 1:06:25 to eclipse Keira D’Amato’s mark by 14 seconds.
On Saturday, two months after Houston, Kelati returns to the track to take on a prestigious women’s 10K field in Sound Running’s The Ten, in hopes of achieving the Olympic standard qualifying time of 30:40. Her personal best in the 10K stands at 31:04.16, set in London last May after coming off a foot injury. After The Ten, Kelati will lead the U.S. contingent in the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Kelati, an NCAA champion at the University of New Mexico, sat down with Flagstaff Running News to talk about her confidence going into The Ten, her work to improve her tactical racing, and her future in the marathon, among other subjects.
FRN: After setting the American half marathon record in Houston, what has been the focus of your training? Getting the 10K standard or the World Cross Country race – or both?
Kelati: My training has always been the same thing. Just for the Houston half, I increased my mileage a little bit. I always try to run 65 to 67, maybe 68 (miles per week) but then when I decided to run Houston, I went to 70 to 72, which is not very much. There were longer runs on some days, but my mileage has always been fairly low. Right now, getting ready for the 10K, I’m doing what I used to do for every race.
Knowing this is going to be a really fast race, going for the Olympic standard, it’ll be good for me to run on the track. Usually, I worry more about track racing than road racing, because I feel like I can handle the pace on the road. Going on the track and doing speed workouts, I think that’ll get me ready for World cross (in late March) as well.
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