By Cindy King

23-year old Jessica Trengove of Adelaide has been having a stellar preparation for the upcoming World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning, China on the 16th of October.  After placing third in this year's City to Surf, she has since gone on to win National Cross Country in Brisbane and the City to Bay road race in her home town of Adelaide. She will be running the anchor leg for Australia at the Chiba Ekiden relay in Japan, and we caught up with her between work and training runs.

RT: How long have you been running?  How did you get started in running?

JT:  I started running a bit of cross-country in primary school in Naracoorte (a country town about 3.5 hours south east of Adelaide). A large pine forest and nature park was on the boundary of our school so we'd host the interschool cross country competitions each year. I first competed at Sapsasa in year 5 and made my first cross country state team in 2000. I moved to Adelaide as a boarder in year 10 and my coach at the time used to pick me up from the boarding house and take me to training which I am very grateful for, or continuing training would have been very difficult. I've been running ever since then although it wasn't until about two and a half years ago, after I returned from a two month holiday overseas, that I decided to give it a serious go and start training a lot harder.  

RT:    What are your personal bests for your favourite distances? 
  
JT:  My favourite distances are 10 000m up to the half-marathon and my PBs are 33.38min for 10k, 41.17 for 12k, and 72.48 for the half marathon.

RT:  Congratulations on being national cross country champion!!! Was this one of your goals?

JT:  Thanks! It was certainly one of my goals for sometime during my career but I didn't think it would happen quite so soon so I was very excited to achieve that goal this year

RT:  You will be representing Australia at the World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning, China on October 16th. How is training going?

JT:  Things are going well so far. I'm at a stage where I'm just trying to keep up consistent training and maintain a high mileage without wearing my body out too much. There was a patch of consecutive races in early August which was great fun but it's been nice to settle back into a training routine over the past few weeks. I'm fortunate that I work part-time as a physio at Flex Rehabilitation Clinic (a private Adelaide practice) near home and my colleagues are very supportive so when I have any little niggles I'm able to deal with them straight away.

RT:  What is a typical training week for you?

JT:  I start work late in the morning and generally finish later in the evening so I'm able to go for my long runs at the beginning of the day. A general week involves a longer run on  Monday, Wednesday and Sunday mornings (between 60 - 120 minutes). I will do a jog on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings and then a session in the evening. This will be either a fartlek/repetition session on Tues/Thurs and a tempo or threshold run on Saturdays. Friday is a slow jog, which is always nice and relaxing. All up it equals between 120-140 kms for the week.

RT:  Do you follow any special diet or eating regime?

JT:  Before I was training a high mileage I used to avoid eating dessert/junk food in the lead up to races but I'm not as strict with that anymore - I've found that since I've been training a higher mileage, I need to eat quite a lot to maintain a healthy weight. I seem to be more susceptible to colds and injury when I neglect the nutrition side of things. I've always had a pretty healthy and balanced diet though because my parents have raised us to be that way. Porridge with nuts and yoghurt for breakfast every morning would be my main regime!

RT:  Do you have any running heroes and/or mentors?

JT:  Yes. Benita Willis has always been one of my heroes. I went to the Sydney 2000 Olympics with my family and we watched the women's 5000m event. Benita came into the crowd afterwards and signed my and my sisters' tickets and was really down-to-earth. We were so excited and I've sort of followed her performances ever since. Steve Moneghetti and Sean Crichton are mentors that I guess I've been exposed to through my coach Adam Didyk and the recent Fitzy's 5km event that Steve came over for. It was great to be able to go on a run with Steve in Adelaide and chat to him about a lot of things - I have a lot of respect for him as a person and for his incredible running ability - I like that he's still racing and loving it!

RT:  We have heard that your brother is an AFL player.  Is this correct?  If so, how has his sporting career influenced you, if at all?

  
JT:  Yes. He was drafted to Melbourne Football Club last year, so this was his first season. His sporting career has definitely had an influence on me; in fact both he and my sister have. My sister was rowing at a high level at the time I decided to have a serious go at the running so the three of us were all training hard for our respective sports. I think this created a motivating environment and we've always respected each other's sporting commitments. Jack (my brother) and I have been on the occasional training run together but I think an important influence he has had is in seeing him achieve his dream of making AFL as it helped me to believe I could reach my own goals and inspired me to continue the hard work and training towards achieving them.

RT:  Were you happy with your third placing in the City to Surf?

JT:  I was. I achieved the time that I was aiming for and loved the event. Lara and Cassie are brilliant runners and were very deserving of first and second places. I have to admit it was a much more challenging and grueling course than I imagined, despite what everyone had said about the undulating hills throughout but it made it even more satisfying to cross the line!

RT:  What was it like to win the City to Bay in your home town of Adelaide? 
  
JT:  Fantastic. I got a real buzz from the excitement of the home crowd at the finish and it was special having my parents and close friends there, supporting me at the finish line. The following week was exciting too as a lot of the clients at Flex clinic (where I work as a physiotherapist) were happy for me and passing on their congratulations. The City to Bay means a lot to me because it's an event I was always fascinated in as a young runner and first competed in the 12km in 2005. It is certainly one of my favourite running events and one that I always look forward to. I always enjoy celebrating my training group (Team Tempo's) accomplishments over a breakfast down at Glenelg afterwards!

RT: What are your running goals?

JT:  Ultimately I would love to represent Australia at the Olympics in either London or Rio and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Mid-term goals are to make the World Cross-country and Ekiden relay teams. I hope to have a go at the marathon at some stage in the next few years.