.by Ricky Quintana

June 14, 2004 -- This past weekend at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, CA, Katelyn Kaltenbach (Smoky Hill, Aurora, CO.), was handed her first defeat in 51 weeks by Texas state mile champion Erin Bedell (Plano West, TX). Her time of 4:45.97 for the mile was her outdoor best and came despite slowing the final 10 meters because of leg cramps.

Kaltenbach has been nearly unbeatable this season posting wins over the best high schoolers at the 2003 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, the NIKE Indoor Championships mile (meet record time of 4:45.32), and Arcadia Invitational. She also won her first state cross country championship and four state track titles at the Colorado State championships.

She will be competing in the two-mile and mile in Raleigh this weekend. The adidas Outdoor Championship serve as the unofficial national high school championships and will feature one of the strongest fields in the history of girls distance running. The two mile will be contested on Friday evening and the mile on Saturday afternoon. Kaltenbach spoke Monday night on her chances in each of the two events, her training and her loss this past weekend.

RQ: How did Golden West go for you?
Kaltenbach: It was OK. I got overheated though. It wasn’t too good. I felt really strong throughout the race. My breathing felt great. I went at 200 meters and I started closing on Erin [Bedell]. Then, with 100 meters left, my hamstrings cramped. Actually, I pretty much walked the last ten meters or so. I figured out what happened afterwards. I wasn’t hydrated. Normally when I run mile races in Colorado, I don’t need to hydrate much, but with the intense heat, I need to learn to hydrate more. It was a good experience to not run well and still run 4:45. It just shows that I’m on the right track.

RQ: It’s been a long time since you lost. Is that something that you think about?
Kaltenbach: Yes. I always thought it was cool to keep winning, but I knew I was going to lose sometime. My coach figured it’s been 51 weeks since I lost [Last loss was at last year’s AOC where she placed 4th]. Hopefully, I’ll have another 51-week streak.

RQ: It’s been a long time since you’ve raced.
Kaltenbach: Yes, it has. It’s been about three to four weeks. I’ll probably be ready for this weekend.

RQ: What is going to be your focus for this weekend?
Kaltenbach: I know both fields are really good. In the two mile, I just want to go out and try to win. In the mile, I’m just hoping to get a really good time. I’ll see how I feel after the two mile to see how I race. See how my legs feel after the two mile.

RQ: You’ve committed to full time running this year. How has that gone?
Kaltenbach: I love it. It’s obviously helped a lot. I’ve run a lot better times than I would have. I won four events at states which is exciting. So it’s going great. I love it and I’m used to it now.

RQ: Do you still get inklings to play soccer?
Kaltenbach: Not really anymore. I’m over soccer.

RQ: How has the season gone for you? Are you happy with it?
Kaltenbach: I’m really happy. It’s been a really good season. I got my 800m time down to 2:09 so that was exciting. I won the four state titles, which was a big goal. I got some school records that I was going for. It’s been great.

RQ: So, you got one of your sister’s [Megan Kaltenbach who is now a freshman at North Carolina] school records?
Kaltenbach: Yeah, I got her 800m school record which I was going for because at the beginning of the season, I was running 2:12. I hadn’t really run an 800m fresh. I got to [run fresh] at my region race and I ended up running 2:09.01.

RQ: What kind of workouts have you been doing? You’ve run two miles and miles. That’s a pretty good range.
Kaltenbach: I know. That’s been kind of crazy. I wasn’t really planning on running a 5k at the Penn Relays. I got the opportunity so I kind of just did it. I’ve just been doing two speed workouts a week. One has been longer intervals and the other one has been shorter, like 300’s and 200’s just to keep my speed up. Then, once every other week, I’ll do a long run.

RQ: So, what kind of mileage are you putting in?
Kaltenbach: The thing is, I don’t know the exact mileage because I run minutes, not miles. My coach does everything. Probably like 35 miles per week. It’s going down because it’s the end of the season.

RQ: What kind of times do you run in the workouts?
Kaltenbach: Like, last week, I was doing 600’s. I was going through the quarter in like 63. I was running 1:36’s. And then I do 200’s. I do two sets of four. My first set, I’ll average 30 and then the following set I’ll average 28. Normally, throughout the workout, I get faster.

RQ: Have you ever done an all out 200 or 400?
Kaltenbach: No, I really haven’t this year. Next year, I’m going to do some open quarters because in that practice where I ran that 63 through the 400 and was able to continue running. My coach thinks I can run some 400’s pretty fast next year. That will help my mile time.

RQ: Who do you expect your main competition to be at AOC?
Kaltenbach: I haven’t really seen who’s all in the two mile yet. Isn’t Jennifer Barringer running the two mile?

RQ: Yes

Kaltenbach: So, obviously her and I saw or someone told me that Sunni Olding was running it. I really like running against Jenny. She brings out the best in me. In the mile, I think there is going to be a bunch of us going for it. There are so many great milers there.

RQ: Has your sister given you any advice? She had to sit out and watch Molly Huddle run a fast two mile so she could rest for the mile on Saturday in the 2002 AOC.

Kaltenbach: Not really. She always wanted to double, but our coach never let her. But, I think they learned from it. The races are on two different days. You’re going all the way out to Raleigh so you might as well do it. I think just to make sure, after the two mile, I need to take a good cool down and recover well and not mess around.

RQ: Which event is going to be your primary one?
Kaltenbach: The two mile is first so I obviously want to win that one because it’s the first one and hopefully get a good time. In the mile, I’m going to see how I’m feeling. I want to break 4:45 and compete well.

RQ: Ultimately, what do you think will be your best event in high school?
Kaltenbach: I’ve run a lot of miles this year, so I like the mile better. I think a 4:45 is better than a 10:20 if you compare it. I would say a miler, but I don’t really know. I haven’t run a two mile in a while.

RQ: You had a chance to watch Caitlin Chock run sub 10 last weekend.
Kaltenbach: That was awesome. That was so fun to watch. She was doing her warm-up and I was doing my cool down and we ran together. We were talking about what she thought she could do. She said ‘ I want to go sub 10:10.’ I knew she was going to go for it. She looked so strong. It was really fun to watch. She made it look really easy [laughing]. Is she running the two mile or the mile at AOC?

RQ: The mile.
Kaltenbach: She made it look really easy [still laughing].

RQ: Does watching her run that time give you hope that you can run fast too?
Kaltenbach: Yes, it does. We’ve run similar times. I think she ran 16:49 for 5k and I ran 16:51. So that was close. After watching her and my workouts are going good, I know it’s possible, maybe, if it feels good.

RQ: You’re strategy has always been to kind of sit back in races.
Kaltenbach: That’s the thing. Because I’m running the mile the next day, I’m not going to be so worried about my time in the two mile as much as place.

RQ: What’s with your hair? Is that a tradition?
Kaltenbach: Yeah, it is. I started doing it my sophomore year. I had the most success my sophomore year compared to my freshman year. So it just started to be a normal thing for me to do. I just wear my hair like that now. Plus, I have a lot of hair so it helps to keep it out of my face. It’s kind of a superstitious thing.