An elite athlete can’t make it to the Olympics alone. Daniel Paproth meets marathon runner Lisa Weightman and the dedicated team behind her mission to London.
There is perhaps no more solitary sporting event than the marathon – 42.195 kilometres of blood, sweat and mind games. But when Lisa Weightman qualified for the London Olympics in October last year, she knew she hadn’t done it alone.
As she crossed the line 12th at the Frankfurt marathon, securing her place in London with a time of 2:29:23, a team of supporters was right behind her.
“We were so relieved it had worked out,’’ says the 33-year-old who lives in Preston. “We’’ being Weightman’s husband and training partner Lachlan, her close-knit family, devoted support crew at the Victorian Institute of Sport, and her Canberra-based coach Dick Telford.
“Dick is fantastic, [Lachlan and I] email him every night with the details of our session and he tweaks the program,” Weightman says. “He knows from experience and he is great for planning because I don’t have to think.”
Telford lives and works in Canberra but is in constant contact with Weightman. After each session, she sends him vital statistics such as heart rates and times collected by a Garmin GPS watch. Telford then adjusts her program accordingly.
At the VIS, Weightman is backed by a full suite of professionals helping her get to the games. There’s a physiotherapist, a sports scientist, a dietitian, a soft-tissue therapist, and the track and field program manager. ‘‘I have fantastic support,” says Weightman. “All these people help with the little things as well as the big picture.”
She says the team members were particularly valuable when her training was restricted by osteitis pubis, a pelvic injury. They’ve also helped her acclimatise for varying marathon conditions, ensure her diet is perfect down to the last kilojoule, and myriad other details.
During a typical week in the lead-up to London, Weightman manages to fit in consultations with Telford, sessions with the VIS and run about 170 kilometres, all squeezed around her full-time job as a business consultant for IBM. It’s no wonder she needs a hand.
Last year’s Frankfurt marathon was the culmination of years of hard work following Weightman’s Olympic debut at Beijing in 2008, where she placed 33rd in the marathon. She came into her own in 2010, winning the Nagano marathon in April with a personal best time of 2:28:48, then overcame the oppressive heat at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in August, to collect the bronze medal.
This was followed by a frustrating 2011, which saw both Weightman and husband, Lachlan, “sitting on the couch for three months”, struck down by osteitis pubis.
Determined to get her career back on track, Weightman took off to Boulder, Colorado, for a two-month “get-fit-quick” program before Frankfurt. “It worked; I got fit in a very short time,” she says. “I was fit enough to run my qualifier. It was the hardest marathon because I hadn’t raced or pounded on the road all year.”
While Weightman says she is the fastest marathon runner in her household, there is “no doubt” having Lachlan as a training partner has helped improve her career. “He’s faster than me in any other distance than marathon at the moment, so he can pace me and tell me if I’m working too hard and need to relax,” she says. “But it’s also just getting out the door in winter. Getting up at 5.20am, putting on a beanie, gloves and running in the dark. To be able to get each other up and out the door is a big asset.”
The extended Weightman family is also extremely close. As well as Lachlan, there’s nephew Thomas, 6, who, as a toddler, nicknamed his aunt “Goa” (baby speak for ‘‘Go Aunty Lisa’’), mum Diane, father Peter and sister Jodi.
Diane describes her daughter as “inspirational, actually.”
“The dedication she has had to put in to achieve this is amazing. We’re very proud. But we were proud beforehand anyway.”
Sister Jodi agrees. “We’re all enjoying her moment, it’s pretty special. And she’s doing it for the love of it, not for an occupation.”
Dad, Peter, a former Fitzroy and Preston football player now working with Collingwood, says sport has always been in the Weightman blood. “Some years ago Jodi and I would go for runs and Lisa would come along,” he says. “She was pretty young and we had to carry her home because she couldn’t make it. But to her credit she has always been a fighter. We hope we gave her a good base and she has capitalised on it from there.”
Reflecting on her life before competing in London, Weightman says she is thrilled to get another shot at Olympic glory. She hopes to improve on her result in Beijing, where she admits she ran too conservatively. “I walked the Great Wall of China the next day’’.
She’s now ready to take on the world’s best. “On the day, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she says. “I don’t know what I’m capable of because I don’t think I’ve achieved my best yet. Hopefully that happens in London.”
TEAM WEIGHTMAN
Dick Telford
Coach
‘‘I met Lisa when she was two months old. I was playing footy for Preston with her father and I got to know him. Peter gave me a call when Lisa was in her mid-20s because she was now a runner and having trouble with stress fractures. Over about two years, we finally got them right. I’ve been coaching Lisa full time for the past few years and even though I’m based in Canberra, Lisa can send me a report after a run that shows the details of what she does. Every segment I give her I can see she’s improving. Lisa is a very intelligent runner. She understands it very well. I’m confident she’ll be on the line, she’ll be able to run her best. She knows the right pace and can carry out a plan with confidence. I think she’ll finish off well and make Australians proud of what she’s done.’’
Derek Boothroyd
Track and field program
manager, VIS
‘‘I’ve been working with Lisa since before the Beijing Olympics. I provide a plan including areas such as sports science, physiotherapy, nutrition, strength and conditioning. Lisa took the step up from shorter distances to marathons and hasn’t looked back. Her London preparation started a year ago, so we’re getting to the tail-end now. She’s in the top two marathon runners in Australia and has come from being a very good domestic athlete to a fixture on international teams.’’
Danielle Stefano
Sports scientist/physiologist
‘‘We implemented a heat-acclimatisation plan for Lisa in the lead-up to Beijing and Delhi. We also implemented altitude training via an altitude tent, which allowed her to reap the rewards living at simulated high altitude and maintain speed work by training at sea level. Hydration is also critical in a marathon, so I have helped Lisa look at what she is consuming in a race. She is an absolute pleasure to work with and always has a smile on her face. I definitely think she can shake things up in London!’’
Laura Baquie
Physiotherapist
‘‘I work with track and field athletes like Lisa, helping them with preventive strategies for injuries and treating them. For a marathon runner it’s more about overuse, whereas on the footy field it’s more trauma. Last year was a challenge for Lisa as she had problems with her pelvis so we had to offload her from her running. We had quite a few months of cross-training, water running and working on her technique. It took a long time to recover but she did really well to get through that and I think she’ll do well in London.’’
Kylie Andrew
Dietitian
‘‘For an athlete like Lisa it’s all about fuelling and making sure she’s got enough energy to fuel the training she does. It’s like a car – if you put the wrong petrol in, the car is not going to run very well. If Lisa is putting the wrong types of food into her body, she won’t be able to do the distances and training she needs to maintain the pace she needs on race day. I don’t think there’s a harder worker than Lisa in terms of her training and nutrition. She’s a very smart girl who makes sure she’s ticked all the boxes and considered all areas.’’
Arnaud Domange
Soft-tissue therapist
‘‘We put in place a treatment plan based on an athlete’s history and what’s happened during the week. We use a hands on approach which enables them to get rid of pain or inhibitions or injuries. Lisa is the most level-headed athlete I’ve met in quite a while. She looks after herself very well mentally and physically.’’
