• 9 months ago
Three-time British champion James West is eyeing up an Olympic Summer after retaining his British Indoor 3000m title earlier this year.
Transcript
00:00 From a 13-year-old picking up running in Ramsgate to a multiple British champion and Olympic
00:06 prospect, middle distance runner James West has had a year to remember, making his European
00:12 debut after winning his first title at the British Indoor Championships in February last
00:17 year in the 3000m final.
00:21 The Tunbridge Athletics Club racer's roots are here in Kent, but he studied at Loughborough
00:25 University and in Oregon in the US.
00:29 Joining him along the way among his former mentors is George Gandy, the trainer who helped
00:34 double Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe score three world records.
00:40 Retaining his British title at the same set of games this year, James West's attention
00:45 has quickly turned to this summer's Olympic Games.
00:49 But in order to get there, among transitioning to the 5000m race, he'll need to match the
00:54 Olympic standard of 13 minutes and 5 seconds, shaving off around 14 from his personal best.
01:02 Determined to do so, James has one more hurdle this summer to secure his spot and finally
01:07 become an Olympian.
01:09 Well I caught up with James earlier today and started by asking him how he's feeling
01:15 ahead of what will be a huge summer.
01:19 Although I'm obviously super excited to try and make Olympic Games and even the Europeans
01:23 this summer, obviously it's very fine margins depending on whether I make it or not.
01:28 So it'll be sort of devastation or glorious joy kind of thing.
01:33 I'm in hard training at the moment, it's a lot of hard work and I'm pretty tired all
01:37 the time, but hopefully by the end of the season it'll be well worth it.
01:41 And those fine margins you're talking about, I believe it's about 14 seconds, that's the
01:46 time from your best to the Olympic standard for you to qualify.
01:51 Could you just explain what that is and where you've got to get to?
01:54 14 seconds, it sounds like a decent amount, but it also doesn't as well.
01:59 I try not to look at the final time necessarily as the goal because at the end of the day
02:04 I can't necessarily control whether I run that time or not.
02:08 It might just happen on the night, it could be due to the weather, the quality of the
02:12 competition, but what I can control is if I just do things right kind of every day really.
02:17 Eating well, sleeping well, obviously training as hard as I can.
02:21 That time I ran in February was 13.19, we're definitely already a good step ahead of that
02:26 a month later now in March.
02:28 So I'm really confident, I think we're pretty close to that kind of shape right now to run
02:33 that kind of time, 13.05.
02:35 And as you said, there's only so much preparation you can put in, it is about the night, about
02:39 how you perform on the day.
02:41 How does that feel pressure-wise?
02:43 We're talking about training physically, but mentally how do you prepare for something
02:47 like that?
02:48 I guess I've been doing it for a number of years now, so I try not to overthink those
02:52 evenings.
02:53 I just go out and run as hard as I can, make sure I'm prepared perfectly into that and
02:58 hope that nothing obscure kind of happens like illness or injury leading in.
03:02 I'd say the biggest difficulty with our sport is that factor that you have to be ready on
03:09 one day.
03:10 I remember I've spoken to people about it in the past and our Olympic trials is always
03:15 a very, very stressful day because that will be at the end of June or start of July.
03:20 And even if I have the qualifying time, I then have to get top three in that race to
03:26 qualify.
03:27 You just have to do what you can do to prepare perfectly for that day.
03:29 And if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.
03:30 Tell me a little bit about that difference between 3000 metres and 5000.
03:34 I mean, that's almost double.
03:36 How does the, not only the training, but the performance on the day, how does that differ
03:41 as an athlete?
03:42 It's a good question.
03:46 The 3000 now isn't even an event in the Olympics or the World Championships outdoor.
03:50 It's mainly only an indoor event, which is always fun because I think the 3000 is actually
03:54 a very exciting event.
03:55 It's a mix between the 15 and the five.
03:57 In our sport, we talk about two different kind of zones.
03:59 We talk about aerobic and anaerobic.
04:01 Anaerobic is without oxygen and aerobic is with.
04:05 The 1500, for example, is much more anaerobic.
04:08 It's probably like 80 to 85% anaerobic, which means it's more of a speed event in that sense.
04:15 The 5K is then on the opposite side, very aerobic.
04:18 So it's about 80 to 90% aerobic, which means generally it's how good you are efficiently
04:24 using oxygen really at high speeds.
04:27 The 3000 kind of combines both, which is why it's a very exciting event because it allows
04:31 people from the 15 and the 5K to come together.
04:35 I think it's a bit disappointing that the IAF don't have the 3000 as an event because
04:40 I actually think it's very, very different to both the 15 and the five.
04:43 But the problem is it probably dispersed too many people across all three events there.
04:50 And James, just to talk a bit more about your journey, I mean, you've been all over the
04:53 place, it seems.
04:54 You went to the US and Oregon training up there.
04:57 You've now moved up north.
04:58 But bringing it back down south, back down here to Kenya, originally from Thanet, a member
05:03 of Tunbridge Athletic Club, things have massively taken off.
05:06 But how important is it for an athlete that hopefully gets all the way to the Paris Olympics
05:11 to stay sort of with your ground roots where you started here in the county?
05:14 That is super important.
05:16 Yeah, I've always, Mark Hookway was my coach at Tunbridge during my years from about 16
05:21 to 18 before I went off to Loughborough University.
05:24 And I've always kept in touch with Mark ever since I left, three days at Loughborough,
05:29 three days at Oregon, and even now.
05:31 And I'm actually doing the National Road Relays in two weeks' time, which will be in Sutton
05:35 Coalfield.
05:36 And that's kind of like a club level me.
05:39 And I always try and help out when I can.
05:41 I'm very appreciative of the effort and the help that he's given me over the years.
05:45 And he's definitely been a part of my process and journey to get to where I am now.
05:49 So when I'm home at Christmas time and sort of some breaks, I always try and show my face
05:53 and hopefully inspire some of the younger age groups as I obviously went through those
05:58 and know what it's like to learn from people now, hopefully my level.
06:03 I'm very appreciative for everything they've done for me.
06:05 And I wouldn't be here now without their help.
06:07 So yeah, I'm always trying to help out.
06:10 Must be incredibly proud of you as well.
06:12 Now talking about inspiring a younger generation, give us an idea of what it's like a day in
06:16 the life of James, of someone training to become an Olympian with these wins behind
06:21 you.
06:22 What's it like day to day?
06:23 Obviously, what I do is a bit of a luxury.
06:25 I don't have to do a nine to five job.
06:28 And I'm always very appreciative of that fact.
06:31 So I just make sure I take every sort of hour as an opportunity to get better.
06:36 But day in the life is really training eight to sort of 12, nine to 12, nine to one-ish.
06:41 And then I get a few hours off in the afternoon and then out again for another double workout.
06:46 So I'm generally training twice a day, very disciplined on the sort of diet side of things
06:50 and my sleep, but in bed by 10 most evenings.
06:55 It's a disciplined life.
06:56 And unfortunately, I've had to sacrifice a lot of things along the way, like in terms
06:59 of seeing friends and stuff like that.
07:02 They all understand what I do and we all keep in touch.
07:06 And that's nice that they appreciate that.
07:08 James, thank you so much for your time.
07:09 It was great to talk to you and best of luck.
07:12 We'll be following your journey.

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