Cat Morrison is on a roll

May 27, 2011

Catriona Morrison has plenty to be proud of regarding her triathlon career. In 6 and a half seasons as a professional, the 34-year-old has won three gold medals in ITU long course and short course duathlon World Championships, 7 ITU world championship medals in all. She has won 6 Ironman 70.3s and two WTC Ironman victories, set the fastest women’s debut time at an Iron-distance event with her 8:48:11 at Challenge Roth in 2009. And this year she has made a red-hot start with 3rd at Abu Dhabi International, then won the Galveston 70.3, her third straight St. Croix 70.3, and posted an 8:57:51 winning the Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas in The Woodlands over a stellar field.

And yet there are no self-important pronouncements to emerge from her lips during interviews. Instead, there are constant chuckles and self-effacing observations directed at her own foibles and miscues. There is high regard for her rivals. At the same time, the 34-year-old Scotswoman with a Masters degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences earned at a university in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she did some research in the Arctic, is quite open and able to discuss serious social issues affecting the planet if the interviewer is so inclined.

This interview started the day before the Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas in The Woodlands and concluded after her impressive sub-9 hours win there.

Slowtwitch: Let’s start with your 2011 races..

Catriona Morrison: I’d like to say at Galveston I was really solid on all 3. At St. Croix it was what it was on the swim [28:52, 5 seconds back of Mirinda Carfrae and 3:13 ahead of Angela Naeth]. And I had a great bike ride. I probably pushed too hard on the bike and I paid for it on the run.

ST: Did trying to stay far enough ahead of Mirinda Carfrae to hold her off on the run – and not let Angela Naeth back in the game with her race-best bike – have anything to do with that desperation?

Catriona: Oh Angela is a great bike rider. I fully expected Angela to come right by on the bike. [Naeth’s race-best 2:33:47 bike left her 2 minutes back of Morrison and Carfrae’s 2:39:27 put her 5:40 back starting the run]. When I got to transition in the lead, I thought ‘Ok! Excellent!’ Because I thought I would be playing catch up. So that was pretty good.

ST: It was good to ride with Angela, who has set so many fastest bike splits. And to stay ahead of Mirinda Carfrae.

Catriona: Everyone’s is human. Everyone has a long way to go. Even though I’ve been going well, I know there is more there. Actually I didn’t want to start racing so early this season because I didn’t feel prepared. But obviously I am more prepared than I thought I was. So… CHUCKLES

ST: Why are you racing Ironman Texas? Is it the $15,000 winner’s prize? The points?

Catriona: Why do you think? It’s not the money. If I were about money d’ya think I’d be a triathlete? Let’s get wise! CHUCKLES Yes it’s all about points. Look at it this way. Last year I won Lanzarote and got the same amount of points for finishing 7th here. If you need the points, this is where you’ve got to come.

ST: Talk about winning Lanzarote coming from 45 minutes back waiting by the side of the road for help fixing your bike.

Catriona: You know, that was a once in a lifetime. Hopefully nothing untoward like that will happen tomorrow.

ST: How do we pronounce your name? So many vowels, so many different mispronunciations …

Catriona: In Scotland it is pronounced differently. My mom and dad pronounce it Ca-tree-na. And if you are a Gallic speaker, which is where I’m from, the Gallic for Catherine is Catri-o’- na. [inserting a tiny, barely audible ‘o’]

ST: I’ve been a prime offender, pronouncing all the vowels thusly. Ca-tree-OH-nah. Sorry.

Catriona: Most people call me Cat.

ST: How might you cleverly defeat Chrissie and Mirinda – and Julie Dibens? When they are healthy and in prime fitness? I’m asking this because you are one of a handful of women who have the game to contest them.

Catriona: Actually when Chrissie started her career, I do believe she finished 5th at the 2007 Ironman 70.3 UK when Bella Bayliss won. That was before she won Kona. That same year Leanda [Cave] won the world’s long course ITU championships, I was 3rd and Chrissie was 5th.

ST: So you have seen her when she was human.

Catriona: Everyone is human.

ST: What does it do for the sport when you have someone with such prodigious talent?

Catriona: For the evolution of the sport and the profile of triathlon, Chrissie has been the best thing to come around in years. You can see it as a journalist and we can see it as athletes. The bar has been raised. OK. None of us has managed to get close to the bar that she has set. But if you look at the results of the races in this era, as women athletes we have gotten faster. We’re going higher and we’re pushing farther. It takes someone to raise that bar for the rest of us to try to get there. So yeah for the sport it’s fantastic.

ST: How is it personally to come up against such an incredible athlete?

Catriona: For us personally as athletes it’s hard. As you say, when she’s fully fit and ready to rock, she’s so strong, it’s formidable.

ST: How do women stay optimistic when they race against her?

Catriona: Many can say ‘I can beat her in the swim.’ Yep. You can swim faster. Everyone might say to themselves, ‘Oh I can beat Chrissie on the bike.’ Yep. On a particular day, some can do that. Or some can say ‘I can beat her on the run.’ Yep. Some people can run faster on a great day. But not one athlete has put all those three things together — and that is the difference. That is what we are seeing with an athlete like Chrissie. She is just nicely rounded in all three.

ST: When you look at all sports, what is her equivalent?

Catriona: Everyone says she is a once in a lifetime athlete. But these people exist. Look at Paula Radcliffe and what she did for marathon running. And that is what we are seeing in triathlon. I firmly believe there are women in this world who are capable of beating Chrissie. Now they are somewhere on this planet and they probably don't know what triathlon is. Seriously. It takes a confluence of a whole lot of different things. Where you live, where you grow up, what sports you are introduced to. Your ability to train physiologically, psychologically. Your will to race.

ST: Plus you need some biomechanical alignment that will allow that level of training to go with the will? Your suspension, your wheel alignment, so to speak.

Catriona: Basically that comes down to what is probably the most important part — which is genetics. And when that package comes together in triathlon you get Chrissie. When it comes together in running you get Paula Radcliffe. When it comes together in swimming you get Michael Phelps. When and where it comes together, to be honest, is most likely in a Western environment, where women have the privilege and honor of being able to go out and choose this sport and are allowed to apply their discipline and make it their lifestyle so it ultimately can happen. But I do believe – and this is not just in triathlon but in every sport – there is someone out there who is equally or even more capable of being the best person in the sport. Otherwise the sport would never evolve.

ST: You mention the Western civilization plays a part. The woman from Algeria who won the 1500 meters in the 1992 – Hassiba Boulmerka — when she went home, she had to cover herself and be careful when dealing with the entrenched patriarchy. What do you think about other cultures that limit women’s roles in sport and society?

Catriona: Yeah it’s hard not to look at your sport with rose tinted glasses as someone who comes from a developed country like the UK where full opportunity for women is part of our culture and out history. Obviously women are more and more being given the opportunity to engage in sport throughout the world. But quite often it is heartbreaking to hear the stories of the African women who run for the passion of the sport — but they also go back to their villages and their homes and what they make in sport goers directly back to their families. They do it because it is a matter of life and death. For that to change, it will take many, many years.

ST: There are many different kinds of courage.

Catriona: Yes. And that is why I say to a lot of people. You turn up at a race and it is wonderful and it is a privilege. But many athletes forget that.

ST: What race after those early days have you come closest to dueling Chrissie?

Catriona: I haven’t had an Ironman race actually where I think I am in the same zip code. CHUCKLES

ST: At Roth in 2009 you were 16 minutes 12 seconds back of Chrissie’s 8:31:59

Catriona: That is true.

ST: You gave up a little bit of time in the loos there too?

Catriona: OK so I was 16 minutes off. And I gave up 5 minutes in fertilizing the local fields. But hey! It was my first Ironman-distance race. CHUCKLES So far I don’t think I’ve done an Ironman race where I am in my own zip code. And that is what matters to me. Heh heh. Meaning I’m a much more capable Ironman athlete than I have yet to experience. CHUCKLES

ST: Why?

Catriona: It’s a combination of factors. You can look at Lanzarote last year. I would have set a course record, but I spent 45 minutes by the side of the road waiting for the technical support to fix my bike. I’ve been to Kona twice and I’ve been sick both times. Shit happens.

ST: What happened at Kona?

Catriona: I was ill and I finished the first one 16th. The second one I was sick but because I finished the first one being ill I didn’t feel the need to go through that again.

ST: Stomach issues?

Catriona: It hasn’t been stomach in Kona. It’s always been respiratory. First time was the swine flu. Second time it was a cold. But it was enough in that sort of a hot, humid environment to knock you off your game.

ST: Will you put on one of those Asian smog masks next time before the race?

Catriona: I did. CHUCKLES. Wherever I go I …. I dunno. It’s just .

ST: Did it hurt your pride?

Catriona: Yes it hurts at the time.

ST: Eventually you get philosophical about it?

Catriona: You don’t need to be philosophical. You just need to be pragmatic. Shit happens. Move on. Deal with it.

ST: You couldn’t be blamed for feeling depressed?

Catriona: Oh sure! AFFECTS A PITIFUL MOCKING WHINE ‘Why me? Why me? Boo hoo!’ GIGGLES

I know I have a good race in me. I know it will come out. Whether it is tomorrow or the next week or the week after that. That’s why I haven’t ever given up on the sport. Because ultimately, it’s about exploiting my own potential. Once I feel I’ve reached the stage where I’ve gotten that — I won’t say I will walk away. But I will be happier to walk away when the time comes.

ST: Why are you better triathlete than the runner you once were?

Catriona: I think I am. This became my calling because when I was recovering from running injuries, I had a scraping of my patellar tendon in 2000. I bought a bike at the time. It just so happened my biking transferred fitness to my running. And because I needed to maintain fitness with some non-weight bearing activity, I started swimming again. At that point it just seemed a natural. I swam when I was a kid. Believe it or not. I was a beautiful swimmer. I had great form. People used to line up on the poolside to look at my stroke. Didn’t necessarily go very fast — but technically I was beautiful, apparently. At the time I never thought I would continue with swimming. It was just something I did for a bit of fitness. When I went back in the water, I didn’t seek the guidance of a coach or anything and didn’t cure any bad habits I might have accrued. CHUCKLES

ST: What were your best times at the distances you ran?

Catriona: My best time for the 5k was 16:40. I ran a 9:38 3k. Not to so good at the 1500 or 800. They are too short. My 10k best I think was about 33 and a half. Not super – but solid.

ST: Any chance you’d go for the Olympics in some running event?

Catriona: I am considering the Commonwealth Games marathon because it is in Glasgow in 2014. But that is a slight consideration. I am not sure. It’s something I haven’t gotten my head around yet.

ST: What was the dumbest thing you ever did in training or racing?

Catriona: In a race? I can show you the dumbest thing I did recently. [She took off her shoe and displays a massive blister covering half her foot]. That is the aftermath. When the blister started forming, I ran on the side of my foot.

ST: Let’s talk Scotland. How does haggis taste?

Catriona: Haggis tastes great.

ST: A little more descriptive, please?

Catriona: I don’t think I can. It’s kind of nutty, spicy.

ST: Sheep guts and what?

Catriona: It's not only sheep guts. It’s a lot of good meat and some dodgy stuff. And it’s all spiced, mixed with oatmeal and cooked in a sheep guts traditionally. But now there are some more synthetic things to cook it in.

ST: So it’s not a Scottish joke on the rest of the world?

Catriona: It’s not a joke. Yeah. I like it.

ST: Scottish men are known to wear kilts. Is there a female equivalent?

Catriona: Not that I know of.

ST: What is the height of Scottish fashion – in your book?

Catriona: For me? Probably wrapping up warm.

ST: Your favorite Shakespeare play that involves a Scot?

Catriona: How many are there?

ST: Not sure.

Catriona: Well of course there is Macbeth but you are not allowed to say it. Is it not the play that shall not be mentioned?

ST: Not that I know of.

Catriona: Oh well if you are in the industry, I think that is the one you are not allowed to mention by name. It’s supposed to be bad luck.

[Research on Wikianswers.com: "During the first performance of Macbeth, William Shakespeare himself was forced to play Lady Macbeth when the boy designated to play her suddenly became overcome with sickness and died. King James was so displeased with the play that it was banned for five years. In Amsterdam in 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted the blunt stage dagger with a real one, and with killed his co-actor playing Duncan right in front of the live audience. During an 1849 performance at New York's Astor Place, 31 people were trampled to death in a riot that had broken out. In 1942, three actors in another production of Macbeth died, and the costume and set designer committed suicide. In Bermuda, 1953, Charlton Heston suffered severe burns in his groin and leg from tights that were accidentally soaked in kerosene. In 20th Century US production, one of the directors brought the actors in the hallway during rehearsal and told them to never say "Macbeth" in a theatre. She then she took one step and tripped and broke her ankle.”]

ST: You are not afraid because you are not in the industry?

Catriona: Indeed. And I have not read it so I’d be lying. CHUCKLES

ST: What will you do the last 50 miles of the bike where locals predict tough headwinds?

Catriona: Headwinds and rollers make it a tough on the back end of the course. Difficult to say if it will be good for me. Ever since Abu Dhabi, what I want from this race is to bring it home as strongly as I take it out.

ST: Maintain the same output on your power meter? You want your power output to stay even, even though conditions may speed you up or slow you down?

Catriona: Exactly. I’m the kind of person who maybe goes out too hard and has a tough time the last hour. I want to stop that from happening. I want to take the opportunity to learn from early races to improve for important races like Kona. I will try to bite my tongue and do my own race.

POST RACE

Catriona: My legs are pretty sore.

ST: You went 8:57:51 – how good was that performance on a hot, humid day in east Texas?

Catriona: Yeah that is my second fastest Iron-distance time. Compare it to the men — that is always a good gauge.

ST: Par for the gender difference for the past 20 years at Kona is that women winners average 54 minutes back of the men’s champions. You were 49 minutes 31 seconds back today in Kona weather. So you had the better performance than a very good 8:08:20 for Eneko Llanos.

Catriona: I really enjoyed the day. I didn’t really know where I was coming out of the swim. [Morrison had a 58-minute swim – 5 minutes back of Kelly Williamson and Dede Griesbauer] Hard to tell, but actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. On the bike I stuck to my plan. I got a penalty on the bike. For what? The marshal didn’t tell me what it was. It was a stand down. I had to take it on the chin. That was unplanned. [In the results, Morrison was credited with a 5th-best 4:53:21 bike] Then I felt great the first two laps of the run. …

ST: When did you pass Tine Deckers for the lead?

Catriona: Towards the end of the first lap.

ST: Did she offer resistance?

Catriona: No. At that point I was going good [headed to a 2nd-best 3:04:15 run].

ST: Did you have moments of doubt and pain near the end of the run?

Catriona: Yes. I was really trying to hang on that last 10k. I thought once there is 10k to go I could pick it up. I could rationalize that it is not so far to go. But that didn’t happen. I started to walk through all the aid stations. I made sure I took the time to eat and drink every mile. Otherwise….

ST: Did you know how far you were ahead?

Catriona: Not until the last mile. They told me I was 11 minutes ahead. [She finished 10:03 ahead of runner-up Kelly Williamson, who ran 9 seconds faster].

ST: When did you think you were going to win?

Catriona: It is hard to describe because you know by your training that you are capable of a win. But you can’t control what anyone else does. You are happy especially when it comes together and you are first. But I would have been equally happy with that performance if I was 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th. That's because I feel as if I did myself justice today.

ST: Where did you train for this race?

Catriona: I’ve actually been in Austin ever since Galveston 70.3. Then I went to St Croix, and went back to Austin after the race. So I’ve been away from home pretty much from the 13th of April.

ST: How was this one different from Lanzarote 2010?

Catriona: Last year in Lanzarote the win was more spectacular for different reasons. I was off the side of the road for 45 minutes until my bike was fixed. That was special. Today the race was special to me because nothing too untoward happened. CHUCKLES.

ST: Your impression of your stay in Texas?

Catriona: I have been here for 5-6 weeks and I can quite honestly say that I haven’t met one person who hasn’t been very warm and welcoming. Apart for a few crazy car drivers – and I hear that’s normal.

ST: How much did training in Texas help you?

Catriona: Having been in Austin the past 5 weeks we had days that were 100 degrees, although not as humid as today. But I remember coming back from a 5-hour bike ride one day and crying. I’d go out for a run, and I wanted to call my husband [Richard Jennings] and say ‘There’s no way I’m gonna run a marathon!’

ST: A lot of women broke 5 hours on the bike, and you watched as several went by you. When you got a penalty on the bike and lost ever more time, how did that affect your confidence?

Catriona: Yeah, Linsey Corbin [Corbin eventually DNF’d] came past and another girl passed me. But at that point I wanted to hold back. Unfortunately there was lot of yo-yoing, I think one person kept passing and I had to drop back and at one point I didn’t do that fast enough and I ended up getting a penalty. But it was my responsibility and I wasn’t vigilant enough. After that, I went into hyper drive because I had to catch them back up again. I’m embarrassed – it was my first ever penalty.

ST: You said you prefer the cool temperatures of Glasgow. But you do well in the heat. What about today?

Catriona: You should hear me at about 10:30 AM on Monday morning as the plane arrives in Edinburgh. As the plane door opens up and I will go “Ahhhhhhhhh!” Heh heh. It will probably be 50 degrees Fahrenheit and it will feel absolutely wonderful. If it’s raining it will be even better.

ST: How many more races will you run on concrete? Although you put on a brave face, you were obviously in pain after the run.

Catriona: We will see how I recover on Monday. At the end, my legs seemed to be more of the limiting factor. It wasn’t my heart and lungs. There was pain everywhere. My hips and knees and even my arms were sore.

ST: Does his race give you renewed confidence for Kona?

Catriona: Yes. The past two years in Kona I have struggled with being ill. But I also questioned myself and wondered if I was going to be any good in the heat. But now I think I was a bit hard on myself after Kona. This race helped a lot with my confidence.