Sinead Lambe began life at Donore Harriers in the Fit4Life squad. Last year she was the lead out runner in the club’s historic national road relay winning team. She describes “ordinary runners” as her inspiration, but many aspiring athletes can take great encouragement from Sinead’s progress and achievements. In this interview she talks about her early days at the club, having to deal with long-term injury and the personal benefits of running
STANDARD QUESTIONS
PLACE AND YEAR OF BIRTH? Wexford, 1986
WHERE ARE YOU BEING EDUCATED? I am currently a final year (hopefully!) PhD candidate in DCU. Although I might still have a student card and be in the Masters Category at the same time yet!
WHAT IS YOUR PLANNED CAREER PATH? Having taught in a junior boy’s school in the inner city for 12 years, I began on a new career path in August and am now fulltime lecturing in Early Childhood Education in Marino Institute of Education
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? I joined Donore Harriers in 2011, I think!
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? I started doing a bit of running with Ronan in 2010. He managed to get me to start line of the Great Ireland Run that year where I ran 54 minutes. I was delighted and I loved it so I began looking into joining a club. I looked at a few different websites and I liked the look of Donore Harriers and the location of the club. I rang up and got talking to Tom Byrne. I told him that myself and my partner were looking to join a club. He asked me what times I could run. I told him 54 minutes for 10k. He asked me what time Ronan could run. I told him 37 minutes. He told me to send Ronan down to the men’s group and advised me to join Barry Potts Fit4Life group. So that is what we did. It was brilliant advice. Barry was the best first coach you could ask for. Supportive and kind and gentle. I met Des Gill on the first evening I went down to the club and we became firm friends from then, even when I got much faster than him. Nicola Dowdall was also in the group and we enjoyed many evenings running together. I loved Barry’s training and after about 6 months when I could run around 7 minute miles for 5 miles, Barry told me it was time to join Jim McNamara’s group. I was terrified at the prospect but Barry brought me up and made the transition easy. I began training then with Jim and the women’s group on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and every now and again would head out on the Monday and Wednesday with Barry and the gang. Soon I was running 6/7 days a week with Jim and the girls, and I moved on, but I will always be grateful to Barry and the Fit4Life group for the gentle and warm welcome into the sport
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? I ran for a short while as a child but I couldn’t handle the pressure of racing, so I stopped. I played tennis, camogie and basketball for fun growing up. I played hockey for DCU during my time as a student in St. Pat’s, but I only ever really enjoyed the running drills at the start. When I was positioned as an extra midfielder with the sole purpose of marking and running around the opposing midfielder so that our real midfielder could be freed up, I realised I wasn’t really using the hockey stick very much and that I probably should just take up running
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? I haven’t figured that out yet! Open to suggestions!
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB? Athlete
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? I am inspired mostly by the people I train with and race against. I find the everyday, ordinary runners most inspiring and more relatable than the stars of the sport. Somebody like Aislinn Nic Dhomhnaill who ran a 2.48 marathon this year in Dublin, while working and being a mam to three small children is what I find inspiring. Gerry O’Connell who raced 67 races a year or two back and who really loves the sport. I have learned that it really doesn’t have to be about being the best. I admire anyone who shows up and trains hard and who is modest. I admire those who don’t take themselves too seriously and those who are better than you but still find time to chat to you at the races. Fionnuala McCormack is somebody who I really admire for her modesty, her humility and her immense work ethic and talent. And of course, her sister Úna Britton, who despite being able to bury you on any run, isn’t interested in doing that – unless it’s a race!
Jim (McNamara) of course, had a huge influence on my love of running and how I train still. Jim taught me to train hard and to prepare thoroughly. He was all in and I love that. No shortcuts, just do the work. I have great respect too for my brother Conor, who has made great strides in the last couple of years due to hard work and dedication and who is always encouraging and supportive of my efforts. He has a fantastic mind-set and sets himself no limits
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? A Run in the Park by David Park
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? I spent 12 weeks in Addis Ababa which was a fabulous experience. I just wish I had have taken up running at that stage, the high altitude benefits were utterly wasted!
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? At the moment my time is largely taken up with my work and study outside of my training
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS YOUR COACH? For the past couple of years my training has been guided by Gerry O’Connell who I began running with in Marino. Gerry has been brilliant in helping me to build a base by running lots of easy miles (always on the grass!) and by encouraging me to race more and race often. He wouldn’t consider himself a coach but he has certainly helped me to improve my endurance and I managed to run PB’s over every distance -1500m, 3000m, 5k, 4mile, 10k, 10mile and half marathon over the past couple of years of training with Gerry. I like his simple approach to training which is to ‘keep getting out’. He believes in doing the miles and not over complicating it and that has worked really well for me. I check in also with Conor’s coach Donie Walsh who offers guidance and structure to my week and I find that really helpful too. I am guided always too, by the great training that I did with Jim and I still run sessions now that I did with Jim. I do however, run the easy days easier (much easier!)
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? I think one of my best runs was in the Waterhouse Byrne Baird Shield two years ago, in 2018. I ran 65.46 that day. It was the toughest race I have ever ran and I was delighted that the hard training paid off. I was even more delighted when the astute Willie Dunne told me that he thought it was one of the quickest runs by a female after the great Valerie McGovern.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES (PBs)?
10 mile- 61.29
Half Marathon – 82.48
5k- 17.31
1500m- 4.45
800m- 2.19
4 mile – 23.13
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? I love mile or km repeats on the Polo Grounds, but I loved Jim’s gully sessions the most
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Jim (McNamara) was reading something about the way the Kenyans trained at one time and had myself and Íde and Sorcha do a session on the gully lap where we would tempo run for 20-25 minutes, then up on the flat for 12 x 200m or 8 x 400m and then back on the gully lap for another tempo run of 20-25 minutes. I also did some great hard 10 mile runs with Gerry (O’Connell) of 3 minutes on 1 minute off on the grass in Malahide in preparation for the Byrne Baird Shield
WHAT IS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN (pre-covid)?
Monday – easy run in am and pm
Tuesday – easy run in am and pm
Wednesday – Session (hills)
Thursday – steady medium long run
Friday – rest or easy run
Saturday – Session (tempo)
Sunday – long run
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? I would love to see all of the senior athletes (male and female!) forming a cohesive, coached training group
WHO ARE YOUR TOP 3 IRISH SPORTSPERSONS OF ALL TIME (all sports)?
1. Fionnuala McCormack
2. Eamon Coughlan
3. Martin Storey <Wexford hurler>
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE RACING TERRAIN, ROAD, XC OR TRACK? I love trail! But I like them all!
YOU HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH INJURIES, PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE INJURY AND THE RECOVERY PROCESS? The most significant injury that I have had was a pelvic stress fracture in 2013 which left me out of the sport for almost two years. Following the fracture, I developed osteitis pubis which was very slow to heal. I think it is important to be honest and say that part of the recovery process for me was engaging with a sports nutritionist and a sports psychologist. I had developed RED’s, unknown to myself – previously known as Female Athlete Triad syndrome. I had low bone density as a result of inadequate diet and my period had stopped about a year prior to the fracture. I worked with Sharon Madigan on improving my diet and with a sports psychologist who helped me to reflect on how and why I had developed such a serious injury. I am so grateful to Dr Noel McCaffrey who referred me at the time and who made me look at the bigger picture and encouraged me to take the time and the steps necessary to recover fully and properly. I am now fully aware of what I need to do to fuel the body to train hard and am a much better and healthier athlete and person as a result.
In recent years I have had minor injuries, plantar fasciitis was one, which Gerry helped me to run through by running only on the grass, very slowly and by changing my runners much more regularly. I was unlucky in the run up to the marathon this year to acquire a partial tear in the peroneal tendon in my foot while innocuously walking around the house in my bare feet.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE RACE? AND WHY? There have been lots of good days and the most memorable days are often not the days you win or run your fastest times. But I guess the Road Relays last year was a particularly memorable day, winning national gold for Donore Harriers for the first time in the club’s history. I feel lucky to have been a part of that team!
<EXTRACT FROM DH RACE REPORT: In the senior women’s race (National Senior Road Relay at Raheny on 28th April 2019) over 4 miles (one mile, 2 miles and one mile) Sinead Lambe (5.23) got Donore off to a solid start reaching the handover in 4th place, as Crusaders AC took an early lead. 46 years-old Barbara Cleary (10.47) then had a pivotal tussle with Irish junior international Jodie McCann (10.56) of Dublin City Harriers (DCH) over 2 miles. Cleary’s fine run put Donore Harriers just 2-seconds behind leaders DCH going into the final one-mile lap with North Down AC 100-metres back in 3rd place. Final leg runner Ide Ni Dhomhnaill (5.15) soon sped into the lead and putting 21 seconds on her DCH rival and gave Donore Harriers (21.25) a historic and convincing win, with DCH (21.44) in 2nd and North Down AC (22.10) in 3rd>
HOW HAS ATHLETICS IMPACTED ON YOUR CAREER? AND HOW HAS YOUR CAREER IMPACTED YOUR RUNNING? I think running definitely gave me a newfound confidence in terms of my work and my study. I began furthering my education after I started running and I really believe that the two are linked. I began to believe in myself more and realised that our capacity and potential is unlimited and that you get out what you put in, in both running and in your career. Gerry reminds me often that you can apply the same rules to the PhD as you do to running, keep showing up, keep tipping away and the end result will come. Eventually. I hope!
