Today we meet Jona Kalemi, a regular on the club’s national league teams – and a huge supporter of all things Donore Harriers. Jona talks about ‘burn out’ during her college years; describes the running scene in the USA; and lists Paralympic athlete Greta Streimikyte amongst her sporting inspirations…
STANDARD QUESTIONS
WHERE WERE/ARE YOU BEING EDUCATED? DCU & Boston University
WHAT IS YOUR PLANNED CAREER PATH? Consulting
IN WHAT YEAR DID YOU JOIN DONORE HARRIERS? 2007
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE DONORE HARRIERS? It had excellent facilities and it was located right beside the Phoenix Park, where I used to run before joining Donore Harriers. I went to the club for a trial, loved the vibe, atmosphere, people and joined. I was so right!
WERE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY OTHER CLUB BEFORE JOINING DONORE HARRIERS? No, but I was a part of the Greater Boston Track Club when I was studying in Boston & also a part of the Cameron Blazers Track Club when I was interning in Jamaica
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OTHER SPORT? Yes, basketball, football and volleyball.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ATHLETICS EVENT? 800m
WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT ROLE(S) AT THE CLUB? Athlete & I try to volunteer when I have some free time
WHO WERE/ARE YOUR SPORTING INSPIRATIONS/INFLUENCES? My first coach, John Downes and my friends Greta Streimikyte & Ciara Mageean.
<NOTE: Greta Streimikyte, a native of Lithuania, is a member of Clonliffe Harriers. She became an Irish citizen in 2015 and represented Ireland in the Paralympic 1,500m in the T13 class as she is visually impaired>
SOCIAL QUESTIONS
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win (Jocko Willink and Leif Babin)
WHAT ARE YOUR 3 FAVOURITE FILMS?
1. Soul Surfer
2. Gladiator
3. Lion King
FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED? That’s a difficult question! It’s a mix between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil & Paris, France
WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER INTERESTS AWAY FROM ATHLETICS/SPORT? Travelling, Music (I played the piano for 5 years until sport took over my life), Reading, Debating, Constantly Learning & Improving
ATHLETICS QUESTIONS
WHO IS/ARE YOUR COACH(ES)? At the moment I am training with the Trinity College team under Iain Morrison’s guidance
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST ATHLETICS ACHIEVEMENT? I still haven’t achieved it yet!
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST TIMES/MARKS (PBs)? 800m – 2.36 outdoors (2019).
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COACHED SESSION? I like 300m’s & 400m’s track sessions
DESCRIBE THE MOST DIFFICULT SESSION THAT YOU HAVE DONE? 2 sets of 5 by 200m @ 800m PB pace, off 25 seconds, 20 seconds, 15 seconds, 10 second recoveries between each with 10 minutes rest between sets
WHAT IS YOUR TYPICAL WEEKLY TRAINING PLAN (pre-covid)? Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are session days; Monday, Wednesday and Friday aerobic running and gym/core. Sunday is a long run
WHAT ONE CHANGE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AT DONORE HARRIERS? More women doing track
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
HAVE YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH ANY LONG-TERM INJURIES? Luckily no, but I get niggles all the time!
WHAT ARE YOUR ABIDING MEMORIES OF THE CLUB TRIP TO THE ‘LOTTO CROSS’ EVENT IN HANNUT, BELGIUM IN 2012?
I loved it! I have a lot of great memories from the trip. It showed me how hard you can train when you are fully rested and, in that respect, how important rest is for both training well & performance (It is probably my biggest downfall, I never rest enough). Competing in the Lotto Cross Cup also was a great motivation & inspired me to continue working hard upon returning home. I think these kind of trips are really important, to keep motivated, when the monotony of training kicks in
HOW DID THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SECONDARY SCHOOL AND 3RD LEVEL COLLEGE IMPACT YOUR RUNNING? It was very challenging to be consistent during my college years and my running has only really become more consistent after I graduated. However, this had mainly to do with my personality as I wanted to do everything and perform at every level, which resulted in constantly burning myself out and having to start over and over again
WHAT WAS THE RUNNING SCENE LIKE IN THE U.S.A COMPARED TO IRELAND?
At club level (GBTC), the focus was on long distance running type of training & there were very few athletes my age. This was mainly due to the fact that athletes my age either trained in the university or they didn’t train at all. Similarly, once they leave university, they either go pro or stop running altogether.
At university level (BU), unfortunately I couldn’t be a part of the university team due to NCAA regulations. However, I observed that there were a lot more support structures in place for student athletes than in Irish universities. I also liked the fact that academic performance was equally as important as sporting performance in the American education system. For instance, scholarship athletes had to record a number of study hours per week & they had incentives for student-athletes to motivate them to perform at both levels.
Other observations were just that they trained really hard (much harder than in Ireland) & were super competitive! For students who were not on sports scholarships, they had ‘intramural sports’ which was meant to be more fun and for amateur sports people. But even getting on the intramural sport team- irrespective of the sport- was really competitive and difficult.
