On September 30 in Wisconsin, Ashley Brasovan became a national champion, again! Now living in Westminster, the 2007 Footlocker cross country champion tells us how she came to be racing trails, training in Colorado, and what’s next. Brasovan is our October “The Runner Box” Colorado Runner of the Month.
Ashley, congrats on winning the USATF trail half marathon championship! You won by five minutes, so I know it wasn’t the most competitive race, but still a national championship – though not your first! You haven’t run many trail races though, so how’d you end up at this race in Wisconsin?
Thank you! I have been toying with the idea of transitioning from roads to trails for about a year now. I was a little burnt out from road racing this past spring and ended up with a quad injury as well. The only training I could do was running uphill for about 4 weeks so I came to this great idea that maybe I should give trail racing a try since I had already been partially forced into training on mountains. I really like the trails though so probably will focus more specifically on that type of racing/training for 2018!
And now you’re next racing CIM. You have a 2:41 PR, from last year’s CIM, so I assume you’re looking to better that?
Yes, that would be the goal! I would really like to dip under 2:40 into the 2:3X range to try to hit the A standard for the Olympic Trials. The back up goal would just be to hit the B standard for 2020 and focus on the trails for a little bit next year to give my body a break.
How do you train? I mean, do you have a coach and training group here in Colorado?
I have been coaching myself since early summer and probably won’t ever join a training group. I like the flexibility to listen to my body, run whatever I want, and be able to run around my work schedule (I’m in consulting so the hours can be all over the place). That really works best for me for where I am at now in my life. That being said, I have a great group of friends in Colorado that I train with 2-3 days a week on easy runs but do workouts mostly alone.
Going way back, you were the 2007 Footlocker cross country national champion, back before Footlocker was diluted by the Nike championship race. That was a decade ago! I know you’ve had some ups and downs with injury since then, but still that’s some good longevity in competitive running. What do you attribute it to?
Running can definitely be a grind! I would say mostly I’m just stubborn and never wanted to give up no matter how many injuries I went through. Although 5 stress fractures got me almost to the point of giving up. There have also been so many supportive people along the way – my friends, college coach, post-collegiate coach, definitely my family. All of whom have truly been a great support team throughout the past 10+ years that I contribute my running career to daily.
Since graduating from Duke, you’ve been in Colorado to work your dream job in energy efficiency and sustainability consulting. What kinds of projects do you work on? And what’s something we should all be doing to better the environment?
I work with state and local government entities in Colorado specifically on Building energy efficiency and behavior change to improve energy. It’s been really fun the past two and a half years and the industry in Colorado is so progressive which is awesome! I would say the biggest things you can do on a day-to-day basis are the little things – turning off the light when you leave the room, making sure the dishwasher/laundry machine are completely full before running them, unplugging devices when not in use, opening/closing blinds during the day for natural heating and cooling, etc. If I kept going, some people might think I’m a really big energy nerd….
What’s your favorite thing in the RunnerBox?
Hmmm I am really excited to try the Wild Friend’s Maple Sunflower Butter and the sweet potato bar from Ally’s! Two of my favorite flavors for fall.
“Leave the research to us, and we’ll leave the training to you,” says Runner Box. The Runner Box is a subscription-based service that delivers a “box” of runner-friendly goodies to you every other month, items like gels, bars, and other accessories hand-picked to add to your running. Many items are new to the market, and new items are expected with each box. A great service for yourself, the boxes also make great gifts and are often themed around holidays.
Previous “The Runner Box” Colorado Runners of the Month:
September 17 – Bryan Williams
July 17 – Anna Mae Flynn
May 17 – Timothy Olson
April 17 – Noah Droddy
February 17 – Courtney Dauwalter
January 17 – Becky Wade
December 16 – Zach Miller
November 16 – Sage Canaday
October 16 – Sarah Pizzo
September 16 – Clare Gallagher
July 16 – Addie Bracy
May 16 – Tabor Scholl
April 16 – Amanda Basham
February 16 – Alia Gray
November 15 – Ali Williams
October 15 – Neely Gracey
September 15 – Timmy Parr
August 15 – Andy Wacker
July 15 – Lanie Szuch
June 15 – Joe Gray
May 15 – Brittni Hutton
April 15 – Andy Rinne
March 15 – Justin Ricks
February 15 – Laura Thweatt