Pat’s Plan for Paris | Tiernan Bound for Houston Marathon

For Patrick Tiernan, an Olympic year means another chance. Touching down for Sunday’s Houston Marathon, the Australian is avoiding crunching the numbers of running 42.2km in the 2:08:10 Olympic standard – focused on the race rather than the pace.

Already a two-time Olympian on the track, Tiernan concedes that it took time to adjust to his newfound marathon endeavour, despite debuting in 2:11:02 in October of 2022. The US-based Australian speaks confidently about his Houston preparation, making key adjustments under the guidance of Alistair and Amy Cragg.

“What I’m learning is that there are ways to use that track background to my advantage and trying to play into that strength. At the same time, you have to be respectful of the distance and the fact that it is a completely different event,” Tiernan says.

“They were some of the issues we were running into in early 2023 where we were kind of just going full marathon training and not playing into who I was and the athlete before we made the switch. That’s been a big part of this preparation, playing to my strengths and adding marathon work that complements that.”

The former 10,000m national record holder returns to the roads of Houston which have been home to the two fastest half marathons of his career (1:00:55 and 1:01:22), finding what he believes is the perfect race to pave his path to Paris:

“Houston is usually won in a time between 2:08-2:10 and being an Olympic year, we figured there would be a few guys trying to run the time. It looks like a marathon that I can just race to win it and the time will take care of itself,” Tiernan says.

“We want to run the time and there is a 2:08 pace group, but that will be the lead pace group. When they step off it becomes a race, and I will be trying to win. That’s the goal, to make some moves in the last 5-10km and let the time come with that.”

Declaring that his mind and body are in sync ahead of his Olympic qualifying attempt, Tiernan leaves the disappointment of withdrawing from the 2023 World Championships in Budapest due to injury in his wake – determined to bounce back in 2024.

“It’s definitely a tough thing to do to withdraw from a World Championships because you don’t get that opportunity a lot, but the last five or six months have shown me that it was the right call and I’m in a really good spot ahead of this weekend,” Tiernan says.

“That’s been my mentality. The marathon is the event that I really want to compete in at the Olympics because I think it’s the one that I can be the most competitive in. If I have a good day, that’s the one that I’m going to be the most likely to be up there with the top guys.”

Clocking a swift 1:01:56 for second place at the B.A.A Half Marathon in Boston in November on a challenging course before finishing in third place over 10,000m at On Track Nights Zatopek:10 in December, Tiernan continues to grow in confidence on his road back to the highest level.

“There was no part of me that left Tokyo thinking that was my last Olympics, every part of me has been about coming back and getting it right. I’ve been to two and haven’t had the results I want to have, so it’s a large part of why I’m going all-in in the marathon,” Tiernan says.

And if he was to qualify for a third consecutive Olympic Games, the Australian believes anything is possible:

“Every man and their brother are running 2:04 and 2:05, but it’s about treating it how we would treat any other Olympic year. We have the standard and the selection policy, and ultimately when it comes down to it that Olympic race has no pacers and three athletes per country, and anything can happen,” Tiernan says.

The Houston Marathon will take place on Sunday January 14, beginning at 7:01am local time (12:01am AEDT, Monday January 15).

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 13/1/2024