Favourite race in Europe and abroad?
Drei Zinnen; it’s in the Italian Dolomites. It varies between 17 and 24km, pretty much all uphill bar maybe one km. You start in a little village [Sesto] and I think that’s at about 1200 m then you run up to 3-4000m. It’s absolutely incredible and amazing scenery. In New Zealand [Anna’s home country] I haven’t done a lot of races, but always raced abroad. Outside Europe, Pikes Peak which I loved. I only did the ascent, but I’d go back and do that again. And the Trans-Rockies which is a fantastic event.
Favourite training session?
I love doing hill reps. When I’m into them, I love them!
Most important training session?
I think it really depends on what I’m focusing on. If I’m doing the shorter mountain running distances, like a 10k uphill, then I’m doing hill session maybe twice a week. That might vary from an 8 minute rep by 5; or maybe a pyramid, going up and down; or I might just go out on the hill and work hard for 45 minutes. Definitely the long runs are important for me. I can handle quite a lot of mileage, and when I do mileage it really pays off. If I’m doing good mileage I’m doing maybe 20 hours of running a week.
Where do see yourself in 5 years time?
I don’t know! While we were just relaxing by the pool we were just talking about one of the guys who’d just got engaged and I was like, ‘”I’m almost 30 and I can’t even imagine settling down.” I can’t even think of 5 years ahead. At the moment I’m content and maybe that’s because being a runner is a little bit unforeseeable. I could have future plans for babies, or to work here, say, but I guess that will all come naturally, when it comes. But for the running career it could last 5, 10 years so I guess I could be sitting here doing the same thing in that time!
Do you see countries that could be getting stronger in mountain running, such as those of Africa?
The men are definitely coming in to mountain running more and more. You see a few races in places like Switzerland where there’s managers who’ve brought their teams out. So I think we’ll see more African men, but I think it’d be nice to see more women. In fact I’ve only actually been to one mountain race where I’ve seen an African woman there, and she didn’t finish. Maybe it’s a financial thing, maybe a freedom thing.
What changes would you like to see in mountain running, perhaps from a female perspective?
With Danny Hughes [previous WMRA President] working so hard on developing women’s mountain running, and with him passing away, I feel female development in mountain running has been a wee bit forgotten, a wee bit left behind. I think there needs to be equality. It’s coming; many of the races have even prize money and prizes down the list. I think the WMRA Grand Prix series is really important to me, and that it doesn’t disappear, because it needs to be there at an elite level. There needs to be somewhere that the people from trail running can go to be at that elite level and get that World Championships and get that World Trophy.
Click here to watch a video interview with Anna Frost
You can follow Anna's blog here: frostysfootsteps.wordpress.com/
Drei Zinnen race: www.racemaps.org.uk/dreizinnen/dreizinnen.htm
Pikes Peak race: www.pikespeakmarathon.org/
Trans-Rockies Run: http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/news/
