Forging her own path to the top

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Izzi Batt-Doyle doesn't mind being off the radar

When she took the start line at the 2017 NCAA XC Championships in Louisville, Kentucky last November, Izzi Batt-Doyle was running well. The 22 year old Australian was coming off a standout track season, punctuated by earning second team All-American honours with her run in the 10,000m at NCAA Track and Field Nationals in June (33:49.61). Perhaps even more impressive was her 33:35.19 in her first ever 10k at the Pac-12 Championships the month before, good enough for 6th all time for the University of Washington.

The XC Champs would be another solid outing for Batt-Doyle, finishing as the second Husky across the line. However it would also be her last race for 6 months. “I broke my foot at XC nationals in 4 places, which ended up ruining my senior season of track, being told by the doctor that I wasn’t going to be able to compete in either the indoor or outdoor season.”

7 months on and Batt-Doyle is back competing, overcoming the first serious bone injury of her running career.

“It was a pretty rough few months. When I first got told I had an injury they told me I had a stress fracture. Then I went back and they said it was actually two. Then I went back two more times and eventually was told I had 4 stress fractures.”

As a psychology student currently doing her honours thesis, Batt-Doyle was able to apply some of her studies to dealing with her time away from running.

“My area of research is in mindfulness, specifically mindfulness interventions in the college classroom for increasing emotion, cognitive, and social functioning - but with all of the research on mindfulness it’s had an impact on other areas of my life."

"I started meditating and was able to address this injury with an attitude of acceptance rather than resistance and being upset that I wasn’t competing.

Every day I went to cross train I made an effort to be fully engaged in the activity rather than mindlessly going through the motions”

Izzi Batt-Doyle

To say the injury was the first major setback of Batt-Doyle’s career isn’t to say she hasn’t had to overcome adversity. After joining St. John’s University in New York in 2014 and spending her first season there, Batt-Doyle knew heading into her second year that SJU wasn’t the best place for her.

After a visit to UW and some hardball from SJU in granting her a smooth release, Batt-Doyle was finally on her way to Seattle, but not before a summer spent back in Australia. Little did she know it at the time, but this period of time may have set the foundations for her post-college career.

“One of the main reasons I left Adelaide and went to college was because I didn’t see much of a future for myself in Adelaide in terms of running. I saw myself either going to college, or staying in Adelaide and stopping running.

Then when I transferred colleges I had 3 months off back in Australia. In that period of time I contacted Adam (Ed: Adam Didyk, coach and founder of Adelaide based group Team Tempo - no relation to us) and from there we built a really good relationship. He gave me some training programs to follow.

When I came back to college, within my first two weeks I had PR’d in the 1500m, steeplechase, and the 5k, and I owe that period of really good racing to Adam.

Last year I went back to Adelaide and trained for World Uni Games under a program prescribed from Adam, and I got pretty fit in a short period of time.”

Izzi Tempo[HiRes]-62
Izzi Tempo[HiRes]-63

For a post-collegiate runner in Australia, the options have never been plentiful. Until recently you could move to Melbourne and try to gain a spot with Melbourne Track Club, or you could go it alone. Today it’s a very different landscape, with the emergence of several other elite training groups including Justin Rinaldi’s Fast 8 Training Club (home to local talents Peter Bol, Jo Deng, and others), Wolfpack Training Club (who boast 1500m national record holder Linden Hall), and of course Adam Didyk’s Team Tempo (elite marathoner Jess Trengove) to name a few.

Izzi Tempo[HiRes]-83

After a long college career of learning and growing, Batt-Doyle has an eye on the future and where she may slot in among the current crop of Australian athletes.

“Everyone’s goal is to make an Olympic team, and that has been on my mind for years. That’s still the ultimate goal, but it’s not why I do this everyday. Running provides me the opportunity to travel the world and meet people and form amazing friendships.”

“I hope to continue to make Australian teams and to represent not only my country, but all the people who have supported me over the years”

Izzi Batt-Doyle

“I’m not actually sure which event I will target from now on. Its always been the steeplechase, and I was having some real success in that event 2 years ago, but I got injured doing it and I haven’t done one since. Last time I ran a steeple was at Hayward Field and I ran a 10:02 (in 2016), and it just felt so easy. I can’t leave it at that because I know I’ve just scratched the surface of that event.”

A reality for all athletes is the competition for spots in meets like the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics, and often it can come down to the strength of other athletes in your event.

“The time for the steeple is in closer reach for me, but it’s a thriving event at the moment (Ed: The Comm Games B qualifier for 2018 was 9:58, just 4 seconds quicker than a time Batt-Doyle ran 2 years ago). The other thing is that I don’t necessarily enjoy running the steeple, I enjoy the success that comes from it. I don’t really enjoy hurdling and I would have to work on my relationship with hurdling if I was going to focus on that.”

The other obvious options for Batt-Doyle would appear to be the 5k, though it is hotly contested, or her new favourite event, the 10k.

“I’ve only done the 10k a couple of times but I love it. It’s so gritty, 25 laps is a test.”

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Izzi Tempo[HiRes]-44

Batt-Doyle might be relatively unknown to most Australian track fans right now, but if it weren’t for that injury at XC Nationals, we might have seen a lot more of her over summer.

“My plans had been to run Zatopek at the end of the year, and I really think I had a shot at getting a Comm Games qualifier there.

America is crazy because you can go to a meet and finish 15th and it makes you feel like you’re not very good. But then you compare that to what you would be running at an Australian state level meet or nationals and you realise that you would be up there.”

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When I spoke with Batt-Doyle, it was the week before she would return to competition at the Portland Track Festival, her first race since her injury in November 2017. I wondered if the nerves of race week would be replaced with the emotion and sentiment of navigating the long road back from injury.

“I had a pretty hard workout yesterday, and while I was finishing it I was thinking about how much work I’ve put into this, and now I have to make the most of every opportunity I get.”

Batt-Doyle’s successful return from injury is now complete, notching a PR of 15:48.42 in the 5000m, an event that was won by Olympian Marielle Hall.

“I couldn’t stop smiling after the race, I had been saying I was aiming to run around 15:45 but I knew it was somewhat of a hefty goal coming into a rust-buster race never running sub 16 before.”

“When I crossed the line I felt relieved, but also excited thinking about what’s to come.

I felt proud for the patience I’d shown through the months of injury, whether it was running less when I wanted to run more, or doing extra work when I wanted to call it a day!”

Izzi Batt-Doyle

Now as Batt-Doyle experiences everything as a collegiate athlete for the last time, she’s got some perspective on the journey she started way back in 2014.

“I’ll look back most fondly on the opportunities I’ve been given. While you’re in it it's hard to realise how many good things you have going for you in college.

I think what Adam has set up at Team Tempo will mean I still have that team experience and the support of a team atmosphere, without being in this bubble of the American college system."

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