Shannon Rowbury has the two highest American women’s Olympic 1500m finishes in history—a seventh in 2008 and a sixth in 2012. She owns a bronze medal from the 1500m at the 2009 world championships. When she failed to make the 2013 world championships team in her specialty, she squeaked onto the U.S. team in the 5000m and was seventh in the final in Moscow, a fraction of a second behind America’s ace in the event, Molly Huddle.

But Rowbury wasn’t setting personal bests anymore and wasn’t getting podium places. The Duke graduate and San Francisco native used “stagnant” to describe her feelings about her recent past when she spoke with Running Times last week. Upon the retirement of her long-time coach John Cook, she moved to Portland in October to join Alberto Salazar and the Oregon Project.

Now, the woman who for several years was known for narrowly missing out on breaking key time barriers in her events—she had a 4:00.33 best in the 1500m from 2008 and a 15:00.51 in the 5,000 from 2010—has laid that dubious distinction to rest, running 3:59.43 in the 1500 in Paris on July 5 and demolishing her 5,000m best by clocking a 14:48.68 in Monaco on July 18.

Rowbury is, in fact, the only American woman to have bettered 4:00 in the 1500m and 14:50 in the 5,000m. She is also, with an 8:31.38, the second fastest American woman ever for 3000m, behind Mary Decker Slaney.

Monaco put a close on the first part of the 2014 Diamond League schedule. The Diamond League meets commence again on August 21 in Stockholm and Rowbury will be there. She’ll also be in Zurich on August 28 and Brussels on September 5.

Rowbury plans to marry Mexican runner Pablo Solares in April. Their foundation, Imagining More, seeks to promote arts and athletics among young women. When we spoke with Rowbury, she was at altitude in Font Rameau in the French Pyrenees with Solares, Oregon Project teammate Mo Farah, and Pete Julien, the Project’s assistant coach.

Running Times: You’ve decided not to come back to the United States during the Diamond League break.

Shannon Rowbury: We were going to go to Park City for altitude. But it didn’t make sense to fly all the way over and fly all the way back. So we decided to stay and do altitude training over here. It’s nicer for me to not have to fly back and forth. Pablo was able to stay over for a couple of weeks to help out as well. Font Rameau is kind of like the French high altitude training center, a small mountain ski town, with a more causal vibe than St. Moritz [the other notable European altitude training option, in Switzerland].

RT: What’s your training situation like in Font Rameau?

SR: We do two track session a week. A long run is my third hard session. The other days are just recovery runs. In Font Romeau, there are trails, but they’re pretty hilly. The last time I was here we would drive 20 or 30 minutes to a lake with a little bit lower elevation with a 5-mile loop, it’s flatter and has better footing. There are forest trails on one side of the lake.

RT: The big summer meets left are Stockholm, Zurich and Brussels. Are you doing all three of those?

SR: Yeah, that’s the plan, the Stockholm 1500, Zurich 1500, and then Brussels 3K. We’re talking about Decanations, which is two days after Zurich. I’m hoping to do the Continental Cup [in Morocco]. I’m hoping I’ll get selected for that in the 3K. I’ll end the season with either that or Fifth Avenue Mile [in New York].

RT: In a year without a major global championship, runners can decide what time of year they want to be in peak form. There was a lot of memorable racing early on. Surely there will be regrouping in the second half, but it does seem like Monaco was the big meet of the year.

SR: For me, I didn’t even start thinking about the second season until Monaco was over. My goals for the season were Paris and Monaco. There was a time I wasn’t even sure if I was going to USAs or not and I had just been gearing up for the Paris 1500 and the Monaco 5K. In a season where there’s no major championship, you do just have to figure for yourself, “Okay, what’s my target race?” and hopefully peak for that.

After Paris, I was excited to be able to do another couple of 1500s in the second session. I know I can run fast in a 3K so I’m looking forward to that.

RT: In your career through 2013, you’d barely missed breaking 4:00 and 15:00. Now you’ve done both, the latter by a ton. You’ve done things to improve yourself, but were these mainly cases of finally getting into the right kind of races to achieve those times?

SR: If you’re a 1500-meter woman trying to run 4:04 or 4:05, the race opportunities to do that are much more frequent. If you’re trying break 4:00, you need more things to go right and there are fewer chances throughout the year. For me, it was a combination that I got lucky that Paris had the Diamond League 1500 and Monaco had the Diamond League 5K. Those are two really great meets. I perform consistently well at them.

And then there’s also the training. My training with Coach Cook was good. But with this new group, having not just one coach, but two, having a weight coach, having a sports psychologist who’s a mental coach, I have this support network that’s working with me on a daily basis to prepare me for these races, adding that component of being mentally and physically ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself. I had a lot of strong components, but being with this new group made it possible to bring it all together.

RT: In terms of the nature and quantity of the workouts, what are some of the biggest differences since you joined the Oregon Project?

SR: The hard sessions are less frequent during the week but the volume and intensity is much higher. With Coach Cook, I would say five out of the seven days, we would be doing something that was higher intensity. Now we do two workout sessions and a long run, and the rest is easier. It’s not a huge change but it’s fitting with where I am as an athlete. I’m 29 now and I’ve built up my strength over the years so I can tolerate these longer harder sessions. But having the extra days in between to recover came at the right time for me.

RT: Foods That Cut Inflammation to Improve Performance?

SR: We looked at my workouts with Coach Cook and I was typically around 4K or 5K [of intervals] total. And with Alberto, I’m getting 7 to 8K sometimes per session. Both Cook and Alberto would do 600-meter breakdowns, which are 600 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, but with Alberto I’ll do four or five sets and sometimes with Coach Cook it would just two or three. Sometimes I feel very tired, but I’m trying to progress and keep getting better.

RT: How long are the hard long runs?

SR: I’ve gotten up to about 15. With Coach Cook, since there were so many intense days, I never really got in a long run. I would get in maybe 10 miles or something.

RT: What does your sports psychologist, Darren Treasure, tell you that results in your approaching a race differently?

SR: It’s great that he works with Alberto and Peter. He’ll talk with them earlier in the week about what my training suggests I can do in a race and what they think would be a good race strategy. When I talk to Darren, he can share the feedback from the coaches. He works as this good intermediary to synthesize the information from all three and sends it back to me in a way that’s simplified and easy to wrap my head around.

Just to have that person who can keep you grounded when you’re nervous is helpful. Leading into a race, if I’m starting to get nervous or distracted from what really matters, he can bring me back down to a calmer place. It’s important to make sure that the line of communication is clear. It’s easy for the athlete or the coach to get wrapped up in what they’re doing, and Darren can be a good outside observer to share his thoughts.

RT: You came to Portland in as a veteran athlete and an accomplished one. We’ve heard of experienced runners daunted by going to Alberto’s group, asking themselves, “Can I actually do what he’s asking me to do?”

SR: For myself, I’m glad I came in later in my career. Six and a half or seven years as a professional gave me a lot of inner confidence to pull on. Unlike some of the other athletes, I knew I was good enough to be with them [the Oregon Project]. But any time you start with a new group and the training is different, it’s going to be hard. Alberto definitely pushes the envelope in workouts. It’s important to understand how to feel like I’m making progress even if I have a workout where I don’t feel like I’m hitting the times or my teammates are doing a little better than me.

In the first cycle, there were definitely workouts where I’d have to cut the interval short or I’d just really be struggling. But I worked with Darren and believed in myself and talked to the coaches and was able to get through it. Already, with this second cycle with the group, I’ve been able to do so much better. Even if the workout wasn’t spectacular in my eyes, I realizing that it was better than the athlete I was last year, and that’s progress. And a year from now, these workouts that were so hard for me, I’ll have had time to adapt to it.

RT: Since you had run so close to Molly Huddle in the 5,000m at USAs [Huddle ran 15:01.56 and Rowbury 15:01.71], did you think at Monaco that perhaps there would be a sub-14:30 race with the likes of Genzebe Dibaba up front and perhaps you’d be keying on Molly to get your sub-15:00?

SR: I knew that Molly was in really good shape. She’d set the 10K record in New York [an American best for a women’s-only road 10K] and had a fast mile time and we had a really good race at USAs. I didn’t know this until after the [Monaco] race, but my high school coach drew up an analysis of my 5K races and hers. In my career, I’ve done maybe six or seven track 5Ks, and she’s done closer to 50. She’s got a lot more experience and she’s the American record holder.

I went in figuring she’s the type of runner who’s going to run a consistent pace and if I could sit on her and be tough, then I could get pulled along to a quick time. It leaves a lot of the work on her hands. But there are other athletes who’ve done that to me before. I have total respect for her and it wasn’t that I don’t appreciate her performance, but my objective as an athlete and as a racer is to understand my competition and understand what they’re likely to do in a race and figure out what’s the best strategy for me.

RT: Molly ran a new American record of 14:42.64. Did most of her margin over you come in the last couple of laps?

SR: She made up her six seconds on me in the last 300 meters or so. She had already run a 14:55 this season. She’s just been there before. For me, just running a 12-second PR, my body could only PR by so much. I have high hopes for the future that I could run even faster.

RT: Can we assume that from your vantage point as her teammate, Mary Cain’s world junior 3000m gold didn’t come as a surprise?

SR: She’s a great competitor and she’s got great speed. When I look at her training compared to what I did in high school, there’s no comparison whatsoever. And she’s earned that, and she’s a great person. I don’t see any end to her success in the future. I think it will just continue.

RT: By next year, thinking about world championships and Olympic Games, will it be tough for you to choose between the 1500 and 5000?

SR: I’m hoping. I’m hoping that I’ll do well enough in those events and that it will be a challenge for me to decide which way to go. I’m already improving in the 1500 and I feel like I’m just getting started in the 5K. It’ll just come down to each given year, seeing what the competition looks like and what I have the best shot in of being on that medal stand.

RT: Since you just broke 4:00 for the first time, some might imagine that your next couple of 1500s are anticlimactic. But there may be some tactical lessons you’ve learned and can put into effect.

SR: You never know. Usually, the last races of the season end up becoming tactical. I would love it if they were fast. I got knocked around going through the Paris race and was still able to run 3:59 so I’d like to get in another fast race. I think some of the people in the Paris race had done more 1500s and were just more race sharp. I know I’m as strong or stronger than all the women in the 15 given my 5K performance. If I can sharpen up and go after it in a fast race, I would love to see if I could PR again. But I’m also preparing that if it’s tactical, I’ve have the goal of being in the top three and trying to win. Basically, as I look at the second session, I have two goals…if it’s fast, to PR again, and if it’s tactical, to “out-tactics” my competitors.

RT: Your enthusiasm for the sport still seems fresh. You seem to be able to maintain the joy in your running.

SR: There were times in the last two years when I felt I was not quite achieving what I thought I was capable of. I wasn’t quite getting PRs or I was falling just short of the podium. I had had some good moments but overall was feeling a little bit stagnant. It is really nice to have this switch and to mix things up and challenge myself in new ways. I like figuring things out, so it’s been fun being in a new group. The timing has been really good for me.