Parker Valby Is Ready for the Next Step Ahead of Pro Debut at 2025 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix
By Jonathan GaultBOSTON — Parker Valby‘s 2023-24 season at the University of Florida was one of the greatest in the history of collegiate distance running. Fourteen races. Fourteen wins. Four collegiate records. The first woman to win five NCAA titles in one academic year. And a berth at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she finished 11th in the 10,000 meters after hanging with the leaders until the final lap.
Those accomplishments led to a lucrative contract with New Balance and high expectations for Valby’s professional career, which will begin in the 3,000 meters at Sunday’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. But you won’t hear any talk of high expectations from Valby — at least not publicly. Speaking to LetsRun.com at the meet hotel on Saturday afternoon, the 22-year-old Valby said that making the US team for the 2025 World Championships is the obvious goal. Beyond that, Valby said she just wants continue to improve and have a good rookie year. Her goal for her pro debut? Just to finish the race.
Really?
“I don’t know where I’m at [fitness-wise],” said Valby, who is coming off a monthlong block of altitude training in Flagstaff. “I’d love to PR (Valby’s personal best is 8:41.50). I’m just going to try my best and see what comes of it.”
New Balance is paying Valby well into the six figures annually to do more than just finish races. But the humble approach is an acknowledgment of the task Valby faces as a professional. Her competitors on Sunday include three-time US 5,000-meter champion Elise Cranny, US 1500m Olympian Emily Mackay (Valby’s new teammate at New Balance Boston), and 2024 Olympic medalists Jessica Hull of Australia and Georgia Bell of Great Britain, who carry 1500m personal bests of 3:50 and 3:52, respectively. Valby could run a personal best and not even crack the top five.
Last year, Valby made winning all those college titles look easy. During races, she would offer teammates a thumbs-up or wave to herself on the jumbotron. But it was not easy for Valby to reach that position. When I begin a question by noting she was always the #1 runner in the field in college, she quickly offers a correction.
“Not always,” Valby said. “I worked my way there. I finished second a lot of times.”
Valby may be outrageously talented and run low mileage for an Olympic distance runner, but she also has a reputation as a furious cross-trainer, especially on her beloved Arc Trainer. New Balance Boston coach Mark Coogan, who began coaching Valby in the fall, has largely kept that cross-training routine intact. Valby said she now does one more day of running per week than at Florida — she is up to four, sometimes five days per week — but most of her easy miles still come via cross-training.
“It’s not really that much of a jump,” Valby said. “I still cross-train a ton. Mark’s been really good with switching the training…I love Mark. He’s a great coach…He’s been really good with the transition from college to pro and helping me do that and he cares about me as a person, not just a runner.”
LRC Q&A: Mark Coogan on New Balance Boston’s Big Year and Coaching Parker Valby
So far, Valby said, there have been two main differences in her professional training compared to college. First, she spends a lot more time running on pavement. Second, she now has two Olympic 1500m runners (Mackay and Heather MacLean) to push her in faster workouts during practice. It will be three once Elle St. Pierre returns from maternity leave.
Training in Flagstaff (elevation: 7,000 feet), where NB Boston goes for altitude camps, is also a new experience for Valby. She had never trained at elevation before this year but said she did not have a hard time adjusting.
“It was really cold there, but I love the running there,” Valby said. “It was the most perfect running setup, honestly. There’s no distractions there. In Boston, there are a lot of distractions like shopping and stuff. There’s not much [in Flagstaff]. Everyone goes to bed at 8 p.m., so it’s hard to get distracted. But the running is gorgeous.
“…People said [the altitude] would hit me, but it never really hit me. So I don’t know. We did do a lot of our workouts in Cottonwood and Sedona, which I guess is about 3,000 or 4,000 feet.”
Looking further into the future, I mention to Valby that the next World Cross Country Championships are less than a year away, in her adopted home state of Florida. She is surprised to learn that, but excited.
“I haven’t talked to Mark about that,” Valby said, “but I would love to do [World XC]. I wish I did cross country this [past fall]. Training just gets boring all the time. I like to race.”
Valby will get the opportunity to do just that on Sunday in her first race since the Olympics. Does she plan on leading, as she did so many times last year at Florida? We’ll have to wait until the gun fires to find out.
“I’m going to do what’s best for me in that race and listen to what Mark says,” Valby said. “In races that aren’t really my wheelhouse, probably not. But we’ll see.”
Full pre-race interview with Valby below