At heart, she was always a swimmer.
Running was just a way for Allyson Thompson to get ready for competition in the water.
One day, after her days of glory at Council Rock High School, she discovered she was pretty quick on movement over land, too.
So she went at it with the same dedication, running a Boston-qualifying time of 2:57 at a Philadelphia Marathon one year and eventually competing in the fabled Ironman Triathlon, this one in Panama City, Florida.
Today, she’s still churning out the running miles at a high level. Last month, she placed second in her 45-49 age group at the Philadelphia Distance Run in a brisk 1:34.
Yet it should be noted that she still remains active in swimming. Her twice-weekly workouts at the LA Fitness pool not only help her aerobic conditioning but provide relief from the constant pounding of running on pavement and hard-pack trails.
“I swam in high school and college (West Chester),” she explained in a recent telephone interview. “Running was always part of getting back into shape kind of thing.
“After college it was like I’m done with swimming. I never want to swim again.”
She wound up joining the Bucks County Roadrunners around 2003 and the rest is history.
“I started doing the Philly Marathon and the (BCRR) Winter Series,” she said. “It just went from there. As the years progressed, I started getting faster and faster and I loved it.”
In her mid-‘40s she’s still going strong.
“My goal going into this year was to break 1:30 (in the half-marathon),” said the Trevose-Feasterville resident. “If I could do that, potentially I could be top 3 in my age group. I needed another five minutes. But I’d rather break 1:30 and come out a hundredth.”
Thompson has been plagued by injuries over the years so swimming helps to minimize those.
“I do get hurt a lot,” she said. “I test myself way too far, too much.”
Swimming plus time on the treadmill are ways to stay on the positive side of long training hours.
In recent years, she was able to run on the treadmill while keeping an eye on her twin young children, Tyler and Brooke.
She’s hoping they will follow in her footsteps.
“It is the consistency of day-in, day-out,” she said. “Just doing it on a day when I don’t feel like it. I hope the kids see that I’m still doing something and doing this. Staying active and exercise in general.
“I hope I am rubbing off on them. Hopefully they’re thinking, ‘wow, like mom is still running fast.’ Neshaminy puts on a 5K right around after Broad Street. I usually do that, it’s just a local race. I think I’ve won the last couple years. Hopefully they can see that. Just being out there, working hard and trying to be your best.”
Tyler and Brooke have been competing in Ambler Running Club activities.
The swimming element of Allyson’s training is something she will always keep around.
“I still try to swim twice a week,” she said. “After a hard workout, it’s crazy how much a swim loosens me up. I like to try to push swimming onto everybody. Even if it’s like 15 minutes.”
The treadmill offers its own convenience element.
“I don’t mind running on my treadmill,” she said. “Love the monotony of it.”
The twins are nearly 10 years old now so mom doesn’t have to pay quite as close attention.
“I can go on the treadmill for an hour now and not worry,” she said. “They don’t need me as much.”
Outside, the twins hop on their bikes and follow mom.
There are times when Allyson has been hurt to the point where she couldn’t run, so that’s when she still heads for the pool.
“The times that I was hurt and couldn’t run, I just swam a lot,” she said. “A tempo workout doesn’t put weight on my bones and my joints.
“Like a magazine article I read, your heart doesn’t know what sport you’re doing. If you can get your heart rate up as you would do in a run, you can keep your activity and fitness levels up.”
>Race calendar
Sunday
A Run for the Heart 5K, 9 a.m., Warrington. Contact www.runsignup.com
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