Age

• 24

Did you compete in high school cross country or track?

• Yes, at Park Vista HS in Palm Beach County

Did you compete in college cross country or track?

• No

How many years have you been running?

• 12

Lifetime personal records

• • Mile: 4:46
  • 2 mile: 10:11
  • 5k (track): 15:42
  • 10k: 33:58
  • Half Marathon: 1:18:56
  • Marathon: 2:38:13
  • 50 Miler: 8:04:31

What running events do you train for or what are your training goals?

• I’m currently training for the marathon (with the current global situation, I do not know which one specifically); my goal at the moment would be to break 2:30:00

Consider your training over the past 6 months to one year.  How many miles a week do you typically run when not injured and consistently running?

• I try to keep around 100 now, but it was more like 70-80 for most of last year

What does your typical week of running look like?

• Monday:  8 mi AM/ 4 mi PM EZ
• Tuesday: Track workout in AM, often with 3 mi warmup, about 10 mi of intervals consisting of anywhere between 1000-3200 repeats with short 1:00-2:00 rest, 3 mi cooldown
• Wednesday: 8 mi AM/ 4 mi PM      EZ
• Thursday: 8 mi AM/ 4 mi PM      EZ
• Friday: 8 mi AM/ 4 mi PM EZ
• Saturday: Long workout in AM, anywhere from 20-32mi, EZ start then either a progression run, tempo, fartlek, or ending the run at race pace
• Sunday: 8 mi AM/ 4 mi PM EZ (or a day off)

How does your training vary over the course of a year?  Do you take recovery or down time?

• I don’t particularly plan for down time, but sometimes work gets a bit busy, so I ease off the miles and take it easy, especially since I work standing on my feet all night.

Do you peak for certain races?

• Really, only for any marathon I race. I might do a light taper for some other races, but I usually train through the 5ks and such.

How much sleep do you usually get at night?

• Sleep is my weakness, I try to stay over 5 hrs. (Fun fact, I work nights and sleep during the day.)

What time of day do you normally run?

• “Early” (6 am) morning and late afternoon or evening (though not often, I do like to do a midnight run)

What injuries have hampered your training over the past year? 

• I’m blessed enough to have never been injured in such a way to impact my training.

Do you take any dietary or medical supplements?

• I do take gels (Maurten gel100/caf100) during my long workouts and races, and the occasional Gatorade or protein shake.

What type of running shoes do you prefer?

• For training I wear Pegasus turbo 2; for races, the brand new Alphafly Next%. (I previously wore the Vaporflys.)

Do you use weight training?

• Yes. I try to go the gym 3-5 days week. I try to keep it simple and do a low intensity, little bit of “everything” when I go, like say 30 min on legs (quads, hammys, glutes, and calves), then 30 min on upper body (bis, tris, pecs, lats, forearm). I would usually just do one set for one muscle group, and move on to the next group, and so on until I went back to do another set of the initial group I started with, my “rest” would be however many different groups I was working on before going back to start the cycle of sets over again. I do some light core at home almost daily.

Do you stretch?

• Sometimes. I stretch before races and hard runs, preferring dynamic stretching, such high knees, but kicks, and leg swings.

What are your favorite running routes?

• I really like St. Marks Trail and Tom Brown Park.

What running resources do you like that would benefit someone else?

• I don’t really have a comment for this, I’ve never been one to read too much about running.

How has your training changed over the years?

• My training mostly just slowly increased in intensity through middle and high school, no distinct changes. Then after moving for college I eased up the running load for a few years, and am now back into heavier training again.

What examples can you give of specific training methods, and what were the results?

• I’ve noticed some good results when changing my long slow runs to long runs with a workout incorporated into them, like ending my long run with some miles at race pace or adding a long progression run or fartlek into the long run. This has helped increase my strength and endurance for longer races, where I feel less fatigued when trying to finish the final miles of such races.

What advice do you have for beginning or experienced runners to help them with their training?

• I might sound like I’m just saying what everyone else says, but it’s just so true. Just keep at it, never give up. The training will never truly be “easy”, but you’ll always feel better after finishing your run/workout. So never be discouraged by a bad workout or not wanting to head out and run, once you’re out there, you’ll forget those feelings.