Inside the Bubble: Olympian Jared Ward's Strategy for the London Marathon and Beyond

Jared Ward is getting ready to race. He is one of the few elite athletes that will enter the elite bubble to race the London Marathon on October 4th. Jared is an American marathoner who placed third in the 2016 US Olympic Trials and finished in sixth place at the Rio Olympics later that year. In 2019, he ran a personal best in Boston, finishing in 2:09, and then in Houston, at the half marathon in January of 2020, he was the first American man to cross the line in a PR of 1:01:36. With a condensed training build, Jared is now in full marathon mode and he talks to Coach Claire about how his training is going and what the 20-loop course in front of Buckingham Palace might be like for him. They also discuss pandemic-related changes to his and his family's life and how Jared stays inspired. Jared lives in Provo, Utah, and when he's not training for marathons for Saucony or chasing around his four little kids, he is a professor of statistics at Brigham Young University. He famously wrote his master's thesis on the best way to pace a marathon, and he was on a research team that set out to analyze the performance advantages of rival shoe company Nike's Vaporfly 4%. That research helped Saucony create the Endorphin Pro which Jared wore in Boston last year for his PR performance. If you want to race against Olympic Athlete Jared Ward, sign up for the Chaski Challenge marathon relay this Saturday, September 12th. It's a fun run for a good cause. Questions Jared is asked: 3:36 First of all, what a crazy year 2020 has been! Can you take us back to the beginning of the year, as you trained for the Olympic Trials in January and February, what you were imagining 2020 to look like for you? 5:34 What did you do with your training with no races in sight? 6:55 I watched an interview after the race with you and you could have easily dropped out of that race when you knew things were going pretty bad, and a lot of elites do that. They save their legs for another day, but you decided that you were going to finish the race, and I'd love to talk about what was going on in your head at that point. 12:50 Speaking of family, how are you handling four kids at home, home schooling, training, all of the craziness that we parents are going through right now? 14:20 Another interesting fact about you is that you take one day off of running each week because of your faith. Can you talk about this and how it affects your training? 17:05 Let's talk about London. You have announced that you are going to be one of the few elites running the London Marathon on October 4. Can you tell us how that came about? 19:55 Let's talk about the logistics of the London Marathon. It's just loops around the park, right? 20:05 Are they allowing spectators for the London Marathon? 20:55 You obviously had to get special permission for travel and all of that. What are the logistics of traveling as an American to Europe right now? 21:16 Do you know how big the field for the London Marathon is yet? 22:06 Any predictions for the London Marathon, or is it just too crazy to even try to predict? 22:51 I would imagine that this type of course (London Marathon) would actually really play to your strengths. You're a statistician, is that correct? And so you like the mathematical advantage of a 20-loop course? 24:14 On Saturday, September 12, you are headlining the men's elite virtual marathon relay called the Chaski Challenge, which is another virtual event put on by Tyler Andrews at Chaski Endurance. Can you talk about that and what it's all about? 26:38 So the Chaski Challenge is not a treadmill race? You can do this one outside? 28:23 What's next after London? 30:33 If racing can be done safely, then maybe it should be done, right? Questions I ask everyone: 31:27 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself? 32:31 What is the greatest gift that running has given you? 32:56 Where can listeners connect with you? Quotes by Jared: "I think it's important for kids to see that even when it's hard, it doesn't mean we have to quit. We don't have to give up." "I've come to appreciate now as a more seasoned marathoner that it's a lot more about getting in enough training to unlock lifetime fitness than it is about some perfect marathon training block that tees the race up perfectly." "The Chaski Challenge on September 12th is creating an opportunity in a running world with fewer opportunities now than there were a year ago." Take a Listen on Your Next Run Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast: Chaski Challenge Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page claire@runnersconnect.net Follow Jared on: Instagram Twitter We really hope you've enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use. The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!