Most runners and coaches would agree that there is a big difference between running a hard workout and running a race.
And as we’ve talked about before, racing is a skill.
The better you can get at learning to push yourself at the right moments, the better you’ll race.
One running legend who believes this is Greg Meyer, who until this
past April was known as “the last American man to win the Boston
Marathon.” (He finally lost that dubious honor to 2004 Olympic silver
medalist Meb Keflezighi in April)
Greg and many of his contemporaries in the late 1970s and early 1980s
were known for competing frequently while maintaining a fairly high
level of training.
Greg talks at length about the benefits of not just frequent racing,
but true competition and the different attitude and mindset that it
brings out.
Some of the key points of our discussion included:
The training program that took Greg to wins at the 1982 Chicago and 1983 Boston MarathonsThe idea of racing frequently and the different, more competitive attitude that stems from thatThe 2014 Boston Marathon where Greg finally stopped being known as “The last American man to win Boston”This is a great talk that is sire to get you fired up for your next race.