Fueling The Pursuit

Olympic Distance Runner Joe Klecker on Training and Preparing with Purpose

Episode Summary

U.S. Olympian Joe Klecker discusses his preparation for and execution at the US Olympic Trials, the support network he's created with his coach Dathan Ritzenhein and On Running, and how he navigated the previous year to set himself up for this year's success.

Episode Notes

“Now that I've been running for over a decade, I could just keep adding things and adding things. And by the end of the day, I would be training 24/7, adding all these new exercises. And I do gain a lot of confidence from doing these things, but then I like to assess what's actually helping me." 

We're joined by Joe Klecker, 2021 U.S. Olympian in the 10,000 meters.

Joe has an amazing story and it was so fun exploring his journey to making the 2021 Olympic team. One of the things that stands out about Joe’s story is how both his mother and father were world class runners back in their day. In fact, Joe’s mother was an Olympic runner as well! 

Joe displays so much perspective on making his first Olympic team four years earlier than he originally expected. He said something we all can benefit from when he spoke about competing at his first Olympics: this first big experience is a stepping stone towards more big moments. 

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget that we’re all on a journey and that every moment, no matter how big, is still a moment to learn and to grow for future opportunities. Joe may only be 24 years old but he shares a lot of wisdom throughout our conversation.

Timestamped Show Notes

(3:25) Continuing an Olympic legacy…

(5:43) A couple of tricks that worked for Jon…

(7:16) Key advice to make the 10,000-meter team…

(11:12) Making all the right decisions in the last portion of the race…

(14:31) “I got a lot of confidence in where I ran my 10k PR, the conditions were a bit warm and I knew that I was well in shape to run the standard.”

(16:32) The power of a Coach’s belief…

(18:37) “You're not just running as hard as you can to hit that pace. You need to be relaxed.”

(23:15) A team dynamic and an effective training approach…

(25:26) How has Covid impacted training, and what does strength training look like?

(31:24) What ancillary activities do you feel are important?

(34:42) “I mean, obviously, my whole career has been surrounded by my mom being an Olympian. When I'm at cross country meets in high school, that's kind of what people know, like, ‘Oh, that's Joe, his mom's an Olympian.’”

(36:27) A few words about reaching a career goal early…

(39:35) Preparing for Tokyo…

(43:47) “Every day, your training doesn't need to be perfect. But if you have a purpose every day when you go out, I think that it makes it a lot easier to see improvement, even on easy days.”

References

2021 Olympic Trials 10,000 meter Final - YouTube

Sound Running Invite 5000m (Joe's 13:06 PR) - YouTube

On Running - website

UFC's Bo Sandoval on Fueling the Pursuit - Simplecast

Guest

Joe Klecker - On Running bio | Instagram | Twitter

Joe's fav UCAN product: Cookies & Cream Energy + Protein Tub

Hosts:

Jon Rankin - gobemore.co | @chasejonrankin

Bryan Green - maketheleapbook.com | @maketheleapbook

Learn More:

UCAN - ucan.co | @genucan

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