SPEAKER_00: 0:00

So you're thinking about running, but not sure how to take the first step? My name is Brian Patterson, and I'm here to help. Welcome to Brian's ROM pod. This week we've got a super special guest joining us. It's my third author on the show, and guess what? He's written not one, but th three books. Is that right, Jeffrey? And um so anyway, today we're chatting to chatting to Jeffrey Weiss, the author of Racing Against Time. And from, let's say, from the first 10K to at 48 to Iron and Ultramarathon. This book is a memoir about his incredible running journey. Now, if you've ever need inspiration to write a book, Jeffrey says it best. And I quote, if you write a page every day for a year, you have a book by the end of it. So let's give a warm Brianstrong welcome to Jeffrey Weiss.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30

So um how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01: 1:33

I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

Great, great. Um, and I know we didn't include this in in the outline, uh, but I just want to get a sense of what your experience of exercise was like sort of during high school. Did you grow up in the States or w did you grow up in Israel?

SPEAKER_01: 1:53

I grew up in the States. Um in high school. Yeah. I was uh I was a uh competitive, I mean at a local level uh tennis player.

SPEAKER_00: 2:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 2:01

I played uh starting from when I was about 12 through high school, played college tennis in the States, yeah. Um at a division three level, which is uh which is a decent level, but not the highest division one. Um and quit tennis uh basically after I completed college, and then uh a year or so later essentially transitioned uh to my new sport, which was power.

SPEAKER_00: 2:26

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 2:26

And this uh for a bunch of years, so focused on bench press, squad, deadlift. Um and then uh when I uh, you know, when when part of my family uh basically continued to lift weights on a maintenance basis, but uh really, you know, for the most part, sports very much took a backseat, sports and fitness uh for the next uh 20 years or so.

SPEAKER_00: 2:48

What was it? Because I know um according to your book, it was kind of like there was this, you know, you were sort of approaching your 50s, you were 48, and then you kind of felt that I I I need to either be doing some form of exercise, or was there any health concerns, or uh or was it just, you know, you kind of woke up one day and you felt then, hmm, why didn't I, you know, start running?

SPEAKER_01: 3:16

It was not long after my father passed away, but she's for a lot of us as a time for uh some introspection and uh and deeper thinking about kind of our lives or where we are, where we're going. Um for me, and I think for a lot of us, uh it had always troubled me that I wasn't cardio fit in a cardiovascular sense, that I wasn't taking care of my heart properly, that I wasn't doing any kind of endurance work. Um, and I think like a lot of us, I always felt that, well, I'll I'll take that up later when I have more time. And it kind of hit me at 48 that now is later. There is no more sort of deferring this into the future uh in a responsible way, that I really need to attend to it now, if I truly am serious about um taking care of my health in a responsible way as I, you know, enter my 50s and 60s and really uh deep uh middle age. And so that's me to uh start with running and to try our first uh 10K at the age of 48.

SPEAKER_00: 4:10

I mean, I have a similar kind of cinema experience. I mean, my dad passed away uh earlier on this year, but um it does raise questions about the next 10 years, you know, sort of thing. So yeah, it's interesting that you said that. So um I understand that um when listening to podcasts that you're on, I've forgotten what it was, the name of the podcast, but basically you did uh like a training program with your daughter with two coaches, is that right?

SPEAKER_01: 4:39

I did. Uh yeah, uh uh Julie uh uh Sapper and Lisa Reichman uh gave a running class, and they still, I think, give that same running class, and they also coach. Yeah. And they're the accomplished runners in their own right. So uh did a running class with the two of them, uh, with my oldest daughter. And the goal of the two-month class was to run a 10K at the end. And so that's how I approached uh that first uh 10K. We ran a 5K halfway through the class and then uh a 10K at the end. And it was a great way for me to get into running to learn some of the basics, which actually um I really didn't understand before running at a conversational pace.

SPEAKER_00: 5:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 5:17

Someone once told me that when you run, you should breathe through your nose, which I did at the beginning of the class, and it was it was a really brutal way to run. Breathe comfortably through your mouth. And so between those two tips alone, uh, that was a tremendous help. And they gave structure to the workout, to the training, and also brought in some lecturers that really helped me think about not just running, but about my health and health span and things like that. So it really helped kind of get me off on a uh on a on a really strong uh for want of a better word, on a strong footing.

SPEAKER_00: 5:48

Yeah. Did you uh were you kind of surprised that running could be a technical sport? Because I know you you said you did, you know, strength training, which again, you know, is is quite technical uh and can be as technical as you wanted it to be, but it's not just about putting one foot in front of the other. Were you surprised that you could be doing, you know, different speed sessions, tempo runs, long runs, that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_01: 6:14

Honestly, I was. Um in in hindsight, it's it seems kind of funny that uh that I was surprised, but I truly was. The whole idea of running at a conversational pace was something I'd never heard, and it made the whole experience much more comfortable. It allowed me to go for farther distances, which was very um encouraging from just an emotional point of view. And then over time, learning more about different types of workouts, speed workouts, intervals, tempo runs, uh, long runs. And um, you know, for that first race, we really just focused on the long run uh week, getting ready for the 10K and doing all of our runs at a conversational pace. And then as I got more into the sport, started to read more, started to listen to more podcasts and things of that sort. Oh, yeah, and really much more of a student of uh of the whole sport.

SPEAKER_00: 7:02

Did it help having your daughter uh running with you? Was that quite a good support?

SPEAKER_01: 7:08

It did. It was it was it made it a more special experience. It was a lot of fun to do it uh together because otherwise I think running can be for a lot of us a pretty solitary uh experience. And um and more recently it has been that for me. I train uh by myself, I race uh by myself, and uh I still find gaining in it, but it is it it is better with company if you can make that happen.

SPEAKER_00: 7:33

So were you uh uh at the time, so were you kind of encouraged by the your you know fitness gains? You know, was it quite a slow progress, or were you you know getting fitter and being able to do longer distances quite quite quickly at the time?

SPEAKER_01: 7:54

It was it was fairly quick. Um it was. I think that uh I mean the first thing for me, just finishing the 10K, running the entire distance was a huge milestone for me. I had tried one uh 30 years earlier when I was 17 and had essentially walked the whole two miles. I had been too tired to run the whole distance. So that in itself was pretty amazing. And then I tried to work on improving uh my time and and did improve it um with each uh with each uh additional 10k race, then started to look at going uh longer distances and within a year did my first uh half marathon, which was quite eye-opening for me that I could actually run um twice the length of a 10K. So that was incredibly exciting, encouraging, and you caught the bug.

SPEAKER_00: 8:38

You caught the bug.

SPEAKER_01: 8:39

Yeah, very much, and then wanted to look for more uh kind of mountains to climb as I uh as I looked ahead.

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

Were you still doing your uh strength training uh along with the running as well at the time?

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

I was and I still am to this day. I still um but I do it, I think, as as maintenance. I do it very uh consistently twice a week.

SPEAKER_00: 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:01

Um, but it's not my primary focus. I think lifting is important, especially as we get older and and we do tend to lose muscle mass, and lifting weights regularly can can help us slow the uh the speed of that loss. But um but most focus now is on uh endurance sports, running, uh swimming, cycling.

SPEAKER_00: 9:20

Did you I mean, were you did did they forgot the names now, but I mean, did they kind of adapt the strength training to make it more functional or more sports specific to running? So I don't know, let's say where before you were doing you know, you know, more bench presses and deadlifts, all that kind of thing. Maybe they did they did it like Bulgarian splits or more, you know, running focus type of exercises.

SPEAKER_01: 9:45

They did. They were more focused on on legwork, body weight uh type of exercises, uh core, um, you know, the kinds of things that that candidly I I really didn't focus on in the past.

SPEAKER_00: 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:58

Um like a lot of lifters, I tended to focus on the muscles that that that people see. So it's a classic uh syndrome affecting uh uh affecting lifters, but uh but over time got more um thoughtful about what I was doing and how it might help me uh progress as an athlete.

SPEAKER_00: 10:17

I've I mean I I remember when I in my youth, you know, twenties and whatever, and I was doing in a sort of like uh weightlifting, that kind of thing, there was I had the same thing. But nowadays, as I said, we've um uh we are the same age. Nowadays it's it's all about strengthening the areas that either maybe you are overcoming injury or trying to avoid injury, that kind of thing. And and I I kind of really feel the benefits of that.

SPEAKER_01: 10:43

So yeah, I think it makes a huge difference. And and for me, um, I mean the injuries have come, and so um, I think to your point, you really do want to try to focus on on what they call these days prehab, you know, getting ahead of injuries and trying to prevent them from occurring, but targeting everyone that you know are weak for you, which in my case tends to be the hips. Um and uh and then if you get taking that seriously, saying a physio, and then doing the exercises that you need to do to get sorted and uh back training.

SPEAKER_00: 11:14

So what made you decide you say you did the half marathon? So was it quite a smooth transition to say, well, I want to go for the full marathon uh next? And then was that kind of quite soon after when you let's say you started 48, started training properly. Was it quite soon after um that you decided to maybe go for the full marathon?

SPEAKER_01: 11:42

It was within a few months. I did the half marathon at age 49 and did the first marathon at age 50, about almost exactly 12 months after that half marathon. So a few months later decided uh to try that. Um it seemed like the next sensible uh milestone. And I and I I think that the the comment you had made earlier, bitten by the bug. I think for me it very much was that. Yeah that uh it was such a journey of discovery that wow, I can do things that I never thought I could do. And and what else might be possible? And so the 10K, you know, was a pleasant surprise. The the half marathon was a huge surprise. And so then it then, you know, you start to wonder, well, what about the marathon itself? Um and so uh so yeah, so set my sights on that, trained for it, and uh ended up being a wonderful experience.

SPEAKER_00: 12:29

All right. Okay. So uh was that a a a local race within the within the within the states?

SPEAKER_01: 12:36

It was. It's it's the Marine Corps Marathon at the time. Yeah. One of the 10 largest marathons in the world. Oh wow with uh over 20,000 runners through DC, yeah, parts of Virginia, um, very historic parts of DC, the Capitol Mall. It finishes at the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is that very famous statue of the Marines raising the flag.

SPEAKER_00: 13:01

Oh, yes, I know. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 13:04

During the Second World War. So it's a it's a very inspirational race. In fact, at the finish, a Marine second lieutenant actually salutes you and puts the medal over your neck. So it's oh wow, that's that's special, especially for a first marathon. Um, and lots of people are out in the streets cheering. So for me, it was a great first marathon experience, very uplifting. Um I think running in front of so many people who were super excited and holding up signs, which was the first time I marathon signs, they were quite entertaining and funny and inspirational. So it was, it was a great, it was a great first marathon.

SPEAKER_00: 13:40

So to for our audience, is there any kind of one piece of advice that you'd give to to them for someone who was looking to, you know, venture into their first marathon? Was there was there, you know, looking looking back in hindsight, he said, well, if only I'd known that, you know, what would you what would you say?

SPEAKER_01: 13:59

Um I a little bit rushed my training because I had decided I'm going to do a marathon this fall.

SPEAKER_00: 14:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 14:08

And initially I did the Marine Corps was told out I did not think I could get into the race. So I had signed up for a different marathon that was about a month later. Then I discovered that Marine Corps, which they do something that's quite unique among uh big marathons, which is they allow runners who, for whatever reason, can't in the end participate to sell their bib, to sell their entry to another runner. And so when I discovered that, I I purchased a bib and shifted my training. But I think cutting off those three or four weeks in hindsight was not a good move. I got injured, um, did manage to recover, but um, but it was touch and go. In the end, it it ended up being fine. But I would say be methodical about it, do the preparation, do the training, uh, build to it, do the 10K, do the half marathon. You know, if you can uh work with a coach, if you can't, you know, at least download a good training plan and and follow it uh carefully and pay attention to your body if you feel you know you may be potentially facing an injury, take that seriously.

SPEAKER_00: 15:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

And training, whatever you need to do. But um, but if you want to be in this sport for a while, you do want to be uh attentive to the signs that your body is uh giving you that uh uh something uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:23

And the on on the day, did you find that you know if whatever nerves you had, they kind of disappeared because you, like you said, it was it were it was well catered for. There were lots of people there, and they kind of helped you accomplish that you know your goal.

SPEAKER_01: 15:43

Yeah, very much so. I think on the day I I really I really just felt a lot of excitement and positivity. Um you know, they talk about race day magic, and certainly I felt that. And I, you know, there's a sign that I've seen often which talks about um, you know, the race is the is the victory lap, that the training is the work and the race is the is the victory lap.

SPEAKER_00: 16:04

And I think there's some truth. That's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:06

So, you know, getting up early to do a long run by yourself and the you know, starting in the dark on a cold day, that's tough.

SPEAKER_00: 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:15

You know, a race with 20,000 other folks with music and excitement and yeah and happy people holding signs, that's a very different experience. And it's the joyful.

SPEAKER_00: 16:26

Yeah. It's like having uh a bank account. So you gotta build up, um, you gotta put money into the bank account. So come come race day. You can start taking out the money. I suppose I could that's probably another way of putting it as well.

SPEAKER_01: 16:40

Very much so. Very much so. You pay your dues and then you get to reap the benefits. And and doing the race really is the uh that is the excitement.

SPEAKER_00: 16:47

Now I understand you've um I've seen a picture of you doing London. Uh, and uh I know one of your goals is to do all six. So what was what was London like?

SPEAKER_01: 16:59

London this year was a tough race uh for me. I in part it was tough for everybody because it was an unseasonably hot day.

SPEAKER_00: 17:05

Yes, it was. That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 17:07

And actually just did Berlin uh two weeks ago, which was an even hotter day. So that was that was quite tough. But uh London was was especially hard for me personally, only because I had I had recently recovered from an injury, and so my training was not quite as robust as it it should have been going into a big marathon like that.

SPEAKER_00: 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

Um, but in the end, it was um it's a great race, it's a beautiful course. Um, some of the things running under, you know, across London Bridge is spectacular. Yeah. Past the dark finishing uh near Buckingham Palace.

SPEAKER_00: 17:41

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 17:42

There are some moments there that are just absolutely remarkable. Um, but um I would have liked to have run it with a little more style, but uh some things you just can't control, and and the weather on race day is certainly one of them.

SPEAKER_00: 17:56

Yeah, you're the second person, um, someone else I've interviewed who did London, and she was really looking forward to it. And unfortunately, a few days before she got um, I don't know whether it was food poisoning, but she got an upset stomach. And so um but she completed it, but you know, she was looking to do it three and a half, but ended up doing it in four. But she wished um she was she was much better prepared. So yeah, maybe there's there's something there, you know. You you never know what's gonna happen come race day or the week before or something like that.

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

Yeah, it was tough. I saw people dropping out like at mile 23, mile 24, getting attended to by medical staff, you know, presumably because of dehydration. So um definitely you do have to adjust for that um and make sure you're slowing down sufficiently to take uh that kind of heat into account. But um but again, look at the end of the day, the positives it was it was it was a great experience to do that race um and to make uh another stride on toward that goal of completing all six of the uh world majors on now at this point halfway through.

SPEAKER_00: 19:05

So you've you've done three so far?

SPEAKER_01: 19:08

I've done Tokyo, London, and Berlin. Um so I have the three American ones left, uh New York, Chicago, and Boston.

SPEAKER_00: 19:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 19:16

Essentially one a year for the next three years.

SPEAKER_00: 19:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 19:19

Uh that's that's the plan.

SPEAKER_00: 19:21

Okay. Um and what was Tokyo like? Is it a different experience for each of these um marathons so far?

SPEAKER_01: 19:29

Yeah, I think um Tokyo was was a beautiful experience in significant part just because visiting Japan was I found absolutely extraordinary.

SPEAKER_00: 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:39

Um you know, really it's a remarkable country. Um the people are are are gracious and welcoming, and uh I really, really enjoyed that experience. I did have nice weather. I actually ran my fastest marathon ever in Tokyo, so that was especially exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:57

Um yeah, so I I can only say good things about Tokyo. That was great. I think with respect to Berlin, yeah, I found the course to be quite um uh scenic. Uh lots of historical uh buildings. Yeah. Um finishing, running under the Brandenburg Gate, finishing in uh in Tear Garden Park was was was really, really beautiful, really inspiring. Um I think each one has its own unique uh features. Yeah. Um I do tend to like um courses like uh Berlin that are loop courses where you start and finish basically in the same place, but you're not retracing your steps. You there are no out and backs. Um London was interesting too because I also like point-to-point courses, and that was a point-to-point course. You're starting out um, I forgot the name of the town, but you're starting quite a ways away from London itself.

SPEAKER_00: 20:47

Yeah, and then making Greenwich, I think it's Greenwich. You start, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:53

You start very close to Greenwich. I think we passed it within the first few miles of the um uh I f I think it starts with black. I can't remember the name of the Blackheath.

SPEAKER_00: 21:04

Blackheath, that's right.

SPEAKER_01: 21:05

It starts in black, yeah, and then make your way through Greenwich and then and then toward uh toward the center of London.

SPEAKER_00: 21:10

But um Greenwich, and then it goes through Cutisark, the big ship, and then yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 21:18

Yeah, no, I love that. Um yeah, each one has its own features, but um, but they're fun.

SPEAKER_00: 21:26

Yeah. So in Tokyo, is it cherry blossom season when you run or or not? I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01: 21:32

A little bit before.

SPEAKER_00: 21:34

Oh, all right, okay. That would have been nice.

SPEAKER_01: 21:36

Right, we can say there were some cherry blossoms, but it wasn't peak cherry blossom season. Um, but uh but really had a nice time there, visited Kyoto uh after the race and was was quite taken with it. It's it's quite a historic city that really survived World War II and so is still, you know, still a really an authentic uh Japanese city rather than one that was newly rebuilt after the war, which which Tokyo for the most part is. Yeah. But um, but yeah, it was it was pretty neat. And I think adding in a little bit of sightseeing can be a nice way to really enhance uh the experience of running in these criteria.

SPEAKER_00: 22:12

Well, yeah, like you say, it's it's it's it's one of these, you know, these wonderful places where you can go and run and it is like um and enjoy the sights, you know, and you've you know, if you've done the training and that kind of thing, and it can be such a wonderful experience of seeing a of of seeing a city. So like you said, you know, Berlin, Tokyo, and London, you know, it's it's great. So um um and in a funny way, because you're taking, I mean, the the the fast runners, okay, they do it two and a half hours, but they probably don't they don't get to see it properly, whereas was if you do it in three and a half to four hours, then you get to see it properly.

SPEAKER_01: 22:56

That's what getting your money, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:02

Yeah, you might be struggling, but at least, you know, yeah, here's a ship and here's a big tower, tower bridge.

SPEAKER_01: 23:09

I think that I think to me, you know, Tokyo and Berlin were both new cities for me. London is a city that I've visited many times. I actually like a city that I've been to before um that has meaning to me. Um I went to school in Boston. I lived in uh New York for a few years, so I'm looking forward to those races because there is some familiarity there. And then Chicago, I've never lived there, but it's a it's a city that I've visited a bunch of times, been to conferences there, and so uh somewhat familiar with the course and uh it looks like quite a beautiful one along uh along the lake.

SPEAKER_00: 23:41

It's never too late to start your running journey as Jeffrey has shown. From completing his first 10K at age 48 to running a marathon, he accomplished incredible feats. So not only did you achieve these milestones, but he also documented his journey in a book. We'll continue our chat next week where I'll ask him about competing in ultra marathon. So don't forget to listen to next week's podcast of Brian's Rompod. So for now, goodbye and look forward to uh speaking to you next week.