(photo courtesy of PhotoRun)

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Today, our guest on the STRIVE-Cast is Canadian marathoner Rob Watson. Rob started out as a specialist in the 3000m steeplechase, running a personal best of 8’27 in 2009, before switching his focus to the roads. In 2011, he ran his first marathon in Houston, TX, finishing in 2’16’17. He improved significantly over the coming years, running 2’13’37 in Rotterdam in 2012 and 2’13’29 in Toronto in 2013. Rob also represented Canada at the 2014 World Championships in the marathon, where he finished 20th. After struggling with injuries for much of 2014, Rob is now healthy again, and training for the Ottawa Marathon on May 24.

In addition to training, Rob is also the long-time author of “Le Blog du Rob”, where he posts both his training logs and recounts of his many adventures in the world of professional running. More recently, Rob has started his own podcast, “The Rob Watson Show”, where he talks about all things running (and non-running) in a fun 30-40 minute show. Rob also publicly logs all of his training runs on running2win.com under the name RWatson26.2.

Our conversation with Rob was just over a week before his Ottawa Marathon and we got into some great detail about his preparation and goals.

Oh and his favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookies and Cream!

Text highlights from our conversation are presented below.

On a rough 2014 and a good start to 2015

I had a really good 2013 – I had some really good races and good results, but 2014… I just sucked. I don’t know if I can put my finger on one thing. Maybe got a little complacent. I think I tried to get too serious about it. I tried to be this perfect professional… and that’s not really the way I work. I’m more of a laid-back, easy-going kind of guy. So, that took a lot of the fun out of it.

As for 2015 – I got injured at the beginning of the year, but since then, things have been going really well. I’ve got my fitness back under me and had a decent 10k on the track [running 29’27 at the UVA Challenge] and a decent half marathon last weekend [running 64’47 for the win at the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon]. So far, so good for 2015 – definitely better than 2014!

On running 4 marathons in 7 months

2013 was a great year – so much fun… Started with Boston which went well. Then I ran the Ottawa Marathon, which I don’t know if I’d really count because I didn’t do a full, proper build-up or anything…. And then I went to the World Championships and ran well there [finishing 20th] and then finished up with the Toronto Marathon [running a personal best of 2’13’27].

It was a lot, it was definitely a lot to ask of my body… Was it too much? Well, if you look at my 2014, then probably! It definitely affected my 2014… But it’s such a mental game. When you’re running well and you’re on a roll, you just want to keep pushing, you want to see what you can do. And we’re so dumb because you know inevitably at some point you’re going to have to take a break. But you’re just riding the wave and having a good time. So maybe I pushed a little too hard in 2013 and I paid the price in 2014.

On going out in 65’03 at halfway in his 2’13’27 personal best race at the 2013 Toronto Marathon

In Canada, it’s weird because we have this fixation on the Canadian Record [2’10’08 by Jerome Drayton from the 1975 Fukuoka Marathon] and every time you run a marathon, people ask ‘Are you gonna run the Canadian Record?’ and I don’t think I’m good enough yet to run the Canadian Record, but a lot of people like to put the words in our mouths.

But going into that race, I was looking to run fast. What happened was, with the pacing groups, I wanted to go out in about 66 [minutes through the half] but there was a big group of guys going through in about 65 [minutes through the half]. And there was going to be a headwind for the first 10k… so I said I’m just going to jump in and run with this group for the first part. And I went out pretty fast, 65-low.

But that race was my 4th marathon of the year, it was just icing on the cake. So, I was like – whatever, let’s just give it a go! And I held it together pretty well through 30k – at 30k I was 1’33-low – and then I kind of crumbled in the end.

But that’s the marathon. That last 10k are insane. They’re gnarly. That was one of those days where those last 10k, I was really, really hating life. But as soon as you finish you’re pretty happy you did it, so it was a good way to end the year.

On going from a consistent 2h16 marathoner to a 2h13 marathoner

I think the big thing with the marathon is that each time you learn a little bit more. I think if I were to get in the exact same shape as when I ran my first 2h16 and run it now, I’d probably run 2h14 just based on experience and knowing how to approach a marathon, how to fuel properly. It’s a huge learning curve. You can’t really train for how your body is going to react in those last 10k. You can learn by experience and how to read your body.

So, you learn from your experiences and then you build upon your training. Each cycle you get a little bit better. You keep things steady that work for you and tweak things that didn’t.

One thing – I increased my mileage quite a bit. I started running 150-160 miles per week. That just made me really strong and also helped make me really confident. And I just had a good year of consistent training without getting hurt. So, just a bunch of different things coming together.

On his build-up for the upcoming Ottawa Marathon

This build-up has been good. The last 8 or so weeks have been great. But, I was injured and didn’t run basically all of January. Then, I started on the alter-G treadmill, building up a little bit during February. So, I don’t have the base I’d usually like to have for a marathon.

When I got here to Charlottesville, VA in March, I was in terrible shape, but we had 11 weeks to the marathon. So we were like, ‘okay, we better get to work and just throw caution to the wind.’ I remember the first workout I did was a long run – 10 miles easy and then 6 mile cut-down on the track. And I only managed 4 miles getting down to 5’12 per mile before I blew up. And I thought, ‘oh gosh this is going to be a long build-up! I’ve got a long way to go…’

But I upped the volume a lot and threw caution to the wind and things have really come around. The last few weeks have looked like a normal marathon build-up, and some of the workouts I’ve done have replicated those that I’ve done during my peak fitness when I ran my 2h13s.

I had a good one last week – my last 30k tempo run – I averaged 3’11 per kilometer [5’07/mile, 2’14’19 marathon pace], so fitness is good. I’m encouraged heading into Ottawa. We’ll go for a PB, sub 2h13 ideally.

On goals vs. expectations

Based on race plan, I’ll probably be 2’12’45 or I’ll be 2’16 again. The Canadian Olympic Standard is 2’12’50 and I’ve run a lot of 2’15-2’16 marathons, but I really want that 2’12. So, I wanna run on that pace for as long as I can but when it falls apart, it’s gonna fall apart. At the end, you can really blow up in a marathon. I’m gonna put it all on the line for that 2’12’45 and if it doesn’t happen then it may get ugly. But I’m willing to live with that.

On what’s next

We’re gonna run Ottawa and then we’re gonna take a little bit of a break and go back to Vancouver for the summer. And then in July, I’m going to come back to Charlottesville and we’re going to load up for the Berlin Marathon [in September, 2015]. Because after running that with Shalane [when I was pacing her at the 2014 Berlin Marathon], I learned that if you get in good shape and you go to Berlin and you can’t do it, you’re never going to do it anywhere else.  That is the fastest course I’ve ever run on.

Funniest story

[Ryan Vail and I] had to share a bed in Berlin. I got in super late and walked in and was like ‘Argh there’s only one bed, and there’s a guy in it already.’ So, I crawled into bed beside him and said ‘Hey Ryan, it’s Rob’ and he said ‘uhhh what’s up?’.

The week’s show is a great one, as Rob gives us a great look into the world of elite Canadian marathoning. Our conversation covers a lot, at only 27 minutes, so give it a DOWNLOAD and take it out for a run, walk, stretch, commute… whatever!