Even after working 10-hour days with a chainsaw, Olympic Trials qualifier Joe Whelan didn’t let his training slip up.
“That [Buffalo Marathon] made me think I could actually do well at this, so I made a goal to make the Olympic Marathon Trials,” Whelan said. “I mapped out what I thought four years of training would look like to get the standard, and what races to do. I’m in year three now, and I still have that same schedule.”Those races have mainly included Grandma’s Marathon and the Austin Marathon, which won in 2018 and 2019.
There are have been tune-up races in between as well. He took the Buffalo Marathon title this past May, which he ran as a workout to prepare for Grandma’s Marathon in June.Entering Grandma’s Marathon on June 22, Whelan knew he was up against an elite field that would push him to a PR or better. The only problem leading up to the race was an unexpectedhe got a couple weeks prior to the event. Two days before the starting gun fired in Duluth, Minnesota, he wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to run.
But he did. Having trained alone, he was comfortable dropping off from the lead pack that went out too fast, instead opting to stay roughly 20 yards behind them. His conservative tactic worked, as runners faded one by one and he breezed by them. At the finish, he crossed the line in fourth with a blistering fast time of“I hit the standard with a full-time job,” Whelan said. “Now, I want to try and really go for it in this next build up.
, so he trusts Aris will get him back into 2:11-marathon shape, which is the time he thought he could run at Grandma’s before he tweaked his hip., which will be his last 26.2-miler before Trials. After that, he plans to sit down with Fox and dissect every marathon and training block he has completed in the last two years. Then, hopefully, the duo can devise a game plan that will optimize Whelan’s performance on race day—and maybe even live out his dream of running for Team USA.
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