The Secrets of the World’s Best Runners: Becky Wade Firth - 2020-12-02

Elite distance runner Becky Wade Firth, a standout at Rice
University in Texas, was expected to turn pro after graduation.
Instead, she chose a different plan that changed her life and how
she looks at running and training.


Becky decided to travel the world, but not just to see and
explore like a typical college-age kid.  She applied for and
won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to travel the world to learn
how others run. Over the course of 12 months, Becky traveled solo
to 22 countries including Switzerland, Ethiopia, New Zealand, and
Japan to learn about some of the world’s most fascinating running
traditions, and she captured her experience and findings in her
book RUN THE WORLD. 


Coach Claire talks to Becky about how her year abroad affected
her and what she learned from this incredible experience. They
also get into Becky’s cross training, her experience with
orthotics, similarities between recreational and pro runners, and
Becky’s perspective on running in a year without in-person races.


Becky is still an avid writer and in addition to her book, you'll
find her work all over the web in places like Runner's World,
Outside, Podium Runner, Women's Running and more. She is also a
food lover and traveler.


Part of two sets of twins born 20 months apart, Becky grew up in
Dallas, Texas, before making her way to Rice University on a
track scholarship. There, alongside the world’s greatest
teammates and coach, she fell in love with the distance running
lifestyle and by the time she graduated, was a junior national
champion, an All-American in cross-country and track, and an
Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10K and 3K steeplechase.


Since then, Becky has moved up to the marathon, signed with Flynn
Sports Management, relocated to Boulder, Colorado, and gotten
married. She’s competed in three more Olympic Trials (4 total: 2
in the 3K steeplechase, 2 in the marathon) and qualified for 2
senior USA teams (2018 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championship,
the latter of which USATF sadly pulled them out of). She now has
her eyes set on the 2021 US Olympic Track Trials, faster PRs over
all distances, and many more writing projects—ideally a second
book before too long!  


 


Questions Becky is asked:


 


3:54 Instead of going directly from college to the pros, you took
a year off to travel to 22 different countries to learn what
runners do all over the world.  What were some of the
biggest similarities and differences you found when compared to
American running? 


 


5:19 Some of the countries you went to are obviously the big
running countries that we all think about, Japan and Africa, New
Zealand, all of these places, but you didn’t end up just going to
those places; you took a couple of detours. Anything you want to
tell us about that and what you learned about that?


 


7:17 Were you worried at all before you left? Because people who
are on track to do amazing things in whatever sport it is, they
kind of get nervous about change, they kind of get nervous about
getting out of their schedule. Were you worried when you took off
for a year that your running might suffer?


 


9:01 I think that if you want to learn more about your own
country, the only way to do it is to leave it, so I highly
encourage everybody who can in college just to get out of America
to see what the rest of the world is like.


 


9:43 What was it like coming back to the States after that
experience?  Do you think it made you a better runner?


 


10:51 Recreational runners think the same thing as professional
runners, “Are we doing enough? Should I be resting? Should I be
doing heel lifts?” Or whatever it is. You just think that “I’ve
got to do it in such a perfect way,” and there’s room for
flexibility.


 


11:44 2020 has been obviously a very strange year for everybody,
but I'd love to know how you are doing specifically and how
you've been training.


 


15:12 Let’s talk a little bit about your cross training. I’ve
looked through your Instagram. There’s a lot of pictures of you
in the pool and I know you aqua jog. Can you help us out and give
us some tips to make aqua jogging less boring?


 


20:03 Besides your book, you are a pretty prolific writer. You
write articles for lots of running magazines and online places,
so what are some of your tips? I know you recently wrote an
article for Runner’s World about challenging the conventional
rules of running. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?


 


22:26 Why do you wear orthotics? What is it for you?


 


23:28 We think of orthotics as a temporary solution, but to hear
that you’ve been wearing them for 10 years, that’s super
interesting.


 


23:55 Another conventional rule of running you challenged in your
Runner’s World article was the 30-minute window, that you have to
eat 30 minutes after you stop running, and you found that not to
be true.


 


25:08 One thing I’ve been asking almost everybody this year is
without in-person races, s really hard for a lot of people to
find motivation, and for a lot of people it’s going to be a
really long time until we race again. Do you have any tips or any
suggestions to kind of keep that spark, and what can you do as
far as training goes in a world without races?


 


28:51 What’s coming up for you in the future? What have you got
your sights on?






Questions I ask everyone:


 


30:00 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started
running, what advice would you give?


 


31:02 What is the greatest gift running has given you?


 


32:01 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?


 
Quotes by Becky:

 


“It really allowed me not only to see how the best runners in the
world train, and some of the strongest, most kind of iconic
running traditions are, but I also got to see so many just
passionate recreational runners and see how running influences
their life to just the same degree as someone whose career it is
but in a different way.”


 


“I think there are maybe components of successful training
systems that people maybe can apply, but there’s really not that.
I think one of my fears was that I was going to go travel and see
that what it takes to be a really good runner is to be like 100%
dialed into running. That’s your life. That’s all you do. You do
everything perfectly, and I literally never saw that, so that was
kind of validating.”


 


“I think there are a lot of things you can do, nothing that is
exactly like racing because I just find like the whole
atmosphere, and like official results, and the community and
everything, that’s really what makes road racing special to me
and to a lot of people I think, but there are other ways to I
think really stay engaged with the sport and stay on top of
training and still work towards goals.”


 


Take a Listen on Your Next Run


Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes
channel
Mentioned in this podcast:

 


Becky Runs Away


Run the World book


Thomas J. Watson Fellowship


Runner's World Article: When You Can Challenge Conventional
Running Wisdom


Runner's World Article: Alternative Outlets for Your Competitive
Fire


Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community


RunnersConnect Facebook page


claire@runnersconnect.net


https://www.precisionhydration.com/






Follow Becky on:


 


Instagram






We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.


The best way you can show your support of the show is to share
this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your
Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.


The more people who know about the podcast and download the
episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running
influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which
hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!