Episode 93: 3:53 Miler Craig Engels on Training for Speed and his '80s-era Mustache

The Strength Running Podcast

Jason Fitzgerald

Health & Fitness, 10k, Beginnerrunning, Marathontraining, Fitness, Injuryprevention, Marathon, Halfmarathon, Running, Sports

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You might know Craig as the 2013 Pan-American Jr. Games 1500m champion or the 4th place finisher at the 2016 US Olympic Trials in the 1500m. More recently, Craig won the USATF indoor mile and set a blazing 3:53 mile PR.

His list of personal bests is eye-popping:

800m: 1:46:03
Mile: 3:53.93
5k: 14:20.27

Craig is a fun guy to talk with because he doesn’t take running too seriously. He’s a fierce competitor but you’ll also see how his running really took off in college when he was able to have fun with his team.

(it's funny how you perform better when you're having more fun outside of training...)

He also doesn’t take himself too seriously, which I find incredibly refreshing. He rocks a mullet and an absolutely perfect 1980’s style Burt Reynolds mustache. The RV only came after the mustache because he wanted to keep the 80's theme going.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Jason and Craig talk about how his career exploded in college, his affinity for running fast, and why your next breakthrough might require you to take running less seriously.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready, set, go.
0:04.7	This is episode 93 with the 2019 US ATF indoor mile winner, a man who's been called the most
0:11.1	famous mullet in all of track and field a
0:13.3	353 miler mr Craig Engels. Well hello runners this is Jason I'm so
0:20.2	excited you're here I hope your running is going really well and moving
0:23.8	forward with your training and setting your sights on some exciting races in the
0:28.5	future. And as always if there's anything I can do to help you out you can always
0:32.4	reach out to me and ask.
0:34.4	I was surprised about a year ago when someone was incredulous that I actually responded.
0:39.2	She said, oh my God, you're a real person. I certainly am, so let me know how I can help.
0:44.8	All right guys, you're in for a wild conversation today with one of the biggest personalities in track and
0:50.8	field, a man who gives tours of his 1983 RV while wearing a leopard print coat, Craig Engels.
0:59.0	You might know Craig as the 2013 Pan American Junior Games 1500 meter champion or the fourth place
1:06.7	finisher at the 2016 US Olympic trials in the 800 meters. More recently Craig won the USA track and field indoor mile
1:15.8	and recently set a blazing 353 mile personal best. Craig is a really fun guy to talk with because he doesn't really
1:25.4	take his running too seriously. He's a fierce competitor but you'll also see how his running
1:30.5	really took off in college when he was able to have fun with his team.
1:34.0	He doesn't take himself too seriously, which I find just incredibly refreshing, which, you know,
1:38.8	this is why he rocks a mullet and an absolutely perfect 1980 style Bert Reynolds mustache.
1:46.2	You should absolutely pause this episode right now in Google Image Search Craig Engels because
1:51.4	you're going to like what you see.
1:53.4	Please also join me in thanking our sponsor Inside Tracker for helping athletes figure out what their
	...

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