Inside the Mind of Graham Blanks: 12:48 5K, World Championship Bound, and Still Just Getting Started

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter

Running, Sports

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He made history in college. Now he’s rewriting it on the world stage.

From Ivy League dominance at Harvard to lighting up the Diamond League, Graham Blanks is one of America’sbrightest young stars in distance running.

He was the first Ivy League male to ever win the NCAA Cross Country title — not once, but twice. In college, he set a then-NCAA indoor 5000m record of 13:03.78, ran 3:56.63 for the mile, and earned multiple All-American honors on the track and grass.

Since turning professional with New Balance, his trajectory has only accelerated. In just the past six months alone, he’sclocked 7:29.72 for 3,000m, 26:57.30 for 10,000m, and 12:48.20 for 5,000m, cementing himself among the fastest Americans in history.

Recently, he qualified for Team USA in the 10,000 meters for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo by placing 3rd at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene.

Graham has impressed with his seamless shift from NCAA champion to world-class professional racer, inspiring runners everywhere to think bigger, train smarter, and run with purpose.

In today's conversation, Graham takes me into his plans for Tokyo, qualifying for his first World Championship team, learning to give himself grace, preparing for World XC Championships in the US next year, inside training in Georgia, upcoming races, training insights, and more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen, before we hop into today's episode of the podcast, I want to tell you that
0:04.6	today's episode is brought to by my good friends over at David Protein. I'm just going to speak
0:09.4	from the heart here. David Protein, I have consumed their bars almost daily since I was first
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0:27.7	have shown that 30 to 50% of people don't get enough adequate protein in their daily lives.
0:33.6	I've tried a lot of protein bars. Most are chalky, overly processed and full of junk. David bars,
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0:45.1	These have been a massive game changer in my ability to up my protein, recover better, and then
0:50.7	hit training even harder the next day. Head over to Davidprotein.com and see why I'm raving about this product currently.
0:58.2	And without further ado, enjoy today's episode of the podcast.
1:06.2	Just take it out line, you know, I'd love to obviously compete for a medal,
1:10.7	but really I just
1:12.8	want to give it my all and, you know, just try to compete as much as I can, you know, I think I can
1:19.6	do it now. I believe in myself, and it's not just because of my performances, but because of,
1:26.6	you know, Nico and Grants.
1:27.9	So I feel fortunate to be on the Running Effect podcast,
1:52.1	talking about his lead-up in preparation into the 2025 World Championships held in Tokyo
1:57.9	Japan next month where he will be representing the red, white, and blue on the
2:02.3	biggest stage possible. Graham's been on fire over the past six months since turning professional
2:06.8	and new balance. The last six months, he's clocked 729.7 for the 3K, 26, 57 for the 10k, and
	...

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