Nick Willis' Key to Longevity, Olympic Medals and Remarkable Career Thus Far

The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

CITIUS MAG

Sports, Running

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2020

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nick Willis sits down in New York City for a long-awaited conversation to look back at his remarkable career thus far. In this episode, we'll go through everything from growing up in Lower Hutt, New Zealand and his start in athletics with his brother, Steve, to his recent streak of 18 consecutive years of breaking four minutes for the mile.

More in this episode:

Nick's early interest in skateboarding and then finally turning the page to track and field
Arriving at Michigan after the Alan Webb hype and the start of his relationship with coach Ron Warhurst
His wife's development as a coach
Breaking the New Zealand 1,500 meter record in 2005 and the start of his professional career
Losing his passport and rookie mistakes of his first professional year
Being a student of the sport even now by reading about track and field greats
Get in Nick's shoes for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic 1,500-meter final
Thoughts on Rashid Ramzi, Asbel Kiprop and competing against dirty athletes
Drowning out the skepticism and dark cloud of the sport's problems of doping
Theory of longevity (via Spikes Mag): Sleep, Patience and Having his family with him
2020 and how much longer he could keep going

Lots of wisdom shared in this episode. Enjoy.

Recommended reading: "Longevity" by Nick Willis | SPIKES

Follow Nick on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willisnick/

❤️ Support for this episode comes from Stryd. They’re helping ensure that you nail the perfect pacing strategy so you can keep a consistent effort in challenging conditions - all in real-time. I’m digging all the data that it’s collecting and you’ll see a bunch of people wearing them on their shoes at the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Learn more by visiting STRYD.COM/CITIUS

Podcast episode cover photo by Kevin Morris: https://www.instagram.com/kevmofoto/

▶ Follow us:
twitter.com/CitiusMag
instagram.com/citiusmag
facebook.com/citiusmag

✩ Connect with Chris

Email: chris@citiusmag.com
twitter.com/ChrisChavez
instagram.com/chris_j_chavez

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today's episode of the Citius Mag Podcast network is brought to you by stride.
0:05.6	Here's a problem that nearly every runner faces. We all know that even pacing is
0:10.2	important, but it's hard to pace your runs in challenging conditions.
0:14.3	Sometimes you're facing rolling hills, other times you're running into the wind, the heat and
0:19.0	the humidity can slow you down, and depending on where you are are altitude can also play a factor.
0:25.2	All these forces are constantly causing you to change your pace when you're just trying to
0:28.4	stay at an even consistent effort.
0:31.0	So I got this tool that I've really been enjoying that makes even pacing possible in
0:34.7	difficult conditions. It's called Stride. It's a super lightweight pod that sits on my shoe
0:40.4	and talks with my Garmin watch. Essentially it provides a grade
0:44.0	adjusted, wind adjusted, heat adjusted, humidity adjusted, and altitude adjusted number
0:49.8	to my watch called Power. Instead of trying to change my pace in these conditions to keep an even effort,
0:55.0	I can simply aim for a consistent power
0:58.0	from start to finish by looking at my watch.
1:00.0	Over two dozen Olympic Trials Marathoners will be running with Stride in Atlanta
1:05.2	where even pacing is going to be very difficult due to the hilly course.
1:09.3	So if you want to learn more about Stride, go to Stride.com slash Sidious. That's S-T-R-Y-D dot com slash Sidious.
1:20.0	I've really been enjoying using my Stride pod, now it's time for you to go and check it out.
1:25.0	My guest for today's show is Nick Willis and this has been a long-awaited episode.
1:31.0	We sat down when he was in town for the Millrose Games in New York City and
1:34.6	decided to take a deep dive into his career. For those of you who might not be
1:40.0	as familiar with him, he is a two-time Olympic medalist for New Zealand. In 2008, he finished third in the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CITIUS MAG, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CITIUS MAG and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.