688. Jenny Simpson, Soon-to-be-Marathoner

"I am not wired to do something halfway or to do something for fun. I don’t know what that means. Fun for me is going as hard as possible."

After nearly two highly-decorated decades of racing the 1500m and the mile, Jenny Simpson is upping the ante and the mileage. In just a few weeks, Jenny will make her marathon debut at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Orlando, FL. In this conversation, Jenny talks about her decision to have a go at 26.2 miles, what she thinks of marathon training these days, how she's handling fueling, and whether or not she hopes the race comes down to a kick.

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What you’ll get on this episode:

• All about Jenny’s run today, and how she feels about returning to the track for workouts (2:35)
• Meet Barkley: Jenny’s second dog! (5:55)
• On New Year’s Resolutions and looking at life after competitive running (7:20)
• Jenny’s high and low moments from 2023 (13:00)
• How Jenny’s body is feeling during marathon training, and how she feels about training right now (17:00)
• On being a contender at the Trials (26:25)
• "Do you love marathon training?" (34:10)
• The important stuff: how Jenny plans to wear her hair for her marathon debut (42:50)
• How Jenny is approaching and handling fueling for marathon training and racing (45:15)
• "It's so top of mind to me: You are responsible for everything that goes in your body" (53:35)
• What Jenny doesn't want to happen on race day, and where she sees her strengths (57:25)
• How Jenny anticipates measuring success on race day (1:09:00)

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