Back for entry #2. To the nearly 1,000 people who have already subscribed, thank you. Let’s get into the last 5 weeks…

USATF 25km Race Recap

I’ll start this newsletter by recapping my second-place finish in Grand Rapids, MI. Going into the race, I was confident in my training—I had put in about 10 weeks of work that was both high volume and high quality. The hard part of this sport, though, is translating confidence in training into confidence in racing. This is a skill I had certainly learned on the track: if I hit certain sessions, maintained an appropriate volume of running, and made sure I was recovering well, I could predict fairly accurately what I was capable of doing. To this point, I haven’t found that same level of training-to-racing parity on the roads.

Looking back at my first three road races, I noticed a common theme: I was racing timidly and often found myself clinging to the pack rather than truly racing in it. So, that became my primary focus going into the USATF 25K Championships:

1. Be in the pack—or better yet, do some leading.

2. Test the field at least once during the race.

3. Make decisions based on “How can I win?” not “How can I hang on?”

These weren’t aspirations; they were expectations I set for myself. I believe there’s a big difference. Rather than thinking, “If I feel good, I’ll try to make a move,” I decided that maybe the best time to make a move would be when I didn’t feel good—because maybe someone else felt worse. I wanted to give them a reason to doubt whether it was their day.

So, how did this play out on race day? I think I led for about 14 miles. From the gun, I decided to surge around every turn and counter every surge someone else tried to make with a surge of my own (at least until Casey made his surge at 14 miles). By doing this, I hoped that, at any moment, someone might mentally break.

This aggressive racing led to a fast early pace. We ran the early miles all around 4:30, and my watch showed a fastest mile of 4:23. After about 10 miles, we settled into a rhythm, clipping off the remaining miles at 4:38-4:44. En route to the 25K, I nearly PR’d in both the 10-mile (around 46:30) and half marathon (61:14) distances.

At times, I was sure Hillary or Casey were about to crack, but we all held strong for about 14 miles—until Casey made a big move that shattered our pack of three. I started fading a bit, sitting in third, just trying to maintain pace and keep them close enough to avoid being caught from behind (though I had no idea the fourth-place runner was about two minutes back).

With about 800 meters to go, I caught a surge of adrenaline as we re-entered downtown, helped by cheering spectators (and seeing my mom). I kicked past Hillary to move into second and, for a moment, thought I might even reel in Casey—but there was just too much road left between us.

All three of us finished well ahead of the previous American record.

I couldn’t even be mad about finishing second, since I did everything I had written down before the race that I expected of myself—and I got beat by a runner who was simply stronger on the day. This all sounds really positive, but I’m sure Dathan, watching from the lead car, will have some criticisms and observations to share. For now, though, I’m just enjoying my first well-executed race on the roads.

Comment on Training

Training since Cherry Blossom has continued to click more and more, week by week. I feel like Dathan, Kelsey, and I have hit our stride in figuring out what’s working—but maybe, really, I’m just finally reaching a point where my fitness has caught up to the expectations I have for myself. I’d never had a six-month span without any real training, so maybe it just took longer than I thought it would to get back.

The main focus in this 5 weeks of training was to prepare—mostly mentally—for racing 25K. We did this by starting to incorporate more of the work that will become staples in a marathon build. I did my first run over 20 miles: a 35K run (Dathan says when you train for the marathon, you have to switch to kilometers). We’re also continuing to gradually increase the quality of these long runs. In this 35K, I ran the last 11.4 miles at an average of 5:15 per mile. I’ve enjoyed doing this kind of work because it’s teaching me what it feels like—both physically and mentally—to push hard in a tempo effort while still having many miles ahead. On the track, I always broke tempo work into 2- or 3-mile repeats, so this has been a big shift.

The next workout that will become a staple is the 20–25K alternating tempo. For my first time doing it, I ran 20K, alternating between 2:50/km and 3:10/km. This workout simulated something I’ve really struggled with in my early road races—pace changes. I was pretty shocked to run the equivalent of about a 63:00 half marathon (if I’d continued for another 1,100 meters) at altitude, and still feel like I could’ve gone another 10 kilometers. This is a workout I couldn’t have come close to doing before Houston, so it was a clear sign that I’m making a lot of progress.

The last two workouts I’ll highlight involve continued development on the track. With super shoes and improved fueling strategies, I think it’s becoming more important for road racers to also be fast on the track. In this block, I did a light threshold session followed by 400s with the track guys who were in town (Olli and Ky). I was pleased to finish the workout running eight 400’s at 60 down to 58, holding smooth form.

The second workout was a pretty basic 6x1-mile session. The first three reps were meant to be around 4:40 off 60 seconds’ rest, and the final three were supposed to cut down slightly from 4:20 with 2–3 minutes’ rest. I was a bit surprised to close in 4:18, 4:19, and 4:15. Dathan was pretty jazzed about that—he even mentioned we might do another track 10K (more on that later).

Non-racing updates

Back at the Klecker house, it’s been a little quieter since Sage went to China for two weeks to run two Diamond League races—where she had one great race and one almost-great race.

• Xiamen 1K – 4th place, 2:33.45 PR

• Shanghai 800m – 7th place, 1:59.11

In the five weeks since Cherry Blossom, I’ve also been pretty busy traveling for some non-racing trips. I was lucky enough to have On fly me to Boston to hang out and cheer on Hellen. It was incredible to see the Boston Marathon in person and imagine what it might be like to race there one day. It was also fun to see so many runners I raced with in the NCAA finish in the top 10 of a world-class field—shoutout to Connor Mantz, Rory Linkletter, Clayton Young, and Ryan Ford.

That same week, I flew back to Boulder and then out to the East Coast again for the Penn Relays to hang out with JAMBAR (20% off with code Klecker20).

Aside from some fun travel, the spring weather has given us extra motivation to use the pizza oven.

Save The Klecker Mile Spotify playlist to hear what’s currently in my ears.

Why the Roads, Why now?

Alright, for this section, I got a lot of responses—I appreciate all of them. I figured this one was especially timely to address, given my shift toward primarily road racing.

So, the short answer to the question? I don’t want to be a one-time Olympian. I know that by 2028, I won’t be a young track runner anymore—I’ll be 31. I’m not naive or blind to the fact that what’s coming through the NCAA system right now is special. And by 2028, those young, special runners will be 25-year-old special runners in the prime of their track careers (just like I was in 2021).

Could I still compete with those guys? Maybe. But maybe I should play the odds—and the odds say to put my money on the marathon. I’ve already seen how different road racing is from the track. It took me three races just to finally put together a solid one. The struggle can be frustrating, but this journey is something I’m committed to. A few bad races won’t change everything we’re doing—they’ll just help us fine-tune our approach. That’s exactly why we wanted to make this transition now, while we still have time to learn and grow before the 2028 Olympic Marathon Trials.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed road racing. It’s offered a fresh approach to both racing and training. But I’ll miss the track—a lot. I did things I never imagined I could do. I broke 13 minutes in the 5K multiple times, and getting to compete in the Diamond League was a dream. I still romanticize the night in Florence when I was in the 5K that produced the most sub-13-minute finishes in one race ever (13 runners), in front of a completely sold-out crowd.

That’s all for this entry, keep sending stuff you want me to talk about. Next up Bolder Boulder 10k May 26th.