Coach Paul Interviews Jerrod Abel - National Guard Marathon Team.

Check it out. I had a chance to interview my pal from the National Guard Marathon Team. Questions and answers below. In the comments, let me know any suggestions you have for questions that I should ask in my next interview.


Paul: Start off by telling us a little about yourself? What part of the country do you live in? Are you married? Kids? 

Jerrod:  I am 29, live in Hebron, OH, and married with 2 kids. My beautiful wife’s name is Mackenzie, and we have a 3-year-old boy named Niles and a 7 month old girl named Nyla. I’ve lived in Hebron all my life but plan to move to the countryside one day.   



Paul: You are on the National Guard Marathon and Endurance Team! How long have you been with the team? Tell us a little about how that program works?

Jerrod: I first made the National Guard Marathon team in May 2019 at the Lincoln Marathon. Every year each state and territory form a team to compete for a spot on the All Guard Marathon Team, which is held at the Lincoln Marathon in Nebraska. To make the national team you have to be amongst the top 20 males or top 15 females. The state teams compete for a trophy known as the Cob, which is awarded to the team with the lowest average marathon time. This year (2020) the Lincoln Marathon was canceled so the team trials were hosted by the Omaha Marathon in Omaha, Nebraska. 

              I made the All Guard Endurance Team in August 2020, which was actually the first year for the event tryouts. The competition consisted of a timed 10 station Dekafit workout, which is much harder than I anticipated, a full Army obstacle course, an Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), sandbag carry, plate carry, and about 8 miles of running between the obstacles. The tryouts are very similar to the Marathon Team, as each state/territory form a team to compete at the tryouts. Then the top 20 males and top 10 females are named the All Guard Endurance Team.         

 Both National Teams travel the country competing in their respective sport, which is road and trail races for the Marathon Team and Spartan type races for the Endurance Team, while also assisting local National Guard Recruiters at the race events. Those interested can get in contact with their state coordinator to figure out the requirements to make their state team. 

 Paul: Tell us about equipment- Running Shoe of choice? Any other running gear you would recommend? 

Jerrod: I am pretty loyal to the Nike Pegasus, which I have been using for about 10 years now. Even though I have tried a variety of other shoes, I always end up resorting back to the Pegasus. The shoe seems to suit me well and I have 2 Nike Outlets relatively close, so I get them at a great price. I highly recommend a GPS watch (Garmin for me) to help track all the data from your workouts. I used to run with just a Timex Ironman stopwatch, so I had no clue how fast or far I was going until I either mapped it out online or drove the route in my car. So, unless I was on a track all I had was a rough estimate on how I performed.

Paul: How long have you been a runner? When was your first marathon? 

 Jerrod: I have been running since the 8th grade but didn’t really start taking it serious until my junior year of high school. After I graduated high school in 2010, I was all over the place with running. I took lots of time off to focus more on lifting, while maybe running a couple times a month. Then I’d get back into it here and there just to be able to compete in 5k races. It wasn’t until 2014 that I decided I’d really start focusing on running again. Once I started seeing the results of consistent running, I built up enough courage to run my first marathon in 2016, which was the Nationwide Children’s Columbus Marathon. Since then I have run 9 Marathons, one of which being Boston in 2019. 

Paul: Tell us about what you do when you are not running? Job? Other hobbies? 

Jerrod: What else is there to do? Just kidding. I am an Electronics Engineer for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and a Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic/Inspector in the Ohio Army National Guard. I am also an assistant Cross-Country Coach at Lakewood High School. I love spending time with my family, working on cars, going to car meets, and I am a gun fanatic. 

Paul: Tell us about your personal Records? Marathon PR? Half Marathon PR? Etc. 

 Jerrod: I have been very fortunate in 2020, as I have managed to stay healthy and continue running. Along the way I have pushed to a new personal record in every distance from the 5k to the marathon. As of now my personal records are 5k: 17:18, 5M: 28:53, 10k: 36:07, 15k: 54:43, 10M: 58:51, Half: 1:19:08, Marathon: 2:49:56.

Paul: Tell us about your love of the sport! What makes you continue to strive to be a better athlete and runner? 

 Jerrod: I am fueled by not knowing what the future holds. There are too many people in this world who don’t have the ability to run, workout, walk, etc. Tomorrow is not a guarantee for any of us, so if I am able to do these things today, I am going to. I strive to see how much further I can push myself to reach my all-time goals. My team and running buddies also keep me motivated via Strava. On days that I have very little motivation to get out the door, I get on Strava to see what others have already accomplished for the day.   

Paul: How do you approach your training? Do you follow a strict training schedule? How do you balance your training with work, family, etc...? 

Jerrod: I used to just wing my workouts and followed a pretty monotonous plan, which was the same distance every day with no real written schedule. I still pretty much do the same thing except now I follow a strict training schedule that I build a month or so at a time. I normally run on my lunch throughout the week, then early mornings on the weekend to avoid messing with my families plans. If work is busy or something is going on that day I’ll run as early as I have to, which has been 2:30 am before. My wife is also a huge help with being able to get the runs in, since without her I wouldn’t be able to leave the kids alone. So huge props to her for supporting my love for running.   

Paul: Do you have a coach? Would you recommend readers hire a coach? 

Jerrod: For the most part I form my own training plan, but I do consider my high school cross-country coach my coach. Coach Dan Sekerak is a local legend and has been a high school coach for 48 years now. I go to him for advice on workouts, plans before a race, and long-term goals. He also keeps in contact with me to track my progress. I highly recommend hiring a coach because it can be very challenging to stick to a plan without some sort of feedback or motivation. The other huge plus to having a coach is accountability. Without a coach it’s easy to cut a workout short or even skip it all together. A coach will help keep you on track to reach your goals.

Paul: As a running/triathlon coach, I focus hard on managing race day fueling and pre-race nutrition. Do you feel this is an important element to your race performance? How do you approach fueling during your training and racing? Are there any products that you recommend to the readers? 

 Jerrod: Yes, I believe it is a key role in how you perform. During training I try to maintain a balanced diet. For pre-race nutrition I try to eat foods that are easy on my stomach, such as pasta or no-greasy pizza the night before, then toast or oatmeal the morning of. I started figuring out which nutrition to use by experimenting on my long runs and even in a couple marathons. I started using gels and gummies but ended up finding that Maurten powder worked best for me.  You simply add the Maurten packet to a bottle of water and sip it throughout your run. I also drink water at every station to maximize hydration. Everyone is different, so I just recommend not sticking to one right off the bat. Experiment with different fuels to figure out which works best for you. 

Thanks for taking the time for answering my questions Jerrod! See you at the next race (or or Strava).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paul Duncan is a full time military recruiter, USAT Certified Coach, QT2 Systems Level 1 Coach, and OutRival Racing Level 3 coach. For coaching inquires, click HERE.

Paul also competes in triathlon and running events in his spare time.

70.3 PR (4:24:26)
140.6 PR – (9:51:53)
Half Marathon – (1:24:21)
Marathon – (2:57:27)

Follow Paul on INSTAGRAM @paulduncanjr