E#45 | Jake Smith - From Pacer to Running a 2 hours 11 minutes Marathon Debut

We welcome Great Britain’s long-distance runner Jake Smith to @unlockingathleticpotential.

Jake recently made headlines when he went from pacing the Cheshire Marathon to going ‘all in’ for the full distance, despite never running close to 26.195 miles before in any capacity… and on this marathon debut he clocked 2:11.00, which is an Olympic and World Championship qualifying time.

Jake’s other PBs are:

• 5km: 13:47 
• 10km: 28:50 (28:00 in training)
• Half Marathon: 1:00:31 (GB under 23 record and third fastest Britain of all time)

His half marathon PB was achieved when he finished in 18th place at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland  last year.

In this episode we dive into:

• Jake’s pacing plan going into the marathon and how his race eventually unfolded into going the full distance
• The key sessions that allowed him to run 2:11.00 on his marathon debut
• Whether he felt like he ran his best possible race
• How his running journey started, growing up in Hong Kong and some of the key milestones along the way
• Striking a balance between student life and trying to perfect his running craft
• His ability to compete over a range of distances and his preferred race distance
• Current goals and what he is doing to help make them a reality
• The carbon fibre running shoe revolution and his relationship with sportsshoes.co.uk (Use ‘JAKE10’ to get 10% off orders over 50GBP)
• The ONE biggest factor in helping Jake unlock his athletic potential

Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg