The Secrets of the World’s Best Runners: Becky Wade Firth - 2020-12-02

Elite distance runner Becky Wade Firth, a standout at Rice University in Texas, was expected to turn pro after graduation. Instead, she chose a different plan that changed her life and how she looks at running and training.

Becky decided to travel the world, but not just to see and explore like a typical college-age kid. She applied for and won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to travel the world to learn how others run. Over the course of 12 months, Becky traveled solo to 22 countries including Switzerland, Ethiopia, New Zealand, and Japan to learn about some of the world’s most fascinating running traditions, and she captured her experience and findings in her book RUN THE WORLD.

Coach Claire talks to Becky about how her year abroad affected her and what she learned from this incredible experience. They also get into Becky’s cross training, her experience with orthotics, similarities between recreational and pro runners, and Becky’s perspective on running in a year without in-person races.

Becky is still an avid writer and in addition to her book, you'll find her work all over the web in places like Runner's World, Outside, Podium Runner, Women's Running and more. She is also a food lover and traveler.

Part of two sets of twins born 20 months apart, Becky grew up in Dallas, Texas, before making her way to Rice University on a track scholarship. There, alongside the world’s greatest teammates and coach, she fell in love with the distance running lifestyle and by the time she graduated, was a junior national champion, an All-American in cross-country and track, and an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10K and 3K steeplechase.

Since then, Becky has moved up to the marathon, signed with Flynn Sports Management, relocated to Boulder, Colorado, and gotten married. She’s competed in three more Olympic Trials (4 total: 2 in the 3K steeplechase, 2 in the marathon) and qualified for 2 senior USA teams (2018 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championship, the latter of which USATF sadly pulled them out of). She now has her eyes set on the 2021 US Olympic Track Trials, faster PRs over all distances, and many more writing projects—ideally a second book before too long!

Questions Becky is asked:

3:54 Instead of going directly from college to the pros, you took a year off to travel to 22 different countries to learn what runners do all over the world. What were some of the biggest similarities and differences you found when compared to American running?

5:19 Some of the countries you went to are obviously the big running countries that we all think about, Japan and Africa, New Zealand, all of these places, but you didn’t end up just going to those places; you took a couple of detours. Anything you want to tell us about that and what you learned about that?

7:17 Were you worried at all before you left? Because people who are on track to do amazing things in whatever sport it is, they kind of get nervous about change, they kind of get nervous about getting out of their schedule. Were you worried when you took off for a year that your running might suffer?

9:01 I think that if you want to learn more about your own country, the only way to do it is to leave it, so I highly encourage everybody who can in college just to get out of America to see what the rest of the world is like.

9:43 What was it like coming back to the States after that experience? Do you think it made you a better runner?

10:51 Recreational runners think the same thing as professional runners, “Are we doing enough? Should I be resting? Should I be doing heel lifts?” Or whatever it is. You just think that “I’ve got to do it in such a perfect way,” and there’s room for flexibility.

11:44 2020 has been obviously a very strange year for everybody, but I'd love to know how you are doing specifically and how you've been training.

15:12 Let’s talk a little bit about your cross training. I’ve looked through your Instagram. There’s a lot of pictures of you in the pool and I know you aqua jog. Can you help us out and give us some tips to make aqua jogging less boring?

20:03 Besides your book, you are a pretty prolific writer. You write articles for lots of running magazines and online places, so what are some of your tips? I know you recently wrote an article for Runner’s World about challenging the conventional rules of running. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

22:26 Why do you wear orthotics? What is it for you?

23:28 We think of orthotics as a temporary solution, but to hear that you’ve been wearing them for 10 years, that’s super interesting.

23:55 Another conventional rule of running you challenged in your Runner’s World article was the 30-minute window, that you have to eat 30 minutes after you stop running, and you found that not to be true.

25:08 One thing I’...