Grant Fisher American Record Podcast

by LetsRun.com
March 11, 2022

Grant Fisher has been on fire the last month. First, he obliterated Galen Rupp’s American indoor record at 5000m by running 12:53 in Boston. Then last weekend he obliterated Rupp’s American record at 10,000m by running 26:33 to defeat Moh Ahmed and win the Sound Running Meet.

Grant joined us on the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast to discuss his breakout races, what’s next in 2022, and a whole lot more. We recommend you listen to the full podcast in the player below or here on your  favorite podcast app, but we’ve got some highlights below.

Going sub 13:00 and sub 27:00: “those times are things that I dreamed about getting under when I was coming out of college”

“[It’s] Still kind of a shock [I ran that fast]. I wouldn’t say I think of myself as a sub 13:00, sub 27:00 guy yet, maybe it’ll sink in more, but I mean those times there are things that I dreamed about getting under when I was coming out of college. I thought, ‘man if I could get under 13 minutes, that would be incredible at some point in my career.’ Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about the 10 K when I came out of college. That didn’t really cross my mind, but 5k, I was like, if I can break 13, that’ll be other worldly.

Article continues below player.

I didn’t think these things would happen as early as they have in my career. You, never know what the future holds, but it’s a good feeling. But kind of hard to wrap your head around even like being the person that’s done it.”

Skipping World Indoors to target the American records “If I’m in shape to attack the records then that’s what I want to do. “

“Essentially we had just finished a workout (in November) and Jerry [Schumacher] had liked what he saw in the workout. And, he came up to me and we were mapping out the front half of the season for 2022. And, he said, ‘I think we have two avenues we can do indoor season. We can sharpen up pretty well. Do USA’s and then, try to make the world team and do World Indoors, or I think you’re in a really good spot. And I think you have an opportunity to go after the American record in the 5k indoors in Boston. And then, I think you have an opportunity to go after the 10 K record outdoors at the Sound Running meet….’

Essentially my answer was if I’m in shape to attack the records then that’s what I want to do. You never know when you’re going to be in that type of shape again. And I would be more excited about going after those things than indoor USAs, which is unfortunate, but that was the conversation. So yes, we had been targeting both of those records for a few months.”

The last lap – “you’re not thinking. You’re just driving as hard as you can and giving it everything”

Grant Fisher 26:33.84 American 10,000m record Grant Fisher runs 26:33.84 to break American 10,000m record (photo © Wendy Shulik /WendyCity Productions)

“The last lap felt like it took three minutes. You’re already giving it everything you can and Mo went flying by me on the backstretch with just such pace and acceleration relative to how quick I was moving at the time. I kind of tensed up at first. I was tired. You’re not thinking straight. You kind of have a tendency to muscle it when things like that happen.

Fill out the BetterRunningShoes.com shoe survey and we will enter you into a drawing a free pair of shoes.
Overall
/10
Comfort
/10
Cushioning
/10
Durability
/10
Appearance
/10
Value
/10

So I felt myself tense up and then realized okay, I need to relax and I need to cycle through my own gears, and build this thing up as quick as I can and get to that finish line. I found myself building some momentum on the back corner and kind of slingshotted it off that corner.

At that point, you’re not thinking. You’re just driving as hard as you can and giving it everything. And I could feel myself kind of inching closer and closer to Mo and just drove all the way to the finish. A lot of thoughts and emotions going through your head on that last lap.

I went from pretty much thinking I’ve lost this race, to I think I might be able to get up to him. At that point you’re not thinking about time. I was just thinking about racing.”

LetsRun.com Now in USA colors LetsRun.com Now in USA colors. Get yours today.

People who doubt you can run that fast clean:

” Whether in the form of outright cheating or kind of that gray area stuff, that’s just not how I operate. I think there’s people out there that’ll probably say like why should we believe this performance?

I would never do anything to compromise kind of the integrity of the sport. That’s not who I am. That’s not who I ever want to be.”

What Galen Rupp said to him:

“We just got back to Portland on Monday and on Tuesday I was jogging around the Nike campus and we were actually going in the opposite direction of Galen and as we passed he said ‘Hey, congratulations, man. Great work this weekend.’ I was like, ‘Hey, thanks man. I appreciate it.’

That was the extent of the conversation, cause we were going in different directions. But it was kind of a cool, not like passing of the torch, but just like it’s kind of a cool interaction to me. People have their own opinions about Galen, but he had those two records and continues to have quite a few more American records and has metals for the U.S. You can argue that he’s one of the best American distance runners on the world stage that we’ve had in quite a while.

So it was kind of cool.”

Looking up to Leo Manzano and Matthew Centrowitz rather than the 5ker Galen Rupp

“In high school, I remember watching some of the things that he [Galen] and Mo [Farah] were doing and being like, man that is wild. These guys are able to compete against the might of east Africa, which is pretty cool. As I grew older, there was a lot more controversy, a lot more speculation. You do think about those things when you’re in high school and when I got into college, but to be honest, I didn’t really identify with those guys as much in high school because I thought of myself as a miler. So I would watch more Leo Manzano and like Centro, and people like that.”

The 1500/mile: “It’s the glory event.”

“It’s the glory event -the 1500, the mile. Everyone wants to be a miler and then you just find out you don’t have the legs to be. And so you’re forced to move up to these longer grinding events.

Centro, he says that to us, ‘you guys would be milers if he could.’ Which is partially true.”

The benefits of super-spikes

“What I was describing to the Nike innovation team was that these spikes have fundamentally changed the way we train. We train harder. We do more volume in the spikes, and we get a lot more quality and we recover faster… I would say that the benefit that you get is more from training in my experience than actually in the race. I think if you’re able to train in all the newest footwear and then race in the old spikes, the difference between racing in the old spikes or new spikes wouldn’t be as significant as you would think.”

How he’ll welcome a hot day at Worlds

“I guess now I have some numbers to my name that might suggest that I can go to the front and hammer, but I don’t think that would be something I’d want to do with [Joshua] Cheptegei or [Selemon] Barega sitting on me. I don’t think that’d be a very good idea. I feel like I’ve pretty good foot speed and my kick has gotten better than last year.”

How difficult the Bowerman system is at first -“there is a level that Jerry believes you need to train at to be world-class.”

“I guess you could boil down the philosophy if you could call it that too, there is a level that Jerry believes you need to train at to be world-class.

And, he would prefer that you just train at that level as much as you can, rather than,  going maybe a little slower than that level, that pace, and I guess easing your way into it. It sounds a little crazy when I say it like that.”


We highly recommend you listen to the entire Grant Fisher podcast. Grant also talks about his mileage progression, what Matthew Centrowitz is up to and a lot more. Full podcast in the player below or here on your favorite podcast app.

Love this? Join the LetsRun.com Supporters Club to get a 2nd podcast every week, huge savings on running shoes and a lot more.

Want More? Join The Supporters Club Today
Support independent journalism and get:
  • Exclusive Access to VIP Supporters Club Content
  • Bonus Podcasts Every Friday
  • Free LetsRun.com Shirt (Annual Subscribers)
  • Exclusive Discounts
  • Enhanced Message Boards