GTC Newsletter Interview with Jason Weitzel

This interview was prepared and conducted by GTC Newsletter Editor Bill Blask and appeared in the February 2025 GTC Newsletter.

BB: You appear to have done very well academically in college.  
​JW: I was a pretty good student; I put a lot of effort into it.

BB: When did you finished at Concord, was that 2018 or or later?  
Well, I finished my undergrad. I think it was 2018 if I'm not mistaken. But then I also did my Master's there, which finished in 2020 I believe.

BB: So you've been pretty busy since then. The records that I first came across were from Concord University. You've had quite a storied history there. As I read, it struck me that you really did a lot of work in cross country.
Yes, I ran cross country and track, but in cross country, I guess I would say I did better, as I’m on the national level in cross country. I think I was second team All American as a senior.

BB: You were runner of the year for Atlantic regional, if I recall.
I was. Runner of the year was given to the individual who won the regional. So I was fortunate enough to win the regional my senior year. 

BB: What drew you to to the cross country side of running?
I gravitated more towards cross country in terms of putting more effort into it . I think that was just naturally what I was better at.  Running on grass and in the mud, you know, kind of suited me more. I had some history in sports in high school, playing basketball, soccer, and other sports. I felt like that gave me an edge in cross country in terms of athleticism and agility, to be able to maneuver a course more efficiently. But I wouldn't say I tried to focus more on cross country. I think it was just naturally what I was a little bit better at.

BB: I've never run cross country by choice, but I knew there was a tremendous difference in the  training between track and and cross country. Did you feel that there was a significant difference for you in the way you prepared for a race?
Yes, definitely . During track season, we are focusing a lot more on speed, getting a little quicker turnover, because the races were going to be a little bit quicker, being on the faster surface. Usually, mileage would be a little bit lower during track season compared to cross country season. Another thing, we would do a lot of our workouts actually on our cross country course to prepare for what a cross country course would be more like, whereas during track season, we'd be on the track for a lot of our workouts. So definitely some different preparation there.

BB: As you developed as a runner, what were the improvements that you saw in your own running?
I started running in middle school in sixth grade. My first cross country season was there as well. At that point, I was just going out for fun. My brother had run also. I didn't really know what I was doing, but joined the team to see what I could do. Coming in, I had a little bit of natural talent, but after I had gotten into it for a couple years,  knowing how to train a little bit better, running a few more miles, doing proper workouts, those were probably the biggest things that helped me improve. 
As I got through high school, I was just slowly progressing, avoiding injuries and being consistent. Intensity in mileage was always what brought improvement. Every level I've moved up has just gotten more intense.

Jason finishing Indianapolis Half Marathon

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BB: You raced a variety of distances, from 5K to marathon. Do you have a favorite distance, or one that comes more naturally to you?
In terms of how much fun I have, it was actually the 3k steeplechase on the track that I always thought was the most fun. That's just basically a mid-distance kind of race with hurdles. It’s  almost like bringing cross country to the track!
They have a water pit that you have to go through, and then you're jumping over a bunch of hurdles each lap. So it throws off your rhythm, like cross country does. You have to jump and you have to go through the water. In terms of what my favorite race is, in terms of being successful at, I would probably say the marathon was my favorite in that category. 

BB: Would you be able to compete in steeplechase now, later in your career? Would that still be something that would interest you?
I feel like the training is going to be pretty different, so I don't know if I'll want to commit to putting the commitment needed to be as good as I would want to be.  Training for marathons and half marathons, 10k, whatever, are all a little different than for the steeplechase. And there's a lot of technicality to the steeplechase, where you're doing a lot of hurdle drills and stuff in practice that doesn't necessarily translate to longer distances. Maybe one day I would consider doing the steeplechase again, but  that's not a main priority right now.

BB: It appears to me that there might be a larger risk of injury in steeplechase.
Definitely, A lot more impact, and a lot more risk.
 
BB:  You've had some marvelous performances in the marathon and recently in the half marathon. So it looks as though you've focused your preparation and the the skills on those distances.  You’ve also just been named the Runner of the Year for the state of South Carolina, which is no mean achievement.. What is drawing you to those longer distances?
I think my skill set matches it more. And I feel like that's just the natural progression that most runners go through as they advance in their careers,: generally start off running shorter races, and then as you get older and stronger and more efficient, you move up and perform a little bit better at the longer distances. In this stage of my career that just makes sense to move to the marathon and the half marathon to be most successful.

GTC-ELITE: Eduardo Garcia, Ryan Drew, Davonte Jett-Reynolds, Jason Weitzel and Jack Mastandrea

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BB: Where does that intensity come from?
When I was saying intensity, I was referring to the workouts themselves, more intense, faster. But in terms of myself, as I got older, I grew a passion for running. And even within a race, I would be more intense too. 

BB: It sounds like you developed a greater capacity to make those workouts more productive by putting more energy into them.
Something I've always been good at is being very committed, both to the craft, and to running. No matter what I have going on that day, I'm going to get my workout. I'm going to get my run in, whether it's way later than I want to be, or I have to get up super early, or I have to squeeze it in at some point in the middle of the day. I feel like I'm very intentional and very strict with making sure I don't miss it, miss a day, unless it's an injury, or something that is a mandatory thing.
 
BB: That regularity significantly adds to the the results from the practice. I would think,
I think that consistency is the most important thing when it comes to long term running improvement. 

BB: There is discomfort for any runner in practice, if they're they're serious about it. They have to endure that discomfort up to some kind of an edge. But no one wants to injure themselves either. How do you avoid or, how do you recognize a practice threshold beyond which the likelihood of injury is more than you want to risk? 
Yeah, that's a good question. It's always a fine line. Even for an experienced runner or inexperienced runner, I feel like you're never going to be 100% sure that you're not crossing the line. I do think that experience does help. I think knowing what I've done  in the past, and still stayed healthy, gives me a good baseline, but at the same time, you're always going to be pushing the limits. There's always going to be a risk for sure, but I think it's going on the field and listening to your body and making sure you're doing all the proper recovery steps. That might be like stretching or foam rolling, or getting enough sleep or eating a healthy diet, all goes into it. Listening to the body is another way of saying it.

BB: Some runners have a history of injury that tells them to stay aware of “too much” in certain areas. Do you have anything like that you might want to talk about?
I'd say, overall, I've been pretty fortunate. I haven't had too many serious injuries throughout my running career. I do have some stuff that is reoccurring, that sometimes will come back, and I have to make sure I treat it before it progresses. A couple of years ago when I first joined the Greenville Track Club-ELITE, I had some issues in the lower front part of my shin, and it did cause me to miss a week and a half of training. I went  to physical therapy and learned how to strengthen that area. Now sometimes that will come back, and I can kind of catch the early signs of it, and use what I learned from the first time to prevent it, and always take care of it before it progresses to anything that makes me miss training time.

BB: What types of training at this stage of your career produce the best results for you?
Earlier in my career, I was getting a variety of everything, not focusing too much on one specific category. It's very complicated. It depends on the race that you're doing, or any of many other things. But I would say hitting all the different systems - the speed, hitting the endurance, the anaerobic strength, all kinds of different systems, and making sure that you're not neglecting any of those - has always been successful for me.

What I  like the most, or what I feel the best after is the longer tempo or threshold run. That might be like 20 minutes at a half marathon pace. But I don't think that's necessarily what makes me improve the most; I think improvement comes from a combination of everything.

BB: Mike Caldwell, your coach at GTC ELITE, is pretty skillful at making his runners more efficient. 
I would agree with you! Ever since I joined.,Mike's definitely been very helpful with all his knowledge that he brings to the table. He obviously has great workouts and a great running mind. We worked on my form throughout the years, different tactics,  different stuff that we've talked through. Seeing everything that he's seen is always going to be very beneficial for me. I can learn from all of that. I’ve always responded well to his workouts. He’s been very important for my development in terms of getting to those longer distances and being more efficient at them.

​BB: You've got what appears to be a partner in Jack Mastandrea. Do you practice together? Do you run together? Is there any sense of helping each other as well as competing with each other?
Oh, yeah, definitely. Jack and I actually go back even further than being on the team here. The two of us were rivals in college. We  were in the same conference, and ran against each other a lot there. But when he joined the ELITE team, it was a natural fit, because we both were training for similar distances, and had similar race times, so our workouts were going to be similar. So all that works out really well.

To answer your question, we do almost all of our runs and our workouts together. It  obviously helps having a training partner to push you and keep you accountable. We do that for each other. I would say it's not just Jack, but also Eddie Garcia, who's on the team too. He also runs very similar times to me and Jack. Unfortunately, he's had recent surgery, and I think has another surgery coming up, and has had his first born child as well. So he's got a lot going on at this current moment, but, you know, before that happened recently, he was very a big part of our training group. So I would give Eddie a lot of credit to go with Jack too. We all make a great team. And our shorter distance guys that are on the team, Ryan and Davonte, even though they're training for very different distances, there's still a lot of our workouts that we can cross over and help push each other in different ways too.

Jack Mastandrea and Jason after placing 2nd & 3rd at Indianapolis Half Marathon

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BB: Mike has assembled what a lot of us feel is a marvelously talented group of runners. Do you and Jack have different strategies during a particular race? Do you lose sight of each other, or try to keep each other in sight? Is that part of your approach to a particular race when you race together?
I would say it can depend on the race. Sometimes we'll have different plans, but for the most part, we plan to run the races together and help each other. It always helps having a teammate who you've been training with. So if you're running together in a race, and say, one of us is having a bad patch or not feeling so good for a minute, seeing your teammate there with you just reinforces your willingness to fight through those tougher moments. 
Towards the end of a race, maybe Jack was feeling better than me on that day. But we'll usually want to help each other and run together.

BB: Would you would feel comfortable talking a bit about how you handle a bad patch? Do you have a particular approach that works for you?.
One valuable thing that Mike told me to do, or taught me to do, was that when you are going through a bad patch and not feeling good, to have some kind of mantra,  some kind of phrase or word that helps get you through that patch. That could be like, “I’m strong and fast!”, or whatever means something to you. Mike says to try to think about your mantra instead of thinking about the pain or not feeling good at that point in the race.  At first I thought, I don't know if that's going to help, but after actually using it, it's definitely helped me in many of my races!

Jason after winning 46th United Community Reedy River Run 10K

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BB: In any race, are there sections of, let's say, a Half, which require more of your attention than others, and you go into the race thinking that in this particular part of the race, I'm probably going to have to give more attention to something or other as part of the race. Does that occur?  
Oh, that definitely occurs. Just to give an example, in the half marathon I just did recently, the Aramco Houston half marathon, it was pretty windy. I think the wind was like 15-miles-an-hour consistently, and later gusting to about 25-30 miles-an-hour! The temperature was in the low 30s too, but temperature doesn't bother me as much as some people, but it was definitely cold and windy.
 
With that, I was looking at the course profile at Houston the day before. I saw the wind forecast, and I could see where  the wind, the direction of the wind, where it was going to hit us on the course. I think it was around mile eight, I could tell that it was going to be the spot where it was a direct headwind. I had that spot circled in my mind going into the race, so that when I get to that point, that's going to be the hard part of the race. That helped me focus on that spot and stay tucked in there - drafting behind someone and not being the front runner.

BB: Mike said you texted him that morning and said you told him you would be “tucked in” at that spot.
Yeah, the start of the race was a pretty early, but when I went outside I felt actually how windy it was going to be. I was basically telling Mike my strategy. I just wanted to make sure I was not leading a pack of any sort. Being behind somebody breaks the wind and makes you have to do less work.

BB: That worked, because you had a great time for that race!
Yes, it was maybe my best race I've had, at least, in my opinion. 

B: Well, congratulations.
Thank you. I would say the cold suits me better than a lot of other people, just because I grew up in West Virginia, on top of a mountain, so there's a lot of cold and windy days that I dealt with growing up there.

BB: One last question. Do you have a particular diet that is beneficial to you in preparing for this level of competition?  
Before joining the Greenville Track Club-ELITE program, I would say I didn't have any super strict diet. But one thing I would say that probably did help a lot with the Houston race in particular, is that I had switched my diet up a little bit. For a while during my preparation for this race, I was basically using a meal delivery service just to make sure I got all the proper nutrients. It also helped with meal portion size. More recently, I've been doing my own meal prepping with similar guidelines to what the meal delivery was doing for me.
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BB: Jason, thanks again, and the best of luck. You've got a great career. Let's keep it going..

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