Issue 25

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Chasing the Dream

Connor Winter discusses his breakthrough performance in the marathon and future goals as a professional runner

Bet on yourself - A mindset that Connor Winter has fully embraced and embodied throughout the course of his running career. Driven purely by his love for the sport, Connor has pursued his dreams of professional running for the past 6 years as a core member of Tinman Elite. He had an impressive career on the track, with personal bests ranging from 3:59.7 for the mile to 28:21.3 for 10,000m, and has now made the natural transition to road racing. Last fall, he ran his first marathon at the Chicago Marathon, finishing in 2:15:51 and qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials set for February 2024 in Orlando. Despite entering with the 79th best time of the field at the Trials, Connor ran a gritty race up front to earn himself an outstanding 12th place finish! In this interview, Connor discusses the buildup to this breakthrough performance, his reflection after the race, the reality of pursuing the sport as an unsponsored athlete, and what he hopes to accomplish moving forward as a professional marathoner.

Take us back to February at the US Olympic Marathon Trials…You came in with the 79th best time of the field and ended up finishing 12th. Was there anything specific about the build that indicated you were ready for that breakthrough? What were your original goals heading into the race, and did you expect to finish as high as you did? 

I came into the US Olympic Marathon Trials having only run one marathon before to qualify for the trials. I was fortunate that my first marathon was a perfect weather day at the Chicago Marathon where the world record was run. I felt like I was very conservative racing in Chicago and had only done about a max of 85 miles a week in my build up to that race. I definitely felt the lack of mileage at the end of the marathon and faded a bit the last couple of miles. 

Coming off of Chicago I knew I needed to do more mileage to callus the legs to the pounding of the marathon. So I focused on doing good quality mileage and got up to around 105 for the peak weeks of the trials build. During the build I also had the advantage of running with Reed Fischer who is a great marathon runner and had a lot of experience finishing top 10 at major marathons. These two factors of running lots of miles and having a great training partner to keep up with gave me a lot of confidence going into the trials. Going into the race I had a stretch goal of being top 10 at the trials and I knew if I ran almost perfectly that was in reach. 

During the race I felt amazing and I had Reed with me every step of the way until the last 10k of the race. At 10k my legs felt like lead and it was everything I could do to just hang on to the finish. The last couple of miles my vision was starting to blur and it was everything I could do to just keep my legs moving. I just kept telling myself that I had worked too hard and sacrificed so much to this point that I had to finish! I finally crossed the finish line in 12th with a two and a half minute PR.

What were the emotions when you crossed the finish line and realized what you had accomplished? Any major takeaways from the race and overall experience at the Trials?

Once I crossed the line I felt a weird mix of tired, proud and disappointed. Running a marathon is such a daunting task and it takes so much out of you that I was mostly just exhausted and overheated. Once I got a cold ice towel I was able to be proud of how hard I had worked and stayed tough when I wanted to quit the last few miles. The more I sat there and realized how close I had been to being top 10 I was a bit disappointed that I just came up a little short of top 10. Luckily I had my family there to pick me up and share in the moment. They had been so supportive and sacrificed so much for me to get there I was glad to share this moment with them. Overall the race taught me that I do belong at the front of these big races and I am capable of overcoming just about anything.

After that race, did anything change for you in terms of opportunities available to you as a pro? Could you speak on your experience managing the logistics and lifestyle of professional running without the support of a major sponsor? What motivates you to keep pursuing this sport at the highest level?

After the race I felt like my life would change dramatically and I would feel this overwhelming sense of contentment for what I had accomplished. The result definitely helped me when trying to get into big races and having confidence in myself, but there were no sponsors lining up to sign me. It was tough at first because I had put so much of life on hold to focus on the Olympic Trials and now I had to face all the things I had been ignoring for a while. I still had bills to pay and I was still doing a sport that barely supported me just because I love it and want to chase the dream of being a professional runner for as long as possible. It is hard to continue justifying the sacrifice that myself and others have to make on a daily basis for me to pursue a selfish dream. I think this sport is really tough and can improve in so many ways to find avenues and funding to support aspiring athletes on their journey to the top of long distance running. I am proud of what Tinman Elite has done to change the sport but it is just the start and my hope is the next generation of runners will be able to find a passion and have a creative way to fund their dream and not have to scrape by to compete. I have been so fortunate since the Trials to have an unexpected flood of new athletes that want to work with me through Hammer & Axe Coaching Platform. Coaching has been super rewarding to work with runners who are so passionate about running and it has inspired me to find my love for running again! Who knows what the future holds but I know I will continue to put my all into running with the undying belief I can be a great marathoner!

What was the process like for getting back into training after Orlando? Was it a smooth or difficult transition back?

A week or so after the race I was chomping at the bit to get fit and run a fast 10k. So I started jumping into workouts (5 by mile repeats) about 7 days after the marathon. I felt great for the first couple weeks of running, then all of a sudden my legs and body just shut down and I could not recover at all. I tried to keep fighting through it and get ready for a track 10k to qualify for the Trials but I just could not string together quality training. That is when I decided to shut things down and let go of the goal of qualifying for the track Trials. Looking back I realized that I came back too soon and did not give my body the proper time to recover from a tough marathon. I definitely regret not taking the time after the Trials to recover properly and not respecting how hard a marathon is on your body.

Where are you at with training right now? What are your goals for your next marathon, and/or running career in general? Is there anything major that you’ll be doing differently in this build compared to the Trials?

After 2 weeks completely off in early June to do a full mental and physical reset I have been slowly building back up to some good volume. I picked a marathon that is pretty far away to give myself plenty of time to get up to full volume. I decided to work on some of the weaknesses I have in my stride. I am back up to 90 miles a week now and feeling great! We’re just about 14 weeks away from my next marathon which will be CIM in December. I’ll be working more on the consistent higher mileage and especially the long run to continue to evolve this build. I plan on taking the confidence I have from the Trials and compete from the front of the race to give myself a chance to win. It has been a crazy year but I am super grateful to be in the position I am in and I want to make the most of every opportunity!

Follow Connor to keep up with his build toward the California International Marathon (CIM) this fall!

Stay Tuned:

Hear from Drew Hunter up next in Issue 26 of The Hammer!

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