Jon Rankin: Miler, Writer & Scholar

© 2008 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved.

Jon Rankin has to be one of the nicest guys with whom I have ever chatted with, it is obvious that here is a guy who just loves running, people, and life in general. He is someone who leaves a lasting impression on you, even though you may have only met him briefly.

It's odd that Jon has in the past been jokingly referred to as 'The Fastest Miler You've Maybe Heard Of'. Why is this? I have heard plenty about milers who have just scraped under the 4-min barrier, however, I have yet to see much press for a guy who has a 3:52.7 (road) mile to his name (and a 3:54 track mile). We catch up with Jon during a transitional period of his life, it was meant to be a brief chat, but the guy just has so much going for him, the questions kept rolling.

- Nickname: Jon Jon, Rankin
- Personal records
      1:47.11 - 800m - Sweden (2005)
      3:35.26 - 1500m - Walnut (2005)
      3:54.24 - mile - Manchester (2007)
      3:52.7 - mile (road) - New York (2008)
      8:07.25 - 3000m - Seattle (2005)
- Coach: Joaquim Cruz
- Manager/agent: Merhawi Keflezighi
- Home town: San Diego
- How long is your winter Sunday run: 2 hours
 

RunnersTribe: Jon, thanks for your time. How have things been going lately?

Jon Rankin: Not too bad thank you. I'm going through a sort of transitional period. Right now I'm spending more time on personal matters and just doing heaps of base work. For example, I intend to start an MBA program with Univeristy of Phoenix near the end of Febraury 2009 via online education. Hopefully this further level of professional qualification will help make me more employable. Being back in school will also provide me a nice break away from training twice a day. Being back in the classroom will work out nicely for me because school will act as a break from running and vice versa.

RT: I see that your sponsorship with Nike was not renewed late last year? Do you know the reasons as to why? Are you now working in order to support yourself?

JR: Yes, unfortunately my sponsorship relationship ended with Nike at the end of 2008. I have to admit that I'm grateful for all that Nike did for me as my title sponsor these past four years however it came time for me to move on. I felt like it was time for me to consider other options. My current lack of sponsorship hasn't been a completely terrible circumstance. It has become a source of motivation because it has made me hungrier; and it has taught me that I need to be more creative in the face of the current economic downturn. At the moment I'm just living off my savings and am hopeful I'll land a job with a company that's very understanding of my running ambitions.

RT: What are your plans for this year in terms of races and significant goals?

JR: I'm in a transition phase where I'm moving towards the longer events. I'll still race the 800m (mainly for training purposes), but I plan on racing more 5000m a few times this year for good results. The emphasis, however, will remain on the 1500m/1-mile. I'm not too sure which events I'll race at the World Championships. At this point it's best to take it one day at a time and make a decision based on which events I'm performing in best.

RT: Have you been doing more longer type work-outs than usual?

JR: Yes, I've been doing a lot more long interval workouts than in previous years, specifically more 5000m paced interval work.

RT: Do you train twice a day everyday?

JR: I train twice a day except Sundays where I do a 2-hour long run in the morning. All the other days I do a hard work-out in the morning followed by some easy running at night.

RT: You had an amazing senior year at UCLA which pretty much earned you your Nike sponsorship. How did you find the switch from Collegiate to professional running?

JR: I was very fortunate during the transition because I was trained so well during college that I was well prepared for professional running. The year 2005 was a great year for me because of the large amount of high quality workouts I was able to do consistently for months. The year 2006, however, wasn't as good because I started over-thinking my training. I over-thought my preparations when all I really needed to do was to stay healthy. This season of overcompensation resulted in me forcing everything too much and ended with me breaking my third metatarsal. At that point in time I really thought my career could be over. It was definitely a hard transitional period because I made such rapid improvement that I couldn't comprehend what had happened. I went from being a college athlete who was near the bottom of his conference to being ranked top 45 in the world immediately out of college . . . it took some serious adjustments and some time to get my head around the whole thing. By 2007 I began to better understand my self as a professional runner and I had a good result at the Brussels Golden league, finishing in the top 10.

RT: Speaking of Golden Leagues, can you tell us a bit about your first experiences and recollections of them?

JR: Racing Golden Leagues require a huge learning curve. I liken it to what an Olympic final must feel like--for me it was a crazy experience. The mental preparation for the world's best runners is very important. It's wise to race within your-self and be patient during the early stages of the race. It's a hard thing to do, to remain patient yet to be aggressive at the same time. The thing is, if you blow up it would be awful for you self-confidence. I had this in my mind during my first Golden League in Brussels. So I was a bit cautious during that race. I know that if I want a better result in future races of this level I have to race more aggressively from the start. I believe that the closer I am to the front from the start the higher up I'll finish in the end.

RT: Although you were born in New Jersey, your parents are from the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. To your knowledge have there ever been any other such accomplished middle distance runners from that region?

JR: Not to my knowledge, no, there has never been a sub-four minute miler from the Caymans. I usually spend some time in the Caymans visiting family during October and November. I'm pleased to say I actually have quite a strong fan base from there, mainly relatives of course.

RT: What's the reason for spending so much time training in Sweden?

JR: I have a teammate from UCLA named Erik Emilsson who has remained a great friend since our graduation. I enjoy spending time with him and his family so I spend my summers in Sweden as a sort of base to travel to Europe. I do workouts with Erik and his coach, Per Synnerman, who tailors some of my training that coach Cruz gives me when necessary. It's a great situation for me during the European Track season.

RT: What's it like being coached by Joaquim Cruz (former Olympic 800m Gold medalist)?

JR: I love coach Cruz. He's great friend that stands behind me and guides me, keeping me on track. He really is everything you need in a coach . . . we challenge each other and I appreciate this aspect of our relationship because it has helped me to grow so much during our first two years together.

RT: Is it true that you train pretty much entirely alone? What are your reasons for this?

JR: Yes it's true, but that's more a result of location than preference. Many of my peers happen to live and train in other parts of the U.S and world. If I had to choose I would probably choose to train by myself, I love pushing myself to the brink of breaking in sessions. Even in college, every workout I would push myself so hard that I would be on the ground for ages after. I believe this type of effort is what's required to get prepared to run very fast in races.

RT: So how regular are these highly intense days?

JR: I break myself like this 2-3 days a week and I'm perfectly happy doing this all by myself. My hard days are very hard and my easy days are very easy. The easy days are just about packing in the mileage, they are easy long runs where I may pick up the pace a little bit at the end. My philosophy is the hard days are hard and the easy days are easy, and this is what prepares me best to race at a high level every time I race.

RT: Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do for non-profit organizations?

JR: I do a lot of work for an organization called 'Giving Athletics', I started it with a young lady named Jessica Crate, although I recently passed full control over to Jessica. It is a non-profit organization that gives shoes and running equipment to all sorts of people. I think it is a great catalyst to get people to give running a try; and to be more active on a daily basis in general. We're in the process of setting-up our first small group in Florida where we aim to help get disadvantaged kids out running to get them active and keep them out of trouble. We aim to show them how running is not just a sport, but that it's a lifestyle, and that it is the best health care available . . . definietely a lot cheaper than our private cover system charges here in the States.

RT: I hear you are an inspirational public speaker, what sort of talks do you give and to whom?

JR: I'm a talker so I'll talk to anyone about anything. I primarily talk about my own lofty goals and I try to motivate people to get outdoors and to just run for their health. I enjoy talking to kids at races or at schools or team events. Nike helped me out a lot in this department with classes, camps and school appearances. I just really care about people and enjoy trying to help in any way I can.

RT: Do you intend on putting your English major from UCLA to good use? Any book ideas brewing?

JR: I always have book ideas brewing. I keep a detailed journal and would like at some stage to write a book that is running related..

RT: What has been the darkest, most soul searching time of your career?

JR: Definitely my fourth year in college, I had been injured for the previous three years and I was asked to run the opening leg for UCLA distance medley relay team at Indoor nationals. I had to cover 1200m and I went out to the lead early only to crash and burn mentally. I took that experience pretty hard as I felt that I let my team and friends down-I came very close to quitting. I took a few weeks off, trusted my faith and just ran a lot of long runs which gave me time to search for answers and pray. In the end I found the answers I was looking for and I am now a stronger person for having been through the experience.

RT: Do you have a favorite session that you love to smash out a week or two before a major race that you could share with us?

JR: I love 200m reps. I like doing 3x200m (30 secs rest) in 25-26 seconds then have a 5 minute break before doing 3x150m (30 secs rest) in 17-18 seconds. If I feel really good doing this workout a few days before a mile or 800m race I feel very confident and prepared to run fast.