British Olympian Marc Scott on Training with Bowerman Track Club
Article by Tait Hearps
Marc Scott is a British Olympian who runs for Nike and Bowerman Track Club. His PBs include 13:05 for 5,000, 27:12 for 10,000 – a time which places him second on the UK all-time rankings, and 60:39 for the half marathon. Marc sat down with Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite to talk all about his career, training, his time with Bowerman and what he has his sights set on in the next few years. Currently in Flagstaff with the other BTC athletes, Marc shares a lot of wisdom he has gleaned from racing at the highest level in athletics over the past few years. Marc himself says he was a late-bloomer, and his current trajectory upwards through the ranks shows how consistency and determination pays off in the long term.
Flagstaff, at some 7000ft, is a regular destination for Marc and his team mates. He says that he has seen improved results from his time at altitude with each subsequent stint over his five years in the group, and now comes off time at altitude generally racing quite well. The first ten days in Flag are usually just easy running with strides to ease into it. Now two weeks into his stay, they are back into sessions.
The BTC group normally spend a couple of months in Flagstaff at the start of each year, followed by some racing and then time back at HQ in Portland. The summer is then spent out in Park City, Utah (6,900ft) when not racing. Marc says that his life with BTC has been quite nomadic and that he can count on his hands the number of weeks normally spent at their ‘base’ in Portland each year.
Marc just spent three weeks back at home in Yorkshire over the Christmas break, although he was still running regularly and doing sessions. One of which we filmed in Leeds with Emile Cairess and Phil Sesemann – on Marc’s 28th birthday no less! (3km, 2km, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 – 3 minutes recovery). Prescribed workouts tend to not be very flexible however this one was one that Marc managed to jump in with the others for during the lead up to Valencia 10k for the other lads.
Born and raised in Yorkshire, Marc started running at ten years of age at a local club that he still runs for today when given the opportunity. He said he gradually progressed through the ranks and ended up running for Yorkshire at a good level, including national cross country. As high school came to an end, he reached out to Steve Gulley at Tulsa and managed to, by his own admission, talk his way into a scholarship – Gulley said he would let him join the team if he could run under 8:30 over the 3,000. The next week Marc ran 8:29.
Going into college Marc was only running 20-30 miles per week and this quickly jumped to 60-70 miles per week in his freshman year. Unsurprisingly this rapid jump came with some injuries, however Marc says that it was quite self-inflicted on his part, in a bid to keep abreast of his peers. He continued to develop through his college years and went onto win NCAA D1 champs in the 10,000m in his senior year. This result, among others, saw a number of agents approaching him and he eventually settled on a contract with Nike and joined the Bowerman Track Club – a group Marc had wanted to join for years.
A robust base of endurance and strength from his years at Tulsa meant that Marc adjusted well to BTC, however the top end speed was something that needed work. Marc says that the dynamics at Bowerman are great, the team get on really well and it’s fun to be involved. Banter is key and Marc says the shit talk in the group makes the miles fly by – Woody Kincaid takes out Marc’s nomination for most consistent in this department. Several of the team have recently moved in with each other back in Portland and they always share accommodation at the camps at altitude. Marc says the team really feed off each other and working hard together, and it has been a real bonus to have so many familiar faces and bodies around during intense racing.
Marc says that Jerry Schumacher has a relatively hands off approach to training, and the team will often only see him twice per week at sessions. Normally the night before he’ll send out the rough details of the session, as well as which shoes to bring for the workout.
Coming out of the Fall/Winter base period the weeks of training look approximately like this…
Alternating weeks – Week one
Tuesday – relatively long easy run to warm up, hills (10-12 of varying length), followed by track (Speed endurance – eg 10 x 200/300 on short rest, cool down – 13-15 miles total
Thursday – longer intervals of 1-3 miles (often around a turf field), pace stays steady at around 4:45/mile, volume of intervals is usually around 10 miles – 15-16 miles total
Sunday – structured long run, between 90-120 minutes total, progressing pace every 30 minutes from around 7:00/mile (4:35/km) down to around 5:20/mile (~3:20/km)
Week 2
Tuesday – session – as above on Tuesday
Friday – session – 8-10 mile tempo at 5:00 down to 4:45/mile
Sunday – 90-120 minute unstructured long run, easier pace
Moving into the season the schedule shifts and varies between speed, strength, specific and combo sessions with less frequent long runs, sometimes they won’t do a long run for 12 days.
Between all of these session days they will do easy running, mileage is up to the individual athletes. The prescribed run is normally 70 minutes and Jerry apparently counts all easy running at 7:00/mile (4:35/km) – therefore on paper the mileage from these easy runs is 10 (Jerry) miles but it will often vary between 10-11.5 miles depending on how they are feeling after their sessions. Doubling is also dependent on each athlete and Marc says it’s really variable just depending how they are feeling. Many of the group members, including Marc, will run with a simple Casio or Timex, running for time rather than pace or distance. Occasionally Marc will run with a GPS watch for more accurate splits when doing longer tempo work.
The group does a lot of strength work, three to four times per week. They have a strength coach who will work with individual athletes to target specific areas of weakness. The strength sessions often involve core, resistance band and bodyweight exercises, as well as heavy lifting with squats and deadlifts during some parts of the season. For Marc the specific work he has been doing is a lot of lower leg and foot mobility and strength work.
After having several issues with injuries in the past, including tearing his plantar fascia off the bone in the GB 10,000 champs (with a few kilometres still to go) a mere six weeks prior to Tokyo. He took eight days off and managed to ease into some easy running after that, before quickly shifting back into sessions. This injury didn’t heal properly prior to the games and is still lingering; however it’s no longer causing pain.
The BTC group spent some time in Hawaii acclimating to the heat and humidity that would be making racing extra tough at the Olympics. Marc placed 14th with which he was happy with, especially given the imperfect preparation caused by his injury. Marc says there isn’t any tension between the BTC members leading into big championship races, they all race hard amongst themselves, but they want the best for each other and respect each other immensely. Having so many training partners in the field meant that he felt quite comfortable clicking through the laps in Tokyo, and in some ways, it felt like a training session with his team mates.
Following the Olympic campaign Marc went home and had a big season of racing on the roads, taking out The Great North Run and Great Manchester Run. Going home to race some local races and stay in touch with the running scene in his home country is something that remains important to Marc, and doing some races on the roads after track season is something he plans to continue into the future. The roads will likely comprise a major part of his racing going forwards but he plans to improve on his track pedigree before completely shifting focus. A 2023 marathon could be on the cards.
This coming year Marc Scott is aiming for world indoors (3,000m), as well as three major championships in the Summer – World Champs in Eugene, Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the European Champs in Munich. As to which events he’s running at each championship, that’s yet to be determined and will depend on how things shape up in the coming months.
We wish him all the best and thank Marc for giving us so much insight into his training, as well as a glimpse as to how things work at one of the top running groups in the world. Full conversation coming soon to the podcast!
