Sub 5 Project

By: Kirk Nicklaus

4:49

“You have to be comfortable outside of your comfort zone”. Words spoken by one of my best friends, Joe Bosshard, before a workout at 9,000 feet with Olympians Emma Coburn and Aisha Praught-Leer. Words that have stuck with me since the moment I heard them.

What exactly does that mean? How can a person possibly be “comfortable outside of their comfort zone”?

Let me tell you my story of trying to run a sub five-minute mile, something that less than 1 percent of people have done, in order to help explain.

Joe and Emma got engaged in November 2016 and shortly after Joe asked me to be the best man in his wedding. I was ecstatic that Joe would ask me to be part of his and Emma’s big day. I’ve always dreamed of giving a killer best man speech that proudly represented one of my close friends.

I began thinking of all the beautiful and fit people that would not only be in the bridal party, but also just attending the wedding. For example: Kara Goucher, an Olympian marathon runner; Emma, the world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in the Steeplechase; Aisha, the Jamaican world record holder. And many more professional runners on top of that.

It’s been well documented that I like to have fun. I have serious FOMO when it comes to my friends going out and partying. After a year in Denver never saying no to a cheeseburger or a beer that crossed my path, my weight shot up to nearly 220 pounds.

I remember thinking to myself that I didn’t want to be the overweight guy at the wedding. Pictures of my balloon-sized head and double chin would be floating around the internet for all to see. Let’s not forget the wedding was in Hawaii and I didn’t have the ESPN: The Body Issue physique that Emma does.

What could I possibly do to lose the weight I wanted in the 10 months before the wedding? It was obvious! I’m surrounded by world class runners. Why would I not try to literally run my ass off?

I discussed a plan with Joe and my good friend, Jonny Stevens -- another runner at CU and my new running coach. We decided that in order to achieve my physical goal, I had to run a 5-minute mile. It was settled. Those two would comprise a training schedule each day to help me. My other runner friends would be there to provide support and offer tips on how to reach the mark.

I was so excited about my new goal that I called my dad to tell him of the commitment that I had made to myself.

“That’s great, Kirk! I ran a 4:50 mile when I was in college”, he told me.

“Oh.”

Well, shoot ... there’s no way that I’m going to let my dad have the family record by 10 seconds. If I’m going to go for it, I’m going to beat him by 1 second. It was settled once again – 4:49 was the new goal.

My dad was no slouch in his college hay day or the rest of his life. He’s been a Martial Arts master for over 35 years. He’s a sixth-degree black belt and a National Champion full contact fighter. I should also mention that my mom is a third-degree black belt. My dad would still whip me if he had to. Not only was he a physical specimen throughout his adulthood, but he is one of the strongest minded people that I know, so it was no surprise that he ran a 4:50 mile while only running 8-12 miles per week (compared to my 25-35 miles).

My mom and dad both have pushed me since I was young to excel in whichever sport I was participating me in. They spent countless hours with me and Joe driving to basketball tournaments throughout the country. They’ve sat through thousands of games. Most importantly, they never let me quit, which I think has lead me to much of my success as a person. They’re my biggest support team and responsible for who I am today.

The goal was set. No looking back now.

And so, it Begins

 Joe, Jonny and I decided that in order to hold myself accountable, I had to run a monthly one-mile time trial. The time trial would gauge my progress, or in some cases regression, with my running performances giving everyone a better understanding of what my training should consist of in the days and weeks following.

Throughout the 10 months of training, time trials were my least favorite part. The pressure, the pain and the fear of failing had me stressed out the entire day before. Not to mention word of the #Sub5Project had spread and I oftentimes ended up having mini fan clubs of pro runners and friends to cheer me on.

The day of my first trial had arrived in January. Joe, Jonny, and my friend Aric and I headed to a local track to see how much work I was going to have to put into this. I was nervous. I kept thinking to myself, “What am I doing? These guys are Division I runners and PAC 12 champions! I have no business being out here with them.” But, screw it.

I ran a 6:27 first mile off the couch. Ok. That wasn’t so bad considering I weighed 217 pounds and hadn’t done any training. However, I had to shave over a minute-and-a -half off in about 9 months, so I knew I was really in for it.

The training began after that and I was running about 10-15 miles per week. Almost laughable to think about now, but it was hard at the time. I was running 2-3 miles every other day at 8:15-8:45 pace while throwing in some walking breaks here and there. The “Dreadmill” was my least favorite part of my day for the first month.

It’s important to understand that you have to start somewhere. In order to achieve goals that seem unattainable, you’re going to feel intimidated more often than not. Of course, I wasn’t going to be as good as Joe at running. He’s a seven-time All-American at one of the top running schools in the country. No way I can keep up with Aric, whom fell just short of reaching the Olympic Trial Finals to go to Rio in 2016.

I continued my training followed by monthly time trials. The running got easier and more enjoyable. It’s funny how quickly something becomes routine when you’re doing it every single day. My mileage went from easy runs for 10-15 miles per week to 20-25 miles per week mixing in moderately difficult runs, such at fartleks and tempos. I was spending more and more time on the track repeating distances such as 400 and 800 meters.

February’s time trial came and I ran 5:58. Whoa. I just cut 29 seconds off my mile in one month. THIS IS GOING TO BE EASY! I’M THE GREATEST NON-RUNNER, RUNNER THERE EVER WAS! Over-confidence at its finest.

Let me give you a little background on racing a mile. It consists of four 400-meter laps around the track. The first two laps of the mile are the easiest. You feel fresh. You stay up on the pacer’s heels and just drift behind them. Piece of cake.

Lap 3 is literal hell. Your lungs begin to burn. You want to quit. Lap 3 of the mile has been some of the hardest mental experiences I’ve encountered. I’d rather stick my hand in a blender.

Lap 4 is by no means easy. However, you realize that you only have one lap left before you can go have a margarita and burrito at our favorite spot in Boulder, Rio. Lap 4 is all about mental toughness. It’s when you get “in the zone”. Tunnel vision sets in and all you can do is pump your arms and shorten your strides the last few hundred meters. Everything gets tuned out until you cross the finish line and collapse. Lungs on fire. The weight of another time trial completed, lifted off your shoulders for another month.

My most memorable time trial came in March. I had my normal #Sub5Project cheering section of Emma, Joe, Aisha, Jonny, Smalls, Carey and Gracie (A Squad members) and a few others there. In the meantime, two adult flag football league games were taking course on the football field in the center of the track as I began my mile.

On this particular day, my friends were cheering me on from separate parts of the track. “Go Kirk!” “Stay on the pacer!” “You can do this!” “Go Kirk!”. So on and so forth.

Two laps of them screaming at me before the football players figured out what was going on. The dreaded Lap 3 came and the entire football field stopped their games and began to cheer me on, too. It was an incredible moment. It was emotional. All of those guys stopped just to help me get through the final two laps. It made it MUCH easier to crush my previous time. I finished that day at 5:27. It was a small, unifying moment, that I’ll never forget.

The workouts continued. I began to hit the track more often to work on my speed. I was running workouts that included 6 sets of 300/200/100 meters with minimal rest. Four 800-meter reps and other more difficult track workouts.

How did I know how to do these workouts? How far do you run? How fast do you run those distances at? The average person would have ZERO idea of where to start and I was no exception.

I have to stop and talk about my coach/friend for a minute to explain my workout routine. Jonny Stevens is one of the nicest people I know. He was born and raised in Vail, Colorado, running at elevation his entire life. Jonny ran track and cross country at CU - Boulder for 4 years and has some pretty impressive times in different distances. He’s also coached at his high school alma mater for numerous years.

Jonny took on the task of writing me workouts. Every. Single. Day. If you’ve ever been a coach, you know that planning practices and keeping up with your athletes takes time and commitment. Sometimes I felt like Jonny knew my body better than I did. He told me when to go harder or take a little rest. Jonny agreed to do all of this with no complaints. He held me accountable, and would let me know about it if I skipped a workout. He’s been encouraging and available to me from the start. I’m forever grateful to Jonny for helping me reach my goal.

I was running more, but seemed to be keeping up with my social life at the same time. Remember, I get serious FOMO. I was still going out with friends, but being conscious of what I put in my body. There is nothing worse than running 8-9 miles on a Saturday morning when you’re hungover and full of 3 a.m. pizza. Drinking a milk shake for lunch and running 200s in 34 seconds in the afternoon makes you want to be sick.

After the first 4 months, I had lost 15 pounds. My face was slimmer. I felt faster. My overall energy was through the roof. I went to work for 8-plus hours a day and never felt tired. From work I would immediately go for my run, cook dinner and then have time to relax before bed.

My next two time trials came at sea level. If you’ve never been at elevation (Denver is 5,200 feet above sea level) it feels like somebody is standing on your chest when you run, hike, walk or whatever physical activity you’re doing. The air is thin. It’s hard to take in. It took me about 6 months living in Colorado to get used to it.

For the mile, it’s believed that college runners get about 6 seconds faster at sea level. I feel like an average person, such as myself, probably gains about 10-15.

My first mile at sea level was also memorable. My parents and sister were able to watch. I also invited my basketball coaches, Rick Schneider and Bob Kachel, both of whom watched me grow up and helped me win a state basketball and football championship. My friend Chris Kachel paced me on a bike around the track. Even though Chris used to run at the University of Wisconsin, he wasn’t up for task of running a mile in the low 5-minute area. I don’t blame him. I ran a 5:19 that day for another PR (personal record).

A month later I found myself back in my hometown to run my fifth time trial. I felt a bit sluggish after a long weekend of 4th of July shenanigans with my family, but had been running hard regardless. I completed a 10-mile run at 7:20 pace, which was the furthest and fasted I had ever run.

I surprised myself with a 5:04 mile. Alright! I only need to get my time down 15 seconds and I’m there. This is going to be easy because I’ve got nearly 3 months left.

Wrong. I returned back to Colorado to run my sixth time trial. I was sure that this was the race to break 5 minutes since I had been running my ass off. Jonny had thrown in some difficult workouts in my daily routine leading up to this mile, which I was crushing. There was NO WAY I would not see Sub 5 on that clock at the finish line this time.

5:13. What?! How?!

This was the first time I hadn’t beat my PR from the previous month. I was confused. I was frustrated. This was really the first time I felt like I might not be able to reach my goal. There was a certain fear of failing. I had put my goal out into the universe for a lot of people to see and now I’m afraid I can’t do it.

Even Joe had expressed some doubt, which really lit a fire. “I thought you were in my corner? Tell me I can do it, Joe!”

Joe knew exactly what he was doing. He’s been around me long enough to know that if somebody tells me I can’t do something, I’m sure as hell going to step my game up and give it my best shot. Joe is an excellent motivator. I believe it’s a quality that will allow him to have great success coaching Emma, Aisha, and whomever else joins his wolf pack.

Back to the track. Back to the trails. I had a “screw you” attitude. I was going to reach my goal whether people believed in me or not. Over the next month I continued to work hard. I had some workouts on the track in which I felt like I couldn’t be stopped. I also had workouts that I ran terribly. Again, the frustration and doubt creeps up on you. All you can do is regain your focus and continue to work hard.

Time trial 7, the final time trial before the race in Hawaii came and I was in the best shape I’ve been in my whole life.

5:08. C’MON!!!! I was upset yet again. I felt like I ran my absolute hardest and left it all out there. In fact, I even threw up afterwards. Emma and others tried to encourage me by letting me know that it was an “Altitude PR”. I know, but it isn’t where I expected to be.

Put your head down and keep grinding.

The following weekend I was in Mexico for Joe and Emma’s bachelor/ette party. Coors Light was plentiful. Quesadillas were unlimited. However, I was able to get a couple 3-mile runs on the beach, so it wasn’t a totally wasted trip.

Monday Hangover. Tuesday swimmer’s ear. Wednesday regret and straight fear.

Thursday, I travelled to Crested Butte to help out at Emma Coburn’s Elk Run 5k. The 1st annual charity event that Joe and Emma put on to help raise money for Living Journeys, a cancer center in Crested Butte.

The event ran flawlessly. They had over 20 elite runners leading the pack of nearly 500 people that signed up for the race. The course itself was at the foot of Mount Crested Butte and was magnificent. I, myself, ran a pretty decent time of 22:58 at 9,000 feet elevation.

I spent time surrounded by winners the entire weekend. Aisha and Courtney Frerichs, the world silver medalist in the Steeplechase, ran the 5k with me. I hung out around runners like Paul Chelimo, the Olympic silver medalist, whose motto is “Go hard or suffer the rest of your life”.

I believe that one of the most important things you can do in order to achieve your goals is to put yourself in the presence of excellence. Just spending a weekend around the “elites” motivated me to run Sub 5, especially after a few of them knew about the #Sub5Project and had been following me.

I went back to Denver to train for a week before taking off to Hawaii. My runs went surprisingly well. I hit all the marks Jonny had laid out for me and felt fairly confident going into the final #Sub5Project race. Time to put up or shut up.

The Final Mile

 I arrived in Hawaii on Saturday afternoon and decided to take the day off since I had about a 14-hour travel day. The race was on Tuesday morning so I wasn’t too concerned.

Sunday and Monday consisted of easy 4-mile runs to keep my legs in shape. I’ll be honest, I thought those runs would be a lot easier, but the air felt thick and I felt sluggish. I ran with my friend Kenyon, who insisted that I was in the shape necessary to run sub 5 minutes. His words of encouragement rattled through my head in the days leading up to the race.

Coach Jonny arrived on Monday and we went over a game plan that night. We both decided that I was for sure in Sub 5-minute shape, but 4:49 would probably be difficult.

The strategy going into the race was to hit 72 or 73 seconds in each of the first two laps. That would put me at 2:25 after 800 meters and on pace to hit 4:49. If I didn’t feel good I’d have a couple seconds in the bank to slow down and still run below 5 minutes.

Tuesday morning arrived and we drove about 45 minutes to the south shore of Kauai to sneak onto the track. To my surprise about 25 of my closest friends came to watch me try to beat my dad’s family record. My mom and dad were also there to watch, which made it extra special. Another 25-30 high school students were there to observe as well, as they had just finished with a track practice.

An 800-meter warm up jog followed by 4 100-meter strides and another 200-meter stride was all I needed to get my legs warm, as it was about 85 degrees and humid in Hawaii.

Alright. The time had finally come. After 10 long months of training I was finally ready to crush this.

Emma, Joe, Jonny, and Kenyon were my pacers. They would block the wind for me and put me where I needed to be in order to hit 4:49. I had full faith in them to know the splits, which allowed me to focus on my breathing and my body.

Relax. Breathe. GO!

It wasn’t good. My legs felt terrible after the first lap. Normally, when this happened in Colorado it would only get worse. I felt panicked and afraid of the embarrassment of failing.

Joe and Jonny know exactly what to say to keep me focused. “We’re right on the splits, Kirk!” “73 seconds after 400 meters, you’re on pace!” “Keep pushing, Kirk!”

To my surprise, lap 2 got easier. I crossed 800 meters at about 2 minutes and 25 seconds. I received continued words of encouragement from my posse on all corners of the track. I gained confidence as I picked up steam leading into Lap 3.

I knew that I was in good shape because I could tell in Joe’s voice that he was excited about the time as we crossed the 800-meter mark.

“4:49! You’re on pace for 4:49! Stay on me!”, he said.

I knew that if I could stay up on the pacers during lap 3 I’d have a shot at breaking my dad’s record going into Lap 4. I was right on pace after 1,200 meters. I OWNED Lap 3 this time.

The excitement and noise around the track grew louder. I heard my friends and family pushing me to finish the last lap strong and give it my all. A drone overhead followed us closely capturing the race.

No way I was going to leave anything on the track. I had it made it this far and I wasn’t going to just settle for Sub 5.

200 meters left and I heard Emma tell me to shorten my strides. Looking back, I think this was the key to the race. It was easier to run shorter, faster strides and finish off the last portion of the mile.

150 meters. “You’re on it!” 100 meters. I gave everything I could and sprinted towards the finish line. I had tunnel vision and could only see the Lane 1 finish line.

I crossed and collapsed in the field, only to be caught underneath a monkey pile of my friends.

4:50.7!!!!!!!

I tied my dad.

I gave my dad the first hug. I know that he wanted me to break his 4:50 mark. Regardless, he was proud of me.

Hugs and photos continued with all of those that supported me. I had finally accomplished what I set out to do and it felt GOOD.

I cut nearly a minute and 40 seconds off my mile time and lost about 25 pounds in 10 months. Most importantly I gained confidence in myself to complete any goal that I set my mind to.

I retired from the mile on 10/10/2017.

Takeaways

The past 10 months have been some of the most fulfilling, exhausting, happy, and frustrating months of my life. I would have it no other way. 2017 has easily been the best year of my life and I’m not done yet.

Running has been life changing. It’s allowed me time to check out of reality for an hour each night. No calls. No emails. Nothing but a clear mind and an opportunity to learn more about myself.

Physically, I’ve lost 23 pounds and feel like at 27 years old, I’m at the top of my game. Heck, I even have a few abs, which is definitely new.  My energy and mood has drastically improved. I sleep better, eat better, and have way more confidence (which has never really been an issue if you know me).

Perhaps, most importantly, running has improved my mental state. Like many people, I have anxiety. It sucks. How do I feel anxious when I’m the healthiest I’ve been, I’m doing well at my job, and I’m overall very happy with my life?

Once every three months or so I have anxiety attacks. Tunnel vision. Shortness of breath. Fear. Very similar to laps 3 and 4 in the mile, but definitely more frightening. Does having these anxiety attacks make me mentally weak? No. Should I be embarrassed that sometimes I feel overwhelmed? Definitely not. It’s a normal part of life that I’m sure more people than you think go through. You learn to find ways to deal with it.

Running has limited those anxiety attacks and enabled me to focus on staying relaxed in the everyday life of a buzzing city like Denver. I’m sure people handle anxiety in different way, I’ve found that exercise works best for me. Others feel better by talking to a friend or a family member about it.

My cofounder and friend, Jeffrey Finch, told me, “By sharing anything personal with someone you trust, automatically reduces that burden. I equate it to carrying rocks around. If I share what I am carrying (my rocks), then my trusted friends will always take some of that burden for me.”

I think that’s an important analogy to remember when you have anxiety.

I’ve learned that the fear of failure is something that goes hand in hand with my goal of the 4:49 mile. It’s something that everybody endures over their lifetime.

How do you prepare yourself in order to not fail? I won’t fail if I run an extra mile. I won’t fail if I eat healthy for a month straight. You have to have the right mindset going into achieving your goal because if you don’t believe in yourself, you will not succeed.

However, everybody fails. It’s a part of life. I’ve learned that even if I fail, I have to pick myself back up and figure out what I can do differently to overcome the barrier. Sometimes I won’t have a good workout. It’s just part of it. Move on, keep a positive attitude, and do better next time.

 Attaining the Unattainable

 Accountability is the most important contributor to reaching your goals. If you don’t hold yourself accountable, who will?

Put your goals out into the universe! Let people know what you want to accomplish. Post them on social media or write them in a blog. If your friends know your goals and hold you accountable, it automatically promotes self-accountability. If I ever missed a workout that Jonny took time out of his day to plan for me, I felt terrible and he would let me hear about it.

I believe the next most important aspect is to surround yourself with people at the top of their game. I’ve been fortunate enough to hang out around world class athletes. Runners sponsored by the likes of New Balance, Under Armour, Nike, Brooks, Adidas and so on. They’ve not only held me accountable, but inspired me to become my best. Who doesn’t want to be at the top of their profession?

However, I’m not only talking about athletes. The co-founders at Choozle encourage me to be great and allow me the freedom to work on things that make me happy. I work with about 50 individuals that are go-getters. They work their tails off every day in order to reach a common goal for our company. My coworkers inspire me every day to work harder because let’s face it, if I don’t work hard at my job, then I’m fired, and that would be a bummer.

Creating small goals in order to reach a larger one is completely necessary! For example; My main goal was to lose weight. In order to lose weight, I have to run 4:49. To run a 4:49 mile I had to limit myself to eating out once a week or only a few drinks. I had to complete every workout 100 percent, no half-assing. I had to warm up and stretch before and after every one of those workouts, so on and so forth.

Out in Front Podcast

 I’ve started a podcast with Aric Van Halen and Jonny Stevens called “Out in Front”. Each week we bring in an elite athlete, musician or successful business person to learn what it’s like to live a day in their life. We talk about how to set and achieve goals, overcome fear of failure and how their schedule relates to the everyday person. Most importantly, we have a fun time and ask them fun questions like we’d ask anybody else.

I encourage you to tune in! You can find it on any my social media links or if you search “Out in Front Podcast”

Conclusion

The amount of help and support I’ve gotten since I began this training has been incredible. I thank each and every person that has sent words of encouragement, went on a run with me or put up with me not ordering a drink at the bar (Gracie).

I encourage you to try to accomplish something that seems out of reach, because when you do reach it, there is no better feeling in the world.

I’m happy to help you start your own journey and guide you along the way, whatever it may be. Please feel free to reach out whenever!

Kirk Robert Nicklaus

Sub 5 Minute Miler.