10 Laps with Sydney Devore
presented by The PreRacePodcast
Age: 31
Hometown: Lakeland, FL
Day Job: Running Coach
1. What's your favorite place to run locally?
Ugh. Can I pick two? Lol, Lake Orion is my favorite place to run. The dirt roads and rolling hills just hit differently. No place can whip me in shape faster than Lake Orion.
Tied for first is the Paint Creek Trail, any time of year. It is such a beautiful run and looks / feels so different depending on the season. There are always so many friendly faces, and the dirt roads that cross the trail offer some challenging hills if you are looking for strength work.
2. Craziest thing to happen to you while running?
While running along the Charles River in Boston with Finn and Ari, we were attacked by a pack of geese. I’ve never seen Finn so scared, and he almost pulled me into the River!
I’ve also had someone throw an ICEE from 7-11 at me on the run!
3. What do you think about when you're running? Is it different when you race?
Anything and everything while running daily. I like to run with my friends because I am a talker, so that is my first choice, but when I run alone, I think about everything.
When racing, I try to calm my mind and think as little as possible for the first 2/3rds of the race. Then, I shift into predator mode if I am feeling good and imagine myself “stealing the souls” of the people I pass. If I am in the pain cave, I think of all the people who love me and want to see me give my best. I imagine them at various points of the course and run to them.
4. Favorite workout?
The 3-2-1 tempo. This is my favorite half-marathon workout. The 3 miles are at HM pace, the 2 miles are at Threshold, and the last mile is at 10k pace. There are 3-4 minutes of rest between the sets.
This workout is such a confidence builder because, after the 3, you are sure you can’t go any faster, but then you do. And then the same will happen with the 1 mile. It reminds you that even when you are tired or think you can’t go faster in a race, you actually can.
5. How has your approach to running changed over the years?
I used to believe I needed to weigh a certain amount to be fast. I used to think leaner meant faster, and that created some disordered eating habits. I now weigh more than I ever have, and I set PRs for the first time in 4 years, and just had my first full year of running without injury.
Also, I used to run hard all the time. I was a definite grey zone runner. It got me fit but also kept me in a cycle of injury. I now see the necessity of easy days and that I don’t need to beat my workouts. Hitting the pace is winning the workout.
6. Conspiracy theory you subscribe to?
I have my own crazy conspiracy theory that COVID was a social/psychological experiment that we all failed. The powers that be designed a virus that could act as a global threat to see if countries could come together against a common enemy like global warming, world hunger, etc.
7. Do you have any race day rituals?
For marathons, I write the names of people who impacted my training cycle. Each bottle represents a person or persons that I am running to. I use them as checkpoints and imagine them giving me my fuel/hydration to help me on my way.
For all races, I celebrate with bubbly, regardless of time/place. Every time I cross a finish line, it’s worth celebrating.
8. Biggest running pet peeve?
When people want to join me for an easy run and then try to race me / hammer the run.
9. PR you are most proud of?
This was tough since I had a few memorable PRs this year, but the race I am most proud of is CRIM. I signed up the day before because I really just wanted a longer tempo effort after getting my ass kicked at Falmouth just 6 days before. My previous 10-mile PR was set in 2018 at the USA 10-mile championships at the Cherry Blossom road race in DC, where I placed 11 and was out-kicked by Aliphine, missing the top 10 by one second. I used to say that was the best shape I had ever been in, so to come out to CRIM with zero expectation on such tired legs and to beat that time….I gained a lot of confidence that day. I also beat Jeff Aspinall, and that was truly magical.
10. One thing that most Bandits don't know about you?
After graduating college, I moved to Busan, South Korea, to teach English and didn’t run for almost two years.
