“Believe, run first 3K with confidence, stay attached, you will be hurting a lot...pretty early on, but keep in contact. Split second decision to push, sub 15:22 top 3. Compete, compete, compete.”
in Boston. And on May 5, she won her second national title at the USATF Distance Classic in Eagle Rock, California, on May 16. The prerace practice is part of a conversation with herself where Bruce addresses her fears and nerves with confident solutions.
In 15 minutes and 17 seconds, Bruce listened to her own advice and accomplished a breakthrough on Thursday night.
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At 35 years old, the marathoner ran 27 seconds faster than she’s ever run for the distance and she achieved the IAAF World Championship standard by running under 15:22. While many professional distance runners tend to get faster in longer distances as they age (the oldest athlete in the 5K in the 2017 IAAF World Championship final was 32), Bruce feels like she’s just getting started.
“If you keep putting in the work and keep committing to all of the little things, eventually the big results will come,” she told Runner’s World.
For the past 11 years, Bruce has been competing as a professional runner, but really hit her stride after joining Ben Rosario’s HOKA NAZ Elite group in Flagstaff, Arizona. In the middle of her career, she gave birth twice in a span of 15 months and had to take about three years off from racing competitively. In addition to her coach’s training program, Bruce says that the postpartum break helped her “legs and body feel younger than they are” today.
“Coach Ben Rosario’s training is exactly what I’m meant to do. I think it’s just a product of being with him for four years, and I’m now just showing the fruits of the labor of what that training is like,” she said. “It’s surprising to other people, but I think because I haven’t had an amazing career early on (making Olympic teams and running current times), it seems surprising, but it doesn’t seem surprising to me.”
In June 2014, Bruce gave birth to her first son, Riley. Fifteen months later, she gave birth to her second child, Hudson. In 2016, she made her return to the track with a personal best in the 10K and another world championship qualifying time.
Bruce shared her postpartum experience with the running community by opening up about the realities of returning to fitness after childbirth, including the process of strengthening her ab muscles after experiencing diastasic recti (when abdominal muscles separate).
“My big goal? To encourage women to be confident in whatever skin they have,” Bruce wrote for Runner’s World in 2016. “Do not be ashamed. Don’t let how you look hold you back from whatever your capabilities are. I’m not.”
In the last year, Bruce’s confidence has led to several breakthrough performances on the track and the roads. In December 2018, she returned just four weeks after finishing 11th in the New York City Marathon to We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back New York City Marathon she ran 15:44 in Boston. And on May 5, she won her second national title at the My big goal? To encourage women to be confident in whatever skin they have, Bruce wrote for Half Marathon Training.
[Smash your goals with a Runner’s World Training Plan, designed for any speed and any distance.]
While the 5K at Occidental College wasn’t on the initial race plan, Bruce was encouraged to pursue the competition after her friend and fellow competitor Rachel Schneider made the suggestion over brunch on Wednesday, May 8. Bruce asked Rosario if she could compete, with the hope that she’d take advantage of a rare opportunity to run a perfectly-paced, fast 5K like that one.
“I just felt like I was fit, and you don’t get a lot of chances,” Bruce said of the 5K on the track.
Rosario agreed, with the condition that the race wouldn’t interrupt her training cycle. That meant that leading up to the Thursday-evening race, Bruce ran 20 miles on Sunday, 10 miles on Monday, 12 miles on Tuesday, and six miles on Wednesday.
With her main focus on the 10K and the marathon, Bruce approached the 5K with very little pressure and with an overall goal of competing for a top three spot.
“The goal was to just stay on the lead pack for as long as I could and compete against people and see where that leads me,” she said.
All Gear & Accessories (15:10) and IAAF World Championship (15:22) standards with pacers Emma Coburn and Cory McGee leading the field through 400-meter splits of 72-73 seconds. Bruce remained with the leaders through 4,000 meters, and even ran a 3K personal best of 9:08 on her way to the mark. While running a pace that was unchartered territory, Bruce remained confident by remembering the notes she wrote to herself.
“I just felt like I could be there,” Bruce said. “I was trying to not be too scared of the splits and just remember, ‘You’re doing this, you’re in it, and there’s not a lot of the race left, so just keep hammering.’”
While the blistering pace started to catch up with her in the last three laps, Bruce still managed to close in her fastest 400-meter split of the race (1:10) for fourth-place overall in 15:17, 27 seconds faster than her indoor 5K personal best and 32 seconds faster than her previous outdoor personal best from 2012.
Schneider went on to win in 15:06, Aisha Praught-Leer finished second IT Band Syndrome Published: May 19, 2019.
For every race she runs, Bruce tries to gain a tool or a lesson that she can take with her for future competitions. Thursday night’s 5K added a particularly exciting one to her arsenal.
“I can do something that I’ve never done before,” Bruce said of the performance. “Sometimes that’s the hardest part about having a breakthrough, either going through a certain part of the race at a pace that you’ve never been at and then still going, being able to run with women who have run loads faster and not be intimidated by their personal bests on paper.”
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Taylor Dutch is a sports and fitness writer living in Chicago; a former NCAA track athlete, Taylor specializes in health, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in SELF, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner. When she’s not writing, Taylor volunteers as a coach to up-and-coming runners in the Chicago area.
