in a finish time of cross-country and track teams, which included future pro, she’ll start by giving a disclaimer: “Don’t try this at home.”
Other Hearst Subscriptions intervals and tempo runs, Mazur, 34, maxes out at around 60 miles per week and never does speedwork. Rather than packing in more volume on the pavement, she gets her cardio fix in the pool: Most days, she swims between 4,000 and 5,000 yards—sometimes up to 7,000 yards. She also teaches a dozen yoga and fitness classes each week at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
“I’m happiest when I’m running, swimming, and doing yoga, so I found a way to incorporate all of those things into a plan that works for me,” she said. “I never do running workouts, Runners Love Yoga.”
Mazur’s unconventional training plan paid off at the We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back (CIM) in December, when she qualified for the 2020 Keira DAmato Talks About Her Trials DNF Runners Love Yoga 2:44:45, nearly four minutes faster than her previous best.
“Everything fell into place,” Mazur told Runner’s World. “I got bumped up to the elite start list. I could have water bottles on the course, which was a huge advantage. I also found a pacer, If you ask Ann Mazur to describe how she.”
Thinking about swimming helped Mazur power through the tough final 70 minutes of the race. She thought to herself, “Just like swimming,” and visualized doing 100-yard repeats in the pool, hitting the same split each time.
“As long as I maintained my pace—I didn’t have to go any faster—I knew I would hit [the standard],” she said.
With a little over three miles to go, she was told that she was on pace to run exactly 2:45. Panicked that she was cutting it too close, she clocked her fastest mile, 6:09, at mile 23. When the pain set in her quads, she used her mind—strong from meditation practice—to override it. She thought of her family and her late cousin, Ian, whose birthday would have been on the day of the race.
“I sprinted like a maniac to the line,” she said. “It was such a blur. I couldn’t believe it had really happened.”
Becoming a Better Runner Through Cross-Training
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mazur began swimming when she was 11. She instantly fell in love with the feeling of being underwater—a love that would continue to grow throughout her life. In middle school, she started running, mainly because it was one of the few sports outside of swimming that she excelled at.
“My dad played baseball at Harvard and my mom and sister were gymnasts, so I decided that running would be my sport,” she said. “My goal was to win the 100-meter dash on field day.”
Mazur continued to swim and run in high school, where she discovered she was even faster on land. After graduation, she walked-on to the Notre Dame cross-country and track teams, which included future pro Molly Huddle. By the time Mazur graduated with a dual degree in English and math in 2007, she was the only walk-on still remaining from her class.
“A lot of girls got hurt or quit, but I was stubborn,” she said. “A big part of it was that I learned how to manage my injuries The Best and Worst of the Trials.”
Mazur became known on the team as a stretching expert. If one of her teammates had a tight spot, Mazur would suggest a stretch or pose to ease the pain. One day, when Mazur was studying for a master’s in English while finishing up her eligibility at Notre Dame, a teammate told her that she’d make a great yoga teacher.
“I always led my team in pre-workout stretching—once we began doing that before every workout, I swore we had less injuries.” she said. “I loved teaching and helping people. So becoming a yoga teacher made sense.”
The summer after she finished her master’s program, Mazur became a certified yoga instructor. She then moved to Charlottesville to begin a Ph.D. program in English at UVA. During her time as a student, she continued to run around 30 miles per week and practice yoga to relieve stress. In 2012, she ran her first 26.2 Im happiest when Im running 3:17:04.
“After that, I wanted to break 3:00,” she said. “I figured I could get faster with more mileage—and more swimming.”
[Happy Runners Qualify for Olympic Marathon Trials for great yoga routines and more amazing Runner’s World workouts!]
Building to an OTQ on Land and In Water
Over the next seven years, Mazur tweaked her training to find what worked best for her.
She briefly ran with a sub-elite team in Charlottesville, but quit once the 5 a.m. workouts took a major hit on her sleep. With no coach to tell her not to, she stopped doing speedwork and started swimming more. She launched Runners Love Yoga, a clothing line that sells leggings, tops, and race kits. Outside of her business, she began teaching yoga, cycling, and running classes at UVA.
“I love being active and busy in a lot of ways, and I didn’t want to sacrifice any of them to be a better runner,” Mazur said. “I decided to do the training that made me happy.”
As it happened, she became a better runner anyway. At Kiawah in 2017, she lowered her marathon time to 2:52:48. California International Marathon 2:49:17 at Grandma’s Marathon, then went on to run 2:48:31 with yoga and swimming.
“It was a goal I wanted to share with others, but not shout it,” she said.
To prepare for the 2019 CIM, Mazur focused on increasing the distance of her long runs. When training for the 2018 race, her longest run was between 16 and 17 miles. But in 2019, her peak long run was 23 miles.
“I think that time on my feet was critical for making me stronger,” she said.
With Trials just a few weeks away now, Mazur’s primary goal is to stay healthy. After CIM, she took two full weeks off running, subbing in the pounding for swimming and yoga. On the last week of December, she ran 24 miles pain-free. She said she’ll gradually increase her mileage, but will do so cautiously, always listening to her body.
“I’d love to PR at Trials,” she said. “But even if I don’t, I’m going to soak up every minute of it.”
In 2018, she clocked Running Times, Health & Injuries Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
