Nick Stanko works full-time as a high school teacher, has a family, and finds time to run the necessary workouts to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Stanko shares what a typical day looks like for a professional runner/teacher, who makes it possible for him to train as much as he does (his wife!), and what he will eat 3 hours prior to the start of the marathon. He also talks about the kids he coaches and how he was introduced to running.

Runners Feed: Take us through a typical day of your life…

Nick Stanko: 5:00 AM wake up and instant coffee, milk and sugar.  5:20 some dynamic stretching.  5:30 head out the door for morning run.  I do my longer/quality workouts in the morning before work.  Some light stretching after recovery runs.  Weights/core/plyos after quality workouts.  8:00 AM to 2:30 PM work.  Usually breakfast at school, a morning snack or two, lunch around 11:30, and an afternoon snack.  I am a high school art teacher at Haslett High School (Haslett, MI).  2:40 either xc or track practice after school.  If the runners I coach are going for a recover run I’ll run with them.  If they are doing a quality workout I’ll usually run after practice so I can be there for them during the workout.  2 times a week I’ll usually add some weights after my second run.  5:30 PM dinner with my family.  Evenings consist of hanging out with our 6 year old daughter and packing my breakfast/lunch for the next day.  8:00 PM put our daughter to sleep.  8:30 PM usually in bed to read for a few minutes (or seconds) and then it’s lights out.

On the weekends I’ll still get up early… maybe 5:30-6:00, so I can get in a run and spend the rest of the day hanging out around the house with the family.  Most weekends I’ll just run once per day.

RF: Do you work full or part-time while training? If so, what do you do? If not, what has kept you afloat while you pursue your dream?

MS: I work full time as a high school art teacher and cross country/track coach at Haslett High School.  I’ve been able to continue to train at full capacity with a lot of support.  My wife Theresa also enjoys running and is awesome.  She understands why I am so passionate about it and allows me to devote a good amount of time to running.  Since 2005 I have been blessed to have the support of Brooks Sports, Inc.  Representing Brooks has been a huge part of being able to continue with the sport after college.  I honestly would not be able to afford the shoes and gear.

RF: Who introduced you to the sport of running? And what about running do you think has kept you coming back for more?

MS: I was introduced to running through middle school track.  I was always into sports growing up and in 7th grade most of my friends were also running track.  Going in I thought it would be cool to be a hurdler, but I soon found that the distance events were where I could keep up.  Going into high school I was planning to play football, but my wrestling coach advised me that I was probably going to be way to small for high school football and that running xc would get me in shape for wrestling, which was my primary sport at the time.  Once I got into the cross country season as a 9th grader I fell in love with running and found that if I put more into the sport the more I got out of it.

The element of pushing myself to my limits is one of the main reasons I still love to run competitively.  I love training for races and then seeing what I can get out of myself on race day.  I tell the kids I coach that racing is like opening a present.  You just never truly know what you are going to get.  Some days will be okay, others it will be not so great, and then every now and then you will get this truly amazing gift.

Rapid Fire

RF: Sock or no socks?

MS: Sock (thinner the better) for trainers and racing flats.  No socks with spikes or in the shower.

RF: Breakfast the day of the race?

MS: Wake up 3 hours before race.  Instant coffee, milk, and sugar.  Bagel (preferably toasted) with a little peanut butter and honey.