An Interview with Colby Mehmen

I've been lucky enough to meet and interact with Colby on a regular basis and I'm excited to share this interview with everyone. He breaks the mold and lives life on his terms. He, along with Luke and Tyler are the Co-founders of Nomad Running Society. If you aren't following them Instagram, you should be. They're never too serious, but they are always motivating. I've been watching since the beginning, and while they have come along way, their content is soon to be next level. I look forward to working together with them more often in the near future.

Colby is one hell of a runner, and he's as humble as can be. Enjoy the interview.

So, Colby, how long have you been running? How did it all start for you?


I've been running for 14 years now, I started running when I was 9 years old. My Dad signed me up for summer track and then became my coach at the same time, it was really awesome having my Dad as a coach. My family was always super involved with my running, instead of vacations we took trips to track meets and other races. My love for the sport never went away and here we are 14 years later, my parents come to every race still and my Dad still try's to tell me when to warm up.

What are your PRs at different distances?


Mile - 4:24
3k - 8:27
5k - 14:24
10k - 29:34
15k - 45:33
HM - 1:05:15





You're clearly a really fast dude, give us an idea of what you're training is like in a typical week. (Don't try this at home)


I wouldn't say fast, but I work at a Running Specialty Store (RunOn!), so it hardly affects my training schedule what so ever, which is really nice. Sometimes I run during my lunch breaks, but at the earliest I go in at 10am and leave around 6-7PM. So I'm able to comfortably get both runs in around work and stuff my face with as much food as possible in between those times.


Typical Week of training right now is a 120 - 130 mile week.


MONDAY - Long Run
AM: 19 Miles Run ~ 6:20-30 pace
PM: 4 Miles Easy ~ 6:30 pace


TUESDAY - Short Tempo Day
AM: 4-5 Miles ~ 4:50 - 5:00 pace ( 10 Miles Total for the Morning)
PM: 5 Miles ~ 5:50 pace


WEDNESDAY - Recovery
AM: 11Miles @ 5:45-5:52
PM: 5 Miles @ 5:45-5:52


THURSDAY - Long Tempo Day
AM: 10 - 12 Miles at 5:02-5:10 pace usually ( 14 Miles Total for the Morning)
PM: 3 - 4 Miles @ 5:55-5:59


FRIDAY - Recovery
AM: 12 Miles @ 5:55
PM: 4 Miles @ 5:55


SATURDAY - Timed Mile Day
AM: Timed Mile + Mileage (total 14)
PM: 7 Miles ~ 6:30 pace


SUNDAY - Recovery
AM: 11 Miles @ 5:55
PM: 5 Miles @ 5:55






You have a long list of accolades and accomplishments as a runner, what would you say was your biggest moment?

My biggest moment so far has to be Dallas, just because of the stage it was on and the history the race has had with me. I grew up watching Logan Sherman and Scott Macpherson take Half titles young in their career. I've looked up to those guys forever so to kind of follow in their footsteps as a Dallas Local meant the world to me.

So there's a really awesome video covering one of your races at the Dallas ½ marathon and you run away with the race. You're interviewed later. I'll attempt to link it below. You were really close to hitting the USA Olympic marathon trials standard with that race. Was that something you were aiming for? It seemed so effortless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjhP4SZGVAw​

Yeah I was definitely aiming for the trials standard that day, 3 days before the race they changed the standard from 1:05:00 to 1:04:00. I ended up running 1:05:15 solo and on a not so forgiving course. I was really happy with the performance, I was in some amazing shape that race. The entire year leading up to that race I had everything going for me, training was going well, living arrangement was perfect, I was eating well and had no injuries.. a good performance was expected that day. For everything to come together that days was just amazing, winning the biggest race of my life in my home town. I've ran the Dallas Half many times and it was nice to put my name along side the banner of past winners.


What races do you have coming up?


So right now we are coming up on the BMW Dallas marathon (Dec 10th), this is a really important race for me. I definitely want to defend my title, but this year has been very different from last. As I said earlier looking back last years victory was nice, but everything was perfect. This year has been much different, I've been blessed (looking on the bright side) with injuries and adversity. Right after Dallas I was plagued with a string of injuries that tested my mental strength and showed me my faults. I thought what I was doing was enough to achieve my dreams and I learned I had to take a step back and become accountable for all my actions. This year I learned a lot about myself, and in some ways I've become a much better runners, and in others I'm still trying to get back to where I was. If I'm to go out and set a PR next Sunday then It's going to take everything I've learned this past year and especially these last couple of months and put them to use. I'm going to go out there, grit my teeth, and see who I am now. It's going to be real exciting.

So I'm really excited about Nomad Running Society. For the record; I've been watching from the beginning. Your content is so relevant and awesome. Would you care to tell the readers about that what you guys are doing?


So "Nomad" was kind of a idea I came up with in college. A lot of people don't know this but I had an entire year of eligibility left in college but I left the team my 5th year to train on my own, so that's where the concept Nomad came from. After pre-maturely going "post-collegiate" I contacted a few companies trying to market my self and hopefully land and extremely small contract sponsorship, I was thinking I could at least get my foot in the door and work my way up the. Some companies responded but no one went through with anything. So I decided to come up with my own "company"... Nomad.


So Nomad has a very broad reach, we have YouTube Channel which is where over a year ago I started posting workout videos, vlogs, and race day video with my friends. We got some good feedback and try really hard to put out quality content, but we aren't "YouTubers" we just do it because we have fun documenting our journey and we hope we inspire some young kids to go out and have as much fun with running as we do.


Nomads' other branch "Nomad Running Company", is in the developmental stage of creating running singlets, shorts and other apparel in the future. My Grandma taught me how to sew and she helps sew all of the singlets and shorts I race in. I made a promise to all my friends that I'll never sign a professional contract no matter where my career goes, I want to be "Nomad" until I die. I want to show some kids that you don't need all these flashy things to achieve your dreams, you can do it on your own.





I know Luke and Tyler are the other partners with you in Nomad. You guys seem like a really fun group! I'd love to interview them on this blog too. What is your relationship with them like?


Luke, Tyler and I go way back, we have all been friends and rivals since Jr.High, we all grew up about 30 minutes away from each other and through out high school would go meet and run together as much as we could. Having friends like them has been amazing, whether one of us had a bad run or going through personal problems we are always there for each other. I know running is a pretty lonely sport, but I think we can all agree we are very fortunate to have such a tight crew for as long as we have. And that's another thing we try to convey through Nomad is to find you a group where you can all help each other become better, and have a lot of fun while doing so.

You guys offer coaching now? Tell me about that. Where could potentially interested clientele contact you?


YEAH! Like I said Nomad has a very broad reach! we just launched our coaching service roughly 2 weeks ago. So we stumbled into this because I wanted to give back and help other runners better themselves, because in the end that's all running is about. Our members are given personal logins where they are able to access customized training schedules and communicate with their preferred coach. We have so many more ideas currently in the works to help athletes grow and become a part of the Nomad Community. We're open to coach all levels and have kept our prices as low as possible, I noticed a lot of people on social media charging rates upwards of $100-$500 for training plans and I just found that outrageous. That's a lot of money!! You can contact us through our website, I will provide a link below.


https://runnomad.com/coaching-application/


What are your big goals through 2020 if you don't mind sharing? I hear there's a pretty big race in 2020?


2020, I don't like to talk about my long term goals too much. But I think there is a big race going on that year, and I've been dreaming about said race since I was 9 years old. Other than that I plan on hitting up a lot of US championship races a long the way. My more immediate schedule is Dallas in December, Houston in January, and the NYC Half in March. The plan is to get the standard somewhere along that line up.