DFW Running Talk: Troy Castle
Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] All right. Welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel, and today's special guest is Troy Castle. Troy, how's it going?
Troy Castle: Doing well, Chris. It's good to connect. I appreciate you having me on.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. I'm just gonna have to say this because it's kinda funny, is we recorded this about a few days ago and the sound was completely off, and so we did the whole hour.
So I, ho- hopefully this goes really well.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. That was my technical difficulties apologies and apologies for that, but hopefully we can amend it this time.
Chris Detzel: We live and learn. Nobody's fault. That's just how technology is. Now, it's funny- Yeah ... because I was, I don't know if it was a month ago, a month and a half ago, I was running around the track and I saw you, and I think you knew me.
You're like, "Hey, Chris. How's it going?" And I asked a friend of mine, I was like, "Who was that?" "I think it, his name's Troy or something." And I was like, "Okay," like I- he knew me, or at least knew who I was and-
...
Chris Detzel: And then, so that was kinda interesting. So I didn't know but that, that, that happens.
And then I went to a run a couple week a week later, and it was funny because I saw I was running with [00:01:00] WRRC. I got there early. I saw a lot of s- the sloths there and some pegasus, and, they they're running. After the run, I was kinda looking for people I can get on the podcast and I s- and I was asking a couple people, I was like, "Who's the hardest working person here?
What would you say?" And they said, "Troy Castle." I said, "Hey, I know that guy. That's... I talked to him last week." So here we are on this podcast- Yeah ... and
Troy Castle: I appreciate
Chris Detzel: it. That's,
Troy Castle: That's pretty gracious of them to say that. I don't know if I'm the hardworking, hardest working guy in the group.
You got some hard workers out there. But yeah, what I lack in talent, I try to make up with work ethic, so that's that's kinda where I fit in there.
Chris Detzel: I don't know, man. We'll talk about that. I think there's some talent there, but I- Yeah ... I definitely agree that work ethic is key. And the last thing I'll say about this, when I was watching you run around the track, and I've seen you a couple times run around the track, dude, you're a buff dude, like muscular guy, and and seeing you run fast, you just, you were just killing it.
And I'm thinking, "Dude, this guy really does work hard." And so I wanna get into some of that, but before we do, tell me a little bit about you. Are, do you have kids? You know what, what does that look like and stuff?
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah, [00:02:00] absolutely. So I guess I'll just start from the beginning. So I was,
Chris Detzel: yeah-
Troy Castle: Born in California, San Francisco Bay Area, and lived there until I was about four.
And then when I was four, we packed up and moved to a little ski town in Sun Valley, Idaho. And so that was really the first memories I have of my childhood was, from the ages of four to 10 living in a ski town, and that was kinda where my- Sounds fun ... athletic pursuits began, was, like, ski racing and my dad picking me up from kindergarten.
We'd go ski, half day after we got out of school and stuff like that. So lived in Idaho from the ages of four to 10, and then we ended up moving to a small town outside of Seattle when I was going into fourth grade. So from fourth grade all the way through high school that was really the bulk of my childhood.
And so after high school, I graduated high school and moved down to Dallas in 2011 to go to- Yeah ... SMU. And so I was at SMU from 2011 to 2016. Actually I was there for five years. Met my wife there. She's from Brenham, Texas. Shout out Blue Bell Ice Cream. That's a staple in our house. I love Blue Bell.
And [00:03:00] we got married a couple year... Yeah, I love Blue Bell. Yeah, the Blue Bell Fun
Chris Detzel: Run. I try not to eat it too much. Yeah. I try not to eat it too much because, it ga- it gains the pound, but yeah.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel: Blue Bell Fun Run?
Troy Castle: The Blue Bell Fun Run, that's a a little plug for the Blue Bell Fun Run.
They have a half marathon every year, and it's... Gosh, it's a blast.
Chris Detzel: Oh,
Troy Castle: wow. And then you get to-
Chris Detzel: I didn't know
Troy Castle: that. Yeah, and then you get to go to the Blue Bell factory, and you get free ice cream and get a tour of the creamery and everything. It's pretty cool.
Chris Detzel: I
Troy Castle: love it. So anyway, we got married a couple years out of college, got our first jobs here in Dallas, and put down roots here.
And and, you blink and we've been here for 15 years now, which is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. And we have three beautiful kiddos. Our oldest is four, and then we have a two-and-a-half-year-old, and a 15-month-old. So- Wow ... pretty busy on the home front, so if you hear any screaming- Yeah ... in the background, it's totally fine, it's totally normal.
But apologies in advance if that's what
Chris Detzel: happens. That's just kids, yeah. It's it's super young. I love it. I mean- Yeah so I wanna go back, 'cause I already know some of the story, so I'm not gonna let you get away with not telling me about kinda your football career in high school.
Tell me about [00:04:00] high school first. I wa- I know that you did some stuff there. Yeah. And you didn't really... you're, you ran in football, but that was about it,
Troy Castle: sure. Sure. Yeah. So in high school my, my two I guess you could call them main sports were football and basketball, and then I also ran track in the off-season of football just to honestly train for football.
Yeah. And so from a track perspective, I was a sprinter. And so fortunately, Chris, when you saw me at the track, I was doing some of the shorter stuff, which is- Yeah ... a little bit more in my wheelhouse. If you would've seen me on, 1K or 1,600 meter repeats, I don't think you would've had the same opinion.
But anyway, yeah, played football in high school, and then that's wh- that was actually the connection to come down here to SMU. I came down here to play football at SMU for June Jones, who was head coach at- Yeah ... University of Hawaii for a number of years, and then had just taken the SMU job.
Chris Detzel: That's pretty cool.
You know- Yeah ... you hear this stuff in the news, but, I don't really, didn't know the team or anything, but I remember hearing that in the news, that he came from Hawaii and, coached at SMU,
Troy Castle: yeah. Yeah, and it was pretty cool. So I think he first came in 2008, so a few years before I got there.
Yeah. And the program was, [00:05:00] basically, you had to revitalize it from the dead. They got the death penalty way back in the late '80s- Yeah ... from, paying players and, which is funny now, thinking about the current landscape of college sports.
Chris Detzel: It's crazy.
Troy Castle: Or just ahead of the times, they just- ... they just saw the writing on the wall. No, but
Chris Detzel: it- I think a lot of coaches are paying players even before all this stuff, and-
Troy Castle: Exactly.
Chris Detzel: Yeah ... just getting a- away with... Anyways, that's another story.
Troy Castle: Yeah. And so SMU had a long history of just, from the late '80s all the way until really June Jones came here, just a very subpar- Yeah
program.
Chris Detzel: Yeah ...
Troy Castle: and June came in his second year, got them back to a bowl game for the first time in 25 years. Oh, nice. So my first year we went to the Birmingham Bowl which was really cool, and then we won that, and then my second year we went to the Hawaii Bowl, and so we got to go to Hawaii for a week, which was super, super cool.
And then we had a couple rough years there. Sure. Ended up having a new coaching staff my fifth year. Wow. Played for Chad Morris in his first season, which was a challenge just from a... I love him as a coach and the new- Yeah ... coaching staff that came in, and just as a fifth-year senior that it's just not always perfect timing.
And so I [00:06:00] didn't- Yeah ... end up having the greatest fifth year. But overall, SMU was an awesome experience. Met, some of my best friends there. Just the camaraderie and the brotherhood that you develop from, going through those seasons together. And then of course, my big win was meeting my wife there.
That was what made it such a success.
Chris Detzel: I think that's awesome. And, so something that al- I've always been told... So I went to college, all that stuff, but I didn't graduate college until I was 37. So I had- ... a way different kind of background than you did. But, something that I've always heard, and you tell me if it's true, is that some of the best connections that you'll ever have are just four or five year kind of college folks, if you at, especially at something like somewhere SMU or some school that, is a major school like that.
Would you say that you've connected bonds, whether it's a job or, those... You help somebody else. Does that, would you say that helps a lot? And we'll get into running in a minute, I promise.
Troy Castle: Yeah. No. I love talking about friendships and brotherhoods and that's ultimately what it's all about.
But yeah I I would definitely say that is true. I think the SMU connection- Yeah ... is very strong, particularly the DFW area.
Chris Detzel: 100%.
Troy Castle: And so if you do, if you are intentional and you do tap [00:07:00] into it, there, there's a lot of benefits that you can, that, that you can get from that. And then, of course, just from a pure friendship standpoint, the majority of my best friends are friendships that I developed in college.
If I think about-
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: Yeah ... the few-- the guys that were in my wedding, the majority of them were from my time at SMU. And so there, there's just a, I don't know, something about going through, being part of a team and going through trials and tribulations and also some successes together that just kinda galvanizes that relationship.
Yeah. And so you're just-- you're kinda bonded for life from it.
Chris Detzel: I love that, man. And I've got friends, say, that I went to college with that I still talk to, not as much, but it's just... it's a special experience when you hear people talk about that thanks for sharing that.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah.
Chris Detzel: So you did some football.
You were quarterback, by the way in high school, and then you were a s- Wait, is it a safety in college? Safety,
Troy Castle: yeah. Safety
Chris Detzel: at SMU. Okay, so essentially-
Troy Castle: yeah.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. So that's k- quite the difference from offense to defense, but we won't talk about that too much anymore. Yeah. 'Cause you didn't do any running, was kinda my k- thought was you didn't really do any long-distance running in high school or college, but [00:08:00] you did do pretty hardcore sports.
Football is not, easy to train for, especially in college. Yeah. It probably goes well with, unless you get injured with any other sport that you wanna do in the future. But, so how did you get into running? What-- when did you start that?
Was it after college or-
Troy Castle: Yeah. Y- honestly, my favorite part about football was the off-season training. That, that- Yeah ... is what I just absolutely loved, was, being in the weight room and, running bleachers or sprints or whatever it was. I loved that aspect of the sport and the training aspect, and so when I graduated college, I was really looking for the next thing to train for, just to keep, keep myself disciplined and grounded and honestly just something to strive towards.
Yeah. And so I have a, an older brother who had raced professional triathlon for a while, and I was always intrigued by his journey and his training and would follow his races and stuff like that. At the time, it was just something that I enjoyed following. But after college, I was like, "Man I would like to kinda dip my toe into the endurance world," purely because of the training aspect.
And so I was like, "Okay I'm gonna sign up for a marathon." And [00:09:00] that was the first thing I did. So I graduated with a ma- undergrad 2015, master's 2016, and then signed up for the Dallas Marathon in December of 2016. I had no clue at all what I was doing. Didn't have a training plan, no nutrition plan.
I was just trying to run a lot. That's
Chris Detzel: normal. That's what most people do.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah it was normal, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way, as you can imagine.
Chris Detzel: Yeah
Troy Castle: had a
Chris Detzel: Now, did your wife at the time, or she was your girlfriend at the time?
Troy Castle: She was, at that time, she was my girlfriend. We got engaged in 2018.
Okay And then married
Chris Detzel: in 2020. Did did she know about running then, or what was... And did she tell you're dumb, or what, what- Yeah ... what was going on there?
Troy Castle: Yeah. So I should probably mention, my, my wife is a far better athlete than I ever was or ever will be and I truly mean that. But just a quick aside, a quick story- Yeah
about her. So I was in line at Smoothie King when I was in college. I think I was a sophomore. We had just started dating. And I was just scrolling through Twitter, funny enough, and I saw SMU Athletics put out a tweet that said, [00:10:00] "Caroline Young was named AVCA All-American volleyball player." And I was like I was shock- I was like, "Oh, my goodness," "I didn't know this."
Yeah. And I screenshotted it and sent it to her. I was like, "Oh, my gosh, you're an All-Amer- I can't belie- I'm so excited for you. I'm so proud of you," like all these things. Yeah, it was awesome. And she was like, "That's so cool," "Thanks for sharing."
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: And then five minutes later into the conversation, I was like, "Wait a minute, did you already know that?"
And she was like, "Yeah, I found out last week." And I was like, "And you didn't tell me?" I'm over here just grateful to have a spot on the bus on my team, and you're over here being-
Chris Detzel: Like-
Troy Castle: So humble ...
Chris Detzel: humble, i'd have- Yeah ... been like, "You know what I did?" Yeah. "Oh, my gosh, I was All-American.
That's amazing. I killed everybody."
Troy Castle: That's how I felt for her, and she was just- Yeah, exactly ... she was so humble about it. It's honestly one of my favorite qualities about her is she's just so incredibly humble. But, so anyway, long story short-
Chris Detzel: I love that story.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Thank
Chris Detzel: you for sharing. That was awesome.
Troy Castle: Yeah. She's she's pretty incredible. So long story short, she's a far better athlete than I ever was. She got into, just in volleyball and training she did a lot of running. Not, I wouldn't say distance running, nothing longer than like a 10K, but she always [00:11:00] loved the cardio part of the training.
And so after college, she just kept the running going. And so she, I can't re- I think she did the half marathon actually when I ran the full- Okay ... that year in 2016. So it was something we, we trained for, and she's gone on to do, a couple full marathons. She's done an Ironman, a half Ironman.
So she gets the training aspect of it and so she understands where I'm coming from that perspective. So
Chris Detzel: you were both new at the running piece when you ran the marathon and she just ran the half. Was that her first too, or?
Troy Castle: That was her first half. Yeah. It was her- Okay
first half. She did a lot better than I did on the full. But that's no surprise. If you know her the caliber of athlete- Yeah ... that she is, that would not surprise you. So anyway, I had some high hopes of breaking four hours in my first marathon. Did not come close. Came through the halfway point, I think at right at 1:45 or something like that.
And then I had a- That's pretty good ... I think I had a 3 hour and 10 minute back half.
Chris Detzel: What?
Troy Castle: Had some cramps and no nutrition plan and- you
Chris Detzel: must have walked for the next three hours.
Troy Castle: No, I was lucky to finish. And,
Chris Detzel: Geez ...
Troy Castle: and yeah, I, it was definitely one of the most humbling [00:12:00] experiences of my life, and I also swore, "Okay I'm one and done.
I'll never do another one. I did it. I checked that box," and,
Chris Detzel: Five hours
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah, five hours of misery, and then I couldn't walk for a week. I truly couldn't go down the stairs. It's pretty embarrassing. But-
Chris Detzel: So Troy, quickly, because I know- Yeah ... exactly how you feel because I remember one year, it was, I don't know, 2018 or '17, I don't know, '16 maybe, where it was, like, 70 degrees Dallas.
So I was supposed to run the Dallas Marathon, and I did. And when I ran it, my f- I was thinking I was gonna get a 3:20. And but, it's 70 degrees. I was running with the 3:20 group thinking, I was gonna hit a 3:20, and I started off with 1:40, but, mile 14, 15, I knew I wasn't... And then when I got to mile 20, I was just dying, right?
Yeah. It took me, two hours and 20 minutes almost, so I ran a little faster than you did on your first, like a 3:59.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: But I would say those last seven or eight miles were just brutal. I just- Yeah ... because I ran so poorly and made a terrible decision about, going out way too fast, I should have probably [00:13:00] started out at, 1:45, 1:50 at that time.
But point is I know w- you know the pain you were feeling, I'm sure. Yeah. And that's... I never did a marathon after that again. I was like- Yeah ... "No, I don't wanna do that
Troy Castle: again." It, yeah it was a different kind of pain than I had ever experienced, that's for sure.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: So yeah, I'm I'm glad somebody can relate to me 'cause it was, you had a much better day, like you said than I did, but yeah, it was it was something where I was like, "I'm never gonna do another one."
Chris Detzel: But you did, so-
Troy Castle: But I did. I did ... so good. So far So from there I just, I, after I, finally when the soreness left my legs about, I don't know, two weeks later, I was bit-
by the endurance bug, and I was like, "Okay what do I wanna do next? What is the next thing I wanna train for?" Yeah. And and so in just typical Troy fashion I signed up for an Ironman and didn't even have a bike at the time. And so I, I've kinda, I- Yeah ... I've always done stuff like that where I'm like, "Hey, I wanna do something," and I commit to it- Gotta make it do it
without having a plan, and kinda work- Yeah ... backwards from there.
Chris Detzel: That's funny.
Troy Castle: I don't know if I knew what all was involved in doing that. How much- I signed up for Ironman Cozumel in November of [00:14:00] 2017.
Chris Detzel: All the stuff that you have to ship over there, and you've never done it. Anyway, just keep telling me about
Troy Castle: that story.
I'm not- had no idea what I was doing again. And it... So I went to the local triathlon store and, bought a bike. And then I started to learn a little bit about how to train, in, in particular on the bike. I think that was kinda my focus- Yeah ... because it's such a big part of your day.
And then all the bike training, I think, translated to the run. And so f- throughout 2018 and 2019, I did, I think, two or three Ironmans.
Chris Detzel: Okay.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: We'll get to that. T- I wanna know about... i'll I'm always interested in kinda the first. So you did your first- Okay ... Ironman.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: And tell me what that was like.
Not just the race, but you had to go buy a bike- ... because you never had a bike, right? Yeah. Obviously you know how to ride a bike, but So was it the right bike? Did you do some research on that bike? And then as you thought about the swimming piece, and you did some running, so you kinda knew what that was about.
But this is a lot to train for. How'd you train, and then what was the race like when you went there? Did your first- Yeah ... shipping everything, all that stuff over to Cozumel. Yeah, what is that? Like-
Troy Castle: Yeah ...
Chris Detzel: a lot of learnings in that one.
Troy Castle: [00:15:00] It was a steep learning curve, for sure.
Yeah. So I, I did get a triathlon bike with the aerobars- Okay ... and stuff like that. So it was a s- a bike specific to triathlon, which was a huge help. And then I got a bike trainer, which, you hook your bike- Oh, yeah. Yeah ... up to a bike trainer, you do a lot of indoor cycling. And so from there I used an indoor cycling ride app that had a lot of good training plans on it that I just followed and just-
Chris Detzel: Okay
Troy Castle: Google researched and things like that. Fortunately for me, my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, was an all-state swimmer in high school, and so she was able to coach. That's no surprise. Of course, no surprise. She coached me up on the swim, which was great. Was a terrible swimmer, still am a terrible swimmer, but she at least gave me some tips and some pointers.
And then a lot of it was just volume, just time in the saddle on the bike.
Chris Detzel: Keep doing it.
Troy Castle: Just a ton of zone two work, and just gradually building that, that diesel engine,
Chris Detzel: the guy that just loves training.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah, that was, that-- I think that was where the, the love for the training really, got taken to a new level, was just those long days like that.
I really did enjoy that. So anyway, that, that was the process. As far as the logistics of the race, [00:16:00] I, borrowed a, I started reaching out to people I knew who had done one, just to get tips and stuff like that. Yeah. One of the guys I knew had a bike bag that he let me borrow, so I flew with my bike.
And anyway, I, it was a steep learning curve. I wouldn't recommend it. I would probably, if I could go back, have stuff a little bit more hashed out. But I don't know part of it- Maybe
Chris Detzel: do one in Houston or something, drive over there.
Troy Castle: Yeah. I did end up doing The Woodlands, but yeah.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: I wa- that-- I, when I wanted to sign up for one, they were all sold out, 'cause they sell out- Wow ... several- Yeah ... months in advance, and I was like I wanna do
Chris Detzel: one." But it is Cozumel,
Troy Castle: so Cozumel never sells out, if that's a s- that's a secret. They'll take, anybody that wants to come, and you can sign up for it a month in advance.
It's
Chris Detzel: a nice place to go,
Troy Castle: and it was a fun place to go. It was like a mini vacation for four days and... So anyway, it was it was a lot of fun. The race went better than the marathon in Dallas did,
Chris Detzel: really?
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: Did you run a faster marathon on that one?
Troy Castle: About the same. About the same, actually.
Chris Detzel: Really? It's still five hours. Okay. Yeah.
Troy Castle: Off with the bike, so which is good.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. Which was good. That long, eh? So you knew you could probably do better on a marathon, I'm sure, But you did a bunch of Ironmans and things after. Not-- You didn't really do the [00:17:00] marathon, or did you do some marathons in between?
Troy Castle: Yeah. S- so all of 2017, 2018 was just triathlon
Chris Detzel: Okay ...
Troy Castle: and then most of 2019 as well. And then in two thou- in December of 2019, I ran Dallas again, and that was the first time I did an actual training block to try to break three. So I had, I don't know, two and a half, three years of a lot of triathlon training under my belt and just had s- more of an endurance base when I started that build.
And- Yeah ... I think I just bought a $50 McMillan training plan online. I was like, "Okay I need to follow some level of specific training and some level of specific-" so
Chris Detzel: Stop you because-
Troy Castle: Yeah ...
Chris Detzel: you just mentioned, "I'm gonna try to go break three." So-
Troy Castle: Yes ...
Chris Detzel: tell me like the logic or, like- Oh, sure.
did you get that much better, in between the two, two years, I assume? Yeah. Because-
Troy Castle: Yeah, that's... Yeah, it, it- From
Chris Detzel: five hours to three hours, that's
Troy Castle: like- Good call-out. Yeah, that's a good call-out. No, I think just in some of my... just with training for Ironmans, you do a lot of long runs as well.
Your run volume's not nearly as high as if you're just, if you're just doing the running, but you'll still do, several 20-mile runs and things like [00:18:00] that. For sure. And there was a handful of twen- 20-mile runs where I was running, my pace was low sevens and stuff like that. So I felt like i- if I could- Okay
focus on the block, like I, I could get there.
Chris Detzel: Okay.
Troy Castle: It still, it still felt like a pretty lofty goal, but I was like- 100% ... "I'm gonna just, I'm just gonna do a run block and see how that goes." And like I said, bought a $50 McMillan training plan online and followed that, which was great 'cause it was the first time I had specificity in run training- Yeah
in particular. And I think it was like a 12-week plan. So ran Dallas in December 2019 and broke three hours and then so that was cool. That
Chris Detzel: was- That's amazing, dude. Yeah, it was fun.
Troy Castle: What
Chris Detzel: was your previous time bef- like, fastest time before the three hours?
Troy Castle: Yeah. It was 4:20 maybe, 4:15.
Chris Detzel: I'll be quite h- I know, I understand what... Okay. So I understand that you, and maybe obviously you know yourself better than anybody else. And just- Sure ... tell me through the logic of, "Hey I've run, the fastest I've ever run a marathon is 4:37." In most cases, people don't think that they're gonna go, not at that point, right?
They think they're probably- Sure ... maybe [00:19:00] can get 10 minutes or 20 minutes of that, that'd be huge. Or, I've even seen 40 or 50 minutes, i- Yeah. Fair enough, but you knew or had an idea. Most people aren't gonna think, "I'm gonna go try to break three hours, and after, at best, I've run a few marathons, and they, I know they've been Ironmans, so maybe you can kick 30 or 40 minutes.
But this is over an hour and 20 or 30 minutes.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: What- Yeah. What made you think that you could do under three hours? I'm still- Yeah.
Troy Castle: I guess my thought was that I hadn't run, actually run a full marathon, like actually- Okay ... raced a full marathon. Yeah. And actually, I take that back.
I think I did run like a like a 3:40 in Ironman Texas in 2018- Okay.
Chris Detzel: Okay. That makes
Troy Castle: more sense ... somewhere around there. I'd have to go back and look, but it was- yeah ... it was in the mid-threes somewhere. And just I was getting a lot stronger on the bike through all the indoor bike training I was doing.
I was- Yeah ... biking 200 miles a week or so, and that, that does translate to the run pretty significantly. 100%. A- and so I was feeling like, okay, if I do a true run block that I just- 50K run ... wanna see where it goes. And to be totally transparent, I did not think I was gonna break 3:00, but I [00:20:00] did wanna put, get a benchmark out there of where I was gonna be at.
Chris Detzel: The goal.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. And a true truly race a marathon. I had raced a we had, I had run Dallas full, I think in 2018 with my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, and I just ran it with her the whole time. That was, I just wanted to, to pace, pace her. Yeah. And it was awesome, but I hadn't actually run a full distance marathon in quite s- quite some time.
So-
Chris Detzel: Okay ...
Troy Castle: anyway, that was the- That
Chris Detzel: helps ...
Troy Castle: that's, that was the reasoning. I don't know if that- Yeah ... made sense, but that was what I- No, it does ...
Chris Detzel: had. What it so no, that's helpful. I just, I've, I don't think I've ever, I've heard of people, huge gains, so it's not that's, it's c- it was just unbelievable to think- that I had a go-- you had a goal, the best marathon you've ever ran was a 4:30, but obviously it was a 3:40 something.
Yeah, it
Troy Castle: was quicker
Chris Detzel: than
Troy Castle: that I
Chris Detzel: think. But, and that's doing a triathlon or Ironman or whatever. So that makes a little bit more sense. But you also know yourself. If you put forth some of that effort, you were a college, first-string college football player. You have some talent, believe it or not.
I understand that you're a hard worker, I get that, but you obviously [00:21:00] have some talent to be able to play on, at a school like that. To me it just, it makes sense, but it's- Yeah ... it's you can see it, the competition or the competitor inside you, wanting to hit these goals, right?
And- Yeah ... and that's what I was trying to get at, is you're a very competitive person, obviously. Sure. And you like to train, you like to grind. You re- you remind me of a, I don't know if you remember this guy, Jason Witt from the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, I love him. Yeah, I love him. Just a
Troy Castle: grinder, and a fisherman guy.
Yeah. But- Just the secrets in the dirt ... that, that's, you know- Yeah. That's what he always said. But- "The secret's in the dirt," and I love that.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. That, that's the kind of person I think of as grinding, doing the work and just, maybe he was talented, but he's also just, just dirty man, just- Totally ... gets out there and does the work. Anyways, so okay, great. You-- S- so before we get to this, I wa- I wanna s- say this as I know that you've gone down to a 2:34 marathon, and that's where we're gonna get to, because you are very talented and but it's always putting in the work.
But let's talk a little bit about now, you ran that marathon, and how'd you feel and what was that like, when you hit that under two hours and hit that?
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. [00:22:00] I appreciate you saying that about me being talented. I don't know if I truthfully feel that. I think that any- Of course, but-
race result is gonna, be a reflection of just consistency and build and things like that. I think that race results are rewarded by consistency. And so after the race, I was pretty pumped I'm not gonna lie. I wanted to break three and qualify for Boston, and I went 2:49, and I felt great.
Great. So I was like, "Oh, this is so cool. We get to go to Boston." Again, that's December 2019, and then 2020 rolls around and the world shuts down.
Chris Detzel: That's right
Troy Castle: All races were canceled for the, the the entirety of 2020, and it felt like there was, no end in sight. And so that whole year, I really became best friends with my bike trainer.
I was just biking and we were-- we got married in 2019, so my wife and I were, riding our trainers in our one-bedroom apartment and running on the Katy Trail every day, and it was like, it was so much fun from that perspective, but that was like, it was just training nonstop. That's all we could do.
Yeah. [00:23:00] A- and I al- I always joke that I put 10,000 miles on my bike in the mo- in the year of 2020 and 5,000 miles- Dang ... on my truck. And so I think that-
Chris Detzel: Yeah, exactly.
Troy Castle: Yeah, I think that was that was probably if you-- if I were to look back on it, 2020 was the year where I really built on some of my endurance base and just, was training nonstop 'cause that's, that was, all you could- That's all you could
Chris Detzel: do
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: So that was the majority of 2020, and in 2021, April, I believe, the Irving Marathon w- happened. Yeah. And so I signed up for it, and I was so excited, and that was the first time I had raced since Dallas, December 2019. And so I just, I went out super hot and and hung on as best as I could and and ran a 2:40.
And so I was like, "Sweet, this is... I think I kinda wanna pursue-" You placed- That year I won it, which was super cool
Chris Detzel: Wow.
Troy Castle: Yeah. And yeah, then from there that, I was like, "Man maybe the running is what I should pursue." And later that year did Boston for the first time in October.
Yeah. Did New York in November. All right. So
Chris Detzel: I'm [00:24:00] sorry, but I have to let- I am really warm ... I can't let you go on this- I'm sorry. You gotta slow me
Troy Castle: down.
Chris Detzel: No. This is good. This is, and this is exactly... But you just won first place in a race. How far was the other person from you, and what was that like, as you kinda went through the process?
Were you, when you got to the line, were you... look, you're in the best shape you've ever been because of COVID, so you were raring to go I'm sure. What was the competition like? Were you i'm curious because I love listening to first place folks, and I wanna listen to what you were thinking and what you were doing as you get on that line and then started maybe mile one to five if you remember.
Yeah, think
Troy Castle: about that. Yeah. I'd have to think back about what I was thinking. I w- I went out hot, which I'm n- very well known for doing. I don't- Yeah ... I don't ever negative split like you're supposed to.
Chris Detzel: Exactly ... keeping
Troy Castle: it positive. That's
Chris Detzel: the same way sometimes.
Troy Castle: Yeah, which I've heard is not the right way to race a marathon, so that's gonna be something I focus on.
But I went out hot. And actually, to answer your question, I won by seven or eight seconds. The guy that came in second ran the race you're supposed to and was evenly split throughout. And we're still friends on Strava today. We still are in [00:25:00] communication and whatnot, but yeah, he, i- if he had another 400 meters, he probably would've caught me to be
Chris Detzel: honest.
Did you know he was right behind you?
Troy Castle: I did. Yeah, I did. I turned around and I saw him, and he was gaining ground pretty quickly, and I could see the finish line around the corner. I took a peek over my shoulder and, hit the finisher chute. And again, like I said, if he had 400 meters, he would've got me.
But it was kinda hard at the start 'cause it was like, half the people are running the half, and half the people are running the full. Yeah. And you don't really know who's who and who you're running in with a bunch. So I wasn't in the lead for the first lap, and then- Yeah ... when we came through the halfway point, I was like, "Oh my gosh I'm in the-
Chris Detzel: Nobody's here
Troy Castle: I've never had this happen, ever." Yeah. So I was like, "I don't know what to do. Let me just make sure I don't blow this lead," and I almost did. So that's, just my experience, but yeah, it was pretty
Chris Detzel: fun. Did you... So let's hit the high release then. Go back to whenever he was right behind you and you thought he might catch you.
Were you like, "I've gotta win this. I'm doing everything"? W- tell me about that, the last 400 or whatever.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah, I was scared to death he was gonna catch me because I was fading really bad, and he was the [00:26:00] opposite. And
Chris Detzel: yeah
Troy Castle: And I was like, "Please just get to the finish line," so I got lucky, I'll just say that.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. That must have felt good. To win a race like that's pretty awesome.
Troy Castle: It was cool. Yeah, it w- it was super cool. It was definitely something I never thought I would do,
Chris Detzel: didn't you tell me you won that race twice?
Troy Castle: I did, yeah. So then I went back in 2023 was the second year I-
Okay
Troy Castle: I won it. I think I ran a 243 that year, so I was a little bit slower.
Chris Detzel: A little
Troy Castle: slower. It was a little bit hot, a little more, a little hotter that year, and that was, like, the first... 'Cause April is still, you never know with the weather and and that was, like, the first spring day where it was, like, really hot.
And so the second half, I just, I melted. I was, 'cause the hot weather's not really my friend, but-
Chris Detzel: Obviously everybody else did, too.
Troy Castle: Yes. Fortunately, it was true for everyone else, so I had enough of a lead that I hung on. But that was also a very b- very big positive split day.
Chris Detzel: Did you go into that one thinking you were gonna win it?
Or
Troy Castle: hope, you always hope so, but you just- Yeah ... you never know who's gonna be toeing the line. DFW in general has so many fast people. The [00:27:00] breadth of the running community, I feel like has just grown exponentially in terms of the talent pool. So you never know. But I was hopeful to at least be in the mix, and I got lucky again.
So those are the only two races- Man, like- ... I've won was Erie twice ...
Chris Detzel: I think that's awesome. And, a little story is, so there's this race called, I think it's Me Casino Race. It's a 5K. And there's a lot of fast people there. The first year we did it, my wife and I went to run it, and there was, I don't know, 3,000 or 4,000 people, and there's 1,000 women, right?
And literally 1,000 women, and my wife won it, the first place. She got first place.
Troy Castle: Wow.
Chris Detzel: 5K, right? And so we're both runners, just so you know we- Yeah ... we've been running a long time. She's been running way more and longer. But she's I was just, I..." So somebody didn't show. I was like, "Leah, you were the fastest that day.
That's who showed up. You, and everybody else was slower than you." I mean- Totally ... it's rare that you win a race, which is awesome if you do, but, give yourself some credit. You showed up- Sure ... and you won. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like-
Troy Castle: Yeah ...
Chris Detzel: yeah, there's people who are always faster, always.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: Like- ... you were the fastest that day at that race. [00:28:00] Yeah.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: That's a good perspective. You have to own it, to some degree, right? Yeah. And that's what I tell her.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: I get it. Yes, there's if I go to this one race, there's, n- nowadays I try to win my age group if possible, but- Yeah
If these three or four guys are there, I'm not gonna win. Yeah. I'll get fourth place or whatever. Exactly. But-
Troy Castle: Exactly ...
Chris Detzel: if they're not, and at some of these 5Ks or even halves or whatever, I get a chance to win my age group or- Yeah ... top two or three, and so it's just a matter of who shows up, that's really it.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Totally. 100%. That's a good perspective. Yeah. That, that, that is so true. You can only race who's toeing the line on that given day, so yeah. Exactly. I was fortunate enough to have it happen.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. That's... I love the story. So now I know for a fact, or you told me that, when we talked before, was, you didn't really run with a l- a lot of different people in the past, but something changed. Can you go through that process of, when you started running with groups and maybe how that might have changed some things?
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So I guess- I- if I go back to, let's see, 2023. 2023, I was training for Ironman [00:29:00] Kona, and I was on a long training ride, b- solo training ride in Dallas called the South Loop.
You might be familiar with it, but it's a pretty common long ride loop that people will ride on the weekends. And I was just by myself, and I ran into these two guys that were on triathlon bikes that were just absolutely ripping on the bikes. And I caught up to them. Unfortunately, they hit a stoplight, 'cause otherwise I would not have caught them.
They hit a red light, and I was, I w- I caught up to them at the red light and and I just said, "Hey," introduced myself, and I was like, "What are you guys training for?" 'Cause clearly they were training for a triathlon. And one of the guys said he was training for Kona, and I was like, "Oh, cool me too."
And his name was Greg Dun- or his name is Greg Dundas. And so that was the start of our friendship, was like we just met on a training ride, and Greg's a good buddy of mine now. And we ended up training together a few times throughout our build to Kona and then in some other triathlons after that.
But that was my first introduction, into group training. And then he kinda he went... He continued to do triathlon, and then he's a really talented mountain bike racer as well, and so he was doing some off-road dirt stuff. But he's a runner. He's a really strong [00:30:00] runner, and he had connected with Dr.
Matt Campbell on Somewhere. I don't remember how. And Matt invited him out to a sloth run and Greg had gone and said it was really cool. He told me about it and and looped me in and said, "Hey, they're doing, a track day at Germany Park if you wanna come." And so I joined him. We went over there, and that was, like, kinda my first exposure to the Completely Sloth Running Club.
And,
Chris Detzel: Cool.
Troy Castle: Yeah, so then I, Greg added me to the WhatsApp, and that's kinda how I got plugged in with them, and I'm super, super glad that I did 'cause it, it's given me a renewed, revitalized training encouragement. It's so much more fun training with a community, and so I'm- Super, super grateful to, to be able to run with them.
Chris Detzel: Do you run with them two or three times a week? Is that... Or-
Troy Castle: Yeah, I t- I try to. I try to run a couple days a week, certainly on the workout days, Tuesday- Yeah ... track days or whatever it may be, and then sometimes Wednesdays, Thursdays as well. Thursdays is th- they do a lot of stuff at Star Kn- or Starbucks on Knox with the Pegasus crew- Yeah
and which is a really fun run as well, and then long runs on the weekend. As much as I can, [00:31:00] truthfully, with, coordinating schedules with, our kids and making sure my wife still gets time to work out and things like that. So as much as I can, I try to. Two to three times a week is my typical cadence, I'd say.
Chris Detzel: So a sidebar, I would love to know a little bit about, 'cause a lot of people have this opportunity where they're, they exercise, their spouse exercises, and they have small kids, kinda like you do. How do you manage that? What does that look like?
Troy Castle: Yeah, it's a g- it's a great question.
Honestly, that's the reason I'm no longer doing triathlon is the time commitment. Exactly. That's, that's- Yeah ... probably the most honest answer I could give you is the time commitment on triathlon- That's fair ... is 15 to 20 hours a week, and I just don't have that- Yeah ... in my margin anymore. And so the way the kind of the cadence that, that my wife and I have worked out is we both try to commit to getting a workout in the morning.
One of us will take a super early shift, starting at, 4:45 to 5:00 AM, and the other one will get to start at 6:30 or 7:00. Yeah. And, give each other each an hour and a half to each other, and it just... Yeah, I think it makes both of our days go better. I, we have a personal- Right
rule in our house of sweat before screens, so sweat, break a sweat before you sit down- Okay ... in front of a screen, and it just-
Chris Detzel: [00:32:00] Yeah ... I
Troy Castle: find the days that I don't do that, it's, work doesn't go as well, and I'm not as mentally sharp, and- Same ... not, not in as great a mood.
Anyway, so that's- Yeah ... that's how we've worked it out. She likes to work out just as much as I do, and so we just, we coordinated it accordingly.
Chris Detzel: Love it. I think, it's gotta be a true partnership, and- Yeah ... i've had several people on that, can describe something similar.
Sometimes, they pick different days during the week to do different things, or one does the afternoon or whatever, but, you've gotta, you gotta strike that balance and I love that, exercise is a big thing in your family, sounds like. Yeah. And, you're gonna be able to teach your kids some amazing, habits, that are- Yeah
good for you.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: I love that.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: And I think that's important.
Troy Castle: For sure.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. All right. Let's get back to your marathon. So all right. You won a couple marathons. You started running with Sauce. Is that when you ran your 2:34? Where was that and then what do you think changed from a training standpoint?
That's pretty fast.
Troy Castle: Yeah. I ran 2:34 in Berlin in September of '24. And then I didn't start running with the Sauce [00:33:00] until July or August of '25, so about a year now was the first time I got back- Okay.
Chris Detzel: So group didn't help you yet.
Troy Castle: Well- I hadn't run with them yet at that point. I was still solo running for the most part, or running with Greg- That's amazing
yeah, when- Yeah ... whenever we could coordinate runs as well. Honestly, I think what clicked is every training block, I think you get stronger. You start from a higher base- Yeah ... and so you're building upon, even when you fall out of shape a little bit after a marathon build, which you should do and give your time- 100%
give your body time to recover and rest, the starting point is a little bit higher than it was before, from all- Yeah ... the miles that you had banked in that training block. And I think it just had, it had compounded for me, and then I was really fortunate to have a great weather day when we were there in Berlin.
It's a, it's a- Oh ... flat, fast course with great services. I had just trained through the Texas heat all summer, to get to a race in September, and it was like 52 degrees at the start. It, it was-- it couldn't have been more, more perfect. So I think I just, it all lined up for me to have a good day, [00:34:00] and then I found a good pack that I tucked in with and ran the majority of the race in.
And yeah it worked out. I was fortunate.
Chris Detzel: That's awesome. And so as you look forward from, what is your goal and what are, what's coming up for you?
Troy Castle: Yeah. So next races on the calendar for me are Chicago in October. I've raced it twice. I've had tough days there both years, raced it '24 and 25.
So I'm hoping to have a better
Chris Detzel: race. You must really like it. You're going there a third time.
Troy Castle: It's a fun race and we actually li- we really like the city, too. We have a good time. Yeah. It's I think anytime you get to partake in a major, it's pretty special, and it's by far- Yeah
the easiest one to get to for us. It's like a two-hour- ... flight and you're there, and it's easy, and, you don't need to rent a car or anything while you're there. It's- Yeah ... I, we just really like doing it. And it is a fast course. I, even though, my experience hasn't been great there yet, I'm still hopeful that I can have a good race there.
So go there in October, and then the Dallas Half in December, and then Houston in January. So I'm excited about Houston. I've been wanting to do Houston for a while. I haven't ever been able to align it with our schedule, but this year I'm doing it, so I'm pretty [00:35:00] excited for that.
So-
Chris Detzel: Do you think Ch- Go ahead, sorry.
Troy Castle: No. Go ahead.
Chris Detzel: No, do you think Chicago-- I know you told me once before it was hot one, one year and things like that, but- do you th- feel like right now you're in the best shape you've ever been, or do you feel like you've still got a little bit of ways to go to get to that?
Troy Castle: Yeah I would say I definitely still have a ways to go. I still need-- I've learned just from running with the Slaus trying to be a sponge and absorb all the knowledge from the group, 'cause there's so many experienced and gifted runners there. The men and especially the women, they're all incredible.
Yeah. And I just like honestly try to listen to what they say and then copy what they do in my training. And from a marathon perspective the secret is, increase your mileage and get a lot of threshold work in. Yeah. And so I'm still, building up my mileage right now, trying to do it smart, not prevent any sort of injury, and then work in any threshold work as I can.
Like I said a little bit earlier, the hot weather is a challenge for me. It's tough. So it's yeah, it takes a toll on me. But, so I'm hoping by September I feel a little bit better about it, but I'm definitely still in the building phase right now, which is okay 'cause I, still have some [00:36:00] time.
Chris Detzel: Yeah. It'll be interesting to kinda talk to you, closer to the time just to see-
Troy Castle: Sure ...
Chris Detzel: kinda where your mind is. 'Cause I think that for somebody like you that is, in really good shape and, I understand that you feel like you have some, a little bit to go, sometimes you can get in your own head, and we all do, right? I've seen it. It doesn't matter how fast someone is , that doesn't matter. We're all human. And, but I think when you gain that confidence is gonna be kinda when you get past that. What did, what is your goal, like a 2:30, under 2:30, right? Yeah, I would
Troy Castle: love some-- my long-term goal would be to break 2:30.
Chris Detzel: You're there almost, I mean-
Troy Castle: That, that'd be like a, maybe a retirement goal for me. That'd be like retiring after winning the Super Bowl.
Chris Detzel: I'm done. I'm never gonna do it again. See you later
Troy Castle: Yeah. I'm gonna
Chris Detzel: do half marathons now.
Troy Castle: Yeah, exactly. That might be my, my, my sign-off. But there's, man, there's so many in the sloth group.
There's 10- Yeah ... I can think of off the top of my head that are capable of doing it on any given day. There's at least six- 100% ... at least five or six I can think of that have already done it and gone low [00:37:00] 2.20s. Yeah. And yeah, there's a handful, five or six that I would say are on the cusp, and several of them are running Houston, so I'm excited about that, to, to join with them.
And
Chris Detzel: maybe that's the opportunity, maybe Chicago is, but also Houston is a great opportunity as well. Yeah.
Troy Castle: Yeah.
Chris Detzel: So you mentioned, or maybe you didn't mention this, but you did mention to me last time we spoke, was about a half marathon, that you don't really run half marathons much, but you're gonna do the half marathon in Dallas.
What is that like for you, since you don't really do many?
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. I again, going back to being a sponge with people that are far more experienced and knowledgeable about the sport than me I've learned through them that if you can get your half marathon time down as, as quickly, as fast as possible, it's generally gonna translate to a quicker marathon.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: So I was like maybe I should do that. Maybe I should focus on a little bit shorter stuff and try to get some foot turnover and some speed work." Of course, a half marathon is, it's not like it's a 5K, of course, but-
Chris Detzel: Yeah. Still hard, but yeah.
Troy Castle: Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna run that. I, and I don't know, goal-wise I I, I think I told you I've only run, I think, three half marathons.
Chris Detzel: Yeah.
Troy Castle: Maybe [00:38:00] four. I've run Blue Bell Fun Run is a half marathon. I've run that twice. And then Cowtown I've run twice. So I don't really have a, a fast half marathon time. So I would like to run a pretty quick time. I don't know, I think 73, 72 on a great day, would be- Yeah
that would be a lofty goal for me, but I would be pretty, pretty stoked if I was able to turn that time in.
Chris Detzel: I'll see you there, for sure. I generally run their half- Sweet ... when they do it, and we'll do Houston half as well. Awesome. So we'll... Maybe I should do some quick hit videos of all the Dallas folks there and just kinda...
We'll see, if I- Yeah ... bring some stuff- Yeah,
Troy Castle: definitely should ...
Chris Detzel: it could be fun.
Troy Castle: Yeah. It'll be a good crew of
Chris Detzel: us
Troy Castle: there
Chris Detzel: Yeah. And there's a good crew in Chicago as well, so you'll have some, friends there.
Troy Castle: Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Chris Detzel: What do you... So it- did we miss anything that, y- you think, "Hey, we should have covered this area," or any tips that, you know for people trying to either get into the marathon or break different, times and things like that?
Troy Castle: Gosh, I don't think we missed anything. We covered a lot. Okay. I appreciate you being patient with me as I rambled through, trying to rehash and [00:39:00] recap my journey. No, I guess just parting words is, find a community that you can, pursue these goals with. I think that has made my training so much more fun and just developing friendships that, that come through the sport.
I think about how you and I got connected was through Ryan, yeah. And I think that's really cool. So anyway, that, that would be my parting words as my son is banging on my door. I don't know if you can hear
Chris Detzel: that. I love it. Troy, thank you so much for coming on. This has been really amazing and, I love the story just kind of- Bye
the Jason Witten of running, that's how I'm gonna say it, but... thanks everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. Please go to our newsletter at dfwrunningtalk.substack.com. Rate and review us. Until then, Troy, thanks so much.
Troy Castle: Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on and for all you do for our running community.
Chris Detzel: Appreciate that.
