by Larry Eder
This is day six, week 4 of the 2022 RunBlogRun Summer Cross Country Mileage Program, and you have four weeks to go! We will get you ready for Fall Cross Country!
This is Saturday, and if you like to test yourself, find a race. We would suggest a hilly one, say 5k to 8k long and work the hills hard and push hard over the last mile.
Many of you ask me about Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The big question is, why is Jakob so good?
Jakob and his brothers were coached for a long time by their Dad, Gert. I spent some time with Gert in 2019 on the indoor circuit. Gert is a very attentive Dad, and keeps track of everything the guys do, eat, sleep, training, and he has developed a program that works for them.
There is no secret for Jakob. His consistency and his development come as a result of training since he was 8, first as a cross country skier, then as a junior; Jakob built on his high oxygen uptake.
The funny thing is, Jakob had his butt kicked in 2019 at the World Champs. A European star, and he was 4th in the 1,500m and 5th in the 5,000m in Doha. The brave Norwegian had to experience that level before he came back in Tokyo in 2021 and won gold. In Belgrade indoors, sick with COVID, Jakob took second in the WIC 1,500m and then, comes to Eugene, takes silver in the 1,500m and gold in the 5,000m.
One must learn from failures, and one must put one’s neck out there to see how far one can go.
Your workout today, warm up, a 5k -6k race and a cooldown, or warm-up, go to the local track and run
8 times 400m at race pace with 30 seconds rest between each 400m. So if you ran 10;40 last season that is an 80-second pace. Run 80 seconds, no slower, no faster, walk for 30 seconds and repeat until you finish the 8th, catch your breath, and then cooldown.
