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How they train – Ingrid Kristiansen

How the legendary marathon runner used to train

Posted on June 24, 2010 by
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Ingrid Kristiansen (Mark Shearman)

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Ingrid Kristiansen ran between 110-120 miles per week at her peak during the summer, including three workouts. She followed the hard/easy idea of training to the extreme and used a heart rate monitor to make sure she was recovering.

On her treadmill she would not only do her two-hour runs but also 1000m reps with a three-minute recovery as well as 10x1minute hard reps with a one minute recovery. Her long runs were very easy at around 7:30-8:30 per mile pace.

She won marathons in New York, Chicago, Boston (twice), London (four times), Stockholm (three times) and Houston (twice).

When she moved to live in Boulder, Colorado, she also shipped over her $25,000 treadmill, which she had used extensively throughout the Norwegian winters, and continued to use it two to three times a week in the summer. The treadmill had a top speed of 2:30 per kilometre (4:12/ mile). When asked if she had ever fallen off, she answered: “No, never. And I don’t plan to!”

Sample training week (winter)

» Sunday
(am) 10km on treadmill in 40 minutes (6:30 per mile).
(pm) 10 miles on treadmill in 1 hour (6:00 per mile).

» Monday
(am) 50 minutes on treadmill (6:00 per mile). Plus, 15 minutes of jumping exercises to strengthen calf muscles.
(pm) 2 hours of cross-country skiing.

» Tuesday
(am) 1 hour on treadmill (6:00 per mile or faster).
(pm) Outdoor training session including 2×15 minutes at 5:00-5:15 per mile with four minutes of easy running between efforts. Total 12½ to 15 miles.

» Wednesday
(am) 50 minutes on treadmill (6:00 per mile).
(pm) 1½ hours of cross-country skiing.

» Thursday
(am) 1 hour on treadmill, first 30 minutes at 6:10-6:30 per mile, second 30 minutes at 5:20 per mile.
(pm) 1½ hours of cross-country skiing. Plus, 15 minutes of jumping exercises.

» Friday
(am) 55 minutes on treadmill (6:00 per mile) with 5x100m strides closing the session.
(pm) 1½ hours of cross-country skiing. Plus, 15 minutes of jumping exercises.

» Saturday
(am) 2½ hours of easy cross-country skiing.

» Thanks to Human Kinetics for permission to republish this schedule from Running with the Legends.

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