Tim Nelson is possibly the hottest American distance runner at the moment, taking Olympians Anthony Famiglietti and Meb Keflezighi to the line at the USATF 15k and Cross Country Championships respectively, and claiming runner-up honors in each. Then, Saturday evening, he ran a fat PB of 27:36 in the Kim McDonald 10k at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite, winning the event, getting the precious World Champs “A” Standard, and making him one of the fastest Americans ever at the distance.
So: what has spurred this hot streak? Change in diet? Change of scenery? Something so unsexy as lots of hard work and mileage paying off? The ball is in your court, folks. Leave your questions in the comments below and we will be back with Tim’s answers on Friday!
Tim,
I wanted to know your thoughts on high-mileage training. For an exclusively 5k-10k training regime, what kind of mileage would you find to be the most beneficial? I come from a high school program that hit 50-60 tops, but a very high intensity, and then in college ran for a program that I feel is more “typical” of distance training (75-90 miles/week). I’m trying to make one final push to break 15 for the 5k, and was looking for advice from someone who’s obviously been there. I’m currently anti-high mileage, but I could be convinced otherwise. Look forward to seeing/hearing your thoughts.
-Eric, NYC
You seem to have been race sharp since XC Nationals. Now that you have the A standard and such a great time early in season (compared to Europe). How to you stay sharp for such a long period of time. through Nationals in 2 months and Worlds in August?
And have you changed anything from your near misses at XC nats and the 15k?
Thanks and good luck. would love to see you on the team. and have a National title. You have been running great this year keep it up.
Tim…congrats on the big PR! In the 15k and XC champs, you were right on the heels of the winner. What do you take from a race where you run that well, but don’t quite get the win? Best of luck the rest of Spring and Summer!
Hey Tim,
Congratulations on the huge 10k, and I think you can definitely take a shot at the win at the USA Champs, and hopefully compete well in Berlin. You definitely have more in the tank than 27:36 this season.
I had a few questions about your career progression, mileage and training progression.
If you could give a brief summary of your pr’s since freshman year of college that would be greatly appreciated to see how you developed.
Also, how many days a week do you typically double during base and conditioning training phase?
Approximately how much mileage do you run during the different phases of each year?
Thanks alot
Tim:
In your fantastic race at the Cardinal Invitational you had the benefit of Team Schumacher training mates Chris Solinsky’s early pacing and also Simon Bairu in the race. How important has working with the Schumacher training group been to your training, racing, and recent successes? Could you describe how your workouts are structured for group and individual training, i.e. when you all work together and when you are on your own.
Great running and racing, we look forward to more of the same!
Tim,
Do you realize if you would have ran a 27:36 in the 1972 Olympics you would have beat Lasse Viren, won the gold and set the WR by 2 seconds. Just wanted to put your time in perspective… very impressive