Run Like a Pro: Kara Goucher

Kara Goucher, #203, in the 2007 Great North Run
By Conor Lawless via Flickr

For those of you not familiar with her, Kara Goucher is an outstanding American middle and long-distance runner who has excelled at distances ranging from the 1500 meters to the half marathon. In her college days at the University of Colorado in 2000, she was the NCAA Outdoor Champion in the 3000 meter and 5000 meter events, and the NCAA Cross Country Champion (source: wikipedia). She is currently coached by Alberto Salazar and hopes to make the 2008 Olympic team.

Recent Career Highlights

Kara’s early professional career was plagued with injuries, but since she and her husband Adam Goucher moved to Portland, Oregon to train under Salazar, her fortunes have changed. Here are just a few of her 2007 career highlights:

• In September, she set a new PR of 8:34.99 in the 3000 meters in Rieti, Italy. (source: EliteRunning.com)
• In Osaka, Japan in August, Kara won a bronze medal in the 10K, becoming the first American woman to ever medal at that distance in the IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
• In September, Kara took first place in the Great North Run, her half-marathon debut, in a time of 1:10:17.

See Kara’s bio on the IAAF web site for more information about her PR’s and running history.

What We Can Learn from Kara

Unlike Kara Goucher and other professional runners, most of us don’t have access to star coaches and anti-gravity treadmills, nor are we able to spend the bulk of our day training. Even so, we can still learn a lot from Kara:

• Mental toughness is one of the keys to good running performances
  

  I remember thinking, I could just step off right now and say it was my heel or my IT band. . .It would have been true. They were bothering me, but I was able to get through that.
  
  - Kara Goucher speaking about her victory in the 2007 Great North Run half marathon (from an article on the IAAF web site)

• Drills, stretching, and strength training can help you run faster and avoid injury - Before moving to Portland to be coached by Salazar, Kara suffered multiple injuries. Since then, her program has changed to include “exhaustive regimen of supplementary stretching, mobility drills and strength training” and she has set PRs at four different distances, from 1500 meters to the 10K (source: Boulder Daily Camera).

If you’d like to take a virtual run with Kara, try out Kara Goucher's Endurance Kara Goucher’s Endurance Boost, one of Nike’s Sport Music mixes on iTunes, where she talks you through an interval workout with the help of some decent music.

If you want to learn more about Kara (and Adam) Goucher, watch Keeping Up With the Gouchers (Episode 1 is below).

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Tagged as: 10K, 5K, kara goucher, training