{"id":147853,"date":"2025-05-31T22:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T22:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147853\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T22:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T22:07:13","slug":"vails-2-time-olympian-brings-new-coach-new-training-philosophy-and-new-level-of-fitness-to-2025-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147853\/","title":{"rendered":"Vail\u2019s 2-time Olympian brings new coach, new training philosophy and new level of fitness to 2025 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"Val Constien wins the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. <\/strong>
Charlie Neibergall\/AP photo<\/p>\n

After one of the most improbable track seasons in recent memory, one might assume Val Constien\u2019s plan for 2025 would be to simply run it back.<\/p>\n

Instead, the 29-year-old who returned from ACL surgery<\/a> last season to set a U.S. Trials steeplechase record<\/a> en route to qualifying for a second Olympic Games<\/a>, is entering another world championship season with a new coach and new approach. So far, the Vail-born distance runner is pleased with the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m significantly more aerobically fit than I was last year,\u201d Constien said on Thursday, taking a phone interview during her 6-mile training run for proof.<\/p>\n

The retirements of longtime University of Colorado coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs forced Constien to seek out new coaching. She\u2019d been trained by the pair for the last 10 years. Constien spent roughly two months interviewing and visiting some of the top pro coaches in the country. After meeting with Diljeet Taylor, Pete Julian, Mike Smith, Alan Culpepper and Sean Carlson, she settled on Carlson, the new coach for the Buffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlson kind of rose above the rest as the guy for the job,\u201d said Constien, who officially started working with the 37-year-old at the end of October. Staying in Boulder, where her fianc\u00e9, Kyle Lewis, works and owns a house, was a big priority. Plus, Constien \u2014 who still works full-time at the Boulder-based running company, Stryd \u2014 sees the high-altitude running mecca as \u201cpart of the secret sauce.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Under Carlson\u2019s guidance, Constien has embraced the trendy double-threshold model made famous by Norwegian endurance athletes, particularly world-record holder and 1500 and 5,000-meter Olympic gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Given Constien\u2019s natural spring and speed, the strength-based formula seems to be the perfect spice for this stage of her career. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year was amazing, but if I could have changed one thing, I would have tried to do more aerobic work later in the season,\u201d she said. Constien dealt with long COVID in her 15th-place Olympic finish<\/a> and couldn\u2019t regain her magical midsummer form for the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBy the end of the season, I was feeling the lack of aerobic work. I felt really sharp, but running a steeplechase much faster than 9:04 probably wasn\u2019t in the cards,\u201d she said \u201cSo this year, I\u2019m hoping that because we\u2019re consistently doing a pretty big volume of aerobic work every week, then I\u2019ll have that aerobic strength later in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Val Constien competes in the women\u2019s 3000-meter steeplechase at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.Frederic Sierakowski\/AP photo<\/p>\n

She\u2019s swapped 14\u00d7400-meter repeats in 72 seconds for 20 reps in 80. The once frightful sounding 4-mile tempo run at 5:40 pace seems like a piece of cake compared to her current double dosage: 15-18K of work done five seconds a mile faster. Most importantly, the threshold stuff has kept her injury-free. The only downside? A little lack of early-season speed. But the always upbeat Constien sees a positive side to that coin, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to weight lift a lot harder this year because my fast-twitch muscles are less exhausted from practice,\u201d she said of her twice-a-week gym sessions. \u201cI notice that strength especially in a couple races I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constien, who graduated from Battle Mountain High School before running for the Buffs in Boulder, kicked off her campaign in February at the Boston University indoor track with her first 5,000-meter run in almost five years. Applying her trademark boldness, she followed the pacemaker through 2 kilometers, on track for a 14:40.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last 3k I just tried to not give up basically,\u201d Constien said of her 15:32.83 finish. Despite being a personal best, Constien didn\u2019t feel the performance was a direct indication of her fitness. Rather, she viewed the race as a learning experience at an unconventional distance, one she hopes to try again at some point.<\/p>\n

In April, she flew out to California to run the 1500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Even with minimal speed work, she posted a 4:10.22, just one second off her lifetime best. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely room for improvement in that event as well,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

On May 16, Constien ran 9:33.19 in the steeplechase in her Diamond League season-opener in Doha, Qatar. The last time she\u2019d raced at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium was in May of 2023<\/a>, when she tore<\/a> her ACL. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there was a psychological component to it; I was definitely running a little more scared than I would on any other track in the world,\u201d Constien admitted. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot I learned in that race to help me run with more confidence in the next one, which is all I can really ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though she feels the last couple outings \u201chaven\u2019t been spectacular,\u201d Constien was excited with how well she closed in both. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs we kind of sprinkle in some race-pace interval stuff, I\u2019ll gain confidence to be more in the race in the first 2k,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then I\u2019m really excited to see the weightlifting and strength pay off in the last 400.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nike athlete<\/a> plans to compete in the Oslo Diamond League on June 12 before heading to Hayward Field for the Pre Classic in July. Constien\u2019s meteoric rise last season<\/a> prompted the athletic giant to restructure and extend her contract. She\u2019ll defend her national title on Aug. 2 at the USATF outdoor championships. The top three finishers there earn spots for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.<\/p>\n

Constien\u2019s top domestic competition could come from anywhere. She feels you can never count out Crested Butte native Emma Coburn, a 10-time national champion and the 2017 world champion in the event. Then there\u2019s American record holder Courtney Frerichs, who, like Constien, was operated on by Dr. Matthew Provencher after her own ACL tear last spring<\/a> and has been slowly rebuilding ever since. The 32-year-old was inspired by Constien\u2019s comeback and Olympic Trials run. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s given me so much confidence and belief that I can come back because it is a really scary injury,\u201d she told Chris Chavez in March.<\/p>\n

Those veterans will be pursued by up-and-coming runners like fellow 2024 Olympian Courtney Wayment-Smith, BYU senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry, former NCAA champion Olivia Markezich and 2023 U.S. champion Krissy Gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women\u2019s steeplechase is so deep now, it\u2019s not as straightforward as it used to be,\u201d said Constien, who, of course, knows she isn\u2019t an underdog anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was definitely no pressure, I was a dark horse \u2014 and I definitely prefer to be in that position. But with how I want the rest of my career to go, it\u2019s probably not going to be the case moving forward,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019s just taking things day by day, believing in myself, and not worrying about what other people are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from contractual obligations, Constien never looks at Instagram or TikTok. She also avoids any running-related audio or written content. <\/p>\n

\u201cI try to just shut out all that out and just be happy with how things are going,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the best thing I can do to replicate my feelings from last year. No one is looking at me, no one is talking about me, and I can kind of just live my life and train as if no one is watching. So that\u2019s kind of what I\u2019m trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her 9:03.22 from last season is the third-fastest American performance ever \u2014\u00a0and less than six clicks away from Frerich\u2019s record \u2014 Constien\u2019s time-related expectations have been curbed slightly by having a new coach and training philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there\u2019s definitely an adjustment period,\u201d she said. \u201cI would love to be able to run with the confidence and fitness that I had at the Olympic Trials in more races \u2014 that\u2019s kind of the main goal. Like, be up there. Be running faster than 9:05 in some of these big races.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ideally, she\u2019d like to extend her peak from nationals to the Diamond League final through the world championships. Whether she ends up at a medal ceremony or not, however, she will have a ceremony of a different kind later this fall: Constien and Lewis plan to get married in late September or early October. But Constien isn\u2019t orchestrating anything extravagant. For a runner whose career rose from humble beginnings, it seems fitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell kids, if there\u2019s any young Battle Mountain athletes who read the paper, that they just remember that the highest I ever placed in the state meet in a running event was sixth,\u201d she said. \u201cJust follow your dreams and keep running.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Val Constien wins the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1630,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-147853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114604726266728386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}