We speak to the world running medalist about how he prepares for his off-road adventures.
Naomi Lang’s Short Trail bronze medal at the World Mountain and Trail Championships in Canfranc-Pyrénées, Spain in September 2025 reinforced her incredible talent after a breakthrough year in 2024 where she finished fifth in Europe in the classic (up and down) event.
The 25-year-old sports science graduate is now studying medicine at Glasgow University. Her work-life balance is not for the faint of heart, but luckily her personality type is well suited to the challenge. Smart and hardworking. he worked full-time between two jobs between degrees; he’s also calm enough not to break down when called upon to make his GB and Northern Ireland senior debut just days before they leave for the 2022 World Alpine Championships in Thailand.
A record-time win at the Scafell Sky Race (Britain’s 2025 World Championship trial race) in June meant there were no qualifying surprises this time around, while further impressive performances over the summer, including his first win at the Golden Trail World Series (Austria) and third place at the Marathon du Mont Blanc (France du Mont Blanc), confirmed his excellent form (France du Mont Blanc).
“In the back of my mind, I thought if I had a good day I could get somewhere, but I wasn’t sure if that meant a medal or top five or top ten,” said the Carnetti athlete, who finished third in 5:38:54 behind Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson (5:04:20) and Spain (5:38:1).
The gradual transition to longer trail distances has played to his strengths. He says he’s “progressed a bit in terms of being more competitive” (in world racing) over the past year, evidenced by his performance at Canfranc, and his confidence has inevitably grown as he’s managed to achieve that without “overdoing it”.
Imposter syndrome aside, further validation came from joining Salomon’s international team. “I’ve told a few people that sometimes it feels like I’m living two different lives,” says Lang, who was introduced to double threshold days at Camp Salomon earlier this year and has since incorporated them into her program.
“The (Salomon) camps and the support you get for the races with the team – food, physio, logistics – is huge. It’s kind of crazy. I also helped a lot more with the gym and rehab.
“At Easter we had a camp and after that I visited a friend in France. After eating very well in the chalet we went to stay in a camp/hostel with only a microwave to cook food. It was like I had gone from one extreme to the other.
“I think the trips I’ve made this year and the people I’m racing with now are a far cry from what I thought I’d be doing a year ago, even a year and a half ago. It’s not so much when I’m in it, but when I take a step back and look, I think.
A typical school week
Lang is coached by Lewis Walker and describes his training set up as quite “relaxed”. Walker gives her two to three core sessions each week, and she decides the rest of the program.
“I tend to run five days a week with two session days, but the order can change and what I do depends on where I am, what I want to do and what my friends are doing,” he says.
“My running volume slowly increased over the summer, helped by my university holidays and adjusting to the workload. I’ve probably run more this year than I’ve ever run before, but I don’t think I’m running as heavy compared to other people competing at the same distances. On the two days I don’t run, I swim and bike, and sometimes I don’t find that I’ve run two or none of the days each week. works pretty well for me and the double threshold has helped with that.”
Lang aims to hit the gym twice a week during the winter. Summer can be less consistent due to traveling between camps and tribes. Gym work involves a mixture of mobility and light lifting/bodyweight, as well as heavier lifting associated with physio/rehabilitation.
Main sessions:
- Tuesday: double threshold, which is roughly 30 minutes of work/30km of running. For example, (am) 10 x 2min off 45 seconds; (pm) 15-10-5 minutes (Lang will hold an evening session with a group at Cambuslang Harriers from autumn to spring).
- Friday sessions vary but usually hill specific or longer paces/thresholds such as 5 x 2 miles (first mile down, second mile up) done in Kilpatrick Hills, West Dunbartonshire. “I did this session before the World Cup,” says Lang. “It was quite difficult because you try to go down quickly and hit your feet a little bit, then turn around and come back up again. I did a lot of longer thresholds (during worlds building) with a lot of climbs or rolling hills somewhere, which I think helped a lot this year (compared to the gym and recovery).
- Weekends: long term. “My long runs in Scotland can include a selection of Munro-sized hills (over 3,000ft). About three weeks before worlds, I did a marathon at an easy pace, climbing 3,200m.”
The World Championships short track race (45km/3500m altitude) was one of Lange’s longest ever races with the highest altitude. In a typical training week leading up to the competition, he covered a total of around 80-90km with more than 2,500m of climbing, in addition to more than four hours of cycling and one to two hours of swimming.
Favorite session: “My favorite session is probably the long run in the mountains because you’re exploring and it’s usually more social, although the long (off-road) laps have grown on me because you’re running for feel and the pace is off the mark.”
Least favorite session. “The morning threshold, if I have to do it before university starts at 9am or go to the gym, because I’m not a fan of being inside and it’s less interesting, right? It’s been satisfying to get stronger though.”
