We spoke to the world trail running medalist about how she prepares for her off-road adventures.
Naomi Lang’s bronze medal in Short Trail at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain, in September, reinforced her incredible talent after a great year in 2024, where she finished fifth in Europe in the Classic event (up and down).
The 25-year-old sports science graduate is currently studying medicine at the University of Glasgow. Her work-life balance is not for the faint-hearted, but fortunately, her personality type is well suited to the challenge. Smart and hard-working (she worked two full-time jobs between races), she is also relaxed enough not to break down when called up to make her senior debut in Great Britain and Northern Ireland just days before the team’s departure for the 2022 World Mountain Running Championships in Thailand.
Victory in record time at the Scafell Sky Race in June (the British test race for the 2025 World Championships) meant there were no surprises in the selection this time, while other impressive performances throughout the summer, including his first win at the Golden Trail World Series (Austria) and a third place at the Marathon du Mont Blanc (France), confirmed his strong form.
“Deep down, I thought if I had a good day I could be somewhere in the mix, but I wasn’t sure if that meant a medal, or top five or top ten,” says the Carnethy athlete who finished third in 5:38:54 behind Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson (5:04:20) and Spain’s Sara Alonso (5:38:15).
A gradual transition to longer distance trails has played to its strengths. She says she has “improved a bit in terms of being more competitive (in global racing)” over the last year, as evidenced by her performance in Canfranc, and her confidence has inevitably increased knowing that she has managed to achieve it without “going all out”.
Imposter syndrome aside, joining Salomon’s international team has brought greater validation. “I’ve told some people that sometimes I feel like I live two different lives,” says Lang, who learned about double threshold days at a Salomon camp earlier this year and has since incorporated them into his program.
“He [Salomon] The camps and the support you receive in races with the team (food, physiotherapy, logistics) is enormous. It’s a little crazy. I’ve also had a lot more help with the gym and rehab work.
“We had a camping trip over Easter and then I visited a friend in France. We went from being super well fed in a chalet to camping/staying in a hostel with only a microwave to prepare food. It was like I went from one extreme to the other.
“I feel like the traveling I’ve done this year, and also staying in touch with the people I’m with now at the races, is 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 about when I’m in it, but when I step back and look at it, there are definitely moments where I think, ‘How did I end up here?'”
Typical training week
Lang has been trained by Lewis Walker and describes her training setup as quite “relaxed”. Walker offers her two or three key sessions each week and she decides the makeup of 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 quite a bit 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, which was helped by my university vacation and adapting to the load. I’ve probably run more this year than ever before, but I don’t think I run much compared to other people who compete in the same distances. The two days I don’t run, I swim and bike, and sometimes I swim or bike instead of running easily. I think having two days without running each week works pretty well for me, and the double threshold has helped me with that.”
Lang aims to hit the gym twice a week all winter long. Summer may be less consistent due to travel between camps and races. Gym work includes a combination of mobility and light/bodyweight lifting, as well as heavier lifting related to physical therapy/rehabilitation.
Key sessions:
- Tuesday: double threshold, totaling approximately 30 min of work/30 km of running. For example, (am) 10 x 2 min with 45 seconds off; (pm) 15-10-5min (Lang will do the night session with a group at Cambuslang Harriers from autumn to spring).
- Friday: Sessions vary but are usually hill specific or have a longer pace/threshold, such as 5 x 2 miles (first mile downhill, second mile uphill) done in the hills of Kilpatrick, West Dunbartonshire. “I did this session before the World Championships,” says Lang. “It was quite difficult because you try to go downhill fast and hit your legs a bit, then turn around and go back up. I did a lot of the longer thresholds (in preparation for Worlds) with a lot of climbs or somewhere with rolling hills, which I think has helped me a lot this year (with fitness and injury recovery/prevention compared to the road).”
- Weekend: long term. “In Scotland, my long-term career could include a selection of Munro-sized hills. [over 3000ft]; About three weeks before the World Cup I did a marathon at an easy pace with 3,200 m of positive elevation gain.”
The World Championship short trail race (45km/3500m elevation gain) was one of Lang’s longest and highest elevation races. In a typical training week leading up to the competition, he covered between 80 and 90 km with more than 2,500 m of climbing, plus more than four hours of cycling and one to two hours of swimming.
Favorite session: “My favorite session is probably a long run in the hills because you’re exploring and it tends to be more social, although the long ones [off-road] The thresholds have grown in me because you run to feel and the pace is irrelevant.”
Least favorite session: “The morning threshold if I have to do it before the university leaves at 9 am, or go to the gym because I’m not a fan of being inside and it’s less interesting, right? Although it has been satisfying to get stronger.”
