Obstacle Mud Runner - issue 13

obstaclemudrunner.co.uk ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners 34 What do GOLD medallists really have for breakfast? Leon is a BIG fan of inov-8 X-Talon 210 and we wanted to find out what he REALLY thinks of them. What was your favourite thing to do before OCR? I always enjoyed being active, outdoors and at the gym, but before OCR I really loved playing music too. I had some great years playing in a few rock’n’roll bands at birthdays, weddings, street parties and more. I was super social and enjoyed hanging out late at night with a beer and friends. It wasn’t until 2015 I found “a calling” within OCR – but let’s get back to that shortly. What do you eat for breakfast on race day? I’m generally happy about carbs, you know. Jokes aside, then I think pre-race food is not the ultimate gain for performance, that’s the work which has been done in the previous months and years. So, something easy like oats and Red Bull, that’ll do the trick. What is your preferred distance to race? I like races between 2-5km, but those are somewhat rare in OCR. On the track I like to run 800, 1500 and sometimes the 5000m, which isn’t great since I know they’re probably a bigger benefit in becoming a strong 10k road racer. But I love middle distance, so I try to find races that are somewhat “short”. What is your greatest achievement so far in OCR? Is it too simple to say winning the OCREC in 2018 and 2019? Well, maybe it is. Taking the win with Nikolaj Dam and Ida Mathilde in the Mix Team Relay in 2017 and 2018 feel like incredible achievements as well. I love the Mix Relay and doing well here as a team is incredibly important to me – I look forward to teaming up again in London! The dream is winning the World Championships! What do you love most about OCR? OCR has given millions of people a chance to exercise in a new, interesting and fun way. It has given me a chance to become an athlete and what I love most is that we’ve only just begun. I definitely believe obstacle racing (in some form) has a place in the Olympics and also at Physical Education in school programs. Or maybe what I love most about OCR is the awesome race photos. Or the incredible battles I have with guys from all over the world. Or maybe it’s travelling the world and competing. Damn, it’s a tough one to define! How much obstacle specific training do you do and what other forms of training do you do? My training regimen naturally changes throughout the year. But, generally it consists of something like 70-110 km of running, 1-3 strength sessions, 1-2 calisthenics sessions and 1-3 obstacle specific sessions. When life’s busy, as it is sometimes, it’s less of course. But that’s OK and maybe that’s how I stayed away from serious injury for a while now. We caught up with double OCREC short course Gold medallist Leon Kofoed – who completed the course in 0:41:27 FOOTWEAR : INTERVIEW OCREC short course Gold Medallist continued... Photo: Narodnaya Gonka, Russia Photo: inov-8