Mar 19, 2007
Interview with Jason Hartmann Views- 298

He was teammates with Ritz in high school and now they are training together in Boulder along with the Torres brothers. While in high school at Rockford, Jason was the 1997 & 1998 Division 1 High School XC Champion. In 1998 he was the 1600 & 3200M Track Champion. Jason ran for Oregon in college where he was a multiple all-american, succeeding in cross country and on the track. Since graduating, Jason has raced well at all distances. He has ran 13:36 for the 5k (2006), 28:31 for 10k(2003), 2:15 for the marathon (2006) and made the world cross team in 2006. Read on to find out more about Jason and what he has been up to.
(Update - Jason ran the US 15k Champs a week ago, after this interview was conducted, and placed 3rd overall in a very deep elite field. He averaged 4:45 pace for just over 9 miles in 70 degree heat with humidity recored at around 85%.)

RM: What are your thoughts on your performance at the Winter Cross Country Championships? How was your training leading up the race and what would you have done differently after reflecting back?

JH: I was disappointed with my performance at the Cross Country Championships because my expectations were to finish higher. My goal was to be in the top 9 spots, but unfortunately, my goal was not achieved. My training was going well prior to the race, and I felt that I was in better shape this year than I was last
year before cross. This is why I was unsatisfied with my performance this year.

Reflecting back, I would have raced differently, and I probably would have raced once before cross. Because I ran the marathon in the fall, I was a little tentative to rush back into racing. Mentally, I was ready to race again but, physically, I didn’t want to put my body in a hole. So, I spent some time trying to be smart and recover.

RM: Rumor has it you are training for the London Marathon. If true, what type of workouts have you been doing and were you doing some marathon type workouts during your cross country build-up? What are you trying to accomplish at London?

JH: I am running the London marathon. Brad and I decided that I would train for the marathon for eight weeks after cross. Prior to cross, I was not really training specifically for the marathon except for putting in some good weeks of mileage (100-110). For the past couple of weeks, we have been getting into more
specific marathon training. Some things that we have added are longer runs and increased mileage. When I was training for the Chicago marathon in the fall, I
trained for 16 weeks and felt as if I was a little stale going into the marathon because I had trained for too long. This time around, I hope to race a little more than I did before Chicago. I almost feel that racing a couple of times before the marathon is important because it prevents from overtraining and staleness. My goal is the same as it was for Chicago. I really want to race smart and put myself in position to capitalize on my fitness level

RM: You have accomplished quite a bit thus far but what are some of your long term running goals you are still chasing down and why?

JH: I think that my ultimate goal would be to make an Olympic team. It is one of the greatest accomplishments that any elite athlete would love to achieve. For example, I can understand why Dathan chose to run the 10k at the last Olympics even though he was injured and criticized for going. Making an Olympic team is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most athletes, and I think it is important to take advantage of these opportunities as they come along because you never know when you are not going to have the chance to experience something like that again.

RM: What is your living situation like now? Do you have a job and if not, what do you do to fill the time in your day?

JH: I am currently living with Jorge Torres and Phil Astras who is a friend from high school, and also our dogs Shady and Max at the famous Fight Club (Jorge’s house). Living with Jorge is a good living situation because we are able to do the majority of our runs together. Plus, we have become really good friends too.

I do not have a part time job. I consider running my job because a large part of my day is spent on training and recovering. I do not think that many people realize the effort and time that many elite runners must spend on training in order to perform well. My day typically consists of getting up early to run, then going to Rally Sports to lift weights, and then going back to the house in order to rest until my second run. I find that I probably do have more free time then the typical 9 to 5 businessman, but I spend a lot of it with my dog Max and just resting in order to help speed up the recovery process. I feel like I tend to avoid taking part in social activities that probably would not be beneficial to my training. Even though it may be a little boring at times, I am willing to make these sacrifices to advance my fitness.

RM: Do you actually train with the rest of your teammates daily or is it only a few times a week and why?


JH: Jorge and I run probably 60 percent of our runs together. Because we live together, it is obviously easy for us run at the same time. Dathan, Ed, and James all live a good distance away from us, so, it makes it a little more difficult to run with them.

Usually we meet as a group 3 or 4 times a week to run together on our workout days and long run. Also, I get in some easy runs with Kathy Butler who lives up in Nederland.

RM: What advice would you give an aspiring runner looking to someday make it to the elite level of running?

JH: People always want to tell you what you can’t do. But what matters is that you believe in yourself and that you believe that you can attain your goals. I had a difficult time when I first came out to Colorado because I wasn’t in the best shape and I was getting over an injury, but I think the thing that kept me going was having faith that everything was going to turn out ok if I continued to be gradually progress in my training and stay injury free.

I attribute my progression throughout the past couple of years to being patient, consistent with my training, and being fortunate enough to have good coaching. So I would definitely advise someone to just be confident in themselves and their ability and to just go for it if it something that they want to commit to.

jabroni says~

Being confident. Very nice point.