Athlete Profile- Jordan McLennan
Jordan McLennan
Age: 24
Sport: Middle distance running
Brief sporting history: I was running when I was younger and started training properly around 15 or 16. I won a few state titles and national medals in school whilst mainly training for triathlon but I struggled with the swim so started to focus on running with the goal of going to college in the U.S. I ended up doing 3 years in the NCAA system with a heap of racing, gained lots of experience but found the style of training wasn’t for me. Moved home to the coast at the start of 2018 and back to my old coach Jacko Elliott at Gold Coast Run Co. Since then have been trying to pull the PB’s down and see how quick I can run and try take a shot at some national teams in the future.
What got you into the sport? I loved seeing improvement once I started running competitively and setting goals to break times. I remember trying to run under 20min for 5k, then getting motivated to go quicker and trying to go under 18 min, then 17min, 16:30 etc. It’s a great sport where you always have a goal and it’s you against the clock. The dream is the sub 4 minute mile, that’s the biggest goal.
Upcoming events: QLD 3000m, NSW 5000m, Australian 1500m.
Favourite training session: The Michigan is a cool track session we do probably twice a year that is an absolute killer! You go 1600m hard, 1k tempo, 1200m hard, 1k tempo, 800m hard, 1k tempo, 400m hard. You get roughly 1 min rest in between everything and the reps on the track are essentially flat out. Changing from all out effort to a 1k tempo and then back again is real hard but a lot of fun.
Do you have any history of strength training? I did a bit in college but it was focused on the wrong areas.
What do you find are some of the benefits of strength training? Running puts a lot of stress on certain areas. Recently we have had a big focus on identifying problems in movement patterns and get the body moving more freely and efficiently. That’s the most important thing for me, activating all the right muscles and keeping mobile and on top of injuries before they come about.
How does strength training fit into your program? Usually on the days I have a hard running session I will do an easy afternoon run and some strength. Putting hard sessions and strength training on the same days keeps the hard days hard and easy days easy allowing the body time to recover and stay activated after being smacked around in a tough run.
Favourite gym/ strength exercise? Like most runners I have trouble with mobility and getting tight and locked up, mainly in the hips and back. Most of the stuff I like doing is mobility/activation work such as deep squats and any thoracic exercise, its tough going but I find it helps a lot.