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Kristian sits down with Jacob Simonsen, the Danish national record holder in the marathon with a 2:07 personal best, for a deep dive into smart training, missing the Olympics by one minute, and bouncing back to break a national record weeks later.
Jacob shares how becoming a father changed his approach to training, treating running more like a job while also learning to reschedule sessions instead of pushing through fatigue. He walks through the years long climb from his marathon debut to a 2:07, the heartbreak of narrowly missing direct Olympic qualification, and how he turned that disappointment into a national record breaking performance in Berlin weeks later. The conversation goes deep into his actual training: double threshold sessions, weekly mileage around 190k, and why building a strong aerobic base matters at every distance. He closes with his goal of breaking the one hour half marathon barrier at the World Championships in Copenhagen.
In this episode:
- Balancing elite training with being a parent
- How having kids changed his mentality around training
- The years long climb to a 2:07 marathon personal best
- Narrowly missing direct Olympic qualification by one minute
- Turning disappointment into a national record in Berlin
- A full breakdown of his double threshold training sessions
- Why aerobic training matters at every distance, not just the marathon
- Recovering from a stress reaction and learning to manage recovery
- Bouncing back from a bike accident ahead of the World Championships
- His goal: breaking the one hour half marathon barrier in Copenhagen
Timestamps
00:00 A preview: learning to run faster without training harder
00:52 Welcome and introducing Jacob Simonsen
01:53 Kristian's own week of feeling under the weather
03:46 Jumping into the conversation with Jacob
04:11 Balancing elite training with being a parent
05:35 How becoming a dad changed his training mentality
19:30 What his coach and team have brought to his career
27:17 Respect for the marathon distance after his debut
28:00 Finally cracking the code on handling more volume
29:03 Chasing direct Olympic qualification and coming up short
31:32 The disappointment of missing the cut by one minute
32:23 Turning that setback into a national record in Berlin
46:59 Increasing mileage safely and staying strong enough to handle it
48:53 Learning when to push through and when to back off
51:22 Building mileage and finding his current training ceiling
54:42 The philosophy behind double threshold training
58:40 Why aerobic training matters at every distance
59:36 A full breakdown of his current training week
1:00:35 What his double threshold sessions actually look like
2:03:24 The importance of high volume in a marathon block
2:13:49 His next goal: breaking sub one hour in the half marathon
2:14:41 Closing thoughts and good luck in Copenhagen
Jacob on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacobssimonsen/
Start your free Musicbed trial: https://fm.pxf.io/kristianwarwick
Full episodes + the Boston 2025 documentary: https://www.youtube.com/@Warwickruns
Follow my training journey on Instagram: @warwick.runs
Music from Musicbed: MB01XPYH8ZYENVAMB0133EV2TCQFZY
