Jane Hedengren's Historic NXN Victory

Jane Hedengren delivered a commanding performance at the Nike Cross Nationals, winning the girls’ race by an impressive 40-second margin. Despite facing rain-soaked conditions, she set a new course record, showcasing an exceptional level of preparation and execution. With a strong finish to the season and a remarkably high level of fitness, Jane’s performance underscored the power of consistent training in achieving unprecedented success.

Embracing Hard Work

Jane Hedengren is no stranger to hard work. Between her running, cross-training, and strength work, she accumulates a significant amount of training load each week. Reaching such high loads doesn't happen overnight, as Jane explains, "We didn't change up much from track season in terms of mileage, workouts and such. We kept pretty much the same, raising volume and intensity a little bit as you should each season."

The high school senior from Utah has spent years building to this level, allowing her body to adapt over time to handle the volume and intensity it takes to win it all. She credits her succcess to the consistency of her training over the entire year, not just XC season. "I think the main real benefits came from, just the consistency behind having a full healthy track season. I feel like I actually was at a high level end of last track season. Just some physical illness by the end took a toll on the performances. So, I was definitely glad to be healthy for these postseason [XC] races to kind of show more of what I'm capable of."

Jane's Weekly Training Load and Base Fitness from the COROS Training Hub

Adapting to Challenges

When the time came to start her higher-intensity workouts, Jane had built a good foundation. However, even for champions, not everything goes according to plan. "September, there came some challenges in training," she said. Illness and a concussion, among other issues, plagued her for a few weeks. "So we had to modify, training for a while there and taking down the intensity and the mileage and such. You can even see in the graph, but we were kind of tapered for like, a month and a half there because I just couldn't train as well as I wanted to. We didn't think it would be smart to keep pushing through."

Jane's Resting HR and HRV data

During this time, Jane's recovery metrics showed that something wasn't right. Her resting heart rate was significantly elevated compared to her normal levels. At the same time, her heart rate variability (HRV) was low, indicating fatigue in her nervous system. "I like to check my training load for the week and my recovery, and I also really like looking at my resting heart rate. Sometimes if my heart rate is up, I'll let [my coach] know, because that can mean I'm getting sick."

Recognizing the warning signs and adjusting her training proved to be the right call. "Come late October, I started feeling like myself again. And that's where we were able to get into some more solid work, and kind of go back on schedule of mileage and intensity. We started ramping up more pace work. And once I was feeling better in November and such, and hopefully peaking for that December race."

Jane's distribution of miles in each pace zone during cross-country season

In the five months leading up to her record-breaking performance at NXN, Jane ran 1001 miles. Most of these were aerobic and recovery miles, but she also spent a notable amount of time (100 miles) in Zone 6: Anaerobic Power. This high-end work is paced at 5:03/mile or faster for Jane, and was a highlight of many of her workouts later in the season.

Championship Execution

Feeling good at the end of the season, Jane stuck with the higher intensity. "I don't love tapering. Even for NXN, I didn't take a crazy taper. I feel like I can do a lot of training in the first place, so I don't need a crazy taper. I've been able to run great off of not tapering and and keeping a pretty solid load this whole season. So I just try to remember that, and not do anything different than what I've been doing because it's been working. I can already do workouts off the intensity I'm doing, and do them well."

A few lighter days right before the race was all she needed, and she reached the starting line in Portland feeling strong and confident.

Race splits from NXN

"The initial plan going in was to stick with the pack through like 4K, and then with the K to go, really start opening it up," Jane said. However, she is always open to adjusting on-the-fly. "I try to have somewhat of a game plan coming into any race, but then I also want to be able to adapt and be variable throughout the race."

NXN was one of those days, and Jane broke away from the pack fairly early in the race. "I was feeling strong and I feel like I was still running within myself and, wasn't going out crazy hard. So I just kept trying to push it and have a strong effort. I felt really strong and I felt confident that if anyone was going to come up and challenge me that I could give them a run."

While nobody came up to challenge her from behind, there was another challenge in front of her: the course record of 16:37. Despite the rainy conditions, she was slightly ahead of record pace. "I didn't know the course record, but I did want to get it. I knew it was, like, somewhere within the 16:30s or 16:40s, but I wasn't exactly sure on the number."

Photos by Jen Jardeleza | MileSplit

Jane kept up the pace through the later stages of the race, and crossed in 16:32.7, setting a new standard of excellence. Reflecting on her performance, Jane called it "a great learning experience, happy that I was able to get the win and set the course record, and excited for the future because I was feeling really good after that race."

Jane is a member of COROS NextGen, a program which aims to work with elite high school athletes as they push their boundaries to become the next  generation of elite distance runners in the U.S.

Collectively, the program has won 18 cross country state championships in 2024 as athletes across the country gain better insights into their training, and ensure their fitness is where it needs to be at the right time. For  any high school athlete chasing their best, head to www.coros.com to learn more on products, training tips, and insights from athletes of all levels.