Ross Gollan's top 2025 season

In the first half of 2025, you had some very successful results in a wide range of races.  Your season spanned events from the fast and furious Armagh 5k in Northern Ireland, to the Mexico Sky Challenge, an epic 35k with 3600m elevation gain at high altitude in the Sierra Madre Oriental.  You also ran 64 minutes at the Den Hague half marathon, won the British long-distance mountain running championships at Stuc a'Chroin in Scotland, and mixed in a few cross-country races for good measure.  

How did your training prepare you for such a wide breadth of challenges?  Were there any specific aspects of your running that you and your coach really wanted to develop over this period?

We tend to keep it pretty simple in terms of preparation for road and XC before the transition to hills. This year was a bit different, with a few races thrown in for a bit of fun rather than specific target races. I didn't do any 5k-specific training for Armagh, so it was a nice surprise to break the 14-minute barrier and place well in a top international field. I most likely get away with a lack of specific preparation for shorter races due to my more fast-twitch muscle fibre composition, or something like that! We did a quality block of longer tempo/threshold style workouts and your bread and butter 10k workouts in preparation for the half marathon. I managed to run pretty well on my own for the majority of the race only struggling in the final 400m as I got out-kicked by some tall Dutch bloke. I then went off-script and travelled to Mexico and Chile for some adventure style races where I just hiked and ran myself fit at altitude rather than any specific sessions. This didn't really work out, but performance wasn't a priority for this trip so I was more than happy to come away with plenty of fun mountain experiences and a newfound respect for high altitude! Regardless of the racing performances, I think the block in the big hills set me up really well aerobically and this meant that on my return I just needed to sharpen up a bit before kicking off hill and mountain season.

In terms of what we wanted to develop over that period I suppose it was more of a focus on speed and speed endurance in preparation for short and fast mountain races later in the season. Road and XC seem to translate over to hills well for me. The rest was just good fun but also played an important role in terms of a big aerobic climbing block.  I would highly recommend a running trip to Chile, if you've got nothing better to do next spring. 

Are there any session types that you feel you particularly benefit from, or which particularly challenge you as a runner?

I wouldn't say there's any particular sessions I look forward to or don't look forward to. I could improve my climbing and continue to use the treadmill as an alternative to a nice alpine climb. If you play the Sound of Music soundtrack and close your eyes you can imagine yourself uphill tempoing amongst the majestic peaks of Switzerland or you can just accept that sometimes sessions suck but you'll be better off for doing it when it comes to actually racing amongst the majestic peaks of Switzerland.

Where do you feel your strengths lie as a mountain runner?  Are there elements of your running skillset that you'd like to continue to progress in coming years?  

I'm a bit of a jack of all surfaces and distances but master of none, my mediocre performances across the board mean that on the odd occasion I strike lucky and have a decent run in the hills, nobody sees it coming. I think you call it diversion tactics. 

What do you consider to be the top races on your bucket list at the moment?

Jungfrau marathon, Berlin marathon. I want to run well at Sierre Zinal but they'll probably have to rearrange the race for December for that to happen. I would also like to get another GB vest at some point, nobody likes a one-vest wonder.

How do you approach pacing in a technical, varied mountain race like Stuc a'Chroin or Mexico Sky Challenge?  How does this affect your race execution or mindset, relative to when you're racing a flat road race?

Pacing over technical terrain is something I'm not particularly good at, especially when it's hot. I tend to keep an eye on my HR just to make sure I'm not going into the red on big climbs. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to overdo it on a long technical climb in the heat. It's not worth having time-based objectives for these races. Go off RPE or HR and then adjust your pace as you go along depending on conditions, how you're feeling and what the rest of the field is doing. Don't be dragged into a gun fight without a gun on the first climb. In saying that, I know plenty of athletes who perform really well by just going hard from the gun, so what do I know!

The first half of your season was based more around speed training in the lead-up to the Armagh 5k, the half marathon and the cross-country races, before turning attention to the mountains.  How do you find the transition from faster races over winter to spring mountain races?  

Don't race at high altitude. If you are going to then know the risks and acclimatise appropriately. I honestly think it's better to approach races above 4000m with more of a mountaineering-style acclimation process rather than your standard alpine trail style approach. Your body will thank me for the above advice. Trust me, acute mountain sickness isn't cool or particularly fun. 

What advice would you give to anyone else transitioning to summer mountain running from a season of flat running?

if you're making the flat and fast to hilly and slower transition then give yourself time to make the correct adaptations in your training. Don't expect to make the switch in a few weeks. Rome wasn't built in a day and nobody went from a sub-14 minute 5k to winning the British long fell champs in a day. It actually took a few months.

Among all the racing successes, were there any races where you didn't have the run you were hoping for?  How do you manage a race when things aren't going to plan?

When a race doesn't go to plan, don't panic! There's always another race and that one result doesn't define you or your season. Separate yourself from your results. Remember, we all have more to us than just running. Some of us bike as well.