Be it road, track, cross, 1500 m, half marathon, or marathon. Rubén Oliver knows how to shine everywhere. But he’s not the only one. The athletes he coaches are also successful.  

You have been successfully competing in running competitions for more than 25 years. What drives you to train regularly and push yourself to your limits in a competition?  

I have no problems with motivation when it comes to training. I always enjoy going for a run in the evening after work. For me, being healthy and injury-free is an important privilege and reason enough to continue exercising regularly and take care of my health.

I can pick up the speed somewhat in group training and particularly in the TV Oerlikon training. I have the most fun running intervals on the road as well as on the track.

As a sports physician, running trainer, and runner, you are in a position to wear different "hearts" in some situations. As a sports physician, what three tips would you pass on to runners? And which three to running trainers?  

To the athletes:

• 2.
  Be patient, less is more, plan your career in the long term.
• 4.
  Listen to your body. The uppermost goal is to remain healthy and injury-free.
• 6.
  Always maintain the necessary relaxed attitude and enjoyment of running.

To the trainers:

• 2.
  Lots of basic training! Let the athletes run the endurance runs slowly.
• 4.
  Active injury prevention with education.
• 6.
  Slow down the athletes where needed to avoid overloading them: stretching, core strength, etc. Take everyday stresses into account, talk to athletes with eating disorders.

You are coaching marathon runner Christian Kreienbühl, among others, who will represent Switzerland in the half marathon distance at the European Championships. How much of your training content is based on personal experience and how much on the theory you have learned?  

The majority is based on my own experiences. However, I also constantly incorporate new findings from studies and new sports science trends into the training.

New fitness trends and training philosophies emerge on a regular basis. In your eyes, what are the three most important rules and means for increasing performance?

• 2.
  Tenacious low-intensity basic training.
• 4.
  Already in the build-up phase, undertaking highly intensive capacity training in the form of interval training above the anaerobic threshold.
• 6.
  Sensible season periodisation and planning of the recovery phases.

Foto: ZVG