At the time I think few people in the running community had heard of Victor. Not that it mattered the least to me – He showed up in his great mustache, dragged me behind him for one of his easy long runs (which ended up being a personal best half marathon for me), and then just continued running like it was nothing.

Since then Victor has made a fast and impressive climb up the ranks of Swedish runners so we thought it would be fun to catch up…

Who is Victor Smångs och how come you started running?

I’m a happy-go-lucky 30 something with a profound interest in everything that the world has to offer. I’ve always felt that I have an aptitude for running and in 2019 I decided to find out how fast I could become.

How long ago did you decide to do a sub30 10K?

I did a sub31 10K in July of 2020 after having been wonderfully paced by John Kingsted (co-starring with the previously mentioned Manne Forsberg in the Spring Snyggt podcast) at Källbrinks IP. That’s really when (and where) the dream to do a sub30 10K was born.

How many serious attempts did it take?

I probably tried 6-7 times but I’d only count 3 of them as serious attacks where I actually was in a shape corresponding to a sub30.

Were you ever close to abandoning this project somewhere along the way?

Quitting was never an option. As long as I keep getting better there’s actually endless motivation from my side.

Tell us about the race where it all came together for you – What race was it and what were the pieces that had been missing prior?

I had felt that I had it in me for quite a while so all I needed was to find a flat race where I could get it over with. Eventually I found a race in a Manchester suburb called Salford. I ended up soloing the entire race and the clock stopped at 29:51.

What does a typical training week look like for you?

My weeks at very monotonous with my days looking very much the same week after week. Double thresholds Tuesdays and Thursdays. A tougher lactate session on Saturdays and a long run on Sundays. This set up works well with my job.

Are you meticulous with variables such as food and sleep and if so – how do think about these aspects?

I’m usually 100% committed to projects I take on. In this case it means that I log and weigh everything I eat to make sure I get the nutrients I need. I usually also try to get 8 hours of sleep every night as I’m a firm believer in details making the difference.

Thanks for sharing your insights with us and best of luck with your future projects.

If you’d like to follow Victor’s journey he has a fun and truly inspiring instagram account: @victorsmangs.

All the best,
RUNNING IS DEAD

Tell us about the race where it all came together for you – What race was it and what were the pieces that had been missing prior?

I had felt that I had it in me for quite a while so all I needed was to find a flat race where I could get it over with. Eventually I found a race in a Manchester suburb called Salford. I ended up soloing the entire race and the clock stopped at 29:51.

What does a typical training week look like for you?

My weeks at very monotonous with my days looking very much the same week after week. Double thresholds Tuesdays and Thursdays. A tougher lactate session on Saturdays and a long run on Sundays. This set up works well with my job.

Are you meticulous with variables such as food and sleep and if so – how do think about these aspects?

I’m usually 100% committed to projects I take on. In this case it means that I log and weigh everything I eat to make sure I get the nutrients I need. I usually also try to get 8 hours of sleep every night as I’m a firm believer in details making the difference.

Thanks for sharing your insights with us and best of luck with your future projects.

If you’d like to follow Victor’s journey he has a fun and truly inspiring instagram account: @victorsmangs.

All the best,
RUNNING IS DEAD