If you follow running or are a runner yourself, especially in Minnesota, then you know the name Dakotah Lindwurm. Taking the running world by storm, Dakotah qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Her journey has been something out of a movie, and she continued to excel in her preparation for biggest race of her life.
Dakotah has been running all her life, discovering her passion and skill while running the mile in gym class. She then participated in track in high school, but without standout times, she walked on at Northern State University, a Division II school in South Dakota. Running long-distance events and marathons in college, her dedication led her to start training with Minnesota Distance Elite (MDE) and Coach Chris Lundstrom in 2018.
Quickly after starting training with MDE, Dakotah started running the marathon professionally and placed 4th in the 2019 Grandma’s Marathon. She later won the same race twice in a row in 2021 and 2022. Climbing the ranks of elite runners in North America, she placed in the top 15 at the Boston and Chicago Marathons.
She set her sights on the 2024 U.S. Marathon Team Trials to compete for her country. With high hopes and determination, Dakotah finished 3rd at the U.S Team Trials, with a time of 2:25:31, earning her spot on the Olympic Team and achieving her dreams.
We were lucky to have Dakotah and her MDE teammates do testing in our Edina Performance Lab, giving her and her coaches key metrics and baselines to work with while training. Human Powered Health proudly serves as the official performance lab for MDE, ensuring top-notch testing and personalized insights for their athletes.
Chris Lundstrom and MDE use a data-driven training regimen to get the most out of their athletes. Utilizing VO2max assessments, lactate thresholds, and heart rate variability/zones to ensure peak performance, they leave no stone unturned.
Fully embracing innovation to enhance health and performance, Coach Chris Lundstrom said, “The data plays a huge role in our training, and it tells me a lot about how the athlete is responding to the training.” He also spoke on what assessments were especially important: “The key performance testing metrics that we look at are lactate threshold, speed at lactate threshold and heart rate at lactate threshold.”
Dakotah also visited our newest lab in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the weekend of the 2024 Boston Marathon, and we sat down for an interview with her. When describing how Human Powered Health has enhanced her training, she said, “The data I got from HPH was such a confidence booster. Seeing my V02max on paper and knowing it’s at an elite level was pretty cool.” Dakotah touched on the importance of getting testing done, adding, “Knowledge is power, it’s going to make you better.”
On August 11th, 2024 Dakotah competed in the Women’s Marathon at the Olympics. Months before the race Dakotah described how she was feeling, saying, “I’ve got dreams of the medal being around my neck for sure.” and “I’m just going to keep on being me, keep having fun out there, and trust Chris Lundstrom’s training.”
The race went very well for Dakotah, finishing 12th overall and leading at various times throughout the marathon. Her time of 2:26:44 was a near personal best and was only 4 minutes behind the gold medal finisher, Sifan Hassan who set a new Olympic record time. Dakotah was also the highest-finishing runner on the U.S Team.
Human Powered Health is incredibly grateful to have been a part of Dakotah Lindwurm’s journey. It was amazing watching her represent the U.S. and Minnesota Distance Elite in the Paris games, and we know it’s just the start of an incredible career trajectory for her.
Want to train like Dakotah? Access our Free Running Performance Guide with Chris Lindstrom where he highlights the key metrics he tracks with all of his athletes, including Dakotah.
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