Silas Kiplagat said he would try to break the WR this year

links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT1AjX9Da5o

http://www.iaaf.org/WXC11/news/kind=100/newsid=59165.html

Don't think what was written in the IAAF news is what Silas said. In winter, he went for the first indoor EXACTLY 6 DAYS AFTER WINNING KENYAN PRISON CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS (12 km) beating two athletes with a PB in HM under 60'.

He said the goal in his career is to arrive under 3'26", without speaking about this year.

In 2011, the real goal is to consolidate his perfoirmances around 3'30", may be running 2-3 times under that limit.

Till now, he never put speed in his training, as the season is very long.

Anyway, we need to see the evolution of the problem of today in Oslo (he was spiked) before speaking about short term projects.

Thanks coach Canova for the behind-the-scene titbits on Silas. From the start of the season he has not displayed the kind of sharpness associated with a champion. I was however impressed by his guts last week during the prefontaine meet. His burst of speed at around 250m to the finish was incredible!

thank you for the correction, Renato.

Renato ,I reckon alot has to change for Silas Kiplagat to go anywhere near 3.26.Firstly,he needs speed.Pure speed which he does not have.I wonder if he can develop this.It seems unlikely.Secondly he needs strenght.At the moment he looks abit weak physically compared to all great millers e.g Coe,Ovett,EL G,Lagat etc.To me he seems perfect for 5000M in the next few years.

I fully agree with you. He needs to follow a plan for increasing the frequency of his strides, his strength (till now he never used gym) and his speed.

The problem is he works with a small group including Sammy Kitwara and Thomas Longosiwa. So, many times the interpretation of the training program is not specific, and there is not total connection between his training and the event of 1500m.

Renato thanks for your reply.

If working in that group suits him and as you say their program is not specific to 1500 yet he can perform as well as he is doing mainly due to raw talent,then maybe instead of completely changing what he is doing, it is better to let him carry on with that program and training group.Just add a few things that can help him develop into a world class 5000M runner.Forget about the 1500M.I say this because the 1500 is flooded with top talent at the moment and there will be more coming in whereas the 5000 still has room at the very top where there is only Mo Farah,Lagat and Merga at the moment.

Renato, I suppose you are the coach of Silas Kiplagat. I've been desperately trying to find some information about Kiplagat's training on special and specific periods.

1) Could you show us Kiplagat's training logs on special and/or specific periods or at least show some key workouts?

2) Could you show the percentages of different training speeds on different periods (introduction, general, special and specific) for 1500/3000 m type athlete, who is running both indoors and outdoors and maybe some cross on Nov/Dec/Jan?

3) When it is right time to start intervals with spikes?

4) According to your opinion, what would be ideal summer racing schedule for someone top athlete, who is trying to beat 1500m WR? How long is peak period for top mailers?

5) Finally one question about Italian track and field. Do you have any information how did Donato Sabia train?

Thanks

just from reading this it doesnt sound like he is coaching silas

I don't see the top talent flooding the fifteen. Where are the 3:28s and better? The longer distances have the talent.

Any of the below guys can run 3.28 in a well rabbitted and time trial race:-

Asbel Kiprop

Chepseba

Choge( has run several 3.29s in competitive races)

Keitany

Just because no one is running 3,28 does not mean there is no one capable of doing it.

Silas uses programmes from myself and from Moses Kiptanui.

During the periods I'm in Kenya, I can see him on track, about 2 times per week, but when I'm not there he trains completely with the other group.

It's frequent that Kenyan athletes, id different periods of the season, follow program from two different coaches, depending on logistic situations.

Sometimes this strategy can work, sometimes there is confusion.

In the case of Silas, since his group is made of athletes for longer distances, there is a clear lack of specific speed, without a correct development of speed endurance with graduality during the season.

I was with Silas during the period of Prefontaine meeting, and we spoke about this problem. He promised that, after going back Kenya on 11th of June, he'll try to follow the program I gave him in more precise way ; howevere, since I don't go back Kenya till the end of June (I'm in Colorado Springs at the moment), I'm not sure he can really develop what I planned.

About the questions, I want to explain my proposal :

a) I think possible to peak 3 times during a season, maintaining the best shape for about 15 days each time.

One can be at the end of February (for example, for World Indoor Champs), another for the beginning of June, the last for the top Championships. Of course, this is what we can try to do next year with Gebremedhin, that starts working with my programs, because in Ethgiopia there are no trials. It's very much more difficult to do it with a Kenyan, because they have Trials (may be at the end of June next year) and they need to be in top shape for qualifying : Asbel Kiprop, Haron Keitany, Silas Kiplagat, Caleb Ndiku, Nixon Chepseba, Nicholas Kemboi and, may be, some newcomer (Choge goes to 5000m). So, in the case of Kenyans, I think difficult for them to be at their top for Olympics Games, because the period between Trials and OG is about 5 weeks, not so short for maintaining the peak of shape, but not so long for allowing a period of recovering the aerobic strength and after going in a lactic training.

b)About the intervals with spikes, in Kenya athletes use this very far from their competitions, because Kenyan weather is ok already in December. From that period, also for athletes not competing in indoor races, the best athletes use one session of fartlek and one session on track, with spikes (don't forget that Kenyan tracks are earth tracks). The problem are not spikes yes or not, but the distances and the intensity they use. In my proposal, there are distances for aerobic strength (for example, 2000/1600/1200/800m with 4'/5' recovery, at a percentage of the PB in 1500m of 80%/84%/88%/95%) and distances for lactic resistance (600/500/400/300 with 1'/1'30" recovery, at a percentage of 90%/94%/98%/102%), with global volume between 5 and 7 km, but there are not workouts for the LACTIC CAPACITY. These can start during the special period, startring about 10 weeks before the main peak.

c) The technical management of a young top class runner in Kenya and/or Ethiopia is today very difficult, because, professional speaking, they need to earn money, and now this opportunity is very rare on track. You must think that a third place in a Diamond League race is 4,000 USD, and 4th place 3,000 (look the times you need for this position) and, because of the number of athletes of the same level, the result can change completely due to some very little difference in shape or some very small mistake during the race. This means that they are stimulated in running many times, because every race can produce a good benefit or nothing, and in this way is very difficult to find time for developing a plan on technical basis.

Depending on this factors, the most part of middle distance runners in Kenya and Ethiopia arrange their training according to the last info they receive from their managers, out of a systematic plan, and the most part of times go in confusion.

The only time when it's really possible to work with a plan is Winter, if there are not indoor races.

This provokes also many injuries, because there is no graduality in reaching the shape, and many times the body is not ready for sudden changes of intensity, required by competitions not in the previous plan.

Many thanks to response!

I have some questions about lactic capacity/power sessions. On another thread you said:

"Big risk is to run too fast in training of LACTIC CAPACITY, connected with the LACTIC POWER. Since there are different ways in terminology, LACTIC POWER is,practically, the PB of 600m (for example, 1'16"), and LACTIC CAPACITY is 3x600 in 1'21" with 7'-8' recovery.

In 1988, the team of East Germany went to Sestriere for preparing OG of Seoul, with their best group of sprinters. Among them, there was the World Champion of 400m of the previous year, Schoenlebe (winner in Rome in 44"33). I saw one incredible training of Lactic Capacity : 3 x 500m with 7' of recovery, in 59"7 - 59"5 - 59"6 (the official World Best performance was 60"02 !). I was sure he could win Olympic running under 44". Instead, he ended his career going out in qf running 46"60 !

Only several years later, studying the lactic reaction in altitude with a group of French scientists, we discovered that SO HIGH INTENSITY FOR A LACTIC WORKOUT COULD PROVOKE A REVERSAL OF THE POLARITY OF THE MEMBRANE. Practically, the athlete is no more able to eliminate the rubbish rimaining in his cells, and the cells cannot receive the right nutrition. In this case, the sensation is to have legs always very heavy, a feeling of "chocking", like a stagnation of lactate inside. The problem is that, ecceeding in this type of training, this situation becomes irreversible, and the athlete is no more able to have any type of endurance for ever."

1) Can that kind of disaster take place also at sea-level, especially if we speak about young athletes without good aerobic base?

2) Could you write more about that study about lactate reaction in altitude (who were the French scientist exactly and maybe you have journal article to show)?

3) "The first effect of training in altitude is TO IMPROVE THE AEROBIC POWER. So, altitude is not DIRECTLY effective for those distances NOT DIRECTLY DIPENDING ON AEROBIC POWER." - is that the reason, why we can see lots of top Ethiopian 5km/10km/HM runners, but we can not see (m)any top Ethiopian 800m runners, because it is impossible to do lactic capacity training in altitude?

4) How do you prevent your athletes from overtraining/ overtraining syndrome?

b) In my proposal, there are distances for aerobic strength (for example, 2000/1600/1200/800m with 4'/5' recovery, at a percentage of the PB in 1500m of 80%/84%/88%/95%) and distances for lactic resistance (600/500/400/300 with 1'/1'30" recovery, at a percentage of 90%/94%/98%/102%), with global volume between 5 and 7 km, but there are not workouts for the LACTIC CAPACITY. These can start during the special period, startring about 10 weeks before the main peak.

Just to get this cleared up, you are saying that you have athletes do a workout like this 600/500/400/300 with a total volume of 5-7 kilometers for lactic resistance? May I ask what exactly lactic resistance is? and how often would you do these workouts?

Canova, you're the coolest. Thanks for the info.

I think he ment (600/500/400/300) as just examples of different distances for different intervals. like ex. 5x600, 10x400, etc. etc.

Mr. Clif wrote:

I think he ment (600/500/400/300) as just examples of different distances for different intervals. like ex. 5x600, 10x400, etc. etc.

so 90% of your 600 pr for 5-7k with 1:00-1:30 rest. I couldent do anything close to that...are you sure?

Skeptical Racer wrote:

so 90% of your 600 pr for 5-7k with 1:00-1:30 rest. I couldent do anything close to that...are you sure?

Not 90% of the 600 Pr, but of the 1500 PR.

top 1500 talent wrote:Any of the below guys can run 3.28 in a well rabbitted and time trial race:-

Asbel Kiprop

Chepseba

Choge( has run several 3.29s in competitive races)

Keitany

Just because no one is running 3,28 does not mean there is no one capable of doing it.

great post

& possibly lalou as well

currently, because the statistical gap between 3'29 & 3'26 is so large, it seems impossible to contemplate anyone ever approaching 3'26 in forseeable future

however, if 2 or 3 of these guys go 3'28, then the gap doesn't appear so astronomical & one can at least contemplate one of these guys going 3'27 in their career, which somewhat lessens the height of the 3'26 mount everest