TRAINING

Note to you gullible guys:

You keep asking Cordova questions, and for some reason he keeps answering. Considering that he makes his living as a coach and that knowledge was probably hard to come by, I find this puzzling. Also, since he has written a book on the subject that details EVERYTHING he was written here, why don't you buy it?

It sells for $8.00 he said! I have the IAAF book list! Ask for it (and several others) for Christmas.

Second, make the link a favorite or paste the thread into an email to yourself and you can keep it and click it everyday, that way you don't keep bumping it up where people don't want to read it.

When people ask for threads, you can email them the thread or post the link, bumping thread like this just makes them unecessarily long and full of useless text.

Last, I would not trust Mr. Cordova with your running life, for a few reasons:

1. the Italians were not known for marathon success or depth until the same time that the East Africans started to steamroll everyone (late-80's-early-90's) and their marathon success is due to the same thing. Don't agree? Ask yourself why the same nation, the same runners and the same coaches don't produce top 5k and 10k runners, or at least some 13:10/27:20 level ones.

2. He can't spell "Addis Ababa". Rip into me for hime being Italian and I will name 3 dozen Italian cities I've never been to ... and I will spell them correctly.

You guys are taking this coach-hero-worship thing too far. The nicest thing you could do for him is to buy a couple hundred of his books (three apeice) and give one to your running friend that needs it.

But for god's sake get off his jock for awhile.

likes the book ..not a kissass wrote:

Second, make the link a favorite or paste the thread into an email to yourself and you can keep it and click it everyday, that way you don't keep bumping it up where people don't want to read it.

I agree with you about making a link a favorite, but you can't say this thread has been bumped to often. Look at the dates - before this latest bump it was nearly 3 months since anyone posted on it (September 24).

Of course by responding to this I have ended up bumping it myself.

If others are gullible, why did you wait 32 hours to bump the thread.

who is Cordova?

Renato coaches world class Italians too, but you probably have never heard of them.

He doesn't hide behind a pseudonym like you.

He is also very humble, unlike you.

There are several ways to spell the capital of Ethiopia.

I will buy his book, but even if I didn't, he is so generous with his help, he wouldn't mind.

likes the book ..not a kissass wrote:

2. He can't spell "Addis Ababa". Rip into me for hime being Italian and I will name 3 dozen Italian cities I've never been to ... and I will spell them correctly.

things are spelled differently in italian you dick

Will somebody inform the guy up above that the city HE knows in Italy that HE calls "Florence", is called Firenze in Italy. And that "Rome" is Roma, and "Milan" is Milano. You think all those Italians are spelling these names wrongly?? Hell, somebody oughta tell them!

So if an Italian does not spell any city in the world the way it is commonly spelled by English-speakers, who are you to say he is spelling it "wrongly". It never occurred to you that he is just spelling it the way it is spelled in Italian?

Good to see rallying support for Renato, from people who appreciate the time and effort he puts in to help others.

Renato,

Great posts on periodization.

Can you expand a little on transition period of rest and especially (nervous recovery). More specifically, do you incorporate central nervous system breaks (2-3 very easy or totally off days in a row) every 3 months for example.

With regards to the Intro. period 6-8 weeks and the Fundamental period 8-10 weeks, etc...

Can you expand on your thoughts on LONG TERM periodization in years not racing seasons of 12 months. What I mean is, if a runner is always doing 6-8 weeks, 8-10, repeat, repeat,...for 10 years isn't the effect different than the runner starting out on the international scene. Is it possible to incorporate shorter training cycles (mesocycles) into the mix because the more experienced runner has maxed out on the original affect OR more importantly a marathon runner may need to get back to basic base building mileage emphasis and take it easy on the intensity for regeneration purposes or needs to get back Ae Power, AnT End, or Ae End? So instead of 8-8-8-8 weeks for example... 6-6-6-3 and 4-4-3 or some combination of shorter mesocycles to make sure what was emphasized 24 weeks ago and now only maintained is still there (beneficial).

OR another variety with regards to marathon training of including regeneration weeks after every meso phase so, 8 weeks emphasis on x + 1 week with an aerobic emphasis to regenerate. 6 weeks emphasis y + 1 week to regenerate aerobically. You would actually have a 1 week supercompensation for your 6-8-10??? weeks of effort.

Lastly, can you comment on that fine line of general fatigue and overtraining you mentionned. You have your runners in the Fundamental period in a fatigued state. Are they fatigued for the full 8-10 weeks/ 7 days a week, or are they especially fatigued 2-3 days out of the week during the 8-10 weeks period. Being fatigued for 10 weeks 7 days a week can be quite long. Can you comment on the fatigue. Central nervous system general fatigue, dead legs all day, no zapp on high intensity runs, variance in heart rates in the morning or lactate levels.

Thank you very much, I will order the IAAF booklet, Is it downloadable?

Renato:

In what way does the training of the ethiopians differ from the kenyans? Do you know anything about Woldemeskel Kostre's methods?

It would be interesting to know something behind their success.

Here is a copy of Gebrselassie's training schedule from "Laufen Mit Haile Gebrselassie"

MON: am. 3hr (32mi) run @ 17km/h (5:40/mile) + stretching

pm. 1hr run easy

TUE: am. 90min + stretching

pm. 1hr easy

WED: am. long LT 15km-30km (9-18mi)

pm. 1hr easy

THU: am. sprint work + stretching

pm. 1hr easy

FRI: am, 15-20x400m hills with jog back recovery

pm. 1hr easy

SAT: am. track specific work (between 3x1200m to 8x2000m)

pm. 1hr easy

SUN: 1hr run very easy

TOTAL:

~150mi/250km per week

Totally Lydiard

Thanks Trackhead!

Interesting that he does all hard work in the mornings, it should be done opposite from our point of view. But I guess he is doing right and we doing wrong since he is the best runner ever.

Truely amazing. I wish some of the idiots on this board would look at Geb's training before screaming about drug abuse. Our athletes are running 30sec per 5k slower than this man, but are probably doing 20-30% less work. Training like this doesn't leave too much room for what if questions. He is truely pushing his body to the limits!

and to boot, all those 1hr easy runs are active recovery. How many of our guys either blow off the hour easy as unnecessary "junk miles" or run them too hard under the same precept?

This looks like what he probably did while training for a marathon, rather than what he did while training for track. Especially since other sources state that his weekly long run tends to be 1.5 to 2 hours long. I'd be surprised if he did a 32 mile run every week. Many marathoners will do a really long run like this just one time when preparing specifically for a marathon.

Does anybody know when this sample is from?

No, but a 3hr long run is not outrageous for someone who is endurance focused -- not just marathoners.

Thanks trackhead, I've been getting some criticism and abuse from British runners who simply refuse to accept what I keep saying, that the best runners are the best because of the way they train, and have trained for years etc.

I suppose if they read the above schedule it wouldn't change their mind, because they simply cannot comprehend the facts. All you get from these people is denial, denial, denial.

There are so many stories about Haile that make me realise just how emotionally mature he was as a child and yet he still maintains his child like sense of wonder. What a great guy. The letsrun Trolls just can't comprehend, it makes them feel so inferior.

anytime, JonnyO. You're a valuable contributer to the board.

Thanks again trackhead, you too. I really hope America finds a truly World Class distance runner soon, American runners were such an inspiration to me in the seventies and early eighties.

A different mindset is required to that which most runners have these days, which is all based on limitation, rather than exploration.

Denial of one's true running potential is very much the norm amongst runners under 30. Most of the under 30's in my opinion have been brainwashed into underachieving as athletes.

We must try to save the children from this inferiority complex. I often see kids running around barefoot in summer. In future I am going to talk to their parents and give them some encouragement

You know its funny, everyone runs around barefoot on the beach like its completely normal, but when people see me running barefoot on grass or on the track they treat me like such a curiosity, "Why do you run barefoot, doesn't it hurt" etc. Weird

That's a bit of fearful commericialism, I think; the idea that you need some super protective product to save your bones from the horrors of physical abuse! It's total hogwash.