Now I tell you something that the most part of people doesn't like to hear, but this is my opinion, coming from the knowledge (PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE) that I have with many among the best runners of the World.
I'm sure that, with the talent of many Africans, the current World Records are really WEAK. The explanation of the records of Bekele (and, before, of Gebrselassie) is in the fact that they were the first very talented athletes having a "European" approach (under the point of view of the professionalism) that means to have the focus in athletics not only for short time every year, but for a long time in their life. They have that continuity that the most part of Kenyans don't have (except Tergat or, in the past, Kiptanui).
I don't want to repeat a lot of time the same things, but, believeme, when I see Nicholas Kemboi running 26:30 after 55 days of training (good for the first time in his life), COMPLETELY CLEAN like all my athletes (the first is SHAHEEN), and when I say "CLEAN" it means that they don't use not only some drug, but also some integrator and, in any case, any pharmac (they live and train using the normal food of African people : ugali, meat of cow, chicken, vegetables, milk, and nothing else. They don't drink Gatorade or Isostad or some integrator, don't assume Vitamins, don't take Iron, don't get Aminoacids like the most part of western athletes, also my Italians, normally do) ; when I see this, or I see Stephen Cherono running in 7:53, and I KNOW THEIR TRAINING BECAUSE IS MY PROGRAMME, I also know very well HOW MUCH MORE THEY CAN DO.
Do you think possible to reach your top with less than two months of good training, or, with the correct continuity, 26:30 can become very close 26:00 ?
Do you think possible that your limit is 7:53 on steeple, when you train for about 120-140 km a week during the track season, and in my mind you have a clear lack in specific endurance ?
If Shaheen will be not able running under 7:50 in the next 3 years, I will feel myself unhappy, because it means that I was not able to find the key for reaching what is talent can permit him.
This is the point : the most difficult thing, with a talented african, is to educate him in continuity at high level, in training, changing his life in a full professional way.
I don't believe in any drug, for me nothing can enhance the performances like a correct training. But this is true only with the athletes VERY STRONG IN THEIR BRAIN. The main effect of EPO, for example, is that athletes taking it become sure that can train more and can recovery more, so they finally try to do WHAT COULD DO ALSO BEFORE, but had not the courage to try.
So, with EPO can improve weak athletes, not strong. Who is strong is strong in his mind, and takes his strength from some presumption (I'm the best in the World) that is fed by the strongest self-confidence in his talent, mental and physical.
Because I think that this is the real secret, I work in this direction, trying to make easy what is difficult.
For the African, THE RACE IS ALWAYS EASY, training is always difficult, because they fear the volume and the continuity, not the intensity. So, I try to educate my top runners in accepting a continue increase of training during the years, and I don't need to touch their mentality about the competitions, because already is very aggressive and without any fright.
About the programmes of Nicholas, no secrets. You must have patience. I had all the training of my athletes in a computer that a thief robbed me in Nairobi the 31st of January 2004. Of course, I have all their workouts in my books, but I had not time, till now, to write in ordered way their training. In my computer I had already everything ok, because I used these in some seminary. There were also the analysis of every month. Now, I have to rebuild everything, but at the moment my time is very little. But, if you want, I can send in short time the programmes really done by Albert Chepkurui (Ahmed Hassan) during this winter (he took the bronze in long cross) and also something regarding the new guy Gamal (former Kipkemoi Katui) that, in his first competition, was n. 5 in short and n. 12 in long cross in WCCCh.