Jama Aden Coaching Philosophy

Just found out today that he is also coaching Genzebe Dibaba:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/02/rupp-0222/

Aden's started coaching with John Cook at George Mason and has strong ties to the US ie he trained some with Joe Falcon.

Don't know much about the philosophy but he's got a facebook page. I think an LRC visitor did a huge interview with him last year in Sweden. I 'll see if I can find it.

Good article showing some workouts.

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Thanks!

JRinaldi wrote:

http://www.britishmilersclub.com/bmcnews/2009spring.pdf

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That's great stuff.

Thanks!

I followed Jama and his group last summer and in the end of their stay I made this interview. It is pretty long, but I know letsrunners are not only fast runners but also fast readers.

Johan

http://jwallerstein.blogspot.se/2012/11/world-class-middle-distance-coach-jama.html

Fantastic article! thanks Johan

Just an additional question for those who have the insight. What does 'lots of easy running' in Base Period (Phase 1&2 refering to be BMC article) mean in particular for those MD beasts? 540mile/330km pace or faster like the Moroccans love to do or REAL slow distance at 6mile + pace and some aerobic intervals?

Thanks!

As someone who trained with Jama I would imagine starting out at 6:30 pace and bringing it down to 5:10's which was very common when training with him and Abdi back in 86/87. Progression runs is what we would call it now back then it was just Cook saying go out in 30 come back in 25.

I'm training around Jama's group right now...not with them. I haven't seen any of there workouts yet, but just know that they run very slow on easy runs...about 8min/mile. That's for the whole group, 400m-1/2marathon.

Sounds like they do 3 workout most weeks, one of them being a hill session.

I talk to Jama and Abdi every other day. Let me know if you have a specific question, I'll try to ask them...no promise.

sululta wrote:

I'm training around Jama's group right now...not with them. I haven't seen any of there workouts yet, but just know that they run very slow on easy runs...about 8min/mile. That's for the whole group, 400m-1/2marathon.

Sounds like they do 3 workout most weeks, one of them being a hill session.

Do they train that slowly on recovery days year round or just during the pre-competition phase?

jama is one of the best middle and long distance coaches in the world

if anyone is interesting to be part of jama's group pls let know me, i have the connections to hook you all up

wejo wrote:

... has strong ties to the US ie he trained some with Joe Falcon.

Jama also competed for Fairleigh Dickinson University in the early '80s

i just read the Kitcher article and had a couple questions about the weight/strength training work they do. he says they don't have 'proper weights' in the gym, so i doubt they are doing traditional squats, deadlifts, hang cleans, etc. so what kind of weight work do they do? i can imagine with the 'concrete blocks' he describes they could do a lot of single-leg stuff (single-leg squats, single-leg deadlifts, single-leg step ups on to a box, etc). also, do they do weights/strength training as part of a circuit routine, or do it in a more traditional lifting manner (example - 3 sets of 6 reps of a particular exercise, then move to the next one). also, what is Aden's take on plyometrics? do his guys do any, and if so, what is the routine like? if not, why? (perhaps fear of injury) thanks in advance if you can provide any info.

sululta wrote:

I talk to Jama and Abdi every other day. Let me know if you have a specific question, I'll try to ask them...no promise.

I had the pleasure to train with the group this past winter.

What the group is doing is that they're doing the same things year round, but they regulate the workouts depending on the phase.

In base training they do a workout every other day (long run counts as a workout). Workouts could be 15x300m, 4x(400+200), 15x200m hill repeats, 90 min run fast pace, 3x10min fartlek.

If a workout is fast, sprinting sessions, they do them in the afternoon. These days they have an easy morning run, 5.5 k in 30 min.

If it's a long and a bit slower workout they do them in the morning and take the afternoon off.

On easy days, which is every other day, they do a 1 hour run where they get in about 12 km. In the afternoon these days they do a long gym session, where they do low weight and a lot of reps. Sometimes, if they feel like it, they warm up with a easy 20 min run before gym sessions. And after each gym session, they do some sprinting, like 5x50m.

they run an easy 5.5k run in 30 minutes? no