We used October for knowing a little bit better his situation. At the end of the month he competed in Valencia HM, running 63:06 (13th position), with feeling of heavy legs, and not good shape at all.
After this, we planned the period in altitude, in the following way :
1 - From Oct 25 till Nob 25 : 31 days in Iten (I was also there and we worked together).
2 - From Jan 1 till Mar 17 : Period of 76 days in Iten (with the only break of 3 days from 9th till 11th Feb, when he went Ras Al-Khaima for RAK HM, where ran 62:21 practically alone).
3 – From Jun 5 till Jun 27 : Period of 22 days in Sestriere (2050m), before running 10000m in Ostrava on 28th Jun (PB of 28:15).
4 – From Jun 29 till Aug 7 : Period of 38 days in Saint Moritz (1800m), moving for some competition at sea level of 5000m.
5 – From Aug 30 till Oct 20 : Period of 50 days in Sestriere, with the only break of 3 days from 8th till 10th of Sep, when he went Prague for running 10 km (road) in 27’55” (PB)-
This means, before Valencia, in one year, 217 days of training in altitude, changing his physiological parameters (now his blood values are very similar the values of Kenyan always in altitude).
The plan was clear :
a) Great volume during Winter, for running a Spring Marathon (Hannover) looking at a performance under 2:10 (really, he ran 2:10.07 suffering for stomach problems)
b) Increasing speed, looking at the limit for WCh on track (primalry for 10000m, as second option for 5000m). In this case, at the end of June he was not still ready for 27’45”, and Ostrava was not the best race for the limit (but was also the only chance). We looked at the second option, and he reached the limit in Heusden, moving to 13’20”16 (22nd July), a performance he didn’t believe possible till one month before (he went Heusden paying himself travel and accommodation, because strongly believed possible running under 13’22” that was the standard for WCh).
c) After the experience in WCh, the idea was to start immediately to prepare a marathon for December, going through the HM of Valencia. This means he started something longer 20 days after WCh, having a short break during the second half of August, still competing in two different 5000m (the first in National Championships on 25th August, where he paced in front of Jakob Ingrebritgsen till last lap finishing 2nd in 13’39”92, and the second in Rovereto on 29th August, when ran his second personal performance in 13’30”47).