Geoffrey Mutai - Full training log before 2011 NYC Marathon CR 2:05:05

SUN JULY 31, 2011 - Bogota Half Marathon - 1:02:20 ( 2640m altitude ) - 1st

Afterwards, a 14-week training plan for the NYC Marathon(NOV 6, 2011) starts.

WEEK 1 - 118 KM/73 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - REST

PM - REST + TRAVEL

TUE - AM - REST + TRAVEL

PM - REST

WED - AM - 15km easy 60min

PM - 13km easy 52min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 15km easy 60min

PM - 13km easy 52min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 8x1km at 2:55/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 2 - 199 KM/123 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5k in 15:00, 5' easy jogging, 5k in 14:40

5' easy jogging + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 8km easy 32min

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 18km easy 1hr12min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 18km easy 1hr12min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 6x1km at 2:52/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 3 - 218 KM/135 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 4x3km at 3:00/km with 3' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 8km easy 32min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 18km easy 1hr12min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 18km easy 1hr12min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 10x1km at 2:57/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 4 - 225 KM/140 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 13km easy 52min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 6x2km at 3:00/km with 2' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5x1km at 2:50/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 5 - 234 KM/145 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 13km easy 52min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 2x6km at 3:00/km with 6' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 12x1km at 3:00/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 6 - 235 KM/146 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 4x3km at 3:00/km with 3' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 12x1km at 3:00/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 7 - 235 KM/146 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 2x6km at 3:00/km with 6' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 12x1km at 3:00/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 8 - 234 KM/145 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 2x6km at 3:00/km with 6' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

THU - AM - 30km Tempo Run: 1hr39min

PM - 10km easy 40min

FRI - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 22km easy 1hr28min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 4x3km at 3:00/km with 2' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 9 - 199 KM/124 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km moderate 1hr30min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 6x1km at 2:53/km with 90" easy jogging

between reps + 7x200m in 27s with 60" rest + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 14km easy 56min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr25min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 14km easy 56min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 10x1km at 2:45/km with 3' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 10 - 196 KM/122 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 23km moderate 1hr20min

PM - 11km easy 44min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 14x1km at 2:43/km with 2' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 14km easy 56min

THU - AM - 30km Tempo Run: 1hr37min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 18km easy 1hr12min

PM - 14km easy 56min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 18x1km at 3:00/km with 1' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 11 - 206 KM/128 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 25km moderate 1hr27min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5x3km at 2:52/km with 90" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 16km easy 1hr04min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr12min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 16km easy 1hr04min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 10x1km at 2:45/km with 3' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 12 - 199 KM/124 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 25km moderate 1hr27min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 13x1km at 2:50/km with 90" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 16km easy 1hr04min

THU - AM - 30km Tempo Run: 1hr41min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 16km easy 1hr04min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 16x1km at 3:00/km with 1' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 13 - 204 KM/127 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 25km moderate 1hr27min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 11x1km at 2:44/km with 2' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 16km easy 1hr04min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr14min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 14km easy 56min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 14x1km at 2:52/km with 90" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 14 - 93 KM/58 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5x1km at 2:46/km with 90" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST + TRAVEL

TUE - AM - REST + TRAVEL

PM - REST

WED - AM - 10km moderate 34min

PM - 7km moderate 24min

THU - AM - 4km moderate 13min

PM - 4km easy 16min

FRI - AM - 5km easy 20min

PM - REST

SAT - AM - 2km easy 8min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - New York City Marathon - 2:05:05 CR - 1st

PM - REST + CELEBRATION

This is beautiful.

He's very consistent week-to-week. Same sorts of workouts, and a lot of easy miles.

Takes Sundays off and still hits 140 mpw.

Interesting that he does basically no taper until the week of the race and then falls off a cliff. 15k TOTAL Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

All in all, it goes amazingly smooth. I can't imagine most of his training goes this perfectly. But if you're about to run the best marathon in history (up to that point), I suppose this is the training that would get you there.

automorphic wrote:

This is beautiful.

He's very consistent week-to-week. Same sorts of workouts, and a lot of easy miles.

Takes Sundays off and still hits 140 mpw.

Interesting that he does basically no taper until the week of the race and then falls off a cliff. 15k TOTAL Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

All in all, it goes amazingly smooth. I can't imagine most of his training goes this perfectly. But if you're about to run the best marathon in history (up to that point), I suppose this is the training that would get you there.

Maybe he needed some extra rest due to jet lag? It would explain the drastic taper during the last few days.

Duke234 wrote:

automorphic wrote:

This is beautiful.

He's very consistent week-to-week. Same sorts of workouts, and a lot of easy miles.

Takes Sundays off and still hits 140 mpw.

Interesting that he does basically no taper until the week of the race and then falls off a cliff. 15k TOTAL Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

All in all, it goes amazingly smooth. I can't imagine most of his training goes this perfectly. But if you're about to run the best marathon in history (up to that point), I suppose this is the training that would get you there.

Maybe he needed some extra rest due to jet lag? It would explain the drastic taper during the last few days.

Maybe so. But it's also a really easy taper to execute. You run almost your normal workout the week prior, so you won't lose any fitness. And then you back way way off the week of, so you will surely be rested. I think the possible complaints about this taper are that it would throw you for a loop (because of the quick decrease in volume) or that you wouldn't be sharp (because of the lack of any speedwork at the end).

Clearly neither of those problems affected Mutai! I might try this taper at some point. If it works, it seems very hard to get wrong.

Those last 6 weeks are very similar to Kipchoge's last 6 weeks from the Berlin buildup last year. Mutai runs a bit more between workouts and Kipchoge runs on Sundays, but the workouts are almost the same. 6 years apart with different coaches (Self-coached Mutai and Patrick Sang)

First, the long runs/tempos are identical

Tuesday workouts are variations of eachother:

Wk 1 - 6K worth of work @Marathon pace + short fast reps

Wk 2 - 14K worth of work @10K pace or a little faster

Wk 3 - 15K worth of work @Marathon pace

Wk 4 - Exactly the same workout of 13 x 1K @Marathon pace or a little faster

Wk 5 - 11K worth of work @10K pace

Wk 6 - 5K worth of work @5K pace

Saturday workouts are just a little bit different but the overall volume and paces are about the same as well.

If there was ever a Kenyan marathon success formula... with this info out there, anyone trying to be successful in the marathon not using some very close variation of this may want to reconsider.

Some other things to note

Geoffrey Mutai trained with Wilson Kipsang and Dennis Kimetto

Patrick Sang also trained Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Kamworor

Just right there, we know how 5 of the 6 fastest marathoners ever trained for those races, and how maybe the best half marathoner ever who's also proven pretty good at the marathon trains as well.

If I were a marathoner or coached any, I would drop whatever method I was following to this point and reconsider based on this immediately. For top tier athletes especially but I'm sure this could be scaled to just about anyone trying to run their fastest in the marathon.

I don't imagine Bekele would ever commit to run such high mileages. He is the most talented out there

Bekelethegod wrote:

I don't imagine Bekele would ever commit to run such high mileages. He is the most talented out there

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

All of these articles mentions that Bekele does 240km/150miles a week. A lot of these links are focused on his marathon debut-2:05 in Paris. To not overwhelm this thread i put a full stop after each link, but i'm not even sure if that'll work. To see them just delete the full stop and then just copy and paste.

[quote]AerobicMonster wrote:

To not overwhelm this thread i put a full stop after each link, but i'm not even sure if that'll work.

Guess it didn't lol. Oh well.

Thanks for the links. It seems like all the low mileage thing is pretty crap. If you want extraordinary things at the marathon you have to put in the very hard work.

Great to see this training. The length of the afternoon run is particularly impressive to me. Dude was out there hammering for 3hrs + on some days. Also interesting to see the lack of long (but less than 30k) continuous tempos. I really want to believe that Mutai wasn’t doped to the gills because he’s one of my all time favorite marathoners. But I’ve sort of accepted that Kimetto was probably doped up, and these guys were obviously very tight...

I also thought that I saw an interview with Mutai maybe a year after this period where he talked about running a workout of something like 12 or 15 x (1km float/1 km brisk).

The thing I find most interesting if you look at these paces in comparision to his race paces many of the workouts are at a pretty reduced effort. Now he is training at altitude so that needs to be taken into account but this is a lot of fairly moderate workouts. I think Tinman would be quite pleased. 6x1k at 2:52 for example. That is about this guys half marathon pace, even at altitude there is no way that is slower than his 10k pace. 2:52 is 28:40 pace. He was running mid to low 27's on the road at that time so a 28:40 at altitude would be very managable. In another session he does 10x1k at 2:57. That is basically his marathon pace. Maybe we can change it to his half marathon pace because of the altitude, but considering he had run faster than that for the half in Bogata- some altitude, tough course, tough weather generally I think it is probably slower than his half marathon pace. Even his regular 40k's in 2:20. Assuming the terrian was similar to the NYC course your looking at marathon pace being 2:58 per K. This means these runs are at about 80% marathon pace. Again he is at altitude so maybe it is more like 85% at sea level. That is a good solid long run but nothing killer. For a 2:20 marathoner this would be like running 4:00 per K for a 40k long run. That is like 6:20's pace. Really nothing to challenging. The overall volume and density of the training is very impressive and obviously that a human being can get to the point where these crazy paces are so "slow" for their fitness is wild. I've always assumed Mutia is dirty but that doesn't mean you can't learn from what he is doing. This schedule shows a huge volume of work in the half marathon to 80% of marathon pace and very high mileage. Very little vo2max work, very little 10k pace work. I agree fully with the poster who said that if you were looking to run a competitive marathon you should be looking directly at this type of training and that of Patrick Sang's athletes. In the old days you could slow 7 % from your half marathon pace and be a solid marathoner but now these guys are slowing 3%. There is a reason and I think it is the training. Yes they may be doping but so are a lot of guys, now and historically, who were slowing a lot more. So for the clean athlete you can toss that out. It may be why they are 3mins faster than you in the half marathon but it isn't why they are only slowing 3% to from the half to full and you are slowing 10%. Now if you are clean and you are copying these sessions you need to watch recovery. Dirty athletes seem to be able to go hard way way more often but in terms of the types of workouts this can be very instructive.

We are all free to make assumptions and overthink. We must be glad we lived the days to see him race and also to share this valuable information with us.

Learning more about this guy, i'm convinced he was really really special. I will follow up his New York training log with another one, before the 2011 Bogota half marathon.

SUN JUNE 26, 2011 - Boston B.A.A 10K - 27:19 - 1st

Afterwards, a 5-week training plan for the Bogota Half Marathon(JUL 31, 2011)

starts.

WEEK 1 - 106 KM/66 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - REST

PM - REST + TRAVEL

TUE - AM - REST + TRAVEL

PM - REST

WED - AM - 10km easy 40min

PM - 10km easy 40min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 15km easy 60min

PM - 13km easy 52min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5x1km at 2:50/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 2 - 202 KM/125 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 22km easy 1hr28min

PM - 12km easy 48min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 7x1km at 2:53/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 20km easy 1hr20min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 20km easy 1hr20min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 5x1km at 2:50/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 3 - 210 KM/130 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 26km easy 1hr44min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 4x3km at 3:00/km with 3' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - 10km easy 40min

WED - AM - 24km easy 1hr36min

PM - 20km easy 1hr20min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr20min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 20km easy 1hr20min + TRAVEL

SAT - AM - Nairobi Kenyan Ch. 10K - 27:39 - 4th

PM - REST + TRAVEL

SUN - AM - REST

PM - REST

WEEK 4 - 180 KM/112 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 24km moderate 1hr23min

PM - 14km easy 56min

TUE - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 6x1km at 2:56/km with 60" easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

WED - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 10km easy 40min

THU - AM - 40km Tempo Run: 2hr25min

PM - REST

FRI - AM - 20km easy 1hr20min

PM - 10km easy 40min

SAT - AM - 6km Warm-up - 30min + 8x1km at 2:45/km with 2' easy jogging

between reps + 6km cool-down - 30min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - REST + TRAVEL

PM - REST + TRAVEL

WEEK 5 - 84 KM/52 MILES

----------------------------------------------------

MON - AM - 14km moderate 48min

PM - REST

TUE - AM - Castelbuono 10K - 29:05 - 1st

PM - 20km easy 1hr20min

WED - AM - REST + TRAVEL

PM - REST + TRAVEL

THU - AM - 5km easy 20min

PM - 5km easy 20min

FRI - AM - 5km moderate 17min

PM - REST

SAT - AM - 3km easy 12min

PM - REST

SUN - AM - Bogota Half Marathon - 1:02:20 CR ( 2640m altitude ) - 1st

PM - REST + CELEBRATION

automorphic wrote:

Duke234 wrote:

Maybe he needed some extra rest due to jet lag? It would explain the drastic taper during the last few days.

Maybe so. But it's also a really easy taper to execute. You run almost your normal workout the week prior, so you won't lose any fitness. And then you back way way off the week of, so you will surely be rested. I think the possible complaints about this taper are that it would throw you for a loop (because of the quick decrease in volume) or that you wouldn't be sharp (because of the lack of any speedwork at the end).

Clearly neither of those problems affected Mutai! I might try this taper at some point. If it works, it seems very hard to get wrong.

I have seen this type of taper among ultra distance XC skiers. High volume and very long workouts (such as 3 hours of double poling) until one week before the race and then minimal training the last week.

Duke234 apologies if it’s alredy been mentioned, but what is the source for this?

ArthurG556 wrote:

Duke234 apologies if it’s alredy been mentioned, but what is the source for this?

It's from this post on this thread.

Mzungu in Iten wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

The hills are not worth 2+ minutes, so no.

Isn't it a slight net negative elevation as well

The net elevation is -4m, so it's negligible. True, the hills are not worth that much, maybe 1:30-40, but combined with the lack of pacers (and them doing a great job) cost them additional time, maybe up to 40-50 seconds. Even if you don't agree, consider the WR at the time was 2:03:38, so the difference was only 1:27. He could've beaten it easily on a course like Berlin with good weather in that shape.

As i said yesterday, i got in touch with Gianni and today he sent me Geoffrey's training before that New York marathon. Here you go.

Thanks Sand D

I can't imagine how hard is to run a 27:39 10000m at altitude after you just ran 124km in the last 3 days. I searched a bit those races, he won the Castelbuono 10k, in 29:05, on a tough course, hot weather, dropping everyone after 3km, eventually winning by a minute in front of Gebremariam.

In Bogota, he ran 1:02:20 on a tough course, foggy humid day at 2600m altitude, beating 2nd place Deriba Merga by 2:30 minutes and dropping everyone after 6km. He was definitely firing on all cylinders that year...

his ratio of workouts to total mileage suggests to me anything but dirty. same with the intensity of the wokrouts. now if you watch dibaba rip off sub 60 400s in spain.... well that's what dirty training looks like.

mutai ran 2:05 off of insanely consistent training at high altitude. he's also athletic like many of his countrymen to boot. if NJ is who i think, than the fact that you can do what you do with that atrocious form, mechanics, and apparently zero athleticism then its no surprise that someone of mutai's talent and consistent training can run 2:05 clean.