Hi all,
I was fortunate to speak with Julien Wanders over the phone last week for about an hour, as he was more than happy to contribute content for us here at Sweat Elite.
Hope you enjoy the article below, about his training setup over in Kenya.
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Julien Wanders: 22 years old, 27:25 for 10km on the road, 59:13 for Half Marathon and an enormous future ahead of him.
I was rather fortunate to speak on the phone with Wanders for a good hour, just a couple of weeks after he ran 59:13 for the Half Marathon. This result was a European Record and would have been an Area Record for any area other than Africa – ie he is the fastest ever non-african over the distance.
Wanders moved to Kenya before his 20th birthday to better his running. It was a bold move. There’s not a lot of money in running unless you’re at the very top end and Wanders postponed university and a working career to see how far he could go.
So far the move has more than paid off. During this 2 short years Wanders has spent living and training in the “Running Capital of the World”, Iten Kenya, he has lowered his 10km personal best from low 29mins to 27:25 and his Half Marathon personal best from 1:03 to 59:13.
“Kenya for me is a no brainer, it’s the perfect environment to make progress and reach my goals. I have outstanding training groups with a crazy level, and that’s what makes me push my limits every day. On top of that, there is the altitude and hilly terrain, which are very demanding on the muscles and which also make me improve enormously. And outside of the training, the life suits me, it’s stress-free. That’s why I decided to train there most of the year.” – Wanders said in an interview with DataSport.
After discussing training with Wanders for over half an hour, it was clear it wasn’t just the move to Kenya that resulted in this steep improvement. He trains like an animal over there.
13 training sessions per week.
170-190km of running.
5 core stability sessions.
2-3 weight training sessions
2-3 massages
Countless hours on recovery
When asked what Wanders has changed in his training recently, he mentioned two things: increasing the volume of his interval sessions and increasing the duration of his “long tempo runs.”
The increase of volume in his interval sessions on the track from 8-10km worth of intervals to 12-14km worth of intervals is one change he’s recently made. An example Wanders shared:
2 x 3km in 8:45
5 x 1200m in 3:24
2 x 2 x 600m in 1:37-1:38
(2:30′ recovery)
The second difference was increasing the volume and intensity of his long runs, which Wanders calls “Long Tempo Runs” – a training sessions which Wanders believes is his bread and butter. Wanders alternates 25km and 35km runs each week, in which his 25km runs are a little quicker. Typically his 25km runs will start at 3:30km and finish with the final 5km at under 3min/km. His average speed on these runs are around 3:10-3:15/km which is absolutely flying if you factor in the high altitude (2300-2400m) and rolling hills around Iten. His 35km runs typically average out at 3:25-3:30/km and are also progressive in nature, starting at around 3:45/km and ending at around 3:10-3:15/km.
Wanders “most challenging” workout will make you cringe. 22km consisting of 3km in 8:50-8:55 (just under 3min/km) with a 1km float recovery in 3:20. Yep, that’s right… a 1km recovery in 3:20.
On the call we also discussed diet, which Wanders takes seriously. He tends to run on an empty stomach in the mornings (just coffee), despite most of his hard training sessions being done in the morning. “Taking in enough carbohydrates the night before a big sessions is adequate. I don’t feel good running with food in my stomach.”
Wanders’ diet consists of the staple Kenyan foods: ugali, pasta, vegetables and chicken a few times per week.
“How long do you normally taper for before a big race?” I asked.
“Normally I won’t taper much at all to be honest. Perhaps 3 easy days is enough for me. If I take any more than that, I tend to feel a bit lethargic. Before RAK Half Marathon I trained very hard on the Sunday before (5 days before) with a training sessions consisting of 4 x 1200m (in 3:24s), 4 x 1000m (in 2:46s) and 4 x 800m (in 2:09s) then an all out 400m in 55sec. All of this with 2.5min recovery between intervals.”
Keep in mind that this track that Wanders trains on is at 2200m altitude and is an uneven surfaced dirt track. The 400m in 55 is probably more like a 400m in 52-53 on a tartan track at sea level.
What’s next for Wanders? He still has a love for the track and wishes to medal in the 5000m and/or 10,000m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“No Marathons before then” he said.
Wanders also believes he can come close to breaking the Half Marathon World Record one day in the coming years, which would mean lowering his personal best time another 55 seconds. It seems like a long shot, but keep in mind that Wanders is still just 22 years of age and has improved over 4 minutes in the last 2 years alone.
Finally, I asked Wanders what advice he would give 10km-Marathon runners looking to improve.
“Increase the speed of your long runs. Long slow running is senseless; you should be doing these long runs at a steady pace, ideally close to your marathon pace. All of the top longer distance runners I know do their long runs fast. This is the #1 thing I see many people doing wrong and I believe will help people improve if they change it.”
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Wanders also shared a week from his training diary (this was just a few weeks before his 59:13 Half Marathon), that you can find here:
Another article about his training we wrote is here:
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Matt Fox
Founder - Sweat Elite