Great interview with Sammy Wanjiru

I was a little shocked when he said "don't train when it rains" too, but then it struck me that we have all shifted a tough workout for a nice day as opposed to doing it in bad weather. The purpose of that is to make sure you can run what you need to during a workout so that the weather doesn't cause you to have a bad workout. We've all done it one time or another. I'm sure he still runs. I'm just shocked at how easy that training is. I can't imagine doing any run at 7:12 pace.

or maybe he just doesnt run on rainy days its not that absurd, nowhere is there a running law that says you have to run everyday

pretty crazy that he goes and runs basically 20 miles in 1:40 and that is still 10-15 seconds per mile slower than his marathon pace.

This entire glimpse of his training is pretty unclear. Is he saying that he does 15k every morning, IN ADDITION to the afternoon workouts he lists here? Also, does anyone really believe his long runs are that slow, especially when all of his 15k morning runs seem to be progression-type efforts? I mean, maybe if he is doing all of his long runs at 10,000' or above, but....?

This rain business is all ado about nothing.

What was badass was when he talked about being up front no matter the pace. Our top runners need to start thinking like this.

I don't understand what's so shocking about this. All the best runners in the world really have one fundamental philosophy: Run easy on the easy days, and hard on the hard days. And on the other side of the same coin, all runners need to run consistently and rest consistently. Different runners rest differently (e.g. not running at all as opposed to less running). All successful distance runners, regardless of talent,need to run fast and long to stay fit, and to run short and slow to stay healthy. Of course, "short," "rest," "easy," and "slow" mean different things to different athletes. But the base of all successful training is the same: Run hard, recover, run hard, recover, etc., etc., etc.

I'm most surprised by his 38k run at 4:30/km. This would be equivalent to a 2:30 marathon runner hitting the trails for over 3 hours at slower than 8 minute/mile pace. Clearly the Japanese influence shining through.

Lots of roads to the top of the mountain... and he's no doubt found a path that works for him.

When they always said that he was japanese trained, I figured they were telling the truth and that kenyan talent combined with lots of slow aerobic running, slower yet longer tempos and 26:41 10000m speed had produced a fantastic marathoner.

Now it just looks like he is just incredibly talented and doesn't train like most japanese runners at all.

Interesting that he does a 21 miler at ~5:00 pace quite often and his overall weekly mileage is not all that high (another interview says 80 mpw). And already he has run 2:05 and is Olympic champion at age 21...already one of the top 10 marathoners of all time. I'm not going to say he could be faster if he trained differently because clearly this is working for him, but you have to wonder how much more there is to come!

i remember reading an interview with greg maddux about 10 years ago where he was really open about his training and how he pitches, and at the end the interviewer thanked him for sharing so much, and maddux responded "do you think i'm that stupid to give away any of my secrets to success??"(or something to that effect).

Sure, lots of athletes do that...Webb is somewhat secretive, Kipketer definitely was...Coe wasn't really secretive-he just had two different stories about howhe trained and still has people confused 25 years later.

I'm sure Wanjiru has been well over 100mpw before. Just like you don't run 3:29 for 1500 off of 50mpw, you don't run a 2:05 marathon off of a max of 80mpw.

fUrCeOsNhN wrote:

I'm sure Wanjiru has been well over 100mpw before. Just like you don't run 3:29 for 1500 off of 50mpw, you don't run a 2:05 marathon off of a max of 80mpw.

Said Aouita - 50 miles a week

Steve Jones - marathon WR ~ 70 miles a week

In calendar format...

Wed 7/9: 38k at 4:30/km

Thu 7/10: easy

Fri 7/11: 10 x 400

Sat 7/12: easy

Sun 7/13:

Mon 7/14:

Tue 7/15:

Wed 7/16:

Thu 7/17:

Fri 7/18:

Sat 7/19:

Sun 7/20: 30k in 94 mins

Mon 7/21: easy

Tue 7/22: easy

Wed 7/23: 3 x 3000

Thu 7/24:

Fri 7/25:

Sat 7/26:

Sun 7/27:

Mon 7/28:

Tue 7/29:

Wed 7/30: 38k at 4:30/km

Thu 7/31: easy

Fri 8/1: 10 x 400

Sat 8/2:

Sun 8/3:

Mon 8/4:

Tue 8/5:

Wed 8/6:

Thu 8/7:

Fri 8/8:

Sat 8/9:

Sun 8/10: 30k in 94 mins

Mon 8/11: easy

Tue 8/12: easy

Wed 8/13: 3 x 3000

Thu 8/14:

Fri 8/15:

Sat 8/16:

Sun 8/17:

Mon 8/18:

Tue 8/19:

Wed 8/20:

Thu 8/21:

Fri 8/22:

Sat 8/23:

Sun 8/42: Win Olympic Gold

Maybe somebody can ask Sammy to fill in the blanks?

I've seen another Wanjiru training thread before where he averages 42 kilometers a day 6 days a week (Which is 156/week). But these 42 km days were spread out between 2-3 runs.

Here ya go, Milt:

Signed,

Sammy.

a) he trains often with Martin Lel (who is coached by Rosa)

b) his agent is Dr Rosa & Associates..

so my suspect is that his real training philosophy is more influenced by Rosa's style than his supposed "Japan style" (which he looks like to disdain)

Thanks for posting the interview with Wanjiru.

That is very interesting to see the type of training he does.

"I never do any strength training."

trains alot at 430 per k / 715 per nile

Start by being Sammy Wanjiru