Kipchoge Training in detail (link)

Also take note hobby joggers - his warm up and Cool downs are crawls. So slow!

George213 wrote:

Oh, that's not what I meant. I actually wanted to say that your training is similar to Kipchoge's (And that's why "I thought of your training at once" upon checking out his schedule)

My bad. Could use some work on my communication skills, haha.

Ah, ok, my bad probably, too. To be honest I was heavily inspired by an 80s runner that advices me (he trained with some 2:10 - 2:12 guys back then and ran 29:low/44:xx 15k/1:03/2:19) and the Kenyan style training in Iten, where I stayed 3+ weeks. Tuesday track, Thursday Fartlek, Saturday long/hard - very similar to Kipchoge. Sometimes I would more do a Tu - Fr - Su or We - Fr - Su rhythm bc of work (better to run hard on Friday when you may go home earlier than Thursday).

I experimented with some Canova stuff but I had to be very careful. While a 40k run at 90 % of MP was ok, when I got significantly nearer to MP it would wear me out, might be more mentally than physically but I never was pro and have to pay my bills, so I gotta work with the cards I got.

I feel like because of this I was pretty strong across the board (I just lacked world class speed/speed endurance to be honest but still hope to run 2:13ish). I always did better when I almost never did those all-out workouts but something left in the tank. After a couple months with many, many fastish miles of submaximal long hard running I was always ready to roll for sure. I would NEVER advice someone who really wants to hit a great marathon do not do at least 25k tempo runs and to not run at least one time 40 - 43k. I never ran a good marathon without at least 40k long runs. But I know many see that in an other way. What I can say: I didn't fear the distance what was hige mental boost for me.

Happy running! I am super excited for Sunday. Pikachu

I notice there's no warm-up for all tempo runs. Did he just exclude it (but he detailed the warm-ups for track workouts) or did he just go straight to tempo pace without the need to warm up?

Sledge_hammer wrote:

PM 10km easy (40mins)

Isn't it "too easy" for his level? I thought he ran his easy runs at around 5:30 per mile.

Was that sarcastic?

I mean this is probably the reason he is the best at what he does. This is exactly what I would expect from a guy at his level.

All that 10km run is is a recovery/blood circulation/shakeout run for this guy. Like seriously the guy is running epic 30km runs at faster than 5:30 pace along with high volume fartlek/track work even faster - what do you think he gets from a 10km run at 5:30 pace?

I'll tell you - he uses more energy and gets more tired which ultimately detracts from his ability to do the workouts he needs to to (possibly/probably) break the WR on Sunday.

If you were being sarcastic I apologize for pointing this out as you already knew this - if not then I hope you learnt something about why guys like Kipchoge are as good as they are.

youth.in.revolt wrote:

Fascinating. Surprised this thread hasn't blown up more. Not often you get such a clear window into the training of a GOAT candidate.

I really enjoyed the Berlin preview from the LR staff. Funny how secretive Bekele is with his training, though I admit to enjoying the shroud of mystery around his persona (ie: which Bekele will show up?). And I really enjoyed the double NYT stories about him last year, in which we learned, among other things, that he thinks bananas make you fat.

Not much of a taper, but then, if you're the best...

Not surprised at all. Most are too concerned with politics and non-running subjects.

Yes peekachoo this thread is somehow about you.

Sad, so sad.

This guy is a monk of running, pure discipline.

Its Egun wrote:

Yes peekachoo this thread is somehow about you.

Sad, so sad.

Good call. Stay on target. This place is a smattering of the worst characteristics in people.

The Overexplainer wrote:

OK, now I have read the schedule and I see that it was a "tempo" on a tough course. I am surprised that he runs that much on hills and tough, muddy surfaces. I would think that would not be the way to prepare for running endless kilos at 2:55 on flat pavement?

I realize he and his coach know what they are doing (and know more than I do). I am just surprised.

Obviously it is the way to run 14:25 5k pace for a marathon.

Truck wrote:

snow blow wrote:

Quite a few long tempos at a good bit slower than marathon pace. Americans could learn something from this. I think too many Americans run themselves into the ground by doing tempos at their fantasy marathon pace.

It started with Salazar's "Marathon training is just 10k training with a long run." Many runners think that a weekly 20-23 Mile long run is enough. It doesn't help that a lot of the available literature for "marathoners" is really for hobby joggers, where the focus is building the length of their longest run by race day and the goal is just to finish 26.2 miles.

Yes! This is what so many runners do wrong. Overall mileage is so much more important. And people surprised by his high training load? Kipchoge's not going to follow Galloway's book on running. And he's not going to do nothing but fast finish long runs.

For him, at sea level on flat ground, 10k pace is around 2:38-2:40, his lactate threshold is around 2:45, and marathon pace is 2:55. At altitude, add maybe 5 seconds per k to each (given he's used to altitude). Over rugged and hilly ground, those paces are even little slower.

He seems to have (1) Tuesday track workouts at 10k pace to LT pace, (2) Thursday long runs of 30k to 40k over hilly ground averaging about 25 seconds per k or 40 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace and (3) Saturday fartlek workouts anywhere from 10k pace to marathon pace. He runs consistently high volume for both workouts and overall weekly mileage.

I'm curious to know the pacing of the 40k runs at altitude on hilly ground. I wouldn't be surprised if the 2:13 were 37:00, 34:00, 32:00, 30:00 (i.e., the last 10k is about marathon pace). But I'm only speculating.

I would've expected to see at least a couple of really hard workouts. There doesn't seem to be any one big eye opening workout there. All seem taxing for someone like him but not really hard.

Mileage is actually "just" 180 to 190km per week (like 110-120 miles per week). High but nothing extreme

Vo2Runners wrote:

40km in 2:15 ... 10 days before race day

how many Americans are out there doing a 24m long run that close to race day

He did 20-something kms the next day.

Coacherman wrote:

Mileage is actually "just" 180 to 190km per week (like 110-120 miles per week). High but nothing extreme

For the 40 or so days leading in to the marathon. May have been higher in the 80 days prior to that.

Re the long tempo runs with no warm up, I presume he just warms up with an easier pace for the first k or so.

Suprised this thread hasn't had more attention, looks like a great insight.

From looking through quickly, I dont see any solid sets of miles at marathon pace; M-pace always seems to be broken up as a fartlek, or long intervals on the track.

I wonder if the 'tempos' are run as progressions finishing at goal marathon pace?

The long fartleks such as 25x 1min at M pace, 1min easy etc. seem a Kenyan staple (from the very limited amount I've read on the subject)... I wonder why those sort of workouts dont come up more in all of the training manuals I've read? Daniels, Pfitz etc...

I'm really a beginner at this, so its hard to know what to take from it; but interesting nonetheless.

Thanks truck. I love you too. Thanks for being a sweet heart. I wasn't ignoring it. Ill be honest I am by no means an expert like you when it comes to Marathon training. . I was simply stating that's a lot of intensity and everything was marathonish pace or faster. I realize the tempos are significantly slower than his marathon pace but on very tough courses and long distances(18-25 milesish) hence I used the word marathonish. I was simply contrasting the training of the world's best marathoner vs the 80/20 , 20/80 or whatever method that's becoming popular. Not saying I agree or disagree with either or saying ones better than the other. Thanks for understanding! Sorry for processing information from a different perspective/lens/background than you do. I'll remember next time not to post something that makes you feel the need to put another person down. Have a nice day!

Not bad for a 41 years old bloke.

So in his hardest phase, six weeks out, he is doing 120-130 miles/week, with about 40% very easy (6:30-7:00+), 30% medium pace (5:00-6:00) and 30% marathon-tempo (under 5:00). I suspect his overall yearly ratio is close to the vaunted 80/20 easy/hard ratio, averaging perhaps 130-140.

Hifalutin wrote:

So in his hardest phase, six weeks out, he is doing 120-130 miles/week, with about 40% very easy (6:30-7:00+), 30% medium pace (5:00-6:00) and 30% marathon-tempo (under 5:00). I suspect his overall yearly ratio is close to the vaunted 80/20 easy/hard ratio, averaging perhaps 130-140.

I suspect Patrick Sang and Kipchoge aren't sitting around calculating percentages. They're making informed conjectures at how much volume and quality Kipchoge can handle while being able to recover and progress physically and stay fresh and enthusiastic mentally.

Any "rules" on training distribution by percentage assume the base-10 number system has meaning to the human body.