Bekele's Training ....

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Dinkesa said most of the easy runs were fairly easy (3.30-4 min/km) or thereabout. About the hills - used as strengthwork during the baseperiod.

I also asked him about an article earlier this year, stating that Bekele did up to 5 track sessions a week this spring and he just laughed. The volume on track work(at least from what he said) was kept fairly low on the quality work. No systematic rest day from what he said. I do have his email in Ethiopia if any of the more experienced guys (malmo etc) would like to email him (don't have time to do so myself). I can be reached at

marius_bakken@hotmail.com

Marius

Thanks a lot Marius! Very interesting information. I'm sure many would really appreciate hearing the details of the training of THE best runners in the world first hand, if someone wished to take up Marius' kind offer. Malmo or anyone?

[quote]xcharrier wrote:

I read that his long runs are never longer than 1 hour 45 minutes.quote]

thats because he runs 6-8 miles sub 6:00 and then 5:00-5:10 for 10-12 miles of his 18-20 miles long run

xcharrier wrote:

I read that his long runs are never longer than 1 hour 45 minutes.

thats because he runs 6-8 miles sub 6:00 and then 5:00-5:10 for 10-12 miles of his 18-20 miles long run

bump for Malmo

I don't know Bekele, I'm not going to bother him.

I get really pissed off at these drug accusations. Really stop slinging these accusations around unless you have some proof.

Bump for anyone 'experienced' who would be interested in e-mailing Abebe Dinkesa Negera (via Marius)

800m man wrote:

Sorry guys being a youngster can i please ask a question?

When you're on about Bekele's hematocrit, is 49 low for a runner or high?

Mine was 42 when i had a blood test 2 weeks ago. It says on my results sheet it says that the range is between 40 and 52.

thanks

Some people do have a high hematocrit. However, if an athlete's crit is rising and falling widely, this is a pretty sure sign that they are cheating.

If Bekele's crit is steady 47-50 all year round, then it is natural. If it fluctuates from 42-50 that would be highly suspicious.

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geten wrote:

notempo wrote:

No, the off season fartleks are most likely various forms of lactate threshold training. 3x 15 minutes @ Tempo Pace, 2 minute Recovery Pace, or something like that..

This is pure guesswork from the "you can´t do Vo2max work year round" morons. I do track work at the same time as a 13,22 5k/European Cup winner and he does brutal 3k/5k pace track sessions year round!

I dont get these people who believe that you can't do fast wk during base.

People who plod their base at slow speeds think that way after trying a fast session and overdoing it and either getting injured or feeling trashed for a week or so. They conclude that they have ruined their base. Then when the competition period rolls around they desperately try to make up for lack of race pace training and get injured and burn out anyway.

The top guys stay in touch with all those speeds and transition smoothly from season to season.

How does Bekele stay in shape year round?? Does he ever have weeks of training without tempos, intervals, etc.?

Does anyone have the link to that British Interview or have the Track and Field News Article??? It seems like the majority of information comes from those two sources.

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Questions like this always amuse me.

Bekele is from ETHIOPIA. You may as well ask what is the secret behind why Finland and Norway always wins gold medals in cross country skiing.

Granted I don't know Bekele's specific story growing up. But I feel safe in saying he didn't take a bus to school or his mom dropped him off in an SUV on the way to work. Look at Geb. He ran a 10K back and forth from home to school everyday on a soft dirt road at altitude. On top of that he has a natural talent and a drive and focus shared by all top athletes.

I feel pretty confident that Bekele does more or less what American runners do under Salazar and Schumacher but with a huge base of strength from his upbringing and without the gadgets. Sounds like Ethiopian runners found a training advantage with more team training. But I think other coaches have now caught up to that.