Mr. Renato Canova: Could You Please Answer a Question About Effective Ways to Improve the Lactate Threshold?

That 2nd question can be disregarded; Renato already answered the number of circuits vary for everyone.

More questions:

Do you have contact with Jos Hermens or any Ethiopians in your camp?

Are there distinctive differences in the training of the Ethiopians vs. that of the Kenyans?

Also, have you read Haile Gebrselassie's book and what do you think of the possibility of his sessions (4 x 1200 in 2:55, 4 x 800 1:58-1:59, 4 x 400 55/ before WR in Doha, 2 x 5K in 13:20 and sub-13:20)

I recall you saying that you do not believe in "training for an event" but regardless, do you have any example programs of training for a miler/1500m runner both in the basic period (that I prepare right now, before outdoor track in the spring) and the main racing season?

Surely there are some types of training milers use tht 800 runners or 5000 runner do not, and probably the basic period is slightly different.

I post these in series as I find them:

From Sherlock Holmes:

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"In 1999, Christopher Koskei was not in the team till last minute, also if Kenya could put in steeple 4 athletes because Wilson Boit Kipketer had a Wild Card because World Champion 97. So, Christopher trained with me in S. Moritz for two months, without going in Residential Camp. He had also to compete in Military Ch, only one week before World Championships. He went to Seville with a ticket payed by the sponsor Puma, not by Kenyan Federation. He ran 14 races of steeple during last 41 days before WCh, as already he had contracts signed with organizers. So, it was very hard for me to manage his training, but at the end of every thing, HE WAS THE ONLY GOLD MEDAL FOR KENYA."

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I would love to see what Koskei's training looked like before the Championships. 14 races in 41 days? As I remember it, Renato said that Shaheen, before joining his camp, used the schedule Renato gave his brother Christopher Koskei to improve the World Junior record in the steeple. How is it that Shaheen can improve the record using training designed for someone racing 14 times in 41 days? That's more than 2 races every week for 6 weeks straight. Insane. "

From myself:

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Renato Canova wrote:

In the afternoon I went in Kamariny stadium for a session of technique and exercises with James Kwalia and his group (Nicholas Kemboi is at home for holidays).

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If there is time, can you describe this exercise set?

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With Shaheen, for erxample, I'm trying to use two sessions very close during the morning (6 o'clock and 10 o'clock), resting in the afternoon. This is an attempt to use SPECIAL BLOCKS also daily, with two workouts with short recovery, followed by a longer recovery. After one month I can understand if this system can work or not.

Greetings to all the posters

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Two hard workouts 4 hours apart? Would an athlete actually do 2 hard workouts every day for many days in a row? I recall you saying that special blocks are very strenuous, of course being 2 hard workouts in the same day, but to use them "daily"?

Would you recommend this for every runner, such as a high school athlete?

From John Murphy:

"Renato, a question for you if I might. I have been working a lot on my short speed over the past few months. Each week I have one workout focusing on short speed, such as 2-3 sets of 6 x 150m. I do some of these downhill and some on the track, and I also started mixing in some of the sprint climbing up hills that you recommended a few times per week. My idea is that if I can get faster at the very short distances like 100-200m, my longer distance times can also get faster and faster paces will feel easier. I have seemed to stall a bit, though, as of late. I usually do the last 2 150m efforts in that workout I mentioned as fast as possible. My best time ever, from a few weeks ago, is 21.11. Obviously, not very fast. I am pretty short and not fully grown so maybe there is more progression coming, but what would you suggest for a Kenyan, as an example, who came to you with reasonably good endurance but not the best short sprinting ability, even though they worked on it? Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas.

"

From Pietro Roncalli:

"An additional note. In speaking about John Korir using ramps you mentioned the length is normally 40m, sometimes 20m. But in another message you spoke about Selina Kosgei needing basic strength and using ramps of 60m-80m, seemingly, a long distance to sprint up such a steep grade. I have a young athlete needing to work on speed (very slight build, thin, can run 21 seconds for 150m in his weekly session of speed but never has been able to run faster for basic speed, like 18-19 seconds that is needed to be among the best high schoolers at the 800m-1600m). He uses the short sprints uphill you have recommended with good frequency, needing a little work, but I am deciding whether or not to use ramps with him also to see if he can take more time off his 150m sprint (and by extension, his 400m, 800m, 1500m, etc. getting faster so long distance speeds are easier if he can run 1-2 seconds faster over 150m). It could be he needs to grow, but already he can run 21 and he used to run 25 for the last, which is run fastest. I use this session normally once per week in summer and winter when not competing for track and cross-country. It is progressive with several sets of 150m strides (2-3 sets, 6 repetitions) getting faster. Your advice is appreciated.

"

The two more questions I found, the last for now:

Renato, using ramps 20-40m, how many do you use? 10? 20? More?

Is there a file you have of full programs for Shaheen, Kemboi, and Kwalia?

Or is this what was stolen by a thief in Nairobi (I am sorry to hear about this; hopefully everyone can be safe in Africa and everywhere).

Racer1 - I'm glad you are the only one who posts such long repetitious meaningless messages.

No more 135 mile CA girls thread....must kill time here and help it toward 1000 posts.

observer of filling up space wrote:

Racer1 - I'm glad you are the only one who posts such long repetitious meaningless messages.

Please, if you are going to act like a dope and a fool, tak yourself elsewhere.

Because the thread is long the questions get lost in other pages. Renato was not posting for some time and the questions were of interest. Therefore I am reposting them so he and others can see and get their questions answered from Renato, Antonio, and others.

There is nothing meaningless about this. The only thing meaningless is you bothering to add your worthless input.

"Amazed" I'm in agreement with you.

I have a measured 100 meters that is on a 15% grade. I'm pretty sure that is accurate too.

When I run this I can hear the gearboxes straining in the cars that pass by.

I can't imagine running at any kind of speed at twice this grade.

I hike quite a bit and if you get much over 30% grade you basically start looking for hand holds and checking your foot placement.

15% is not so steep. It is steep enough to get a good pre-stretch of the ankle, but not unmanageable.

All I can say is, the hills I use (there are 3 that can be considered "ramps") are steep enough so that, as you said, it is difficult to drive a car up it.

When I first started running this hill using short sprints, it was literally difficult to get up it. I had to absolutely power my arms strongly, get way up on the balls of the feet and push HARD.

I cannot imagine these types of hills can be less than 25 foot rise for each 100 feet horizontal, i.e., 25% grade.

If you hold up your hand vertically, consider this a 90% grade or sheer drop off a cliff. Then simply push your hand down slowly and look at each "hill" you make. When you get to 25-30% you will see it is not impossible, but very difficult.

Racer 1, you can find out exactly the grade you are running on, right down to a 100 meter section of road, by going to Topozone.com.

The contour lines on the hill that I run on are in 3 meter increments.

You can zoom in and out depending on the lenght of the section of road you are looking at. Very little guesswork involved.

I stand by my statement that 15% is extremely steep (1:6),

and anything over that is crazy-mad steep and for me at least pretty much rules out any kind of speed whatsoever.

Racer1 wrote:

Because the thread is long the questions get lost in other pages.

Maybe they got lost because no one had bothered to read them the first time.

Rick, what part of that site gives you this info?

I looked at it and am trying to figure out how to get the grade for some hills but so far no go.

Does anyone know about the TopoMap program (specifically, how to use it?

I didn't have any problem figuring out that the hill (175 meters) I use for general prep has a elevation gain of about 60 meters, thus a grade of about 30%.

When the site comes up, click on "View Map" on the top bar. You can then enter a place name near where your hill is located.

Speed Kills wrote:

I didn't have any problem figuring out that the hill (175 meters) I use for general prep has a elevation gain of about 60 meters, thus a grade of about 30%.

When the site comes up, click on "View Map" on the top bar. You can then enter a place name near where your hill is located.

I did as you said, hit View Map, went to the road I was looking at and zoomed in. There is one set of information on what the elevation is at that point, but no information on grade or incline.

There seem to be other features available but you need to subscribe for $49.95. So if anyone can post a specific link to a page with incline information or more specific instructions, that would be appreciated.

About the size of hills and sprinting (or sprint speed)...

This is what Clyde Hart (Michael Johnson's--and Wariner's--coach) says:

"3. Strength Endurance This workout involves activities that will last longer than 10 seconds in duration. Such activities will include resistance running, Iong hill running and stadium step runs.

Examples of Strength Endurance Workouts

a) 6 x 150 meter hill

b) 6 x 60 stadium steps

c) 6 x 15 second duration long rope runs

5. Power Speed This workout emphasizes speed of muscle contraction. This is usually done with less than 10 repetitions and no more than 10 seconds per repetition.

Examples of Power Speed

a) short hill runs of about 60 meters

b) 10 x 30 meter harness runs

c) 10 x 10 second fast rope jumps

Percentage of Emphasis Chart For Workouts

{don't know if this table is going to format correctly}

Types of Workouts Fall Early Mid Late

Speed Endurance 75 90 100 100

Tempo Endurance 100 100 100 75

Strength Endurance 100 90 80 70

Endurance Running 100 20 10 5

Power Speed 20 60 70 80

Event Runs 25 90 100 100

Power Speed 20 60 70 80

Strength 100 100 100 100"

You can see that Hart says to do long hills in decreasing emphasis and short (steep) hills in increasing emphasis as the season progresses.

In my own training, I use a 150-200 meter stretch (normally 175 meters) of a 200 meter hill for general prep phase only. Clyde Hart says to do 6 X 150m, and I use 3-5 X 175m (same volume). I am also doing accelerations out of blocks (20 meters first week, up to 50 meters last week, ~200 meters total volume each week) on the track during this period. My times for sprinting up this hill go from 37-38 seconds (first workout) down to 31-33 seconds (last workout). At the end of the hill workouts, my 30 meter acceleration time is about 3.65 (self timed), but my 200 meter time on the track (no prior speed endurance on the track) was only about 27 right after the long hills in 31-33 for 175 meters @ 30% grade. This is for very early in the season, so the speed endurance times go down 10-15% with training.

I'll have some comments about the overspeed (downhill runnning) when I have the time.