TRAINING

Renato, tradition has it, on Friday night all of the players, coaches, agents, shoe geeks, race directors and fans meet at Rosie O'Grady's for an evening of beer, laughs, lies, tall tales, and all around raconteuring. Hope to see you there. Tommy Ratcliffe will point me out to you.

Link below for directions:

Renato Canova wrote:

So, for example, you can develop your SPECIFIC MARATHON ENDURANCE with these workouts (once every two weeks) :

* 8 x 2000m in 6'20" rec. 1000m in 3'40" (23 km in 1:16:20)

* 6 x 3000m in 9'30" rec. 1000m in 3'40" (23 km in 1:15:20)

* 5 x 4000m in 12'40" rec. 1000m in 3'40" (24 km in 1:18:00)

* 4 x 5000m in 15'50" rec. 1000m in 3'40" (23 km in 1:14:20)

* 3 x 7000m in 22'10" rec. 1000m in 3'40" (23 km in 1:13:50)

* 6/5/4/3/2/1 km rec. 1 km improving speed (19'12" at 3'12"-15'50" at 3'10" - 12'32" at 3'08" - 9'18" at 3'06" - 6'08" at 3'04" - last km under 3', rec. 1 km in 3'40") = 26 km

At the same time, you must develop your long run, alternating every 10 days a work having different goals :

.

What?

You do all of these workouts in 14 days?

How is that possible?

no these are just examples of workouts that you can do, but being able to do the 3 X 7000 one is better than the 8 X 2000. It means you are in better shape for the marathon and also means it is a greater training stimulus. SO you would do one of these workouts that would be an adequate training stimulus ONCE in 14 days, the reason for that is most likely because it is a VERY specific workout and so takes a lot out of you, mentally and physically. These workouts can be mixed with others of a somewhat similar nature. An easier to understand description is at the link that was posted before:

peace

thanks bro,

Thank you for these posts.......great information. And Emil's friend, you judge a coach by how fast HE has run or only how many Olympic medalists he has coached? It's a stupid argument to say someone can't be a knowledgable coach without having been a world class runner himself.

Hi Renato, just wondering if you get some time whether you could post the preparation you use for your 800m athletes. Thanks alot.

Dr. Blackjack is right. Many elite runners can't relate to how difficult it is for average runners to succeed. Therefore, elite runners are only good coaches for other genetic freaks who could run a hundred repeat 400s and still win every race on the European circuit. Often, great coaches are runners of average talent who have an ability to intrepret and evaluate what works and what does not, irregardless of inherent talent. Three excellent coaches come to my mind. None of them were close to being world class, except at coaching: Bill Bowerman, Arthur Lydiard, Jumbo Elliott.

Percy Cerutty.

Dunes:

Yes, excellent example! Right on, brother!

Better make that, "sister".

sorry, right on sister!

I totally agree with you. Performances and results in big events are the product of talent (of the athlete) x goodness of training (that is the product of goodness of methodology x seriousness in application). So, there are always two different components in athletics success : THE ATHLETE and THE COACH. But, sometime a very talented athlete without a good coach can be able to reach top results (not to last, but sometime a good shape can be a casuality : how many athletes had a good results and then desappeared ?) ; never a good coach without talented athletes can push the same at the top.

Personally, the performance of a my athlete that gave me more satisfacion was a 2:18:23 in a marathon (Venice, '95) of a Swiss guy (was at that time the physiotherapist of Italian Team, working with us in Tirrenia, our national center), without any kind of talent (4:20 in 1500m, no elasticity, very bad running style), working 8 hours per day with our athletes, that had the will to train hard after finishing is job (sometime from 9 to 11 pm during September), that was a totally unthinkable performance.

And, about last year, of course I was satisfied about the victory of Shaheen in World Championships, but it was normal with his qualities. I was very more excited when I saw Nicholas Kemboi growing so fast, when I had the opportunity to discover his talent step by step after training him from 3 years but giving programs and never having the opportunity to stay with him for 75 continuous day for knowing his attitude before never discovered.

But it's also true that you can grow in your experience only having direct contacts with something new. So, during the last 6 years I matured more advanced ideas about human limits, about new types of training, about connections without different type of training and performance, about the importance of resting and/or modulating training. And these new ideas were possible because I had informations that only very talented athletes could give me. No books, no studies, no scientists can give me the same information. It's like a very good engineer, able to design a perfect car for travelling on Kenyan roads, that has in his mind and in his "theorical knowledges" the capacity of designing a "Formula One" like Ferrari or Williams, but cannot do it till when has not the opportunity to work at that level, discovering a lot of different problems that, before, he didn't know could exist.

A coach good for every athlete and for every kind of age and of value doesn't exist. I have problem, now, when I speak about the activity of very young people, and also when I speak about the activity of an amateur, because in my mind the normal level of talent, of training-sessions, of professionalism, and so of intensity in training, are very different from the level of basic activity, and it's not possible to do in miniature the same training of a champion for a normal athlete.

Simply, they are two different things.

Renato. You were unable to make it to Joe McVeigh's gig last week in New York? Dissapointed that we were unable to connect. Perhaps next time?

I apologyze for this. I was busy with a problem of a my athlete that dropped out for a physical problem (Steve Cheptot), and I lost time till 8 pm on Sunday. I had the wish to meet you and your friends, because I think that we are speaking the same language. I'm sure that in the future we can have other opportunities of meeting.

About other problems, a question : how is it possible for me to send you programs regarding top runners and some information about researches made with them, that I have in floppy disks and I use for seminaries and lessons around the world ? May be in your personal e-mail ? If you agree, I can send you, step by step, different material that you can circulate in your site. Let me know what is possible to do.

Renato, I do not have a website, but can be an emissary for your work. Send the files via email, please. Thanks.

Sorry to hear about your runner. It was a bit warm out there and they were dropping like flies after the 18 mile mark.

Could you post this Renato?

Renato Canova wrote:

When I come back from NY (on 5th of November), I can post the works of my best athletes, and also my basic programs for different periods and different events.

Yes can you please post it, that would be awsome!

Renato:

I understand what you are saying. First, it can be very gratifying to help runners who have very little talent achieve very good performances. I too have enjoyed helping average persons achieve levels they only thought were part of their dream. On the cotrast, too, coaching genetically talented persons can be interesting. Such creatures mark territory that science has yet to quantify fully. A friend from Eugene, OR once told me that Steve Prefontaine would often party most of the night but get up early in the morning for a hard 10 mile run (at least 5:30 pace per mile); getting only 3-4 hours sleep. If that were me, I would be jogging a 10 miler. How can science measure such greatness fully?

For all it is worth, helping persons do better than they have before is what makes coaching joyful. I have coached both extremes and shun no persons. All that I ask is that they be honest with themselves about how much time and energy they can give to training. The one truth about athletics, irregardless of genetic gifts, is that dedication is the central ingredient of success. Dedication means making athletics a priority above which only basic necessities are more important like water, food, shelter, clothing, etc. It is OK to admit up front that athletics is marginally important if that is one's personal truth. There are no dillusions then and no excuses worth having. A coach can serve honest admonitions.

The art of coaching is interesting because each person is different. Key principles must be determined in order for an intelligent, cohesive training plan to be designed. In my opinion, one of the greates myths is that all runners need a certain amount of a given type of training. Example: All runners need 120-140 miles per week in order to be good 10k runners. If you can run 20 repeat 400s in 63 you can run a 10,000m race in 28:00. Such ridiculous statements hurt the sport because runners think that if they just work themselves to those standards then they too will be successful. What happens to a runner's confidence when they achieve such measures but run far slower than 28:00 in a race? Depression?

Sport is more than just times to be run or trophies to be won. If sport is just limited to those only then most persons are losers. I choose to believe that no person is a loser who runs many miles and pushes many intervals. I choose to think that sport's only real importance is the inherent worth of doing it as best one can. I have witnessed depression in one runner who achieved sub- 29:00 for the 10k for the first time in his life (it was a personal best by more than a minute). How can it be that a runner who devotes his life to sport and achieves a huge personal best time is so depressed that he attempts suicide? We have made sport too important if success is measured by how fast one runs or how well one performs at the Olympics. Let us always find joy in sport because it is sport. Let us find satisfaction in not our time or place but OUR EFFORT. Giving your all is what measures your greatness, whether that means winning the Boston Marathon, or whether that means running 19:00 for the 5k. It is not the place or the time that tells the truth of who a runner is and how hard they have fought. I have a good friend who has cerebral palsy. He tries harder than anyone I know when he trains and races. He is slow by world standards and never places near the front of any race or any division. I consider him to be an fine example of what a sportsperson should be: honest, dedicated, and willing to face adversity.

Well said, Tinman.