He is said to have walked the 130 kilometres (81 miles) from his village to the capital Addis Ababa to look for work and was subsequently given a job in the Ethiopian imperial guard.
Bikila was inspired to start running by Finnish-born Swedish coach Onni Niskanen, who spotted the young man’s natural talent.
“When I started training him, he ran like a drilling soldier,” said Niskanen.
Bikila was sent to a high altitude government training camp 6,000 feet above sea level where he ran a mix of cross-country and road races of up to 32 kilometres (20 miles).[/Quote}[Quote]
From Bikila Ethiopia’s Barefoot Olympian by Tim Judah 2008. p. 60.
Monday:
Morning: 30 kilometers out of city-Suluta.
Tuesday:
Morning: 10 kilometers medium speed, stadium.
Afternoon: 15 kilometers medium speed paved road.
Wednesday:
Morning: Up and down hill repeats.
Afternoon: 15 kilometers fast speed, paved roads.
Thursday:
Morning: Stadium track repeats-5x400m, 10x800m,5x1000m, 200m recovery between each.
Afternoon: 30 kilometers medium speed, paved roads.
Friday:
Morning: 50 kilometers, first half at fast speed and second at medium.
Saturday:
Competition in half marathon.
Sunday:
Break.
In 1951 he moved to Addis Ababa and joined the Imperial Guard. It is reported that he ran 20km from the hills of Sululta to Addis Ababa and back every day during much of the mid-1950s. The Imperial guard were trained by a Swedish coach named Onni Niksanen who spotted Bikila’s talent and trained him for the marathon. He finished second in the 1956 Ethiopian Military Championships and began what his coach called a “long planned operation” to compete in the 1960 Olympic Games.
No matter he was or was not the inventor of fartlek, Niskanen introduced the Swedish “natural school” methods in Ethiopia. The coach of Abebe Bikila left precise information, later published by his heirs at the Niskanen foundation, about his training strategies prior to Rome Olympics. As in Holmer’s, fartlek in the forests was combined with track sessions, with the emphasis in speed, and long road runs up to 32km. “Cross-country running sessions of 1 to 1½ hours were part of the daily training for the long distance runners, but not some casual jogging. Pace training, pace training and more pace training. Speed running for 4-500 metres at highest speed, up rather steep slopes, varied with a bit slower running in between. The same thing when it came to track training. Pace! Six to eight 1.500 metres races, to start with in 4minutes 20 to 25, then they had to press the times downwards. They also ran on the track for 30 - 40 minutes, with varied pace. Sometime full speed through the bends, sometimes on the straights. Road running was done twice per week and on distances that were increased day by day. Sauna baths twice a week was included in the training, as well as massage after the road running.” (4) As you can guess, race pace was also required by Niskanen during the long road runs. Thus Bikila did 32km at 3:10/ 3:15 pace average. With such preparation the gold medallist in Rome, after a conservative start, killed the Olympic marathon with two 5km splits mid-race of 14:37 and 13:42!!! (4) Speed endurance at its best. Only a stunning athlete as Rhadi could manage such demanding sustained change of rhythm, but he was inexorably left behind as the Ethiopian sped up near the end.
