Waldemar Cierpinski was a marathon genius.He defeated his opponents both mentally and physically and I have the greatest respect for him.
ghost wrote:
For a quality session of 20km on the track, W.C. would alternate 10 times 1000m in 3:05, with 10 times 600m in 1`48`` all at the 20km per hour speed as the goal. He would run 1000, 600, 1000, 600....with a little recovery between each interval. At the end of the session, he would run a 4000 on the track in 12:00 mins. So that was a specific training session of 20km completed in 62`30``, with recoveries between intervals included.
Cierpinski's total time for the 21 reps was 52:50 (4:55.1 mile pace), which leaves 9:40 for recovery, an average of 29 seconds rest after each.