Frenchman Yannick Djouadi, 33 years old, recently became the World running 100km champion in Seoul (S.Korea).
Djouadi's sporting background is interesting and diverse.
From 6-12 years he was a competitive swimmer. From 15 years to age 30 he was a cyclist, almost reaching the full professional level. In the ''minime category'' (age 13-14) he became Provincial (Ile de France) champion. In 1993 he reached the top level in cycling competing in ''first category'' level events. This is only one level away from full professional in cycling. In his last year in the sport of cycling Y.D. signed a contract with ''Big Mat Auber'' a pro. team.
But then his cycling career ended because of a mysterious and debilitating illness caused by an allergy to the vaccine for Hepatitis B. This was in 1999 and Djouadi spent almost a whole year in bed, writhing in pain!
In 2000, when he recovered from the bizarre affliction, he took up the duathlon (cycling and running) at a fun level, but then his competitive instinct took over and feeling the need of a bigger challenge, decided to try running a marathon in 2001.
He registered for the Senart marathon, as the race took place in his hometown (Senart). His plan for the race was just to finish. The result surprised many, as he finished 3rd in the race in 2h 32mins. He did not prepare much for the race, with a mileage of only around 35 miles a week, but still doing training on the bike. Djouadi realized that the 15 years of training on a bike for many hours gave him a very solid cardiovascular base which he was able to transfer to running.
Djouadi then went on to run the marathon in 2:27 in 2002, but was not able to train or race in 2003 because of shin problems.
In 2004, Djouadi became French 100km champion by chance! He had entered the race to accompany a clubmate who was participating. When his friend dropped out, Djouadi went on to win the race.
After this win, Djouadi was selected into the French 100km squad participating in numerous competitions over the distance, including the famous Winschoten event (Holland), and then the World champs. in Japan (2005) where he finished 17th in 7:15.
In June, 2005, he ran his record time of 6h 38'41" in Torhout, which was the Euro. 100km championships. He finished 3rd in that event. His training for the Euro. 100km was unusual, in that it incorporated cross country races, half marathons, track training and cycling.
His training before his victory in the World event in Seoul, was also atypical for someone running such a long event.
His weekly mileage averaged around 100km a week. And Djouadi never runs longer than 2 hours at a time. But he trains fast typically at a pace of 17km per hour for 34 kilometres. His training also included track work such as 15 times 400 in 70 seconds average, or 5 times 1000 in 3'10" average. He also did a lot of hill repetitions.
Djouadi's training philosophy is to force his body to accept as much intensity as possible. Djouadi's other important component in his training preparation takes place on the bike, where he covers approx. 200km a week.
Djouadi likes to build his own training programs and prefers not to rely on coaches for his progress. He knows himself well, and knows how to prepare. He was without doubt, the lightest trained runner in Seoul in terms of overall mileage, but still won the event.
Djouadi takes part in other sports for overall fitness, including weight lifting (in a club), bungi jumping, sky diving, and kayak. He thinks that taking part in those different sports allows him to run better.
Facts: Yannick Djouadi (France), 33 years old.
Best times:
10km: 31'10"
Half marathon: 1h 08'
Marathon: 2h 27'
100km: 6h 38'41
Source: VO2 magazine (France), November 2006, no. 182
coach: