Anyone know where to find info on El Guerrouj's training besides the one source originating from Marco Velediaz's observations? Thnx.
Anyone know where to find info on El Guerrouj's training besides the one source originating from Marco Velediaz's observations? Thnx.
This day in Ifrane would be el-Guerrouj's last before he returned to Rabat for several weeks. After a morning jog, his evening workout began near dusk, under a gunmetal sky and a fingernail moon in the cedar forests. At this mile-high altitude, he would run 20 times 350 meters in 53 or 54 seconds, up a grade of 12 to 15 degrees to build strength and endurance. Amyn paced him through the first 300 meters, then stopped as el-Guerrouj kept running up the hill, carried by the elegant explosiveness in his legs, which begin with narrow ankles and build to a grapefruit bulge in his calves and a long wedge of muscle in his thighs.
Among the runners at the table was Patrick Ndayisenga, the national record-holder in the marathon from the central African nation of Burundi, who had come to Ifrane to train with the Moroccans. He said he had been amazed to see el-Guerrouj, a miler, training like a marathoner, running 13 to 15 miles in an hour and a half. El-Guerrouj also trains like a sprinter, running sometimes with a weighted jacket, dragging a tire, and he does bounding drills to increase the propulsion in his ankles. The mile has come to resemble the brutal pace of the 800 meters and el-Guerrouj better than anyone has perfected the grueling training for speed and endurance.
Sitting still had made him stiff and tired, but el-Guerrouj insisted on his evening track workout. He would run 10 times 1,000 meters, or two and a half laps, in 2:32 or 2:33, with two minutes' rest between. Benzriguinat, the military cross-country champion, would pace him through the first 600 meters, and el-Guerrouj's brother Fethi and Amyn, his other training partner, would follow at their own comfortable speeds. It was dark now, and pale illumination came from street lamps around the track. In the backstretch, el-Guerrouj was hardly visible, except for the flash of his spikes. He is taller than his listed height of 5 feet 9 1/2 inches, 6 feet at least, and there is the grace and power of incessant stalking in his long strides.
Four, five, six times, he repeated 1,000 meters, and the others could not keep up, doubled over, agony in their breathing. Another pacemaker was brought in, but none of the other runners could finish all 10 repeats. They were reduced to cheering for the world champion, yelling at him in French and Arabic, "Come on, Hicham, go, go," and he sailed through his 10th repeat in 2:29 with a satisfied sweat on his neck. Benzriguinat kissed him on the head.
"He is a very serious professional runner," said Salah Hissou, the 1999 world champion at 5,000 meters and an occasional training partner of el-Guerrouj's. "He doesn't want to be a normal athlete. He wants to be a great athlete. He could do 20 competitions a year, but he only does 7 to 10, so they will always be high level."
His 11-mile (18km) morning runs through the cedars of the Curcuil Royale Forest were unsurprising, apart from monkeys and the occasional wild boar, but few imagined sessions of 20x300m in 45 seconds, concluded in twilight drizzle, or even more gruelling repetition runs at 6600 feet on the Hebrie plateau.
Some more generally about Moroccan training with some info on El Guerrouj:
• Frequent visits to altitude are essential. One
trip per year is not enough, although better than
nothing. “An accumulation of trips are needed,”
said Kada.
The Moroccan squad may visit altitude 4-6
times a year, with venues including Ilfrane in
Morocco, Font Romeu in France and St Moritz
in Switzerland. Each visit is for 3-5 weeks. The
athletes will live at 2500m altitude, but come
down to 1500m to train.
When they are sea level they train at Rabat.
• An athlete will adapt to altitude the more visits
they take. When El Guerrouj broke the world
mile record in the summer in Rome it was on his
fifth day back at sea level.
• El Guerrouj sleeps for eight hours a night ...
and a further three during the day. As one coach
wryly pointed out, with such an amount of sleep
and rest, drugs are not needed.
In many circumstances doping is used to speed
recovery from heavy training, but here athletes
such as El Guerrouj are encouraging their
bodies to recover naturally by imposing an
unnatural amount of sleep upon themselves.
• Athletes train twice a day. They may
occasionally - indeed rarely - train three times,
and if so then the third session will be an easy
run – usually done during a rehabilitation phase.
• Athletes use two types of fartlek: (a)
‘Classical’ – the distance covered and paces
used being completely up to the individual and
how they feel on that particular day; and (b)
‘Modern’ fartlek, where a regimented session is
organised by the coach.
• El Guerrouj aims to perfect a fluid style, at
pace. Kada argued that El Guerrouj’s stride
length will rarely fall during a fast mile/ 1500m.
He will only slow when his stride frequency
slows.
• Strength exercises concentrate on all body
parts. Bounding is also used and while talking
about this Kada mentioned the names of Coe
and Said Aouita.
Strength training is split into three parts: with
weights, natural methods such as bounding and
hill training.
• Hill training is used to “improve the
movement of arms and legs, stride and speed”.
Sessions include 10-15x250-500m.
• Strength exercises in the gym incorporate all
parts of the body. Typical exercises include: half
squat (6x20 reps with 25kg bar or 4x16 reps
with 30kg bar); full squats (4x16 reps with 20kg
bar); lunges 4x20 reps with 25kg bar); step-ups
(1x20 reps on each leg with 30kg bar); abdominals
(300-400 reps); back (300-400 reps).
On multi-gym machines: hamstrings (4x16
reps); quadriceps (4x16 reps); abductors (4x16
reps); adductors (4x16 reps).
• The athletes do not run excessive mileages. A
miler such as El Guerrouj runs about
120km/week (about 75 miles) during the preparation
phase; while a 5000/10,000m runner such
as Hissou runs 140km/week.
• The sheer quality of the training became
apparent with the admission that what they
termed ‘jogging’ was actually running at a pace
of three minutes per kilometre.
• Typical track sessions include: 20-25x400
(1min rec) or 4x500 (75sec rec)/2x1000 (3min
rec) /1x2000 (5min rec)/5x400 (1min rec).
• Before the recent World Championships, the
following session was completed by Hissou: 3 x
(1km (45sec rec); 400 (3min rec)) – with the
kilometres run in 2:30 and the 400s in 52-53.
• Tactical rehearsals are carried out within
training sessions, simulating race situations.
Weaker members of the squad are used as hares
to pace group leaders such as El Guerrouj and
Hissou.
• Swimming is used for recovering or ‘alternative
massage’.
• The national squad has a battery of seven
doctors to pay full attention to the athletes.
• School cross country races are a breeding
ground for talented young distance runners.
This is where Kada and his Moroccan scouts
spot potential champions.
• Kada’s athletes do all their training on soft
ground. When asked if El Guerrouj trained on
the roads he looked completely horrified and
then pointed to his shins.
He then told a story about how he was in the
United States and had seen athletes training on
the roads, “With great areas of forest right next
to them!” he said. El Guerrouj, he added, didn’t
even do hill sprints on road. Everything was on
grass or ‘dirt’.
Looking for El G..... wrote:
Anyone know where to find info on El Guerrouj's training besides the one source originating from Marco Velediaz's observations? Thnx.
Thats easy: tons of EPO
-hmmm..... "trains like a marathoner"
-only runs 75 miles a week, but runs 11 miles in the morning.... think about this, if he is doing (20x400 - 5 miles) + 11 miles in the morning + warm up and cool down.... roughly an 18 mile day on the low side. That means 25% of his weekly miles are in this one day. most good athletes run 3 workouts a week so maybe he just takes the other 4 days off.... er not.
-runs at 3 min per kilometer (4:50 pace)?
I don't really doubt any of the times stated in this article at all.... if you can close in 1:46 for your last 800m in the olympics I am sure you can run 10x1k in 2:30
After many years of El Guerrouj's retirement some people still are speculating about his sports achievements and his great talent.
I had the opportunity to talk with his coach Abdelkader Kada after this 1999 lecture in Caceres, Spain. I recorded it but until now could upload it to youtube. It is in french and translated to spanish.
There are 4 parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FEqF_0iRAQ&index=4&list=PLOvzT0p76beMngmaXyusXuB8AnAOQlY20&t=669s
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