The Western athletes must play catch up. To run a world-class 5000m you need to have the endu-rance of a marathon runner com-bined with the speed endurance of a 1500m runner I will be more can-did than most coaches with the specifics of Mark Carroll's training
- which has produced a 1:48.20 800m, 3:34.91 1500m, 3:50.62 mile 7:30.36 3000m, 13:03.93 5000m and 27:46.82 10000m - in the hope that it instigates a con-structive dialogue.
For the last two years Mark has raced a full indoor and outdoor sea-son. We split the year in half with three distinct phases in each half
(1) A l0 to 12-week conditioning phase. (2) A six-week transition phase. (3) An eight-week racing phase, followed by seven to ten days' rest period.
The work done in the condit-ioning phase consists on a weekly basis of: (1) along run 18-21 miles on Sunday; (2) a medium long run 12-15 miles mid-week; (3) two workouts per week such as 6 x 1 mile averaging 4:32 (with two min-utes recovery); 10 x 3 minutes. (with one-minute recovery); 8-10 x 800m uphill repeats averaging 2:38 (with a two-minute recovery drive down in my station wagon); (4) tempo runs of 6-10 miles at lactate threshold pace using bean rate monitor
In the final weeks of this period 20x 400m averaging 61-62 (1 mn recovery) or 16 x 500m will be ad-ded as a lead in to the transition phase. Total weekly mileage in this period averages between 100-110 miles per week, most of which is run at a moderate to easy pace. Only one race is scheduled at around the ninth week to check on progression. In autumn it's the Manchester Con-necticut 4.7-mile road race, in spring possibly a track 10,000m at Stanford University.
The transition phase is where the really hard gut-wrenching track workouts for speed endurance are done. The long run is tapered to 14 to 15 miles, medium long to 12 miles and total weekly mileage to 85-90. The workouts are hard and demanding. Often during this per-iod other athletes I coach will act as pacemakers.
Key workouts are 5 x 1000m averaging2:27 (three minutes reco-very); 3 x 1 mile averaging 4:06 (three minutes recovery); 6 x 600m averaging 1:26 (three minutes re-covery); three sets of 4 x 400m averaging 56.0 (with one-minute recovery and three minutes bet-ween sets); 3 x 3 x 800m averaging 2:02 (with one-minute recovery and three minutes between sets). We also add the session of sprint drills at this point. Mark will run several low-key races during this period, a couple at 1500m and probably a 3000m to check progression.
In spring at the end of the tran-sition period we ease down for a couple of days and then do a very demanding key session before Mark heads over to Europe to race on the Grand Prix circuit. This session
highlights Mark's state of preparation, boosts his confidence ant gives us feedback as to what area may need attention. Over the last three years this workout was as fol-lows: 1999 - 1 mile 3:59,2 x 800m 1.52and1.53, lx600m in l:22 (all with 5-7 minutes recovery).
In20O()-1 mile3:57,800m1:51 600m 1:22, 400m 55.0, 400m 55.1 (with 5-7 minutes recovery). On June 20 last year we changed the format and with the aid of four pace-makers on a deserted track at Rhode Island College, Mark ran a 3000rn time trial in 7:38.78 which I believe to be the third fastest run in the USA! We knew then that the work had been done. It was time to race.
The third period is the racing phase. Training is geared around the racing schedule and is aimed at championships or specific events with the aim of being as fresh and sharp as possible. The workouts are shorter and sharper and here we closely monitor the feedback from races and adjust the workouts for those areas we feel a need to im-prove. A key sharpener eight to 10 days before a big event has been 2x 600m 1:2Q 1:21, 2 x 300m 38:7, 38:8 (six minutes recovery). Three sets of4 x 400 averaging 56 is also frequently used in this period.