Calendar and analysis of Caleb Ndiku's training before 2014 World Indoor Championships

great job, man. I mean that wholeheartedly. pity that there's not more posts like this. job well done!

Thank You

Holy frick. Well done and thank you.

I tried commenting on your page, but after the 7th time I was told I didn't spell the "prove your not a robot" jibberish right, I gave up. God, I really really hate those things.

That being said, thanks for all the time you put into the presentation, much appreciated.

you really only think ndiku was in 7:36/13:18 shape? i highly doubt it

probably 7:32/13:05 conservatively, considering he has been a 1500m guy

Thanks! An incredible insight into the training of Caleb Ndiku's training.

vdfvdfv wrote:you really only think ndiku was in 7:36/13:18 shape? i highly doubt it

probably 7:32/13:05 conservatively, considering he has been a 1500m guy

much, much faster

canova was talking about ~ 12'50 outdoor shape for that meet

his debut 13-flat last year was a conservative race as he didn't want to tank in his 1st attempt - good for maybe 12'55 back then if he'd pushed it

he's obviously better now

canova also mentioned 400 speed as possibly quick as 48.5

that's pretty incredible because :

48.5 / 12'50 ->

1'44.2

3'27.6 !!!

4'44.3 !!!

7'22.2 !!!

i'd have to say, at very worst he was in 3'28 / < 7'25 outdoor shape in danzig

ventolin^3 wrote:

vdfvdfv wrote:you really only think ndiku was in 7:36/13:18 shape? i highly doubt it

probably 7:32/13:05 conservatively, considering he has been a 1500m guy

much, much faster

canova was talking about ~ 12'50 outdoor shape for that meet

his debut 13-flat last year was a conservative race as he didn't want to tank in his 1st attempt - good for maybe 12'55 back then if he'd pushed it

he's obviously better now

canova also mentioned 400 speed as possibly quick as 48.5

that's pretty incredible because :

48.5 / 12'50 ->

1'44.2

3'27.6 !!!

4'44.3 !!!

7'22.2 !!!

i'd have to say, at very worst he was in 3'28 / < 7'25 outdoor shape in danzig

No one cares what shape he was in last year, that shape is not what sets his training paces for a race in February. He ran 3:36 and 7:36.

One thing that I always think about when designing workouts and schedules, is that the goals for the top level athletes are fundamentally different than others.

A college athlete (minus the top tier) is trying to run a fast time early, that will qualify him for later events. A national elite road racer is trying to sustain a peak for weeks at a time to earn his bread. Very different than an athlete targeting one race for gold or WR. I would be very interested in seeing how Canova would handle a top-10 college team, or group of low level elites or sub elites. It is a different game when you have different goals.

You have reason : training for peaking in the most important event of the season (for example, WCh) is very different from training for maintaining a level of shape around 90% for long time.

For example, with Imane Merga we had the goal, in 2010, to win Diamond League, in 2011 to win World Cross Country Championships and to get a medal in WCh in Daegu.

For winning DL, we needed continuity and consistency, but really (also if Imane improved his PB) never we looked for peaking. He was able to improve his PB not because peaked, but because some competition of DL was fast and well rabbited (something normally not possible during big Championships).

Here we can see his competitions of DL (2010), all in 5000m:

14 May Doha 13:05.20 (3)

04 Jun Oslo 12:53.81 (1)

10 Jun Rome 13:00.12 (1)

03 Jul Eugene 13:00.18 (3)

10 Jul Gateshead 13:00.48 (3)

06 Aug Stockholm 12:53.58 (1)

19 Aug Zurich 12:56.34 (2)

In the middle of this calendar, Imane had also to run in Nairobi (1st Aug) 5000m during African Championships, but was under heavy training (5th in 13:41.98), because after Gateshead we needed to have a period of tough training again, enhancing the mileage and doing some specific session of intervals on track, at medium speed (between 2:35 and 2:42 per km, using distances from 600m and 2000m), and the last hard training was carried out on 28th July, 3 days only before African Championships.

In this case, we need to alternate blocks of competitions (twice in one week) with 3 weeks of training, looking for a modulation allowing the athlete to stay at 90% of his max shape for several times.

In the case of peaking for some Championship, we need a longer period of preparation approaching the most important race, and we can compete as qualified training, but not to use too many nervous energy in the competition.

For example, in 2011 we had different goals.

During winter, the goal was to try to win WCCCh, because the competition was in Spain, on a dry course (practically almost like track), in the best conditions for Imane.

He never competed in Winter, only tough training till Ethiopian Championships, when he ran only for qualifying, without peaking. Only after Ethiopian Championships, we had about 4 weeks of specific training, and he won WCCCh on 20th Mar, without struggling (also because of the bad shape of Kenyans).

During the track season, looking at WCh in Daegu, his activity was reduced, compared with the prtevious year :

26 May Rome 12:54.21 (1)

03 Jun Eugene 26:48.35 (2) PB 10000m

30 Jun Lausanne 12:59.47 (2)

10 Jul Birmingham 13:07.63 (3)

22 Jul Monaco 12:55.47 (4)

After Lausanne, Imane started the specific preparation, looking at more volume because the main event in WCh was the race of 10000m. With this training, and not specific speed for 5000m, he went Birmingham and Monaco, "using" these competitions as preparation.

In Daegu, he was almost in top shape : at first, won bronze medal in 10000m on 28 Aug (not able to beat Jeylan and Farah, running last lap in 52"7 and 53"), and probably could have chances of silver if the race was paced in faster way. Four days later (1 Sep) won his heat of 5000m in 13:37.96, and on 4 Sep ran again at his best level the final, reaching the podium before being DQ because ran some meter out of the track during the first turn of the last lap (big fight in the leading group).

The shape was so good, that we decided to try to win again the DL, and he went Bruxelles (16 Sep) able to win in 12:58.32.

So, at the end, Imane won twice, but with very different approach, and of sure his shape at the beginning of Sep 2011 was better than the shape of 2010.

Renato Canova wrote:

Here we can see his competitions of DL (2010), all in 5000m:

14 May Doha 13:05.20 (3)

04 Jun Oslo 12:53.81 (1)

10 Jun Rome 13:00.12 (1)

03 Jul Eugene 13:00.18 (3)

10 Jul Gateshead 13:00.48 (3)

06 Aug Stockholm 12:53.58 (1)

19 Aug Zurich 12:56.34 (2)

In the middle of this calendar, Imane had also to run in Nairobi (1st Aug) 5000m during African Championships, but was under heavy training (5th in 13:41.98), because after Gateshead we needed to have a period of tough training again, enhancing the mileage and doing some specific session of intervals on track, at medium speed (between 2:35 and 2:42 per km, using distances from 600m and 2000m), and the last hard training was carried out on 28th July, 3 days only before African Championships.

In this case, we need to alternate blocks of competitions (twice in one week) with 3 weeks of training, looking for a modulation allowing the athlete to stay at 90% of his max shape for several times.

Renato, thank you so much for posting, the insight into Merga's training during 2 seasons with very different goals is fascinating!

In particular I'm very interested in these "between-competition training blocks" that you employed to keep Imane in 90% shape during a long season of racing.

Besides increased mileage and the specific intervals at 100-95% of 5K pace over 600-2000m, what other aspects of training during these periods are essential for their success and benefit to the athlete? do you reintroduce any other types of sessions that the athlete may have neglected during the competition phase? do you do more higher volume, longer duration sessions at a controlled intensity to rebuild the athlete's aerobic fitness? (say, 1-1.5h of moderate or progressive running, or "long runs" of more than 1.5h in duration?).

I am very interested in this as an athlete trying to extend a racing season. I'm nearing the end of my early season (March-May) track competitions, but would like to extend my racing out to some late season track competitions in June-July. While I have a solid ~8 month aerobic base behind me (during which I ran 10K and HM personal bests), I feel that I am beginning to get a bit stale and out-of-shape after nearly 2 months of more specific work for racing the 1500 and 5K (at the expense of mileage and more extensive aerobic running). I am very curious of how to structure one of these "between-competition training blocks" as I think I could greatly benefit from such a block between my early and late season competitions.

thanks again Renato!

Awesome insightful thread. Thank you. I wish more threads were like this.

ventolin^3 wrote:

...

he ran 3'29.5 last year

...

Yet you said above he was in 3:27.5 shape .. 2 seconds seems substantial.

Decent write-up from Northern Star. But as usual he mixes his own opinions with the facts he reports on. He really needs a course on writing reports. As it stands, it's impossible to know what comes from Renato's mouth and what he has invented himself.

wtfunny wrote:Yet you said above he was in 3:27.5 shape .. 2 seconds seems substantial.

learn to read

canova said caleb has had solid months of training over winter & talking 12'50 shape

at his age, he really shoudn't lose much speed from endurance work & actually find some speed from maturation

he shoud go 3'27/3'28 this year if he can be persuaded to run 1500

i rate him as best prospect to break 1500wr if he stays with it for coupla years - ahead of asbel

it is ridiculous to shove a potential 1500wr guy this early to the 5k where on best possible times, he woudn't even make top-10 of best current 5k guys

ventolin^3 wrote:

wtfunny wrote:Yet you said above he was in 3:27.5 shape .. 2 seconds seems substantial.

learn to read

canova said caleb has had solid months of training over winter & talking 12'50 shape

at his age, he really shoudn't lose much speed from endurance work & actually find some speed from maturation

he shoud go 3'27/3'28 this year if he can be persuaded to run 1500

i rate him as best prospect to break 1500wr if he stays with it for coupla years - ahead of asbel

it is ridiculous to shove a potential 1500wr guy this early to the 5k where on best possible times, he woudn't even make top-10 of best current 5k guys

Asbel has already run 3:27 after struggling to find any true consistency in his pacing and performance in the first half of his career. 18 months injury free and he will break the world record.

ventolin^3 wrote:

utter nonsense

i damn well care what shape he was in last year

that's because he's stil a raw kid who is likely still improving & what his previous year's baseline is what gives a basis to discuss improvement

idiot

he ran 3'29.5 last year

you seriously believe his 3'36i & a 7'36i were anywhere near close to flat-out ???

caleb if he keeps healthy & motivated may end up as greatest kenyan athlete ever in terms of range

if he doesn't retire in a few years time with pbs of

~ 1'43 / 3'26/3'27 / 7'20 / 12'40+

he shoud be disappointed

I want to have a discussion with you, but cannot take you seriously, as you are nothing more than a bully. I've reported your posts, and will continue to report your bullying.

People would actually engage with you, learn from you, and contribute to this forum if you didn't belittle every person you write to.

MIC ITW wrote:

I tried commenting on your page, but after the 7th time I was told I didn't spell the "prove your not a robot" jibberish right, I gave up. God, I really really hate those things.

That being said, thanks for all the time you put into the presentation, much appreciated.

Sorry about that. I would get about 30-50 automated spam comments per day before I put that CAPTCHA on. Even now I still get a few spam comments every day from companies who hire CAPTCHA-solvers!

vdfvdfv wrote:

you really only think ndiku was in 7:36/13:18 shape? i highly doubt it

probably 7:32/13:05 conservatively, considering he has been a 1500m guy

I based that off his 7:36 3k in Karlsruhe on February 1st and a 5k conversion using Daniels' tables. Obviously his fitness was better than that five weeks later because he blew away everyone else in the field at the World Indoor Championships, but adjusting the times by a few seconds shouldn't have too big of an impact on percentages.

The reason I bothered with the 5k conversion in the first place is because I wanted to see if I could tell whether Renato Canova designed the workout as a 5k training program (basing workouts off of % of 5k pace) or a 3k training program. Based on the results my guess would be that the workouts were prepared using percentages of 3k fitness but I'm not sure, hence why I ended up not discussing that in the article.

The CAPTCHA-solvers frustration wasn't meant to be directed at your, more just frustrating that I can't seem to make out the letters when I run into those things.

I can't say what Renato's reasons are, but it makes sense to use 3K pace for elite men because that correlates very well to typical VO2max values.

Thanks again, you did a great job.

clerk wrote:I want to have a discussion with you, but cannot take you seriously...

pillory is all someone who thinks a 3'29 base from previous year is irrelevant, deserves

if you talk nonsense, someone will tell you in no uncertain terms