Today I had a great opportunity to speak with Renato Canova after the Hamburg Marathon. He was gracious enough to talk with me about my race and even offer some training advice for my future preparations.
I have read much of his training on letsrun, but don't have specifics really bookmarked or chronicled in any way. Would anybody be able to point me in the right direction so I can read more on what he talked to me about today?
There were 4 main points we discussed, Renato correct me if I am wrong on your philosophy:
1: Many runners use the long run as a long slow run and not as a specific training workout. That's not to say 3 hour long runs aren't important, but they should be done at a reasonable pace and be used for body adaptation to withstand the pounding throughout the whole marathon. When training one should spend time developing specific training for distances more than 21k at an average pace of marathon pace. An example workout offered was 7k, 6k, 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k with 1k interval at 4:00/km. this workout would be 36k long at marathon pace.
2: I explained to him I don't spend many weekends with a slow long run, I typically have each weekend a 25k-30k workout at varying marathon and half marathon pace, typical Daniels workouts. Example would be a continuous 8mi (M)arathon pace, 2mi (T)half marathon pace, 4M, 1T, 1M. He said they were decent workouts but that I would be going to the store myself by doing these workouts every week and not modulating. This point he didn't elaborate much on and what I would like to learn more about.
3: He stated many runners often under estimate themselves. A runner like me with a 29:50 10k pr should not be running for times of 2:18 but for times of 2:13-2:15. He noted Americans are particularly culprits of this mistake and 27: high guys should be shooting for 2:08-2:09.
4:Anytime there is an increase in quality in training there must be an increase in recovery time. He only touched on this.
I am also curious which runners were his athlete in Hamburg today? I didn't want to trouble him with more questions than I already had asked.
I also wanted to thank Renato for taking the time to talk to me. It truly was a privelidge.