Kipchoge Keino's training

Amazed wrote:

Have recently read some training schedules of Kipchoge Keino from the 1960s and was astonished that his weekly mileage was only 60 or 70 miles, sometimes not running at all on certain days. Does anyone have more information on his training? Either he was one of the most supremely gifted runners ever, or those examples of his training can't be legitimate. It seems like he trained only as hard as a talented high school runner. Any précise details or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

LORE OF RUNNING:

Mr Hodge, I appreciate the link but was looking for something more specific and immediate, here on the forum, without having to purchase a book.

I believe Keino was also a fitness instructor for the Army so he was always leading calisthenic type exercises as well.

However his rant that Kenyans outwork rather than "out-talent" the rest of the world is not true.

I have seen a number of wildly disparate reports and schedules of Keino's training. Some suggest that he trained very lightly; some suggest that he trained very hard. I tend to believe that, when he was in really good shape, he was coming off an extended period of very hard (though not necessarily high-mileage) training. Noakes, in "The Lore of Running," cited reports by Fred Wilt that, in 1968, Keino was training just three days a week, with a 10k run in the morning and light (but fast) intervals in the afternoon. Sandrock, however, in "Running with the Legends," said that Keino was actually running six days a week at that time, with three sessions (morning, noon, and afternoon) and intervals on Monday through Friday followed by an easy Saturday run and no running on Sunday. For a number of reasons, I'm much more inclined to believe Sandrock's report.

Kip Keino's training is on p96-7 of How They Train, Volume I middle distances, 1973. Noakes probably got it from there.

J.R. wrote:

Kip Keino's training is on p96-7 of How They Train, Volume I middle distances, 1973. Noakes probably got it from there.

Used copies of "How They Train" cost $91 to $104 on Amazon.com. I'm surprised that no one on this message board can provide any detailed information on Keino's training other than references to books that are long out-of-print and too highly priced to afford. So, that's it??

from how they train as mentioned above

warmup: 15 minutes jogging followed by 5 minutes rest

on his return home from the tokyo olympics in 1964, a training schedule was drawn up by mal whitfield, former triple olympic gold medalist, at the time working in nairobi.

it consisted of:

mon am: 3 miles of hill runing

noon: 4x440y in 53-55 seconds

pm: intensive interval work over 330y in 45-46 seconds

tue am: 2.5 miles roads followed by windsprints

pm: 6-8x 440y in 53-58, jog 3 minutes between

fri am: 2.5 miles roawork with heavy boots

noon: 4.5 miles

pm: 60 minutes of 175y in 20-25 seconds with 5-6 at full speed

once a week: 4x .75 miles at 1500m pace with 5 minute jogs between

other days: 6-8 miles in the mornings

Keino worked with the above for 2 months then modified it

march 1966

mon: 4x440y in 55-58, jog 440y after each

wed: 6-8x 440y in 55-58 seconds, jog 440y after each

fri: 4x880y in 1:53-1:56, jog 5 minutes after each

each of these modified sessions were preceeded by 6 miles

in the mornings, and concluded with 2x220y, 2x150y and 1x50y

1970

thu/fri/sat/sun evenings: reps of 200, 300, 400 and or 600m

at faster than racing pace

3 to 6 repetitions if tired, otherwise 12 repetitions

5-10 miles on the roads on the mornings of these days

Keino did no training during the winter wet season

however he was engaged in constant daily activity as a physical training instructor, and trained at 6000 feet elevation

he formulated all of his own training from 1966

J.R., thanks very much for that. It doesn't appear too strenuous considering the weekly mileage and intensity of training of other stars of that era. Keino must've been a genetic marvel.

you've never run 400m reps at 55 at altitude, have you

He ran them that fast at that altitude because he was a genetic marvel and it was as normal as joe blow running them in 75 at sea level.

Amazed wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Kip Keino's training is on p96-7 of How They Train, Volume I middle distances, 1973. Noakes probably got it from there.

Used copies of "How They Train" cost $91 to $104 on Amazon.com. I'm surprised that no one on this message board can provide any detailed information on Keino's training other than references to books that are long out-of-print and too highly priced to afford. So, that's it??

I would never rely on Noakes for accurate information about the training programs of world-class runners. I'm not sure where Wilt got his information, but I would certainly not conclude that Keino was training only three days a week in 1968, as Noakes apparently did.

You can get a copy of Sandrock's "Running with the Legends" for next to nothing on amazon.com. Sandrock says that Keino trained "very hard," and that various characterizations of Keino's training as "light by modern standards" and statements about Keino simply relying on "talent" reflect misunderstandings about his training. Sandrock gives a "typical week for Keino when building up for the 1968 Olympics" as follows:

Monday through Friday:

a.m.: easy 45-minute jog

noon: hour run

p.m.: various interval sessions

Saturday:

Eight miles easy

Sunday:

Rest

Although it's unclear how fast Keino did his a.m. "45-minute jog" and his noon "hour run," it's still fairly clear that, along with the Saturday run, there are a lot of miles squeezed into those three-a-day sessions on Monday through Friday. Sandrock also quotes Keino's son Martin, who confirmed that his father trained three times a day Monday through Friday, and the afternoon interval sessions included "workouts like "25 X 200, with the last one in 22 seconds." Other sources have mentioned some monster hill sessions as well.

Noakes, by the way, was aware of Sandrock's chapter on Keino, and even took a Liquori quote about Keino from that chapter, but did not mention Sandrock's very different account of Keino's training.

Why would you think Sandrock is any more credible than is Noakes.

He was on an early version of the Juice

Neither Sandrock or Noakes are guys that you want to rely on for accurate training info.

dsrunner wrote:

you've never run 400m reps at 55 at altitude, have you

Well, I stand corrected and radically humbled. How stupid of me to ask a question on this board about something I've never experienced, personally, nor was ever possessed of the world-class physical ability to achieve as an athlete. I now see how my queries on this post are legitimately nullified because of my not having Keino's almost super-human capabilities. Do you have to be a world class runner to make a simple inquiry on this forum? This will be my last post on Letsrun. Adios, you pompous assclowns.

Amazed wrote:

dsrunner wrote:

you've never run 400m reps at 55 at altitude, have you

Well, I stand corrected and radically humbled. How stupid of me to ask a question on this board about something I've never experienced, personally, nor was ever possessed of the world-class physical ability to achieve as an athlete. I now see how my queries on this post are legitimately nullified because of my not having Keino's almost super-human capabilities. Do you have to be a world class runner to make a simple inquiry on this forum? This will be my last post on Letsrun. Adios, you pompous assclowns.

He wasn't replying to you.

Amazed wrote:

Have recently read some training schedules of Kipchoge Keino from the 1960s and was astonished that his weekly mileage was only 60 or 70 miles, sometimes not running at all on certain days. Does anyone have more information on his training? Either he was one of the most supremely gifted runners ever, or those examples of his training can't be legitimate. It seems like he trained only as hard as a talented high school runner. Any précise details or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Read Marty Liquori's bio and his remarks about the obvious talent of he Kenyans, and their penchant for playing down the amount of work and mileage they were putting in - once incident is funny wherein he saw Keino and Jipcho start a run, so he followed them. Near the end of the run one of them looked back and almost freaked out. When Marty asked what they had run they told him they had done some easy, fairly short run but Liquori says it was a very hard and fast 13 miles or something. Interesting stuff.

dsrunner wrote:

you've never run 400m reps at 55 at altitude, have you

Have you?