I trained with Eliud Kipchoge leading up to Berlin - here is what he did in the lead up.

Training Advice/Discussion Marathon

6 years ago 09/25/2017 11:21am EDT

I recently returned from a trip to Kenya, where I was given the opportunity to train (well, often ride a motorbike) along side Eliud Kipchoge, the man who ran 2:00:25 for the marathon distance earlier in the year at the Nike Sub2 Project and last yearâ€™s Olympic Marathon Champion.

The day I arrived at Kaptagat, the training base of Eliud Kipchoge, it was a 30km tempo run on a challenging cross country course at 2500m altitude in an average pace of 3:20/km, in very poor weather conditions. Welcome to Kenya!

The next few weeks were incredible. Track workouts like 15x1km in 2:50 on a dirt track, Fartlek workouts lasting an hour with repetitions at under 3min/km on cross country coursesâ€¦ and tea. Plenty of tea.

I wrote a 33 page e-book (https://goo.gl/cLzPxM) on the experience, featuring every training workout he does, in detail, his detailed training log over the past 2 months and a few things that surprised me about the experience, or perhaps I didnâ€™t expect. One example if how terribly inflexible Eliud is. He canâ€™t get anywhere near touching his toes with straight legs. Another example is running their 30-40km tempo runs on an empty stomach.

Anyway, here are all the key workouts he did in the leadup... the rest was just mileage, nothing too crazy (except for 1 random Monday, it was a pretty brisk 21km run in 71min).

Thurs Aug 10

AM 30.8km Tempo Run: 1hr42min (meant to be 30km, but had to take a detour loop as the course was too muddy in parts, ended up just running back to the starting point, which was 30.8km)

PM 10km easy (40mins)

Sat Aug 12

AM Fartlek 6:15am. 10min warm up, 4x10mins with 2min rest, reps were at right around 3:00/km (2:45-2:50 downhill, 3:10-3:15 uphill) and rest was very slow jogging. 15min easy cool down.

Interesting: This entire workout was completed in under 80mins, virtually no time between warm up, workout, cool down. They stretched for only a moment between warm up and 1st rep. They did 2 reps out, 2 reps back. 2nd rep was downhill, 3rd rep uphill.

PM 12km in 50mins

Tue Aug 15

AM Track: 15min warm up (3.1km). 1200m in 3:25, jog lap, 5x1km in 2:55 (1.30 rec), jog lap, 3x300m in 42-40 (1:00 rec), jog lap, 2x200m in 27s (1:00 rec). 15min cool down (3km)

PM Rest

Thur Aug 17

AM 40km Tempo Run: 2hr26min â€“ Very tough course, poor conditions (muddy etc)

Sat Aug 19

AM Fartlek: 10min warm up (2km). 30 x (1min on, 1min off), with reps at an average speed of 2:45/km and recoveries an easy jog.Cross country course. 15min cool down (2.8km)

Tue Aug 22

AM Track: 10min warm up. 12x800m (goal 2:10s): 2.13, 2.11, 2.13, 2.10, 2.11, 2.10, 2.10, 2.09, 2.11, 2.10, 2.09. 10x400m (goal 62s): 64, 64, 63, 64, 62, 62, 61, 62, 61, 61. Rest: 1.5min rest for all. 10min cool down.

Thurs Aug 24

AM 30km Tempo Run: 1hr38min. Good conditions today, fairly dry. Course undulating but not too hard.

Sat Aug 26

AM Fartlek: 10mins warm up (2km) 18 x (3min hard, 1min easy). Average pace in each repetition was around 3:00/km on the undulating course in Kaptagat (2400m altitude). Recoveries done very easy (jog). 15mins cool down (2.8km)

Tues Aug 29

AM Track: 15min warm up (3.1km). 5 sets of (2km in 5:45-5:50, 1km in 2:50) with recovery of 100m walk, 100m jog. 15min cool down (3km)

Thurs Aug 31

AM 40km Tempo Run: 2hr13min

Sat Sep 2

AM Fartlek: 10min warm up (2km). 25 x (1min hard, 1min easy) with reps at an average speed of 2:45/km and recoveries an easy jog. Cross country course. 15min cool down (2.8km)

Tue Sep 5

AM Track: 15min warm up (3km). 13 x 1km starting in 2:53, ending in 2:45 (average 2:50) with 1:30 recovery. 15min cool down (3km)

Thu Sep 7

AM 30km Tempo Run: 1hr42min â€“ challenging course and conditions today.

Sat Sep 9

AM Fartlek: 10min warm up (2km). 13 x (3min hard, 1min easy) at an average pace of 2:55-3:00/km on cross country course. Recoveries very easy jogging. 15min cool down (3km)

Tue Sep 12

AM Track: 15min warm up (3km). 14 x 800m in 2:10-2:12 with 90sec recovery. 15min cool down (3km)

Thu Sep 14

PM 40km Tempo Run: 2hrs15min â€“ challenging cross country course.

Sat Sep 16

AM Fartlek: 10min warm up (2km). 20 x (2min on, 1min off) with reps at an average pace of around 2:50-2:55/km and recoveries an easy jog. 15min cool down (3km).

Tue Sep 19 (final workout)

AM Track: 15min warm up (3km). 12 x 400m (90sec rest) in 63-64. This was a relaxed workout, focusing on rhythm.

AM 40km Tempo Run: 2hr26min â€“ Very tough course, poor conditions (muddy etc)

6 years ago 09/25/2017 11:23am EDT

re: Matt Fox

Also, here are 2 videos from the experience..

August 10th 30km Tempo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHYbu5ee-JQ

August 12th 4x10min Fartlek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3PzUqfb0wo

6 years ago 09/25/2017 11:39am EDT

re: Matt Fox

Cool, looking forward to reading through this.thank you for the post

6 years ago 09/25/2017 11:45am EDT

re: Neat.jpg

6 years ago 09/25/2017 11:53am EDT

re: runn

6 years ago 09/25/2017 12:58pm EDT

re: Matt Fox

Yeah, I was in

Kenya too, if by 'in Kenya' you mean 'read the already posted log'. Did you find a way to cut-and-paste or did you actually have to type it out word-for-word? You realize, of course, that the information in question was linked on this very Board. You not even fooling yourself.

6 years ago 09/25/2017 1:09pm EDT

re: Matt Fox

Awesome post, just one question, how much does it cost to live in Iten/Eldoret per week more or less?

6 years ago 09/25/2017 2:23pm EDT

re: Matt Fox

Dude ðŸ˜³

Thank you.

6 years ago 09/25/2017 2:39pm EDT

re: Matt Fox

What was his easy pace?

6 years ago 09/25/2017 2:45pm EDT

re: morans

morans wrote:
What was his easy pace?

8:00/mile for his warm ups, 6:30-7:00 for recovery runs:

http://www.sweatelite.co/eliud-kipchoge-full-training-log-leading-marathon-world-record-attempt/

The OP is a troll, nothing that wasn't copied from the above link.

6 years ago 09/25/2017 3:14pm EDT

re: Kinko the Copier

Kinko the Copier wrote:
Yeah, I was in Kenya too, if by 'in Kenya' you mean 'read the already posted log'. Did you find a way to cut-and-paste or did you actually have to type it out word-for-word? You realize, of course, that the information in question was linked on this very Board. You not even fooling yourself.

Or you're making up crap.

6 years ago 09/25/2017 3:56pm EDT

re: Parade Rain

Parade Rain wrote:
The OP is a troll, nothing that wasn't copied from the above link.

If you'd bothered to read the link you posted, it refers to the OP's ebook as follows:

[This is an excerpt from the Eliud Kipchoge Edition â€“ a 33 page e-book on the training on Eliud Kipchoge]

6 years ago 09/25/2017 4:09pm EDT

re: Matt Fox

6 years ago 09/25/2017 5:01pm EDT

re: Tommy2Nuttz

Shouldn't the title read: I watched Eliud Kiphoge train!

OP needs to be up front and explain how much he is charging for this and how much is going back to the coach/athlete who's intellectual property he is making financial gain from. Great content, just a little shady the way it's being sold.

6 years ago 09/25/2017 5:06pm EDT

re: Kinko the Copier

Kinko the Copier wrote:
Yeah, I was in
Kenya too, if by 'in Kenya' you mean 'read the already posted log'. Did you find a way to cut-and-paste or did you actually have to type it out word-for-word? You realize, of course, that the information in question was linked on this very Board. You not even fooling yourself.

It was his E-book that the article got that from. Had a long video post on fb about it. If you're going to be a d!ck, at least have the correct information.

6 years ago 09/26/2017 4:41am EDT

re: Rude

I'm interested in buying the ebook, but there's no mention of the price.. How much is it?

6 years ago 09/26/2017 4:52am EDT

re: Matt Fox

can you tell me what kind of gps watch do you use in your video?

6 years ago 09/26/2017 5:50am EDT

re: vo2maxxxxxersd

Great post, thank you!

It's interesting how so many of the longer runs are noted as very hard courses and conditions. Can't help but think that adding the rough terrain and hills into these efforts much make them substantially harder than they already are. How many Americans do their long, MP effort runs on flat pancake course? Training on these courses must make the likes of London and Berlin feel like a cake walk.

You have a GPS watch for tracking him... do you have the elevation he ran during these long hard runs?

6 years ago 09/26/2017 6:31am EDT

re: Da heeeelll!

So Kipchoge does not run faster than half marathon pace during any of his training runs?

6 years ago 09/26/2017 9:00am EDT

re: gdfhdhdh

He did like one workout per week at faster speeds.

Example 1: 12x800m (goal 2:10s): 2.13, 2.11, 2.13, 2.10, 2.11, 2.10, 2.10, 2.09, 2.11, 2.10, 2.09. 10x400m (goal 62s): 64, 64, 63, 64, 62, 62, 61, 62, 61, 61. Rest: 1.5min rest for all.

Example 2:

25 x (1min hard, 1min easy) with reps at an average speed of 2:45/km.

Example 3:

14 x 800m in 2:10-2:12 with 90sec recovery.

Example 4:

12 x 400m (90sec rest) in 63-64.

Example 5:

1200m in 3:25, jog lap, 5x1km in 2:55 (1.30 rec), jog lap, 3x300m in 42-40 (1:00 rec), jog lap, 2x200m in 27s (1:00 rec).

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I trained with Eliud Kipchoge leading up to Berlin - here is what he did in the lead up.

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