El Guerrouj "base" phase

like many have said athletes are ahead of the testers. This has proven true for many years. When i was in college i got very sick and was prescribed a very mild steroid. My training was off the charts while i was on a MILD steroid. I could train hard every day and feel like i was recovered every morning. I had tons of energy and my workouts were amazing. I felt like i could push myself a lot harder and faster than i ever had previously. this was a long time ago but i know it was a big benefit for me.

Gorun1600 wrote:

like many have said athletes are ahead of the testers. This has proven true for many years. When i was in college i got very sick and was prescribed a very mild steroid. My training was off the charts while i was on a MILD steroid. I could train hard every day and feel like i was recovered every morning. I had tons of energy and my workouts were amazing. I felt like i could push myself a lot harder and faster than i ever had previously. this was a long time ago but i know it was a big benefit for me.

What kind of roid was that?

That was not what I was asking for. I wondered why some people claim that it´s impossible for the human body to handle a high intensity/low mileage program without drugs. Very few claim that it´s impossible to do high mileage without drugs.

Coevett wrote:

Somebody posted on Facebook recently an even more incredible alleged workout of Makhloufi, in which he starts with an 800m at sub 1:46, a 3 minute rest and then a 600 at the same pace, another 3 minute rest, and then a 400 at the same pace.

The workout was: 800 (sub 1:45) - 10min rest - 500 (sub 65) - 4min rest - 400 (sub 53) - 2min rest - 300 (sub 40).

Gorun1600 wrote:

like many have said athletes are ahead of the testers. This has proven true for many years. When i was in college i got very sick and was prescribed a very mild steroid. My training was off the charts while i was on a MILD steroid. I could train hard every day and feel like i was recovered every morning. I had tons of energy and my workouts were amazing. I felt like i could push myself a lot harder and faster than i ever had previously. this was a long time ago but i know it was a big benefit for me.

i do not doubt it. but i think that there are middle distance runners who are best served with sessions of up to 60 minutes, especially on a routine of doubles. this adds up the mileage. this adds up.

anecdotal evidence without proof: i have run my pb's with moderate mileage, but all quality. i felt fresh. if memory serves well my longest runs were 60-70 mins here and there . what really brought results were hard and long intervals (1-2 miles) and damn hard fartleks of about 45 mins duration. but that worked only for distances up to 5 miles. when i tried to run hm and more i did the real long duration runs, of course.

It's not only 2 tempo runs per week ... All the weekly mileage is done at marathon pace or faster. There are no easy days in his base phase schedule. It's 14 workouts per week. That's what surprised me.

Research may show that the 1500/mile are mostly aerobic, but you cannot run them well without a LOT of specific training at mile or faster pace. No one runs the mile well off of major mileage without those workouts.

What really sticks out from that El G base phase are the 2k's at 5:10 with 2 minutes recovery. He was doing 7:45 3k pace repeats on 2 minutes rest. And this may well have been at altitude. That's sensationally fast relative to what most top 3k's go out in today, that is, not much faster if at all. In El G's era, the EPO era, there were numerous 3k's that went out under 5, but that doesn't happen now.

Sample for Intermediate runner :

Monday 30-45 min

Tuesday 45-60 min

Wednesday 3 x 2km (pace 10 km to 5 Km)

Thursday 45-60 min

Friday 30-45 min

Saturday 6x 1 Km (pace 5km to 3 km)

Sunday 45-60 min

This is just nonsense. Your body has a genetic limit for producing energy aerobically and anaerobically which is governed by thermodynamics. There are no magic bullets, just good training and nutrition.

Running is a skill. Just like it takes a concert musician thousands of hours of practice to develop the specific skills to play their instrument at virtuoso level in front of an audience, it takes a great athlete thousands of hours of practice to develop the stride mechanics needed to run super efficiently at speed for extended periods in a race. What is so hard for you to understand about this?

As for the original post. The written schedule is what was proposed for El Gerrouj for late 1996 to early 1997. For his peak years he did more mileage at a more reasonable pace.