The Secrets of the World's Best 1500-Meter Training Group - Rongai Athletics Club

ezby wrote:

Working Stiff wrote:

What now? Three speed workouts per week is standard for most pro groups and is in most running books? Which books and which groups are you talking about?

He's talking about most pro groups and most running books. There are far too many to mention.

No. Just no. Ridiculous statement.

This keeps coming to mind:

Ouma's Army

Someone please help me out here, why does this keep coming to mind?

Working Stiff wrote:

Nothing suspicious about 3 speed workouts per week year round on low mileage... carry on marveling at the revolutionary coach who has his athletes go anaerobic every other day with zero consequences.

I'm not generally a skeptic but this reeks.

Yes there is no need to work on aerobic fitness when aerobic fitness can be bought for €65 from the local pharmacy.

el Keniano, do you really see this article was about the kindness and generosity of letsrun? I see it a bit differently. We'll see.

Sand Dunes wrote:

Very interesting, main training points:

Strength train 3 times a week, only twice if in the week of a competition.

Three track workouts a week, only two if it is the week of a competition.

Warm up for there track workouts is also interesting instead of jogging 2-3 miles they do 30-30. Run easy for 30 seconds and than do 30 second stride.

Finish speed work with hill sprints 4 x 150m

Mileage not stressed.

Interesting how the coach is a national championship in Karate.

after all is said and done, the guy is right.

a mile is not very far, but you have the have great aerobic ability, which is not developed in the slow long run. that is a disastrous idea, running hill repeats hard for 2 to 6 minutes is the aerobic builder, or towing a tire.

and if you plan to go to the next level that means running 55 all the way, which means a 50 flat 400 x 4 workout is in the cards.

the above schedule includes quality work, and the biggest issue with the amount of work that is done at non race pace, and the muscles adapt more to that work than the actual goal pace.

then there is the gym or strength work, which is not necessarily done in every phase comprehensively, but is included, is important.

basically, the training of the past, the 1500 guys train like 10000m guys of the future.

the whole purpose of the longer runs is either to recover or to build up an energy reserve adaptation, and when you back off from the volume, you have about 3 weeks of elated energy which is the peak.

finally there needs to be a total recovery phase each year, and a power phase, entirely outside of the buildup, high intensity aerobic and speed, then race phases.

got it?

Moby Manser wrote:

"Dope Hard, Win Easy"

Exactly

ironside wrote:

el Keniano, do you really see this article was about the kindness and generosity of letsrun? I see it a bit differently. We'll see.

How? Don’t know about the motive. I suppose we’ve been so deprived of decent journalistic work regarding the Kenyan running scene that any that bucks the trend covering all dimensions of a unit such as the RAC is desperately welcome.

These article treats them as complete human beings. Who can’t relate to the Manangoi family filling four buses to travel to Nairobi only to be let down? Or Ouma’s family staying up late expecting dad to get an award only for him to get denied? People are used to see Kenyans boss it on trucks and roads and automatically assume success came out of nowhere with little work, adversity or past disappointments and failures. This is big factor in western suspicion, dismissal and even animosity towards Kenyans. For this alone, I’m grateful to Jon Gault for this piece. We all know he’s one of very few.

Yes, i remember that training video too. They were dragging tires around a field. So pure.

LRC was right to put the black page up. This sport is toast for many fans. I'll watch Berlin with skepticism. Chicago with reservations.

It's over though. As bad as cycling at the pro level.

el Keniano, you post on letsrun so I know you read posts on letsrun. A significant portion of post on letsrun are post of black African's on PED's. You may say: It's not the owners of letsrun fault what is posted. Letsrun management allows post they want on their site. I don't know if a game of chess is being played. I do not know all moves ahead.

Fighting the war, clean or dirty? wrote:

This keeps coming to mind:

Ouma's Army

Someone please help me out here, why does this keep coming to mind?

Ma's Army success was down to turtle’s blood and caterpillar fungus.

Ouma's Army success is down to tea and potatoes.

It kinda reminded me of how Percy Cerutty trained Herb Elliott. I.e. emphasis on building strength through resistance exercises i.e. heavy weight training, and running up sand dunes. But I guarantee it that they are still running 70-90 miles a week. 5-8 mile shake out runs every day on top of what they are doing adds up.

Well you thought Kiprop was innocent. Hell - you still think Kiprop is innocent. You think Konchellah is innocent. You never saw the current spate of drug pops coming and you maintain it's an evil white conspiracy.

And it's not a tiny percentage. It's probably a tiny percentage being caught still of those who are doping. It's a manifest out off control doping problem in Kenya that the only people in the entire athletics community don't accept is LetsRun (save for a few here, who are subjected to stalking, threats, accused of 'racism' etc.).

O.K., I keep getting Elijah and George mixed up - Elijah was 'mentored' by Kiprop.

Kudos for Bernard Ouma for giving a frank and straightforward answer on the Kiprop bust. If he can accept Kiprop is guilty, shame that you can't. You really are in a dreadful minority, even of Kenyans.

And I agree that the question and answer on Kiprop should have been included in the final article.

Now let's see what if any impact the WADA lab in Nairobi has on Ouma's boys times.

A lot of the posts are on black Africans on PEDs because a lot of black Africans on PEDs are getting busted. These busts are making BBC and Guardian sports headlines. Perhaps they have a neo-nazi anti-Africa bias too?

Also, you're wrong. I can't remember any of the recent busts save for Kiprop's making the front page of LetsRun. Instead we get an in-depth positive feature on a small group of runners under a karate coach who are pulling tyres and planting potatoes and completely dominating the 1500m, and running times not seen by Kenyans since...Kiprop (including a '17 year old' boy).

It's good that LetsRun did this article, this group are certainly interesting and they do appear to be (along with Jakob) the future of the 1500m for the next decade. But I do think Jonathan Gault, while his is in Kenya, should be doing some investigative work regarding the doping issue.

For example, perhaps he could track down Bett's coach, or at least his associates. Perhaps he could grill the Kenyan Athletics Federation as to how it was possible this man was chosen to coach the Kenyan team at this years Commonwealth Games when one of his 20 year old female athletes had died suddenly, the year after being busted for EPO use? This seems incredible, especially as the manager of the team for Rio is facing trial for running a doping ring from a Eldoret hospital (and perhaps Mr Gault could determine what the hell is happening with that trial which was already supposed to have begun)?

I'm pretty sure ARD or the Sunday Times, or whoever, will be soon.

I do not know for what you are accusing me? How do you know if letsrun management does or does not have an agenda? Did they do a fluff piece feel good story as part of a set-up? As much as you, Coevett complain about management of letsrun, you do not know if the fluff piece is a set-up or not?

Terwilliger wrote:

ezby wrote:

He's talking about most pro groups and most running books. There are far too many to mention.

No. Just no. Ridiculous statement.

Grabbed four books off my shelf just now. Coe/Martin, Daniels, Magness, and Hudson. Hudson is more like 2-3 speed workouts per week. The others all have three.

The only way you can make "three speed workouts per week" controversial is if you impose a narrow definition of speed that wasn't in the article. For example, there was a guy earlier who said he'd never done three workouts in a week--he only did two track workouts and a tempo run. Well, that's three speed workouts, and that's all the article said they do. It didn't say "three hard anaerobic tolerance workouts per week" or even "three track workouts per week." And even if they happen to be on the track for all of those workouts, that really tells you nothing about the content of the workouts. FWIW, I do pretty much every workout that's faster than MP on the track, including what's typically referred to as "tempo" or LT.

J. Gault, please can your next story be "The Secrets of the World's Second Best 1500 meter Training Group - Team Ingebrigtsen".

I hope you are on your way to Norway right now

I think we're splitting hairs here. I wouldn't typically consider 2 track sessions and a tempo as @three track sessions"; but I see your point.

You have a point and may be on to something. But if there really is an ulterior motive and a plot to discredit African running in its entirety, then it will, at some point, have to come down to the science. The onus will be on them to prove most Africans are on PEDs like they did with Russia, and there’s zero chance of that happening for the simple fact it is not the case. They would easily win a campaign of perception as they control the most powerful instruments of media, but that’s where it would end. Nothing enforceable besides taking their ball away to play in local events, regional championships such as the Euros and the invitation only “World Athletics Cup” that excited nearly two hundred people worldwide.

peekay wrote:

J. Gault, please can your next story be "The Secrets of the World's Second Best 1500 meter Training Group - Team Ingebrigtsen".

I hope you are on your way to Norway right now

Bernard Ouma is in the comments section on this Ingebrigtsen piece. I love how the Kenyan guy is coming across as the more measured playing the long game. Well on his way to reaching Patrick Sang status.