Pappy wrote:
Yeah, I know what Mark did. About a month or so ago on RRTT or another thread his training was discussed. Interestingly before he set the AR in the 10k he changed his training. He started doing a good deal more speed work.
He was great before the switch but set the AR after the change.
Pappy, I wasn't contradicting you; I quoted your post because it got me interested in Nenow's training (I was away from running from 1984-1990, so didn't have much memory of his career). I missed that Nenow thread, so this all may be redundant, but I think interesting and somewhat germane to this discussion.
I took some time this morning to read a few more interviews. Seems in college, he did a lot of speedwork, then got into the unstructured big miles (he says 100-140 miles per week) after college, running 27:28. His running loops included multiple hills. Still, he would also get on the track to sharpen. Working with a coach, he added sprint drills and structured repeat miles, but only for 4-6 weeks (?) immediately prior to running the 27:20 American record (which stood until 2001). A few excerpts:
1985 Runners World interview:
At the University of Kentucky "I went the route of three track sessions a week. One year I was doing a lot of 200s -- a lot of 200s -- and I'm sure I had my speed up real good. I was probably in shape to run the best 800 or 1500 that I could run, but I was running the long races. I've done a bit of all the different kinds of training, and it's become apparent to me over the years that I'm able to race pretty well by just putting in my time on the road. ... (Now, in the spring) once a week, as we get close to the TAC meet, I might start getting on the track, When I do get on the track, I don't do anything real impressive, either. I just get out there and run to kind of get used to the track."
1986 T&F News interview:
MN: I admit I haven’t been a big fan of coaching, at least not for myself. Only coaching I ever had was in college, and my college career was sketchy at best. The moment I left college, as soon as I was on my own, I excelled.
I believe you need to work one-on-one with a coach. He has to really know you. You have to be together. I’ve just not been willing to relocate to get coaching. I’m really comfortable in Lexington.
JDW: What did Storey have you doing?
MN: Intervals. The classic stuff. Nothing fancy. 4:40-ish. He was real careful. He wanted to alter my training, but he didn’t want me to push it. He didn’t want me to come up lame.
JDW: And that’s your secret?
MN: I ran 27:28 on “nothing.” When you toss on top of that some sprint drills, some repeat miles, maybe that is the difference. But I was really strong. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Four weeks of track doesn’t automatically get you 27:20.
JDW: “Nothing” doesn’t get you 27:28. How were you training? How fast is your mileage?
MN: I don’t really know. I really don’t know the pace. I run how I feel. I just scatterbrain run around town. I never plot my week out. If I feel good on, say, Tuesday, then I run hard. If I’m feeling sluggish, I take it easy. I listen to my body. I run alone always. There’s a couple of reasons for that. First of all, there’s no one around here to train with. And, secondly, I don’t like to run faster than I want to run, and I don’t like to run slower than I want.
2011 Runners World interview:
"When I came home from Oslo to prepare for Brussels, I literally did six weeks of Alan Storey training and then went back to Europe to run that fast race. And that’s the first time in my career that I really felt like I had a good coach or a detailed advisor."