What is a typical Salazar training program?

-Faster easy runs than most people (1:15-1:30 slower than 5k pace) ex. Galen does his around 5:30-5:40 pace

-Working on top speed all year round and doing slightly longer 200-300s all year round

-Lifting is integral in their training to maintain form and work on fast twitch muscles

-When races get closer they do harder race pace intervals

-Of course they also have the basics all year long such as tempos and long runs

-All combined with Alberto's gray zone cocktails

Thank you!

I love Letsrun when it takes things seriously. Still googling for a sample program but I appreciate your take :)

You are aware that AlSal is a banned disgraced former coach, aren’t you?

In addition to the very good post:

- intense post-race workouts. The ones done by Rupp and the Hasay/Cain one were legendary

- 95-100% of running on SOFT surfaces. alternating workouts on soft surface, and track, or doing 6xMile on track with bends on track, straights on grass (only last 1-2 reps might be on full track to feel the pace)

- lots of supplements/meds to help with symptoms such as fatigue and overreaching from extremely hard workloads. Prime example - thyroid meds like cytomel and levoxyl

- tempo runs at THRESHOLD pace, just a bit slower than 10k pace. For Rupp, around 60-75s slower (total time) than 10k pace, so he did his tempos at 28 flat 10k pace.

- high mileage (maximum possible for individual, might be 60 for Cain or 100+ for Farah Rupp and Ritz), supplemented with additional mileage on alterG/underwater treadmill (so they can get to 120 mpw for example without the pounding)

- spikes only worn in the 4 weeks before a key race, and maximum 3 miles or so per week. Most training is in racing flats

- 2x20 week schedules, with a clearly defined peak race and with several weeks completely OFF after each block. 4-5 weeks easy mileage, 10 weeks peak training, 4-5 weeks taper, 1-2 weeks peak racing, 4-5 weeks fully off.

Great insight by him and a long Q&A session freely available here:

https://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=77605

Is the OP serious? wrote:

You are aware that AlSal is a banned disgraced former coach, aren’t you?

Of course he knows. So what? We could still learn from him and take some advice, this guy dedicated his whole life to running and how to maximize performance and prepare optimally for events. Salazar was a guru, he was not perfect and did many things wrong (abusing meds, playing doctor, running Cain into the ground, etc) but his achievements, medals and records can't be denied.

Nah dog, unless you aren't on the sauce his program isn't going work. Y'all fools If you believe otherwise.

Oh I know...

Just was curious about the mechanics of what they did ;)

Thanks Phil!

I'd love to visit the NOP facilities; the outdoor track with the trees looks neat as hell but would be a bit jarring the first time around.

https://runningmagazine.ca/video/training-video/video-bowerman-track-club-workout/

I wonder what Gwen Jorgensen, Carrie Tollefson and Allie Kieffer, among others, think of this story, as they are pros on the American racing scene and dialed into social media. I have non-runner friends asking me about NOP and Salazar and other things in the past 24 hours. It apparently made national news.

ok dood wrote:

http://www.trainingarunner.com.gridhosted.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mo-farah-typical-training-week.jpg

Mo Farah program is interesting.

But they forget to detail all the supplemend and PED drugs he took to go from a perenial journeyman to become an double olympic champion.

I also need to know the training program of Lance Armstrong.

There is a lot of information on Salazar’s training on the internet. Many videos from years at NXN, Flotrack WoW, etc. It’s interesting that Salazar has been very open with the media while Jerry and his training methods have been mostly secret. Even about SOME of the TUEs and supplements. A few of Jerry’s athletes ha r talked about their training the last few years but not a ton. Not nearly as much as Salazar.

Common workouts:

4-8 mile tempo runs

10x200m on grass + 10x200m hills

4-6xMile + 200s

8-10x800 cutting down pace

Sets of 600/400/300/200.

Sets of 16/12/8/4

Sets of 600/200

Sets of 8/6/4/2

He likes the breakdowns.

Tuesday’s are shorter reps. Friday’s longer reps/tempo. One main workout and one secondary workout.

Steve Magness published a few months of Ciaran O’Lionaird’s training in the fall of 2011/spring of 2012.

Many of these are outdated (or brand new). Salazar preached two things with workouts:

1) Keep them simple. He complained about "The Michigan" and other workouts being too complicated, and hard to compare. He said someone could run the 400s faster, but the 800 slower, how would he know he improved and is in better shape? Also a single big workout like that wouldn't tell you much if you don't repeat it in a season.

2) Repeat them over a 20-week training cycle.

With Rupp and Farah, he used the following workout pool:

20x200 fast

20x400 fast

10x800

8x1200

6x1600

tempo runs

20 mile fast long run

In the beginning of a season, Rupp would do the 6x1600 in 4:30 pace (which is probably just jogging for him). Then, he would progress to 6x1600 in 4:20, and finally do 6x1600 in 4:10 which shows him he is ready to do his peak race.

Similar with 200s - progress from 28s (he wants to work on speed ALL year round), to 27s, to 26s and finally 25s.

The 20 mile fast run progressed from 5:20 to 5:15 to 5:10 in 3 complete 20 week training blogs.

He also only does ONE "level A workout" per week. This means one super hard effort. One prime example he mentioned was Centro.

One week he did a 5 mile tempo in 4:50 pace (when he was still a miler, it was actually his best tempo ever). Next week, he did very hard reps as first workout. So Salazar told him to just do a 5 mile tempo in 4:55, which is of course much easier. But ultimately, he wanted him to get down to a 4:45, maybe even 4:40 5-mile tempo (but again, that would be the "level A workout" in a week).

So the 20x200 can range from a type A workout in 25s to a type B workout in 28s for a professional runner. The 20x400 would change from 58s in base phase to 56s close to the peak races (only 1 min rest btw).

Yes, all these workouts are insane if you look at time and volume, but Salazar said they could be copied even by kids preparing for NXN as long as volume and intensity are adjusted.

Mo barely broke 2:10

Rupp hasn’t finished any race in 13 months

Hasay cried herself to a 5km DNF

Take away the sauce and happy ending massages and these three suck.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

- intense post-race workouts. The ones done by Rupp and the Hasay/Cain one were legendary

What's the benefit of this? Isn't it better to cool off for recovery after a difficult race?

Shouldn't runners get rewarded with some time off and get allowed to eat a pizza or burger?

facts and reason wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

- intense post-race workouts. The ones done by Rupp and the Hasay/Cain one were legendary

What's the benefit of this? Isn't it better to cool off for recovery after a difficult race?

Shouldn't runners get rewarded with some time off and get allowed to eat a pizza or burger?

Depends. You probably wanna take a HS team to pizza or burger after the peak race, make them happy and strengthen the team spirit and morale.

But Salazar was coaching runners to break records and win Olympic medals. Here is his reasoning, which makes a lot of sense:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

facts and reason wrote:

What's the benefit of this? Isn't it better to cool off for recovery after a difficult race?

Shouldn't runners get rewarded with some time off and get allowed to eat a pizza or burger?

Depends. You probably wanna take a HS team to pizza or burger after the peak race, make them happy and strengthen the team spirit and morale.

But Salazar was coaching runners to break records and win Olympic medals. Here is his reasoning, which makes a lot of sense:

https://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13&do=videos&video_id=77607

Well........as we all now know he obviously thumped the regulations too far and got banned four years. End of story ! And all the runners he coached are now contested.

"Two week cycles. Here is a general outline for the majority of the year. (more specific in the final 6-7 weeks)

1) One short speed session per week year round. In the fall this can be hills and 200’s. The key is progression. If Galen wants to run 12×200 in 25.5 in August, he starts in late March/April (double periodization) with 200’s in 29. Always a 200j between. The short speed day obviously gets tailored to the specific needs of the athlete as races approach (can be 400’s or a mix of short intervals)

2) One longer workout per week. This can be long intervals (ex: 6×1600 w/400j or 8×1200 w/400j) or a 6-8 mile tempo run. Again the key is progression. Moving from say 4:30-25 for mile repeats down to 4:11-4:13 for Galen. The intervals are faster than 10k race pace, but longer recoveries than most other “elite” runners training. Just an interesting side note.

3) One medium interval workout every other week. Most of the time is 600’s or 800’s or 600m breakdowns (600,400,300,200). 3 or 4 sets of the breakdowns, or 8×800.

4) Long run once per week. One week is a slower long run and one week is a harder long run. The hard long run for Mo and Galen would be anywhere from 5:00 to 5:30 depending upon the time of year. Normally 17-20 miles.

The last 6-7 weeks before your key race is the hardest training cycle. Notice very little to no racing for Salazar’s athletes in this time period.

Normal easy runs are around 5:40-45 for Mo and Galen."

Top thread everyone. This is what letsrun is best for. I like the 10x200m; 10x200m hills workout, think I'll give that a go (maybe 6-8x instead of 10 though)

What kind of pace are they doing for the medium interval workouts like 800s & 600s?

If I understood correctly that means his athletes are doing/done a two week cycle of:

Week 1:

1x Short speed session + 1x Longer workout + 1x Long run

Week 2:

1x Short speed session + 1x longer workout + 1x medium interval workout + 1x long run

Is that correct?