Seb Coe Mileage

This is one of those long time questions that we’ll never really know the answer to. Seb is just trolling us. Again.

I started running in the late 80s in the UK and his dads training theories were the go to for all coaches at my club . This was based on 60ish mpw of mostly quality sessions incl 3 heavy workouts per week.

120mpw - no one ever would have thought that was in the plan.

Probably is trolling though and we will never know the true detail

Peter Coe wrote two books, one of which I’ve read. In “Winning Running”, he talks a lot about how he trained Seb Coe, and provides examples of season, but no logs are provided.

As others mentioned, it’s lower milage, all fairly intense (I think his easy pace was 5:40), and three or more very intense workouts a week.

While not for everyone, I thought the book was an interesting insight.

I always understood it as Peter and Seb we’re tracking his quality work and not really recording his easy running (warmup, cooldown, recovery).

I’ve seen him listed at 100km/week (62 mpw)

So maybe 60-70 in some sort of “purposeful” running and then an additional 50-60 easy? The 120 figure does seem high.

According to Horwill, Seb would often do sessions indicative of running a 13:20 5000m, but that he didn’t run it because he didn’t care for the event.

I believe in what Seb said, for personal experience.

In March 1988, Seb trained in the place of the Italian Center of middle and long distances, Tirrenia, small town on the sea 30 km far from Pisa.

Seb didn't stay in the Center, but lived in the Continental Hotel, and with him there was his friend Peter Wirz, a Swiss guy able running 1500m in about 3'36".

One day, Seb asked me if I could be able to follow him, using the car of the Center, for a long run of 30 km on tarmac, from Tirrenia till Pisa. I drave the car, and Seb ran the full distance in 1h39' at 3'18"/km average.

So, I Always knew the idea of low mileage was a myth only, provoked by a big mistake in the interpretation of the bood about his training, written by his father Peter and by Martin.

The matter is the system used for counting the km. In the book, the only reference regarded the volume of the workouts "specifically" connected with the performance, not the full mileage that is the way to count the km used by the athletes of long distances.

Going again to my experience in that period, what excited myself was the session of circuit-training that Seb dis the following day : 40' without practically resting, with a lot of different exercises, with the clear goal to increase the strength endurance, something that probably only the same Seb and El Guerrouj had at so high level.

Don't forget that for all the British top athletes of short distances, and for the big Maghrebian specialists (Aouita, Morceli, El Guerrouj), the development of the Strength Endurance was the base of their specific training, and they used big volume during the first Preparatory phase, carrying out middle-long distances running fast (from 10 till 20 km), and a lot of sessions of very tough circuits and exercises for increasing strength and, more specifically, strength endurance.

So, while the training system of 40 years ago used by British and Maghrebian top runners can still be considered the best for distances of 800 and 1500m (and the performances clearly show it), the training for long distances became very different, with the introduction of higher intensity in all the long runs and long tests on track. And, also in this case, the performances are the best whitnesses for this change of method.

Steve Ovett.

Thanks for the info Renato.

Coe' theory and practice were very different and its disappointing why in all the interviews and discussions at the time he never mentioned anything like 120mpw.

The system was sold as low mileage specifically and a lot of people bought it.

The circuit training reference reminded me of what we did over the winter. Once a week a 30 or 40 minute circuit was performed, this was always common as you say for us mid distance runners and it was very effective. But was only combined with a short warm up and down run. Coe would have tagged on a medium run to this at least.

Very insightful coach! Thanks for sharing.

I think another reason for some of the confusion over Coe's mileage is down to some of the things he said in interviews around the time of his breakthrough season of '79.

A lot of journalists reported the mantra of Coe snr, that quality was much more important than quantity, especially in teenage years when athlete is still developing/growing. Peter Coe referred to low mileage in teens, and I think some interpreted that as just 'he did low mileage'.

Also, in another interview with AW, in '78 I think, Seb mentioned that (due to injury) he was only doing something like 40 miles a week; but this was for a particular phase of the year (spring/early summer I think) and he wasn't stating that that was the norm for the winter months as well. Again, in 79 he mentioned how he reduced his weekly mileage in the spring in order to concentrate on revising for his Finals (Uni degree) exams in May/June.

So, I think some published interviews/quotes were somewhat ambiguous and taken out of context. It's probably highly likely that Coe adapted his training and increased his mileage as his career progressed.

Ynys wrote:

Thanks for the info Renato.

Coe' theory and practice were very different and its disappointing why in all the interviews and discussions at the time he never mentioned anything like 120mpw.

The system was sold as low mileage specifically and a lot of people bought it.

The circuit training reference reminded me of what we did over the winter. Once a week a 30 or 40 minute circuit was performed, this was always common as you say for us mid distance runners and it was very effective. But was only combined with a short warm up and down run. Coe would have tagged on a medium run to this at least.

I think the reference to , '120' miles is purely down to embellishment; giving a generic value that he maybe met once. There have been many threads on this subject and many with access to his training logs, personal discussions seem to imply that while he did a lot more mileage than was suggested at the time of his career, he was still doing quite a bit less than some of his peers, like Ovett or Cram, I would be surprised if his average weekly mileage went above 80 miles.

It's been suggested before that some of the confusion arises because he did jogging in addition to his workouts and didn't log them because he didn't really count it as "running". But these days everyone would log it as "recovery" or "easy" running...

I have never believed that the claims about low milage. Here's why:

There is a documentary (I'm sure some of you know it) called "super milers" - the version I had on VHS was produced prior to Steve Cram setting the world record in the mile. A revised edition that included Cram came out later. If memory serves me correctly (it's been a very long time), the version I had was recorded after Moscow but before LA.

In that video, there are several interviews with Coe. During those interviews, he mentioned two relevant things:

i) how training was tough sometimes, e.g. on Christmas when the weather is bad but you have your 10 mile run scheduled - this was all about the weather and missing holiday festivities - the '10 mile' bit was very off-hand

ii) he mentions that after the Moscow 800 (which he was very disappointed in, despite getting silver) he went out for a 10 mile run while being dogged by the British press. Again, the point here was about the British press and expectations, not the 10 miles

So, if you're doing a 10 mile run after an Olympic 800 meter final, with the 1500 coming up in a few days, how low could your mileage be? Even if he was just throwing out a round number here and these runs were actually less, I just could never believe that somebody topping out at 60/week would even think to round up to 10 miles when describing a run in these contexts.

HRE once heard from David Martin that Coe trained like Lydiard athletes.

That's a more important piece of information than anything written in Peter's books. Peter was only interested in selling his books, and he thought "low mileage" was appealing to the book buying piblic.

TU = Total training units.

M: Mobility Exercises.

S: Strength, with weights and plyometrics, high weights for a few reps and in winter high weights for a few reps alternating with light weights for many reps every week.

TRU: Total Running Units.

TM: Total Miles at least 3'43 "74.

AC = Aerobic Conditioning, basic aerobic work on the distance as 9,6-12,8 km at 3'25 "10 and 16-19,2 km at 3'43" 74.

LT = Anaerobic Threshold Race, 3,328-6,658 km at 3'00 "24.

AeroCT = Aerobic Capacity Training, fractions of 800-3000 meters at a rate of 3000-5000-10000 meters.

AnCT = Anaerobic Capacity Training, fractions of 200-1000 meters at a rate of 800-1500 meters.

Phase 1

4 weeks of transition block.

----------------------------------------------

Phase 2

4 weeks:

10 training units per week:

3 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

5 Running Workouts for a total of 48-56 km:

4 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

1 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

+

4 weeks:

12 units of training per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

6 Running workouts for a total of 56-64 km:

4 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

1 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

1 Aerobic Capacity Training.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 3 Preparatory

2 weeks:

13-15 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

7-9 Running Workouts for a total of 72-80 km:

4-5 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

1-2 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

1 Aerobic Capacity Training.

1 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

3 weeks:

15-16 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

9-10 Running Workouts for a total of 80-88 km:

4-5 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

2 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

1 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

4 weeks:

18-19 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

3 Strength workouts.

11-12 Running Workouts for a total of 88-96 km:

5-6 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

3 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

1 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

4 weeks:

18-19 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

11-12 Running Workouts for a total of 96-104 km:

4-5 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

4 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

1 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

4 weeks:

19-20 Training units per week:

5 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

12-13 Running Workouts for a total of 96-104 km:

4-5 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

4 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

2 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

4 weeks:

19 training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

13 Running workouts for a total of 104-112 km:

4 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

5 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

2 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pre-competitive Phase 4

5 weeks:

20-21 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

2 Strength workouts.

14-15 Running Workouts for a total of 112-120 km:

4-5 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

5 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

3 Aerobic Capacity Training.

2 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 5 Early Competitive

4 weeks:

19 training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

1 Strength workouts.

14 Running workouts for a total of 104-112 km:

4 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

5 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

3 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

4 weeks:

18 training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

1 Strength workouts.

13 Running workouts for a total of 88-96 km:

3 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

5 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

3 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phase 6 MainCompetitive and Peaking

2 weeks:

18 training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

1 Strength workouts.

13 Running workouts for a total of 80-88 km:

3 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

4 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

3 Aerobic Capacity Training.

3 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

2 weeks:

19 training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

1 Strength workouts.

14 Running workouts for a total of 80 km:

3 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

3 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

4 Aerobic Capacity Training.

4 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

+

2 weeks:

16-17 Training units per week:

4 of Joint Mobility.

0-1 Strength workouts.

10 Running Workouts for a total of 64 km:

2 Aerobic Conditioning workouts.

2 Anaerobic Threshold Training.

2 Aerobic Capacity Training.

4 Anaerobic Capacity Training.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Coe was inspired by Frank Horwill's five pace rhythms and in his book and the 5 rhythms are shown above. the km are therefore indicated at least at 3 and 43 km with a peak at 120 km, its system has a single annual cycle (as did Cram and Ovett) with linear load progression before they together increase volume and intensity up to at the peak volume of 120 km. afterwards the km decrease but the intensity increases with more lactacid workouts, it must be said that its microcicles in the book is not 7 days but is 10-14 days indicating the running units. The easy days are very few, for the first phase aerobic paces are the main course, but subsequently they are low volume and as km they are replaced by lactacids and at low volume they are easy days. A truly KISS system: simple, but rational symmetrical and pragmatic.

Ynys wrote:

Seb states himself he did 120 now as per the quote on the home page. Puts to rest the low mileage approach some say he had.

120 miles in a week, like once.

Here is a LRC thread from 2005 started by a message board regular who actually met Coe and asked the question.

Martin x's post

I met today, for the first time, my boyhood idol and

all-time favourite athlete, Sebastian Coe.

The Foreign Press Association in London (of which I am

a memeber) held a luncheon to discuss London's 2012

Olympic bid chances. Lord Coe, the bid's chairman, was

the guest speaker.

It was a small affair and I was able to speak with

Lord Coe for a few minutes afterward. (He also signed

my dog-eared copy of his biography "Born To Run" and

was exceedingly gracious and polite. It was a great

experience and one that I won't soon forget.)

Now - to the bitter part: mileage.

As many of you know, I've aruged on several occasions

that Coe's weekly mileage totals were much, much lower

than assumed. It turns out I was wrong.

Coe was asked by a Finnish reporter if he was still

active and fit (which, if you look at him, is

self-evident: he's quite thin and looks much younger

than his 49 years).

He said: "Yes, I run about 30 miles a week or so and

lift weights a couple of times a week."

I asked: "How does that compare to when you were

racing?"

He said (laughing) "It's quite different. I was doing

about 100 miles a week in twice daily sessions back

then."

I said: "As much as that?"

He said: "Well, not every week, but during the bread

and butter months, I would get up to 100 miles a week.

During track season, it would be much lower, of

course, but I would say the average was about 70 miles

a week."

Well -- that's it. From the horse's mouth, as it were,

to the Let's Run board. Seb ran mileage. Lots of it.

I was wrong.

Martin

lol the second i read that quote all i could think was about all the threads saying they thought seb only ran 30 mpw!

Hayduke wrote:

lol the second i read that quote all i could think was about all the threads saying they thought seb only ran 30 mpw!

I have always thought that the middle is probably where the truth was. 70-90 mpw in the fall/winter and 40-60 during track season.

I have seen very few full schedules of any "world class" track guys. We tend to get like 4 weeks before the big race which is limited. I seem to remember Spivey posting like the 12 weeks before the OT on this board a while back and there was a lot of 50-60mile weeks. I wouldn't be shocked if Seb was similiar.

As far as 120 being accurate or just and old guy inflating his mileage is impossible to say:) I remember reading about insane Coe 800m runs and them leaving off the part about it being downhill:)

Exactly, It makes no sense to think in terms of km, but of load progression:

there are three types of load progression:

LINEAR

ONDULATORY

STANDARD

His system is linear load progresione, he really reaches the maximum mileage in spring in the 11 months (where it says bread and butter, balance between aerobics and lactacids) after the intensity increases.

i grew up with the picture of seb coe running low mileage, i. e. about 50 miles max.

wrong.

posts like this or renato canova's post show that seb coe ran miles.

30k long run at 3:18/k. a 7 x 800m/45sec rest workout, witnessed by frank horwill (quote: "The 800ms went like this: 2:08, 2:06, 2:04, 2:02, 2:00, 1:58 and 1:56! Coe led them all. Afterwards, he confessed that he did a 5km pace session at 13:20 speed each week.").

no questions left.