A good old thread about long runs. Jakob and now Kessler don't run far in their long runs. Bob Kennedy was a stud!
When Kennedy did base training with the Kenyans they were running 10 miles twice per day 7 days/week. That is 140 miles. You can do high mileage without long runs.
Tergat ran his marathon WR on 90 miles/week. I can't recall his longest run exactly, maybe 20 miles
When Kennedy did base training with the Kenyans they were running 10 miles twice per day 7 days/week. That is 140 miles. You can do high mileage without long runs.
Tergat ran his marathon WR on 90 miles/week. I can't recall his longest run exactly, maybe 20 miles
This is blatant misinformation. Tergat ran his Marathon WR on upwards of 300 kilometres per week.
Perhaps more egregiously, he proceeds to advise 5k runners that they "never need to run more than 10 miles." This happens right after the Kennedy bit. Wonder what John Kellogg would have to say about that ...
I guess we know why he sucked at the marathon (and 10k).
All runs are at 7,100 ft. altitude and are untimed unless otherwise indicated
S A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles easy on grass/road/trails
M A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14.5 miles high mountain run (starting at 8,200 ft, going up to 9,500 ft., then back down to 8,200 ft.) at slow pace but moderate effort owing to the uphill and the altitude, 5 medium to fast buildups on a level surface following the run
T A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles on grass/road/trails
W A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles at low altitude (1,000 ft.) w/ 7 miles in middle at high-end aerobic pace (untimed, but fractionally slower than threshold pace), 4 buildups during jog following high-end pace
R A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles on grass/road/trails
F A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14 miles easy on grass/road/trails w/ 4 light to medium speed buildups near end
S 24 miles easy at 3,200 ft. altitude on grass/trails w/ last several miles gradually picked up but untimed (water every few miles)
Total mileage for week = 151.5
Late Pre-Season (March 2000)
S 13 miles easy on trails
M A.M. 5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 13 miles comfortably-paced high mountain run (8,200 ft. to 9,200 ft.) w/ 4 buildups near end
T A.M. 6 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. (Altitude of 4,500 ft., repeats done on dirt track) 2.5 miles jog, 4 buildups, 2 strides, 5 x 1,600 @ 5:03, 4:53, 4:53, 4:52, 4:36/ 400 meters jog between each, 3 miles jog w/ 4 medium to fast buildups included
W A.M. 6 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14 miles easy on grass/road/trails
R A.M. 5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. (Low altitude of 1,000 ft.) 2 miles jog, 4 buildups, 3 strides, 8 miles @ 5:10 start, 5:04 average in middle, 4:46 last mile, 3 miles jog w/ 4 medium to fast buildups included
F 10 miles easy on grass/road/trails
S 25 miles easy at 3,200 ft.altitude on grass/trails w/ last few miles slightly picked up (water every few miles)
All runs are at 7,100 ft. altitude and are untimed unless otherwise indicated
S A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles easy on grass/road/trails
M A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14.5 miles high mountain run (starting at 8,200 ft, going up to 9,500 ft., then back down to 8,200 ft.) at slow pace but moderate effort owing to the uphill and the altitude, 5 medium to fast buildups on a level surface following the run
T A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles on grass/road/trails
W A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles at low altitude (1,000 ft.) w/ 7 miles in middle at high-end aerobic pace (untimed, but fractionally slower than threshold pace), 4 buildups during jog following high-end pace
R A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 15 miles on grass/road/trails
F A.M. 6.5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14 miles easy on grass/road/trails w/ 4 light to medium speed buildups near end
S 24 miles easy at 3,200 ft. altitude on grass/trails w/ last several miles gradually picked up but untimed (water every few miles)
Total mileage for week = 151.5
Late Pre-Season (March 2000)
S 13 miles easy on trails
M A.M. 5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 13 miles comfortably-paced high mountain run (8,200 ft. to 9,200 ft.) w/ 4 buildups near end
T A.M. 6 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. (Altitude of 4,500 ft., repeats done on dirt track) 2.5 miles jog, 4 buildups, 2 strides, 5 x 1,600 @ 5:03, 4:53, 4:53, 4:52, 4:36/ 400 meters jog between each, 3 miles jog w/ 4 medium to fast buildups included
W A.M. 6 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. 14 miles easy on grass/road/trails
R A.M. 5 miles easy on grass/trails
P.M. (Low altitude of 1,000 ft.) 2 miles jog, 4 buildups, 3 strides, 8 miles @ 5:10 start, 5:04 average in middle, 4:46 last mile, 3 miles jog w/ 4 medium to fast buildups included
F 10 miles easy on grass/road/trails
S 25 miles easy at 3,200 ft.altitude on grass/trails w/ last few miles slightly picked up (water every few miles)
Kennedy trained a lot like the Kenyans of the 1990-2000s where the long run for even a Marathoner was 90-minutes. Canova spoke at length about this at his session last year. Kenyans believe 90 minutes of a hard long run on trails, hills, and altitude is sufficient preparation.
My best running 14:00/29:00 came with no long runs in 4 years in college. We ran probably 12 miles as well once every 2-3 weeks, but spent a lot of time on the track and nailing 6-10 milers.
pretty strange anecdote from Running with the Buffalos of some CU guys running into some kenyans out for a 35k run or w/e it was then...
Perhaps more egregiously, he proceeds to advise 5k runners that they "never need to run more than 10 miles." This happens right after the Kennedy bit. Wonder what John Kellogg would have to say about that ...
I guess we know why he sucked at the marathon (and 10k).
Why did WeJo suck at the marathon? Did all those long runs let him run a 2:09 like you would expect from a 28:00 10k guy?
In Kennedy's day, almost no one ran over 90 mpw. Among top Americans only some marathoners hit 100s. The wisdom then was that you wouldn't recover enough to run fast if you did lots of easy miles. For some people, mileage around 60-90 worked or got them close to their potential.
There were a lot of marathoners running 120-150mi a week back then. I know because I followed their training logs.
Our two best guys on the track, BK and TW, did run well over 100mi a week during the off-season.
It is a much repeated fallacy that no one ran high mileage in the 90s.
Alan
Not sure how many did over 125 consistantly, but basically all the top guys were running 110-120mpw. the low mileage stuff was mainly a HS thing. All the colleges I was aware of were doing 70-90 for their XC runners. The 1500m guys might have been more like 60-70 depending on focus.
To me the big difference was on the low volume of quality work. We would bang out 6x800@5k pace instead of doing things like 5-6x 1600 at 10k pace. Feels that higher volume approach is what most people do until that peaking phase.