Two Olympic golds, two world championship golds, 800m world record holder. The G.O.A.T – of that there can be little doubt. Like many star 800m runners, Rudisha hails from the Brother Colm O’Connell stable. Home to thoroughbreds.
Runner’s Tribe took an in-depth look at the training of the 800m G.O.A.T himself, David Rudisha.
Derek Clayton was an irresistible force: the marathon is an immovable object.
When they clashed, there could only be two possible outcomes. Clayton would smash the marathon; or the marathon - more precisely, the preparation for the marathon – would smash him.
So it went for a career which saw Clayton alternatively a mile ahead - almost literally, at times - of the rest of the world, or limping along forlornly behind it. Twice he smashed the world best; nine times he went under the surgeon’s knife.
The first occasion I recall meeting Lee Troop was when Julian Paynter brought him along for a Sunday morning run at the 1993 national championships in Brisbane.
‘Troopy’ had finished sixth in the U20 5000 metres the night before, a race won by Andrew Letherby.
By the time we got back from that run almost two hours later two things were apparent. Lee Troop could run – and he could talk.
It’s no surprise, then, that over 20 years later Troop is still running and, one way or another, he is still talking, be it as a coach, a mentor, an advocate for the sport. He was, and is, passionate about his running and articulate in expressing that passion.
Milly Clark – an unfinished work
It is always difficult to judge an unfinished work. And the marathon career of Milly Clark falls into that category. It is at the one time so brief, yet also so brilliant.
A training-run debut – “we just thought it was an opportunity to get used to having drinks and practicing my gel intake,” she said in an iRun interview – was followed by a 2:29:07 serious debut in the October 2015 Amsterdam marathon.
Amsterdam, in turn, earned Clark a spot in the Rio Olympic team where, in just her second serious marathon she was a top-20 finisher and first Australian home ahead of her more experienced teammates Jess Trengove and Lisa Weightman.
Lisa Ondieki ran her first marathon in December, 1983 at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama, and it would be fair to say that her career took off like a rocket.
Within 12 months, Ondieki, then Lisa Martin, was an Olympic seventh placegetter, the Australian record holder with first, a 2:29:03 at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, and then, a 2:27:40 in Chicago and embarked on a career which saw her become Australia’s only Olympic marathon medallist, a dual Commonwealth Games champion and, for a long time, holder of the ‘world record’ for a women’s race on an out-and-back or loop course.
September 29th 2019, and Kenenisa Bekele made history, clocking the second fastest marathon in history – 2:01:41, missing the world record by just two seconds.Bekele has many years of aerobic conditioning in his legs. However, his race specific training for Berlin 2019 only spanned over an 8 week period during. A remarkably short period of time.Bekele’s training diary leading in to the 209 Berlin Marathon is below. Most of this training was performed at sea level in the Netherlands.
A key workout for coach Colm and various Kenyan’s, is called ‘Diagonals’. Performed once or sometimes twice per week, the session is a form of fartlek training, a mix between speed and endurance. The session is not intended to be a ‘max effort’ but more of a strong fartlek, that helps build both speed and endurance without overly flattening an athlete. The session is often completed not as a hard workout but is often done on an ‘in-between’ day. It’s a way to build fitness and speed, while still keeping athletes fresh for upcoming harder workouts.
Pre was an animal when it came to training. Quality over quantity, no long runs over 12 miles, morning runs most days, intense track sessions. Runner’s Tribe picked out 5 of Pre’s favourite sessions. For a more detailed account of Pre’s training program check out Pre’s training HERE
The G.O.A.T. of marathon running lives a pretty simple life. Train, rest, repeat. It is a winning formula followed by generations of successful distance runners. We dived deep into what this simple life of endless miles, huge sacrifices and lots of rest means when discussing the greatest to ever live.
The great coach Renato Canova has a unique approach to marathon training. For Canova, training for the marathon is all about race pace training, not mileage. Race pace sessions are by far the most important element to preparing for the marathon, every other aspect of training is geared towards this goal.
Canova argues that fast long runs, is the reason why the world has seen such a reduction in world record times. Ron Clarke led the way, he was well known for smashing his long runs at close to 3 minutes per km.
Canova’s approach to marathon training is unique to the traditional line of thinking. Below are the key elements to Canova’s philosophy:
