Renato Canova explains training and success of last weeks marathoners
adam:
CANOVA
I want to precise that Lel and Cheruiyot are not my runners, but are, like Kibet and Kwambai, with Claudio Berardelli. When we speak of Claudio, we speak also of dr. Gabriele Rosa, that is the "mentor"of Claudio, giving him the first phylosophy about a correct methodology of training. Rosa was the first giving to Kenyans runners the correct idea about marathon training.
Now, we try to understand WHY for some athlete volume is a must, for some other not.
But, before going to analyse different situations,and to answer to many questions, let me finish to explain what we do during the SPECIFIC PERIOD.
In this pereiod, we INCREASE THE SPECIFIC VOLUME, in 2 directions :
a) WE RUN MORE REPETITIONS AT THE SPEED OF THE RACE (if we use the same distance)
b) WE EXTEND THE LENGTH OF THE REPETITIONS AT THE SAME SPEED.
This is what we do for EVERY event of endurance.
For example, if for an 800m runner (1'44") we were able to do 5 x 600m in 50" rec. 5', we try to add another 400 (6 x 400), or we try to EXTEND the distance, running (always with the same recovery of 5') 4 x 500 in 63".
For a Marathon runner, THE LONG FAST RUN (the final 2 times before the race) BECOME LONGER (34 - 38 km), THE SPECIFIC MARATHON SPEED ENDURANCE also becomes longer (for ex., 4 x 5000m with 1 km at 3'30" recovery become 5 x 5000, replacing one long run, because are 29 km), AND THE MODULATION GROWS.
You must remember that we NEED QUALITY, and it's possible to develop it ONLY IF THE ATHLETE IS NOT TOO TIRED.
So, while during Fundamental Period we continue to have high mileage for every day (so never the athlete run very fast, but never runs very slow), and during the Special Period we have already the right speed for th race but not yet with high volume, during the SPECIFIC PERIOD we have to do very easy training the 2 days before the SPECIFIC TRAINING, and we must recovery very well for the next 2 days.
I personally use, once every 3-4 weeks, a SPECIAL BLOCK (during the SPECIAL PERIOD) or a SPECIFIC BLOCK (during the specific period). Later I explain what they are.
So, THE PHYLOSOPHY FOR EVERY EVENT IS TO ENHANCE THE VOLUME OF SPECIFIC TRAINING, and the other type of training (Special and Fundamental) have the task to allow the athlete to do it.
The final question is :
HOW MUCH SUPPORT, and WHICH KIND OF SUPPORT, we need in order to reach that goal ?
When we speak about MILEAGE, we speak about something generic, that has very little influence in the real training. Mileage, without speaking about SPEED OF THE MILEAGE, is something useless.
Really, somebody can suppose that, for an athlete able running 42 km under 3' / km, RUNNING AT A SPEED OF 6:00 per Mile can be a useful training ? (bold added)
Easy means at the pace of Regeneration. When we speak about regeneration, we must also remember that running too slow means to remain more long time in contact with the ground, losing muscolar tension and increasing the eccentric contraction when you have to absorbe the impact with the ground. That's the reason because, normally, top athletes prefer regenerate running at 3'50" / 4' per km than at 5' : under the point of view of ORGANIC FATIGUE, there is no difference, but about the biomechanical of the action, the athletes feel more comfortable running a little bit faster.
adam:
Also advice for 800-1500m runners and those recovering from injury...major hill emphasis...
Hills, hills, hills. A runner recovering from an injury needs to build his biomechanical muscles up. You can do this by running hills. I recommend for the first week. 3-4 mile steady run followed by some hard hill sessions.
Big 800/1500 runners should be doing hills every day. 10x20 second hill sprints twice a week and 40x100 meter hill jogs once a week. It is critical that these 800 runners get the hills in.
As far as general conditioning runs. An 800/1500 runner would need to run at least 16 miles per run to get into top shape.
Yes, the lower mileage runners do it daily, but they will never be as good as the high-mileage runners.
Sasha Pachev:
Adam:
Thanks for posting it. One thing about Canova I like - he really understands running, he does not just take runners with high Quality X, train them using some standard method, and get them to a 2:10 marathon or 28:00 10 K. Kenyans run that just off childhood base, that would not be too impressive as far as the coaching success is concerned. Instead he is constantly searching for a better way. That is why he is able to mass-produce sub-2:07 marathoners and sub-27:00 10 K runners.
I also liked his "no stupid secret" phrase. That goes along with the blog philosophy - we make our training public, every day of it, no stupid secrets!
Note that everything he is talking about assumes you have had several years of solid base aerobic conditioning, which is a given for most of his athletes. 99% of your marathon crowd in the US does not. That is why it is so easy to finish in the top 1% if you do.
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