Train Like a Champion

7/28/2019 Train Like a Champion

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Train Like a

Canadian Running July & August 2009


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In late March,Adidas hosted a running camp

in Santa Monica, California, with seven of

their top athletes, who demonstrated their

preparations for the World Championships in

Athletics in Berlin, Germany in August.

We sat down with each of the Super 7

athletes to get some advice on how to

prepare for a major goal race.

By Michal Kapral

The thrill of road racing can be addictive, but having an

ambitious goal race in your calendar can also lead to pre-race

jitters and general panic over whether youve tra ined properly.

Runners of all levels, even the worlds best, face the simila r fears,

so we asked seven champions for some advice on how to get the

most our of training a nd final preparat ions for the big event.

Haile Gebrselassie says he still has the same motivation now as he did when he

was a young runner. Despite having set 26 world records, he says hes always

targeting a new goal. Gebrselassies advice to stay motivated leading up to a

big race:

Target a new race distance

If you find your running is getting stale or tiresome, that means

its time to switch things up and t ry something different maybe

add some hills or some tempo runs, or train for a different race

distance. The former 5000m and 10,000m champion has moved

up to the marathon, and now says hes been thinking about

dropping down to t ry some 800m or 1500m races.

Dont do too much

Gebrselassie says its important to maintain a balance with

your training and racing. Running is a very tough sport, he says,

and it can be easy to overtrain and burn out, so its key to not do

too much, or you wont enjoy running anymore.

Don't fear failure

Bad results happen, Gebrselassie says. Some runners get

so upset when they drop out or have a bad race, but I think bad

results can teach you things you need to improve.

marathon world record holder

Gearing upfor a big race

this summer?

Follow theserace-ready tipsfrom six world

championsand a world

record holder.

Photos:www.p

hotorun.net

Left HaileGebrselassiewinningthe2008real,-BerlinMarathonOppositeHaileGebrselassieandasectionoftheBerlinWall

www.runningmagazine.ca 5


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Jeremy Wariner has an exceptional combination of power and speed that enables him to hurtle

around a 400m oval in just over 43 seconds. Interestingly, his bodys build is much leaner than

the typical 400m runner, but his performances over the last few years, including a string of

eight straight wins in the Golden League in 2006, and an Olympic gold in 2004, have made the

track world redefine the optimal body type for the distance. The soft-spoken Texan has this

advice for runners:

Eat real food

Because he trains a lot a nd has a high metabolism, Wariner says he doesnt

have a strict diet. He eat s what he wants, when he wants a nd doesnt monitor

how much he consumes. But a few years ago, he realized t hat eating too much

processed food was making him feel sick, so he cut out fast food and began

cooking more meals at home, including Texas barbecue. He says this made

him feel much stronger.

Train through the pain

With its combination of sprint speed and distance, the 400m is often

considered one of the most painful events in t rack and field. Coming down

the fina l straig htaway, oh, its hell, Wariner says. But he makes it hurt even

more during practice sessions to teach his body to fight through the pain. He

says runners racing any distance can benefit from training through the pain.And once the pai n subsides, Wariner says, its heaven.

JeremyWarinersracingshoesbyAdidas,

usedduring400m

competitionatthe2008

BeijingOlympicGames

400m Olympic gold and silver medallist

Photos:ClausAndersen/MundoSportsImages



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The Jamaican 100m and 200m runner says shes not looking around

to see who her rivals are for the World Championships. Whoever

makes it to the final is a contender, she says. And Ill be watching

them when the gun goes of f. Her words of wisdom for racing:

Visualize the race

To stay calm before a big event, Campbell-Brown

uses visualization techniques. Leading up to the race,

shell have gone over the race hundreds of times in her

head, imagining a perfect scenario. She says runners

can use these techniques to stay calm and win the

mental battle at the start line. If negative thoughts

or worries creep into you mind, you can just replay

the race in your head to banish the negative energy.

I think the mind is one of the most powerful instru-

ments, Campbell-Brown says. Its amazing what it

can do. As a distance runner, if you believe that you

can sprint at the end of a race, then you can do it.

Channel your nerves

When Im nervous at the start of a race, its good. It

means Im ready. But I keep it under control.

100m world champion


Train Like a Champion


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As a pure sprinter, most of Allyson Felixs workouts involve short bursts of speed and various

drills. The relaxed, 23-year-old Californian says she considers herself a recreational runner,

since she often struggles with motivation to get out for a 30- or 40-minute jog for general

fitness. Her advice to other runners:

Find a friend

Felix always r uns with a small g roup of other sprinters on Wednesdays. At

first, she used to do these runs on her own and it felt onerous. When she took

along some friends with her, she suddenly found herself looking forward to

something she used to hate.

Channel your attitude

Felix says she grew up in a large, happy family, and her mom always

encouraged her to pursue different sports. She says parents should do their

best to keep their kids active, which will set them up to be happier and

healthier in the long run. Running ca n make you feel great, she says, and you

can channel this optim ism into your non-running life and vice-versa. In thissense, running and f itness can become an extension of who you are.

After running an American record of 9.77 for the

100m in the qualifying heats at the Beijing Olympics,

Tyson Gay suffered a hamstring injury that forced

him out of medal contention, but the American sayshes back in full form and ready to take on rival Usain

Bolt of Jamaica at the World Championships.

Work on your weakness

Gay knows hell have to have a good

start out of the blocks if he wants to beat

Bolt, so hes been fine-tuning his starts.

He says runners training for a race should

use the initial phase of their training to

work out the kinks in their running form,

or fix a ny weak links, whether it be a lack of

basic speed or poor runn ing for m.

The finishing kick

Gay sees a lot of long-distance runners

holding their arms and shoulders too high

and tight as they fini sh races. He says they

should do what sprinters do and use their

arms to drive the forward momentum of

the legs, keeping the arms and shoulders

a little wider to open up the chest, and

driving the hands back behind the hips

to generate maximum propulsion for a

strong finish.

100m and 200mworld champion

Beijing silver medallist,reigning world champion, 200m

Photo

s:ClausAndersen/MundoSportsImages




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A Chat with Seronei Kibiwott

By Adeel Ahmad

Charles Seronei Kibiwott is a 34-year-old marathoner from Kenya.

He started running at 24 and went from a 34-minute 10 k to a 2:12

marathon in two years. He ran a best of 2:06:52 at the 2006 Rotterdam

marathon. Canadian Running had a chat with him before and after the

Seoul International Marathon.

TrainingTraining was quite good leading up to Seoul, said Kibiwott. He ran 120-

150k a week, with peak weeks over 200k, and ran as far as 40k in training.

He had not raced since his last marathon in October, but said this was not a

problem.

Pre-race preparationKibiwott arrived in Seoul on Tuesday, and all his runs there were short and

easy, 40 minutes at 5:00/km. On Sat urday, he did not run and went to bed at

9. He woke up at 4:30 on Sunday to eat a breakfast of pasta before going back

to sleep until 6, t wo hours before the race. He did a 20 -minute warmup.

His goalKibiwott laughed when asked about his goal. His goal is to win, he said.

No ones goal is to f inish second. He figured it would take a 2:07 or 2:08 to

win, though t he 2-degree temperature in the morning worried him.

The raceThe start was f ast despite the cold, with 15 runners reaching 10k in 30:04. Itslowed to 60:46 at 20k and continued to 30k in 1:31:17. Kibiwott was one of

seven in the lead pack at this point, but his bottle fell down at t he 30k water

station. When he stopped to get it, he lost contact w ith the leaders and faded

to seventh in 2:11:18. Moses Arusei won in 2:07:54 .

The aftermathAsked if Kibiwott was happy with the race, his manager Tom Ratcliffe

chuckled: No, no, definitely not. Kibiwott said he would spend three or

four days resting, then train easy for a week before training hard again.

Running and ageKibiwott plans to run until he is 40. He thinks he can run 2:10 marathons

until 40, citing Paul Tergat, who recently ran 2:10 at the age of 39. As he

gets older, Kibiwott said he would reduce the mileage but then corrected

himself, saying actua lly, it is the speed that needs to be reduced.

Advice for new marathonersStart training, increasing mileage step-by-step and rest in between. [You

need to] train for two, three or four years to be good at marathons. Run lots

of half-marat hons and lots of 10k races.

Kenyans versus WesternersPeople are the same, Kibiwott said. Kenyans are good at running

because we have to walk a lot. It is our lifestyle. In Europe and NorthAmerica, there are cars and people drive.



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Photos:ClausAndersen/MundoSportsImages

400m Olympic gold medallistOhuruogu, who won Britains only gold medal on the track in Beijing, says she

cant imagine what it will be like in the London Olympics in 2012. She lives a

stones throw from what will be the Olympic stadium and will have the pres-

sure of being the defending Olympic champion in the 400m. How does she

handle the pressure?

Find a coach

If you have a serious race target, Ohruruog u says finding a good

coach or trainer can make a big difference. The coach should be

reasonable someone you can work with as a team.

Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic has some words of wisdom

for distance runners:

Specificity

A lean, flexible 6'4", with elastic fast-twitch muscles, Vlasic is

built to jump. The Olympic silver medal list and current world

champion says runners should focus on training the muscles

and the movements for their sport. As a high jumper, she doesnt

do any running longer than 150m, and performs circle drills to

work on generating centripetal force on her approach to the bar.

Runners, she says, should work on drills that m imic the runn ing

motion to improve their eff iciency.

world-champion high jumper



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