At the Berlin Marathon on September 28, Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto broke the world record with a time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 57 seconds on the same course where the previous record—just a year old—of 2:03:23 had been set. The previous record holder was his fellow countryman Wilson Kipsang.
At the entrance to the town stands an iron archway bearing the words “Iten, Home of Champions.”
In this town, every morning at 9 a.m. sharp, hundreds of young men and women line up for their runs, including foreign athletes who come from around the world to train.
Kimetto, who just set the new marathon record, hails from Eldoret town, a southwestern neighbor of Iten (see map).
How do Kenyans train?
In late 2010, Canadian runner Reid Coolsaet also went to Iten to learn from the best. He summarized the characteristics of Kenyan training as follows:
1) Consistency. Volume is key for long-distance running. Every Kenyan runner I know runs at least twice a day, some even three times.
2) Hard work. Kenyans are the embodiment of the saying “train hard, win easy.” They do speed workouts (intervals, fartlek, and tempo runs) one to three times a week.
3) Rest. Kenyans take naps and go to bed early. They don’t push themselves non-stop, and their recovery runs are very slow.
4) Soft surfaces. They run on dirt roads—the only paved road in Iten is just one.
5) Group training. Kenyans do their speed workouts and easy runs in groups.
6) Thorough warm-ups. Kenyans usually warm up very gradually.
7) Nutrition: Kenyans mainly eat fresh food from local small farms.
8) Hakuna matata. That’s the Swahili phrase from The Lion King, meaning “no worries.” Kenyans maintain this mindset in their daily lives.
To test the effects of a month of training in Kenya, Coolsaet first competed in a 10 km cross-country race in Belgium—and unexpectedly finished fifth, with him being the only non-African in the top eight.
How exactly do Kenyans train? Their top male athletes are hard for us to emulate, so let’s look at a female star—Tegla Loroupe—who is equally impressive: she competed in the 10,000 m event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, placed fourth in the 10,000 m at the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships, broke the Kenyan women’s 10,000 m record with a time of 31:21, and ran the 5,000 m in 15:08.
Born in May 1973, Loroupe started running at age 7, covering 20 km a day while running with a weighted backpack: she ran 10 km to school every morning at 6 a.m., and then 10 km back home at 5 p.m., carrying a backpack full of books both ways. By the time she turned 10, she had cut 6 minutes off her school-running time.
At age 21, she began preparing for the 1994 New York Marathon, running around 190 km per week.
Her specific training schedule was as follows:
Monday
9 a.m.: Run 30 km at a 4-minute/km pace (2 hours).
4 p.m.: Run 10 km at a 5-minute/km pace.
Tuesday
9 a.m.: Run 25 km at a 3:40/km pace (90 minutes).
4 p.m.: Run 15 km at a 4-minute/km pace (60 minutes).
Wednesday
9 a.m.: Speed workout.
1) 2000 m x 2, at 10K race pace, with 40-second intervals;
2) 1000m x 3, at a slightly faster pace than 10K, with 30-second intervals;
3) 400m x 2, each lap in 69 seconds, with 30-second intervals;
4) 200m x 5, almost at top speed, with 30-second intervals.
5) Finish with a 30-minute cool-down run.
Wednesday afternoon: Recovery.
Thursday
8:00 AM: Run 20km uphill at a 4:30 pace (90 minutes).
4:00 PM: Run 12km at a 5:00 pace (60 minutes).
Friday
9:00 AM: Run 22.5km at a 4:00 pace (90 minutes).
4:00 PM: Fartlek workout for 60 minutes — run 1 minute at 10K pace, jog 1 minute, repeat; total of 17km.
Saturday
8:00 AM: Run 30km at a 4:00 pace (2 hours).
Afternoon: Recovery.
Sunday: Recovery.
How effective is this training plan?
Pretty good: that year she won the women’s title at the New York Marathon with a time of 2:27:37 (about 3:30 per km).
(By Hong Li)