Ready for a ‘Special Block’?

Extreme training the Kenyan way!

36km at a hard pace (plus warm ups) – all in a day’s work for Iten’s elite marathon runners. Gavin Smith follows Moses Mosop and his coach Renato Canova on a tough training day in Kenya.

Monday was a tough day for Iten resident Moses Mosop. Mosop is one of the worlds best distance runners and has run 26.49 for 10,000m and 59.20 for a half marathon. But now he faces a new challenge. On Monday April 18, in Boston Massachusetts, Moses makes his debut over the full marathon distance.

Moses runs over the 21.1km distance this Sunday in Paris to test his shape ahead of Boston so Monday was his last hard workout before he travels to Paris later in the week. Setting the schedule of Moses Mosop is the world renowned coach Renato Canova. Canova is a legend of the running and coaching world and is advice is highly sought after from runners and coaches across the globe and someone who has heavily influenced me as a coach. Monday was the first of what I hope will be many opportunities to coach alongside Renato and learn from one of the true masters of distance running coaching and theory.

On today’s schedule for Moses was a ‘Special Block’; used only a few times in the preparation for a big competition and only with runners who are already very strong, a special block comprises of a hard workout in the morning followed by an even harder workout in the evening. The aim is to replicate the demands of the event very specifically. Teaching the body to run at race pace or faster when already very fatigued.

Another day I will write in further detail about the training system used by Renato with his athletes who include as well as Moses the current World Champions in the Half Marathon for Men and Women (Wilson Kiprop and Florence Kiplagat) but now I will just tell the story of Monday’s training.

We met outside a Petrol station in Iten at 6am still under the cover of darkness and drove out of Iten for 15 minutes in the Eldoret direction to Kaptuli Junction. Renato drove and his passengers were myself, Moses and 3 other runners (including Moses brother Philemon) who were to act as Moses pacers this morning. The workout started as the sun rose with an easy 20minute jog warm up. Renato and I sat in the van and I listened intently as he described the reasoning behind his training theory as the guys limbered up.

This morning’s workout was 10km at an even pace, 5minutes recovery and then another 10km alternating 1minute hard 1 minute easy. The target times were 33minutes on the way out and slightly faster on the way back. That might not sound earth shattering for an athlete of Moses level but remember we are at 8500ft and on uneven, hilly dirt roads (and it was a windy morning!) The 4 runners were instructed to run an even 3:18 per kilometre which Renato explained to me is approximately 10% slower than Moses expected marathon pace. This is moderately hard and in Renato’s system the slowest pace for a ‘specific’ marathon training session (again remember the altitude, the surface, the hills and that it was still before 7am).

We followed in the van and Renato took splits each kilometre on his Garmin which was strapped to the steering wheel. As is the Kenyan way the run started slowly and at 1K the first split was around 3:35, much too slow, but by 3km they were bang on pace and by 6k Moses had dropped all of his pacers and ran alone at the front. He reached the 10km mark in approximately 32:30 and ran straight past the finish line and down the road. A few beeps of the van’s horn finally brought him to a stop and he jogged around for his 5 minutes of recovery. A friendly and instantly likeable guy, Renato chuckled when Moses ignored the finish line and suggested that he felt so good today that he doesn’t want the recovery!

Moses pacers came in spread out for the next 60 seconds. Philemon had had enough and joined us in the van. The others were instructed to try and help Moses for the first 3 or 4 efforts and then, when they cannot handle his pace, to jump in the van as well.

Watching a world class runner from such close proximity was like watching poetry in motion. Every step was powerful, purposeful and strong. Moses wore cycling style ‘tight’ running shorts which were baggy against his slender legs. The first and most striking thing I noticed about Moses was how short his contact time with the ground was. The surface was far from ideal for fast running with ruts and divots but Moses negotiated them seemingly effortlessly. Later in the day Renato commented that Moses style reminded him of Haile Gebrselassie and the similarity was easy to see. Light and bouncy off the front half of the foot with a strong barrel chested upper body punching the air.

Moses was alone after six minutes of the return leg, but continued to increase his pace throughout. The vans horn dictated Moses changes of pace and Renato explained the importance of fartlek and intervals for marathon runners with a ‘fast’ recovery. Moses pace only varied slightly from a fast to a ‘slow’ minute and he completed the return 10km journey in just over 32minutes, startling at this altitude. So, so far Moses has run 20k in less than 65minutes and this afternoon he has to do it all over again.

Well, almost… Moses’ afternoon workout is the same opening 10k followed by another 5minutes recovery. But then the return leg is just 6k. Sounds easy doesn’t it. Well, no because the return 6k is to be run at sub 3minutes per kilometre. Marathon race pace at altitude when you already have 30k of hard running in your legs!

So, we set off again for Kaptuli junction, one of Renatos favourite roads for hard workouts, it’s slightly flatter than some of the roads in the centre of Iten and also less busy with other runners! We arrived at the junction just before 5 and waited for another runner Renato coaches, who was introduced to me only as ‘Paul.’ Paul is a 61 minutes Half Marathon runner from Eldoret who is recovering from injury. He is not ready for a ‘special block’ so has joined Moses for the afternoon workout only – he ran an easy 60minutes in the morning.

Unfortunately Paul was working on typical Kenyan time so the arranged 5pm start became 5.30pm The workout started the same – The guys jogged slowly as we drove on ahead to the start point. Renato and I again sat in the van with me listening intently to his wisdom and we quickly became a spectacle for the local children on their way home from school. Two Muzungo’s (white men) sat at the side of the road in a van is probably not an every day occurrence here and a crowd of kids soon gathered around the van. When the runners reached us Moses said something in the local tongue and the children giggled and quickly dispersed.

The target time was again 33minutes but unlike the morning the pace was strong from the start. An opening kilometre of 3:15 was fine but after a 3:10 second kilometre Renato instructed the guys to slow down – there was a lot of running still to be done. The whole group were together at 5k and Moses looked strong. The view from the front seat of the van was fantastic. The backdrop was a beautiful sunset in a clear sky over lush green fields, in the foreground 5 elite runners, sweat dripping from their brows with looks of deep concentration etched on their faces.

Suddenly Moses pulled up. ‘What is? What is?’ asked Renato and Moses pointed to his head – a temporary blast of intense pain in his head seemed to have ruined the days work for Moses. After 30seconds or so he started jogging and said ‘I will see’ as we drove on to catch the rest of the guys.

A few minutes later Paul started to pull ahead of the group and Renato told me that he is aiming for a half marathon in Europe at the end of March – 60:30 was Renato’s prediction – not bad for someone returning from a long spell on the sidelines. Paul continued to ease away from the group clicking off splits faster than 3:10. Renato urged caution and reminded him he had a fast 6km still to come. I asked Renato if he minded his guys running faster than intended and he said it depends if he can still perform the whole session, but that curbing the enthusiasm of a Kenyan who feels good is a very hard task!

Paul ran the 10km in 31:50. As we were turning the van in preparation for the return 6km Moses came flying around the final bend and finished in 33:30. His head pain had subsided and he again looked supreme. Only Paul and Moses ran the final 6km, for the other guys their work was done.

After an opening 500m at 3:35 pace Renato urged them to push on and the 1000m meters took a measly 2.45! Moses then settled into a pace around 3minutes per kilometre and dodging between some other traffic, local kids playing at the side of the road and the odd cow he completed the 6k in a few ticks under 18minutes. Paul was dropped early on but continued to run strongly and was upbeat (as are all Kenyan’s!!) about his form.

Some light jogging and stretching and then into the van and back to Iten for dinner and some well earned rest!

36km at a hard pace (plus warm ups) – all in a day’s work for Iten’s elite marathon runners.