Training Strategy: Elite vs Average Runners

In this video, I break down the key differences between how elite runners and average runners train.

You'll learn about the importance of building a strong aerobic base, the role of volume in training, and how elite runners like Kenenisa Bekele incorporate speed development into their routines.

Discover how the 80/20 principle applies to running and why increasing your mileage can lead to better recovery and performance.

If you want to take your running to the next level, this is a must-watch!

00:00 Introduction to Training Graphs
00:49 Volume and Speed in Elite Training
01:09 Case Study: Kenenisa Bekele's Training
02:25 Monster Workouts of Elite Runners
03:30 Building a Strong Aerobic Base
05:27 The 80/20 Principle in Training
06:19 Conclusion and Additional Resources

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[thecaptainchas]

Matt Fitzgerald talks about the 13 weeks he spent training with NAZ Elite in Flagstaff. He said as they got further into training and closer to race day (Chicago Marathon), he was able to keep up with the Elites on their base mileage day. Not necessarily because he was getting fitter (he was), but because the elites’peak workouts were getting that much tougher, so their easy days were actually getting easier/slower.

[freddyheynssens]

Great advice. Thank you.
God bless you richly.

[AZ-hmor]

I’ve seen a couple of review articles showing that the pros actually typically favor pyramidal training rather than the polarized you are talking about. Lots of variability.

[KipKaspertly]

Same is true in cycling- it also follows time of year relative to when the season is like you mentioned. You come off a season of racing and you’re tired but also ridiculously strong, so you do longer, heavier rides with mostly zone 2-3, 100+ miles a ride, 2-400/week (fall); this includes starting to build weight training into the mix. Winter the weather sucks, days are shorter, you end up favoring 2 rides per day, warm-up then interval training working speed, 1-300 miles/week, zone 4-5; weight training is heaviest. Early spring rolls around and you start mixing the two and focusing on the distances your races are (60-120 miles), 2-400/week; you cut back on the weight training, maybe even stop. Always taper for a week or two before the season starts- I feel like a lot of athletes don’t set that time aside in their program, this leads to injuries, fatigue/burnout or an early peak but mid results through the season overall.

Cycling season has multiple races per week, generally 3, we always try to push 30-50 mile zone 1-2 rides the day after a race (helps move the lactic acid and byproduct from racing out, get fresh blood and nutrients in).

I’m curious how you program weight training? Do you favor a varied program throughout the year (swimming we always mixed sprint and endurance work together, just building volume until mid season when we’d start to taper for district/state competitions) or more of a seasonal adaptive like cycling? I think the volume is good in running, it’s so damaging on your bones and joints, it’s good to give the body enough volume to adapt and heal; if you push zone 3-5 year round it’s too fatiguing on the overall system. Your comment about running near race pace for distance and taking over a week to recover does not surprise me- I wonder if they would benefit from a low impact (cycling, swimming, etc.) zone 1-2 activity during those weeks, provide stimulus but not tax the system?

[blaquaman]

I tend to run as often as I can. Pace depends how my knees feel then I hope for the best in a race😂

[MJM]

I’m curious about this. A lot of ingebrigsten training is moderate intensity aka thresholds. Rarely does high intensity and does a good amount of easy.

[spacemonkey]

Can you make it to the Olympics starting marathon training at 21?would love the feedback

[Avianthro]

I think it may be a mistake to over-focus on 80-20 training. The goal is not to design and execute an 80-20 plan, but to make sure that when you do a session that's an overload, stress time integral greater than your 2-week running average, make sure you then get fully recovered before you do your next overload. That does not mean you have to go out and do enough mileage at slow speed to meet some 80-20 guideline. You do a training session and then you recover before you do another one., , that's all. Don't force yourself to run miles that you call "recovery" miles just so that you get in your 80%. Just recover dammit!

PS, Also, I bet there's no real benefit in doing recovery runs if they are just extending the time you need to truly recover or if they are a much longer time than the amount of time needed for your event...marathoners OK to do 3-hour sessions of course, but milers? Train appropriately to your event.

[janeth]

How much volume or base for a 55 year old 800 meter runner?

[nielsliljedahlchristensen]

I’ll be sure to fit in 130 miles of running into the 2 hours of free time I have each day, which are the last 2 hours before bed time, coincidentally :)

[Leonidas-eubb]

is this similar with sprinting? some coaches think so. I don't because sprinting is mostly about neural(brain) adaptaions but not metabolic adaptaions.

[AvinashSingh-spqv]

Sir today I do my threshold workout 3x2k in between 7:55-8:10 with 1:30 second rest and 3x1k in between 3:30-3:35 same rest time period and in last i do 2x200m in between 27-29. So sir according to you I'm in shape of breaking sub 4:00 minute 1500m . And sir when I start my first reps of 2k I feel little bit tired but when we go 2nd reps or further reps my body go very smooth. So sir plz guide me according to you and suggest your opinion to break sub 4:00 minute barrie of 1500m . And thre is any suggestions related to my this performance plz tell me I will definitely work on it.

[bangmet]

E and H should be in vertical axis, horizontal axis should be time

[confrontation]

If you don’t do speed work you won’t progress. Period. It doesn’t matter how many miles u do per week 10 or 100 miles.

[Dylan-Coll]

Most elite runners outside of olympic runners are not even doing more than 70 miles per week and this includes marathon training. lol