Train Like a

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Canadian Running

July & August 2009

late March, Adidas hosted a running camp Gearing up In in Santa Monica, California, with seven of for a big race their top athletes, who demonstrated their preparations for the World Championships in this summer? Athletics in Berlin, Germany in August. sat down with each of the Super 7 Follow these We athletes to get some advice on how to race-ready tips prepare for a major goal race. from six world By Michal Kapral champions and a world record holder.

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 trained properly. Runners of all levels, even the worlds best, face the similar fears, so we asked seven champions for some advice on how to get the most our of training and final preparations for the big event.

marathon world record holder

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 try 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 try 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

Photos: www.photorun.net

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.
Left Haile Gebrselassie winning the 2008 real,- Berlin Marathon

Opposite Haile Gebrselassie and a section of the Berlin Wall

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400m Olympic gold and silver medallist

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:

Jeremy Wariners racing shoes by Adidas, used during 400m competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Eat real food

Because he trains a lot and has a high metabolism, Wariner says he doesnt have a strict diet. He eats what he wants, when he wants and doesnt monitor how much he consumes. But a few years ago, he realized that 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 track and field. Coming down the final straightaway, 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 pain subsides, Wariner says, its heaven.

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Photos: Claus Andersen / Mundo Sports Images

Train Like a Champion

100m world champion

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 off. 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 instruments, 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.

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Train Like a Champion

100m and 200m world champion

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 says hes 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 any weak links, whether it be a lack of basic speed or poor running form.

The finishing kick

Gay sees a lot of long-distance runners holding their arms and shoulders too high and tight as they finish 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.

Beijing silver medallist, reigning world champion, 200m

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
Photos: Claus Andersen / Mundo Sports Images

Felix always runs with a small group 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 can make you feel great, she says, and you can channel this optimism into your non-running life and vice-versa. In this sense, running and fitness can become an extension of who you are.

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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 10k 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.

Training
Training was quite good leading up to Seoul, said Kibiwott. He ran 120150k 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 preparation
Kibiwott arrived in Seoul on Tuesday, and all his runs there were short and easy, 40 minutes at 5:00/km. On Saturday, 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, two hours before the race. He did a 20-minute warmup.

His goal
Kibiwott laughed when asked about his goal. His goal is to win, he said. No ones goal is to finish second. He figured it would take a 2:07 or 2:08 to win, though the 2-degree temperature in the morning worried him.

The race
The start was fast despite the cold, with 15 runners reaching 10k in 30:04. It slowed 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 the 30k water station. When he stopped to get it, he lost contact with the leaders and faded to seventh in 2:11:18. Moses Arusei won in 2:07:54.

The aftermath
Asked 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 age

Kibiwott 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 actually, it is the speed that needs to be reduced.

Advice for new marathoners

Start 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-marathons and lots of 10k races.

Kenyans versus Westerners

People are the same, Kibiwott said. Kenyans are good at running because we have to walk a lot. It is our lifestyle. In Europe and North America, there are cars and people drive.
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Train Like a Champion

400m Olympic gold medallist

Ohuruogu, 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 pressure 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, Ohruruogu 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.

world-champion high jumper

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 medallist 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 mimic the running motion to improve their efficiency.

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Photos: Claus Andersen / Mundo Sports Images