David Rudisha’s Coach: Colm O’Connell – Philosophy

Coach Colm O’Connell loathes the cult of analysis—all the metrics like VO2 max and stride length—that dictates the regimens of most of today’s elite athletes.

“If it works, it works,” he told me. “Why must we analyze everything?”

O’Connell prefers to train his athletes by feel, not by numbers—and it’s hard to argue with the results. Since he began working in Kenya in 1976, 25 world champions and four Olympic gold medalists have come through Colm’s programs, making him, by almost any measure, the most successful running coach in history.

He is firm believer in listening very carefully to the body, correct form in training (he will sometimes drive with the group on longer runs and remind them of form, even at slower paces).

He believes the hills in Iten are a key to the strength and power of his athletes. Iten is rarely flat and these athletes are used to running hills continuously. Over time, this builds incredible strength.

When asked “how much milage does David Rudisha do?” his answer is “I don’t know.” He doesn’t place any importance whatsoever on total volume for his 800m athletes.

As already mentioned, recovery during interval training is never exact, it can always be adjusted. He is more interested in seeing the athletes hit the times and get used to the paces, than stick exactly to the recovery.