Eliud Kipchoge Training: A Typical Monday
The Sweat Elite team spent the month of August 2017 training alongside Eliud Kipchoge and his training group, in the lead up to the Berlin Marathon (September 24) where Eliud Kipchoge will attempt to officially break the Marathon World Record. Eliud Kipchoge is the man who ran 2:00:25 at the Nike Sub2 Project in early May 2017.
Eliud Kipchoge Training – A Typical Monday
A monday for Eliud Kipchoge involves 2 runs, totalling between 26 and 33km (16-20 miles), with the morning run at a decent pace (moderate effort) and the afternoon run at almost a jog.
6.10 AM: 16-21km (10-13 miles) at a comfortable effort
The first 1-2km will be used as warm up and will be as slow as 5:45/km, but usually around 5:00-5:30/km. From there, the pace will gradually pick up, at no set speed or progression. We joined in on a few of these runs; sometimes they were into 3:40/km within 3km, sometimes they sat at closer to 4:20/km until half way though the run before getting into the faster paces. It also depends on the course they’ll take, of course. But this run will always be fairly comfortable for the group. The average pace is usually around 3:50-4:00/km. The distance on this run seems to be fairly random (as in it’s not on some cycle, ie 16km one week, 21km the next week etc); whatever course they decide to take that day. Remember when you’re analysing paces of anyone training in Kenya, the terrain is often very challenging (hills, slow surface, uneven ground) and the altitude is 2300-2500m (7500-7800ft).
4:00 PM: 10-12km (6-7 miles) easy
This run is easier than the morning run. it’s basically just a jog to loosen up and recover. Pace will normally be closer to 4:30-5:00/km, rarely faster.
After both of these runs, they’ll stretch for 15-20mins out the front of their apartment, head inside and get some tea and bread – basically all they eat after their runs.
They would always start at exactly 6:10am and 4:00pm. If anyone was late, they’d miss the start. What was funny to us, was that is was pitch black at 6:10am (it was basically light by 7am) but they’d never considered starting any later to avoid running the first 20-30min in the dark, which can be a challenge in the trails where the ground is very uneven and often muddy after periods of rain. The 6:10am start is what they’ve done for years and something they stick with.
[This is an excerpt from the Eliud Kipchoge Edition – a 33 page e-book on the training on Eliud Kipchoge]
