Eliud Kipchoge’s Coach: Patrick Sang – Wisdom
The Sweat Elite team headed to the small village of Kaptagat (Kenya) in August 2017 to train alongside Eliud Kipchoge and his training group, in his lead up to the Marathon World Record attempt at the Berlin Marathon in September 24th. Eliud Kipchoge was the man who ran 2:00:25 at the Nike Sub2 Project in early May 2017.
Tuesday August 29th, 2017
Just under 4 weeks until the Berlin Marathon 2017, where Eliud Kipchoge will attempt to officially break the world record.
It’s a track workout in Eldoret. 5 sets of (2km in 5:45-5:50, 1km in 2:50) with 90sec rest
We had a chat with coach Patrick Sang.
“Eliud is running well at the moment, but you know, it’s hard to know how someone will race; it comes down to many factors on the day.”
“An athlete can have a poor preparation, but then on the day they run very well. The most important is the mind; preparation can be amazing, but if they don’t have a good mind for the race, you know, the preparation doesn’t matter and they can run very poorly.”
“I like order, if someone starts at the front and by the end of the rep they are lagging behind; I don’t like that. They need to keep their position. Why start at the front if you can’t hold it and get in everyone’s way, that is a problem.”
“The guys know me, they know that if they aren’t doing a session right, they need to repeat until it’s done properly. There are no exceptions; not for Eliud, not for anyone.”
“To me, volume is more important than speed. It’s more important that someone achieves the volume, at a steady, constant pace. I don’t like when athletes run quickly at the start of a session and lose speed towards the end, they need to be consistent for the whole volume.”
“Other athletes will be in Berlin but I can’t speak for them regarding pacing [whether they would act as pacers for Eliud]. The other problem is that very few people can handle his pace for very long; look at this session, the others are already beginning to fall apart [4th lap of the 2000m of the 4th set of 5 X (2000m @ 5:50, walk 100, jog 100, 1000m @2:50, walk 100, jog 100)].”
“If you shorten [recovery], or you increase the tempo, at the end of the day they don’t achieve the volume, [that is] the most critical. You start with the volume and then you build towards the target [pace] based on your ability.”
“Volume is very important; without volume, you cannot run a good marathon… unless you are jogging.” (jogging to achieve the volume)
When asked about Canova’s strategy which seems to be the inverse (start with the pace and build the volume):
Patrick Sang: “What is the ultimate objective?”
Me: “To run a fast marathon.”
Patrick Sang: “You can do it upside down, it’s allowed, but you see, the thing is to be there at the right time, when everything is all together. I mean, you’ve seen the people who make boats, the clay vessels where you put flowers, an artistic thing. It’s the same as this, you see, the most important thing is the end product, so if the end product is good, then it’s okay.”
Me: “What do you think is the best way to get the right end product?”
Patrick Sang: “you know if you put three scientists, or ten scientists in a room, to debate on an issue, there will never be a consensus. So why are you using this route or this other one? It depends on the material you are working with [the athletes], and of course the common thing is where you want to go. I can give the ideal program to people, but if you are not considering their abilities, then you are not doing anything.”
On altitude: “The best way to acclimatise is to do 1000s and longer, if you go to altitude, it’s better even to do it and do it slow. It gets you into the rhythm faster, rather than doing things which are short. Anything over 1000m is good for acclimatisation.”
