Haile Gebrselassie (12:39 5000m, 26:22 10000m) – Training Week and Attitude
Haile Gebrselassie has been generous in providing information about his attitude to training and racing. A sample week of his base training from 2006 (when training for the 5,000m / 10,000m and before transitioning to the Half Marathon / Marathon) was published on the Powerbar website and can be found below.
Monday
am: 60 min — fartlek (17km)
pm: 50 min (12km)
Tuesday
am: 70 min (18km)
pm: 10km “easy” + 10x100m sprints
Wednesday
am: wu/cd + 48 min tempo (15km)
Thursday
am: 80 min (20km)
pm: 10km “easy” + 60 min in the gym
Friday
am: 75 min (18km)
pm: 10km “easy” + 10*100m sprints
Saturday
am: 6*2km @ 5:40 min w/ 3:00 min recovery
pm: 43 min (10km)
Sunday
am: 90 min (25km)
Total: ~191km/~120miles
As is typical of African runners, Haile training is polarised. Almost 60% (110 km of his 190km a week) was at 4:00/km or slower. About 8% was at paces near marathon pace, and 6% faster than marathon pace (approximately 3:00/km that year). He trained at Addis Ababa at an altitude above 2500m (8000ft+). Thus the training performed near to marathon pace would have been more demanding than marathon pace at sea level. The difference in effort between sea level and high altitude depends on how well the individual is acclimatised.
The experienced coach, Tinman estimates that the effort at altitude 2500m+ would be equivalent to that at a pace around 7% faster at sea level. According to this estimate, Geb’s easy pace of approximately 4:00/km would probably be equivalent to around 3:40-3:45/km at sea level, which is about 40-45sec per kilometre slower than his pace in the Berlin marathon that year. Whatever plausible estimate of the altitude effect one makes, it is clear that Geb was doing a substantial proportion of his training at pace which would have been fairly easy for him.
Elsewhere Haile makes it clear that he was careful to avoid too much stress. In his BBC Q&A session in 2002 he states: ‘I generally have 13 training sessions a week. On Sunday I only run once. Each week, I try to do 3 speed sessions, one long run (1½/2 hours) and one or two Fartlek sessions. The rest of the sessions are endurance runs that I try not to run too fast. They help my muscles to recover from the hard training’. Thus 8 of his 13 sessions are not too fast in order to facilitate recovery. He takes delight in running in the forest. He considers that one of the best pieces of advice about running he ever received was from his agent Jos Hermens. He states: ‘Jos taught me not to run too many races and to train and rest well. When I started to do this, my performances got even better’.
In a response to a question about recovering for the hard sessions he emphasises the importance of adequate sleep and rest: ‘I go to bed early (9.30 pm), but also wake up early (6 am). During the daytime …it is not so important to sleep, as long as I can take a rest. In the afternoon, I try to rest for two hours.’
