The 2024 London Marathon was a historic run for the Brits in the race. Emile Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed finished 3rd and 4th respectively, the highest combined finish for two British runners at the London Marathon this century. Mahamed Mahamed burst on to the British marathoning scene over the last 6 months, running 2:08:42 at the 2023 Valencia Marathon. His Valencia run was bettered last month by running 2:07:05 at the London Marathon, qualifying himself for the 2024 Olympics in Paris later this year.
The London Marathon this year was virtually a British Olympic trial in that there were four men fighting for two Olympic spots. The two fastest men that were under 2:08:10 would be named to the Paris Olympics team. Mahamed pulled through to be the second British runner and since the Olympic standard for the marathon is 2:08:10, he made the British Olympic team that will be going to Paris in August.
Sweat Elite caught up with Mahamed after his run to get details into his build for the 2024 London Marathon. Mahamed provided us with great detail into how he prepared for this Olympic qualifying run, and what his plans are for the future.
Q1: Have you done anything differently in this build up (Jan-Feb-March) in training (mentally/physically) than for Valencia?
Mahamed: I have not done much differently in terms of training, however, mentally I was stronger because I challenged myself with the month of Ramadan. This period of training made me work even harder.
Q2: Can you provide a short overview of the training block?
M: I was able to run 170km-190km (105-118 miles) a week. The key workout I completed was 8x1km with 2 minutes recovery, followed by 2000m at 10km pace, with 1 minute 45 seconds recovery, and that was followed by 2x500m and 1x400m pace at 5000m. Another key workout I did was hill repeats, such as 20x200m hills.
Q3: Hardest 1 or 2 workouts leading into London so far?
M: The hardest fartlek workout was 5x3km with 1km recovery. On the track, I did 400m 500m 600m 800m 1km 1km 2km 3km and then a final 400m with 80 seconds recovery between each repetition.
Q4: What did your easier days consist of?
M: An easy run would be a 90 min jog at 4:10-3:50 per km (6:43 to 6:09 per mile). The day following an easy run I would go to the gym.
Q5: What inspired you to move to the marathon distance?
M: I always knew I had the engine because from a very young age I was doing lots of cross country races. I was doing road races such as 10 miles on the road when I was young which made me stronger. As the times on the track were getting quicker every year the opportunity for me to qualify for an Olympic or world championships was getting far away from me. So, I have decided to focus on the marathon and increase my mileage.
Q6: What are your favorite running products?
M: Puma is my favorite brand. I love the new shoes they have developed nowadays such as the Fast R-2, Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 2, Puma Forever Run and the Nitro Knit.
Q7: What comes after London, ideally? Between then, Paris, after that etc.
M: Now that I have qualified for the Olympics, I will rest everything after a short break. I will be going to Ethiopia for training camp after the break. I will not compete until the Paris Olympics Marathon. Afterwards, I will hopefully be going back to London again with some XC races targeting European cross country championships in December.
