Julien Wanders (27:25 10km, 59:13 Half Marathon) – 8 Training Stats
Julien Wanders is one of the only westerners challenging the African’s these days. The 22 year old prodigy moved to Kenya before turning 20 and has rapidly improved his personal best times to 27:25 (European record) for 10km and 59:13 (also European Record). Here’s 8 points about his training:
- Volume – Wanders sticks to between 170-190km week of volume, even leading into a race. Rarely will be dip below 170km/week. Wanders feels it’s not necessary to increase this volume whilst training for the 5,000m, 10,000m and Half Marathon.
- Intensity – The majority of this volume is done at serious speed. 25km runs @ 3:10-3:15/km average, 35km long runs at 3:25-3:30/km average, aerobic runs every other morning of around 16-18km at 3:30-3:40/km and of course the interval sessions are even quicker again. Most afternoons will consist of an easy recovery run at 4:10-4:30/km which for Wanders is jogging. Keep in mind that the above speeds are done at 2400m (almost 8000ft) altitude on rolling hills.
- Toughest Workout – Wanders’ toughest workout is a session he completes around once a fortnight. 22km of continuous running consisting of 3km at just under 9mins (3min/km or 4:45/mi) followed by 1km “recovery” in 3:20. He tends to run through the half marathon distance in around 1:04 in this session.
- Intervals – Some of his track sessions have recently increased in volume from 8-10km worth of intervals, to 12-14km worth of intervals and Wanders’ believes this has been very beneficial for him. Sessions tends to look like decreasing ladders: longer reps at the start and progressing to faster short reps. He will alternate longer interval sessions (12-14km volume – closer to Half Marathon pace to begin with and work down to 5km pace) with shorter interval sessions (8-10km of volume but starting at closer to 5km pace and ending quick!) An example of a longer interval session he does: 2x3km (8:45), 5 x 1200m (3:24), 4 x 600m (1:37-1:38) with 2min30sec rest. An example of a shorter interval session he does: 5 sets of (800m, 2min rest, 600m 1.5min rest, 400m) with 800m’s in 2:10, 600m’s in 1:36 and 400m’s in 60-61. At the end of this, he often does a few reps even quicker. Eg 500m (1:15), 300m (43), 200m (26).
- Core Stability – Every evening during the week (Monday-Friday) Wanders does core stability work for 20-30mins. Usually planking, but exercises with the medicine ball are used as well.
- Gym – Wanders will spend 2-3 sessions per week in the weight room doing squats, lunges, calf raises and other common exercises to improve his general strength and reduce the chance of injury. He completes these sessions at one of only 2 gyms in Iten, Kerio View.
- Tapering – Wanders doesn’t believe tapering works overly well for him and says he feels a bit lethargic when he eases off too much. Just 5 days before Wanders smashed his Half Marathon personal best (59:13) he completed 4 x 1200m (3:24 average) with 2min30sec rest, 4 x 1000m (2:46 average) with 2min30sec rest, 4 x 800m (2.09 average) with 3min rest then finished it all off with a 400m in 55sec to get the legs moving a bit quicker. Wanders tends to take it a bit easier in the last 2-3 days before a race, but still clocks 160km+ in the week.
- Best advice Wanders gives aspiring 10km-Marathon runners. “Increase the speed of your long runs. Long slow running is senseless; you should be doing these long runs at a steady pace, ideally close to your marathon pace. All of the top longer distance runners I know do their long runs fast. This is the #1 thing I see many people doing wrong and I believe will help people improve if they change it.”
