Episodes
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Mersha Asrat is the co-coach of Kenenisa Bekele who is a three-time Olympic champion and former world record holder in the 5000m and 10000m on the track. Kenenisa Bekele is also the second fastest of all time over the Marathon and considered one of the greatest distance runners of all time.Mersha holds a Masters of Sports Science at the University of Addis Ababa and coaches a strong group of emerging Ethiopian athletes in Addis Ababa area.In this podcast episode we discuss how Mersha and Kenenisa Bekele met, what it's like to coach Kenenisa Bekele and what the future might hold for the King of Ethiopian distance running.
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All things Marathon Training! Here we answer the 7 most common questions that have come our way at Sweat Elite Coaching about marathon training.1. What is the recommended longest run during a marathon training block? How many times would you recommend training over 30km (18mi)?2. How fast (and at what intensity) should recovery runs be done at?3. How can one avoid slowing in the final stages of the Marathon? 4. What should overall training volume look like for someone aiming at a sub-elite marathon time? 5. How can one avoid muscle cramping during a marathon?6. Are there things one can do to improve their motivation during a training cycle?7. What should a taper look like?
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Right now you can subscribe annually and score a 5km, 10km, Half Marathon or Marathon specialised training plan.
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"I'll never forget one race, one of my best 5km races was last year at Payton Jordan (2019) and that was when I was really at the height of my mindfulness practise. I was meditating every day - I would wake up and meditate for 10 minutes, I was so aware of what I was doing and how I was feeling throughout the day through mindfulness. I would meditate at night. There was so many moments in that race where I wanted to give up, I was not in shape to run 13:22 for 5km that day, hell no! But I kept giving myself opportunities. I kept giving myself opportunities to keep pushing. Every moment I wanted to give up and let off the pace and let that gap open up I just gave myself one more step, I gave myself one more breath, and I just kept going and going. I kept telling myself that this pain that I'm going through, it's okay, it's not something that I possess, it's just something that's there. It's not a part of me, it's just something that is present currently and that was the huge breakthrough for me. I was like "Holy shit, if I can learn to continue to breath through things, I can push myself to a whole new pain tolerance and to a whole new place that I never knew I could get to before."
Sam Parsons (Tinman Elite) is back on the Sweat Elite Podcast to discuss everything mindfulness with Sweat Elite's Tait Hearps.
"You can achieve these certain states of being through running. Running can be such a meditative endeavour. It can be a way to free yourself from darkness, anxiety, stress, whatever it may be. Running is an escape for a lot of people. That hour that you head out your door can be the best hour of your day. It can be the one hour where you're not stressing about the test you have the take, or the work that you didn't do or whatever might be coming up. Learning to take moments in your day just to breathe. I always had this huge misconception with it."
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Right now you can subscribe annually and score a 5km, 10km, Half Marathon or Marathon specialised training plan.
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This episode is a conversation with Lee Troop - the coach of USA Marathoner Jake Riley who has been selected for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and will toe the line in a little over four months.
Lee Troop was a superstar athlete himself, posting personal bests of 13:14 for 5000m, 27:51 for 10000m, 1:01:00 for the Half Marathon and 2:09:49 for the Marathon between 1999 and 2003, well before the carbon fibre plates entered the scene.
Lee shares his and Jake's challenges over the last 12 months - a 12 month delay on competing at the Olympics and an injury that has side-lined Jake recently that he's hoping he can bounce back from fast. Lee also shares some of the plans moving forward.
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Thank you to our subscribers who keep the content coming here at Sweat Elite.
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Following on from Part 1 of our interview with Alex Hutchinson, in Part 2 of our interview with Alex Hutchinson we discuss:
* Ways to diminish your perception of effort and therefore enhance your performance.* Why self-belief and positive self-talk can be so significant when trying to push to your limits.* Alex’s involvement with Nike’s Breaking2 Project.* Where does technology fit into all of this?* Where Alex sees marathoning in the future.
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Alex Hutchinson is a Canadian journalist, Cambridge University trained physicist and ex-national level runner. He is also the author of a fantastic book called Endure – Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. The book is the product of a decade-long quest to explore the limits of human endurance, collating the experience and data of hundreds of athletes, explorers, scientists and experts in the field.
In our conversation Alex shares some of the findings from his work exploring the factors that determine the limits of endurance, as well as how we can do our upmost to push beyond the barriers that our minds and our mounting sense of effort can begin to erect when we are approaching our limits.
“The essence of pushing your limits in Endurance sports is learning to override that instinct so that you can hold your finger a little closer to the flame – and keep it there, not for seconds, but for minutes or even hours.”
Some of the topics we cover in Part 1 of our conversation include:
* The Central Governor Theory and why our brain stops us from going over the edge.* The trainability of pain tolerance and why embracing discomfort is integral to endurance performance.* Fallacies around hydration and what the science says.* Nutrition – why low-carb high-fat diets have been promoted so heavily in the world of ultra-endurance, why glucose is still the fuel of choice for the top marathon runners, why making binary categories like I’ve just done is completely wrong when discussing fuelling a run with carbs/fat.
In Part 2 (coming next week), some of the topics discussed include:
* Ways to diminish your perception of effort and therefore enhance your performance.* Why self-belief and positive self-talk can be so significant when trying to push to your limits.* Alex’s involvement with Nike’s Breaking2 Project.* Where does technology fit into all of this? Where does Alex see marathoning in the future?
SUBSCRIBE to Sweat Elite to gain access to all content: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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Three chapters read aloud from the book Eliud Kipchoge - History's fastest marathoner: An insight into the Kenyan life that shapes legends.
Detailing the experience of spending several weeks immersed in Kenya’s rich running culture – an incubator of running’s elite – and the most striking components of Eliud’s training, the book explores the ascetic devotion of this group of men and the aspects of Eliud’s life that have supported and propelled him to reach such vertiginous heights.
The book is available on Amazon.
SUBSCRIBE to Sweat Elite to gain access to all content: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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German Silva is a retired Mexican Olympic distance runner, winner of the 1994 and 1995 New York City Marathon and Mexican half marathon record holder (60:28).
Silva made a name for himself after his dramatic 1994 New York City Marathon victory. With under a mile remaining, Silva was running stride for stride with co-leader and training partner Benjamin Paredes. As the pair ran through Central Park, the camera car veered right, pulling off the course and Silva followed. Silva calmly turned around when he realised his mistake, mustering the strength to regain the pace he had been setting, and set about reeling in the twelve second handicap he had just given himself. Silva timed his surge perfectly and passed Paredes with only about 100m remaining to claim his first World Major Marathon victory. This win changed a lot of things for German, it also earned him the moniker ‘Wrong Way Silva’.
In this episode we share a conversation Sweat Elite's Tait Hearps has with German Silva covering:
* German’s journey into athletics as a young boy growing up in rural Mexico.* Early racing (running his debut marathon in preparation for a 10,000m)* Many anecdotes from his time as a junior* Transitioning to the marathon distance* Wrong Way! How this mistake changed his career* Dealing with other mishaps, what went wrong before the Atlanta Olympic Marathon* Training at very high altitude, including on 4680m Nevado de Toluca* Training sessions he used to run* How he manipulated altitude to prepare for different races* The conditions he and his training partners used to train in* Why Mexicans were so much more dominant on the roads then than they are now
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Part 2 of our interview with ultrarunning and skyrunning extraordinaire Kilian Jornet. Sweat Elite's Head of Journalism Tait Hearps chats with Kilian Jornet about:
* Training – what a week of training looks like for him and how he has been changing training over time* Nutrition – how he fuels his adventures* Self-experimentation and the importance of exploring your own limits, including a few experiments that some might just call crazy* What he has learned from his mentors* Journaling training and following progress* Altitude training and a lot more
Continued reading: Kilian Jornet – Exploring The Limits Of Human Potential, Above The Clouds www.sweatelite.co/kilian-jornet-exploring-the-limits-of-human-potential-above-the-clouds/
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Some people defy what we can conceive to be within the realm of possibility. Some manage to do it again and again.
A hero to many, one of the most accomplished and inspiring athletes in the world, a man with a beautiful message. Kilian Jornet has been an enigma since he took the world of mountain sports in the late 2000’s (I can’t just say mountain running because he also was winning world championships in ski mountaineering and taking on FKT expeditions).
Having the opportunity to sit down with an idol was such a privilege, and Kilian did not disappoint. From his home in Norway, Kilian generously gave a few hours of his time to discuss his adventures, the training that powers these incredible feats, and what is driving him. Kilian is a long-time subscriber of Sweat Elite and he was happy to delve into the specifics of what his training looks like (more of that in Part 2). He is charming and beautifully expressive, with a humility that belies his jaw-dropping list of achievements.
This is Part 1 of the interview with Kilian Jornet.
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New articles on the Sweat Elite website:
Kilian Jornet – Exploring The Limits Of Human Potential, Above The Clouds: https://bit.ly/2YTuA4m
Emil Zatopek – How Grit, Innovation, And Sportsmanship Created A Legend: https://bit.ly/3boXITK
Taking To The Trails – How It Will Help You Be A Better Runner: https://bit.ly/2LkLqBh
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A selection of three of the most popular articles read aloud from the Sweat Elite website focused on the elite Japanese running scene.
In the marathon distance, Japan comes in third place behind Kenya and Ethiopia when looking at the number of athletes in the top thousand marathon times in history. Japan has over one-hundred athletes that have run sub-2:10 in the marathon. Compare this to the USA: with a population nearing triple that of Japan – and massive infrastructure surrounding their collegiate athletics system – the States have only twenty athletes that have run sub-2:10 (thirteen if you exclude record-ineligible Boston).
Our interest piqued, we decided to plunge headfirst into the Japanese running scene and investigate what was going on.
(02:07) The Perplexing Depth Of Talent In Japanese Running Part 1 https://bit.ly/3foKZDN(15:15) The Perplexing Depth Of Talent In Japanese Running Part 2 https://bit.ly/2YK97L4(24:58) Training With Tokai University – Ekiden Winning Team https://bit.ly/2YA1fvP
Additional training data of Tokai University training for Hakone Ekiden: https://bit.ly/2A3AKEQ
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Sara Hall became the 6th fastest female American marathoner of all time when she ran 2:22:16 at the Berlin Marathon in September 2019, lowering her best time over the distance by four minutes.
Sara has competed at the elite level of distance running for 15+ years, transitioning from the middle distances on the track to the road in 2014-2015 with coaching assistance of her husband and past elite distance runner Ryan Hall. Since the move to the half marathon and marathon Sara has experienced remarkable progress.
In this conversation with Sara Hall we discuss her plan to race 3 marathons in 5 months between September 2019 and February 2020 which included the USA Olympic Trials, how and why she prepared differently for these marathons, what it’s like being coached by her husband Ryan Hall, her reflection on the USA Olympic Trials and more.
Sara Hall on Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahall3/
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Trending articles:
Kenenisa Bekele – Training Leading To Berlin Marathon 2019 (2:01:41): https://bit.ly/3bF7t14
The 3 Key’s To Eliud Kipchoge’s Training: https://bit.ly/2YcOPcY
Nick Willis – Olympic medals, Balance and Longevity: https://bit.ly/2W3wbSd
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Jim Walmsley has been named “Ultrarunner Of The Year” for the last four years (2016-2019) by Ultrarunning Magazine and is the course record holder of several of the most competitive Ultrarunning events in the world including Western States 100, Tarawera Ultramarathon and Lake Sonoma 50.
Jim has blazed a unique trail over the past few years, reaching the pinnacle of ultrarunning and amassing a cult following in the process. His latest undertaking – turning his attention to the marathon. There was a lot of hype surrounding Jim in the lead-up to the USA Olympic trials in Atlanta, where he made his marathon debut. Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite sat down with Jim over a skype call and discussed the motivations and process behind this transition, among many other aspects of his life in Flagstaff, training, and his path into professional ultrarunning.
A summary of the interview with Jim Walmsley including more on his training leading into Atlanta can be found here: Jim Walmsley – The road to Atlanta www.sweatelite.co/jim-walmsley-the-road-to-atlanta
Follow Jim Walmsley on Instagram: www.instagram.com/walmsleyruns/
Follow Jim Walmsley on Strava: www.strava.com/pros/1635688
New content on the Sweat Elite website this week:
Lactic Acid – Friend or Foe?www.sweatelite.co/lactic-acid-friend-or-foe/
Covid 19 – Strength Amongst The Chaoswww.sweatelite.co/covid-19-strength-amongst-the-chaos/
Detraining And Defending Your Physiology www.sweatelite.co/detraining-and-defending-your-physiology/
SUBSCRIBE to Sweat Elite to learn much more about elite distance running
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Brett Larner is the man behind Japan Running News - ” the world's window into elite japanese distance running.”In this podcast episode, Brett answers our questions:Where did the Japanese reverence for long distance road racing come from?What is Ekiden all about and how did the road running scene revolve around this eventWhat is it about the running system and infrastructure in Japan that produces so many high level athletes?Why is there a relative lack of talent in the shorter distances?Are the university athletes paid? Are their grades taken into account when selection is occurring? Ie. If their marks aren’t great will they be cut from the team?How do the corporate teams operate? What kind of wages are the corporate athletes on?What are the typical traits Japanese are associated with of discipline, honour etc, how much does this play into their success?
Japan Running News: http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/
Read The Perplexing Depth Of Talent In Japanese Running: www.sweatelite.co/the-perplexing-depth-of-talent-in-japanese-running-part-1/
SUBSCRIBE to Sweat Elite to learn much more about elite distance running.
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Tom Evans is an elite British ultrarunner. Having only recently devoted himself to running full-time – leaving the military to focus on athletics – as we got started, Tom said, “I’m really excited to share some of my knowledge, some of my wisdom that I’ve built up over my very short running career so far.”
Tom made an incredible debut on the Ultra Trail Running scene when he placed 3rd in the gruelling Marathon des Sables in 2017 – a 251km multi-stage self-supported race across the desert – which was initially a bet with his former military mates in a pub that he could improve upon their position at Marathon des Sables the previous year.
Tom stunned the ultra world once again in 2018, when he won the 101km CCC race at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Tom went on to place 3rd at one of the most competitive Ultra Trail races in the world – the 100 mile Western States Endurance Run in 2019 and followed it up with a win at the Tarawera 102km in February 2020 against a competitive field in New Zealand.
Throughout this conversation Tom shared captivating anecdotes of his journey into ultrarunning and a wealth of information on his training that has taken him to where he is now.
Tait Hearps, writer at Sweat Elite conducted the interview with Tom and published this article post-recording: Tom Evans – Pushing limits in the world of ultrarunning.
Articles mentioned in the intro:
The Perplexing Depth Of Talent In Japanese Running (Part 1)
The Perplexing Depth Of Talent In Japanese Running (Part 2)
Lactic Acid – Friend or Foe?
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Learn more about the training methods of the world’s best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now.
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Danish Marathoner Thijs Nijhuis ran an Olympic Qualifying standard of 2:10:57 at the Seville Marathon on 23rd of February 2020 and he returns to the Sweat Elite podcast this week to share his race recap. Thijs describes each segment of his race at the Seville Marathon in detail, including sharing the short story of requiring a quick pit-stop.
In addition to his Seville Marathon race recap, Thijs shares more information about his training leading into the Seville Marathon and discusses topics of interest from podcast listeners such as:
– Injury prevention exercises– Strength training for Marathoners– Changes made to general training plan in the build up for Seville– Supplements and Vitamins– Fasting– Beginners advice
** We apologise for the short sections where Thijs’s internet cuts out temporarily. **
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Learn more about the training methods of the world’s best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now.
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“Coach said: “Do you know why we aren’t doing a tempo run today? When you do a tempo run, guess what you do? You get locked into the same form that I don’t want you to run in right now. You’re training for a 5km and a 1500m. When you’re training for those races, I want you on your toes. I want you feeling good, I want your chest up, I want your arms back. If I give you ten four minute reps, you’re going to rest and you’re going to attack going into each one of those reps. You’re going to get in that stride that I want you to be in today. If I give you a 6-mile tempo run, you’re going to lock into 5 minute (mile) pace, get on your heels and hunch over by the end of it. You’re going to feel great because you did that last mile in 4:55, but it’s not going to be accomplishing what I want you to accomplish today. You’re going to be firing a totally different muscle group that I want you to be firing today.” At that moment, I realised that I just needed to shut up and trust him.”
Sam Parsons is a professional distance runner for Tinman Elite and Adidas. Sam was involved in the creation of Tinman Elite in 2017 and has played a pivotal role in the development of the team. Today he is looked up to as a leader of Tinman Elite as well as the Creative Director. Sam represented Germany at the 2019 World athletics Championships in the 5000m and has personal best times of 13:22 for the 5000m, 7:44 for the 3000m and 3:37 for the 1500m.
In this interview recorded from the home of Tinman Elite in Boulder (USA), Sam shares in-depth stories about how Tinman Elite was created, training stories, racing tales and much more.
Sam is best followed on Instagram @par_sam_sons
Tinman Elite is best followed on Instagram: @tinmanelite
To learn more about Tinman Elite visit: www.tinmanelite.com
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Learn more about the training methods of the world’s best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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"Being a great coach is like being a great chef. The food that Gordon Ramsay creates versus an average chef can be significantly different. His tastes better, but he probably uses 95% of the same ingredients. He uses flour, he uses spices - the same as the other trained chef. But he knows how much to put in, when to put it in and at what temperature. That's the difference. As a coach, i'm constantly refining my skills and knowledge. I constantly hold the belief that I don't know enough."
Tinman Elite Head Coach - Tom Schwartz - joins the Sweat Elite podcast this week. This is a long episode, but it will not disappoint.
Tom has over 30 years of middle/long distance coaching experience. Tom has developed dozens of NCAA DI runners, national champions, and national record holders. Tom coaches runners from youth to masters, across every distance and platform of running from the track, road, and trail. His training philosophy can be distilled into one phrase: "Keep the ball rolling." Consistent, tough, healthy, and smart training in order to feel your best year-round.
Tom holds a Bachelors degree in Exercise Science, Master's degree in Human Performance and is currently pursuing his PhD in Health & Human Performance. In addition, Tom holds a Master's of Business Administration degree and has obtained the highest level of certifications in both USATF (Level 3 Endurance) and World Athletics Association (Level 5 Elite Endurance Coaching).
Tom Schwartz is best followed on Instagram @tinmancoach
Tinman Elite is best followed on Instagram: @tinmanelite
To learn more about Tinman Elite visit: www.tinmanelite.com
To learn more about Tom Schwartz' new track club: www.tinmantrackclub.com/
Tom Schwartz's general coaching website: www.runfastcoach.com(Tom is currently a free agent coach, not under any brand contract)
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Learn more about the training methods of the world's best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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Frank Shorter is known by many to be the father of the modern day running boom. Frank won gold in the Marathon at the 1972 Olympic Games, won silver in the Marathon at the 1976 Olympic Games, was the USA XC Champion 4 times, was the USA 10,000m Champion 6 times and won the Fukuoka Marathon 4 times. He was also the chairman of the USA Anti Doping agency between 2000 and 2003.
In this podcast episode recorded from his home in Boulder, Colorado (USA) Frank talks about:
– his training philosophy in detail (Frank never trained at slower than 65sec/400m pace during interval sessions).– being spontaneous with threshold/tempo runs, deciding some days to change an easy run to a threshold/tempo run.– racing and training with Steve Prefontaine.– Running with an injured ankle for over a year (and through the Montreal 1976 Olympics where he placed 2nd in the Marathon).– winning the 1972 Olympic Games in the Marathon.– placing second at the 1976 Olympic Games in the Marathon.– practicing surging/changing pace in training (and some example training sessions).– peaking for his key races.– experimenting with restricting carbohydrate intake before the final carbohydrate load leading into races.– circadian rhythms relating to peak performance.– the new ruling on racing shoes and the parallels with doping.
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Learn more about the training methods of the world’s best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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Lee Troop is an Australian distance running legend – with personal best times from the 1990’s and 2000’s of 2:09:49 for the Marathon, 1:01:00 for the Half Marathon, 27:51 for the 10,000m, 13:14 for the 5000m and 7:41 for the 3000m.
Lee is now an elite distance running coach (among other things) with a wealth of training and racing knowledge. Lee coaches several elite distance runners, including Jake Riley – who placed second at the USA Olympic Trials for the Marathon just last week, securing his position on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team for USA.
This podcast episode was recorded live in Boulder (Colorado, USA) 10 days before the USA Olympic Marathon Trials. In this podcast episode, Lee speaks about:
Coaching Jake Riley since 2017 and some of the hurdles Jake has overcome in the last few years.Jake’s 2:10:36 Chicago Marathon 2019 result.Jake’s training stints in Arizona leading into the USA Olympic Trials.Some of Jake’s key training sessions leading into the USA Olympic Trials.Highlights of Lee’s own career, including breaking the Australian 5000m record and running under 2:12 for the Marathon on 6 occasions.Being self-coached.His own training including over-training through periods of his career.The importance of hill training.Weight training for distance runners.His opinion on the rise of the new racing shoes with carbon fiber plates.Lessons learnt from transitioning from being an athlete to a coach.Lee can be found on Twitter (@runtroopy) and Instagram (@leetroop73).
The Sweat Elite team are currently in Tokyo, Japan studying the Japanese elite running scene. Some of our latest featured articles from this experience (mentioned in the intro) are below:
Highlights from the Tokyo Marathon Press Conference:www.sweatelite.co/tokyo-marathon-2020-press-conference-highlights/
Training with Tokai University (Ekiden winning team):www.sweatelite.co/training-with-tokai-university-ekiden-winning-team/
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Learn more about the training methods of the world’s best distance runners by subscribing to Sweat Elite: www.sweatelite.co/subscribe-now
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