by Larry Eder
This is Week 5, Day 4 of the RunBlogRun Fall Cross Country Training & Racing Program, which goes into the end of December 2022. Established online in 1998 at American Track & Field, this program is used by athletes and coaches in over 16,000 high schools.
Not every athlete is an overnight success. After setting 25 WRs on the track and roads, Haile Gebrselassie moved to the marathon and was soundly whipped several times. His 2:03.59 WR was in his tenth, breaking his WR by 27 seconds in his seventh marathon race as an adult!
Haile ran a marathon as a teenager and did not run another until his thirties. Haile won five gold medals at six World Champs in 10,000m, competing in six World Champs 10,000m (he took gold in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, silver over 5,000m in 1993, and silver at 10,000m in 2003, and bronze over 5000m in 2001). Haile also took gold in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000 meters!
In 2006, this writer spent the day with Haile when he set WRs at 10 miles, 20k, and half marathon at the RNR Arizona event. How did Haile relax? He played pool!
Today is a chill day.
Your workout for Thursday, September 29, 2022, is the following:
Warm up, slow and relaxed, run 30-40 minutes, good pace, then, 6-8 times 250m hill, run up hard, then, jog down, repeat until 8 repeats done, then, 15 minutes relaxed running, and 4 x 150m stride-outs, and long, gentle cooldown.
