5000m training This event is the closest to the middle distance in the category of long dis- tance events and therefore requires more speed workouts than the other long distance events. Many athletes who do well in this event often do well also in the 1500m. Bernard Lagat of the USA, and Augustine Choge of Kenya, are examples of athletes who fit in this category. However, there are others who do well in the event and also in the 10000m, like Mo Farah of Great Britain, and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. I spoke with Mark Kiptoo and a number of other professional long distance athletes from Pace Sports Management, who train alongside double world champion Vivian Cheruiyot, and they shared their secrets with me. There are two stages in the training of the 5000m event, i.e. the loading stage and the intervals stage.
Loading stage
This is the first stage in the training which covers a duration of about three months and the athletes concentrate mostly on covering as much distance as possible without caring much about their speed. The word “loading” is short for mileage loads. Athletes at this stage go for two runs each day which include a one hour run in the morning and another 40 minute run later in the day. They close the week with a 1hr 20min run on Saturday, and then take Sunday as a day for complete rest.
Contrary to the hill workouts done in the later stage, the athletes find a hilly route which can go up for 10 to 15km, then do a moderate run up the route once a week, mostly in the middle of the week. For about three months, the athletes do not step on any track for their speed workouts, but this doesn’t mean they do not do anything on speed. At this stage, athletes gradually go for fartleks which are relatively longer and slower than the ones they will be doing in the later stage. The cross country season often coincides with this stage for most track ath- letes and participating in cross country meetings helps them establish a good base for their next stage in training. Mark Kiptoo and Vivian Cheruiyot are examples of the athletes who do very well at the cross country season before going on to excel also at the 5000m events in the track season.
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