Run S.M.A.R.T.
Menu
Login
  • Custom Training Plans
  • Private Coaching
  • Dr. Jack Daniels
  • Running Calculator
  • Coaching Staff
  • News & Updates
  • Contact Us

“What’s Different About Training In Kenya?”

December 22, 2014 By Run S.M.A.R.T. In Training tips /  1

speedwork 18 december 2014

By Janet Bawcom

It’s a question I get a lot. “What’s different about the training in Kenya?” Recent doping news aside, when I look deeper and give it some real thought, I see two things that really separate the training in Kenya from the training elsewhere: Hills and Fartleks.

I’ll start with the hills,and my long run last weekend – an 18 mile loop with 3 uphill stretches longer than 2 miles each at a constant 4-7% grade. That loop doesn’t even pass for “hilly” around here. The reality is, when I train out of my mom’s home in Kapsabet, I’m running hills, hills and more hills. Not little inclines, but stretches 2-3 miles long that climb 500 feet or more – and I’m running them day in and day out – easy runs, workouts, and everything in between.

For me, running hills makes me stronger, and it turns those hills on race courses from challenges to advantages. While my competitors are worried about surviving the hills and making their moves on the flats and downhills, I’m like Pavlov’s dog hearing a bell!

Now, on to the Fartlek. In Kapsabet, the fartlek – a run with deliberate shifts in speed – has evolved into a very unique form: “The Hour”. Once a week, huge groups converge on one or two relatively flat roads (see above!) for one hour of pain. One week will be 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy X 30. Another will be 2-1×20, and sometimes folks will go for 3-2×12. The Hour is the constant, how it’s broken down is variable.

It’s not exactly just a “hard/easy” run either. It starts that way, but by the end it’s pretty much just “hard” and “not quite as hard!” Case in point, June 2013, I had been injured much of the spring and came to Kenya for 5 weeks to look for my mojo. I needed to relax, to regroup, and I set aside my training program and spend a month just running – no real workouts, no real objective but to feel better.

10 days before I was scheduled to return home to race the US 10k Championships at Peachtree, I decided to jump in the weekly fartlek to test my fitness. I figured an hour of trying to keep up would tell me where my fitness was! I showed up on a day of 30×1-1, AKA the “Die Hard.” There were probably 100 men and 25-30 women in the group, and to my surprise, we actually started kind of slowly. In fact, at the start I sprinted clear of the entire group – they were only going about 6:00 pace for the “on,” and like 7:00 pace for the easy.

But as we went, the paces – hard and easy – ratcheted down, and by halfway I was the one struggling to keep up. By the 20th rep, I glanced down to see that we were running 4:30 pace for the on, under 6:00 pace for the “easy” – and my vision was getting blurry. 59 minutes later, we’d covered a few yards short of 10 miles – under 6:00 pace even with the slow start and the recoveries! If I could do that, on rolling dirt roads at 7,000ft, I liked my chances in a US Championship Race – and I was right – 10 days later I won my 3rd US 10k title.

So there you have it – two things I see when I train in Kenya that I don’t see done quite the same anywhere else – two things that might just help you unlock something in your own running! Enjoy the video!

Janet Cherobon-Bawcom is an American distance runner. In 2012, she made the U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters and placed 12th. She is coached by Dr. Jack Daniels and coaches runners privately through The Run SMART Project. To work with Janet privately sign up for coaching here. 

Tags:
fartlekhill traininghillsJanet Bawcomkenya
The Perfect Gift For The Runner In Your Life
How Training For Running Is Like Doing A Squat Workout

Archives

  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • November 2007

Meta

  • Log in
All rights reserved.