Very impressive by Paula Radcliffe

I watched the London Marathon on Eurosport this morning and I was VERY impressed with the performance of Paula Radcliffe. I have enjoyed her improvement from world class to best in the world over the long distances the last couple of years. It is…

great to see an athlete who has been really good for almost 10 years (since 1993) to finally be able to put it all together and smash barrier after barrier.

I am also impressed with the way she has done it – training wise. I had a very nice talk with her coach Alex Stanton over the phone this last October and got some great insight into the way they are doing the training. I already had quite detailed copies of her workouts, intensity levels and periodization but I still needed some clear answers to some specifics. He was very helpful to me in doing so. They have perfected a system of training I believe very much in. High mileage, high intensity (and lots of it), clever periodization and loads of altitude training. I believe this is the best way to good performances but also the most difficult one. It can (and will) break you down sometimes but in the long run when you manage to balance it this is the way to go. Especially for us mzungos who do do have the natural altitude endurance base that altitude-born have.

Training is going well. I am just getting over a small cold but will hopefully be ready again for tomorrows workout 🙂

Marius