In the global realm of long-distance running, Kenya has carved a name for itself as the home of some of the world’s most elite and successful runners. Most Kenyan runners do not have professional coaches & fancy equipment’s they do not even keep track of things like heart rate, pulses etcetera their training styles is always simple.
The undeniable prowess of Kenyan athletes has sparked curiosity and admiration worldwide. One integral aspect of their success lies in the unique running styles and training techniques honed within the heart of Kenya.
Almost 90% of Kenyan runners train in the rift valley specifically Iten area. They are renowned for their distinctive running style characterized by a smooth, efficient, and seemingly effortless stride. This style is often attributed to factors such as the areas high-altitude terrain, simple diet, and a culture deeply rooted in running.
Diet:
A typical day in Kenyan runner would be breakfast, tea (chai) with chapati/eggs 8am or porridge at 10 a.m, lunch comprising of rice with beans, tea/porridge at 4 p.m., and dinner comprising of Ugali with vegetables and sour milk. Kenyan cuisine is built around fresh, readily available, and relatively inexpensive ingredients sourced from local farms.(lots of fruits varieties are consumed as snacks).
Running culture:
Kenyan culture is deeply engraved in running hence runners development of a high maximal oxygen uptake as a result of extensive walking and running at an early age, Public schools which are kilometers away forces kids to be walking/running for long distances daily sometimes even barefoot, thanks to Poor political leadership and bad governance which is the greatest barrier to social and economic development.
High altitude:
At 8,000 feet above sea level, Iten Kenya is marked with lush vegetation and striped with Kenya’s iconic red clay roads, tracks and roads for running. Running champions are made here, on the edge of the Rift Valley.
Kenyans training running styles
So how do Kenyans train?,
First of all while at Iten Kenya you should not worry about where to find training partners here. You will be spoiled for choice as there are so many training groups available. All you will need to do is wake up at around 6:15 am, and you will see hundreds of long distance runners warming up outside.
Go out and ask what they intend to run and settle for a group that is going to do the time that pleases you. Alternatively, you can enroll yourself in one of the camps where they will take care of all your training in Kenya and accommodation needs, but this option will need payment or fees.
The Kenyan training sessions include;
- Long runs
- Fartlek’s
- Track sessions
- Core sessions
- Slow runs
When training in the morning you will always see school children going to school and even others joining the runs as they head to school. Hundreds of runners will attend local group training runs on the sprawling roads outside of Iten. These long runs start slow, but gradually get much faster and nearly all of the runners maintain the elite-level pace.
Marathon Training in Kenya
Kenyan marathon training is characterized by a focus on hill workouts, track intervals, fartlek, tempo runs, road intervals, long runs and easy days.
Hill workouts:
The Kenyan Hill sessions is a form of continuous hills, where runners run up and down a hill continuously for a period of time. In most of the training groups in Kenya, hill work is usually the first workout of the week. Workout of the hills are done at Iten dirt tracks, Singore forests and other many training spots.
Track intervals:
Most Kenyan athletes call these intervals “lapping” because they are mostly 1600m, 2,000m and 3,000m hard repetitions around the 400m track, with a cool-down period between sets. The pace is typically brutally fast, much faster than marathon race pace.
The total distance done in one session is normally between 12km to 20km. At the end of these “lapping” sessions, athletes do a few shorter 200m to 400m sprints before cooling down. Common running tracks in Iten Kenya include, HATC track, Kamariny stadium(dirt track), Kipchoge stadium, University of Eldoret track among others.
Road speed(FARTLEK)
Fartlek is one of the most common speed workouts done by long distance athletes in Kenya. It is a great workout since it doesn’t need any measured portion of the road or a flat surface. The most common areas for training road speed in Kenya is Iten dirt tracks/roads, Sergoit hill road, moiben road, Kaptarakwa, Singore among many others.
long runs
In most of the training camps in Kenya, a long run is done once every other week and a semi-long run is done in between. Long runs are usually distances between 35km to 43km while the semi-long runs are usually 25km to 30km. Just like road speed, the most common areas for training long runs in Kenya is Iten dirt tracks/roads, Sergoit hill road, moiben road, Kaptarakwa, Singore among many others.
Water is crucial during long runs. If you’re consuming 300–600ml every hour, you’ll need more water than you can carry with you. Running groups here will have a vehicle drive along the course distributing water as athletes need it.
Cheap motorbikes which are used as taxis are available which is an alternative to bring you water as you run.
Easy days:
Other days in between the tough workout days in Kenya are usually 1hr easy runs in the morning and 40 to 50 minute easy runs in the evening.
I’m eager to hear your thoughts and what you think about the blogpost. Your comments and questions which id love to answer on the comments sections contribute to a broader conversation about the topic.