Eldoret areas around 2000 moh (1800-2000m) and go to what they call ”high altitude” which is 2400 to 2600 meters. 90 % of the Kenya elite runners follow this pattern and leave there in late November (to “camp”) and stay until the spring before they go down again to either sea level or 1800-2000 meters (Eldoret/StMoritz/Nairobi etc)
The other day we met a 10000 meter runner at the Kipchoge Stadium and he was quite surprised to meet us there. He just commented : what are you doing in Eldoret ? Why are you not at ”high altitude” ? 🙂
I believe the Kenyans have understood two important things with distance running : you cannot reach your full potensial without altitude training and you should run hard, but controlled hard (anaerobic treshold training ) with lots of volume (high mileage). It is as easy as that. Add in some (very good) talent and there you go !
All is going well here. Great training session this morning with 2000 meter repeats !
From Eldoret,
Marius