Mo Farah's training
Mo Farah has become the best 5k and 10k track runner in recent times collecting gold in nearly all World Championships and
Olympic games.
He is literally unbeatable! If it is a fast hard race Mo Farah will be up there and kick past everyone with 400-200m to go. If it is a slow tactical race, Mo Farah is faster than anyone over the last lap and will simply out kick them! So what makes him the BEST?
Mileage:
Farah is no slacker for mileage. He runs around 130-140 miles per week in his base phase. Originally he used to do most of his easy runs at 7 min/mile pace but Salazar (his coach) believes he needs to run faster to get more of an adaption more his easy runs. He usually finishes his easy runs now at 5:30 min/mile starting around 6:30 min/mile.
This gets him well conditioned for later in the season although he can't be as fresh for key sessions which Salazar doesn't mind this time in the season.
Weights and gym:
Without doubt the biggest improvements Farah has made in his career was when he started doing more workouts in the gym with Salazar. He performances many exercises such as squats, dead lifts and many more explosive exercises. This explosiveness and power is the reason Farah can sprint so well at the end of races. That is usually the different 1st place and no medal at all in elite races that go down to a kick.
Schedule:
Below is a training schedule of Farah's training last year. It is truly incredible considering he runs almost twice a day every day and runs his easy runs no slower that 6 min/mile on average!!
Monday
AM: 10-mile recovery run (6:00min/mile pace) PM: 6-mile recovery run
Tuesday
AM: 4-mile warm-up run; 8-12mile tempo run anywhere from 4:40 to 5:00min/mile pace (depending on altitude and terrain); 3-mile cool-down run NOON: Strength and conditioning session (1 hour) PM: 6-mile recovery run
Wednesday
AM: 12-mile recovery run, followed by a massage. PM: 5-mile recovery run
Thursday
AM: 11-mile recovery run PM: 5-mile recovery run
Friday
AM: 4-mile warm-up jog; 10x200m intervals (with 200m recovery jogs) on grass in 29 seconds each rep; 10x200m hill sprints at equal effort, walk back down to recover; 4-mile cool-down run. NOON: Strength and conditioning session (1 hour) PM: 4-miles easy
Saturday
AM: 11-mile recovery run, massage PM: 6-mile recovery run
Sunday
AM: 22-27 miles, no slower than marathon race pace + 1 minute (for Mo, this means 5:40min/mile)
Total: 126-135 miles per week