Why quality training does not necessarily mean hard training

Runners enjoying a moment of laughter after their training in Eldoret, Kenya

For anything to be of the highest quality, it has to be reflected on the satisfaction that it has on whoever wanted to achieve a certain desire by using it. 

For a marathon, or a 10K, training program to be of the highest quality, it has to bring the desired results on a goal race; be it a personal best time, or finishing your first marathon successfully.



As a Kenyan athlete and coach, experience over time has taught me a lot and I now view race preparation and training in a different light. I have seen runners who push a lot during their training only to get bad results in their races. I have seen others being a bit conservative in their training and only pushing hard whenever is necessary and getting unexpectedly great results in their races.

The advantages of running alone over group training.

Photo by Emma Frances Logan on Unsplash

There was one incident from some years back where I did pick up some money while doing an easy morning run alone. It was still so early in the morning, the road was empty both ahead and behind me and I had no one to share the money with.

While this may not count as one of the advantages of running alone, below are some of the advantages to enjoy during this time when runners are being urged to train individually to assist in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

1. It is the only available option at the moment

To curb the spread of the coronavirus, governments across the world have banned any form of gatherings and are advocating for social-distancing whenever it is necessary for one to be out of their houses.

Running form and posture according to your Kenyan athlete and coach

Photo by Dylan Alcock on Unsplash

As an online coach, I am at times asked questions by runners on how they can improve on their running posture and form. Some even accompany their questions with a picture of them side by side with some of their favorite runners they would like to run exactly like them.

My observation over time has been that form comes with one's speed and fitness level, and not the other way round. The faster you run, the better your form and posture will look. In fact, even in a crowd when everyone is just standing, a keen observer (like you!) can be able to easily tell a faster runner from a crowd.

“He looks fast. Is he a runner?” This was the question I heard a number of times when a friend who was hosting me in Canada was being asked whenever we would come across some of his other acquaintances.  I had gone there to compete in a few road races.

New features now make Strava irresistible to runners!

Two runners pass by each other while training in Kaptagat, Kenya

1. Choosing your favorite runners to appear first on your feed:

Among the new features announced by Strava is that of giving users the ability to choose the activities to appear first on their timelines and to choose the favorite runners whose activities appear on top.

This means you’ll no longer miss cheering on a friend’s massive effort because you didn’t get to see it. To give you an even more customized feed, we’re rolling out the capability to favorite the athletes you care about most. Their activities will be shown first in your feed and you can even choose to be notified whenever they upload something new. So you can always be the first to give your best friend kudos on their new PR.

A day with Pace Sports Management's coach, Sammy Mitei

Coach Sammy Mitei noting track interval times of his athletes in Eldoret

It was such a great learning experience to me when I visited Pace Sports Management’s Sammy Mitei as he coached his runners in Eldoret. I saw a lot for myself and learned more as I listened to him. 

"What did I just tell you?!" he had asked, and I could not hide my astonishment.



After explaining to me how, as an experienced coach, he had learned to give out workouts to his athletes depending on how he has come to know each and every one of them - there are those who often complain that the work out is too much and also those who would feel that they still wish to add in some more at the end of the session - one of his athletes who had just been doing some 800m intervals on the track actually came up to where we stood and asked him if he could add some more 300m intervals! He gave him the okay.

Interview: Seven questions from Noel Paine regarding my online coaching

I, participating at the 2017 Ottawa marathon in Ottawa, Canada

 It is always a pleasure to me getting to talk about my passions of running, writing and coaching. I got seven questions this week from my favorite running friend, an athlete I currently coach and a fellow dad; Noel Paine.

Noel has experience of over 30 years as a runner and is hoping to still run a personal best time for the marathon at the age of 43 years, which I think is possible.

Below are questions from Noel Paine regarding my online coaching:

Seven common bits of advice I give to my runners

Training in Kaptagat, Kenya.

With the emergence of sophisticated GPS watches, heart rate monitors, running applications and fitness websites like Strava to share training data and experiences, it has become very easy for many runners out there to reach out to me and try out the Kenyan way of training through my Kenyan Online Coaching programs. I have had some incredible experiences and feedback from the runners I have worked with, so far.



Below bits of advice are based on some of the common questions and clarifications that some of the runners I coach online have been seeking to know.

1. Differentiate between your jogging, easy, moderate and hard runs
These are the common words that we usually use to refer to our workouts; Jog, Easy, Moderate and hard. Here is how to understand them roughly.

Swede dreams of Olympic qualification at Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon

Sweden’s Hanna Lindholm will be targeting Olympic qualification at

the 2020 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon

Here is a News Release from the Dubai Marathon scheduled for 24th this month:

SWEDE DREAMS OF OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION AT STANDARD CHARTERED DUBAI MARATHON

Dubai (UAE): Swedish elite athlete Hanna Lindholm will target a place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when she competes in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 24, thanks to a coveted invitation from the event organisers in the UAE.