Röthlin is looking forward to running the second marathon of his 2010 season: “I am excited to be able to be in New York and to compete in one of most famous races of the world.”
His preparation for the prestigious competition in the Big Apple - his 20th marathon race - was not the usual routine: “I never had as little time to prepare for a marathon before. Usually, I invest about 14 weeks. This time around, I had to make do with seven. I am actually in the middle of a first training phase, which makes it hard for me to judge where I am at with regard to my shape.”
The course in New York, which includes the city’s Central Park, will suit Röthlin well: “A race with pacemakers and stars focusing on a fast result would not be ideal for me. But New York will be more like a championship race. This will allow me to concentrate on my strengths, my tactics. In addition, I will to gather experience for my next championship race, possibly be the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London,” Röthlin explained.
The New York race will be a highlight for the 36-year-old Swiss: “There is no pressure whatsoever. I like that. I will be able to follow my own agenda. Obviously, Haile Gebrselassie is the top favourite, and he will give it his best to win this famous race.” The rest of the result list remains anyone’s guess. “The final start list will be announced next week. I will think about a goal for my position on the result list then.” Röthlin’s last race in New York was a half marathon in 2007. He came in eleventh then, and the winner of the race was - Haile Gebrselassie.
This Sunday (31 October), Röthlin will do a “depletion run” of 25 kilometres before concluding his preparation with a standard treadmill training session (including a lactate test) at the Sportzentrum Kerenzerberg in the canton of Glarus. He will fly to New York on Wednesday, 3 November 2010.
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Well, I use his training system. As he claims that he's using it himself, at least the basics should be the same. He says that he is running upto 250km per week and he is doing a lot of additional strength training.
The long runs are run faster than what's common (internet) sense. He uses a "finish strong" approach. (well look like he races the last 5km of a marathon, it pays...)
The fast repetition based speed work (e.g. 200m repetitions) is done before the stamina phase. It belongs to early base-building and is not put near the race-phase (that's a big difference to lets say Lydiard). The number of repetitions and the speed is also (to my concern) more intensive than what you may find in other programs (e.g. Daniels).
Btw: there is no "just cumulating miles/kilometers" phase. Speed, Stamina, VO2max-intervals are always a part of the training (with different priority of course).
For the marathon a lot of long intervals (e.g. 3600m up to 5000m depending on your ability) at around 15k/HM speed is used.
The tempo-runs were somewhat "unusual" when I did them the first time. After warming-up you are asked to run at a very slow pace for around 30-40minutes (making your legs falling into sleep) and then you have to switch to 15k/HM speed for another 25-40minutes. Quite interesting feeling in your legs.
Ok, enough about speed and so on. Another big point are the "normal" runs: For an American the intensity is probably very low. It's partly _far_ below what Karvonen considered to be to point where a run shows effects.
Recovery runs are even more slow (under 65%HRmax).
Victor stresses that this at least as important as the rest of his training-system.
To sum that up: Victor knows NO forbidden zone (see Daniels). In fact he even says that the intensity that other coaches see as a forbidden zone is very important.
He is no friend of cumulating miles at low speed and adding fast intervalls/tempo runs. The "middle" would be the missing point here.
mzungo says: Often, we hear the question: is Roethlin a doper? Here are two articles on the subject (in German):
YES
Nooo!
Make up your own mind.
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