KENYAN RUNNERS how they train, nutrition tips and more

The Kenyan runners are amazing and regardless of what kind of race it is, they always seem to be at or near the top when the dust settles.

Road races, track meets, cross-country, or the Olympics--it simply does not matter--Kenyan runners are proficient at all types of running and at any distance the race happens to be.

It's almost as if they have an endless supply of speed and their endurance is remarkable.

There are many differing opinions on why the Kenyans have such a gift for running. Some say that it's because they grew up at a high altitude and as a result have highly-developed lung power.

Some say it's because Kenyan runners have been genetically gifted with the ideal body structure for running.

There are even some who say it's because they had to run ten miles to school every day. Most Kenyans have a good laugh at that one because they claim the only running they ever did for school was when the bell rang for class to start.

Despite all the guess-work, the Kenyans claim it's simply because they are so dedicated to their training and have worked very hard to get where they are.

INTENSE TRAINING

I once read this quote from an Olympic athlete.

"when you take too many days off from training, someone--somewhere in the world will be training and on the big day when you meet up with him, you will lose to him".

Maybe that's what the Kenyans think because their training regimen is nothing short of legendary.

However there is also a danger that by taking the message of that quote to heart, the average runner will train too much and ignore the necessity for proper rest and recovery time. This does not seem to be the case for Kenyan runners.

It seems to make sense that in order to run at the level they do, Kenyan runners must be able to withstand an incredible amount of stress on their bodies from the training necessary to always be at the top on race-day.

It is not unusual at all for Kenyan runners to have three training sessions per day if they are preparing for a special race. Even in the most serious marathon circles in North America, that type of training is unheard of.

I know for myself that when I went through a stage in my career where I wanted to test my limits of endurance, I would run twice a day in order to run 140-150 miles per week.

Breaking up the training was about the only way to reach those running numbers without having to run the equivalent of six full marathons a week.

By breaking up the my runs into two-a-days, I could run 15 or 20 miles in the morning and 5 or 10 more at night and it made it more manageable.

Of course on the weekends I would do longer 4 or 5 hour runs because I had those days off from work.

At the time I wanted to see just what the actual limits were to my endurance and also wanted to test this type of over-training in an actual marathon.

I did this in Las Vegas and was not that impressed with the results, but that's another story for another page on Ironstruck.

My apologies, I am wandering from the topic of this page.(sometimes I get started and I can't stop). You should see me at book signings. I talk so much I sometimes forget I'm there to sell books, not talk all day. But people don't seem to mind.

At no time did I ever entertain the idea of running "three times" per day. It seems to me that running that often would be an invitation to injury for just about anyone but the Kenyan runners.

I believe that's because they have endurance running backgrounds that were ingrained at a very young age and their bodies have grown accustomed to the rigors and pounding of hours and hours of running per day.

KENYAN RUNNER DIET

It doesn't matter what country one is from or how accomplished a runner one happens to be, a sound diet is an essential component to success.

The Kenyans seem to have that figured out and their spartan and simple diet does wonders for fueling them and propelling them to the top of the running world.

Something important to consider is that even from their youth, Kenyan runners ate adequate calories to fuel their love for running.

Proper nutrition to increase endurance and sustain stamina and aid recovery became ingrained into their eating habits at a very young age. They did not have fast food joints at every crossroads in the village to tempt them.

For many North Americans, a good running diet is something they might adopt when they decide to take up the sport later in life and it's seldom eating habits they grew up with.

For instance, I began running when I was 28 and up until then-- and for several years after I began running--I really had a crappy diet.

It took quite some time for me to figure out the impact that a poor diet can have on endurance and overall performance on race-day.

SOME KENYAN RUNNER DIET TIPS

The Kenyans are not big fans of most Western food. If they are based out of the United States, most Kenyans might indulge themselves to some fast food once a month or as one Kenyan champion stated, "a little unhealthy food once in a while is not a bad thing."

They avoid packaged and processed food like the plague. The same goes for sweet snack foods. The in-between-meals snack of choice is fresh fruit.

As a rule the Kenyans eat two meals (lunch and dinner) daily and if they are running three times a day will have a light breakfast as well. That light breakfast might be bread and butter or perhaps a couple of boiled eggs.

If they are having just two main meals, breakfast is nothing more than tea with lots of milk and sugar before and after their first workout of the day. They may also have some fruit to settle their stomachs.

A typical Kenyan runner lunch might consist of a few pieces of chicken and rice or potatoes topped with other vegetables. If they are running twice a day this meal(lunch)would be after the first run.

Note how carbohydrate-rich this lunch is. What this does is replenish their glycogen stores and prepare them for the second run later in the day.

It appears that most Kenyans include about 60% carbohydrates in their calorie intake per day and avoid added fats as much as possible.

This differs greatly from the 40-30-30(carbohydrate, fat, protein)Sears diet that is widely accepted by many endurance athletes in North America.

Dinner is eaten after the final run of the day and normally it's a late dinner by North American standards. Possibly this is because they seldom have a big breakfast. At least that's my best guess.

I know that at the height of my amateur career when I was running big mileage, I never ate before my morning run, but had a large meal after.

It makes perfect sense to me that they would eat dinner late and eat very little for breakfast.

Even for a major marathon I would only have a few slices of whole wheat toast and a cup of tea for breakfast. The trick is to eat plenty of complex carbohydrates in the days preceding the event.

A large meal before an endurance training session or race can make a runner feel pretty uncomfortable and besides, it gives your body little time to process the calories so that they will do any good.

The preferred dinner main course for a Kenyan runner is a traditional Kenyan dish called "ugali". It's actually a thick cornmeal porridge for lack of a better description.

As a rule they eat it almost every day and the rest of their dinner is sort of built around the ugali because apparently it is pretty tasteless, but at the same time is very carbohydrate rich.

I'm going to cook some of this up one day and when I do, I will add my thoughts on ugali to this page.

Normally ugali is used as a base for a meat stew or on occasion they might have a milk-thinned version of ugali for a pre-run breakfast.

Other dinner choices to go along with the ugali are cooked greens, small amounts of meat, milk and fruit.

Ugali might not sound so great to North Americans, but Kenyan runners love it and it's hard to argue with their success.

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