Why Kenyans Run So Slowly on Easy Days
Mercy explains the easy-hard rhythm of a Kenyan training week, why the group jogs at a pace that would surprise most amateurs, and how listeners can borrow the idea without moving to altitude.
Pacing Your First Marathon Past the Wall
0:00 / 1:17
Sample the first 60 seconds free. Sign up free or log in to hear the whole episode.
Show notes
The wall and how to meet it
Most first marathons fall apart between 32 and 40 kilometres. Mercy explains why, glycogen, a pace five seconds too fast, a mind that starts negotiating, and lays out a pacing plan for a first-timer. Then Daniel Kiprop, who has pacemade in London and Berlin, describes what it takes to run a perfect split while two hundred strangers follow you.
- Why the first 10 kilometres decide the last 10
- Fuelling every 30 minutes, what and how much
- The negative split for beginners
- A mental routine for kilometre forty
- Daniel Kiprop on pacing London with a balloon on his back
Share your race date on the Witspeak channel and Mercy will cheer you on the next episode.
Transcript
Welcome back to Kilometre Forty, I am Mercy Chebet. If you have a first marathon on the calendar, this episode is for you, and if you have done ten, you still know the feeling at kilometre thirty five when your legs file a complaint. Today we talk pacing. Why the first ten kilometres decide the last ten, how much to eat and when, and a small mental routine I use with my athletes for the moment the race gets honest. Then my friend Daniel Kiprop joins me. He has been a pacemaker in London and Berlin, which means running a perfect split for 42 kilometres with a balloon on his back and two hundred strangers trusting him. He has stories. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts. Let us plan your race.
Open as text