While the exact routines of the Olympic legends may be beyond the reach of many of us, adapting their sessions can actually be a great way to enhance your own performance and fitness. Whether you’re aiming to increase speed, build endurance or simply enjoy the process of training, incorporating elements from the routines of the greats can bring you closer to achieving your personal best.
A word of caution – the importance of natural talent and genetic advantages shouldn’t be ignored when we look at what we can learn from the training of the best in the world in any sport.
Moreover, non-Olympians often have other constraints, such as work, family and social life, which limit their ability to do big training sessions or follow a plan heavy
on volume and intensity. As such, everyday runners need to consider how training can be scaled and adapted to fit their ability to recover.
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Traits of the greats
How your body handles trail versus road running:
Self-discipline: The difference between the best and the rest is often an ability to stay disciplined and answer key questions in the right way: do I really need to add. that extra race? Is this really my easy pace? Am I really committed to the kind of healthy lifestyle required to support the hard training?
Self-awareness: Runners can be guilty, at times, of repeating the same training and decisions over and over, regardless of the outcome. Olympians reflect, learn and adapt to ensure one training cycle builds progressively on the previous ones.
Goal focus: To achieve your best often requires sacrifices in other areas. Olympic qualification is the perfect example of this, where PBs over other distances and events might have to be put on the back burner in order to allow an athlete to excel forone critical moment.
Interdisciplinary approach: Olympians generally have a support network of trusted professionals – a coach who adapts and builds an individualised plan, a physio or sports therapist, plus support and advice on nutrition and Five-minute activities that bring maximum results. While you might not be able to afford ongoing contact with these types of experts, you can build your trusted sources of knowledge to tap into when needed.
The Olympian workouts
A caveat – the idea that a ‘magic’ session can benefit a runner in isolation is appealing, but a myth. Individual sessions only work as part of a broader plan. The athletes below achieved their success through a combination of talent and consistency. I’m going to explain how you can adapt the sessions to do versions of them that might fit better into your schedule and training load.
Emil Zátopek’s high-volume intervals
The athlete: Known as the ‘Czech Locomotive’, Zátopek revolutionised long-distance running with his relentless training ethic – winning three gold medals, in the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon, at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
The session: Zátopek’s infamous sessions included high-volume intervals such as 50 x 400m repeats with minimal rest in between. Benefits: These gruelling intervals improved his speed, endurance and mental toughness. By including such a high number of repeats, often with relatively short recoveries, Zátopek ensured he was accruing the aerobic benefits of longer sustained running, but at higher intensities and paces.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: The idea behind this type of session – that interval training can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a fartlek session with higher volumes of short efforts, for example 15 to 20 reps of 45 secs at 5K to 10K effort, with 60 secs of easy running between them. Over the weeks, try to build this to 15 to 20 x 1min with 45 to 60 secs’ easy recoveries.
Steve Ovett's sand-dune reps
The athlete: One of the great British middle-distance runners and 1980 Olympic champion in the 800m, Ovett was known for his tactical racing and varied training approaches.
The session: Ovett regularly did reps on the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes in south Wales, running up the steep dunes repeatedly, often across intense training weekends
Alsu Kurmasheva: Behind Bars, running was freedom.
Benefits: This session develops power and strength, especially in the calves, hamstrings and quads, due to the unstable and resistant nature of sand and the gradient of the dunes.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Find a sandy dune to run short repeats. Start with fewer reps (even just 3 to 4) at controlled intensity to gradually condition your body. As you build strength and gradually increase the explosiveness of your running, try 6 to 8 reps. Space these workouts out to no more than one every 6 to 10 days.
Steve Moneghetti's Mona fartlek
The athlete: Australian marathon legend Moneghetti is known for his consistency and longevity in the sport, having competed at four Olympic Games, spanning Seoul in 1988 to Sydney in 2000.
The session: The Mona fartlek involves 20 mins structured as: 2 x 90 secs hard with 90 secs’ ‘float’ recovery; 4 x 60 secs hard with 60 secs’ float; 4 x 30 secs hard with 30 secs’ float; 4 x 15 secs hard with 15 secs’ float. In this case, hard means running around your 5K effort for the 90-sec reps, and progressing in pace if you feel good on the shorter efforts. Float means not slow-jogging the recoveries – do them at around your easy-run pace.
Benefits: This session can teach your body to maintain speed as you tire. It’s short enough to allow you to keep a 5K pace, but the float recoveries maintain focus on endurance.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: When first starting, do your floats at easy-run pace, but as you build confidence and fitness, aim to hold your effort pace the same while increasing the effort/pace on your float recoveries.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s double threshold
The athlete: Norway’s Ingebrigtsen has won multiple World and European titles, and set an Olympic record in the 1500m at Tokyo 2020.
The session: Ingebrigtsen’s training approach has become synonymous with the wider ‘Norwegian Method’, the most commonly cited aspect being the ‘double threshold’. In essence, this involves doing two harder runs in a day, often broken up as interval sessions but run at a very controlled intensity using various tools (forexample, blood lactate monitoring) to guide effort. An example might be: 3 to 4 x 2 miles in the morning, close to marathon pace, then 10 to 12 x 2 mins in the evening at closer to 10-mile to half-marathon pace.
Benefits: By tightly controlling the intensity, double-threshold days allow for a significant increase in the volume of faster running – condensing this work in a single day allows for more easy days between the hard days, typically twice a week.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Realistically, most runners don’t have enough volume in their training to justify doing double threshold sessions. Even for experienced athletes, it’s very common to get the intensity wrong and work too hard. But if you’re determined to try this approach, consider mixing running with cross-training across two sessions in a day. For example, in the morning, run 3 x 10 mins (with 60 to 90 secs’ recovery) at a controlled effort and intensity you could hold for around two hours in a race. Then in the evening, do 8 x 3mins on an elliptical or aqua jogging How your body handles trail versus road running.
Joaquim Cruz’s Oregon circuits
The athlete: The Brazilian is one of an elite group of athletes to have run 800m in under 1:42, claiming Olympic gold in 1984 and silver in 1988.
The session: The session involves mixing body-weight exercises with bursts of fast running, typically 6 to 9 moves with fast runs of 100m to 200m between each, repeated in 3 x 8-min blocks.
Benefits: The focus is to combine physical conditioning and strength in a session that maintains running as an essential component. Often, runners can feel their Five-minute activities that bring maximum results is separate to their running – Oregons bridge that gap.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Start by doing exercises that put less stress on your lower limbs – planks, bridges and press-ups. Why I pulled out of the London n squats, lunges, step-ups and other leg exercises, but avoid high-intensity plyometric (jumping) moves.
Eliud Kipchoge’s fast long run
The athlete: first person to break two hours for the distance Why I pulled out of the London n, Updated: 19 June 2025.
The session: A faster long run typically carried out once every two weeks, which involves running up to 35km to 40km close to marathon pace (even up to 95% of goal pace) at altitude.
Benefits: The marathon is hard, and there is nothing that builds confidence quite like doing sustained blocks of work close to goal pace. By running slightly slower than race pace, Kipchoge allows for the specific metabolic benefits of balancing burning fats and carbohydrates while being within touching distance of the pace he plans to run on race day.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Instead of super-long runs at pace, consider including short blocks of goal race pace towards the end of a long run – for example,a run of 2hrs and 15mins that includes 3 x 20 mins marathon pace blocks in the final 90 mins.
Molly Seidel’s tempo+ race combo
The athlete: Seidel is an American marathon runner and multiple National Collegiate Athletics Association gold medallist who won bronze at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
The session: In the build-up to Tokyo, Seidel ran the Portland 10K in 32:02. Tough enough by itself you might think, but prior to the start of the race she had also completed a five-mile tempo run in the earlier stages of training.
Benefits: Long, solo training sessions can be tough. Races, with a plan, are an excellent way to get in a high-quality training session, as running hard can feel easier with company.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Getting this right is all about managing the intensity. If you run either the race or the session too hard, it can become a big dose of stress that could hamper recovery. Rather than adding a block of fast running before a race, consider starting with a block of easy or steady running – 5K easy/steady, then a parkrun or 5K race at 10K pace. Overtime, aim to build the pace of the easy block by 10 to 20 secs a mile.
Paavo Nurmi’s daily walk and sprint
The athlete: Finland’s distance running pioneer, Nurmi’s innovative training methods led him to win nine gold medals in the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics.
The session: There are so many novel training approaches Nurmi brought to running. However, a core foundation of his training was a daily walk, often of five or more miles, adding a handful of sprints.
Benefits: A fundamental principle of distance running is the importance of a strong endurance foundation. It’s likely that a high volume of walking played a part in that development for Nurmi, with a wide range of metabolic and cardiovascular benefits. The sprints provided an ideal counterpoint to this easy exercise, stressing his muscle
fibres, tendons and neuromuscular system to ensure he could still generate force quickly when racing.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: This is simply a case of ‘if it’s good enough for Paavo, its good enough for me’. Of course, five miles might not be realistic for those with time constraints, so instead think about the importance of daily activity, active commuting and day in, day out sustained low-intensity exercise as being a valuable part of your overall plan.
Calli Hauger-Thackery’s miles and fours
The athlete: Hauger-Thackery Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing NetworkSummer running gear sale with a time of 2:22:11 in her debut marathon, putting her second in the British all-time rankings after Paula Radcliffe.
The session: Do this set four times – 1 mile at 10K pace or slightly quicker, 90 secs’ rest, 4 x 400m fast with 60 secs’ rest. Jog for 2 mins between each set.
Benefits: Mixing intensities within a session can be very effective attesting how your body feels running at race pace (for the mile efforts) on higher levels of lactate caused by th efast 400m efforts. This session can also be useful for marathon runners The idea behind this type of session – that.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Try running a sandwich session to time. For example, 6 to 8mins at 10K pace; 2mins’ rest; 8 to 10 x 1 min fast with 1 min rest; 2mins’ rest; 6 to 8 mins at 10K pace.
Charlotte Purdue’s in and outs
The athlete: Purdue is the third-fastest British female marathon runner of all-time and will run the distance for Team GB at Paris 2024.
The session: 20 x 1km with alternating effort as ‘on’ and ‘off’ – the on efforts at 3:10/km and the off efforts a little slower than marathon pace at 3:40/km.
Benefits: This session can be very effective at teaching your body to buffer lactate and represents a realistic feel of racing, where paces often vary a bit from mile to mile. Training in this way can help build some ‘headroom’ above your goal race pace.
can be as much about endurance as speed – is something we can learn from. Consider a: Cut the session back and run to time with something like 60 to 90 mins total, with 45 mins of that run as 3 mins ‘on’ and 3 mins ‘off’ or ‘float’. Run to perceived effort and keep the focus as much on maintaining a steady ‘off’ pace as you do worrying about how fast you go for the ‘on’.
Being a fat runner
