There’s a nice little story in the paper about the famous runner and Olympic champion Mo Farah, in the press today talking about his upcoming autobiography.
He talks about his early career and all of his ups and downs, and his long journey from Somalia to where he is now.
The critical moment was way back in 2005, when he was advised to attend a Kenyan training camp. This changed his life in many ways, but brought the professionalism in that was required to take him to being a world champion.
When he first arrived, he expected to go to the cinema or go out dancing. He looked at his watch and it was only 830am, yet all the Kenyan athletes went to bed! He used to drink 6 to 7 cups of tea a day, the Kenyans only drunk water, and when he followed this advice, his performances started improving quickly! He also started eating only simple whole foods, and this was a major change and revelation for him.
Then at 6am, everyone got up to loud church music, and he was required to do a 7am really hard run which half killed him!
Then they would return for food, then the Kenyans would sleep in the afternoon, then hit another big run at 5pm, eat throughout the day and then go to bed at 830am, day in day out without fail!!
This was their true secret of success.
While I could never ask anyone I train to follow such an extreme training regime, there are similarities in what I ask people to do.
I always say that regular, high quality training sessions are the way to go.
I always recommend getting to bed early, especially in the week, and putting great value on proper rest. My clients who do this are my best performers and usually look incredibly well!
I recommend much plainer, whole foods, which nourish the body very well and help you perform extremely well!
I recommend plenty of water, up to 3 cups of tea or coffee can be fine, but you dehydrate after that so this downgrades performance.
The Mo Farah story is a great learning experience for all of us!
