In 2011, the BBC sent former miler Eamonn Coghlan to Kenya in search of the secret to their running dominance. In the first episode of the three-part documentary, he met with Colm O’Connell at St. Patrick’s High School, where they watched a group of O’Connell’s runners running slowly in single-file formation around and around a grass soccer field.
“Is this still part of their warm-up?” Coghlan asked.
“This is the workout,” O’Connell said.
“And they won’t go any harder?” Coghlan asked.
“This is it,” O’Connell said.
Brother Colm O’Connell is famed coach of David Rudisha and Augustine Choge and obviously knows a thing or two about elite-level distance running. But, in a world where we think that always harder is always better…Brother Colm shows us that it is not.
Here’s the video which is a wonderful resource for runners and coaches.