Troopy’s Training Diaries – Putting in the Hard Yards

“Troop describes himself as self-coached throughout his career, though he did enjoy a mentor relationship with Steve Moneghetti. Though he often emphasised how hard he worked, how valiantly he battled, he was a very talented distance runner.” – Len Johnson quote from Australian Marathon Stars

Profile

• Coach: Self-coached
• Date of birth: 22 March 1973
• Hometown during career: Geelong/Ballarat
• Personal best: 2:09:49
• Career highlight: Breaking Ron Clarke’s 33-year-old Australian 5,000m record in 1999

In February 2004 Troopy was interviewed by Neil Macdonald, who managed the Geelong Region Cross Country team from 2000-2007.

The below training schedule is courtesy of Neil Macdonald. For more Troopy info check out Australian Marathon Stars.

In February 2004, Lee Troop was a man on a mission. His goals for 2004 were to have a crack at the Australian Marathon Record (2:07.51 held by Robert de Castella) at the London Marathon and to finish in the top 10 at the Athen’s Olympic Marathon. To achieve these goals, Lee changed his training focus from the more traditional Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday ‘hard / quality sessions’ to the following, more ‘marathon specific’ training program.

Warning: do not try this at home!

• Sunday:
  • AM: 37 – 39 kms. Run easy pace for first two hours (28 – 30 kms.), then run last 30 mins. hard (9 km.)
  • PM: 10 – 11 km. easy

• Monday:
  • AM: 15 – 16 km. easy
  • PM: 15 – 16 km. easy

• Tuesday:
  • AM: 16 km. ‘Mona Fartlek” (2 x 90 seconds, 4 x 60 seconds, 4 x 30 seconds, 4 x 15 seconds hard with equal time recovery between.)
  • PM: 10 – 11 km. easy

• Wednesday:
  • AM: 28 – 30 km. easy
  • PM: 10 – 11 km. easy

• Thursday:
  • AM: 15 – 16 km. easy
  • PM: 15 – 16 km. easy

• Friday:
  • AM: 17 – 19 km. 3 – 4 x Eastern Park Road Circuit (undulating 2.34 km. circuit) in 7 minutes with 2 mins. jog recovery between.
  • PM: 10 – 11 km. easy

• Saturday:
  • AM: 15 – 16 km. easy
  • PM: 15 – 16 km. easy

Total 230 – 240 km. All easy runs between 3.40 – 4.00 min. / km. pace. Core stability work for 30 minutes on Monday and Thursday. Physio on Tuesday and massage on Friday.