Crash and Burn the Kenyan Way?

I may ruffle some feathers here, but I felt it needed to be said.  In probably the most confusing article I have seen written by Runners World yet we are urged to consider training a crash training plan because "Kenyans do it."  The article is rife with mixed information and half truths.  First I want to make sure that everyone understands that the writer, Alex Hutchinson, is a very smart guy and has PhD. and I respect him.  I just sometimes get the feeling that articles, when they are written, need to include more background information for the audience as it is easy for us, the track nerds who know a good amount about athletics, to forget that not everyone is as couth in track and field.

The article was brought to my attention by a high school runner of mine who thought the idea of training like a Kenyan sounded interesting.  He had good intentions but I let him know not to trust just anything he reads even if the logic sounds good.  I don't want my athletes to think of crashing and burning in a workout is a good thing.  Coaches spend a good amount of time coming up with sound training plans and that can easily be ruined if the athlete is trying to race the workout.  Similarly the workout would not have the full effect if the athlete gave mediocre effort.

Well, when actually reading the article a few things popped in my head.  One is Hutchinson doesn't really describe any type of crash and burn style workouts so the title is unrepresentative of the content. He even says "crashing and burning doesn't literally mean running yourself into ruin."  Also, In his first sentence he mentions the "weekly fartlek" used by Kenyans (fartleks are based on intervals of various distances and time, but is a continuous training run), but describes a normal track session of 400s and such.  He doesn't give the impression that there is any jogging recovery as he uses the terms "interval workout" which I've always interpreted as having a standing recovery.

Another puzzling piece is that the article tells us that preconceived workouts are based on planned training rather than how you feel at the moment, but then tells us a formula on how to plan the crash and burn workout.  Also, somehow this workout that has a predetermined pace is supposed to teach us how to deal with surges in a race.  By that rationale, wouldn't all out sprints teach us how to deal with surges better?  Is an interval workout that is 5% faster than race pace helping us prepare for "surges" and how do you qualify that?  I would think a traditional fartlek would be one of the best workouts to deal with surges.

Kenyans are known as some of the worlds top distance runners.

I also am worried when I hear Americans wanting to train like Kenyans.  Surely, Kenyans on a whole are more successful than Americans on the world scene but how many Americans have trained like Kenyans and been a world player?  The majority of Americans that are doing well right now are built on a long term program that is scientifically charted out.  Many Kenyans have no choice but to go all-in with training because the risk of injury is worth it if you can come to America or Europe and make money.  There is a whole socio-economic structure that encourages crash training for Kenyans. Westerners don't have that same structure, nor need it for success.  Alex knows this because he only recommends doing this (actually non-Kenyan) workout once or twice a month.  I also want to point out that many top Kenyans also have good coaches who don't train them in a crash and burn manner such as Renato Canova.

Lastly, I don't think that predetermined workouts set any limitations on what you can do that day.  If you feel good, usually your coach will encourage you to run what you can sustain and back off if you are having a bad day.  If you are having a bad day in a crash and burn workout, do you just stop?

Hutchinson is a savvy and educated runner and scientist.  I think there were large gaps in his rationale for the crash workout, though, and a few mis-labeled terms.  All-in-all I will continue to read his articles because he presents a lot of great training information and as a Runners World writer he is a mouthpiece for the sport.  Cheers.