Weldon Johnson is the co-founder (with his brother) of Letsrun.com, but is also one of my all-time favorite runners. In the late 1990s and early 2000’s he went from never qualifying for the NCAA Championships to finishing 4th in the US in the 10,000 meters (twice)!!!
After college Weldon moved to Flagstaff, Arizona to see how great he could become in running. He ran his easy days at the high altitude in Flagstaff, but went lower down the mountain for different types of workouts. In the week I have below he dropped down to 4500 feet to do some tempo repetitions and then went down to 1000 feet to do some race pace / faster than pace work.
Here is a week of training leading into his PR at 10,000 meters.
Sunday
A.M. 5 miles easy on grass
P.M. (Altitude of 4,500 ft., repeats done on dirt track) 2 miles jog, 4 buildups, 2 strides, 10 x 1,000 @ 3:10 start, 3:07-3:09 for next seven, 3:04, 3:01 on last two/30-35 secs. jogs between each, 400 jog after last rep, 1 x 400 @ 63, 2 miles jog
Monday
A.M. 6 miles easy on grass
P.M. 10 miles easy on grass/road/trails
Tuesday
A.M. 5 miles easy on grass
P.M. (Low altitude of 1,000 ft.) 2 miles jog, 4 buildups, 2 x 200 @ 33, 31 (to warm up further and to establish pace), 6 x 800 @ 2:09 for first five, 2:07 on last one/2 min. jog between each, 800 jog after last rep, 3 x 300 @ 50, 45, 42 w/ 100 meters walk/jog (@ 40 secs.) between each, 2 miles jog
Wednesday
9.5 miles easy on grass/road/trails
Thursday
5 miles easy on grass + 4 light to medium speed buildups
Friday
2 miles jog, 4 buildups, 3 strides, Mt. SAC Relays 10,000 @ 28:27.58 (5th overall, 2nd
American, PR by 1:22.10 – amazing!!!!!), 3 miles jog after race [Weldon had run only three
track workouts involving faster speeds than he ran in this race, still more proof that constantkiller track work is unnecessary if the aerobic base is solid!]
Saturday
10 miles on grass/trails
Total mileage for week = 85
While this is a sample week leading into his PR at 10,000 meters, you should know that he spent months running 100-150 miles per week in preparation for this race.
Phillips Running 