Haile Gebrselassie is arguably the greatest living distance runner and maybe the best pure distance runner ever. In a recent BBC sport interview he offered a few tips.
What has been the best advice you have had in your career of athletics?
Actually, there are two important pieces that helped me a lot:
1. Work hard! This is what my father has always told me. Nothing comes for free, so if you want to achieve something you will have to work hard.
2. Take your time! This was the first advice of my manager Jos Hermens. He explained to me that if you work hard and make the right choices, things will come your way.
In the beginning of my career I thought I could run a race every week. I felt great and wanted to show people how fast I could run.
Jos taught me not to run too many races and to train and rest well. When I started to do this, my performances got even better!
What do you do to help you recover from your hardest training sessions? How much sleep do you have each day?
I go to bed early (9.30 pm), but also wake up early (6 am). During the daytime I try to sleep, but this is difficult as my daughters try to keep me awake.
For me it is not so important to sleep, as long as I can take a rest. In the afternoon, I try to rest for two hours.
Next to sleeping a lot, massage also helps to recover well from training. When I train really hard, I make sure that I have daily massages.
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Work hard and get regular sleep ... that probably sounds like your parents but it's the truth..
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