Canova:
'I have no doubt : marathon. Of course, this doesn't means that he has to run top marathon TODAY. The Olympic Champion, Baldini, ran his first marathon in 1995, Venice, in 2:11, finishing no. 5, at 24 years of age, and became Olympic Champion 9 years later. Personally, I don't think that marathon runners must start to prepare full marathon when are old. The question is : do you have talent for running marathon in your life, or not ? Because is not true that ALL TOP RUNNERS of 10000m have real talent for becoming competitive in full marathon. So, OR YOU CAN BE A MARATHON RUNNER, and in this case start very early your preparation in that direction, OR YOU CANNOT, and in this case is not a problem of age.
You can become a top marathoner, able winning also tactical races, only after 6-8 marathons in your career, in different conditions. Experience is something fundamental in this event. Of course, there is also some exception (for example Gharib, World Champion in his 2nd marathon), but normally you need not less than 4 years (that means from 6 to 8 marathons) before knowing well the secrets of managing the event. You must know yourself without doing the mistake of pretending too much, or to be afraid of distance and other competitors. If you want to win a race of 10000m, never you can lose some meter, because after is not possible to recover. If you want to win a marathon, you must look at yourself, not at the other runners.
With a modern way of training, Ritz can move to Marathon already for Olympic of Beijing, running one HM fast this year, may be one full marathon for learning, without forgetting 10000m. In the preparation for a full marathon, for an athlete yet young coming from the track, the secret is not TO REPLACE SOME WORKOUT OF SPEED WITH LONG RUN, BUT TO ADD LONG RUN, TO INCREASE THE VOLUME OF FAST INTERVALS (not the speed) AND TO EXTEND THE LENGTH OF LONG INTERVALS AT MARATHON PACE OR LITTLE BIT FASTER.
Some example, starting from short distances :
a) 10 x 400 in 60.0 with 1 min recovery can become 15-18 x 400 at the same speed during the first 2 years, then 20 x 400 in 62.0 with 40.0 during the next 2 years, then 16 x 500 in 1:18 with 1:00 during the 5th year. When you become a FULL Marathoner, you can yet run 15 x 600 in 1:36 with 200m recovery in 50.0. SO, FOR 5-6 YEARS, YOU HAVE TRAINING OF INTENSITY FOR IMPROVING ALSO 5000 and 10000m
b) 10 x 1000 in 2:45 with 200m jogging in 1:30 of recovery can develop in 12 x 1000 with 200m in 1:00 in 2 years, then 12 x 1000 in 2:48 with 400m in 1:30 for other 2 years, then in 10 x 1000 in 2:50 alternated to 1000m in 3:10 the next 2 years (that means 20 km in 1 hr). YOU HAVE YET TRAINING FOR RUNNING HM IN 60:00.
c) 4 x 3000 in 8:30 rec. 3:00 become 5 x 3000 in 8:40 rec. 1 km in 3:40 after 2 years, 7 x 3000 in 8:50 rec. 1 km in 3:25 after 4 years, 5 x 5000m in 15:00 rec. 1 km in 3:20 after 6 years.
Of course, because with this system you have numerous types of training, you must use intensity only some time, giving more modulation in your training. "
