The road mile world record-holder opens up about his year of marked ups and downs, plus how he managed to keep himself ready for anything
“This summer has been a rollercoaster,” says Elliot Giles. “We’ve ticked a few boxes, but I haven’t made an impression in amongst the top guys because, when it mattered, I wasn’t performing.”
Such a critical assessment is a measure of the athlete Giles has become. After all, the 30-year-old Birchfield Harrier represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the European Championships in Rome; he made it to the semi-finals of the Olympic 800m in Paris; and on September 1 he ran a road mile road world record of 3:51.3 – defeating the USA’s Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Yared Nuguse in the process – in Düsseldorf.
By his own admission Giles under-performed at the UK Athletics Championships, perhaps when it mattered most. He had started the summer well but returned from Rome with Covid and later found out he had also been fighting a chest infection. It took a demoralising 3:40.72 1500m in Monaco to eventually face up to the fact he was ill and needed treatment.
“It was pretty s*it, to put it bluntly,” says the Jon Bigg-coached athlete. “I couldn’t breathe for quite a while but I tried to fight through it. I thought because I’d been so consistent that maybe I was hitting a bit of a slump and that I’d come back out of it, but four weeks passed and the slump wasn’t going anywhere, then six weeks passed and it still hadn’t gone.”
Elliot Giles and Josh Kerr fall (Getty)
Monaco was the turning point, but a commitment to preparedness also played its part in Giles’ impressive turnaround.
In the aftermath of the Olympic trials, having initially missed out on selection, he navigated his way to St Moritz in a camper van for a training camp expertly disguised as a family holiday (with wife Meg and children Erin and Seb). As a Team GB reserve, his plan was to stay ready; to be prepared for everything, but to expect nothing. At the very least he knew he was targeting the Diamond League final, so he had to – and wanted to – keep working.
“If you speak to the people at the top it’s not just about their talent, it’s not about who’s the most naturally gifted or physically the fastest or strongest, it’s about what you can accumulate and stack on top like layering a cake while staying healthy and consistent,” he says. “Consistency wins everything, I think that’s the reality of it.
“There’s definitely a skill and a beauty in navigating illness and injury [and staying consistent]. None of us ‘deserves’ things to go our way, we all just train and if it comes off it comes off. If it doesn’t, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. There’s a good chance it will happen, there’s a good chance it won’t. As long as you’re content knowing you could get either side of the coin and be ready to seize the opportunity when it comes – and if you know that you’ve done all the training – then when the opportunity does come, you’re ready to do the business.”
For Giles, this summer was a case in point. It may have been a rollercoaster, but crucially, he didn’t jump off.
“I could quite easily have given up after the Olympic trials, but it’s not in my nature,” he says. “I stayed ready, and we managed to get a world record.”
Elliot Giles (KÖ MEILE)
A typical training week (winter training block)
Over the past 12-18 months Giles has increased his mileage and decreased his cross-training. He had previously run around 25 miles per week with a substantial cross-training load. He is now running closer to 45-50 miles per week.
“I think in truth I developed really late,” he says of his training progression. “I worry about the youngsters now who are doing lots of mileage, lots of speed before they even hit 20. For perspective, I was still running 1:53 for 800m at 20 years old. Two years later I was down to 1:45, but my body developed so late, my tendons weren’t ready.
“I can only describe it as guided discovery. Jon trains us all so differently; he asks us how we’re feeling and how our body is responding to determine what we do. Two years ago, I’d only run on session days – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – so the shift has been insane. It’s like two different athletes.”
- Monday: (am) speed drills; (pm) either 4-mile run or 40-60min cycle/cross train (“I’ve been running more mileage recently, so it would normally be a 4-mile run but depending on how fatigued I am that could also be a cross train.”)
- Tuesday: (am) track-based session such as 5-6 sets of (1km/300m) with 1min between the 1km and 300m then 3min between sets, followed by gym; (pm) 4-mile shakeout or 30min cross train
- Wednesday: steady run (7 miles approx.); (pm) easy 3-mile shakeout or 30min cross train
- Thursday: (am) tempo session (mainly track) of 4-6 miles – for example 5 x 1 mile followed by circuits; (pm) shakeout run or cross train
- Friday: rest
- Saturday: (am) hill session such as 600m-400m-300m-200m off 1min (x 3-4 sets) plus gym (“We’ve got a road hill nearby that is super long and goes up forever. The recovery between sets is long because it takes us so long to jog back down.”); (pm) easy 3-mile shakeout or 30min cross train
- Sunday: 10-12-mile run or 2hr cycle
Elliot Giles (Getty)
Favourite session: “It depends if I’m looking for stimulus or to enjoy it. If I’m looking for speed (for 800m) then maybe 3 x (400m-200m) off 1min with 6min between sets.”
READ MORE: Our ‘how they train’ series
Least favourite session: “That’s a really tough one. I love running so much I don’t have sessions I dislike. I have sessions that I fear a little bit, but I don’t really have any I don’t want to do.”
» This article first appeared in the October issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
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