Alleyne Francique, coach of Taylor’s own superstar runner Fred Kerley, had an interview earlier this month with Sheila Vieira of Olympics.com and discussed training techniques that Kerley implements to get him to the next level.
Francique, a two-time indoor world champion who also placed fourth in the 400meter at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, comes from the island of Grenada in the Caribbean which only has a population of 124,000 people.
“I was the youngest and the only black person on the staff, so a lot of them came to me,” Francique said of coaching. “There’s a trust factor that they felt like they could tell me anything.”
Kerley, the 2022 world champion and Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo 2020 at the 100-meter dash, usually spends time during the week on the track, on grass and in the pool.
According to Francique, Kerley’s training sessions usually last one hour and 45 minutes with the most important sessions on the track Tuesday and Thursday. Monday is typically tempo runs on the grass, Tuesday is speed training on the track, Wednesday is lighter training at the pool (drills, swimming and cardio), Thursday is track training mixing between distances 100 meters and 200 meters, Friday is 60-to-80-meter runs with diagonal runs depending on conditioning throughout the week, Saturday is racing and Sunday is Kerley’s rest day.
Francique got straight to the point when asked about how Kerley is able to rest to the best of his ability: getting a good night’s sleep.
“You need at least eight hours of sleep. I don’t know how you get it, but you need it,” Francique said. “The good thing is Fred doesn’t party or drink. He’d rather spend time on social media.”
When in the gym, Kerley’s work is more centered around plyometrics, using bars and rubber bands for stretches, apart from doing long jumps and triple jumps.
“He’s a big guy, around 202 pounds,” Francique said. “If he lifts weights, he’s going to 260. You can’t carry that weight around the track.”
Francique says that training might take you to an elite level, but champions need to have a whole different mindset of their own.
“You have to respect everybody that lines up,” Francique said. “It’s about who has that mental toughness, who doesn’t let outside influences and social media affect them. Kerley is mentally tough, you can’t break him. He just focuses on himself.”
