Tuesday, December 8, 2009

If there's one thing this sport has taught me.....

....it's what people are now realizing about Tiger Woods and that is great athletes are not always what they seem to be. As a person one is always looking at having a role model/s or maybe more accurately someone they respect.

I fortunately/unfortunately realized early enough in my running experiences that great athletes could be the sort of people who, although you may respect their performances, you do not respect as people. But being a somewhat cynic and optimist all bound up in one I may complain about the ones who have disappointed me, but I've also come to appreciate those who are the 'good guys'.

So rather than focus on the negatives (the stories I could tell/have told) the post is on the positive people I've come across. This is not to say I put these people up on some pedestal (I am way to old, cynical and arrogant for that) I'd rather view these people as those who you know when the 'chips are down' they will be the ones still standing. In no particular order would be those I've come to respect as much for their athletic results as how they approach life and running....

Rob Lonergan...some people may even ask who is Rob ( I hope not), but being the inaugural winner of the Sun Run has to get you some bonus points. He was often the lesser known the great dist runners who came out of the Vancouver area, when the other great runners of the Kajaks dominated. Rob's ability to look beyond the sport (he's a lawyer now), yet still be able to give his all has always impressed on me. Knowing of Rob's career best results being destroyed by his elastic band achilles, yet his inability to also pack it in (I still say his 4th place at the 93 CWG trials as one of the most courageous races I've seen in person) and ability to run tough every time out are characteristics that any runner would be proud. Even now I say that any runner should be afraid if Rob Lonergan is right behind you with 200m to go. Ahhhhh..... if only the achilles had held out, but why do I think that Rob has no regrets.


Art Boileau...ahh the legend of Art. If I've learned anything about Art it's too always carry out the childlike attitude towards the sport. As a 2 x Olympian, Boston 2nd placer, and many other accomplishments, show that Arty has to go down as one of Canada's all time greats (he's still no 3 or 4 all time marathoner). The best Art stories have even come recently. Over the last two yrs Art has essentially been the first one my high school team has seen at BCHS XC champs. I always proceed to put Art on the spot with the younger athletes, as I introduce them to him and tell of his accomplishments. Art's response is typical of his attitude towards the sport as he deflects his standing in the sport, with his still evident American twang, and a response that is always to ask the kids questions about their races for the day (and then proceeds to help us setup our school tent and organize our gear).


Kevin Sullivan.....Kevin is more a peer than anything (actually I am older by a few yrs), but they way he has conducted himself, as a Junior and later as one of the wld's best, speaks volumes of his character. I had the pleasure of being on some teams with Kevin and he always handles himself with distinction and class (well okay except for some of the 'after' parties, but come on everyone needs to blow off a little steam after a big event). If I was a young athlete he'd be at the top of my list as someone you'd want to emulate.


Richard Lee will love this one but his wife Sue also falls into my list (of course he knows this story that was prefaced by my admission 'Dick, did I ever tell you the day I fell in love with our wife?') due to the singular reason that she knew who I was.... I should preface this by saying that Sue might go down as one of (if not the most) underrated runners of the great era of Can female dist runners (egs Lynn Williams/Kanuka, Brit McRoberts/Townsend, Angela Chalmers, etc...). She was a fantastic runner (18th in 85 WXC, the Can 10000m record and 2 x Olympian) and her results sometimes seem to get lost when great Canadian runners are mentioned. Being a student of the sport (even at a younger age) I knew who Sue (amongst many others of her time) was and what she had done, but I never expected she would know who I was... or at least know my name. As a young athlete I had one big breakthrough year, but then unfortunately had an injury (turned out it was stress fracture). As I was coming out of an appt with the Dr I bumped into Sue on her way in. Now recognize I had done nothing before that year, and when I saw Sue she actually knew my name. I was flabbergasted when she even took the time to ask me what I was doing there. Now I am no Sue Lee, but I also know that I have done enough in this sport that I at least some semblance of a positive (I hope) reputation in Canada. Forever, Sue knowing my name would have an indelible impact on how I approached young athletes and anyone who I ever came across....

All of the above have left an impression on me in some way. I doubt that any of the would see themselves in that way I may have mentioned, but to all of them I owe a debt of gratitude. There are many others who have impacted me (In fact those have inspired the most aren't even what one might call great athletes unless you call a 1:51 800m runner great....but that's for another post) in some way because of their athletics accomplishments, but mostly because of who they are as people.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Base Building....

As I begin the process again (in earnest this week) I find myself thinking more about what type of training to do. It's not that i don't know what to do, but more along the lines of since I am in that sort of mode, it's what dominates my running thoughts. In this case base building.

If there's one area of training that I am most concerned about in training it's a good aerobic buildup. This of course would be more so due to my training according to a more intensity oriented model as a younger athlete vs what I did as an older athlete.

As a younger athlete the trend of the time was the Seb Coe/Joaquim Cruz model of base building (or at least that was how things were interpreted by many coaches and athletics bodies of the time). it's also the one thing that I still find some coaches doing (or not doing) that frustrates me today. It's do hard workouts and get fit fast, as opposed to taking more patient approach. I find that athletes certainly get fit fast, but they also lose their sharpness just as quick and also fail to show long term development as athletes.

Base building is the one area of Arthur Lydiard's training concepts that I firmly believe in (although as I'll explain I don't follow him to a tee). Lydiard was accused of just doing long slow runs, but this is untrue and unfair. After living in New Zealand for almost a year I can tell you that his annual Sunday long run was in fact more a long run fartlek, and if you have read enough about Lydiard's athletes and his books you'll also see that he did other types of training besides easier aerobic runs. In fact Lydiard advocated things like 10km runs at 3/4 pace, or as is better termed 'tempo' pace. In fact when I lived there we did a lot of the stuff that Arch Jelley (John Walker's coach...since i was often training with a guy who had been trained under Jelley this shouldn't have come as a surprise) such as 4-6 mile tempos and a fartlek style 9-10 miler called the X Games (so called because you ran it during Auckland's rush hour and had to dodge cars, take chances thru red lights, etc...) to get a fast time. In fact the X games had a Sat morning record, when the traffic was light vs a 5 o'clock X games record when the traffic was heavy.

But as with all things Lydiard's ideas have also been tweaked over time. Although the original idea of taking a specific amount of time to get in easier levels of aerobic runs in it has still taken on a more efficient level of base building. So what then does a base building week look like....well IMHO it depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the athlete. But this is also the reason why I don't believe in one specific model. In fact I take a handful of approaches to create a system that still stays true to Lydiard (see this great article by Lorraine Moeller http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18121) and works in a little bit of everything so that 1) you never just work on your weakness or strengths and 2) still make an aerobic security blanket.

Anyone who has been around me for long runs knows that I base much of my training beliefs on the methodology of running and personal experiences vs science. Not to say I don't consider science, but that I use science to explain my experiences and methodology as opposed to the other way around. In that respects I tend to focus on a handful of approaches and that being a handful of great coaches and athletes. Those of course, as anyone who runs with me, are well known such as Marty Liquori, Harry Wilson, Ron Daws, Lydiard, Joe Vigil, Chris Wardlaw, Pat Clohessy, Alan Storey/Nic Bideau, Vin Lananna, among others. What I've done over the years is simply take out the 'individual' ideas of these people and instead focus on the 'consistencies' (that is also how I approach my training in general). In that respects I think I have come to understand 'what it takes' as well as anyone. In the end it really isn't rocket science.

So what does it look like...well here would be some ideas... (and recognize that one has to work up to some of this over time...and by time I don't mean days, weeks or months):
1) some semblance of speed needs to be done, although this doesn't mean hard intervals...to the contrary stay away from hard intervals with lots of recovery
2) high end aerobic work is very effective
3) lower order aerobic activity is key, but no the end all to be all
4) aerobic development occurs quicker than muscular development so don't be surprise if your fitness allows you to go long, but not fast......don't worry it will happen, just not quickly......give it a few months
5) two peaks, therefore two buildups, have been shown to be the best way to reach optimal results....IMHO trying to train all yr round without a proper buildup is running suicide



Mon: 50-70mins
Tues: easy longer interval reps done a at high order tempo pace (egs 4-5 x 2kms or 6min off 1-2mins), or aerobic fartlek (see def'n on the next Tues)
Wed: 50-70mins
Thurs: 90mins but pick it up the last 20-30mins or do it on hilly terrain to make it more fartlek oriented.....in other words harder than an easy run, but not like a real workout
Fri" 40-50min really easy
Sat: tempo run 20-50mins
Sunday Long run 90+min
Mon: 50-70min
Tues: Aerobic fartlek 15 up to 45 mins, but make sure that the hardest stuff is below tempo pace…or in other words is aerobic. In general I use a handful of concepts from 3min harder-2min easier, 1-2-3-2-1 mins off 1min, hill fartleks or some sort of longer tempo/fartlek
Wed: 80- 90mins
Thurs: short fartlek or hills (egs monofartlek 20min or less)..the only thing i would say to do more intense than aerobic
Fri: 40mins really easy
Sat: tempo run
Sunday: long run 90+ mins

Throw in some short sprint/form work to keep up the mechanics and voila there it is....

Repeat twice, but on the second week of the second repeat cycle tone it down with no mid week long run or throw out the short fartlek.

Now this doesn't mean this is exactly how you should do it. Some people like to do two slightly harder workouts than I might do (egs long slow intervals/tempo/hills and tempo and a long run).....then so be it. The only reason I put in the shorter fartlek is because I am more a 'speed runner' and like the feel and motivation of doing some slightly shorter/speedier stuff. The key is simply to not do much in the way of harder sessions (egs 3-5km pace) and longer easier sessions.

There many other way to go (I've always liked the 'complex system' of Clohessy/Wardlaw...see more at http://www.sport.monash.edu.au/assets/docs/chris-wardlaws-training-program.pdf, and Bill Squires of long run fartlek style runs mixed in with some hills and tempo runs), but in all honesty it really doesn't matter as long as you mix up a few concepts, don't be in a rush and don't do anything super intense (egs I find I sometimes do variations of long reps like 3mins off 1min one week and 6mins off 2mins the next later in my buildups).