Declining Times

I was speaking with a friend not too long ago who made a comment that times at the road races in his area (Buffalo,N.Y.) were slower then they were 25+ years ago. He went on to say that there was a lack of depth in quality performances from the 5k and up.He bemoaned the fact that guys running 17 minutes and change in the 5k were finishing in the top 10, something he said hardly ever happened back "in my day." A little search of the archived race records confirmed what he had said was true. For instance, one of the big road races of the year in my area was the Depew/Lancaster Boys Club 10k. I went back as far as I could,which was unfortunately only till 1986, and found that 81 runners finished under 40 minutes. In 2005 only 31 runners broke 40 minutes. Further seaches confirmed what my friend had said,times have gotten slower over the years. As many of you probably know, this trend exists over much of the country.So what's happened? What's changed? If you look back to the days of the running boom in the early 70's you will find your answer. The main avenue for getting news and information on running,racing and training was through the running mags, particularly Runners World. If you are fortunate to have copies of RW from the 70's till '83, you will immediately notice a difference between then and now.I should start by saying I am in no way bashing RW for how they are.One of the hardest things to do these days is to keep a magazine financially viable. You will not stay in business very long if you produce a mag that only appeals to a group of runners which comprise a minority of the running population,ask James O'Brian, former head of the excellent,but now defunct, American Runner about that. Returning to the RW's of the 70's, one of the first things you will notice is back then their writers and contributors included people like Joe Henderson,Dr.George Sheehan,Arthur Lydiard,Derek Clayton,Bill Squires, and Amby Burfoot, just to name a few. There was a theme and preoccupation that was evident throughout each issue,and that was,how to go about achieving your best racing performance. There were also interviews with American runners who were successful nationally and internationally. They also contained lots of race results and accounts of the races. Again,the focus was on improving your running and racing. I should add that Running Times was a nice alternative to RW because it had tons of race results and recaps of races along with schedules of upcoming ones from around the country. Their age group race highlights and rankings was a great feature.Somewhere in the mid-eighties things began to change with RW. Writers and contributors were replaced and the theme went from racing performance to the "running experience". Jeff Galloway gained a large readership and following by teaching moderation in miles and effort as well as showing the way from basically zero miles to a marathon in 6 months,or was it 9 months? Jeff was quite vocal in his opinion that too many miles were bad for runners,a point that I was very happy to call him out on when he spoke at a pre-marathon clinic in Buffalo years back. Interviews and stories in RW changed from being about successful runners to ones who had overcome personal issues and tragedies through running. Arthur Lydiard and Derek Clayton's columns were replaced with people like Owen Anderson and those of a similar mindset. Food and diet,stretching,cross-training,exotic locales for racing,and my favorite,attaining the 6pk abs are the norm in RW today. What exactly does 6pk abs have to do with running anyway? But I digress. You get the picture though,what was once THE vehicle for reaching the runner changed its perception of what the running experience should be and most of the public has followed along. The consequence of this being slower times overall. I suppose this is why we should be thankful that we have the internet to fill the need for those of us who want more. I still miss the days when RW was the source to go to for runners and racers.
Sorry for the single post this weekend,I took my once a month trip out of town to run on some real trails.

Ticking Golden Moments by Roger Bannister

What you are about to read below is something very special. It is an article that was written for the September 19,1960 edition of Sports Illustrated. It was authored by Roger Bannister,the first man to go under 4 minutes for the mile.Here he gives his account of Herb Elliott winning the 1960 Olympic 1500 meter run.Bannister provides the kind of unique insight that only runners can give to such events. "It was a relaxed and attractively casual Elliott who turned
up for the 1,500-meter heats, walking barefoot, without a sweat suit and carrying his spikes in his hand. No one else can afford to look as casual as he. Inside him it was different—as Dave Power, his Australian companion and teammate, put it: "He's a killer, in racing and training." The heats saw the elimination of the only European Elliott gave any sign of having heard of—Siegfried Valentin of Germany, who has run a 3:56.5 mile and a 3:39.3 1,500 meters.
As Elliott and his eight rivals walked out for the final, the frenzied crowd was already tautened to the breaking point by a world-record 400-meter finish. The 1,500-meter finalists were halted on the way to the start by the 400-meter victory ceremony. There was polite and sincere applause for America's first-place Davis, and a baying ei ei ei for Germany's second-place Kaufmann, the sort of premonitory roar that gives a 1,500-meter runner waiting for the gun a final spurt of adrenalin—one that nearly makes him ill.
If Elliott thought of his tactics, and he barely ever needs to, his thoughts must have run something like this: "A loose track, but bound by last night's storm, fast enough for a world record. An awkward wind up the finishing straight, so I hope someone will lead. Percy wants a record, but right now I'll settle for the medal. The sooner I start my finish the safer I am, with this bunch of fast finishers." But niceties of pace, judgments and tactics have previously been superfluous for Elliott, and so it proved this day.Having drawn the pole,Elliott let Bernard of
France, Waern of Sweden and Vamos of Rumania pass him, and held the fourth position. Bernard seized the lead decisively and took the field through a 58.2 first lap. This was a piece of rare good fortune for Elliott and brought the world record within his grasp. At the time it looked like collusion between the French, with Bernard attempting to help his teammate Jazy, but Bernard later stated that, according to Olympic tradition, he and Jazy were running their own races. He led only because he thought, unwisely I am sure, this improved his chance of winning.
Burleson and Grelle stayed at the back, out of trouble. The reduction of the size of the field to nine men helped the Americans, who lack experience of crowded fields. Since no more than 12 yards covered the whole bunch, with an effective pacemaker at the head, this was by far their wisest course of action.
In the second lap Elliott remained fourth, running slightly wide, but happy, no doubt, to pay this small price for preserving his tactical freedom. Jazy and Rozsavolgyi trailed warily behind Elliott. Percy Cerutty, a wizened man with the blazing eye of an Old Testament prophet, who first fired Elliott with enthusiasm for running, could be seen crouching on the outside of the track at the start of the last bend. An infringement of international track Rule 18 (no coaching from the sidelines) apparently was imminent.
At the half mile, passed by Bernard in 1:57.8. Elliott moved deliberately into second place at Bernard's shoulder, boxing Waern and keeping Rozsavolgyi outside him. With 600 meters left, Elliott eased past Bernard, and there was no challenge from the astonished Frenchman. Bernard was no doubt horrified that there was any athlete alive who could find a 1:57.8 half mile so unsatisfactorily slow that he felt obliged to take the lead himself. Bernard never recovered from this shock.
Elliott seized a five-yard lead in the next 30 yards, with Rozsavolgyi now second, Jazy third, Vamos fourth, Bernard fifth and Burleson sixth. Elliott continued to apply a steady stretch to his unfortunate rivals, pulling Jazy and Rozsavolgyi out of the vanguard. Elliott's smooth stride would have looked deceptively slow but for the trail of fading runners he left behind him. He passed the three-quarter mile in a relentless 2:54.4, having thrown a 56.6 third lap into the race. This was certainly the fastest third lap in miling history—a fractional easing at this point being traditional.
Now Cerutty entered the picture. He jumped the ditch between the spectators' enclosure and the track, tore off his white flannel shirt and waved it frantically, until the broad-minded Italian policemen finally decided to return him to his rightful place. The signal, we afterward discovered, means in Australian bush language, "Go for the world record." When asked afterward if he saw Cerutty, Elliott commented, "I could hardly have missed him."
Those last 150 yards looked to us, and to Elliott must have seemed, an eternity. The gaze of 60,000 was fixed on him, the greatest miler the world has ever seen. Certainly I noticed Burleson running a fine race in sixth position, but it was out of the corner of my eye. It was Elliott who filled every brain and heart. It was Elliott, with the hawk nose, the gaunt viking face; Elliott of the lean body and the smooth stride; Elliott, lithe and stealthy, about as gentle as a tiger. This was a man made for this form of self-expression, the rest of the field having somehow learned it painfully and inadequately. This was running, the instinctive and unfettered expression of every potentiality.
Then the superman we had watched for a hundred yards suddenly became human again. His stride shortened, his body grew more upright. Was it conceivable he could experience so frail and human a feeling as fatigue? He was back at Portsea now, in Cerutty's training camp, running wild and barefoot until it hurt, seeking to replenish a primitive energy that does not quite last through the artificiality of track racing.
Elliott crossed the finish line tired partly by the head wind but mainly by his own ferocious speed. He won by 18 yards from the gallant Frenchman Jazy, whom nature had never intended to be a metric-mile medalist. When asked his opinion of Jazy in the press room afterward, Elliott replied, "Who's Jazy?"—and I do not think he mistook the pronunciation.The result is now part of athletic history. Elliott had spread-eagled the field and broken his own world record, set in Goteborg in 1958, by .4 second. The first six, including Burleson, were inside Delany's 1956 Olympic record." I know I'm prejudiced but the above is about the best account of a race you will ever read. The picture that precedes this article is of Vladmir Kuts,the man whose victory at the 1956 Olympics inspired Herb to pursue his own Olympic dream.

A Quiet Strength

"It's a quiet strength,not one borne from slogans printed on t-shirts or bodies. It's a strength acquired from a conditioning and lifestyle that has no need of vain proclamations. It's a strength earned by challenging yourself daily within the simplicity and sometimes harshness of nature while striving to obtain victory over oneself in the process. Ultimately, it's a quiet inner strength gained from a life you've chosen, understanding that there are no sacrifices in this process,it is a labour of love devoid of pretense" (written by The Sage).

The Marathon,Better Later Than Sooner

There was a time when racing a marathon was thought to be something a distance runner worked up to during the course of his or her running career. The reasons for this belief are both sound and logical. They were well articulated by Bill Rodgers many years ago when he said: "I believe you cannot reach your maximum potential in a marathon until you're in your middle to late twenties or early thirties. You must build your mileage up slowly over a period of years." It's my belief that if you were to start racing marathons in your late twenties it should only be after having many years of distance base in the bank. I am not saying that young American runners cannot race fast marathon times, it's just that years of distance running, say 10 and more, help to prepare,condition and strengthen the body in a way that there is no short cut for. I have seen college age guys who had the potential to race well at the 5k go directly to the marathon and eventually become physically and mentally burned out. This is because marathon racing takes both mental and physical maturity. Arthur Lydiard once said that no one should have been surprised that Carlos Lopes at age 37 won the 1984 Olympic marathon. He cited the type of training and racing Carlos had done in his career as laying the foundation for his victory in '84. By the way, he was a silver medalist in the 10k at the 1976 Olympic Games. Let's not forget that drops in racing performance due to age are less pronounced as the distance gets longer.What's the old saying, "to everything there is a season?" Build your competitive running career in a way that has the potential to maximize performance in each distance you transition into.

The Greatness of Herb Elliott

I know that many are aware that Herb Elliott won the 1500 meter race at the 1960 Olympics. Readers to this site,as well as people during his time, recognized that Elliott trained using what most would view as very unconventional conditioning methods. I doubt however that people actually realize what an otherworldly run he had at those Olympics. Before I show why this was "otherworldly", I want to give a few quotes by some people who recognize what an effort it was. The first comes from Roger Bannister, the first man to go under 4 minutes for the mile. He said: "No other athlete in Rome commanded such superiority over his rivals,no other athlete emerged with that elusive magic of victory which the Greeks sought,in such abundance." Next, a few quotes from Michael Jazy who came in second to Elliott in that race: "If I didn't have Olympic champion luck I had other luck and silver medals. Remember,to be second behind Herb Elliott is like being an Olympic Champion." When asked to describe Herb after the race Jazy said: "A being from another world." The comments were not only accurate but somewhat prophetic. I say this because if you look back to the Olympics of 1896 and go all the way through to the one held in 1996(23 Olympics),only two people beat Elliott's time of 3:35:6, and one was faster by only half a second. It truly was a performance for the ages. At the bottom of this post there is a link that will take you to a film of the 1500 meter final that includes commentary from Elliott himself. You may be able to simply click on it or you may have to cut and paste to get there. If all else fails just go to Youtube and type in Herb Elliott,1500 meters. It's so great to watch,especially when he puts the hammer down in the second half of the race. Many ask why Elliott retired so young at age 22? There are several reasons he's given,one being that he had a family to care for and support.Back then athletes had to actually work for a living. Another reason was that he believed he had accomplished all that he had set out to accomplish. He also admitted that he experienced alot of anxiety prior to racing that impacted every aspect of his life. In addition he admitted to being preoccupied with maintaining his unbeaten streak at the 1500 meter and one mile distances. Whatever the reason, I'm thankful Herb Elliott was around no matter how long because he continues to teach and inspire runners from all over the world. Let this video get you psyched for your weekend runs. Stotan Up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr0dWz_6oEI

Learning From The Legends,pt.7,Bill Rodgers On Hill Running

Once again,what more can be said about Bill Rodgers? There are so many great things you could write about him but for now, lets just say that he was an incredible marathoner in his time. If you haven't read the post from March 9 of this year entitled, Learning From The Legends,pt.3, I would encourage you to do so because it gives a partial list of Bill's running accomplishments. No American marathoner has run the number of outstanding races at that distance that he has in his career.Besides his excellence in the marathon, Bill was considered to be one of the best downhill runners. What follows is an excerpt from an interview done many years ago where he describes his downhill running technique. It will start by giving his method for running uphill which is,not surprisingly,THE way it should be done. "Going uphill,I try to run at a very steady pace,similar to the pace I run on the flats,my stride shortens some going up and I try to keep my arms moving very symmetrically,very rhythmically. When I run down the hill,I often lift my hands up high for balance and to keep them off my sides. This permits me to expand my chest and take more air into my lungs. I also run with with my hands out in front of me for a short distance,if it's a steep downhill, I may do it for a longer stretch. This is primarily for balance. Going downhill I let the hill take me and I turn it on." As I read this I recall running long races over very hilly courses,usually on trails,where my quads got so beat up after awhile that going downhill hurt alot more than going up.Ah, the good old days. In closing, I would like to say that if you are new to this site or perhaps you haven't noticed, there is an archive section to the right of this page where you can access posts that go back to December 2010. As of this week I believe there are close to 130 articles available. Thanks to everyone for taking the time and stopping by to read Live for the Run.

The Sometimes Forgotten Benefit Of Hills by Arthur Lydiard

Over the years I have been amazed at the number of people who appear to be oblivious to the benefits of hill work. I am not just talking about specific hill training workouts here,I'm also referring to any runs you do over a course that has hills. Is there a better way to build leg strength? Let's also not forget that training on the hills help to build character and can humble even the most self-assured runner. Something else, I've seen many an inexperienced flatland warrior lose on a hilly course to a lesser talented trail runner. Where I live there are virtually no real hills,a fairly common situation I'm sure for other runners. The remedy for this is finding a place near you that has stairs.Fortunately, I live in an area where they have outdoor stairs that go up five flights. It's not as good as the real thing but...In the following quote, Arthur Lydiard reveals an often forgotten benefit of hill training: "Hamstring injuries are rife in modern sports, but they could be avoided if the athletes did hill training. It doesn't have to be fast, just enough to make the muscles feel they've been working. Balancing the muscles between the front of the thigh and the back is essential to ensure hamstring problems don't arise. Some athletes seem to be constantly getting over or suffering from these injuries."