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Law 13: Rest before a Big Race

February 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
kettle

Cut out all racing… during the last month of your training: you will need certainly three weeks to put the finishing touches to your stamina and reserve energy. When you consider what a vast amount of work you have already gone through, you will admit that a fortnight or so longer is a relatively trifling matter. Endeavour to keep all your spare time fully occupied with reading, writing; anything that will keep you still, anything to divert your mind from harping on the forthcoming event. Newton was certainly ahead of his time in recommending rest before a big race. There are numerous tales in athletic history of runners being prevented from training by illness and injury and then returning with a breakthrough performance. Prior to the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 15 Laws of training, Recovery, Run Smart Tagged With: , ,

Law 3: Train First For Distance Only Later For Speed

September 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
marathon training, running coaching

If you are going to contest a 26-mile event, you must at least be used to 100 miles a week...As it is always the speed, never the distance, that kills, so is it the distance not the speed that has to be acquired. In the early days of training, you must endeavour only to manage as great a distance on each practice outing as you can cover without being abnormally tired..Your aim throughout should be to avoid all maximum effort while you work wit one purpose only and that is to achieve a definite and sustained rise in average speed at which you practice, for that is the secret of ultimate achievement....You must never, except for short temporary bursts, practice at racing speed. Newton’s ideas in this law are very close to the hugely … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 15 Laws of training, Marathon training Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

LONGEVITY, n. Uncommon extension of the fear of death – Ambrose Bierce

July 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
running coaching, marathon training

At this weekend’s London Grand Prix, Mo Farah was aiming to break Dave Moorcroft’s long-held British 5000m record. Moorcroft had a successful background in middle distance running, winning the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games. However, the British abundance of talent in these events in the early 80s led him to move up to 5000m. On a balmy night in Oslo in 1982, Moorcroft smashed the world record and almost ran the first sub 13 minute 5000m. And he still holds the British record 27 years later – why? To run a world class 5k, you need speed. At world record pace, the runners are almost running at 4 minute mile pace – for over 3 miles!! To enable them to maintain such a pace, they also have to be capable of running very economically … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 5k training Tagged With: , ,

Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident. – Chuck Knox

June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
running coaching

Wednesday evening was always club night. A group of somewhere between ten to twenty runners would set off, usually running nine miles at about seven and half minute miling. It was intended to be a social run and would always start with a lot of banter. However, normally at about the six mile point, one or two of the guys would gradually start to wind the pace up. For them it was almost a point of honour to be the first one home. Everyone else seemed to get carried along and what had started as an easy social run often finished with guys running faster than race pace just to keep up!! That is not running smart!! When training smart, every time you start a run, you have a clear idea of your session – how far, how fast and what training … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 10k training, Half marathon training, Marathon training, Mental training Tagged With: , ,

Always Start With The End In Mind

June 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I know I run the risk of upsetting some people but running clubs often prevent runners from achieving their best performance. "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." John D. Rockefeller Many running clubs in the UK have a club championship – a series of races throughout the year where runners score points based on finishing position relative to other runners in the same club. With races spread throughout the year, many runners are often racing two or three times a month over varying distances. As a consequence, the training that many runners do fits into the gaps between the races. One of my favourite authors, Steven Covey wrote about the 7 Habits of highly Effective People. Habit #2 is ‘Always Start With the End … [Read more...]

Filed Under: goal setting, Training plan Tagged With: , ,