Thursday, 14 August 2008

TALK ABOUT RUNNING

3rd OVERALL AT HAIGH HALL RACE SERIES

HAIGH HALL FINAL
Finishing 3rd overall in the race series I felt depressed and dejected after blowing my good form, built up with months of Arthur Lydiard base training in the winter with to much interval training, I could hear Arthur Lydiards words ringing in my ears" to much anaerobic work will drag your aerobic fitness down and lead to over training"
I have not been enjoying my racing of late, always feeling tired and burned out!
Expect to see a return to the Masters teachings [ I just bought 2 of his books;'Distance training for masters' and 'Running with Lydiard'] as I start to train for next years LONDON MARATHON!
RESULTS

Greg Mcmillan reports from the Olympic training camp

Monday, 11 August 2008

White Man CAN Run--Jon Brown Interview

Lydiard Foundation Blog

When I first came to the US, I was really excited to read all the articles about all the great runners in various running magazines. The very first English running magazine I picked up was "The Runner" magazine with Kenny Moore on the front cover. I still remember; there was an article about running economy/form written by none other than Frank Shorter! The more I read, however, the more I realized that perhaps the most variable articles we can find are interviews or ones written by the actual athlete/coach. Often articles written by reporters can be dramatized or interpreted wrongly. I remember one interview with Ron Clarke; he was talking about training 3-times a day. He said something like; "I tried it once and didn't like it so stopped doing it..." In Japan, the source said, gloriously, how Clarke trained 3-times a day, everyday... This is why I loved legendary books by Australian, Brian Lenton; he's published several books, all interviews, such as "Through the Tape" and "Off the Record". These are absolutely priceless--these are "their own words".

Today, this is what Chris Kelsall of Victoria is attempting. He's been interviewing many coaches and athletes; many of our own Lydiard Foundation people like Lorraine Moller and Rod Dixon. I particularly enjoyed the ones with Jon Brown (Part I and Part II).

We came to get acquainted with Jon when Rod Dixon and myself flew to Victoria, BC, to conduct Lydiard Part I Certificate Program last November. Jon Brown of England had been spending quite a bit of time in Victoria, training, and Chris, as forward as he is, "dragged" Jon to come join us for thte clinic. A big running enthusiast like myself knew all about Jon Brown--in my opinion, Jon Brown is probably one of the most unrecognized and unappreciated athletes around. Having finished fourth in thte Olympic marathon twice in the recent years; that itself is as great of a feat as it can be! May not have brought a hardware; but it takes a very special individual to peak so right, twice, and fought his guts out against some of the best African runners (in Sydney) as well as some of the speedsters (in Athens). He was also one of the finalist in the epic 10,000m in 1996 at Atlanta where Gebriselasie of Ethiopia and Kenya's great Tergat fought the Titanic battle. Jon, in my opinion, deserves hell of a lot more recognition and appreciation.

At first, I was somewhat spectical to invite him to the Lydiard clinic. I didn't want to bring a Big Name just because he/she is a big name. This is Lydiard Foundation event; we need someone who would represent Lydiardism. A few weeks before we were to fly up to Victoria, Chris called me up and said that I'd be on the radio with Jon Brown. I was in New York for the NYC marathon/U.S. Olympic marathon trial. So I was to call in and my talk be recorded while Jon would actually visit the studio and they will put our talk together. That was the first time I actually learnt details about Jon Brown's training (though we have exchanged a few e-mails to make sure he's not particularly "against" Lydiardism). I could not believe how "text book" Lydiard his training philosophy was! Trust me, we did not do any rehearsing to "be politically correct" or do "ne-mawashi" to make sure we'll say the right things. On the clinic day, the same thing, I was actually amazed, aside from how down-to-earth and such a gentleman Jon is, how straight forward same principles his training was with Lydairdism. Long aerobic running first to build the foundation--hill training to develop power and flexibility--then limited but well-calculated quality training (anaerobic/speed training) to sharpen up and peak on the right time... There's nothing magical about it. Lydiard has already laid it all out for us. All we need to do is to understand the principles of it and excute it; and the results will follow.

There are people out there who get all bent out of shape and say, "But look what Bekele is doing, or Abera was doing--that's nothing Lydiard!" Their thinking is; so Jon Brown "only" finished 4th in the Olympic marathon. Therefore, we need to follow what Abera was doing--less mileage and high quality (though none of us really know what those Ethiopians are doing). Well, all the power to them. Lydiard always said that, we don't need to look at what those champion runners are doing today. What we really need to learn is what they were doing 10 years ago. The story of Jon Brown is, once again, text book success story, as far as I'm concerned. He was already a very good runner at 19 with 13:30 for 5000m. Then he shifted his focus to more "physiologically sound" training principles. He not only ran 13:19 and 27:18 for 10,000 as well as sub-2:10 marathon, he also improved his 1500m time as well! This says something. If you still think you need to run 60-second 400m repeats (like Bekele does, some claims...) day after day after day; all the power to them. But I'd rather look at the sound training program so we can improve upon where we are today. "If you want to find someone very talented, it's not that difficult," Lydiard used to say. "You can go do some local races and pick the kid who finshes first." No brainer. "But to make something greater out of ordinary runner, it takes sound training program and good coaching." THAT is what we are interested in.

By the way, we have the recording of Jon Brown's opening statement at last November's Victoria clinic as well as Nobby/Jon Brown radio gig on our audio-library. They will be added to soon-to-come audio library on this website; so stay tuned!

Thursday, 7 August 2008

THE GREATEST DISTANCE RUNNER

Algerian Marathon Runner Is Favorite To Win Olympic Marathon

The Algerian Olympic marathon runner Azzin Gungadinn is the favorite to win the race in the Beijing Games. To get ready for his marathon race he has already set off to run there.

Mr Azzin won the the 2008 Sahara Marathon in hot temperatures, setting a new record breaking course record and leaving his rivals to eat dust! His trainer, Aussie Mr Toby Gun said; " Azzin sure is a bloody great stick in the mud! this boy can run!
Gungadinn took up running at a early age after finding an old dusty book under his uncles bed, "I was looking for porn mags, but found this old book called 'Running to the top' by Arthur Lydiard", Sadly there were many pages missing from the book but Azzin read what be could and started running 30 miles per day! For power training he ran up the hugh sand dunes in a pair of weighted steel diving boots his farther gave him for his 14th birthday present!
For speed, Azzin ties himself to the back of his pet camel 'Humphrey' , " i chuck stones at the animal to make him run fast and I get dragged alone at much speed ". Trainer Toby gun says " yeah i clocked the little blighter doin 50kph the other day in my jeep"
"I want to be the first human to break 2 hours for the marathon!"
Azzin Gungadinn is ready to show the world he is the GREATEST DISTANCE RUNNER of all time, but is the world ready for Azzin!

Tuesday, 5 August 2008

PAULA RADCLIFFE

Spider bite hardens resolve for Paula Radcliffe

Spider bite turns Paula into Super human Spider Women, now getting over the wall at 20 miles in the Olympic marathon should be easy! MORE

Sunday, 3 August 2008

BRAIN TRAINING BLOG

MATT FITZGERALD'S BLOG

Saturday, 2 August 2008

EPIC RUN

RUN TO THE HILLS Setting off on my run round Parbold, my legs felt incredibly dead! I'd not felt good on Friday and today my legs still had not recovered from the Thursday session with Rob and Tracey when we ran 2 x 5k at about 10k pace. Would i have to abandon my long run! Thankfully my legs came around to the idea of a long steady effort, after 2 hours I wanted more! So i pushed on for 2 extra climbs, this gave me a total of 6 climbs and well in excess of 2500 ft of climbing.
My Route;
I set off from Parbold village , then ran up stoney lane, this is a one mile climb steep at the bottom and again at the top but a bit flatter in the middle, my best time for this uphill mile is 7.17 which inc 400ft of ascent. I take a left and then head along the road before turning onto the quarry rd path, dropping downhill to the start of the Harrock hill race, a right turn takes me past the farmers arms Pub and then i head up what looks like an extinct volcano, this is the fearsome Hunters hill 400ft, once at the top i run down through the fields to Parbold village again. My next challenge is Ashurst beacon a good 2 miles of uphill, after a good 15 mins I reach the top and turn left, down the road used for the start of the Ashurst Beacon fell race, it drops downhill like a mad fair ground ride, with twists and turns and hairpin bends! i carry on past the old quarry I turn right then left after 1/2 a mile and head for the next hill, over the canal bridge and then over the railway climbing onwards to dangerous corner, across the main rd and climbing continues, once at the top I turn right then left and take a breathtaking ride on a roller coaster country road, after a mile I turn left up a back lane which turns into an ancient cobbled path used since the mists of time to reach the now ruined windmill, up to the top of Harrock hill i pass a man who looks surprised that am running up such a steep hill. Back on the harrock hill race route I plunge downhill through a field then on passed the race finish. I turn left and run up hunters hill for the second time before my final downhill journey through the fields back to Parbold and the finish of my run! 2 hours 33 mins.
I think Arthur Lydiard would have been impressed with my route, if not my speed!
Fri 1st
very easy run over the sandhills = 44mins
Thur 31st
2 x 5 k round the Marine lake, with Rob and Tracey, put what I'd learned from reading the BRAIN TRAINING FOR RUNNERS book to good use. Towards the end of each effort Rob was giving me a hard time and I started to drift off his pace, I thought to myself I CAN HANDLE THIS [ the pain that is!] BRING IT ON! I increased my pace and pulled up along side Rob with a smile on my face instead of a grimace. the pain from the effort of running at excess of 10k pace eased as I excepted and embraced the pain of running fast! I learned something new today, who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks!
= 1.10
Tue 29th
sandhill run with STEADY EDDIE setting a hot pace
= 1.10
Mon 28th
run over the sandhill to meet up with the club.
4 x 1k, then ran back with Rob = 2.13

Thursday, 31 July 2008

HOW TO KNOCK 25 MINS OFF YOUR MARATHON TIME

PART 2
Peter Janssen trains the

same runner to a 2.35 P.B.
click on page to enlarge

Sunday, 27 July 2008

I MOVE INTO SECOND OVERALL IN THE RACE SERIES

Harrock Hill race 3
[PHOTO ROB ASHWORTH]
A sudden increase in temperature and humidity came as a bit of a shock to the system after such a cool summer so far!
Just a gentle jog before the start had you dripping in sweat, so waiting at the bottom of the quarry road for the start had me thinking that a nice cool beer siting outside a pub relaxing might be a better idea than subjecting myself to running over 3 very tough climbs on such a oppressively humid night.
Anyway after the start all thoughts were put to one side as we concentrated on climbing the first climb, I reached the top with Rob Ashworth still in my sights, which had me thinking I was going alright. Once on the downhill i found myself in a group of 3, I took back one place here then another after the parbold climb ,just before reaching the old ruins of the windmill, but then on the final downhill 3 guys came flying past me as my legs bluntly refused to turn any faster, this dropped me down to 11th place at the finish, 44 secs slower than last month and feeling very tired and drained! It took me a good 5 mins before I started to recover from my efforts and I just had to slump down on the grass and let my body cool down!
Once again I managed to win my age group, 3x in a row, but more importantly I have moved up to 2nd overall in the whole race series! Marathon winning legend Rob Ashworth had a great run just missing 5th place by seconds with 35.14
Our 3rd counter was Andy Hudson in 41.06 33rd, 6 secs faster than last month, Andy Bowker made the trip over from Blackburn to finish in 51st 43.27. Vicky Harvey like me finding the heat hard going finishing in 71 st place 46.42 1.09 slower but an impressive 7 places higher than last month. Cristine Cutner overcame the humid conditions to run 3 secs faster than the june race finishing in 87th 49.30. Carole James was very pleased that for the first time she managed to run up every hill without walking, no mean feat for sure! she finished in 51.25 93rd.
Next months race on 27th Aug is the last in the series and is part of our clubs Grand Prix , so try and make it down, its very challenging but great fun.
SERIES OVERALL RESULTS
RESULTS

Sun 27th
easy run with Jon = 1.08
Sat 26th
Long run inc 4 x 10mins and 3 x 5 mins at marathon pace = 2.30
Thur 24th
12 x 400m with Rob, felt really strong after my race and gave Rob a hard time! = 55 mins
Wed 23rd
HARROCK HILL RACE
Tue 22nd
easy run over the sandhills = 38 mins
Mon 21st
long run inc 8 x hills with club, - 2.37

RICK'S RUNNING, 'NO LIMITS' DESPERADO!