Fifth Avenue Mile

Lebow's Fifth Avenue Mile Dream Still Alive at 30

By David MontiSeptember 15, 2010
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

NEW YORK (15-Sep) -- New York Road Runners' founder Fred Lebow had a keen sense of timing, and bravado.  The Romanian immigrant who spoke heavily accented English saw the potential to take the New York City Marathon to the streets in 1976, transforming the event into the prototype for all of today's big city marathons.

But Lebow, who died of cancer in 1994 at age 62, also loved the track, and his idea in 1981 to gather most of the world's best middle distance runners for a straight, downhill mile on Fifth Avenue here was an equivalent stroke of genius.  The race will be held for the 30th time on Sunday, September 26.

"A race down Fifth Avenue will be like a modern day equivalent to a race on Mt. Olympus," said New York's mayor at the time, Edward I. Koch, who embraced hyperbole as much as Lebow.  "It's an exciting concept."

The event was formally called the Pepsi Challenge Fifth Avenue Mile.  Lebow got the idea after watching the 1980 Millrose Games during which American Mary Decker set the world indoor record for 1500m.

"My first thought was 'what a shame that only 18,000 people could see this,'" Lebow told New York Running News in 1981.  "What would it be like to have 100,000 or 200,000 watching?"

Lebow mulled over the idea for a year, then pitched it to Irish middle distance star Eamonn Coghlan after he won the Wanamaker Mile here in 1981.

"As I was walking over to the Penn Plaza Hotel with Fred Lebow (he said) 'it's a shame we don't get more people to see you guys compete,'" Coghlan recalled during an international teleconference  yesterday.  When Lebow told Coghlan about his idea to run athletes in a one mile race down Fifth Avenue, Coghlan said he replied, "'Why don't you finish it at the Irish Tourist Board where I was working at the time?'"

The Irish Tourist Board was located at Fifth Avenue and 48th Street, which meant the race would block cross-town traffic at too many streets.  Instead, Lebow convinced the city to hold the race parallel to Central Park, starting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at East 82nd Street, and finishing at East 62nd Street in sight of the Plaza Hotel.  That would mean closing only a handful of cross streets.

"I though it was a great idea," said Steve Scott, who held the American record for the mile until Alan Webb broke it in 2007.  "You really didn't know what the reception was going to be like in the city."

It was huge.  ABC set up nine cameras on the course and covered the race live.  Britain's Steve Ovett, the world record holder at the time, committed to the race, and BBC agreed to carry it live, too (Ovett later cancelled at the last minute due to a viral infection).  Lebow, perhaps the greatest athlete recruiter ever, got Coghlan, Scott, Steve Cram, John Walker, Tom Byers, Mike Boit, Ray Flynn and five other top athletes to commit to the race. It was one of the greatest fields for a mile ever assembled.

"Miling at the time was perhaps the biggest story in the U.K.," said Steve Cram, now an athletics commentator for the BBC.  "There was huge interest, huge interest in this new event.  I don't know if we felt like guinea pigs, but we didn't know what to expect."

The gun went off and the first quarter mile, slightly downhill, clicked by in 53.2 seconds.  Flynn recalls that everybody was running all-out right from the start.

"Miling was so exciting and a great many records had been broken at the time," Flynn said yesterday.  "We had never run in a straight line.  We, as athletes, wanted to see how fast we could run in a straight line.  As Steve (Scott) said, we didn't have experience.  We just went out at the gun.  Everybody just ran as fast as they could."

The course has a small rise in the second quarter, cresting just before the halfway point.  Runners can see the finish line ahead, but the distance can be very hard to judge.  Scott found out the hard way.

"The one thing I remember is that you can't see the finish line from the start line," said Scott, now a college coach in California.  "You come over the hill and you can see the finish... and in reality it was over 800 meters away, and I just ran out of gas."

But the South African-born American Sydney Maree still had plenty left in the tank.  Running on the left side of Fifth Avenue, he angled towards the finish line with 50 meters to go, dusting the field to clock 3:47.52, a time which remains the event record, one of the longest-standing significant marks in all of road running.  Boit was second in 3:49.59, and Dr. Thomas Wessinghage of West Germany was third (3:50.48).  Cram finished fourth, Flynn fifth, Walker sixth, Scott seventh and Coghlan ninth.  Former USATF CEO Craig Masback was 13th and last.

Yes, there was also a women's race (Lebow was a fierce advocate for women's running).  The University of Oregon's Leann Warren got the win in a swift 4:25.31 over Canada's Brit McRoberts (4:28.34) and England's Christina Boxer (4:28.90).

The race in it's current form, now called the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, consists of 16 heats (last year's event had 3,796 finishers).  The racing begins with open sections in the morning, then moves to age-group competition before the four invited sections in the early afternoon.  The New York Road Runners Road Mile Championships showcase the best locally-based athletes, then the professional women and men provide the grand finale.  This year's event has two-time Olympic medallist Bernard Lagat of Tucson, Ariz., facing off against 2008 Olympic silver medallist Nick Willis of New Zealand, USA indoor 1500m champion Leo Manzano of Austin, Tex., defending champion Andy Baddeley of England, and USA mile record holder, Alan Webb of Portland, Ore.  Last year's world championships 1500m bronze medallist and defending champion, Shannon Rowbury of San Francisco, leads the women's field.

Like Lebow and Allan Steinfeld before her, New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg is equally committed to elite athletes AND fitness runners.  Looking back yesterday, she is still awed by what Lebow had accomplished with the Fifth Avenue Mile.  He set the bar high, right from the start.

"When you look back on the first race that you four were in... you made it something spectacular from the start," she said.

The hits just keep on coming

As expected, the USATF board of directors voted to fire chief executive officer Doug Logan. Logan has been on the job 26 months and his contract was not set to expire until December 2013. It didn't matter. The board has spoken.

C'est la vie et bon voyage. Thanks and don't let the door hit you on the way out! 

In my humble opinion, Logan should fire the board (not possible under current by-laws). Everyone on the board should look each other in the eye and ask, "what are we doing to help promote track & field?" The answer is is absolutely nothing, nada, zilch or as little as possible. 

I have no knowledge of Logan's job description but I'm sure savior of track and field in the USA should not be part of the deal. How can the board expect years of mismanagement and inept marketing of the sport to be quickly reversed? 

Television ratings for track and field are pathetic. Is this Logan's fault? I think not. Track and field receives less TV air time than most minor sports. Bowling, cycling and even poker (sport??) have more viewers than track and field. 

These issues should be reviewed and managed by committees. The onus should not be on one individual whose hands are basically tied. The board should know track's interest peaks every four years (for the average sports fan) and only track aficionados care the rest of the time. Lets work on improving this statistic.

Overall running and race participation is up the US. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the track & field fan base. The US has more adults hitting the roads and trails, however, most don't care to the follow the sport. Lets recruit these runners to become fans.

Suggestion for the USATF board, grow the sport, create fans. Please do it sooner than later. If not, your all fired.

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September 13, 2010

USA track board would rather pay off CEO than keep him

By Philip Hersh

USA Track & Field's 15-member board of directors announced Monday it was making what looks like a costly decision to dump chief executive Doug Logan after barely two years on the job.

How costly?  It could be nearly $2 million.

``We were going into this with our eyes wide open,'' USATF board vice president Jack Wickens told me by telephone Monday afternoon.  ``At the end of the day, we think the opportunities are greater than the potential costs of a settlement.''

As I wrote in a blog last week, it seems foolhardy to dismiss Logan after just two years on the job -- and less than two years before the 2012 Olympics -- unless he were fired for cause.

And, unless he has been fired for cause, USATF will have to give Logan a substantial payoff, something in the vicinity of $1 million.   (He is owed almost double that amount for the remaining piece of a contract that expires in December, 2013).  That would be ironic, since sources have told me a reason the USATF board was unhappy with Logan owed to what it felt was his inability to bring in new sponsors.

And if you can fire the guy for cause, with no payout, why negotiate a settlement?

Further irony: Last week, the international track federation named Logan to one of its committees.

``Discussions related to the terms of my separation are ongoing, and I can't comment further on them at this point,'' Logan said via telephone Monday.

``I have spent 26 months investing my soul in this sport and this federation.  Some remarkable transformation has taken place in that time.  I am extremely proud of what the staff and I have been able to accomplish.``

``I have my head held high.  I will pay no attention to anyone who wants to denigrate my record.'' 

You can bet the U.S. Olympic Committee isn't happy with this move, even if it unlikely to try to reverse the decision. The USOC's relationship with USA Track & Field had gotten increasingly testy and frayed for a few years before Logan took over.

In 2007, the USOC ratcheted up pressure on USATF to revise its governance structure so it would fall in line with a revised USOC governance model created after Congressional pressure. 

``The board of directors of USA Track & Field clearly has the authority to undertake the hiring and firing of its CEO,'' USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said Monday.  ``We can't second-guess.

``That being said, there has been a fair amount of recent turnover in the CEOs of our federations, with track, fencing and triathlon changing their CEOs.  The amount of turnover is going to make it a more difficult task to find and hire qualified CEOs, because it looks like a risky job.''

Blackmun said he first learned about the decision to fire Logan by reading my blog.  USATF's failure to give him a heads-up before the announcement can't be a good thing for USOC - USATF relations.

It seems as if you can file this under the inmates running the asylum, since the whole idea of the governance revisions -- at both USOC and USATF levels -- was to minimize the amount of influence the volunteer boards of both organizations have on the work of the salaried staff.

Here is the USATF statement:

USATF Board to hire new CEO
 INDIANAPOLIS – The USA Track & Field Board of Directors has voted to pursue new leadership in its CEO position, bringing to a close the tenure of Doug Logan, who had been CEO of the federation since July 2008.

After a meeting over the weekend in Las Vegas, the Board voted to pursue leadership change.
“We sincerely thank Doug for his efforts and his passionate focus on our sport,” said USATF President and Chair Stephanie Hightower. “After undertaking a performance evaluation over the course of the past few months, our Board has decided it is in our best interests to engage different leadership to move the sport forward.”

In accordance with USATF bylaws, Chief Operating Officer Mike McNees will assume day-to-day leadership of USATF as the Board begins its search for a new CEO.

“The Board is committed to a thorough, thoughtful CEO search process,” Hightower said. “Although our goal is to complete the search process quickly, we will not compromise the quality of the search and candidate evaluation. The Board is fully supportive of the USATF staff, and we know they will do a tremendous job as we enter this new phase for the organization.”

Hightower stressed that the USATF Board will continue to vigorously pursue its strategic plan, developed in July 2009 and approved by USATF membership last December. “We simply need to accelerate our realization of this vision and plan,” she said.

+++++++++++++

Hightower, a 1980 Olympian and former hurdles world record-holder, said she wasn't at liberty to give detailed reasons for why the board ousted Logan.

``Out of respect for Doug and his leadership, we can't talk about those things,'' she said.

I asked Hightower whether the cost of a settlement during tough economic times factored into the decision.

``The board went through a very thoughtful process,'' Hightower answered.  ``We understand the ramifications for whatever actions we were going to take and what could be in store for us.''

Board member Deena Kastor, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. women's record-holder in the marathon, said Monday that Logan's dismissal owed to his failure to follow up and implement significant parts of the strategic plan the USATF board adopted in July, 2009.  She declined to specify particulars for legal reasons.

``It came down to reviewing his performance and not finding great results in the past 2 1/2 years and (his) not being able to fix things brought up in our evaluation of him,'' Kastor said.

The board review began about three months ago.  Logan had presented written responses to questions about specific areas of his performance and addressed the board at a meeting over the weekend in Las Vegas.

Logan's aggressive management style and no-holds-barred attitude toward discussing issues publicly had polarized feelings about him, especially among athletes.

``Any time you have a strong leadership, you will have a mixed bag of people who love and hate the leader,'' Kastor said.  ``But this decision was based solely on a performance evaluation each member of the board filled out.''

According to Wickens, the decision was made by voting on a motion in executive session.  He said every board member participated with only one, Bob Hersh (no relation to me), doing it via telephone.

Hightower said there was no rush to have a new CEO in place.  The board will meet in October to discuss the succession plan.

``We have a great person who has stepped up in the interim role, Mike McNees,'' she said.  ``We are very confident Mike has the level of leadership skills to lead us through this period.  We don't have a headless horse running around here.''

Could there still be an interim CEO at the 2012 Olympics?

``I don't think anyone has any intention of it going that long,'' Hightower said.  ``I don't think that's an option.''

Photos:  Doug Logan (above), the former USA Track & Field chief executive, and Stephanie Hightower, the USATF president and board chair person. (USA Track & Field photos.)

Courtesy

 

What happened to sharing and common courtesy?

“Once upon a time”, I know it sounds like a fairy tale.

This tale is obviously in reference to running on the roads, trails, paved paths, etc.

There was a time when runners would greet fellow runners with a “good morning”, “hey”, a wave of a hand or a nod. It was (should be) a simple issue of good manners.

These days many runners will not even respond to a greeting. I have seen many look down or away, rather than reply with a “morning” or whatever. Is it really difficult to utter a greeting? Or are they having a bad day?

There’s also the issue of sharing the road. Many of us have come across

runners choosing to run 3 or more abreast. It seems more often than not they are unwilling to move. They would rather have you move out of their way. They own the road and you are a nuisance. Have you ever had this happen to you?

Come on man, share the road.

A pet peeve of mine is runners with iPods or headphones. Yes, I know they are worn because the music is motivating and most headphone wearing runners consider running boring.

Believe it or not, the sights and sounds of the outdoors can be incredibly inspirational as well. Take the time to look and listen, you’ll be amazed. You might decide you don’t really require recorded music to make you move. Another reason not to wear headphones is safety. Runners are not completely aware of their surroundings and possible safety issues when distracted by their favorite recordings.

I encourage runners to take two seconds and greet your fellow runners/walkers. It will make you faster, not really, but what the hell. 

P.S. In most cities fuel belts are not required, you're not in the desert.Happy running.

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Ladies, on your mark, get set, go

The women's 400M and 800M world records are a farce. The 47.60 (by Koch) and 1:53.28 (by Kratochvilova) have been untouchable times for the rest of the field. I might also mention Flo-Jo's 100M and 200M times (10.49 and 21.34), ridiculous. Yes, all these times are unreal. The IAAF has proof of PED use by several ladies, either throw these records out or list doped and (not so?) clean records separately (sarcasm intended). Please allow the current track ladies a fair and legitimate opportunity at a world record. Go get them ladies.

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After a quarter of a century, Koch remains untouchable

Male records are being broken every other week but marks set by dubious East German should not stand

By Simon Turnbull, Athletics Correspondent

Sunday, 5 September 2010

GETTY IMAGES

Marita Koch blitzed the 400m in under 48 seconds in Canberra despite being in the unfavourable second lane

There was no chance of the Lightning Bolt striking at the Spaladium Arena in Split yesterday. Track and field's most prolific record-breaker of recent times has been undergoing running repairs since his sudden acquaintance with defeat in Stockholm a month ago. He also has a book to promote, chronicling how he revised the 100 metres world record three times over the course of 2008 and 2009 and the 200m record twice.

Still, this afternoon in the Croatian capital, day two of the Continental Cup – as the old World Cup team competition has been renamed – will feature David Rudisha, the 21-year-old Kenyan who has set new global figures for the 800m twice in the past fortnight – 1min 41.09sec in Berlin and 1:41.01 in Rieti. David Oliver, the American who came within 0.02sec of the 110m hurdles world record in Paris in July, will also be in action.

For the best of the bunch in men's track events, it seems the world record ledger remains an open book. Sadly, to the women's elite at the majority of distances on the track, it is shut tight. From 100m to 800m it has been a closed book since the 1980s.

The one individual world record set in the World Cup has been out of reach for 25 years. At the Bruce Stadium in Canberra on 6 October 1985, Marita Koch blitzed 400m in 47.60sec. Watching it now on YouTube, it remains a stunning sight to behold. Running in the unfavourably tight second lane, Koch sets off like she is running a 200m race and just keeps going, as though she is immune to the natural brake fluid of lactic acid.

In a quarter of a century, no other female 400m runner has broken 48 seconds. In the Continental Cup race in Split yesterday, only one woman broke 50sec, Amantle Montsho of Botswana, prevailing in 49.89. Christine Ohuruogu, the Olympic champion, has a lifetime best of 49.61.

Koch's untouchable time stands as a legacy of the track and field machine of the German Democratic Republic – a machine that was found to have been not so much oiled as turbo-charged by a systematic doping programme when documents of the Stasi secret police force came to light after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In an extensive examination of Stasi files for their revelatory 1991 book Doping-Dokumente, Brigitte Berendonk and Werner Franke uncovered a list of annual dosages of Oral-Turinabol administered to Koch and the other leading lights of the all-conquering East German women's track and field squad. They also unearthed a letter from Koch to Jenapharm complaining that Barbel Wockel, who won the European 200m title ahead of her in Athens in 1982, was being given stronger doses of the steroids because her uncle was president of the pharmaceutical company that fed the East German athletics regime.

Not that Koch has ever acknowledged any taint. Now 53 and running a sports shop with her husband and former coach, Wolfgang Meier, in Rostock, she has insisted: "At the World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 I had to go to dope-testing three times and always I was clean. The same applies to my career overall. I was a mature and responsible athlete."

There are three other East German marks that remain unbeaten: the men's and women's discus records held by Jürgen Schult (74.08m) and Gabriele Reinsch (76.80m with a lighter implement) plus the 4 x 100m relay time of 41.37sec set by Koch's team-mates Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald and Marlies Göhr at the 1985 World Cup in Canberra.

Koch's 400m performance in the Australian capital eclipsed a record that had been held by Jarmila Kratochvilova, but the world 800m record set in Munich in 1983 by the big hulk of a Czechoslovakian – 1 min 53.28sec – remains unchallenged.

Like Koch, Kratochvilova never failed a drugs test but her build, and her sudden progress late in her track and field life (she didn't break 53sec for 400m until the age of 27 and was 32 when she broke the 800m record) raised more than a few eyebrows.

When she competed on the US indoor circuit in 1984, Dr Leroy Perry, a chiropractor who worked closely with leading athletes in the United States, told the Los Angeles Times: "I've never seen a body like that. I think there is something chemically different about her physiological make-up, and it had to happen in the last five years. And I'm sure it hasn't come from weightlifting."

The United States sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner underwent a similar physical transformation before she put the 100m and 200m records beyond reach, at 10.49sec and 21.34sec respectively, in 1988. She, too, never failed a drugs test, but Carl Lewis, in his autobiography, Inside Track, described her sudden leap from also-ran to untouchable as "a change that came too quickly for the imagination." He added: "Her physical appearance alone – muscles popping everywhere – made a lot of people wonder. Then there was the voice, much deeper than it had been in the past."

Flo-Jo died in 1998, aged 38, after suffering an epileptic seizure. Her records, however, live on. Like those of Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvilova, they are likely to remain beyond reach for a good while yet.

Marathon training and racing is currently a major attraction to many. Marathon runners or finishers have been growing in numbers, races are reaching their entry levels sometimes within weeks of opening registration. This is a good thing (I believe?) for the races and their sponsors, etc.
With the growing population of marathon participants, why do so many literally jump off the couch and into marathon mania within weeks or a few months of running? Why not take the time to train properly and improve your chances of a positive and memorable experience? 
I once read, "you must first serve a running apprenticeship before attempting the marathon." I am fortunate to have read the quote and it has served me very well. I fully respect the marathon and so should everyone "running the distance."
(more comments from Ingrid Kristiansen)


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Marathon

The marathon is an extreme "project". The marathon distance is very demanding to run, and it is rather questionable running it from the point of view of health, even for the very fit. To prepare for a marathon is not a project for few weeks or months, but should rather be at least a one year project,  even for well trained persons.

How did Ingrid become a marathon runner? The real answer to this is that she just tried to run a marathon one day in the fall of 1977. She completed her first marathon in 2 hours and 45 minutes, but she had  already done endurance training for 9 years in 1977, both running and cross country skiing.

Let us take a look at the challenges for a marathon:

• A large part of our skeletal muscle mass gets activated when we run (it cries out for oxygen), while our central system, with its heart and lungs, will be the bottleneck in the oxygen supply system. Oxygen is probably the most critical and limiting performance factor.
• It is  42.195 km long and is normally run on a hard surface like asphalt or concrete. There will be an enormous and accumulative pounding and impact stress on your legs and muscles.
• Because of its length, the duration of this distance will last from over 2 hours for the elite to many hours for the casual jogger.
• Our body has a limited fuel storage capacity for this amount of time. We have learned that we only have carbohydrates for about 90 minutes "onboard", and we also lose a lot of water. Because of the nature of running with its constant  body shaking and impact "shocks", we are not able to supply enough energy and water during a marathon when we reach a critical pace. There will normally be a deficit of these two important substances; carbohydrates and water. The more you eat or drink, the more you are forced to slow down your pace.

Combining these  challenges and the general knowledge we have learned on previous pages, we have used typical analytical tools to evaluate what to do in the preparations for a marathon. Do not be overly impressed or scared about these tools; we only use simple logic and common sense. Typical methods/tools used:

• System/usage analysis.
• Bottleneck or chain analysis
• Sensitivity analysis
• Consequence analysis
• Energy analysis
• Quality analysis
• Training analysis
• Trend analysis

The casual jogger/runner.

You run/train 3-5 times a week. We hope you have time available to prepare for your marathons because, as mentioned above, it is a rather demanding project. You should have one long training session per week, say 1.5 -2 hours throughout the whole preparation period. Very often the limiting factor for people is that their feet are not able to take so much running. 

Your progression is very important here: start easy and build up your running volume gradually. Planning and goal setting are important. Alternative training (cross training) such as cross country skiing, cycling, swimming, rowing etc. is therefore an option. The good thing with these alternatives is that they all provide excellent training for the central system (the heart and  lungs), which is the general bottleneck for all endurance sports. The limitations with cross training are:

• The training is specific, if you row, you get good at rowing
• Your threshold is different for different activities (you cannot use the same pulse as reference)
• Even if you train your central system, (your heart and lungs), the peripheral working muscles are different from sport to sport
• The co-ordination and teamwork between the different muscles and organs is different in different sports.

Since a marathon is normally run on a hard surface, you should do much of your training on the same type of surface. We recommend about 70% on hard surface and the remaining 30% on a softer surface. This should be done during  the last 2-3 months before the marathon. To save your feet,  do as much as possible of your running on soft surfaces before the last 2-3 months.

You should also have one long run a week the last 2-3 months before the marathon. When we talk about a long run we mean 1.5-2 hours. You should also have one interval or fartlek a week; this is what we call threshold training. You should be careful not to push too hard; remember it is the aerobic energy system you want to develop. 

If you push too hard, you start up another energy system, the anaerobic lactic acid "engine". This is not good, simply because it fills  up "the engine room" with "smoke" , i.e. lactic acid. A way to express this is that this additional energy system in a way strangles the major energy system, the aerobic, with the effect that you are slowed down. The training is specific: if you want to improve the aerobic system, you should "overload" this system and not the anaerobic system as well. 

This theory is covered in the PhysicalLRP". When you plan your marathon project, progression is very important. If you start up your training too fast, you will have problems with the progression both in  volume and in intensity. Be careful with too finely detailed training program; it is very hard to plan ahead exactly how you will feel and behave in the coming months.

We have now just covered some few general thoughts about marathon preparations.

A part of our Services you should also remember to include in your marathon preparations:

• Planning and goal setting
• Mental preparations
• Nutrition

The elite runner.

We assume that you have been training for a number of years, and that you are presently active almost every day while some of you have two training sessions some or all days in the week.

Princess Diana cheers up Ingrid,
London Marathon.

Our advice is that you should not focus too much on marathon, but rather on endurance training or long distance training in general. Ingrid's focus had always been on general endurance training. There are so many misunderstandings and myths about marathon training. The most common misunderstanding is that you have to run  many long runs each lasting hours and hours. 

On the average Ingrid had one 2 hour easy long run and one 1.5 hour easy long run a week. Her most common training was a 45 min long run. She had, on the average, 2 harder training sessions a week (threshold training as intervals or fartleks), and 1 medium hard training run. The rest were long easy runs (45 min). We will try to more fully explain this training philosophy.

The training is specific (you improve in what you actually do); it is therefore important to simulate and get as much training exposure as possible in the pace you are looking for in the different distances of competitions. For Ingrid, this was a pace around 3:20 min per km for the marathon. As you may understand, she could not run all the time at this pace on the long easy runs, but she could more easily do it on her 45 minute runs. 

If you do many long easy runs, you get very good at running long and easy, or you get very good at slow running. When you do regular long runs of 2 hours and more, we all know that we have to run rather slowly simply because of several limitations; you gettired and exhausted. Oxygen supply, dehydration and limited carbohydrate storage are the major limitations. 

Unfortunately, it is not possible to train or adapt your body to handle dehydration, it is a non-trainable quality. Most of the waste products produced while training are water soluble. The more dehydrated you get, the higher the concentration of the waste products in your body. When you are running, it is not possible to compensate for all the dehydration like it is when you are biking or cross country skiing. If you drink too much while running, your stomach will stop you. 

We believe that too much training while partly or totally dehydrated (a typical condition on long easy runs) limits endurance growth  in your muscles; very often the conditions in the working muscles get toxic and break down your endurance. As a rule of thumb, you lose 10% of your performance capacity for each 1% of your weight you lose as liquid. If your weight is 70 kg and you have lost 1% of your weight, 0.7 kg water, then your performance capacity is only 90% of your capacity. Dehydration also reduces the cooling capacity of your body. 

Did you know that 75% of the energy produced by your muscles is heat (energy loss), while only 25% of the energy ends up under your shoe soles. Our body loses a lot of salts and minerals when we get dehydrated; is very important to replace these losses. Remember also from the Physical chapter that the principle of overload is fundamental in the study of exercise. 

However, if you do a lot of easy long runs there will not really be an aerobic overload on your central system (your heart and lungs); and it is this system that is normally the major bottleneck in general endurance. There will also be no real aerobic overload on your peripheral system either; when running too slowly your working muscles will not improve their threshold level. Other drawbacks with too many and too long easy runs:

• You get good at running slow
• You get a slower stride
• You lose your elasticity
• You end up running on your heels
• You need longer rest periods to recover

Actually, the main objective with the few long easy runs we recommend is to improve the fat burning capacity of the muscles. The better oxygen capacity you have, the more fat you are able to burn at a higher pace. Remember that fat requires about 16% more oxygen to produce the same amount of energy as carbohydrates. 

There will always be a trade off situation of how many of these long easy runs you need, but we think the limited number of long easy runs Ingrid did is one of the major reason for her results. Another objective with the long easy run is to get used to all the pounding on your legs and muscles.

Ingrid got her running volume by running more, but shorter long runs. On these shorter long runs she then got much more training exposure to:

• 
  
  Faster running, more aerobic "overload"
• 
  
  "Simulating" the actual competition pace
• 
  
  More mental acceptance of the actual pace
• 
  
  Running with faster strides
• 
  
  More elasticity
• 
  
  More running on her toes
• 
  
  Need of shorter rest periods, easier recovery
• 
  
  Less dehydration
• 
  
  Less emptying of carbohydrate reserves

In the system and sensitivity analysis in the Physical chapter we could see how important the central system with its heart and lungs is to endurance training and how vital the aerobic energy supply was relative to the anaerobic. In the marathon close to 100% of the energy supply will be aerobic. 

You should not do any work within the anaerobic zone when you prepare for a marathon, simply because you do not need it and as we have already stated, you should simulate the actual work condition for the race when you train. If you get too eager and push too much on the harder workouts, you can easily interfere with your whole endurance capacity. 

This is in conflict with most cultures where we are praised if we do "something" more, harder and faster. However, the lactic acid environment can be like poison for your aerobic capacity.

We also want to explain for you that we have different understanding for the two words:

• Exhausted
• Tired

When you run long and easy you get exhausted but not necessary so very tired. You get dehydrated and empty your glycogen storage. Very many runners "drown" themselves with too much exhaustion, and there is likely to be no energy to run harder when you are supposed to. 

There are some bodily systems that go into an "overload" mode when you get exhausted, like the pounding on your legs, but most of your body is in an "underload" mode. These systems in the underload mode (i.e. oxygen capacity and muscle threshold) get practically no training; it's a waste of time.

You get or feel tired when you push around your threshold. We are now talking about pure pain. It is important for a long distance runner to get tired, but without too much lactic acid. There are many systems put into an "overload" mode when you get tired, and the challenge is not to push too hard.

Ingrid produced world records at 5,000m, 10,000m, half marathon and marathon, quite a distance range. All of these distances have one thing in common; all of them are almost 100% aerobic. 

At the same time, Ingrid is a very slow runner if you measure how fast she can run 100m, 200m or 400m. But remember, to run a 10,000m in 30 minutes flat, you only have to run the laps in 72 seconds, that is every 100m in 18 seconds, which is very slow per 100m, but fast in a 10,000m. 

Your training should be growth oriented and not performance oriented. The performance belongs to the competitions.

The most common mistake marathon runner commit is that they are very afraid to taper down their training the last weeks before the marathon. It is very common to see runners more or less worn out on the starting line. Most athletes think they will lose something when they don't train very much the last week. 

If you are used to training one to two times a day, you will not feel good if you suddenly stop training; you will get a feeling of abstinence. Many panic when they get this feeling, and to stop it they go out and run. The last week before a marathon Ingrid ran about 60-70 km including the marathon. Why so little training?

• You get well rested before the race
• Your body super compensates in its glycogen storage
• For each gram of glycogen your body also stores 2.7 gram of water

If you do your preparations correctly, you can end up increasing your weight between 2-3 kg the last week. You will not feel good with all this glycogen and water, your muscles feel filled up and stiff but don't panic, this is the best preparation you can do. As we have mentioned, the two main components you are now loaded up with are two of the major critical "fuels".

I recently came across some words of wisdom from running great Ingrid Kristiansen. Kristiansen is a highly decorated runner and former world record holder in the marathon. While her methods may not be productive to all runners, she enjoyed a stellar career while "sticking to her plan".

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Some words about running

Running is the most natural way of moving the human body besides walking. Running is something many people (without disabilities) have tried out and tested. It is  independent of where you live, of your climate and of your economical situation and available facilities. 

Because of this, the level of the running performances is probably higher  than in all other types of sports. You need little or no equipment (there are still many barefoot runners around in the world). Running performances can be measured both relatively and absolutely.

You will  immediately find out how you are doing in a race relative to your competitors, and in some types of races you are also able to compare your performance relative to absolute references like personal best, as well as club, state, national  and world records. 

Running is a brutal sport because it is so easy to measure the performance. When a race starts, all competitors start at the same time. This will immediately tell you if you are fast or slow relative to the others in the race. (in cross-country skiing, on the other hand, the skiers normally start every 30 seconds)

Our running competence comes from endurance, say from 1,500m and up. We feel, however that the word endurance is not fully understood by many runners. How many times have you heard runners complain that they have too little speed? Very few, if any, long distance runners need much speed; what they need is more endurance. 

Ingrid was probably the "slowest runner in the world" when we talk about speed or sprint talent. She had no chance running a 400m lap under 60 seconds. Some previous coaches had actually laughed at Ingrid's results in her sprint and elasticity tests. Speed and elasticity have little or very limited importance in long distance running. The important element is endurance, endurance and more endurance.

The main activity for a long distance runner is to run, run and run again. All focus on speed, elasticity and strength is very often over rated. While this type of training can be done in a few minutes daily, we talk about 1-2 hours daily of the main activity: running. It is not the speed that fails when a runner is not able to make the last 100m sprint finish in a 1,500m. track and field race. It is his/her endurance that fails.

Even newer literature and references about the distribution of the aerobic and the anaerobic work requirement in running use wrong and misleading values. The reason is that the old test method,  the Oxygen Debt method, has very large inaccuracies. Newer research have provided a more accurate method, the  Accumulated Oxygen Deficit (AOD). The consequence of this is that the aerobic work content has been underrated up until now.

Energy distribution in %.

Distance	AOD. new method	Old. wrong method	Difference %
400m	46 +/-4% aerobic	25% aerobic	21-25%
800m	69 +/-4% aerobic	50% aerobic	19-23%
1,500m	83 +/-3% aerobic	65% aerobic	18-21%

Sources: AOD data: "Energy system contribution during 400m to 1,500m running, by Matt R. Spencer, Paul B. Gastin and Warren R. Payne. New studies in Athletics, no. 4/1996.

Oxygen debt data: "Keep on running. The Science of Training and Performance". Eric Newsholme, Tony Leech, Glenda Duester, -1994 -John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The new data is quite sensational, as it emphasizes the importance of aerobic power not only for long distances, but also for middle distances like 800m and 1,500m. As you can see, the differences between the new and old percentages are large compared to the previous inaccurate data: they are approximately 20%. If you use traditional % calculations on, for example, the 800m, the difference between 69 and 50 is:

(100%/69)*50 = approx 72%, or (100%/50) * 69= approx. 138%. Depending of what number you use as reference, the methods are from 28 to 38% in difference. (i.e. about 30 to 40%)

So the message is very clear to all middle distance runners: Forget about the high risk and painful anaorobic training. As you can see,  it has less importance than earlier believed. Go out in the woods and run more, mostly long runs, plus some intervals and fartleks. 

From the same source of the AOD data it was also concluded that the anaerobic capacity for a runner is equal to one quantity of energy, and this quantity is the same whether you run 400m, 800m, 1,500m or 10,000m. In the tests it was shown that the anaerobic capacity was the same in all distances, 400m, 800m and 1,500m. (calculated to a oxygen "cost" of 48ml/kg) 

Longer distances than 1,500m will be more and more dominated by aerobic energy. The only anaerobic training a long distance runner needs will normally be what you get in the competitions. Our strong advise is to forget all tempo training; it very often causes more damage than gain.

Got Coach?

I believe most athletes, whether professional, hardcore amateurs or weekend types will acknowledge the  value of a coach and how essential he or she is to their athletic careers. I know professional athletes acknowledge, accept and adhere to their coaches training philosophies. If not, the athlete's probability of success will be greatly diminished. It's the coaches way or the highway.

In the world of track and field there have been many trailblazing and renowned coaches. Bowerman, Lydiard, Squires, Dellinger  to name a few. I'm quite sure track and field aficionados have their favorite legendary coach. While it may not be possible to be coached by a legend, you will nevertheless benefit.

This much I know, self coached athletes, rarely, if ever really improve or reach their full potential.

Run, don't walk to the nearest coach.

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Hall inductee Griak had knack for coaching runners

Longtime University of Minnesota cross country coach Roy Griak will be honored Sept. 15 by being inducted into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame, along with former major-league pitcher Jerry Ujdur, two-time Olympic ski jumper Jim Denney and Larry Ross, the late International Falls hockey coach.

By: Rick Weegman, Duluth News Tribune

Garry Bjorklund is certain his running career would have been an uphill struggle if he hadn’t run for Roy Griak.

The former U.S. Olympian from Twig and Proctor High School, who ran for Griak at the University of Minnesota from 1969-74, credits the longtime cross country and track and field coach with kickstarting his career.
“It’s entirely due to Roy,” he said. “I came out of high school and people thought I was a miler. I wasn’t a miler and Roy knew that immediately. Even though I dragged my heels, Roy shifted me up (to longer distances) and by the spring of my freshman year I was running 10,000 meters and making the national team.
“I would have been a fair cross country runner and a mediocre miler at the college level. Instead, Roy found a niche for me where I really belonged. I was blessed to have a coach like that.”
Griak had that knack with dozens of runners during 33 years (1963-96) as Gophers cross country and track coach. The venerable 86-year-old from Morgan Park will be honored Sept. 15 by being inducted into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame, along with former major-league pitcher Jerry Ujdur of Hermantown, two-time Olympic ski jumper Jim Denney of Duluth and Larry Ross, the late International Falls hockey coach, who grew up in Duluth.
Griak, who resides in Plymouth, Minn., remains active in the Minnesota program. He’s in his 15th season as a full-time administrative assistant for cross country and track, taking care of scheduling, budget and equipment duties, while planning special events, projects and fundraisers.
“I have a passion for it,” he said. “I like to be around the young men, to be able to give them pearls of wisdom, whatever they may be, and I like to watch the young coaches we have on the staff. I don’t get involved in their business, but am very observant of what kind of teachers they are and how they handle the personnel.”
Enjoyed growing up in Duluth
Griak attended Stowe Elementary and Morgan Park High School. Before graduating in 1942, he delivered the News Tribune as a paperboy in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
“I remember my Duluth days,” said Griak, who retains a detailed memory. “I had 135 customers and had to deliver those big stacks on Sunday morning. My mother, my brother and two sisters would help me; I put them all to work and gave them about two-bits (25 cents) to help me.”
Griak played basketball and ran track at Morgan Park, which did not have cross country at that time. He set the school’s half-mile record, which remained until it closed nearly 30 years ago.
“Morgan Park did not have an elitist-type attitude,” he said. “The track was not very good and they did not have a junior high program of any kind. You just went out and tried it to see what you could do.”
Griak spent three years in the U.S. Army during World War II, eventually serving in the Pacific theater. He went to Minnesota Duluth for two years before transferring to the main campus to earn a master’s degree in 1950.
He landed his first coaching job at tiny Nicolett High School, coaching five sports, then had stints in Mankato and St. Louis Park before being hired by the Gophers in 1963.
Cared equally for all runners
Bjorklund says Griak’s greatest attribute was being as concerned with Joe Average as he was elite athletes.
In his senior year, Bjorklund recalls Griak being animated watching Minnesota’s Keith Ottoson in a two-mile heat.
“All of a sudden I saw Roy across the track, animated like I had never seen him before, jumping up and down and so excited,” said Bjorklund, who has a half-marathon named in his honor. “I look around and wonder, ‘What on earth is he so excited about?’ Here comes ‘Otto’ around the corner, and Roy is cheering him on like he’s setting a world record. When Otto finished his race, he and Roy embraced and did a victory dance. I swear Roy had tears in his eyes. All I could think was, ‘Oh my God, what have I ever done that would make Roy that happy?’
“Otto ran a personal best by 20 seconds, and Roy always has been as excited for the fastest or strongest or best jumper as everybody else on the team. If you wore maroon and gold for Roy Griak, you were privileged.”
Steve Plasencia wore those colors for four years in the late 1970s. The two-time U.S. Olympian from Cooper High School in New Hope, Minn., and now the Minnesota men’s cross country and track coach, said Griak showed a personal touch during his recruitment — and ever since.
“Roy has a big personality that makes people feel special,” he said. “When I was an athlete, he made you feel important, and you wanted to be around him.”
Longtime Minnesota Duluth coach John Fulkrod, who stepped down as cross country and track coach last spring, recalls Griak in the same vein.
“He really cares for people ,and he’s the kind of guy who would do whatever needed to be done,” Fulkrod said. “I can remember him in the early days, when they had the old dirt track indoors, putting the lime down and setting up the (hurdles).”
‘He’d give the shorts off his butt’
Griak coached Minnesota to two Big Ten cross country titles and one track title, while 47 athletes earned All-America honors and three won NCAA championships.
Bjorklund, who owns two concession businesses in Fort Collins, Colo., was one of the most acclaimed runners.
“When I got to Minnesota, I had absolutely no doubt that whatever Roy Griak told me would be the right thing,” he said. “When he has a chance to give his athletes an opportunity to improve and step onto the bigger stage, he could get it for you. He’s absolutely instrumental.”
Griak was even there when all that was required was something as simple as donning the proper uniform. Plasencia remembers a time when his coach helped runner Dave Griffin do just that.
“Roy is the type of guy who would give the shirt off his back to a guy around him,” Plasencia said. “One time at the Big Ten cross country championship, one of our guys got to the starting line, pulled down his sweat pants and there he was with just his jock strap and no running shorts. Roy went into the bushes near the course, pulled off his shorts, putting his sweat pants back on and passing (his shorts) on to the guy on the team.
“Not only would he give the shirt off his back, he’d give the shorts off his butt.”
Nobody expects Griak to end his tenure any time soon.
“He is not from the take-it-easy generation,” Bjorklund said. “Roy Griak, Sid Hartman … those guys are going to die with their boots on with a smile on their face, doing what they love to do.”
Griak credits his mother, Mildred, who died at age 93, with instilling a great work ethic. He hasn’t regretted a single minute of the journey.
“It’s been a labor of love,” he said. “I wish I could start all over again.”