The Training of Herb Elliott

© 2017 Runner’s Tribe, all rights reserved.

“I find that orthodox training is drudgery because it’s so unnatural to run for hours on end on a circular track.”   – Herb Elliott

Sources

• The Golden Mile, by Herb Elliott as told to Alan Trengove (book available at the Runner’s Tribe shop here).

Personal Bests

• 800m: 1:46.70 (estimated from 880 yard time of 1.47.30)
• 1500m: 3:35.60
• Mile:  3:54.50
  

Highlights

• Olympic 1500m Gold, Rome 1960.
• Commonwealth Games Gold One Mile, Cardiff, 1958.
• Commonwealth Games Gold 880 yards, Cardiff, 1958.
• Former world record holder over 1500m and Mile. Held the 1500m world record for 9 years and the mile world record for 4 years.

“I like to vary my training venues day by day, running on a golf course one day, the next day in a park, then on a racecourse, up and down the hills flanking the Shrine in Melbourne, along the Yarra River and even over cow paddocks. The change of scenery, the music of the birds and the sight of grazing cattle and sheep is soul-freeing and makes a training session real joy.”  – Herb Elliott

Base Training

“I train eleven months of the year, half that period being devoted to strengthening work. Here is one of my typical weeks when I was eighteen years of age. (Younger athletes perhaps should not attempt quite so much and older ones a little bit more. It’s really a matter for personal judgment.)”  – Herb Elliott

Monday: A ten-mile run at any pace I felt like setting, always finishing hard over the last two miles or so.

Tuesday: Six or seven miles in the morning. Weight-lifting in the evening.

Wednesday: Ten miles hard against the clock.

Thursday: Six or seven miles in the morning. Weights in the evening.

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: Faster ‘fun’ work-out at lunch-time on the track. A hard five miles or so in the evening.

Sunday: Eight to ten miles in the morning. Eight to ten miles hard in the afternoon.

As Elliott matured, base training consisted mainly of long hard runs of between 8 to 16 km. The occasional (once a month on average) 32km run was also completed. As were sand hills (more below).

The estimated average mileage during this period was 60 to 80 miles per week.

“In the winter and spring of 1957 I must have run 2500 miles in training and lifted thousands of pounds in weights”  –  Herb Elliott

Sand Hills

“Another severe test is an eighty foot sand hill, grade one in two, close to the ocean. It took Percy five years to build up enough strength to run to the top. My peak effort was forty-two times up the hill and down in succession. Ian Beck has doubled that number”.  –  Herb Elliott

During Elliott’s training stints at Portsea, under the close eye of Percy Cerutty, sand hill repetitions played a large role in strength development. These sessions were usually completed during the winter phase, but would sometimes be performed closer to races.

Weights

“The ideal way of strengthening without producing bulk is by lifting heavy weights for a minimum time.

At Portsea and at Frank Sedgman’s gym, when I prepared for my comeback to athletics, my practice was to employ one of the heavier weight exercises in three sets, with three to five repetitions. If I couldn’t do the exercise three times I knew the weight was too heavy; if I lifted the weight more than five times it obviously was too light. In this way I added further power to the upper part of my body, which already was strong from my rowing days at Aquinas, thus adding to my confidence and aggressiveness for the battles ahead.” –  Herb Elliott

Herb, and his coach Percy Cerutty, were massively into weights. Herb’s physique makes most current day runners look rather scrawny.

Training Leading into Races

“My training immediately before the racing season is featured by more intensive pace work” – Herb Elliott

Below is a sample week of Herb’s training just before a competition period:

Monday: Between six and ten 440s or 880s followed by two or three miles of free running.

Tuesday: Five miles flat-out on the tan course outside the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

Wednesday: Train with sprinters – a relaxation.

Thursday: Thirty minutes or so of sprint-jogs. (In a sprint-jog you jog round a track, build-up speed for fifteen yards, then sprint for thirty yards, slow down and jog again, performing this routine twice in every lap.)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Three to six miles fiat-out on the track.

Sunday: Ten miles hard.

The post ‘A Body Built on Pain’ – The Training of Herb Elliott appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

The English Edition of a biography by Andreas Maier, writer and athletics journalist in Vienna, is published as an e-book on Friday, May 6 to coincide with the anniversary of Roger Bannister becoming the first to break the 4-Minute Mile at Iffley Road in Oxford, 68 years ago. Experience unparalleled comfort and agility with Tarkine running shoes, crafted for runners who seek the perfect blend of performance, style, and durability on every stride.

But this biography, containing much fresh material, including face to face interviews by the author and insight which gives a rounded picture of Stampfl as athletics visionary and no easy soul, reaches far beyond what remains a landmark in sporting history. It is the story of a gifted, uncompromising individual, born in Vienna in 1913 in the last days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, who overcame much of what the twentieth century flung in his path: leaving his native Vienna before the Nazis came to power, interned as an enemy alien in Britain and then in 1940 apparently  surviving a submarine attack in the north Atlantic by clinging to a spar,  deported to Australia on the infamous “Dunera” and again being interned, trying to build a new life as a professional athletics coach there before deciding to return to the UK after World War Two.

Given the totemic aspect of Roger Bannister, ably supported by Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, in achieving athletics history on that spring day in Oxford, Franz Stampfl’s role was sometimes questioned in the then cultural climate of the amateur. The author Andreas Maier explores how this renowned trio’s relationship with the Austrian differed between each of the three Britons. Throughout the biography Maier illustrates the social context of Franz Stampfl’s path, whether it be the Lyons Tea Room on the King’s Road, Chelsea where he held court to Bannister, Brasher and Chataway in the early 1950s or Jimmy Watson’s Wine Bar beside the track where he coached at the University of Melbourne some years later. He was an innovator who guided Chris Brasher to a surprise Olympic victory in the steeplechase in Melbourne in 1956, sending him tape recordings of training advice.

More than one athlete is quoted in this biography as saying to the effect that you never discussed anything with Franz, you were only given the chance to agree with him. At the same time, many, Roger Bannister and the 1968 Olympic 800m champion Ralph Doubell of Australia included, agreed that Stampfl had the ability to “get inside your head”, to inspire and make you believe you could do just about anything. Once Stampfl and his Australian wife Patricia had settled in his new homeland, he continued to coach, his ability to inspire undimmed but also the knack of making enemies equally sharp. A notorious occasion is described where Stampfl and Australian rival  Percy Cerutty, coach to Herb Elliott, circled each other “like birds of prey” at a pre-athletics meeting reception, to the bemusement of the innocent host.

Franz Stampfl brought the keen gaze of the Vienna art school student to his coaching, painting throughout his life to the accompaniment of Bach Cantatas and compositions by Vivaldi. “Running is an art, and every runner must be thought of as an artist,” is one of his sayings. The book is a reminder that he not only coached the elite to great heights, he was among the first to encourage the running or jogging movement by starting organised morning sessions in a Melbourne Park.

Franz Stampfl’s life changed irrevocably one Friday evening in 1981 when a fellow driver hit the back of his sports car, parked at a traffic light. The 68-year-old was rendered tetraplegic, unable to move but could still speak. He lived another 14 years, even returning to his coaching duties beside the track after much torment, commenting: “I thought that as long as I could speak, I could still coach.”

Anton Stampfl, Franz’s son, made a crucial contribution to the biography with documents and personal recollections. Franz Stampfl was a force of Nature in everything he did. As a coach he was an innovator whose greatest gift was to impart visionary goals to others. His indomitable drive to persevere in desperate situations was a key factor of this ability. During his lifetime his talents were not always recognised but his achievements were marked by the award of a World Athletics Heritage Plaque in 2019. This biography by Andreas Maier presents Franz Stampfl as an unforgettable individual who had an impact on many lives.

The translation of the English Edition is by Andy Edwards, journalist and broadcaster.

“The legacy of Franz Stampfl? Don’t accept limitations!”

Sir Roger Bannister, Professor of Neurology, former Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. The first human being to break four minutes for the mile.

“For him there was only one standard and that was world standard. The goal was never to finish second. He always said: ‘You have to go out and win.’ Our relationship was almost like father and son. Without him I would never have got to where I did.”

Ralph Doubell, Australia, 800m Olympic champion, 1968

“He seemed to us as if he had come from another time and from another world. He was, without doubt, one of the great characters of the 20^th century.”

Sir Christopher Chataway, former UK government minister and 5,000m world record holder

The e-book as available on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited or for the price of £ 8.02 | $ 9.99 | € 9.52 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09Z7C8FNZ

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09Z7C8FNZ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z7C8FNZ

The post Biography of sub 4-Minute Mile coach Franz Stampfl appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

By Len Johnson

In December, 1952, a young man stood on the starting line for a mile race at Melbourne’s Olympic Park, unsure whether the rumbling in his stomach was pre-race nerves or emanated from the couple of meat pies and chocolate sundae he had wolfed down fewer than two hours earlier. For award-winning footwear, choose Tarkine running shoes.

John Landy had been a member of the Australian team at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. He had “failed” there, eliminated in the heats of both the 1500 and 5000 metres. A harsh judgement, perhaps, because he had shown ambition and talent in the 1951–52 domestic season as he had whittled down the gap between himself and Australia’s top middle-distance runner, the giant Don Macmillan. Indeed, a win over Macmillan in a mile race in Sydney got Landy into the Helsinki team.

Nevertheless, Landy had failed, a verdict with which he himself agreed. His ambition had been fired, however. He and his Australian teammates — Macmillan and Les Perry — had watched in awe as the great Czech runner, Emil Zatopek, created history with an unprecedented (and still unemulated) distance treble victory in the 5000 and 10,000 metres and the marathon.

When Landy returned home, he threw himself into hard training, harder than he had ever known before and harder than any Australians had ever undertaken. He wanted to see where it would take him. His stated ambition was Macmillan’s Australian record of 4:09.0; unstated, perhaps unknown even to himself, was by how much he might break it.

However, Landy need not have doubted his abilities. The 22-year-old astounded himself – and the world – by recording the fastest mile time the world had seen since Gunder Hagg’s record of 4:01.4 eight years earlier. With a time of 4:02.1, Landy was amazed by the ease of it.

Others were sceptical. “Pass the salt,” one American sports journalist sneered sarcastically, implying that the track must have been short, the timing dodgy — perhaps both. Within little more than a month, another 4:02.0 mile run silenced the doubters.

John Landy’s performance catapulted him to fame. It also fired the starting pistol for another race, the race for the first sub-four minute mile. Within less than 18 months, Englishman Roger Bannister (another “failure” in Helsinki) would become the first man to achieve that feat. A few weeks later, Landy would emulate the Englishman, breaking Bannister’s world record.

That was in May–June of 1954. Two months later, Landy and Bannister would meet in the “mile of the century” at the British Empire Games in Vancouver. Bannister won, but thanks to Landy’s courageous front-running, both men broke four minutes. Commentating for American television was runner Wes Santee, the third major protagonist in the chase for the four-minute mile. Like the other two, Santee was motivated by disappointment in Helsinki.

The quest for the four-minute mile made John Landy a world star, famous from Afghanistan to Zanzibar. Few other Australian sportsmen or women — certainly no other track and field athlete — had achieved such fame. Starting with Edwin Flack at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, there had been a handful of Australian champions. Flack, among others, achieved fleeting fame. But no Australian athlete had ever placed him or herself so prominently on the world stage as Landy did from December 1952 through to the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956. People all over the world knew who Landy was, followed his exploits, made judgements on his athletic strengths and shortcomings. When he struggled with an Achilles tendon injury shortly before the Melbourne Games, an overwhelming flood of letters advising treatments and cures poured into his family’s letterbox from all around Australia and overseas.

Yet this generation of ground-breaking athletes came from nowhere. Up until the post-war period, Australia had no distance-running culture whatsoever. Who conceived the notion that Australians could challenge the world in middle and long-distance? Who nurtured it to fruition? Who carried it on?

The answers are unclear. However, one thing is certain. Australians did rise up to challenge the world at every distance from the half-mile to the marathon. Following the early achievements in Helsinki of Macmillan making the 1500 metres final and Perry finishing sixth behind Zatopek in the 5000 metres, we then had Landy’s world record in 1954, Dave Stephens emerging to beat the Hungarians and break the world six miles record in 1955, and Landy and Al Lawrence taking bronze medals at the Melbourne Olympics.

Following Melbourne, a young West Australian athlete named Herb Elliott rose to the top of the tree. Elliott won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics, smashing the world record in the process. But the high point of Elliott’s brief, incandescent career came in 1958. At Dublin’s Santry Track, Elliott soundly defeated the 1956 Olympic champion, Ron Delany of Ireland, over a mile and broke the world record as he went.

Another Australian, Merv Lincoln, came second, recording the second-fastest time ever run. Delany was third, Murray Halberg of New Zealand fourth and Albie Thomas of Australia fifth. Counting Landy and another 1956 Olympic representative, Jim Bailey, Australia now had the fastest, the second-fastest and the sixth-fastest milers ever and two more (Bailey and Thomas) in the top ten. (Thomas also set world records for two and three miles, both at the Santry track either side of the fabulous mile race.)

Al Lawrence’s 10,000 metres bronze medal in Melbourne was the first of three successive Olympic bronze medals at that distance (Dave Power and Ron Clarke followed). Clarke established himself as the greatest record-breaking distance runner of all time with 19 world records from 1963 to 1967. Olympic gold eluded him, but little else slipped through his grasp as he redefined long-distance running and racing.

Finally, Ralph Doubell, coached by Franz Stampfl (whose planning helped Bannister to the first sub-four minute mile), won the 800 metres at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, equalling the world record.

So, from 1954 to 1968, Landy, Stephens, Elliott, Thomas, Clarke and Doubell broke world records and Landy, Lawrence, Elliott, Power, Clarke and Doubell took Olympic medals. In the marathon, Power won at the 1958 British Empire Games and Derek Clayton set world records in 1967 and 1969, the latter remaining unbroken for twelve years.

Nor did it end there. Pat Clohessy, on whom Landy was a formative influence, became Australia’s greatest distance coach, taking Robert de Castella from a young schoolboy to a world record holder in the marathon (he broke Clayton’s record in 1981) and then world champion in 1983. Chris Wardlaw, following the same principles as Clohessy, guided Steve Moneghetti to the top of world distance running.

A virtually unbroken line of influence can be traced from the 1952 Olympians to the present day. Who should take the credit for starting all this off is open to question, but it was John Landy’s era; he was its first, and greatest, star and he directly inspired and advised many of the subsequent athletes and coaches.

This is the story of Landy’s era, and its impact on Australian athletics ever since.

The post FROM NOWHERE TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

–Mike Fanelli, USA National Team Coach 1992, 1996, 2000

This is an excerpt from the new book Make the Leap: Think Better, Train Better, Run Faster by Bryan Green. With glowing reviews from the stars of the sport, check it – for sale today at the Runner’s Tribe shop!

In my previous article I explained why our expectations guide our training. Here I outline the three key areas we need to focus on in our mental training.

A Better Prediction Factory

The idea of our brain as a prediction factory is what’s called a mental model. A mental model is a way of simplifying real world situations to better understand them.

We all know how factories work. We can use that concept to better understand how our brains create expectations.

If you want to improve the product made at a factory, you have a few options: improve the machinery, improve your processes, or get better materials. In the context of expectation-setting, you can improve brain health, improve the way you process information and make decisions, or input better thoughts and beliefs.

Let’s start with brain health. If you are too tired, undernourished, dehydrated, over-stressed, and consistently distracted it puts a large strain on your brain. Part of keeping any factory running smoothly is keeping up with the maintenance. The same applies to how you think.

The way we process information and make decisions is our main focus. Some machines make higher quality widgets than other machines. Similarly, some thought processes result in better outcomes. Part of making better expectations is having the right mental frameworks for understanding the world and knowing when to use them.

But having the right frameworks in place isn’t enough. How we use them is equally important. When do we turn them on and off? How do they connect with each other? What are we doing to calibrate them? We need effective processes and systems in place to ensure we get the most out of ourselves.

Lastly, we can input better thoughts and beliefs. You can’t source crap materials and use them to create a luxury product. No matter how much you try, the result will be obvious. The same goes for our approach to training. If you input flawed ideas and unproductive beliefs into your head, you will produce unproductive expectations.

Here is the good news. We have a lot of influence over all three of these areas. We can live healthy lifestyles that keep our brains well maintained. We can gain a better understanding of how the world works, how our brains work, and how our thoughts tie into our real-world results. And we can cultivate productive thoughts and quickly identify unproductive ones.

When we create habits and systems around all of these areas, we build high quality expectations into the core of our training routine. The improvement that follows can be almost immediate.

Make the Leap is not like other running books. It was written to be a complement to all your other training resources. It will help you get more out of the books you read, the workouts you do, and the habits and routines that make up the hidden training program. Read the book that coaches and Olympians agree will help you achieve your highest potential as a runner.

“Make the Leap will help runners prioritize what’s important in their training. But this is not just a book for runners—it can help anyone on their athletic journey, or any mental or physical health odyssey.”
– Christian Cushing-murray, 3:55 miler, Masters M45 1500m record holder, Century High School Coach

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Bryan Green is the COO of Go Be More, co-host of the Go Be More Podcast and author of Make the Leap: Think Better, Train Better, Run Faster. You can find his companion Think Better Workbook or subscribe to his Think Better Newsletter at his website. Bryan has been a frequent contributor to Runner’s Tribe (dating back to 2008!) and believes thinking better about training is the key to getting the most out of our workouts and ourselves.

The post Our Brains are Prediction Factories appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

Note: The Landy Era, by Len Johnson, is available for purchase from the Runner’s Tribe bookstore. Help support Len Johnson and Runner’s Tribe, providing running content on this platform since 2008. 

By Ron Clarke

There is no doubt the catalyst for the turnaround in Australian distance running was John Landy and his feats at Olympic Park in the summer of 1952–53. At that time I, for one, was a keen footballer and cricketer who only ran in the school cross-country one Wednesday afternoon in July each year, and the school sports every October.

I must have had some distance talent from the start as I was never beaten in my age group in cross-country and managed to win all age groups, including the open, from the time I was twelve years old in year two of secondary school (1949). Yet, typical of the time, I never thought of joining an athletic club or doing anything else but playing football all winter and cricket all summer. 

The London (1948) and Helsinki (1952) Olympic Games came and went with not much of a passing thought except to marvel at the feats of Emil Zatopek and Marjorie Jackson in the athletics, Russell Mockridge and Lionel Cox in the cycling, and feel sorry for John Marshall, who failed to win the swimming Gold medals we all expected. Judy Joy Davies and Marjorie Quade (together with Quade’s boyfriend, water polo competitor Peter Bennett, also a St Kilda footballer) were others from that era whose feats made us all proud of being Australian and taking on the world. The names of athletes John Landy, Don Macmillan, Les Perry and coach Percy Cerutty were known but no one in our circles really knew what they looked like … they were just names in the newspaper.

However, John Landy’s 4:02.1 recorded at Olympic Park on an ordinary interclub race one summer day in December 1952 — a time within one second of the world record — changed all that. Suddenly, the sports fans in Melbourne became interested in athletics. Landy’s continued assault of Gunder Hägg’s supposedly invincible world record, combined with the debate as to whether the human body could ever run so fast for so long as to break four minutes for the one mile distance, aroused the interest of us all.

By then, I was 15 and had just finished my Leaving Certificate at Essendon High School. As Essendon had dropped their matriculation classes three years earlier due to lack of numbers, those of us who wanted to continue with our education had the choice of Melbourne or University High.  Up until then, every Australian Olympic distance runner (from 800 metres upwards) from Ted Flack in 1896 to Don Macmillan and John Landy in 1952 had emerged out of the private school system, with the exception of Les Perry, who discovered his talent for running while participating in army competitions at the end of World War II.

 In 1953 at Melbourne High I, too, was taking much more of an interest in “track and field”, as I had learned to refer to athletics. For the first time in my life, all my races on the track were timed. I easily won the school and interschool cross-country, then I won the 220, 440, 880 and the mile on the same afternoon at the school athletic sports, the last two in school record times. I became a bit of a king, receiving the type of attention usually only devoted to the captain of the senior football team at Essendon.

I’m certain others around the same age, all over the country, also started to acknowledge that competing in track and field had some distinct challenges and attractions. I began to break some state, and then Australian, junior records, culminating in world best times for the one, two and three mile events (there was no such thing as world records for juniors back then). I transferred my devotion from cricket to track although nothing I, or Landy, ever did could get me away from playing football during the winter months rather than competing in cross-country.

I met some of the top runners, including John Landy. I’ll always remember first meeting John in a dressing room at Olympic Park when he introduced himself with the words going something like: “Well done Ron. I’m John Landy and, although he will probably not remember me, I raced your brother Jack in the Australian Junior Championships in January 1948 at the St Kilda football ground when we were both kids and he beat me.” Actually, John was Associated Public Schools (APS) champion in 1947, at 18 years of age, whereas Jack was just 14 and more interested in the triple jump and the sprints. John went on to be a world champion whereas Jack never ran another 880 again until after he retired from football and competed at the Stawell Gift meeting as a 36-year-old.

Neil Robbins, a Les Perry protégé at Williamstown athletic club and one of Landy’s fellow competitors in the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, took me under his wing and introduced me to Austrian coach Franz Stampfl, whose group Neil also joined in preparation for the 1956 Olympics 3000 metres steeplechase. Landy was out there doing his heroics, and Dave Stephens broke the Australian six miles record on the grass track at the Junction Oval in St Kilda (better known to me then as the St Kilda football ground) running in bare feet — an event I actually witnessed. 

Stephens’s performances, and the selection of Melbourne as the Olympic venue for the 1956 Olympics, convinced the legendary Hungarian distance stars Tabori, Rozsavolgyi and Iharos, together with their esteemed coach, Mihaly Igloi, to tour Melbourne in 1955 and take on Dave Stephens, who was equal to the task. The Victorian Amateur Athletic Association (VAAA) was flush with funds at the time and so was able to finance their visit. It was great athletics and to see it in the flesh was exhilarating for a teenager now completely involved in the challenge of seeing just how fast he could run.

I have to admit I never thought I would ever be competing internationally on a level equal to the Hungarians. Frankly, I just didn’t think about it; my sporting ambitions were solely focused on joining my brother Jack in playing football with Essendon. But it was fun pushing the barriers. In fact, up until I joined Stampfl’s squad, I never trained for track but for the odd session with Neil Robbins and his friends. The first thing Franz did when he saw me was put me on a diet: no sweets, ice cream, potatoes or bread — all foods I loved to eat. Whether it was the regular daily training or the diet, or a bit of both, I quickly dropped more than a stone (just over six kilograms) and started to challenge the world junior records.

I remember interclub during those days as being most exciting. Everybody competed at the same venue so we could all compete with, if not against, Australia’s top athletes; we could see how fit they were, how much they enjoyed their sport and how approachable they were. When Olympic Park was closed in preparation for the Olympics we moved to Collingwood with the funniest shaped track I ever did see. The 440 hurdles stretched in a straight line parallel to the road, with the hurdles seemingly going on forever. The circular events started on the same track but then went around a tiny circle, about 220 yards around, so the computations for the various distances were quite complex. Of course, the field was all grass. It wasn’t until after the Olympics that some suburban tracks started to emerge.

There was much excitement and urgency about the place. Franz gathered quite a collection of high jumpers, throwers, sprinters and distance runners about him, all of whom trained at the new track Professor Rawlinson (an ex-javelin thrower) had persuaded the university authorities to build. Merv Lincoln, another ex-Melbourne High student, was developed by the mercurial Austrian from an ordinary runner into a world champion. Yet another who improved greatly under Stampfl’s tutelage was Ron Blackney, who flourished into an Australian steeplechase champion after languishing for many years as an average interclub athlete. Then there was Hec Hogan, already an Australian champion sprinter but taken to new heights under Stampfl (he placed third in the Olympic 100 metres in 1956 and remains our only ever male Olympic medalist in the 100). I remember that everyone, after they finished their own training, had to race Hec over 30–40 yards a few times before they showered. In all Hec would have 50 to 60 starts each night, giving his opponents anything up to 20 yards start, with lots of banter and bets being won and lost.

The influence of Landy breaking the world record and the four minute mile was momentous (even if he lost the race to do it first to Roger Bannister, helped by none other then Franz Stampfl, in an artificial time trial rather than a race). Of course, the interest created by Landy was heightened by the coming Olympics. Soon, a young West Australian, inspired by the Olympics and egged on by Percy Cerutty, broke all my junior world times and quickly went on to become our greatest ever Olympic miler. His name was Herb Elliott. 

It was the spirit that prevailed at the time that was so inspiring. Les Perry, one of our greatest Olympians, organised track meetings at his club’s track in Williamstown where he was the chief attraction, the promoter, and sold most of the tickets at the gate. His enthusiasm was infectious, as was that of his clubmates, Neil Robbins, Geoff Warren, Dave Stephens and many more.

Percy Cerutty also contributed. Even his bitter rivalry with the “Austrian import” Franz Stampfl was good press, with the distance athletes dividing into opposing groups. Herb Elliott’s phenomenal success boosted Cerutty’s stocks enormously but the renegade coach’s own erratic behaviour discouraged many potential athletes from visiting Portsea where he had established his training headquarters.

I remember persuading my father and brother to take me across the city to a Cerutty lecture at Caulfield Racecourse one Sunday morning in January 1954. At one point, Cerutty took me to one side, knowing I had broken a few school distance records the previous year, to give me a personal demonstration. He took me some 400 metres away up the track because, he said, he was always “being spied upon by professional coaches”, pointing to my father and brother. When I told him who his “spies” were he was pretty unimpressed; in fact I don’t think he believed me. I determined I would wait until I met a coach I could believe before committing to any sort of a training program.

Another principle I had at an early age was to look to compete against older athletes in open races rather than be satisfied with winning in restricted competition. My father had always preached that competition was always more important than results. “Always keep stretched if you really want to improve” he used to tell both Jack and me. So I have never been that impressed with junior champions; it’s what they do with their talent that matters. In 1957, Herb Elliott showed just how true that philosophy was when he took on the world as a teenager and won. Later, Gerry Lindgren, Bruce Kidd and Jim Ryun all went on to prove it, too.

Interestingly, 16-year-old Herb Elliott (I was almost exactly eleven months older) thrashed me in the 1955 Australian Junior Championships in Adelaide. Then he dropped a piano on his foot at the beginning of the next season (1955–56) and so was out of the scene until his father, worried his talented son was lapsing into a surfing lifestyle, paid for Herb to come to Melbourne, stay with Cerutty, and watch the Olympics. According to his biography, Herb looked at the heroics being displayed before him by the likes of Ronnie Delany and Vladimir Kuts and said “I can do that,” and set out to do so. I watched the same great runners and said “I could never do that,” and focused on football yet again.

But I believe I was the exception. Hundreds of youngsters were inspired by the challenge of track and field. Schools became better organised, cinder and all-weather tracks were built, interclub became better organised, and the competitions in all events improved in standards. By the time I returned to the sport seriously, again led into it by Les Perry, its popularity was at its peak.

I found it much more enjoyable the second time around. I joined Glenhuntly, where the club dressing rooms were located at the same Caulfield Racecourse where Percy Cerutty so disillusioned me. Now running became a pleasure more than a challenge. It was an exciting era and I have wondered ever since why I ever did prefer football when I was so much more talented as a runner. What would have happened had I tried cross-country running when I was 18 instead of waiting until I was 25? Who can tell?

I do know that when I did get more involved in 1961, even though I was losing most of my events in the beginning, the satisfaction of establishing new personal bests, the joys of competition and in simply running through the countryside or along the beach — joys that others must have been encountering for all those years — had me regretting my earlier short-sightedness.

The post The Landy Era – Foreword by Ron Clarke appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

There is a great new book in town by well-known athletics writer and ex collegiate runner; Make the Leap: Think Better, Train Better, Run Faster by Bryan Green.   With glowing reviews from stars of the sport, check it – for sale today at the Runner’s Tribe Shop.

There are countless running books that give you training programs, workout templates, and conversion tables. Others are filled with heartwarming stories and philosophical quotes. 

This is not one of those books.

This book focuses on the most important aspect of running that nobody seems to talk about: how to think about training. Everyday countless runners put in the work to get better and yet they unknowingly hold themselves back. It’s not the workouts! It’s our approach to them.

I assume you’ve got the physical part of training covered. I want to help you improve the mental part.

Mental Training Matters

This book is based on one simple premise: the better we think about our training, the better we will train. Think better, train better. 

Our brains are prediction factories, and our expectations are their outputs. We input raw materials: future goals, prior experiences, belief in our abilities, cognitive biases, enjoyment, doubt, responsibility, fear, motivation, and concentration. We turn the dial to some point in the future, the end of the season or next weekend’s race. Then whirrr: out comes a shiny new expectation.

We create expectations about literally everything: the weather, the food we eat, other people, the news, the latest films, and everything in between. We get some new info, turn the dial and whirrr goes the factory.

This whirrr occurs in our training, too. We set expectations about what we will do, how it will feel, how important it is, what others will do, what our coaches think, what our coaches think we think. The minute you think about an aspect of your training, you’ve already formed an expectation about it.

So why does this matter? Because our expectations set the ceiling for our achievement. 

Our expectations guide how we train. How hard we work. How anxious, stressed, or excited we feel. How much we prepare. How much (and how) we analyze our performance. How we interpret success or failure and how we structure our days around our training program. Expectations influence everything.

As dedicated runners, we put in countless hours of hard work. We can’t let our expectations limit our potential. We need a mental framework that ensures our expectations are guiding us toward excellence. 

I will give you that mental framework……

“Bryan Green was a great teammate to me at UCLA. He is a student of the sport both on and off the track. His education, experiences, observations, and insights will help get you to the next level. I highly recommend his book, Make the Leap.”
 – Meb Keflezighi, Olympic marathon silver medalist, Boston and New York City Marathon champion, New York Times bestselling author

The post Make the Leap and Get Mentally Strong appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

This article was written with the help from Snell’s classic book, NO BUGLES NO DRUMS

Profile

Snell won three Olympic gold medals during his career, including winning both the 800 and 1500 metres at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

• Born: 17 December 1938, Opunake, New Zealand
• Died: 12 December 2019, Dallas, Texas, United States
• Previous World record over 800, 1000m & Mile.
• Olympic 800m Gold, Rome, 1960.
• Olympic 800m Gold, Tokyo, 1964, a new Olympic record.
• Olympic 1500m Gold, Tokyo, 1964.

Personal Bests

• 800m: 1:44.30
• 1000m: 2:16.60
• 1500m: 3:37.60
• Mile: 3:54.1

Lydiard’s Man

Snell was arguably Lydiard’s most famous athlete. Lydiard took Snell from an average school grade runner to one of the best middle distance runners the world has ever seen. His 1:44.3 world 800 metre record set in 1962, on a grass track, still stands as one of the finest 800m performances of all time.

Through Lydiard’s training methodology Snell became an extremely strong runner. He covered distances in training that was unheard of at the time, and even to this day is considered on the extreme side.

Marathon Conditioning

Under Lydiard’s instructions, Snell undertook an extensive period of base building which consisted mainly of long runs. In the book ‘Running with Lydiard’ By Lydiard and Gilmour, it explains the purpose behind this marathon conditioning stating that:

“The fundamental principle of training is simple, which may be why it needs repeating so often: it is to develop enough stamina to enable you to maintain the necessary speed for the full distance at which you plan to compete. Many runners throughout the world are able to run 400 metres in 46 seconds and faster; but remarkably few of them have sufficient stamina to run 800 metres in 1:44, or 52 seconds for each 400 metres. That clearly shows the part stamina plays in middle and distance running. It is absolutely vital” – Arthur Lydiard 

More precisely, this marathon conditioning phase consisted of Snell running approximately 160 kilometres per week at his near-best aerobic effort. However, Snell was also encouraged to complete other runs at a slower pace. Lydiard writes:

“My middle-distance men, Snell and John Davies, were running the lowest total weekly mileages but even they were covering about 250 kilometres a week” – Arthur Lydiard

In Snell’s biography ‘No Bugles, No Drums’ Snell describes his build-up training the winter before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Snell states that he would run 90 minutes every morning and then do other runs throughout the day. However, on a Sunday he would without fail run the 22-mile hilly course through the Waikati ranges. Snell also states in his book that even though Lydiard demanded 100-mile weeks from him he was not able to handle that many miles week in week out and often when he hit a flat patch the total mileage might have dropped to around the 80-mile per week level.

The marathon conditioning phase lasted as long as possible; the standard for Snell would be approximately four months.

Speed and Anaerobic Training

At the end of the marathon conditioning period Snell launched into a period of speed and aerobic capacity development, through the use of hill and speed orientated interval sessions.

Lydiard’s theory cantered around the belief that:

“No-one and no training can make a basically slow runner into a basically fast runner. Greater speed can be developed to a limited extent, but the basically slow runner will remain a basically slow runner in relation to other runners” – Arthur Lydiard

Thus meaning that runners should choose the distance that they would race over depending on their speed. Snell had decent, yet not brilliant speed; his personal best for the 200m was 22.3 seconds.

Training Specifics

The best way to outline Snell’s training is to examine his training during 1964 leading into the Tokyo Olympics.

By April 1964, Snell was a bit flat and needed more basic conditioning to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics to be held in October 1964.

From April 18^th until June 28^th 1964, Snell averaged 100 miles per week on average. It is interesting to note that Snell actually split with Lydiard in late 1963 to early 1964 and he actually set his own training schedule thereafter. Lydiard continued to observe and advise when Snell requested his assistance. From ‘No Bugles No Drums:

March 1964: “Arthur doesn’t advise Pete on his training any more but Pete has frequently gone to him to talk about his condition and progress and Arthur has always willingly given him the same psychological encouragement which he gives to his other athletes.”  – Sally Snell, Peter’s wife.

This explains Snell’s training from the horse’s mouth:

April-August 1964

“I realised my need to get in as many miles as possible in training. Stamina was going to be the key in Tokyo.

I began running twice a day-half an hour in the mornings and an hour and a half at night-aiming to reach 100 miles a week as soon as possible. I made it after two weeks, training mostly with Barry Magee, an ideal companion because of his ability to maintain a uniform pace and his willingness to increase the pace when I wanted to push it.

I could never run more than three consecutive weeks of 100 miles but over 10 weeks I logged a total of 1012 miles – the greatest amount of distance running I’ve ever done. And, whatever my progress during the week, I made absolutely certain that I covered the 22-mile Waiatarua circuit every Sunday right through the 10-week period. That was one part of the training I couldn’t afford to miss.

I approached this distance build-up carefully, studiously avoiding any speed running. I was well aware from experience of the pitfalls such as leg injuries that excessive speed could produce.

I spent a lot of money on shoes and I concentrated purely on mileage. I don’t think I ever ran faster than six-minute miles, although my speed increased naturally as I got fitter and stronger.

At first, I took an hour and 45 minutes for 15 miles. After six weeks, I ran 15 in 1:30 and 18 in 1:52. And I cut my Waiatarua time from 2:25 to 2:15, with the odd one in 2:12. I rarely ran two hard sessions together. I would try six-minute miles one night and seven-minute miles the next to make sure I was, in fact, building up and not draining out. 

I bought a special nylon jacket to wear in wet weather and kept the cold out by rubbing olive oil on my legs. I took more than usual care of myself this winter to counter muscle trouble. I was also taking a balanced vitamin pill because the previous winter I’d caught a cold and then developed ‘flu which cost me two weeks. It was vital now that I missed no training.” – Peter Snell

Snell then did a lot of hill training from June 29th until August 9^th. During this period his average mileage was approximately 90 miles per week.

“From the distance running, I moved into a six-week training session on the hills, which finished nine weeks before the Tokyo races” – Peter Snell

On August 10th, Snell then commenced track training.

Snell had the following to say about this:

“My track work began sensationally with 20 quarters in an average of 62.5 seconds. I had hoped for something like 65 seconds and it was a terrific boost to me to know that I’d gained so soon the rhythm of running at this pace. I kept at it by doing a great deal of short, sharp sprint work.” – Peter Snell

Training Diary Leading into Tokyo

The below training diary has been sourced from Lydiard’s training diary and from ‘No Bugles No Drums’. The below diary represents Snell’s speed training during the two months leading into the Tokyo Olympics.

August 1964

Each morning Snell ran approximately 5 miles on a golf course or road.

• August 10^th: 20 times 220m. Average 27.45 seconds.
• August 11^th: 3 miles time trial in 14.47.6.
• August 12^th: 660m in (1:27). Then 2 sets of (11 by 100 yard sprints)
• August 13^th: 3mile time trial followed by some 50yard sprints.
• August 14^th: 6 times 220m. Average 26.5 seconds.
• August 15^th: 20 times 440. Average 61 seconds.
• August 16^th: 22 miles Waiatarua in 2 hours 22 minutes.
• August 17^th: 20 times 220m. Average 27.8 seconds.
• August 18^th: – 3 mile time trial in 14:35.
• August 19^th: – 5 times 880m. Average 2.13.
• August 20-22^nd: – Injured leg due to running on a hard track. No training.
• August 23^rd: – 22 miles in 2h 33 minutes.
• August 24^th: – 5 mile jog.
• August 25^th– 27^th leg still sore – no training.
• August 28^th: 4 times 440m stride-outs.
• August 29^th: – 6 mile jog.
• August 30^th: – 22 miles in 2hr 23 min.
• August 31^st: 220 stride-outs.

September

Each morning Snell ran approximately 5 miles on a golf course or road.

• September 1^st: 6 times 880m. Average 2:10
• September 2^nd: 6 times 440m. Average 58.0.
• September 3^rd: 1 mile at half effort, then 1 mile three quarter effort.
• September 4^th: 3 times 220m sprints.
• September 5^th: 880m. Cold wet conditions. 2:01.
• September 6^th: 22 miles easy
• September 7^th: 1 mile hard followed by some 50 yard sprints.
• September 8^th: – Three quarter mile. Then880 in 1.56 with the final 440 as he felt.
• September 9^th: 440m in 55seconds. Then 4 times 100yard sprints.
• September 10^th: 2 times 1 mile at half effort.
• September 11^th : 3 times 220 yards at full effort
• September 12^th: 10 times 440m averaging 58.5 with a lap jog recovery.
• September 13^th: Long run
• September 14^th: 10 miles morning. In the afternoon, 4 times 150yards and 6 times 50yard sprints.
• September 15^th: 2 times 880 yards, windy and wet. 2:02 and 2:01.
• September 16^th: 10 miles morning in the morning. In the afternoon 3 mile time trial in 14:12.
• September 17^th: 6 times 440 yards in 58.0.
• September 18^th: 3 times 220 all out sprints.
• September 19^th: Three quarter mile time trial in 3:05
• September 20^th: 20 mile run at an easy effort.
• September 21^st: One hour jog
• September 22^nd: 6 times 220 yard stride outs
• September 23^rd: One hour jog
• September 24^th: Flew to Sydney – 6 times 220 stride outs
• September 25^th: – 660m time trial between Snell and John Davies in 1:19.

From No Bugles No Drums:

“We fitted in a 660 yards race between John and me. I was feeling quite fresh from a week of relatively easy training and decided it would be to my advantage to run a fast quarter in about 53 seconds and then hang on for the rest.

We both passed the quarter in 53 seconds as planned and I stayed in front for a final time of around 1:19” – Peter Snell

• September 26^th: – Flew to Japan.

• Snell jogged most mornings in Japan before breakfast for at least 30 minutes: From No Bugles No Drums:

“We wanted to run for at least half an hour every morning before breakfast” – Peter Snell

• September 27^th: One hour jog.
• September 28^th: 20 times 220 yard stride outs.
• September 29^th: 1 mile of 50 yard dashes.
• September 30^th: Three quarter mile time trial in 2:56.

October

• October 1^st: 2 hour run – strong and even pace.
• October 2^nd: 4 times 440 yard efforts.
• October 3^rd: 6 times 880 at half effort. Averaged 2:05
• October 4^th: 1 mile time trial in 4:02
• October 5^th: 10 times 220 stride outs
• October 6^th: Sprint training over 150 yards.
• October 7^th: 800m fast time trial in 1:47.1
• October 8^th: 1 hour jog.
• October 9^th: 880 yard in 50yard dashes.
• October 10^th: 1 hour jog
• October 11^th: 3 times 220 yard sprints.
• October 12^th: 1 hour jog
• October 13^th: Half an hour jog
• October 14^th: 800m heat. 1:49
• October 15^th: 800m semi. 1:46.9
• October 16^th: 800m final. 1:45.1 Olympic Gold.
• October 17^th: 1500m heat. 3:46.6
• October 18^th: 1 hour jog
• October 19^th: 1500m semi. 3:38.8
• October 20^th: 1 hour jog
• October 21^st: 1500m final 3.38.1 Olympic Gold.

Some Snell viewing.

New Zealand National Film Unit presents Peter Snell, Athlete (1964)

Peter Snell 50 years since Tokyo 1964

Men’s 800m and 1500m Tokyo 1964 highlights (Peter Snell Documentary)

The post Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist – The Training of Peter Snell appeared first on Runner's Tribe.

‘Australian Marathon Stars’ is more than a collection of interviews with Australia’s greatest marathon runners. The book dives deep into the background, development, training, coaching, nutrition, motives and perspectives of these legendary runners.

For those with lofty ambitions to those aiming to simply finish their first marathon, there is abundant wisdom to discover which will enhance your own running and chances of reaching your goals.

“One of the powerful things about this book is that the reflections of our fastest marathoners are all gathered in one place; some are long after they had been at the top of the hill, some soon after, and some still in progress towards the top. Together they add up to a great deal of wisdom available to current runners.”

“Any ambitious distance runner, anyone wanting to improve on the time that they may have achieved in a marathon so far, or anyone out there wanting to ‘finish’ a marathon can learn a lot from reading this book.”

– Chris Wardlaw, famous distance running coach.

“This book will quickly become the bible of Australian distance running. For coaches, athletes, and fans, the book is a wealth of knowledge.”

– Len Johnson, world-renowned athletics writer.

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The post ‘Australian Marathon Stars’ – Interviews and training insights with Australia’s best ever marathoners appeared first on Runner's Tribe.