Comments on: ‘A Body Built on Pain’ – The Training of Herb Elliott

By: VADIVELLAN MAHENDRAN

VADIVELLAN MAHENDRAN — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 01:52:21 +0000

Hii…im malaysian and also national record holder for 1500m, im so inspired by Herb Elliott’s story was given me so much pride be a metric miler, not only about endurance but also the mental toughness and also planning racing strategies one of the most important mission for every distance runner.
Herb Elliott is one of the person who teaching us about, the important of mental toughness and to break the mental barrier to next level in metric mile.

By: Jan Triska

Jan Triska — Thu, 20 May 2021 13:11:02 +0000

When you’re the best in the world at a given sport, it is a truly small club – a club of one. And when it is in an endurance running (or solo rowing or cross country skiing or other solitary hard sport), the club gets very, very particular. It’s all about what training regime fits that outstanding individual, what makes them tick. In that sense, Herb Elliot was in a club of one, although with a great coach, some fierce competition in Australia and internationally, and likely a loyal hometown audience.

One can see parallels in other sports than distance running. When Tiger Woods swings the golf club, Sidney Crosby handles the puck or Serena Williams hits a hard shot from the baseline, they’re similarly focused and coming from a place most athletes can’t even envision – they’re at the top, sometimes way above the competition, and what they do is a product of intense training and ruthless pursuit of excellence, over years, decades.

By: Michael Beisty

Michael Beisty — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 07:11:02 +0000

I have an original copy of “The Golden Mile” and love its insights. Great comments by Herb on lifting heavier weights for upper body strength. A good guide to go by, esp for middle distance runners. A lot of guys lift light weights or don’t lift weights at all for upper body. A missing ingredient for many.

By: Robert Guthrie

Robert Guthrie — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 02:40:26 +0000

Years ago I read Herb Elliott’s “The Golden Mile,” later entitled “The Herb Elliott Story,” and found it very inspiring. Herb’s training was mostly off the running track and designed for the mental toughness and not the physical development. He declared that during a training run if he thought he gave-in one bit to pain and agony he’d deliberately run harder to punish himself more. He said regardless of right or wrong it was his attitude at the time. Elliott like mostly to train alone because just the thought of another person with him distracted his concentration. Every individual is different and his or her training should be designed in accordance to that difference. Whatever Herb Elliott did during training it worked for him enabling him, like heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano in boxing, to retire undefeated in the mile and 1500 meters.