Still Running (weakly). Issue 71

PAST – inspiration – “For some reason, Englishmen have always excelled at running that group of distances which come between the very short sprints and the very long races over two miles and upwards………… If we may be permitted to be patriotic, they are perfectly suited to the dogged British temperament which refuses to be hustled and doesn’t know when it is beaten; and that is probably why Britons have always been so good at them.”

So wrote Tommy Hampson, 1932 Olympic 800 gold medallist, in his 1935 book, Hints on Running and Race-Planning, which also includes a section devoted to Public Schools Sports, written by Sydney Wooderson, who would go on to set a world mile record of 4:06.4 in London’s Motspur Park in 1937.

I am indebted to Jan Thompson for sharing this book, which is, as they say, ‘very much of its time.’

PRESENT – perspiration – “That is the wail of a woman making history,” was one crew member’s description of Tara Dower’s despair towards the end of her ultimately successful attempt to set a new FKT (Fastest Known Time) on possibly the most coveted route, the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail, which runs from Maine to Georgia over some pretty rugged terrain. Dower eventually completed it in 40 days 18 hours and 6 minutes, taking 13 hours off the (male or female) record. It has been called the greatest endurance feat in history.

I don’t know about that. Even if we ignore other sports (Sarah Thomas swimming the channel four times non-stop, or Tadej Pogacar’s 100km breakaway to win the World Road Race after Giro and Tour triumphs this year), how do we compare Dower with, say, Zatopek’s Helsinki treble (5000, 10,000 and marathon Olympic golds), or El Guerrouj’s 3:26.00 1500 (still the world record from 1998), or Kipchoge’s 1:59:40, or Faith Kipyegon’s 3:49.04 1500, or Sifan Hassan’s bronze/bronze/gold in Paris this year, or Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25, still to my mind the greatest marathon by a woman (no ‘supershoes’ in 2003 – I know, I was there!), or Aleksandr Sorokin’s 198.598 miles in 24 hours (7:15 pace!), or Kilian Jornet’s 12 hours 52 minutes Bob Graham Round, or even the anonymous gentleman in Africa who ran 400 metres in 57 seconds, whilst wearing wellington boots and smoking a cigarette? Answers on a postcard please!

FUTURE – suggestion – Is the tempo run dead? That is the question being asked in the running press, in the light of Norwegian training methods (poster boy, Jakob Ingebrigtsen), which eschew the extended efforts and focus on shorter intervals.

It seems obvious to me that short intervals only train your bodily systems to run hard for limited periods, and that the practice that has the most bearing on your ability to run 5km, 10km and the half marathon faster, must demand longer discomfort!

A 5km runner looking to break 20 for the first time should attempt mile repeats at target pace or just under (6:30 working down to 6:00) and then try that for 1.5 and 2 miles. The 10km aspirant wanting to break 50 should work up to 3 or even 4 continuous miles at 8:00 or even 7:45. The sub-2 hour half wannabe should work on running 6 or 7 miles at 9s.

These sessions alone give us the physical training effect, the mental ability to hang on, and the emotional confidence to feel that one has a reasonable chance of achieving one’s goal come race day.