Still Running (weakly). Issue 126

PAST – inspiration – “The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare,” said Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania, Commonwealth marathon silver medallist in 1982 and New York City marathon winner in 1989.  At one time (1991), he held more sub-2:09 (six) and sub-2:10 (nine) marathon performances than any other runner in history.

Ikangaa became famous for the above advice, and it is easy to see why he felt justified in dispensing it.  He ran up to 220 miles a week: Sunday: 35 miles at 6:00 pace; M: am 12 mile, pm 13 miles; Tu: am 5 miles, pm 25x400 on track; W: am 5 miles, pm 20 miles; Th: am 3 mile warm up, 20 miles at around 5:00 pace, pm 10 miles; F: am 12 miles, pm 13 miles; Sa: am tempo run, pm 10 miles!

When not in Tanzania, he trained in southern Colorado at 8,000 feet altitude, over rolling hills, deliberately choosing to live in Alamosa, where the night life was almost non-existent, a monastic lifestyle that prompted his coach, Joe Vigil, to tell a story about the Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg.

“A hundred yards or so behind his home, he [Grieg] built a little hut.  When he started working, he would go live and compose there, not being bothered.  He was able to isolate himself with his music.

“And, in essence, that’s what runners are trying to do.  It is an art form, and, unless you isolate yourself to hear your own thoughts and hear the tune you are searching for, you cannot improve.”   

PRESENT – perspiration – I want to tell you a story about a friend and clubmate of mine called Don.  He is a 70-plus-year-old runner, and I coached him a while back.

Recently, he represented England in his age group at 10km and cross country, and Great Britain in the World Mountain Running Championships, where he came 10th. 

Unsurprisingly, he received our club’s Runner of the Year award.

In his acceptance speech, he said, “I especially want to pick out Steve Till for encouraging me to go for these international vests.  They mean so much to me.  I cannot thank him enough.”

I was surprised and very touched when I saw this online and, a few months later, I happened to be at the same parkrun as Don.

“I really appreciated what you said about me,” I said.

“Well, I meant it,” he said.

“But I only said a few words.”

“That’s all it took.”

All of which goes to show that it doesn’t take much to have a big impact!

I know how much my international vests mean to me, and, seeing how fast Don was for his age, I had merely suggested he consider doing the races that might qualify him for such representative honours.

And I would add, if YOU get the chance to represent your country, your area, your county or your club in a competition that is perhaps slightly more prestigious than you are used to, don’t think twice.  Grab that opportunity, because you never know where it might lead, and you may just look back, as Don did, in the years to come and recognise it as one of the running moments of which you are most proud.

FUTURE – suggestion – I’ve been asked for some speed sessions that could be performed during parkrun by runners of all standards.

The first that springs to mind would be a mile fast, a quarter jog, a half-mile fast, a quarter jog, half-mile fast, quarter jog, and the remainder (about 500 yards) fast.

Or you could just do 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes float for the duration of the course.  2 minutes, as you know, is my optimum speedwork interval – 1 minute being too short, and 3 minutes seeing the quality suffer – so 2 minutes it is.  The slower sections are floats, not jogs, so the 5km becomes a succession of repeated approximately mile pace intervals followed by half marathon pace.

You can of course do the 1- or 3-minute variations, if you really want to!

Then there’s 4x1k with a 333m jog or walk in between each.  Or 5x800 with a 250 jog or walk.  Or something more creative like 400/600/800/800/600/400 with about 280 jog/walks.

I would also recommend using the parkrun itself as a warmup, and proceeding from there to complete a speed or hill session.

That is what my friend and clubmate Don (the veteran mountain running international above) did last weekend, running the Queen Elizabeth parkrun as a (very hilly) warmup, and then crossing the A3 (there is a tunnel!) to use Butser Hill for his main session of long climbs!

He tried to get others to join him: he even temptingly advertised the session to us with “it’s never the same climb up” – but I doubt he got anyone to accompany him.  I mean, who wants to spend Saturday morning running up endless hills, all the while seeing a clubmate who’s twice your age disappearing into the distance?!