Still Running (weakly). Issue 132

PAST – inspiration – “Not impressed by 800 miles.  Could have run more.”  Ted Corbitt was talking about his training mileage for the month of January 1956!  Indeed, during his career, he ran up to 300 miles a week and 1,000 miles a month.  He would routinely run 20 miles in the morning, from his home in The Bronx to his office in downtown Manhattan, and often back again in the evening.

Corbitt was a true pioneer, venturing into ultradistance running when it was virtually unheard of in the US and experimenting on his own body with the effects of such mega mileage.  At various times, Corbitt held American records for 25 miles, the marathon, 40 miles, 50 miles and 100 miles.

He also came across the Atlantic to compete in races such as the London-to-Brighton and various track races of 50 miles, 100 miles and 24 hours.  He ran for the US in the 1952 Olympic marathon, becoming the first African American to represent his country in this way.

As a black man, Corbitt was also a pioneer for equality and inclusion.  He had joined the nation's first integrated – and aptly-named – running organisation, the New York Pioneer Club, in 1947.  But he often faced racism in being excluded from races and denied lodgings.  And, even though he was the co-founder and first president of the New York Road Runners and third President of The Road Runners Club of America, he was called the N-word while attending the latter organisation’s conference in the late 1960s in Boston. 

Corbitt, a quiet, thoughtful man, simply carried on working for runners’ rights over matters such as accurate course measurement and for black and women’s runners’ rights in a wider context.  He once said that the only development in running that gave him more pleasure than the growing number of female runners was, “Portable toilets!” 

He never gave up, completing his last ultradistance event by walking 68 miles in 24 hours in 2003 at the age of 84.  He died on 12th December 2007 at the age of 88.

PRESENT – perspiration – “You can’t argue with a 10-mile run.”  These were the words that Thommo heard in his head on a recent run on Dartmoor.  He had come to a fork in the tracks, where to go left would mean that he would run 8 miles, and to turn right would deliver 2 more.

When we trained together, I coined that mantra: “You can’t argue with a 10-mile run.”  I completed many days that were a lot longer and a lot tougher than a steady 10-miler, of course, but, on days where the miles did not come easily, I used to console myself with these words and invoke them in order to be satisfied with a run that nevertheless managed to struggle into double figures.

Thommo remembered those wise words – and went the right way.

Funnily enough, Grete Waitz (Olympic silver 1984, World gold 1983, 9-time New York City Marathon champion) used the reverse trick to get herself out of the door for her evening runs.  She would only do 9 miles on her morning runs before going to work as a teacher.  She knew that she would not be content with a single-digit day, so doing 9 would mean that she would have to get out for a second run – even in the darkness, ice and snow of a Norwegian winter’s evening.

FUTURE – suggestion – You can’t argue with an 800-mile month!

I think it is interesting to experiment with different types of training, and mega mileage, like Corbitt’s, is among the most obvious ways to go.  This is not necessarily contradicting what I said last week about prioritising quality over quantity – occasionally pushing the quantity can tell you new things about yourself.

When I was young and foolish, I would do the odd “Bear Day,” where I ran as much as I possibly could.  This might be a morning 6-miler, then a run of a similar distance to a 10-mile race, plus the run back, and finally another 6 miles that evening.  Around 34 miles for the day, but with a quality 10 in the middle.

At other times, I might run 3 separate – and reasonably fast – 10-12 milers in a day.

Training weekends were another matter.  Arriving on the Friday night at a hostel near the Merthyr Mawr sand-dunes in South Wales, I would run an easy 6 miles.  I’d repeat that on the Saturday morning, before heading to the dunes late-morning for a punishing resistance session.  A fry-up was not a good idea between those sessions!

Saturday afternoon would see an 8-miler followed by sprints and exercises in the sports hall.  Sunday would repeat the first two Saturday sessions of a steady 6 but with a cunningly different type of dunes session!

Dunes help you breathe less easily.

Of course, in experimenting in this way, one has to be careful.  Don’t do anything like this anywhere near an important race.  Only try something like this when you have built up your mileage, so that you are happy doing in two days what you will be attempting in one.  Do stop at the first sign of a niggle.  Do prioritise nutrition, hydration and recovery between the sessions.  And do try and recruit some company – I am sadly past it now, but you could always ask Thommo – for at least some of the slog!