Still Running (weakly). Issue 138

PAST – inspiration – “I’m not interested in sport.  I’m interested in obsession,” said Swedish director Mai Zetterling in the 1973 film, Visions of Eight.

The film was a new kind of Olympic documentary, which had eight different directors choosing an aspect of the 1972 Munich games to chronicle.  Zetterling focused on the fairly extreme lifestyle choices and competition habits of the weightlifters.

Visions of Eight has recently come out on YouTube, and, if you are interested in sport in general and athletics in particular, it is, in my humble opinion, something you should consider watching.

The pieces range from John Schlesinger’s detailed account of Ron Hill’s preparation for and participation in the marathon, and Kon Ichikawa’s slow-motion breakdown of the 100 metres (won by Ukrainian-born Soviet Valeriy Borzov, who also won the 200), to Milos Forman’s humorous account of the decathlon and Michael Pfleghar’s focus on the women (including Ludmilla Tourischeva of the Soviet Union, overall gymnastics champ, on the uneven bars.)

I can remember those games better than any that has been staged since, and these films bring back all of the emotions that I felt then – anguish for my favourite athletes who failed, and glory for those who won gold.

Also, as they and I are now old, the film, as Philip Larkin has it in Sad Steps, “is a reminder of the strength and pain/ Of being young; that it can’t come again,/ But is for others undiminished somewhere.”

PRESENT – perspiration – In the light of current events, it is interesting to note that many of the more successful members of the 1972 Soviet athletics team were in fact born in Ukraine.  Valeriy Borzov was one of them.  He and Tourischeva got married in 1977, have a daughter, Tatyana, and live together in Kviv to this day.

Other Ukrainian 1972 Olympians included Anatoliy Bondarchuk (hammer gold) Faina Melnik (discus gold) Mykola Avilov (decathlon gold) and Yevgeniy Arzhanov (800 silver).  I always think that Bondarchuk is a great name for a hammer thrower.

Coming back to the present, among many results from last weekend, perhaps the most heartwarming was the news that Ukrainian 2024 Olympic high jump champion, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, competed in front of her home crowd for the first time in three years, clearing 2.03 in the Demyanyuk Memorial meeting in Lviv.

The event is named in honour of Oleksiy Demyanyuk, a Ukrainian high jumper and coach (1958-1999), who set the world’s best performance for 1981 of 2.33.

Mahuchikh commented after the meeting: “Why did I decide to start in Ukraine?  After almost four years of travelling back and forth, I missed home, so this year I am training at home.  That’s why I’m opening the season at home.  I will compete in the Ukrainian Championships in February.”

FUTURE – suggestion – 800-metre runner Arzhanov could run 10.4 for 100 metres and logged 100 miles a week in his build-up period – a dynamic combination of speed and endurance.

With the Christmas break now firmly behind us, it is time for us to get back to the three key weekly sessions that will develop that speed and endurance – and everything in between – to have a chance of hitting our personal best targets.  The three are the long run, the speed and hill work, and the tempo sessions.

The long run develops endurance; the speedwork and hill reps give you the leg speed and strength to make your pace running easier and more relaxed; and the tempo runs work directly on the speeds that you need to hit in your personal best races.

Long runs start at the length of your longest run in the last month and move towards 5 or 6 miles if you are targeting a 5km, 7 or 8 for a 10km, and 11 for a half marathon.  Pace can vary between conversational to less than a minute slower than your target speed.

Speedwork can be 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds jog, repeated 4, 6, 8 or 10 times.  Hill work should be up a moderate incline, with all-out efforts of 30 to 60 seconds, with a strict jog down recovery.

Tempo work is the most exacting.  For a 5km runner wanting to bring their PB down from 25 to 22 minutes (i.e. from 8 to 7 minute miles), this should start at 3 repeat miles in 7:30, working in various combinations to a point where efforts of 1.5 miles, one mile and half a mile can be performed at target pace (7-minute miles) with just a few minutes recovery.

For a half marathoner wanting to bring their 2:10 PB to under 2, the efforts would be longer.  If they were able to start at 4 miles at 10-minute miles (current PB pace), we would get them to progress to 2 separate 2 miles at 9s, to a session of 3 then 2 then 1 at 9, to 4 at 9, 2 at 8:30, and 1 at 8 – again with shorter recoveries as time and their body progresses.

And then we’ll all be able to log 100 miles a week, whilst running a 10.4 100!!