Still Running (weakly). Issue 157

PAST – inspiration – “We are lucky today.  Last week, there were several inches of snow.  Of course, we still ran.”  In 1994, Rodolfo Gomez (a 2:09:12 marathoner, 6th in the 1980 Olympics, 2nd in New York the same year) was driving towards and talking about Xinantecatl (“Shee-nan-TEK-atl”), Mexico’s fourth-highest peak at over 15,000 feet, and the highest place in the world where elite runners train regularly.

By now a coach, Gomez’s current focus was on German Silva (New York winner in 1994 and 1995), who would run up and down the dormant volcano many times, sometimes jogging into the crater for further distance before bedding down in a hikers’ refuge, and at other times descending from the rim for a full marathon distance workout.

On other days, Silva and his compatriots would gather below Xinantecatl in the Desert of the Lions for speedwork.  A session of three 6,000 metre repeats at 4:10 per kilo pace, with four minutes rest, may not sound that much, but at 9,500 feet it was extremely punishing.

But it was the volcano itself and its almost mystical powers that, the runners believed, bestowed upon them the fabled endurance that enabled Mexicans to win the New York Marathon four times, the London Marathon three times and Chicago once in the 1990s. 

The trail snaking from 13,800 to 15,300 feet delivered extreme altitude.  Alongside that, you had the harsh and unpredictable climate, with balmy weather at the bottom giving way to thick fog, freezing winds and snow near the crater.  The paths were very rocky and uneven, making intense focus and great ankle strength essential attributes for the runners.

They also said that the mountain stripped the world to its rawest essentials, making running at sea level comparatively effortless.

PRESENT – perspiration – “How’s the training going for UTMB (Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc)?” I asked Don.

“Good,” he said.  “Yesterday, my schedule called for 1200 metres of vert (climbing), so I ran up and down Butser Hill eleven times.”

“Wow,” I said.  “But didn’t you get bored?”

“A bit.  Next week, it’s 1400, so I’ll have to go to Wales for that.”

Don is 75. 

It is not the session itself that I admire him for most – or that inspires me most; it’s the fact that he is so intent on completing the best possible workout, that he is prepared to drive 3 hours to Wales, do a 4-hour session, and then drive 3 hours back.

He knew that just going up and down Butser Hill 13 times, rather than 11, would not really cut the mustard, that he needed the longer continuous climbs to prepare himself optimally for the mountains around Chamonix.

FUTURE – suggestion – “I went off to New Zealand in a great state of mind,” said American Pete Pfitzinger of his training sojourn there in the winter of 1983-84.  It was there that he garnered the stamina, strength and speed to win the 1984 US Olympic Marathon Trials, beating Alberto Salazar.  He would come eleventh in the Olympic marathon that year.

John Brant summed up what Pfitz had gained down under rather nicely in a piece for Runners World: “Perhaps in the career of any serious athlete – or in the career of anyone who does anything seriously – there comes a game or race or series or season of absolute concentration and confidence, a time when the rhythms of the body coincide with the spirit, the place, the weather, and with the rhythms of those helping or opposing him.  Occasionally such times are witnessed by others, but most often they occur in private, to be noted only in a training log and reported only to a friend or lover in words woefully inadequate for the feeling.”

Sometimes it is vital to get that training environment right; at other times it doesn’t really seem to matter.  I remember an article about Peter Snell (1964 800 and 1500 golds) and Jim Ryun’s (1968 silver) clash in a mile in San Diego in 1965.  Whilst Ryun took advantage of the state-of-the-art facilities at his university track in Kansas, Snell “thundered through 20 quarters in 62 seconds on a stretch of road near his mother’s house in Auckland.”

Have a think about your training week.  It is probably the core sessions – the long run, the tempo, the speedwork – where you need to make sure that the environment is perfect – or as perfect as you can get it to give you the best chance of completing a successful workout.  For your easy shake-out runs, perhaps it doesn’t matter so much.

But where is your Xinantecatl, your Butser Hill, your Brecon Beacon?!