Still Running (weakly). Issue 174

PAST – inspiration – “I thought you were a mugger!”

In the dimly lit back alleys of Croydon, on a cold evening in January 1976, hearing footsteps come up behind him, this guy had every reason to be worried.  But he was Paul Nihill, Olympic race walker, and, when I finally caught up with him, I introduced myself.

I ran alongside him for a while and we chatted.  He was training hard to try and reach the Olympic Games in Montreal later that year.  His success in that quest would see him become the first British male athlete to go to four games, having won silver in the 50km walk in Tokyo 1964, collapsing in the heat of the Mexico City 50km in 1968, and coming 6th in the 20km and 9th in the 50km in Munich 1972.

He came 30th in Montreal, as Daniel Bautista of Mexico won gold in 1:24:40.6.

Nihill’s personal bests of 1:24:50 and 4:11:31 for 20km and 50km translate into less than 7-minute miles for the shorter distance, and just over 8-minute miles for the longer – respectable speeds for a club runner!  That 20km time stood as the world record from 1972 to 1976.

His best times for 3km (11:51.2) and 5km (20:14.2) also stood as world records in the early 1970s.  Nowadays, you could be first finisher at a parkrun with the latter time!

He also won the European 20km in 1969 and secured bronze in that event in 1971. 

But it is his training that I want to focus on finally.  He would combine the very casual with the very intense.  Wanting simply to cover 20 or 30 miles in a day’s session to build his endurance base, he would set out to try and walk up and down every street in Croydon – but at a very (for him) easy 6 miles an hour.

At other times, he would put himself through the most excruciating speed sessions.  Indeed, he once got Olympic gold medallist David Hemery to pace him to a 6-minute mile on Crystal Palace track – at a time when the world record was outside 6:10!

PRESENT – perspiration – Andreas Almgren of Sweden has undergone a very long rise to distance running greatness, having started with a bronze medal at 800 metres in the 2014 World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon. 

He suffered a string of injury setbacks between 2015 and 2022, forcing him to reinvent himself as a distance, rather than middle distance, runner.  Even so, he then had to endure a lot of fourth places, before winning a World bronze at 10,000 last year.

However, 2026 has seen him establish himself as the foremost distance runner in Europe with wins at 10,000 in European Championships in Birmingham in August and in the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September.  In the latter, he set a European record of 58:06.

His training is of course a major factor behind this success.  Two of the key build-up sessions to his major races are 3x3km with 3 minutes rest and 10x1km with 60 seconds recovery.  He has clocked 8:00, 7:52 and 7:43 for the first, and averaged 2:34 per kilo for the second!

FUTURE – suggestion – It’s a Tuesday afternoon in spring 1985.

It’s Tuesday so I know I’m going to run the full 11 miles home from work, with speedwork in the middle.  I’ll start at about 6:30; it’s 4 o’clock now, so I’ll have a pint of water and a banana.  And my mind will start to drift away from what I’m supposed to be doing for my employer!

6:30 comes.  Right – setting off from Marylebone in London, I run easily, southwards down to Marble Arch, going over Hyde Park.  I run through Sloane Square and, once I cross the Thames, I start my stride-outs – six efforts of 60 to 100 metres building up to almost an all-out sprint.

By the time I’ve finished these, I’ve reached Clapham Common and I’m relieved to be able to jog very slowly the half mile across the common to Clapham South tube station.  This is where the real work begins.

At the brick wall to the south of the station, I start running at about 5-minute miles for 2 minutes.  When I reach that point, I slow to about a 7-minute mile for another 2 minutes.  It’s vital that I don’t jog these intervals but keep them brisk.  I repeat this six times, turning left up Bedford Hill, crossing Tooting Bec Common before hitting Streatham.  2 minutes.  2 minutes.  2 minutes.

It is hard to keep the speed going – the faster efforts are at my limit, but the ‘floats’ in between are almost harder because they give me no real rest.  Six of each is the most I can manage – I know, I tried 8 last week and it killed me.

I finally finish the sixth fast effort along the flat stretch of pavement on the south side of Streatham Common.  Now I can jog and catch my breath.  I’ve averaged under 6-minute miles for 22 minutes going fast and not-quite-so-fast!  And I’ve reached slightly further than before – just by a lamppost or two – so that’s a great session.

But I still have four miles to go to get home.  This drags, but I allow myself to stop at last at the 7-ELEVEN in Thornton Heath to buy jacket potatoes, tortillas and beer.  I walk the half-mile home from there, soak in the bath, drink the beer, eat four huge jacket potatoes and fall asleep in front of the TV.

Over 40 years later, 6 times 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes float, remains the session I value the most.