Still Running (weakly). Issue 29

PAST – inspiration – “I train twice on Christmas Day because I know the others aren’t training at all. It gives me two extra days,” said the famously dedicated Daley Thompson. He was out fishing once, when he heard on the radio that West German decathlete Jurgen Hingsen had beaten his world record. Daley chucked his fishing gear in the river and went off to do more training!

He also reckons that today’s athletes aren’t as hard as those of his generation. In a recent interview, he gave the example of Dave Ottley, an Olympic silver medallist in the javelin, who trained under Thompson’s coach for a period in the 80s, and who once complained about his sore stomach muscles. His coach asked why his stomach was sore, and Ottley said it was ‘all those sit-ups’ that the coach was making him do. The coach had written, “Do 4-6×20 sit-ups,” (daily). Ottley had misread it as, do 46×20 sit-ups!

The point is, said Daley, that he did them without question.

PRESENT – perspiration – “It’s an insane diet.” Josh Kerr, our World 1,500m Champion, used to have a reputation for putting on weight during the winter. Like many boxers and some other sportspeople, such as Jan Ullrich the cyclist, Josh would bulk up over Christmas and then try and lose the pounds in the spring.

After his magnificent win over Jakob Ingebrigtsen this year, one of the differences he mentioned was his diet. He began working with a nutritionist and a chef in the build-up to the Worlds. This insane diet resulted in Kerr competing 10 pounds lighter than the year before.

So, by all means, enjoy your food and drink over Christmas, but try not to make it too hard to get back into shape in 2024.

FUTURE – suggestion – So, Steve, should I train on Christmas Day? If it’s going to interfere with family celebrations and just annoy people, then no. But if you can get out to a parkrun – and perhaps take relations with you to run, walk, volunteer or just drink coffee, thus making it part of your family Christmas Day, then that’s fine.

It might even be that your best chance is after Christmas lunch – if you can prise yourself off the sofa. In my teens, my parents, my aunt and I would have the traditional turkey and trimmings, and then collapse to watch the Queen’s broadcast. A couple of hours later, they would be asleep, and I would seize the opportunity to sneak out, run 10 miles and be back before they had woken up!