On THE Road WITH Scott

JUST GETTING GOING

Was I surprised to be offered the “On the Road” column in Marathon & Beyond? You could say that.

After all, Ihave yet to be named as a candidate to fill Doug Kurtis’s slot on the frequent-flier list. In 20 years of running, I’ ve completed five marathons. Only three of those did I try to race, the last in 1991. As for my “and beyond” qualifications, I dropped out of the one ultra I started, a 50-miler back in the early days of the Reagan presidency, when I drank too much apple juice and threw up at mile 27.

So, let’s just say when Johnny Kelley lies awake worrying about threats to his Boston Marathon frequency record, I’m not in his mind’s eye. But don’t stop reading just yet. Is itreally necessary to continually cook inthe crucible to comment knowingly on it? I would hope that a forecaster with the National Weather Service would have flown through the eye of ahurricane a few times, but wouldn’t demand that she hop in a plane every time the wind kicks up to be able to tell me if I need an umbrella. I would trust that with the right experience, she could note significant developments from afar. Such is my reasoning for thinking that I can fill the heady

May/June 1999

— sca

marathon shoes of this column’s progenitors, Kathrine Switzer and Roger Robinson.

It’s not like ?m completely green. I’ve written professionally about running since 1991. T’ve been in the enviable position of getting paid to cover such epic marathons as the windblown mass sprint of Boston ’94, the World Championships the following year, and the 1996 Olympics. I’ve watched and written about many of the smaller 26.2-milers, and as the former editor of Running Times, I count myself as pretty adept at checking running’s pulse, no heart rate monitor needed.

Oh, and have I mentioned that Bill Rodgers once slept in my bed?

STACEY CRAMP.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, MINUS THE GOOD

A fortune-cookie aphorism on my refrigerator reads, ““You have tasted the bitterness as well as the sweetness of coffee.” Take out the sweetness, and you’ve got my marathon

ON THE ROAD WITH SCOTT DOUGLAS m 7

racing history. At the risk of more self-indulgence than usual, I’d like to detail that history to buttress my nomination for inclusion in the marathonand-beyond brethren. Despite not sipping as frequently as some, I’ ve drunk deeply when Ihave indulged and have tasted all too well that bitterness that is part of the botched marathon. But I’ve been so close to savoring the distance’s sweetness that these tales of trial are tantalizing to me, not reasons for resignation.

My first marathon was a 170minute middle finger to my mother. It

senior year in high school. had been running for just more than two years and had been trying to work an extensive road-racing career around interscholastic meets for nearly as long. In those days, seemingly everyone was a competitive marathoner, and running magazines actually proposed hard training as the key to improved performance. Crazy times, huh?

Atthe beginning of my senior year, our coach pulled aside my best friends, Steve and Chris, and me to beg us to forego road races for the duration of cross-country season. If, for once, we would do what he wanted, he told us, we could win states. So we stuck to the grass, and I cut my weekly mileage to 50, with no run longer than 12 miles, to stay fresh for our schoolboy mudfests.

It didn’t work. On a Saturday in November, we placed fifth in the states. As if to recoup a fall of missed opportunities, the next morning, Steve

and I headed out for a local metric marathon (26.2 kilometers, or 16.3 miles). I averaged just over 6:00 pace to win the junior division by more than five minutes. The next day, coach said to me, as if he had hit upon some wholly original idea, “The Maryland Marathon is in two weeks. Why don’t yourunit?” (Never mind that the year before we had nearly come to fisticuffs over my desire to run that race.) It’s fair to say my mother wasn’t as thrilled with the idea as others. In an odd reversal of roles, she demanded that my coach write her a testimonial that her oh-so-fragile 17-year-old baby wouldn’t die from running 26.2 miles.

Despite my insatiable reading on the sport, I was not without a certain first-timer’s naiveté. This was the year that the Maryland Marathon eschewed its storied, hilly, out-and-back course for a bid in the era’s big-city marathon sweepstakes. A new course was laid out, starting at Harborplace, winding through Baltimore’s neighborhoods, and finishing indoors at what was then the Baltimore Civic Center. Inapanic, I called a marathon official and asked, given the indoor finish, where I would be able to cool down. She said, ““You don’t cool down after amarathon.” Isaid, “Maybe you don’t, but I cool down after all my races.” (I was already relishing recording the 30-mile day that warming up, running the marathon, and cooling down would give me.) With what in retrospect I recognize as incredible patience, she letme know thatifI wanted

May/June 1999

to cool down after running my first marathon, I should come find her. I was pleased with having gotten that last “T” crossed, because I knew that successful marathoning requires attention to details.

Unfortunately, it also requires a lot more specific training than I had been doing. A day unrocked by 30 miles-per-hour winds doesn’t hurt, either. I tucked into a group of guys who I usually placed near in shorter races and pretended that I knew that this was the pace I should be running. We went through six very windswept miles in just over 6:00 pace. I now knew this wasn’t the pace I should be running and let them go. By the eightmile mark, I was exhausted and wanted to drop out. But then I envisioned my mom nodding knowingly, saying to my dad, “I knew he wasn’t up for this.”

In the Hollywood version, thus inspired, I shake off my fatigue and dash to the finish. In the Baltimore version, however, I began the gradual slowing, accompanied by mounting despair, that awaits all undertrained and overly ambitious marathoners. Steve and Chris were watching near the 17-mile mark. I had visualized running strongly past them, flashing a thumbs-up and maybe overtaking a runner or two as my friends looked on. Instead, I slumped by and shot them a pleading look that meant I was about to enter a world of woe that we had only read about.

After passing 20 miles in 2:05, I “hid” behind a stop sign and relieved

Maylune 1999

myself. When I started running again, itwas over. [had simultaneously tightened irreversibly and run out of glycogen. Now, I told myself, you’re really a marathoner; finishing will mean that much more for having struggled so much. (Later Iread how the brain also runs low on sugar in these circumstances.) I trudged along, sometimes walking. Past 25 miles, the first woman passed me. Great initiation into how much finishing speed can matter in a marathon: she beat me by 43 seconds.

As I stumbled down the ramp of the Civic Center for the last 50 yards, Isaw that the clock at the other end of the artificial turf was nearing 2:50, which, at the time, was the fastest qualifying standard for Boston. Somehow, I gota fast-twitch fiber or two to fire and kicked to finish in 2:49:55. In the chute, Iremembered that I couldn’t run Boston until I was 18. Oh, well. I found my parents in the stands, smiled at my mom, and decided that I could probably get by without a cooldown.

WIND BLOWS

My next attempt came at the 1984 Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I had spent most of my sophomore year of college gearing for it—several runs over 18 miles, two track workouts a week, a midweek 14-miler for the previous five months. Every time I raced, I PRed, a spur to even harder training if ever there was one. In the month before, I

ran just over 5:15 pace for a hilly 8miler, then averaged 5:30s at a 15mile race the next weekend. (Where does one find such races these days?) I knew I could break 2:30 on a good day.

Again with the wind, though. Who would have thought that a March race along the Atlantic Ocean would be greeted by 35 mpH gusts?

Insuchcases, mature marathoners adjust their goals and hope to survive respectably. Sophomoric 19-yearolds in great shape, however, resolve to run pigheadedly do-or-die. I covered the first 10 miles, primarily into the wind, in 57:20, right on pace fora 2:30 finish.

This publication’s editor, Rich Benyo, has written that miles 10 to 15 can be the sweetest of the marathon. After 10 miles, the Virginia Beach course turned so that we were running parallel to the Atlantic, the wind at our backs. Sweet indeed. Holding back as best I could, I still covered the next 5 miles at 5:30 pace. I knew this was too fast on paper, but who knew what slower effort the miles were really worth? It was as if I had tricked the marathon, building up a cushion against that 5:45 goal pace without losing one bit of my precious glycogen capital.

Back into the wind, but still running strongly, I passed 20 miles in 1:54:40. [pumped a fist—two 10-mile splits of 57:20 each. I was alean, mean, even-pace running machine. While I would have to pick it up just a bit in the final 10K to dip under 2:30—and

doing so seemed unlikely—I was nonetheless psyched. How bad could it get? Even if you slow to 6:00 pace the rest of the way in, I told myself, you’ re still sub-2:32. Who among my friends, with their little mile races and 5Ks, had ever set an 18-minute PR? I bore down on the laboring runner a few hundred yards up the road. Pass him, and I’d be in 10″ place. All my hard work since September was bearing fruit. This was awesome!

Then someone flipped a switch.

In less than a minute, my spine felt as if it had collapsed, my feet left the road only with monumental effort, and the guy in 10″ place was looking admirably efficient. He didn’t appear that way for long, though, as he was soon out of sight, out of mind. I tried to relax and rally, dropping my arms to shake them out. Temporary lull, I tried to delude myself. (Yeah, and if I could just get my arms to feel looser, all my problems would go away. It’s amazing what we grasp at in post-Wall desperation.) No go. I was back on the streets of Baltimore more than two years earlier, my 125 pounds being swatted around by unjust winds, my legs sinking farther into the earth with every step. This cup was not going to pass until I reached the finish.

With arepeat of the debut’s scuttleuntil-I-can’t-take-it-anymore-thenwalk ambulation, I cranked out a final 10K of 49:06 to finish in 2:43:46. Sure, still a PR by more than six minutes, but come on—S:45 pace for the first 20, then 8:00 pace? Pitiful.

May/June 1999

Next time, I swore, I would get it right.

A BIG GAMBLE

Owing to focusing on lowering my PRs at shorter distances, the next time didn’t occur until the Atlantic City

interim, high school chum Chris had progressed to a 2:17 PR. As we had always had similar tastes in such essentials as beers and bands, I decided I could do worse than copying his training methods. Nothing too extraordinary in most cases—your standard long run and two track sessions each week. The kicker was that on most other days, I got off work and headed out for 14 or 15 miles. Running 100 miles a week on one run a day—what could help my marathon fortunes more? It certainly seemed to be working for shorter races. Six weeks before Atlantic City, I broke 31:00 for 10K for the first time; with four weeks to go, I ran a 1:08 halfmarathon PR on ahilly course. A 2:23 or 2:24 looked in the cards.

Now, I like to think that I’m smarter than the average bear. For counterargument, though, youneedn’t look farther than my marathon venue selections. You guessed it—yet again with the wind. During the night before the race, a hurricane had moved in over the Atlantic coast. As [jogged a 10-minute warm-up on the boardwalk, an Echo and the Bunnymen song I had heard the day before went

May/June 1999

through my mind. The normal rules do not apply/And mine is not to reason why. Use your fitness to win the race (and $500), I told myself; time doesn’t mean a thing today.

The course that year was an outand-back route, starting on the boardwalk. The wind would be at our backs to halfway, then against us coming home. Fine, I figured. I could easily keep pace with whomever the leaders were until halfway, leech off of them into the wind, and make a break with a few miles to go, when they’d least expect it. I might as well go collect my check now.

After the usual ill-informed mad dashes of the first mile, the field sorted out. I went through the mile in 5:28 with a large, pale, strong runner in tow. Ahead of us was just one other, a gangly guy at least four inches taller than I. What a perfect pair of windshields I had lucked upon for the return run, assuming they could stick with me that long. The three of us convened past the three-mile mark.

Running fast will probably never again feel as easy as it did those next several miles. We were running right around 5:20 pace, not too much faster than what I thought I could run under normal conditions, but with the tail end of a hurricane pushing us along. Occasionally, I would let out a laugh at the mile markers, mocking the ease with which we had just run a 5:18.

The gangly guy started getting encouragement from spectators. (Who were these maniacs watching a marathon in the wind and rain?) After

a few yells for “Chuck,” it hit me— the gangly guy was the defending champ, who had run 2:19 at Boston the previous spring. Yeah, it was looking like he would be able to stick with me for a while.

“Are you Chuck Crabb?” I asked to break the silence. We exchanged greetings, head shakes about the weather, and so on. I motioned to the pale guy who was still with us. “Is he the world’s fastest mute or something?” Chuck said that he was a Pole who had been winning a lot of races in the area and that he didn’t think the guy spoke English. To test the theory, Isaid, “Boy, that Pope sure does suck, doesn’t he?” No reaction. He was either not an English speaker or not a Catholic.

We reached halfway in just over 1:10 and turned around. The wind was unbelievable. At times, one cheek would billow out like a tent flapping in the, well, wind. I did a form check to make sure I was running as relaxed as possible. As I looked down at my feet, checked that my wrists were slicing near my waist and so on, it suddenly got even windier. I looked up and saw that Chuck and the Pole had spurted away. Insanity! Chuck had surged, the Pole had gone with him, and there I was looking at my Asics. I nearly sprinted—or whatever you want to call flailing away in the face of stop-in-your-tracks gusts—but couldn’t catch them. Like a cyclist dropped from the pack, I was working as hard as they were but falling farther and farther behind.

I reached 20 miles in 1:52:16. I could still see Chuck but not the Pole, who had forged ahead. If you run 40 minutes for the last 10K, I told myself, that’s 2:32. That’s all it will take to win today. That’s only 6:25 pace, a training run. Be patient, and they’ ll come back to you.

Ithalf worked—I passed the Pole, who was walking, after 23. He tried to go with me but resumed walking after a couple hundred yards.

Trouble was, so did I. Chuck had long ago disappeared over the horizon. In the 21‘ mile, that evil switchflipper had reappeared in my life, and I knew Id be dancing my personalized survival shuffle to the finish.

Five miserable miles, a straight shot to the finish into a near-hurricane. Runners started passing me. I crawled to the blessed finish line 7″ in 2:46:26 to learn that Chuck had won in 2:32.

Talk about the bitterness of the marathon—averaging 5:37 pace for the first 20, thinking you’re going to win, then slowing by more than three minutes per mile for the last 10K and unable to do a damned thing about it. If a reader out there has experienced amore dramatic shutdown, I’dlike to hear about it.

KEEP HOPE ALIVE

Call me a masochist, but this slim yet horrifying history wants me to have the marathon play an increasing role in my future. Pll turn 35 while this

May/June 1999

issue is current. I’ll probably never again break 31:00 for 10K, and Ihave a hard time knowing how to set goals for distances at which my PRs seem increasingly unapproachable. But the marathon. .. . Of course I can still get under—well under, thank you—that relatively lame 2:43 mark. And ultras? Are you kidding? You don’teven run training pace. How hard can they be, especially now that [know to keep a safe distance from apple juice?

I do need to figure out why I’ve always crashed so hard after 20. It can’t help that I sweat more than anybody in the world. Finding aday when the wind is in the single digits would be a nice touch, too. But therein lies the challenge—and the appeal.

In his farewell column in the New York Times, Russell Baker wrote,

“Columnists’ tendency to spend their time with life’s winners and to lead lives of isolation from the less dazzling American realities makes it too easy for us sometimes to solve the nation’s problems in 700 words.” This can never be the case for running columnists, who daily deal with the same hopes and frustrations of our readers. In future columns, I’ll put aside the woe-is-me sagas of the past to look at today’s quickly evolving marathon scene. Think of me as the newest member of your training group who, ona good day, just might be able to add a twist to your long-run conversations. I’m looking forward to our run together.

Scott Douglas can be reached at scottdouglas @ mindspring.com.

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ON THE ROAD WITH SCOTT DOUGLAS @

A “Velvet” Marathon ina City Fantastic

Much of What Goes Down in the Czech Republic Began in a Pub. So, Too, Prague’s Marathon.

‘VLADIMIR WEISS.

L IKE MANY great ideas that originated in the Czech Republic, the Prague International Marathon was born ina pub. One

Italian husband and wife, Carlo Capalbo and Maria Vittoria Mastrostefano, decided to go to Cibulka, a cozy, neighborhood pub, to partake in the national pastime (no, not baseball) with a few friends.

After a Pilsner Urquell or two, Mastrostefano suggested the wild idea of organizing a marathon in

Prague International Marathon runners pass by the Estates Theater, a spectacular opera house where Mozart once conducted.

Prague—an idea that had been growing in the back of her mind since the previous May, when she’d run in one of the huge Stramilano races in Italy.

Her suggestion was met with something less than unbridled enthusiasm. “Most of the people there thought she was either joking or completely crazy,” recalls her husband. “But the more I thought about the idea, the more I liked it.”

PRAGUE—AN ARCHITECT’S DELIGHT

What charmed Capalbo, now the president of the Prague International Marathon, was the remarkable potential the city held for hosting such an event.

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is a breathtakingly beautiful city.

Although the marathon is new, Prague itself is anything but. In fact, it’s ancient, with portions of the city dating back to the 900s. That’s right, to the last millennium!

The city is a majestic blend of gothic, renaissance, and baroque styles of architecture, not to mention the more than 100 spectacular spires that puncture the skyline. From almost any angle, this city leaves visitors staring in amazement.

“It really is a fantastic city,” says Mastrostefano, now the general manager of the marathon. “It’s no wonder so many tourists come here. Prague is a unique city in the world, like Venice.”

There is certainly no shortage of tourists. A hundred million people visit Prague each year. Part of this influx can be attributed to the fact that the former Czechoslovakia was a communist country for over 40 years and basically off limits to Westerners; the city is desirable partly because it was forbidden for so long. Communism fell in the Czech lands during the Velvet Revolution in

fully—into two separate countries on January 1, 1993.

But the more powerful draws for tourists are that Prague is one of the most architecturally unspoiled cities in Europe, is very inexpensive, and offers a wealth of cultural activities. The one bright side of allowing the Nazis to occupy the country through World War II is that hardly any of Prague’s buildings or bridges were damaged, whereas at least parts of most other European capitals were leveled. The city’s history is readily apparent to a visitor. A stroll—or a marathon, for that matter—around the city today takes you past many magnificent structures that looked the same way hundreds of years ago.

Aside from the sheer splendor of Prague, Capalbo and Mastrostefano felt that the Czech Republic was a good place to organize a marathon because of the country’s rich sports tradition. Although the sports of choice are hockey,

Marathoners running in the 1998 edition exit the famous Charles Bridge.

tennis, and soccer, one of the most famous Czech sports figures of all time is the legendary longdistance runner Emil Zatopek, who won four Olympic gold medals and set a record in the 1952 Olympic Marathon. Thanks to Zatopek, most Czechs know what a marathonis. Capalbo and Mastrostefano wasted no time in naming Zatopek as a patron of the Prague International Marathon. Zatopek, for his part, was more than happy to once again promote running in his country. At 76 years old, he remains an active patron of the event today.

MARTIN MALY

“IT’S AMAZING WHAT WE DID”

After much cajoling, persuading, and pleading—with both city officials and sponsors—the inaugural Prague International Marathon was held on June 4, 1995. (Marathons had been organized in Prague before, but none had ever become firmly established.) “It’s absolutely amazing what we did,” says Capalbo, who has an MBA from Berkeley and formerly headed WordPerfect’s Southern Europe division. “Having to deal with a bureaucracy still making the transition from communism was… extremely frustrating. And the sponsors. Oh, my! No one really believed we would succeed, so I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get sponsors. I sold the Prague Marathon ’til I was blue in the face. Luckily, I’ve always believed in our product.”

These days almost everyone believes in the product, city officials and sponsors included. But back in 1995, not even sport journalists thought the event would survive. The “expert” predictions were that a total of between 700 and 800 runners would turn up for either the full-length marathon or one of the two fun runs (9.2K and 4.5K). The pundits must have been quite surprised when nearly 15,000 participants (980 of whom ran the marathon) showed up for the inaugural event.

Handling the logistics for such a large first-time endeavor could have been problematic, but the worldwide running community ensured that it wasn’t. Francesco Alzati, the president of the Stramilano races, and his logistical team were instrumental in setting up the technical systems for the event. And several other marathons offered guidance and advice.

“We owe a lot to everyone who helped us to get started,” acknowledges Mastrostefano. “Especially Francesco and his guys. Without their help, it would’ ve been impossible to get the Prague Marathon off the ground.”

Also aiding the cause were the event’s glossy marathon magazine and the Prague International Marathon Center. The magazine, a high-quality, full-color publication, helped the organization get its message out to runners worldwide and the local community. The Marathon Center, a huge tent set up on Prague’s main thoroughfare, Wenceslas Square, served as both a registration point for the runners and a venue for sponsors to display and sell their products and services. The center has subsequently blossomed into a large prerace expo.

“We carefully studied other marathons and tried to implement their best ideas,” says Capalbo.

One of the best ideas for the 1996 Prague International Marathon was signing up Gelindo Bordin as race director. Bordin, the 1988 Olympic marathon gold medalist, brought major name recognition to the event as well as a thorough understanding of organizing marathons and soliciting elite athletes. In Capalbo’s words, Bordin’s involvement brought the Prague International Marathon “to the next level.”

For Bordin, who continues today as the race director, the benefits are mutual. “I’m in love with Prague,” he says. “So any chance to spend time there and be involved with a marathon is something I’m interested in.” Bordin, who spends most of his time working for Fila, is in Prague for about one week per month.

THE COURSE

The Prague International Marathon course has changed a bit over the years, mostly in an effort to make it as fast as possible by rerouting to avoid some of

Don Mogelefsky A “VELVET” MARATHON IN A CITY FANTASTIC > 17

the city’s cobblestone streets (which seems to have worked: Elijah Lagat of Kenya set a men’s race record of 2:08:52 in 1998).

The current course of the full-length marathon starts and ends on Old Town Square, Prague’s 15′-century main square that features a stunning panorama of multihued buildings of every architectural type. The race passes through the city’s historical center (listed in the UNESCO Register of World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites) before crossing the world-famous 14′-century Charles Bridge and passing the equally famous Prague Castle (the largest ancient castle in the world).

The marathon then heads out of town on the Strakonicka Highway and becomes an out-and-back course. The highway itself provides for a transcendentally peaceful running experience.

The fun runs, which include the 9K City Run and the 4.5K Family Run, start on Wenceslas Square and end on Old Town Square. Both races run around the city’s historical center.

MARTIN MALY

Elijah Lagat sets a race record of 2:08:52 in the 1998 Prague International Marathon.

Run in the Land of Emil Zatopek

Although it may be too late to sign up for and run the Prague International Marathon this year, it’s not too early to begin planning for 2000. Here’s your contact information: Prague International Marathon, Zahoranskeho 3, 120 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic; phone: 011-4202-2491-9209 or 0114202-296-517, fax: 01 1-4202-298-197, e-mail: marathon@pim.cz; website: http://www.pim.cz.

ARRIVING ON THE WORLD MARATHON SCENE

Incredibly, the number of participants in the Prague International Marathon doubled in its second year to 30,000, which is the maximum safety limit for the event.

Following that tremendous growth, in 1997 and 1998 the organization placed special emphasis on streamlining its operation and building up the full-length marathon. “Because the marathon is our centerpiece and most important project, we continually try to make it as good as it can possibly be,” says Capalbo. “Things change, technology changes. Our goal is to always be on the cutting edge.”

In keeping with that goal, in 1997 the Prague International Marathon created a website (www.pim.cz) to spread information about the marathon and provide a cyber location to netcast the marathon live (i.e., to show the live TV broadcast by Czech Television on the Internet). The netcast of the 1998 event was surprisingly popular, and the same is planned for the next marathon, on May 23, 1999.

A total of 2,520 runners representing 43 countries started the full-length marathon in 1998; 2,227 finished. Television footage of the event was shown on more than 150 TV stations around the world, and more than 170 newspapers and magazines ran stories about the marathon.

Advertising for the 1998 Prague International Marathon appeared in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Norway, Holland, and throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?

Although the global reach of the Prague International Marathon may seem impressive, Capalbo isn’t yet satisfied. “I can sum up what we still need to do in three words: promote, promote, promote.” Capalbo’s feeling is that once

Don Mogelefsky A “VELVET” MARATHON IN A CITY FANTASTIC M19

4 gurotel

IN NGOIE

‘COURTESY OF THE PRAGUE INTERNATIONAL MARATHON

Prague marathoners pass through one of the city’s many parks.

runners have heard about the Prague International Marathon, they won’t be able to resist coming to run in it.

Perhaps he’s right. Either way, the Prague International Marathon is now on a worldwide mission to reach as many potential participants as possible. Of course, that you’re reading this article right now bodes pretty well for the mission.

“We’d like to get the numbers up to about 7,000 for the marathon,” says Mastrostefano. “If we can reach that number, I think we’ ve done a good job.”

And then what? “Maybe then we’ ll all go back to Cibulka, and I’ll come up with another idea that nobody likes.” Bs

M&B Staff on the Road

We enjoyed meeting many M&B subscribers—and welcoming many NEW ones— at the Houston, Las Vegas, Napa Valley, and Shamrock Sportsfest marathon expos in January, February, and March. Here is a list of upcoming expos we’ Il be attending over the next few months. If you’ re running any of these races, please stop by our booth.

© Boston Marathon Sports & Fitness Expo: April 17 and 18

¢ Flying Pig Marathon Health & Fitness Expo: May 7 and 8

* Madison Marathon Health & Fitness Expo: May 28 and 29

* Grandma’s Marathon Health & Fitness Expo: June 18

* Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run: June 26 and 27

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A By-the-Book Approach to the | Marathon

SAA ERS Improve Your Performance with a Physiology-Based Program.

T HE MARATHON is the most respected and most analyzed race in running. Unfortunately, much of what has been written about the marathon is based on folk wisdom rather than what decades of research in exercise science have told us about the physiological demands of the race. Yet the physiology of the event is straightforward—the marathon is a test of stamina, even when your confidence at the distance has increased to where you’ re trying to shave seconds from your personal best. If you’re motivated enough to follow the training schedules in this article, you’ ll improve your marathon time and the consistency of your performances. Let’s start by taking a look at the demands of the race and, therefore, what type of training best improves your ability to meet these demands.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE MARATHON

The marathon requires lots of pure endurance, the ability to store a large quantity of glycogen in your muscles, and a high lactate threshold. With the right balance of training, your body will adapt and improve in all these attributes. Pure endurance is your ability to run for a long time without having to slow to ajog. Two of the main adaptations to pure endurance training are increased capillary density and increased ability to use free fatty acids—that is, to burn more fat relative to carbohydrate at a given running speed. The result is that glycogen, the stored form of carbohydrates in your muscles, is spared. This permits you to run farther before depleting your stores. This is important in the marathon because glycogen availability is a limiting factor in performance.

Another important adaptation to pure endurance training is increased glycogen storage. Long runs deplete your glycogen stores, providing a stimulus for your muscles to store more glycogen. By increasing the distance of your long runs and, secondarily, your weekly mileage, you gradually increase the capacity of your muscles to store glycogen. Because of the risk of injury, you shouldn’t increase your long runs or mileage too quickly. The schedules in this article (see pages 30-35) increase the long runs and weekly mileage according to an aggressive yet achievable progression.

The ability to improve on marathon performances also requires a high lactate threshold, meaning that lactate (a byproduct of aerobic metabolism) doesn’t start to accumulate in your muscles and blood until you reach a high percentage of your VO,max (your muscles’ ability to use the oxygen that you breathe in). You can increase the percentage of your VO,max at which your lactate threshold occurs by designing your training specifically to stimulate this adaptation. With a properly designed schedule, you can achieve increases in lactate threshold for many years. This is good news for veteran marathoners— your years of running have probably boosted your VO,max by about as much as it’s going to improve, but well-designed lactate-threshold training can allow you to run at an increasingly high percentage of that max before having to slow significantly.

The training schedules in this article provide a powerful stimulus to improve your pure endurance, your muscles’ capacity to store glycogen, and your lactate threshold, thereby improving your performance in the marathon. These adaptations, although predictable, occur over time. Marathoners aren’t made overnight. Runners become marathoners with intelligent and consistent training.

SELECTING YOUR GOAL PACE

If you’ ve run a marathon before, you know roughly what your finish time will be. Setting realistic goals for your next marathon can help keep you motivated during training. Your goal should be challenging yet achievable.

If you’ ve never raced at this distance before, you can estimate your marathon time by converting your racing times from other distances. “The Road to the Marathon” on the next page presents conversion factors from other standard road-race distances to the marathon for experienced marathoners. To use the table, convert your time at one of the shorter races into seconds, then multiply that figure by the appropriate number to get your estimated marathon time (again, in seconds). For example, if your 10-mile time is 65:00, that converts to 3,900 seconds. Multiply 3,900 by 2.82 to get 10,998 seconds, or 183.3 minutes, for an estimated marathon time of 3:03:18.

Pfitzinger & Douglas A BY-THE-BOOK APPROACH TO THE MARATHON & 23

The Road to the Marathon

Marathon 8k . 5.99 10K 4.76

15K 3.07 10 miles 2.82 20K . 225 Half-marathon 212

Be warned, however, that predicting marathon times is more art than science. There’s great variability between runners in the ability to move up in distance; runners with equal 10K times aren’t equally adept at the marathon. For example, my coauthor Pete Pfitzinger, whose 10K PR is 28:24, used to train with a runner named Ken Halla, whose 10K PR is 28:35. Pete’s best marathon is 2:11:43, while Ken never broke 2:20 during his career. And if you’re running your first marathon, these conversions will be too aggressive. It’s better to err on the side of caution when running your first marathon.

TRAINING FOR THE MARATHON

This article includes schedules for runners who typically train (a) fewer than 40 miles per week, (b) 40 to 60 miles per week, and (c) more than 60 miles per week. Which schedule you follow is up to you, based on the amount of time you want to commit to the marathon, as well as to how well your body traditionally holds up to the demands of weekly mileage. Regardless, all of the schedules are based on the physiological demands of the marathon. Your racing objective is to maintain as fast a pace as you can for 26.2 miles. Achieving this objective requires improving your pure endurance, your muscles’ capacity to store glycogen, and your lactate threshold so that you slow as little as possible during the race.

The marathon schedules were developed according to the priorities shown in “Shifting Priorities.” Pure endurance training and lactate-threshold training are most important for the marathon, followed by VO,max training, then basic speed. The schedules assume that you’ re starting with a basic level of fitness and can comfortably complete the first week of the schedule that you’ ve chosen to follow. During the 18 weeks of the marathon schedules, the top priority gradually shifts from pure endurance training to lactate-threshold training.

Shifting Priorities

Priorities for marathon training, in order of importance during the schedule

First 12 weeks Last 6 weeks Basic speed 4 4 VO,max 3 3 Lactate threshold 2 1 Pure endurance 1 2

THE SCHEDULES EXPLAINED

The training schedules are 18 weeks long, which is enough time to provide a strong stimulus to improve your marathon performance. Eighteen weeks is a long time to prepare for one race. If you’re not used to training for a specific goal, you may find it difficult to stay focused on your goal race. The marathon, however, requires your respect; it’s worth an 18-week investment in hard work to improve your marathon performance.

The schedules are organized vertically by the number of weeks until the race, so that your goal race is always your reference point. By looking down any of the columns, you can see how the workouts progress during the 18 weeks for that type of training.

The schedules are also organized horizontally, so that you can view the key workouts for the week. In this way, you can see the types of training stimuli being emphasized that week. You can also see that you don’t have to do too much in any week. The schedules don’t recommend which days of the week to do which workout because that depends on other schedules in your life.

The exception is during the last three weeks. Because of the importance of tapering—reducing mileage and intensity to prepare your body for a peak effort—before a marathon, the schedules give a day-by-day guide to maximizing the effectiveness of the taper.

Longest Run

The schedules gradually increase your long run to help prepare you for the allimportant endurance component of the race. For runners training more than 60 miles per week, the long run starts at 15 miles and increases to 22 miles. For runners training fewer than 40 miles per week, the long run starts at 11 miles and increases to 20 miles. Although this is a substantial increase in the first 14

weeks of the schedules, it’s important physiologically and psychologically to complete a 20-mile run before running a marathon.

An important note: long runs aren’t jogs. To stimulate the physiological adaptations that are crucial to marathon success, such as increased capillary density and increased glycogen storage, do your long runs 0:45 to1:30 per mile slower than your marathon race pace. A good way to go about your long runs is to start at the slower end of that scale and gradually increase the pace so that you run the last several miles at the faster end. It’s important to finish your long runs at a strong pace, because this is when you’ re providing the greatest stimulus to increase glycogen storage. (Sorry, no walking breaks allowed!)

Second Longest Run

The purpose of the second longest run is to reinforce the training adaptations of the long runs. These runs increase in distance in a similar pattern to, and should be run at a similar pace to, your long runs.

Schedule C (the highest-mileage schedule) includes a special workout six weeks before the marathon.This is a 14-mile run in which you run the last 2 miles at half-marathon race pace, preferably on an accurately measured stretch of road or on a track. This workout increases your ability to finish your marathon strongly.

Lactate-Threshold (LT) Workouts

The workouts in this column include tempo runs, LT intervals, and tune-up races. Tempo runs are continuous runs of 20 to 40 minutes at lactate-threshold pace. Lactate-threshold pace is approximately your 15K to half-marathon race pace. For these workouts, warm up for about two miles, run the tempo run at lactate-threshold pace, and then cool down for a mile or two. Run LT intervals at the same pace as tempo runs but instead of one continuous run, break up the distance into two to four segments, with several minutes of slow running after each.

Tune-up races are more intense than tempo runs or LT intervals. These are competitions that you enter as part of your buildup. During the 18 weeks, the lactate-threshold workouts progress from LT intervals to tempo runs to tuneup races. This sequence builds to a close simulation of the demands of the marathon. Lactate-threshold workouts will also help you prepare mentally for the marathon.

VO, max Workouts

These workouts are intervals of 600 meters to 2,000 meters. You can run these workouts on a track, golf course, grass fields, trails, or uphill. The greatest

stimulus to improve VO,max is to train at an intensity that requires 95 to 100 percent of your current VO,max . This corresponds to about your 3K to 5K race pace. Recover by running slowly for a time that lasts 50 to 90 percent of the duration of the interval. (For example, follow a 1,200-meter repeat of 4:30 with a recovery jog of 2:15 to about 3:00, roughly a lap of a track.)

Basic Speed

These workouts will improve your leg turnover. Accelerate to close to top speed and hold that speed for the rest of the 100-meter stretch. Also known as striders, these runs will help to smooth out your form, which can help to make you a more efficient runner at all paces. Striders will also help you to maintain your basic leg speed for shorter races.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

As an example of how to structure the week’s training, look at 12 weeks to go on Schedule B (40 to 60 miles per week). The schedule for that week includes three workouts. Add easy recovery runs to reach the total of 50 miles for the week.

A typical way to complete this week’s training is to do the longest run on Sunday, followed by a day off on Monday. Tuesday could be a recovery day consisting of an easy 6 miles. Wednesday would be time fora hard session, such as the LT intervals. Thursday’s run could be 5 miles, followed by the second longest run on Friday. The week could end with an easy 4-miler on Saturday. You would complete the 50 miles in six days of running, with the workouts evenly spaced throughout the week.

Avoid doing important workouts on consecutive days. If your personal schedule requires that you do most of your hard running on the weekends, try to follow the two hard days with two easy days for recovery.

If you miss an important workout, don’t try to make it up. If injury, fatigue, bad weather, or the demands from the rest of your life put you behind schedule early in the week, don’t run several hard sessions in a row to make up for lost time. Doing so will reduce the quality of your workouts, and you’ll increase your risk of injury.

Instead, use the priorities outlined in “Shifting Priorities” to determine the most important sessions for where you are in the schedule. Say you’ re following Schedule B and with seven weeks to go you can fit in only two important workouts. According to “Shifting Priorities,” your top training priorities among the workouts scheduled for that week are developing your pure endurance and lactate threshold. Therefore, you would do the 15-miler listed as the week’s

Pfitzinger & Douglas |©§ ABY-THE-BOOK APPROACH TO THE MARATHON ® 27

longest run on one day and the 6-mile tempo run listed as the week’s lactatethreshold workout on another day.

Last Three Weeks

Tapering for the three weeks before your marathon will maximize the benefits of your training. Because many runners overdo it during this crucial period, the schedules give daily workouts rather than weekly goals for this time. Here are some general guidelines to flesh out the schedules.

In the week that ends two weeks before your marathon, you should run about 80 percent of your peak mileage. This is the week in which many marathoners do too much. Unfortunately, if you overtrain during this week, it’s hard to recover adequately before your marathon. The last long run, done two weeks before the marathon, strikes a balance between being long enough to remind you that you’re a marathoner and short enough not to interfere with tapering.

In the week that ends one week before your marathon, you should run about 60 percent of your peak mileage. The 11- to 13-miler done with a week to go is the last piece of distance work. It will remind your mind and body that you’ re well trained. By now, you will be starting to feel smooth and powerful.

During the last six days before your marathon, you should run about onethird of your peak mileage. For example, Schedule B runners who peaked at 60 miles should run 20 miles between Monday and Saturday before the marathon. During this last week, try to run at approximately the same time of day you will run the marathon. The human body likes routine. It programs itself to run at the same time each day. By training at the time of day when you will run the marathon, you can help prepare your digestive system, your energy systems, and even your mental energy to operate at peak efficiency for the race.

Wednesday’s workout is your secret weapon—the dress rehearsal for the marathon. Put on your racing gear, shoes and all. Warm up for 10 to 20 minutes, run two to three miles at marathon race pace, then cool down for 10 to 15 minutes. This run helps shake loose your mental and physical cobwebs. Most marathoners find this session to be a great confidence booster. During this run, you should feel light on your feet and ready for the marathon. If you notice any muscle tightness or general fatigue, you still have time to get a massage and rest.

During the last three days before the marathon you should increase your complex-carbohydrate intake. You should drink a lot of liquid during this time but stay away from alcohol and caffeine, which are diuretics that will dehydrate you.

For the Mileage Maniacs

Runners following Schedule C who want to do more than the weekly mileage listed in the schedule should follow the trend in mileage outlined and simply adjust their mileage upward as a percentage of the prescribed mileage. For example, say that you want to reach a peak mileage of 100 per week; this would occur with five weeks to go. As noted in Schedule C, with one week to go, you should be at roughly 60 percent of your peak, or 60 miles (100 X 60 percent). Follow this principle throughout the program to build your mileage in the first part of the schedule and taper as you approach your marathon.

RACING STRATEGY AND MENTAL APPROACH

Marathon running is a gamble. As the last four Olympic marathons have shown, even the best marathoners in the world can’t be certain of consistently top performances. But even though it’s impossible to guarantee success in the marathon, you can tilt the odds in your favor with the right preparation. You do much of this preparation before you reach the starting line. Attention to details in the last few days before the race, such as carbohydrate loading, hydration, and tapering, increases your likelihood of success.

During the marathon, the most effective racing strategy is simple: be patient. For every minute you gain through exuberance in the first half of the race, you usually hand back several during the second. How can you minimize both your finishing time and your chances of blowing up? Realize that the most efficient way to use your body’s energy supply is to run close to an even pace. By holding back during the early miles, you’ll conserve your glycogen reserves for later in the race.

The most effective mental approach for the marathon is also simple. During the first half, run comfortably and prepare mentally for the second half. Whether you aspire to a 2:10 marathon or a 4:10, it’s wise to shepherd your resources for the second half of the race. That requires discipline during the early miles, when your legs feel fresh and the pace feels slow. Be assured that you’ ll need your mental energy for the last miles of the race, when your muscles will complain and your legs rebel. Even if your powers of concentration are exceptional, it’s nearly impossible to run aggressively for 26.2 miles. By staying relaxed early in the race, you’ ll save more of your mental determination for the latter stages and will maintain a more even pace.

If a 5K or 10K goes poorly, you can run another a week or two later. When a marathon doesn’t go as planned, however, it’s usually months before you’re ready to toe the starting line again. For this reason, the marathon may grow larger than life in your mind. You can keep the race in perspective by focusing

Pfitzinger & Douglas © ABY-THE-BOOK APPROACH TO THE MARATHON &® 29

on the essentials of the task. Find positive reinforcement in your training and other elements of preparation. Focusing on your strengths builds confidence and peace of mind. By knowing that you systematically prepared for the

race, you’ ll be able to relax and further increase your odds of marathon success.

From Road Racing for Serious Runners by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. Copyright © 1999

by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. Excerpted by permission of Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL. Available in bookstores or by calling 1-800-747-4457. $16.95 plus shipping/handling.

MARATHON TRAINING SCHEDULES

Schedule A: Fewer Than 40 Miles/Week

Weeks Lactate- : to threshold VO,max Basic Week’s goal LR1 LR2 workouts workouts speed mileage 7 1 7 _— — _ 25 16 2 — _ 8 x 100 26 meters 15 48. 8 2xi%-mile — _ _— 27 LT intervals 14 13 8 2x 1%-mile _ — 28 LT intervals 13 ia es — 4 x 1K at 8K- _ 29 10K race pace 12 15 9 2X2mile — — 31 LT intervals 11 16 3 _ 4 x 1,200 _ a2 meters at 8K10K race pace 10 14 10 3-mile tempo —_ — 32 run 9 17. 10 4mile tempo — — 34 run

Schedule A: Fewer Than 40 Miles/Week

Weeks Lactateto threshold VO,max Basic Week’s goal LR1 LR2 workouts workouts speed mileage 8 18 #11 —_ = 10 x 100 34 meters 7 14 11 5-mile tempo _ _ 35 run 6 19 10 _ _ 10 x 100 36 meters 5 14 11. 6-mile tempo — — 37 run 4 20. «(10 a — 10 x 100 40 meters 3 17 10 8Kto 15k _ 8 x 100 38 tune-up race meters Three-Week Taper Weeks Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mileto goal age

2 Off 4miles 5mileswith 3 miles 4-mile Off 14miles 33 8 x 100 tempo meters run

1 Off 3miles 3x1mile Off 5miles Off 11 miles 26 at 10K race pace

Race Off 4miles 6mileswith 3 miles Off 3 Goal 16

week 2-mile miles race (up depletion to run race day)

Pfitzinger & Douglas A BY-THE-BOOK APPROACH TO THE MARATHON @® 31

Schedule B: 40-60 Miles/Week

Weeks Lactate- : to threshold VO,max Basic Week’s goal LR1 LR2 workouts workouts speed mileage 17 Bb sé _— — _ 45 16 4 8 a _ 10 x 100 46 meters 15 15 9 2x 1%-mile _ — 47 LT intervals 14 15 9 2X 1%-mile — — 48 LT intervals 13 16 10 _— 5 X 1K at 8K- _ 49 10K race pace 12 17 10 2%x2-mile oa — 50 LT intervals 11 16 #0 _ 5 X 1,200 — 51 meters at 8K10K race pace

10 18 10 4-mile tempo _ _ 52 run 9 16 11 5-mile tempo — _ 50 run 8 20 _ — 12 x 100 54 meters 7 15 12 6-mile tempo _ — 52 run 6 el oil _ — 12 x 100 56 meters 5 15 (3 8K to 15K — 12 X 100 56 tune-up race meters

Schedule B: 40-60 Miles/Week

Weeks Lactate- : to threshold VO,max Basic Week’s goal LR1 LR2_ workouts workouts speed mileage 4 20. «(13 _ 5 X 1K at 5K — 60 race pace 3 17 12 8Kto 15K a 12 x 100 56 tune-up race meters

Three-Week Taper

Weeks Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mileto goal age 2 Off 5miles 9 miles with 5 miles 5-mile 5 miles 16 miles 49 10 x 100 tempo meters run

1 Off 6miles 3x 1mile 6miles Off 5miles 12miles 37 at 10K race pace

Race Off 5miles 7mileswith 5miles Off 3 miles Goal 20

week 2%-mile race (up depletion to

run race

Schedule C: More Than 60 Miles/Week

Weeks Lactate- : to threshold VO,max Basic Week’s % of goal LR1 LR2 workouts workouts speed mileage peak

7 ~=615_~=C 0 = = — 60 70

16 6 O«&#d = = 10x 100 63 74 meters

Pfitzinger & Douglas A BY-THE-BOOK APPROACH TO THE MARATHON ® 33

Schedule C: More Than 60 Miles/Week

Lactate- . threshold Vo,max fe Week’s % of “goal LR1 ie workouts workouts speed mileage peak

2xtAmile

BM alcetema u\(-\-) a Fe) oll a

Weeks Mon _ Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mileto goal age

2 6miles 7miles 11 mileswith 8miles 5 miles 8Kto15K 17 miles 66 12 x 100 tune-up meters race

1 Off 6miles 3X 1mile 9miles 6miles Gmiles 13miles 49 at 10K race pace

Race 5miles 5miles 8mileswith 5miles Off 4miles Goal 27

week 3-mile de- race (up to pletion run race day)

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Sydney 2000: | A Virtual Tour

The Verdict: a Grand Course Through a Great and Beautiful City

Director of the 1996 Men’s and Women’s Olympic Marathons

D URING HIS visit to Sydney in 1922, D.H. Lawrence wrote: “Australia has a marvelous sky and air and blue clarity and a hoary sort of land beneath it, like a sleeping Princess on whom the dust of ages has settled. Wonder if she’ll ever get up.”

Over 75 years later, Australia not only has gotten up, but has emerged in royal raiment worthy of the world’s noblest cities. Sydney’s Olympic marathon course, which covers 42.195K of that hoary land, reflects a place that has shaken itself free of provincialism to emerge a vibrant, multicultural city equal in energy and natural beauty to any on earth.

BACKGROUND

For any Olympic city, the marathon course is its opportunity to show off. At every other Olympic venue, action takes place within walls or restricted parkland or roadway. Only the marathon has a sprawling venue that can wander the cityscape for over 26 miles, showcasing the city for the world TV public. Thus, the design of an Olympic course must meet the shrill demands of many masters: local Olympic organizers who want the course to pass every monument or vista of distinction; TV producers who loathe bridge underpasses or tree canopies; self-important politicians eager to have the race touch their district; police officers who must deal with crowds of spectators and street closings; and of course the athletes themselves who seek a straight, flat, smoothly surfaced course. The only absolute requirement is that the course finish inside the Olympic stadium.

Balancing these often conflicting agendas is no easy task. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showcasing the monuments and visiting sites of local political importance held certain sway. The point-to-point course started in the seaside town of Mataro and was pleasantly flat and runner-friendly for much of the first half. Once it hit Barcelona, however, it twisted hither and yon, at one point abruptly turning down a one-lane medieval street so as to pass by a town hall (the town’s mayor was head of the local organizing committee). Of necessity, the course ended with a steep, unrelenting 5K climb up Mont Juic. The Olympic stadium was situated at Juic’s crest. It didn’t help that the IAAF, the sport’s governing body, demanded that both the men’s and women’s marathons begin in early evening in the shimmering heat of the Mediterranean summer.

In designing the 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathon course, we sought to keep the runner’s needs ever in the forefront, though the topographical realities of the city, sprawled as it is 1,000 feet above sea level in the southernmost foothills of the Appalachians, made flat an elusive option.

After months of debate, the course we selected was a loop, starting and finishing in the Olympic stadium, and featuring Peachtree Road, the city’s main and most historic thoroughfare, once a famed Indian trail. Unfortunately, the stadium was at a fairly low point and the Peachtree ridge considerably higher, so the early miles were a challenging climb. The middle miles were flat. The ridge, however, took a sharp dip at about the 30K point on the course, leading to more climbing in the final third. Fortunately, the IAAF allowed the marathons to be scheduled in the early morning, thus avoiding the heat that decimated the men’s and women’s fields in Barcelona, sending many of the world’s finest marathoners to hospitals. The course showcased Atlanta well, but not even the most avid Atlanta booster could favorably compare the beauty of this sleekly prosperous inland business metropolis to Barcelona’s historical radiance or Sydney’s topographical tapestry.

SYDNEY OVERVIEW

The Sydney Olympic Games are scheduled for September 15 to October 1. The women’s marathon is slotted fora 7:45 start on Sunday morning, September 24, and the men’s for a 4:00 start on Sunday afternoon, October 1*, with the men’s finish in the Olympic stadium to be the kickoff for the closing ceremonies, thus assuring the IAAF’s overweeningly self-important President, Primo Nebiolo, will give out the final medal of the Games. Mid-September is spring in Sydney (in contrast to the Barcelona and Atlanta Games, which were both in high summer), where the average low temperature is in the low 50s, so the women have every chance of good running weather in the morning. And with an average afternoon high in the mid-60s, the men will be better off than they were in

JULIA EMMONS:

The Olympic Marathon course will cross the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge.

either Barcelona (high 80s at the start) or Atlanta (high 60s and humid). Sydney will be a distance runner’s Olympics.

The Sydney marathon will be run on a point-to-point course crafted by Olympic marathon director Dave Cundy, a distinguished race director and course measurer of international repute. The course begins in North Sydney, crosses the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge, cuts through the historical district, heads through eastern suburbs, and turns around and retraces through the center of town before heading west to the Olympic stadium in Homebush. It accomplishes the near impossible, adroitly meeting the demands of nearly all the powers that be. Most important, it places the athlete first, avoiding hills and turns whenever possible, resulting in a relatively flat, straight course that, if the weather is cool, should shave minutes off the times posted in Barcelona and Atlanta.

Thecourse underscores Sydney’s transformation from an insecure, antipodean version of Britain, where people dutifully chewed down indigestible roast beef dinners on sweltering Christmas days because “it’s what one does back home,” to a vital, multicultural city that can stare back at the world with pride. Taken separately, each 5K segment tells a distinctive tale; taken together, they would assure D.H. Lawrence that this Princess has indeed shaken off her dust.

RACE START TO 5K: HISTORIC ROOTS AND BEAUTY

To best burrow into the soul of the course, I decided to walk every meter save the couple of kilometers on freeway, starting at the beginning and working

toward the finish; I thus covered in a dozen hours what the runners will cover ina little over two. My companion for much of this trek was Julian Scott, alongago friend from my high school days in Canberra, where my diplomat father had been posted. Julian, an acclaimed marathoner who has taught school in Sydney for many years, proved an invaluable guide to both the city and the effect the course will likely have on the Olympians.

As I mentioned, the course starts in North Sydney, a sky-scrapered business district across Sydney Harbour Bridge from the city’s historic center. The start line is on Miller Street, in the lee of the North Sydney Oval. The Oval, where start preparations will be staged (athlete check-in, warm-up, and so on) boasts a genteel architecture of low-slung pavilions surrounding a carefully tended grass playing field—you might imagine the whack of a cricket bat and whitetrousered players dashing about, doting loved ones clapping gently.

Miller Street is four lanes wide and will easily accommodate the approximately 90 women and 125 men anticipated to make up the fields (88 women and 123 men toed the start line in Atlanta). Flat for a few hundred meters, the course then swooshes down Miller, heading toward Sydney Harbour Bridge. After a very fast kilometer, the course veers left onto Pacific Highway and continues its downward plunge; this section is the steepest and fastest of the entire course.

Crowds will likely be thick along Miller Street (named for a mid-19th century government official who bought land here in 1833), as this is the only time the course will be near the upscale North Sydney harbor-front neighborhoods such as Greenwich, Cremorne, and Mosman, many of whose sleekly presented inhabitants leave the Mercedes in the garage and commute to downtown Sydney via the ferries that dart back and forth along the harbor. Other spectators may come from their work in the glass-dominated high-rise office buildings that litter the center of North Sydney. These architecturally uninspired edifices echo Australia’s embrace of the global economies, especially Japan’s, with names like Samsung, Unisys, Optus, Novell, and Sharp proclaimed stridently from postmodern rooftops.

The Pacific Highway links onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Here the runners will face their first significant incline (about a half mile) as they slowly tangent from lane one to lane eight up to the bridge’s crest. The bridge, like the Golden Gate in Sydney’s sister city, San Francisco, is one of the city’s enduring symbols. Begun in 1923 to span one of the narrower channels in the harbor, it was finished in 1932 and dedicated in a raucous ceremony—which included a local man on horseback who, bedecked in a Hussar uniform, charged through the dignitaries and cut the ceremonial ribbon with his sword (he was bundled off and charged with destroying government property, “to wit, one ribbon”). We can only hope that Olympic ceremonies prove as exciting.

Once the runners reach the crest, they have a flat 800 meters over the water and then another pleasant downhill plunge onto the Cahill Expressway (pronounced “Carl” and named for Joe Cahill, the Premier of New South Wales [NSW] in the 1950s), an elevated road that skirts above the historic district. This airborne kilometer is at once the most scenic and historically dense stretch of the race—aspects likely lost on the Olympians as they dash onward but that will undoubtedly be dwelt upon in caressing detail by the TV producers. Sprawling toward the horizon in each direction is much of the 145 miles of indented coastline that makes up the harbor.

The dominant manmade attraction seen from the bridge (and fitting well into nature’s largesse cast around it) is the Sydney Opera House, its distinctively tapered white roofs mimicking the sailboats that scurry about the harbor.

Many consider the Opera House to be Sydney’s one great building of the modern era. The tale of its construction is something of an opera itself, though the notes struck are generally wails of pain. Designed by Jorn Utzon, a littleknown Danish architect who won its design competition in 1957, the Opera House’s locale was to be Bennelong Point, opposite the Harbour Bridge, a stunning jut of land with a potential that had languished during the many years it was used as a tram storage facility. The Opera House’s construction cost was estimated at $7 million Australian, and three years were allotted for its completion. As it turned out, a gap as deep as Sydney Harbour chasmed between vision and successful execution. As construction inched along, Utzon strained to solve the many problems posed by his challenging design. As years passed and

JULIA EMMONS:

Runner’s eye view of the Sydney Opera House from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

costs mounted, recriminations flowed in from local officials. After 12 years, and with the building still unfinished, Utzon stormed back to Europe and has yet to return. Australian architects finished the project, and it was inaugurated in 1973, at a final cost of $103 million. Few doubt it was well worth it.

The Cahill Expressway takes the runners down from the bridge and up an incline toward Macquarie Street, Sydney’s most historically elegant thoroughfare. The Cahill Expressway skirts Sydney Cove, site of Australia’s first European settlement. There, in 1788, Arthur Phillip, a retired British naval officer, landed with the First Fleet, a bedraggled cluster of ships bearing 1,030 people, including over 700 convicts and 200 officers and their families, which had left England eight months before. They were sent to Australia because the American Revolution had cut off the former dumping grounds for Britain’s unwanted— the southern American colonies. The first ill-made dwellings were built on a rocky outcrop appropriately known as “The Rocks”; the 19″-century site of much of Sydney’s lowlife, this area was spruced up in the 1970s to be reborn as the sanitized center of touristic Sydney, a must-see stop of every package tour, replete with museums, shops, cafes, and the town’s oldest house, Cadman’s Cottage (1816).

Now in their fifth kilometer, runners traverse from Cahill onto Macquarie Street. They have left the center of penal colony Sydney and entered the main thoroughfare, which showcases the town’s blossoming under Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Macquarie, who governed from 1810 to 1822, sought to shift Sydney away from what he called an “infantile imbecility” toward respectability. Prior to Macquarie’s arrival, the town had been an administrative mess with men the sorry caliber of William Bligh (yes, the mutiny-on-the-Bounty Bligh) in charge. Indeed, Bligh was even a bit much for this ragtag colonial outpost and was deposed as governor by army officers whose medium of exchange was rum.

Taming the Rum Corps with his own regiment of Royal Highlanders, Macquarie then harnessed the talents of Francis Greenway, a convicted forger turned architect, and built many of the fine buildings that still flank the street that bears his name. He also set aside land for Hyde Park and the Botanic Gardens, thus endowing Sydney’s center with luxuriant green space.

Unfortunately, Macquarie’s skills and vision were coupled by an overbearing vanity and arrogance (he named the town’s main thoroughfare after himself and an adjacent street after his wife, Elizabeth) along with a preening selfrighteousness of the stripe common in American colonies among the Puritans. Macquarie made enemies, and he left the colony in 1822. He died embittered, never knowing he would come to be regarded as the Father of Australia.

Macquarie Street rises from Cahill Expressway, past the Botanic Gardens (now Royal since Queen Elizabeth visited it in 1953), a steepish climb that will leave the runners little time to enjoy the expansive gardens and lawns. The

course flattens somewhat as it continues on Macquarie, passing other sedately elegant Greenway buildings and the contrastingly exuberant 1920s art deco fagade of British Medical House, which sprouts a Gaudiesque abandon of knights, griffins, and koalas. The 5K timing station is just past the NSW Parliament House.

Verdict: fast start, some roll later on.

5K TO 10K: GAYS AND GREENERY

The course follows Macquarie to its end at Hyde Park, a few hundred meters past the timing station. It then turns left around the park, following College Street past upscale Sydney Grammar School on the left, former site of Sydney College (1837-1850). College Street dips and rises slightly as it heads along Hyde Park for a half kilometer, passing the intersection with Park Street and the staging area of the City to Surf, Sydney’s 50,000-runner version of the Peachtree Road Race and Bay to Breakers, a hilly 14K run from city center to Bondi Beach.

The course leaves College Street at the end of the park and turns left onto Oxford Street, a broad thoroughfare of scruffy reputation. In sharp contrast to the sleek hotels and office buildings that grace the upper reaches around Hyde Park, this section of Oxford has touches of New York’s 42″ Street: the House of Fetish displays its array of enticements nearby The Pleasure Chest, a “friendly private club” with full complement of adult videos, while AJ’s Jewelry boasts that its “body piercing professionals” can also customize your tattoo. Not surprisingly, sidewalks here are crowded with the pale and lank haired. Oxford Street is also the main route of the Mardi Gras Gay and Lesbian Parade, now in its 21* year, which rivals its New York’s SoHo Halloween-night cousin in splash and verve: the parade is led by a bevy of leather clad motorcyclistas who describe themselves as dykes on bikes.

All this will be lost on the runners, now in their seventh kilometer. The course heads up Oxford for about 600 meters, going uphill a bit, and turns right onto Flinders Street, which is flat and broad and nondescript, with sagging, early 20″-century row houses awaiting gentrification. Matthew Flinders, the first to chart the continent’s coasts in the early 1800s—and the one who came up with the name Australia—certainly deserves amore elegant street; his statue, at least, is back on historically decorous Macquarie Street.

The course follows Flinders a few hundred meters and then turns into Anzac Parade, which continues flat. After less than a kilometer, the course turns left onto the Grand Drive, which leads into the leafy embrace of Centennial Park. Formerly the city’s commons used for grazing animals, this park is named for Sydney’s 1888 centennial of the arrival of the First Fleet and boasts the largest

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green space in Sydney. Once in the park, the course turns left and follows the 4.5 kilometers of the Grand Drive that encircle the park’s central expanse.

The Grand Drive is largely flat. Most days the roadway is swishing with bikers, the adjacent walkway ajumble of runners, walkers, and stroller-pushing parents. Inside the walkway is a horse path, with nattily dressed equestrians clopping by. On the outer lees of the park, dog owners exercise their charges without leash. In contrast to New York’s Central Park, with which it holds much in common, Centennial Park is surrounded by low-lying residential communities; thus, manmade edifices don’t glower over its lushness. One side of the park is flanked by elegant, two-story homes, one of which belonged to novelist Patrick White, Australia’s Nobel laureate. Another is bounded by Woollahra which, along with Paddington, is Sydney’s version of Boston’s Beacon Hill— historic districts restored with great taste and price tag. Here one finds top-end antique and art galleries, gourmet shops boasting 12 kinds of goat cheese, and well-coiffured residents wearing discretely expensive practical shoes.

The 10K timing station is located a kilometer inside the park, near the Federation Pavilion, which was dedicated in 1988, the bicentenary year, and which heralds Australia’s nationhood as a Federation in 1901 (Australia, in case you don’t know, is a federation of six states plus two territories).

Verdict: some roll in the middle.

10K TO 15K: GREENERY AND BLAH

After the 10K point, the course continues around Centennial Park on the Grand Drive, then exits along the drive and back toAnzac Parade. It turns left and follows Anzac Parade for several kilometers. Most of the course here is pancake flat, with no sharp turns. Near Centennial Park, Anzac Parade is an elegant thoroughfare, with a good deal of green space and wide sidewalks under leafy, curious-looking native trees that seem just the spot for Australia’s curious-looking birds and mammals to hang out. Anzac Parade honors the Australia New Zealand Army Corps, which has fought with great honor, and often high price, in the major wars of the 20″ century, most tellingly at Gallipoli during World War I.

Within a kilometer of leaving the park, however, Anzac Parade turns bland, with single-story utilitarian shops and undistinguished apartment buildings lining the road in an area called Kensington. Alas, with its BBQ-chicken burger joints and vacuum-cleaner repair places, this stretch has little in common with its glossily sophisticated London namesake. But the runners will not be in this for the scenery; by the time they reach the 15K timing station, outside Kenso Sports, which promises “warehouse prices” should you step inside its modest premises, they will have completed a SK as flat as a prima ballerina’s belly.

Verdict: flat and fast.

Julia Emmons SYDNEY 2000: AVIRTUAL TOUR @® 45

15K TO 20K: BLAH MEETS TONY SAHADE AND MEL GIBSON

The course continues east down Anzac Parade. It passes the University of New South Wales, a gray brick enclave whose motto tellingly mentions “scientia” with no trace of “humanitas.” Its better-known rival, the University of Sydney, is Sydney’s bastion of the arts and, inits student-oriented cafes across town, one finds languid, pony-tailed philosophy PhDs reading poetry; here, at University of NSW, the students seem to have little time for cafes as they scurry earnestly between classes.

The course enters the community of Kingsford, still on Anzac Parade. The shops and apartments continue undistinguished. The course continues flat. Near the 17K point, it goes around the Kingsford roundabout, where several streets converge, and out the other side remaining on Anzac Parade, which at this point becomes divided by a wide, grassy median. Less than a kilometer farther, the course comes to the turn. It will now cross the median and begin to retrace its path back along Anzac Parade toward downtown, foregoing the loop around Centennial Park.

Interestingly, this side of Anzac Parade, as the course begins to head back toward central Sydney, is much livelier. Some of the little shops are spruced up and have jovial names like Peartree Cakes and Pavlova Pantry. (A pavlova is an Australian dessert, all meringue, passion fruit, and whipped cream, and the pantry had several). But neither of these shops is as enticing as the next establishment: the Crystal Car Wash Café.

Though the runners will take little notice of the Crystal as they dash along toward the 20K mark, a kilometer down the road, it will likely be a haven for spectators. Tucked in these bland outer reaches of Anzac Parade, this enterprise symbolizes the entrepreneurial pizzazz the large wave of post-WWII, non-Anglo immigrants have pumped into Sydney. It is a lowly car wash turned entertainment center, where owners of Lexuses, Mercedeses, and Land Rovers wait in patient, democratic lines with those of Fords and Holdens. The Crystal Car Wash Café is the creation of 29-year-old Anthony “Tony” Sahade, a second-generation Lebanese-Australian, who figures the way to keep customers happy while their cars are sudsed over is to provide free cappuccino and newspapers, with live bands on weekends. Sahade, whose brilliant smile and easy charm may have something to do with his success, now has three car wash “cafes.” If someone can become a car wash czar, it’s Tony.

The course continues, back around the Kingsford Roundabout, on the everflat Anzac Parade. Once again, this side of the road is enlivened, this time with the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), training ground for many outstanding actors, including Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, and Cate Blanchett.

yy STALCAR MASH CAFE

‘COURTESY OF JULIA EMMONS

Julia Emmons and Julian Scott with Tony Sahade (center) outside Tony’s Crystal Car Wash Café.

Alas, a scurry through the utilitarian concrete and glass premises found no young Lawrence Oliviers languishing near the visitors area, jumble of black curls drooping artfully eyeward.

The 20K timing station is on Anzac Parade just past NIDA, and across from the University of NSW.

Verdict: flat and fast.

20K TO 25K: BACK THROUGH CENTRAL SYDNEY

Following a kilometer of blandness, the course is back to the greener sections of Anzac Parade. Here it passes a golf course, the Sydney Girls High School, and the adjacent Sydney Boys High; the schools boast some of the brightest kids in town. We walk by a bus stop as the students wait after school and see itis jammed with Chinese-Australians, Indian-Australians, Italian-Australians, as well as the blonde and red headed freckly sort—there’s no doubt that the face of Sydney has become far more interesting and varied. They’ II not be in school during the Olympics, however, as all schools and colleges will be closed the weeks of the Olympics allowing everyone to take part—or to go surfing. Just past 23K, Anzac Parade becomes Flinders Street, which the course follows for 600 meters before turning left on Oxford toward the city center. Oxford offers a nice downhill onto Liverpool Street, which takes the course a few hundred, slightly downhill meters around the upper reaches of Hyde Park.

The course then turns right on Elizabeth, which is flat. Elizabeth Macquarie, the governor’s wife for whom the street is named, is recalled not only by this elegant office and shopping street that runs along Hyde Park, but is best known for Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, a stone seat in the Royal Botanic Gardens overlooking the harbor, said to have been enjoyed by the very lady (if so, she had a fine eye for a view). Her chair is located on Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, reached by Mrs. Macquarie’s Road.

The course, now in its 25th kilometer, continues on Elizabeth to Bathurst. It turns left on Bathurst and begins its final leg, the long westward push to Homebush and the Olympic stadium. The 25K timing station is just after the turn onto Bathurst.

Verdict: flat and fast.

25K TO 30K: KISS FLAT GOODBYE

Bathurst is downhill, through the central business district, to Darling Harbour, the steepest drop since the Miller-Pacific Highway plunge in the first kilometers. In contrast to the refined elegance of Macquarie Street and many of the buildings facing Hyde Park, Darling Harbour’s ambiance is very late-20″ century. The architecturally banal hotels, convention center, entertainment spaces, and residential and office blocks could belong just as easily in Houston or Atlanta. The harbor, however, has not quite been drowned out by commercial overlay and is used with some effect to float musical attractions or to dock sleek ships. This is likely to be the central informal gathering spot for the 2000 Olympics, the equivalent of Atlanta’s Centennial Park or Barcelona’s Ramblas. And if it all gets too much, one can pop a kilometer up to Macquarie and hug a South Pacific plant in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The dash down Bathurst Street, which was named after Macquarie’s boss, Lord Bathurst, Britain’s then Secretary of State for the Colonies, ends abruptly as the course begins a long climb onto Anzac Bridge, the first challenging link of the trek westward. Anzac Bridge is a glorious structure, a striking contrast to its more famous cousin, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, whose squat, practical design reminds one of a pearl-wearing, twin-setted dowager next to Anzac’s spare elegance. Suspended with slender coils of steel, this bridge is what great Scandanavian glassmakers would design if they got into the bridge business. Curiously, the Anzac doesn’t span anything worthy—some light industrial buildings and an undistinguished inlet-—leaving one wondering why that much bridge was built.

The course climbs up and over the bridge and onto the appropriately named City West Link Road that skirts near the fashionable suburb of Balmain, a harbor-front neighborhood whose working class inhabitants have long since

been replaced by trendy intelligentsia, its shops now awash with organic vegetables and multigrain bread. Following City West Link, which is lightly rolling, the course also cuts through Leichardt, a municipality now best known for Rats in the Ranks, a documentary made about its town council elections; the jovial chicanery of these Leichhardt politicians recalls the more vivid years in Chicago wards.

The 30K timing station is on City West Link near Balmain Road.

Verdict: the fun is over for the moment.

30K TO 35K: FEDERATION ARCHITECTURE TO SMASH SHOPS

The course leaves Leichardt, enters the township of Haberfield, and comes onto Dobroyd Parade, another flat stretch. Haberfield was established in 1901, the year of Australia’s Federation, by one Richard Stanton, who claimed he wanted a suburb both slumless and publess. Many of the Federation-era houses still stand, distinguished by their orange tile roofs and exterior detail. As this part of Sydney has long been the center of Sydney’s large Italian community, those dwellings that have been remodeled often sport exuberant, distinctly Mediterranean touches.

Named after a castle in Yorkshire, Dobroyd Parade sweeps around Iron Cove, the training waters for international class rowers, and on along pleasant playing fields. Around 32K, the course turns right onto Ramsay, a modest residential street that heads into Five Dock, a sturdily unfashionable district that sprouted near the five small, natural docks on the Parramatta River. It goes moderately uphill for 600 meters, then turns sharply left onto Fairlight for a short stretch, crosses Great North Road, and continues on Queens Road. A sharp hill rises here. Queens Road then rolls downward and upward through a somewhat shabby commercial area, whose main industry appears to be “smash shops,” where Sydneysiders bring their cars to get repaired after thwacking into each other.

The 35K timing station is on Queens, near Williams Street.

Verdict: some roll.

35K TO FINISH: GENTLY ROLLING HOME

The course remains on Queens Road, whose name changes to Gipps a bit after the timing station. Runners will be going through acommunity called Concord, dubbed by a fellow named Francis Cross in honor of the Battle of Concord, Massachusetts, in which he fought during the American Revolution before

coming to NSW; this is appropriate, for at this point most runners will be battle weary.

The course continues its roll up to Sydney Street, where it makes a left onto this charmingly sedate, shaded road, whose residents will doubtless be bemused to see Olympic marathoners streaming by their front doors. At the end of Sydney (600 meters), the course darts across busy Concord Road and heads onto the entrance to M4, the major freeway leading to the Olympic area. The 2K on M4 are softly downhill and fast.

The course then exits, darts through the “mousehole” (the bus entrance to the Olympic Park), around a parking lot, and onto the dramatic expanse of Olympic Boulevard. The boulevard goes slightly uphill 600 meters to the Olympic stadium. The course turns left, half circles the stadium, and then enters, with the final 500m on the track.

Verdict: a gently rolling finale.

D.H. Lawrence was not the only writer to make the long trek to Sydney. Another was Rudyard Kipling who, in the 1930s, found Sydney to be “populated by leisured multitudes all in their shirt sleeves and all picnicking all the day. They volunteered,” he added, “that they were new and young but would do wonderful things some day.” Though Sydneysiders are generally still in their shirt sleeves and still love their leisure, the Olympic course, in its dynamic showcase of the city’s history, beauty, and multicultural verve, shows \ that their day has arrived. ¢ Note: The Final Selection Race for the Australian Olympic Team will be held over this course

in April 2000. There will be a people’s marathon as well; all are welcome to enter and test this course for themselves.

Adventure Running At Its WORST!

In 1989, two runners set off to become the first to run from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney and back—in mid-summer. Lottsa luck, fellers!

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All About Achilles

Everything You Need to Know About That All-Important Tendon

Your ACHILLES tendon is the strongest tendon in your body. Still, because of the great amount of stress placed upon it, the Achilles is prone torunning injuries. These injuries, which range from tendinitis to a complete rupture, can significantly limit your participation in sports during the healing process. You can often prevent Achilles injuries or reduce their severity with early recognition and treatment.

Your Achilles tendon is a thick, cordlike structure that inserts into the back of your heel bone (calcaneus). Tendons attach muscle to bone, and your Achilles tendon joins your two calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus, to your heel (see figure 1). Most Achilles injuries occur about two inches above the heel bone, an area of the tendon that has a relatively poor blood supply. This poor blood supply also accounts for the relatively long time Achilles injuries take to heal. The most common injuries to Figure 7: The Achilles tenthe Achilles area are tendinitis, calf muscle tear (ten- —_ donjoins the gastrocnemius nis leg), and tendon rupture. and the soleus to the heel.

ACHILLES TENDINITIS

Achilles tendinitis is an inflammation of either the sheath surrounding the tendon or the tendon itself. Symptoms usually include a burning pain or tenderness about two inches above the heel bone. You may also detect mild to moderate swelling and, in chronic cases, a thickening of the tendon when compared to the opposite leg.

There are many causes of Achilles tendinitis, but the most common are training errors, calf muscle inflexibility, and biomechanical abnormalities. Training errors include increasing your mileage or workout intensity too suddenly or changing your running terrain too abruptly. Inflexibility of the calf muscles can result from improper or inadequate stretching or from overstrengthening of the calf muscles. This inflexibility can also be due to wearing high-heeled shoes that tend to shorten the muscle—-tendon complex. Biomechanical abnormalities that can lead to Achilles problems include overpronation (flattening of the arch) and leg length differences.

All of the above factors contribute to increased stress on the tendon, resulting in microtears, inflammation, and pain. Because of the poor blood supply to this area, early treatment is necessary to prevent a chronic injury. Initial treatment should include reducing or stopping your physical activities for a period of time. During this time, ice the back of your Achilles two to three times a day for 15 minutes each time. You can use ice packs or massage the area with water frozen in paper cups. Under no circumstance should cortisone injections be used in the area of the Achilles tendon. Although cortisone will reduce the inflammation, it can slow or prevent the healing of the tendon fibers, possibly resulting in a tendon rupture.

Acommon mistake in rehabilitating an Achilles tendon injury is to stretch the tendon directly, which usually results in continued irritation of the injured tendon. Instead, focus your stretching on the gastrocnemius and soleus muscle in a gradual, progressive fashion. Using heel lifts can also help take stress off the tendon—but be sure to place lifts in both shoes or you may develop an imbalance that leads to other injuries.

Another type of Achilles tendinitis that can occur in active individuals is insertional Achilles tendinitis. This injury is caused by the same mechanisms that lead to classic Achilles tendinitis, but the pain and damage to the tendon occur where the tendon inserts into the heel bone instead of above it. The chronic irritation to the Achilles insertion can sometimes cause the formation of a bone spur (see figure 2 on page 54). If you have this condition, you may notice a thickening in the back of the heel and tenderness directly behind the heel. This condition can also result in an inflammation of a small, fluid-filled sac called the retrocalcaneal bursa, located in this area. This bursa normally helps cushion the Achilles from the underlying bone, but chronic irritation can cause this area to become painful.

As mentioned, Achilles tendinitis can be slow to heal. If your pain lingers or gets worse, seek a sports medicine physician for a thorough evaluation.

Figure 2: Achilles calcification (bone spur).

Treatment for this condition ranges from temporary heel lifts, calf stretching, and forms of physical therapy, including massage therapy, to cast immobilization for a time if you do not respond to other forms of treatment. If biomechanical abnormalities such as overpronation, leg length differences, or other structural problems are suspected, you should undergo a lower extremity biomechanical examination. In these circumstances, orthotics may reduce the stress to the Achilles tendon area and thus relieve your pain.

The treatment for insertional Achilles tendinitis is similar to the treatment for Achilles tendinitis. In most circumstances, even if a bone spur or calcification is present, surgery is an option only after all other methods have failed.

CALF MUSCLE TEAR (TENNIS LEG)

Achilles tendinitis is often caused by overuse, whereas calf muscle tears and tendon ruptures are usually the result of a traumatic injury. A calf muscle tear is actually a misnomer; the injury usually occurs where the calf muscles join the Achilles tendon on the inside part of the leg about two thirds of the way down from the knee.

This injury often happens when you push off on the leg while reaching for a tennis shot—thus the name, “tennis leg.” Symptoms of a calf muscle tear

include the sensation of being hit in the back of the leg, followed by pain and swelling in the affected area. The swelling may even extend into the ankle area. Standing and walking are usually painful.

Initially, treat a calf muscle tear with RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Your sports medicine physician needs to evaluate your injury to make sure the tendon itself has not been torn. In most cases, reduced activity, physical therapy and massage therapy, and gradual stretching can speed the healing process.

ACHILLES TENDON RUPTURE

Although uncommon, rupture of the Achilles tendon is a very serious injury. It usually occurs during a sudden, explosive movement such as reaching for a tennis shot, chasing a basketball rebound, or sprinting. Usually a person suffering this injury will describe the feeling of being hit in the back of the leg and hearing a pop or snap. The pain is usually severe, walking is difficult, and it is impossible to stand on the toes of the affected leg.

Achilles tendon ruptures are most common between ages 35 to 55. Very often, the injured person has a history of tight calf muscles or previous Achilles tendinitis; the lack of a proper warm-up is also common prior to this injury. The rupture most frequently occurs in the same location as Achilles tendinitis— two inches above the heel bone—and may be partial or complete.

Immediate evaluation by a sports medicine physician is necessary to prevent further damage and possible permanent injury. Partial ruptures can usually be treated successfully with a cast, but complete ruptures may require surgery.

PREVENTING ACHILLES TENDON INJURIES

Achilles tendon injuries can be very serious and heal slowly. However, warming up sufficiently, maintaining adequate lower extremity flexibility, and training sensibly can prevent many of these injuries. Warming up is important for any exercise, as it prepares the body for the activity it is about to undergo. Insufficient warm-up may subject tendons and muscles to excessive stretch and result in injury.

Achilles injuries can significantly influence your training programs. Training sensibly can prevent Achilles injuries by allowing your body to adapt to the increasing demands placed on the tendon. As a reminder, think gradual rather than abrupt or sudden. When you decide to increase your walking or running distance or your training intensity, think gradual. When you’ re about to launch into a sprint, work up to your top pace rather than trying to bound into it from

Perry Julien ALL ABOUT ACHILLES M 55

a jog. If you decide to start running more hills, don’t switch from flat to hilly in a single workout. Take a few sessions to build up to the new terrain gradually. The most important measure for avoiding Achilles tendon injuries is maintaining adequate lower extremity flexibility. Normal activities such as standing, sitting, and wearing shoes with heels of one inch or greater contribute to tightness of the muscles and tendons in the back of your legs. Aregular stretching program that emphasizes the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calf can play a great role in preventing downtime from an Achilles tendon injury. When symptoms of an Achilles problem do occur, prompt recognition and early treatment will significantly reduce the time it takes for these inju- ) ries to heal. i

Adapted with permission from Sure Footing: A Sports Podiatrist’s Perspective on Running- and Exercise-Related Injuries. To order your copy, send $11 to Atlanta Foot and Ankle Center, 5600 Roswell Road, Suite 360, Atlanta, GA 30342.

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Two Marathoners, Four Olympic | Golds

Abebe Bikila Redefined Marathon Racing; Waldemar Cierpinski Added Two Gold Medals and Controversy.

BY FRANK HORWILL

S INCE THE introduction of the Modern Olympics in 1896, the marathon event has been held 23 times. World War I caused one Games to be cancelled, while the World War II period saw two Olympics forsaken.

Runners like Douglas Lowe of Great Britain won consecutive gold medals in the 1920 and 1924 Olympic 800-meters, but up to 1960 no athlete had succeeded winning the marathon event twice in succession. In fact, no runner even made the silver or bronze medal placings in consecutive Olympic marathons.

All of this was to change in 1960, and the two men responsible could not have come from more different worlds. One of them dramatically influenced an entire continent—an effect we’ re feeling even more profoundly today. This man was Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, a slim, 5’9″ waif weighing a mere 101 pounds.

ABEBE BIKILA

In 1960, Bikila was 28 and a member of the Household Guard of Emperor Haile Selassie, an elite corps famed for their physical prowess. When he lined up for the final event of the 1960 Rome Olympics, he was unknown outside his East African country.

The papers in the know had picked either the Arthur Lydiard-trained Barry Magee of New Zealand or the tough cross-country runner Rhadi ben Abdesselem

Frank Horwill TWO MARATHONERS, FOUR OLYMPIC GOLDS @® 59

of Morocco as the two most likely to win. But when reports filtered in from the course’s 5K mark—reached in a brisk 15:35—a bunch of eight were out in front, led by Briton Arthur Keily and the darker-skinned Rhadi.

At 10K, the pace had increased and only five remained in the leading group. At 15K, there were four left.

Keily and Rhadi were together with the Belgian Aurele Vandendriessche and an unknown Ethiopian, Abebe Bikila. The pace was unbelievable. At this rate, Emil Zatopek’s Olympic best would be shattered—and not only by the victor.

At 18K, Rhadi took stock of those around him and decided to make a break, which took him 200 yards clear of what he thought was the rest of the group. But Abebe held the distance between them to 60 yards.

At 20K, Rhadi was confident he had dropped the field; his time was 1:02:39. But although he could not hear footsteps, he could hear breathing as Abebe drew level with him. He realized the Ethiopian was running barefooted.

The 30K mark approached, and the two still ran together. The pursuing group was 11 minutes behind, joined by Magee and Sergie Popov of the USSR. The pursuing group fed off each other’s energy and accelerated to catch the leaders, but they had waited too long to make the move.

Along The Appian Way

As the two Africans battled it out along the Appian Way, the crowds began to thicken, and the flickering torches were a welcome sight. As the reports filtered into the press box, reporters frantically scanned the starting list.

“Who is this guy Abebe?” “Where’s Ethiopia?” “Where’s Magee?”

All questions were silenced as news came in that Abebe had broken away with a mile to go. Rhadi was beginning to stagger and was fast losing ground.

Down the Appian Way came this latest conqueror to be heralded in the city of Rome, a route on which his ancestors, centuries before, had been driven barefooted as slaves. The most majestic, awesome sight of the Games was Abebe’s white teeth flashing in the darkness as he crossed the finish line. Waving aside offers of blankets, he sat on the grass, lifted his legs over his head to touch the ground behind, and then began a cycling motion in the air!

Abebe shattered the Olympic record by more than seven minutes; his time of 2:15:16.2 was the world’s fastest ever. Rhadi recorded 2:15:41.6 and Magee 2:17:18.2, both inside the previous Olympic record.

Asked about his background, Abebe replied, “We are a poor people, and not used to mechanical transport. So we run everywhere. Twenty-six miles is nothing to me.” (In fact, a story circulated that once a week he was driven 40 miles from the city to the wild countryside and told to run back.) He continued: “Of

course, Icould have kept going for a long time. I could have gone around again without difficulty. Bare feet? Oh, we always take our shoes off for competition. So much more comfortable.”

Hometown Hero—for Three Months

Abebe returned to a hero’s welcome to his remote mountainous country (where a wife could still be purchased in the marketplace for a few head of livestock) and was afforded his community’s greatest accolade: a tethered lion, a prize given only to the bravest of the brave. He was promoted to corporal in the Guard and given a piece of land to develop as he pleased.

For three months, Abebe’s life was very good—but this changed overnight. A group of army personnel staged a coup. Abebe recalls the drama: “I was playing basketball when the revolution broke out. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. But everybody suspected everybody, and I was thrown into jail.”

The emperor sacked his entire bodyguard. Abebe was released from jail after a day, but he was jobless and had a wife and young son to support. Months of poverty followed; he spent what little money he had on food for his family. His coach, Swede Onni Niskanen, helped as much as he could. “Abebe leads a Spartan life,” Niskanen said. “No drinking, no smoking, and a small amount of food.”

Under such circumstances, many might decide that marathon training is aluxury and giveitup. But,

Abebe appeared in the Athens International Marathon and was delighted to meet some of his friendly rivals

Abebe Bikila, after winning the Tokyo Olympic Marathon in 1964, begins his set of lively exercises.

MARK SHEARMAN,

from the Olympics. He won the race by 250 yards, recording close to Zatopek’s

winning time in the 1952 Olympics.

On to 1964

In 1964, at 32, Abebe was looking forward to the Olympic Marathon in Tokyo. Back in the emperor’s bodyguard, this time as a sergeant, life was good again— except that he was suffering from a gnawing pain in his side that he couldn’t shake off. Forty days before the Olympics, an army doctor told him he must

have his appendix removed.

Abebe’s coach, Niskanen, feared the worst. Back home in Sweden, people were hospitalized for two weeks after an appendectomy, and this was followed

by another two weeks of little or no physical activity.

The Tokyo Olympic Marathon field was world class. The Japanese had made acult of the marathon. They hadn’t forgotten Kitei Son’s win in the 1936 Olympics in a time of 2:29:19.2, and they looked to Kokichi Tsuburaya to repeat

MARK SHEARMAN

Japanese domination. The Brit, Brian Kilby, was running again, more experienced this time, and a teammate, Basil Heatley, was reputedly better than Kilby was. Australian Ron Clarke had broken the 10,000-meter world recordin 1963. Against this field, it was going to be very tough for Abebe—even though, within a week of his operation, he was out of the hospital andrunning again.

Abebe Bikila, with Great Britain’s Basil Heatley (left) and Japan’s Kokichi Tsuburaya (right), receives his second Olympic gold medal.

May/June 1999

The Tokyo Olympic Marathon course was a city course. No country segments at all. This meant a million or so Japanese would line the route to urge their man on.

At one o’clock that afternoon, the 68 competitors did a 1% lap loop of the Tokyo National Stadium, cheered on by 80,000 spectators. The talk was that among the leading contenders Abebe would not relish a fast initial pace, as he must have lost some fitness while on his back in the hospital.

At 5K, Ron Clarke led Jim Hogan of Ireland in a time of 15:06—half a minute faster through that checkpoint than the pace in Rome had been four years earlier.

At 10K, Clarke and Hogan were 200 yards clear of the next group, but Abebe gradually closed on them, and the trio passed the 15K mark together. This time Abebe’s rivals could hear his footsteps, as he was wearing a pair of shoes he’d just bought in the Olympic village. The efficient Ethiopian never paused to drink but merely snatched a drink on the run and let the cup fall from his fingers when empty.

By the halfway point at Tobi Takyu-Macchi in Chofu City, Abebe led Clarke by more than 200 yards, and Hogan was back even farther.

At 30K the Ethiopian was running like a metronome, with Basil Heatley of Great Britain showing signs of closing on the Japanese Tsuburaya. The leaders remained like this to the tape. Abebe ran three minutes faster than he had in Rome to record a time of 2:12:11.2, the world’s fastest marathon.

Heatley passed Tsuburaya in the stadium to record a 2:16:19.2 in a sprint finish. Two minutes after finishing, Abebe performed his usual set of lively exercises to keep his muscles from tightening. Meanwhile, outside the stadium, 13 runners had found the pace too much and had retired.

The Accident

In early 1969, when he was still running well, a car accident left Abebe Bikila paralyzed from the waist down. He spent long spells at the Roehampton Hospital for Rehabilitation in England and in 1969 took part in the Paraplegic Games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. His event was archery. Although he did not win, he still displayed that sparkling smile.

Abebe was on the field in his wheelchair to see Frank Shorter win the gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In fact, Shorter’s first action after crossing the finish line was to walk to Abebe to shake his hand. That was probably the closest Abebe ever came again to marathon glory. He died of a stroke in 1973 at the age of 41.

Frank Horwill TWO MARATHONERS, FOUR OLYMPIC GOLDS mm 63

MONTREAL 1976

Following his convincing win at Munich, Frank Shorter was touted as likely the second man to win aconsecutive gold medal when he went to Montreal in 1976. His primary threats were believed to be Karel Lismont of Belgium, who had finished second (two minutes back) in Munich, and Bill Rodgers, who had won the Boston Marathon in 1975 in an American record of 2:09:55, which had broken Shorter’s previous American record by some 30 seconds. It promised to be a most fascinating contest.

Unfortunately, the race lacked atmosphere, as most of it would be run well out of sight of an audience, and the facility for technical feedback to the stadium via pictures and positions was not going to be used. The diminutive Barry Watson of Great Britain led the two laps around the track and up to the Park, the steepest hill on the course. Then tall and lanky Kevin Ryan of New Zealand took the lead for a mile. Passing the Olympic Village, Shorter moved to the front, followed by Rodgers, with Lasse Viren close behind. (In the week leading up to the marathon, Viren had won the 5,000 meters in 13:24.76 and the 10,000 meters in 27:40.38; he was attempting to match Emil Zatopek’s 1952 feat of completing the distance triple by taking the marathon. Like Zatopek in 1952, this was Viren’s first attempt at the distance.)

At 5K it was Goran Bengtsson of Sweden leading in 15:19. Bengtsson still led at 10K (30:48), with Anacleto Pinto of Portugal and Rodgers on his tail. The situation remained the same through 15K, reached in 46:00, except that the lead group had been joined by David Chettle (Australia) and Waldemar Cierpinski (East Germany).

At 20K, Bengtsson led the pack, going through the checkpoint at 1:01:24, pursued closely by Cierpinski, Jerome Drayton of Canada, Lismont, Rodgers, Shorter, Shivnath Singh (India), Viren, and Chris Wardlaw (Australia).

Shortly after, Shorter made his first burst, and Bengtsson began to drop back. Cierpinski, however, responded, and he and Shorter went through 25K together in 1:16:35, closely tailed by Rodgers, Singh, Viren, Drayton, Bengtsson, Lismont, Don Kardong (USA), and Mario Cuevas (Mexico). Only 60 seconds separated the first and last runner in this group.

At 30K (1:32:08), Cierpinski held a slight lead over Shorter, while Drayton, Singh, and Viren ran 30 seconds back. It became clear at the 35K marker that Cierpinski was running comfortably, whereas Shorter was working to hang on. Shorter fell to 13 seconds behind Cierpinski.

When Cierpinski went through the 40K mark in 2:03:12, Shorter was only 30 seconds back, while Kardong was desperately holding onto third, 70 seconds behind Shorter and closely followed by Lismont.

“WHO IS WALDEMAR CIERPINSKI?”

As the sketchy news reached the press box, people were asking, “Who’s this Cierpinski?” “How do you spell his name?” “Is he Polish?”

Meanwhile, Cierpinski, easily holding the lead against Shorter’s valiant effort to catch him, won in 2:09:55. In taking second place, Shorter ran 90 seconds faster than he had four years earlier in Munich. Kardong (2:11:15) was passed in the final stages by a stronger Lismont, who finished third in 2:11:12.

It rained continuously during the race, which pleased some and bothered others.

Cierpinski’s time was a new Olympic record thatremained unbroken until the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles.

The 27-year-old Cierpinski, with his straight black hair and massive sideburns that reached down to mouth level, was a complete mystery to the Western sportswriters. He liveda quiet life with his wife and their young son

in asmall farming village near Halle. He had prepared well for his Olympic debut.

When he was 12 years old,

MARK SHEARMAN,

Waldemar Cierpinski was a mystery to

Western sportswriters when he took the gold in Montreal.

Cierpinski’s running potential was

recognized by East German coaches. He joined Aufbau Nienburg, a factory sports club, where he received intensive coaching and training. From there, he was sent to a special boarding school in Halle and picked to specialize in the steeplechase.

In 1970, Cierpinski graduated from school and won his first major title: the 2K steeplechase at Spartakiad. Although he became the national steeplechase champion in 1972, he was advised to switch to long-distance running because of constant injury.

Cierpinski began marathon training in 1974 and during vacation that year ran 2:20:20 in miserable conditions in the Kosice Marathon in Czechoslovakia. He finished third, ahead of such notables as Ron Hill (Great Britain) and Jack Foster (New Zealand). In 1975, he ran the race again; although he improved by

three minutes, he finished seventh. Coaches instructed him to watch his weight— at 5’7″, he was assigned a target of 128 pounds maximum (the recommended weight for 5’7″ males is 148 pounds).

He won the East German Olympic Trials in 2:12:21, ranking him fifth in the world at that time. He arrived in Montreal thinking that a bronze medal was a possibility. He found the Olympic atmosphere very stimulating. His coaches gave him strict orders. “I was told to stick with the leaders at all costs. I found Shorter’s bursts very tough to deal with.” He noticed, though, that Frank’s surges were getting shorter and shorter in length, and at around 33K he decided to take the lead. The Montreal Olympic Marathon was only his fifth race at the distance.

Once a week during the winter off-season, Cierpinski ran 60K (36 miles) and 20K five days a week—a total of 96 miles a week. During the competitive season, the long run was reduced to the marathon distance, and he made a point of doing track sessions once a week either at 5K pace or 10K pace. One of his favorites was 3 X 10K (18 miles total) in roughly 29 minutes, with 4:30 rest after each rep.

MOSCOW 1980

Waldemar Cierpinski was not permitted to race much outside the Communist Bloc countries and felt the Americans would have more experience for the Moscow Olympic Marathon in 1980. As it happened, he needn’t have worried, as the United States chose to boycott the Games.

In Moscow, 74 runners started the marathon from an entry list of 81. The field contained 13 men who had achieved performances under 2:12. The course was flat, offering little shade from the sun. The temperature rose to 24 degrees Celsius (76 degrees Fahrenheit), and humidity was 49 percent. Weather conditions would be key for many competitors. (It turned out that none of the Great Britain runners could finish the race.) Cierpinski swapped his blue East German vest for a sun-reflecting white one.

From 35K, Cierpinski began to apply pressure, as he had in Montreal, and this enabled him to open up a 100-meter gap at 40K.

Rodolfo Gomez of Mexico, accustomed to the heat, decided to outfox Cierpinski with a surge just after 20K to 30K, which he covered in 29:45. Unfortunately, he’d burned it, and his next 10K was 2:30 slower. In any case, Gomez’s ruse had little effect on Cierpinski, who was accustomed to his 3 X 10K reps on the track at 29 minutes.

Cierpinski won in 2:11:02, 67 seconds slower than his winning time in Montreal. Gerard Nijboer (Holland) was a close second in 2:11:20, while the

Soviet Union’s Satymkul Dzhumanazarov was third in 2:11:35. It was the first time in history that the first three runners in an Olympic marathon spanned a gap of a mere 33 seconds.

Cierpinski’s 5K splits were 16:10, 15:27, 15:12, 16:53, 15:10, 15:07, 16:00, 14:45, and 6:18 for the final 2K. Note the speed of his eighth 5K was roughly 4:40 per mile. Compare also the collective times of the first 20K (63:42) to those of the second 20K (61:02)—a very negative split. The final 2K were covered at roughly a 5-minute per mile pace.

TWO LEGENDS, TWO STORIES

From the remote mountainous country of Ethiopia, Abebe Bikila stunned the marathon world with consecutive wins in 1960 and 1964. Following Frank Shorter’s victory in 1972 in Munich, Waldemar Cierpinski repeated Bikila’s feat in 1976 and 1980. Abebe nearly had his marathon career cut short by a Marxist revolution within his country, while Cierpinski had his career advanced by a communist state-controlled sports system.

Eastern bloc countries promoted sports excellence for two reasons: The Capitalist West were generally described as “degenerate” as a result of their private enterprise. Sports excellence was promoted as a means of exposing the Western World’s young people as decadent. The Eastern Bloc countries also felt that superiority in sport was a good advertisement for their system, that is, Communism. Every school had to report to an area administration, if they had children of outstanding sports talent. Often, these young people were placed in special residential sport specialist schools. Those who showed promise at a later age and who were in employment or at university were compulsorily released without any penalty for special training each day. The effectiveness of this regime can be seen in the All Time Best Top Fifty performances from 100 meters to the marathon. Eastern Bloc athletes are prominently placed, women far more than men. Cierpinski was a product of this system.

Bikila also had some advantages over his compatriots. The army provided him and his family with free accommodations and meals, while most of the population was in a state of semistarvation. The Armed Services of most countries are sports-oriented, and inter-service sports rivalry is encouraged. In fact, Bikila was relieved of most of his guard duties so that he could train when and where he liked. For all intents and purposes, he was a “professional” runner long before the sport went semiprofessional.

From their far-different backgrounds and under far-different cir- a cumstances, these men carved out a deep spot in Olympic history.

Editor’s note: Author Frank Horwill prefers not to comment on the drug allegations surrounding Cierpinski until he has had more time to study the evidence.

Frank Horwill TWO MARATHONERS, FOUR OLYMPIC GOLDS m 67

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_A Collaboration . That Works

Using High-Tech Testing to Help Our Best Distance Runners Improve Their Training and Racing. This Knowledge Can Benefit Others As Well.

BY DAVID E. MARTIN, PHD

T ODAY THE Cold War is a topic for history books rather than morning

conversation; few recall how the “communism versus capitalism” dichotomy of the 1950s through 1980s led the United States to create a sport science program that still ranks second to none. The impetus for USA Track & Field’s present sport science program came from United States Olympic Committee (USOC) funding to help our athletes prepare for and perform well at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Athletes continue to reap benefits from that program. It is interesting to look at where we have come to this point and where we can go using sport science and sports medicine to help athletes enhance their abilities.

IN THE BEGINNING

Actually, the “us versus them” mentality in Olympic sport dates back to the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, when the Soviet Union fielded its first team. They had waited out the 1948 London Games, sending no athletes but instead coaches and scientists to document and analyze what worked for everyone else. When they did appear, in 1952, ready to compete, they were an athletic juggernaut. Rather than seeking their own personal bests, their primary goal was to beat the Americans. Their reasoning seemed to be that if their athletes were better, their political system was better, and the United States bought into this way of thinking. Winning more medals than the Soviets became one of the goals. This mentality continued through the Games of 1976 at Montreal.

At Moscow, because of the Olympic boycott by the Americans, a medal count between the two superpowers was not an issue. As 1984 approached, with

the 1984 Games scheduled for Los Angeles, the Olympic movement could have proceeded in two directions. The East bloc (read Soviet Union) could appear in force, using all its combined resources of sports technical development and highly controlled athlete development, and soundly defeat the West bloc (read USA) on its home turf. Or the East bloc could boycott in retaliation for what happened in Moscow four years earlier.

Our own USOC took an objective and positive approach to this developing scenario. Well aware of the value of using sport science and technology to enhance athlete development, it created a plan to provide such support services to selected national sports governing bodies (NGBs). What better time to make inroads in this area than during the years leading up to the Games being in its own back yard? And so the USOC’s so-called Elite Athlete Project evolved. It was the brainchild of Irving H. Dardik, MD, Chair of the USOC’s Sports Medicine Council, and overseen administratively by Kenneth S. Clarke, PhD, director of the USOC’s Sports Medicine Division. These were extremely dynamic people, in a real sense on a “seek and destroy” mission. Their plan was to select a few NGBs that had potential for good performance in the Games, develop a plan using the best of sport science and technology to enhance athletic performance, fund it, and hope for tangible outcomes at the Games.

Track and field (its NGB was then known as The Athletics Congress [TAC]) was one of seven sports identified for assistance. Among the others were cycling, fencing, team handball, and weight lifting. Overseeing TAC’s involvement was C. Harmon Brown, MD. He was already well known within the NGB for his tireless efforts in enhancing communication between those involved in educating coaches and developing athletes. He also encouraged both coaches and athletes to take advantage of what effective health maintenance and sport science could offer for increasing performance potential. Now he had a budget to help this program materialize!

THE ATLANTA DISTANCE RUNNING CONNECTION

At Dr. Brown’s request, I was invited to the USOC’s organizational meeting in 1981, representing physiology and the distance running segment of track and field. It was a veritable Who’s Who of biomechanists, psychologists, nutritionists, administrators, coaches, and more. We hada very busy, very long weekend and laid out a plan to provide the best program of scientific services possible. Common needs were identified for all athlete groups, as well as uniquely required for individual groups. High jumpers, for example, could best benefit from biomechanical filming at the big meets. Subsequent analysis, determination of the elements of optimal technique, and discussion of results with

athletes and coaches provided everyone with a practical knowledge base of how to jump higher.

For distance runners, a different approach was appropriate. These athletes need the best of aerobic and anaerobic fitness; technique is not such a major issue. Interestingly, the distance events, from the 1,500-meter run through the marathon, all have something in common. The athlete who wins the race is able to maintain a faster pace for a longer time than anyone else. Obviously, for the 1,500m runner, anaerobic components to the total energy requirement contribute substantially with aerobic components, and as the race distance lengthens, the aerobic aspect becomes more dominant. Thus, rather than biomechanical filming, distance runners can best benefit from treadmill stress testing and quantification of these aerobic and anaerobic contributions.

This was the expertise of my laboratory at Georgia State University (GSU). Developed in the mid-70s as part of the Frank Shorter-induced running boom following his 1972 marathon gold medal at the Munich Olympics, our specialty has been the direct application of exercise physiology principles to help elite-level distance runners improve their performance. Being in an academic institution emphasizing research, our lab had a different approach from that of private laboratories, which usually focus more on cardiac rehabilitation.

A great difference in level of sophistication of test equipment is required to assess the performance ability of an Olympic runner as compared to a postmyocardial-infarction patient. A top-class male runner can maintain fiveminute pace for an hour or more, while a heart patient may be limited to a mild uphill walk. Not only were we equipped to evaluate elite athletes at our lab, we also knew how to “translate” the data into training plans for refining fitness even further.

And so, in collaboration with the USOC, we became in essence Olympic volunteers. Being already involved with TAC athlete development activities, this made our interaction even easier to implement. Ironically, we would be working with some of the same athletes who had been visiting us earlier. Now, however, athletes could schedule travel to Atlanta for testing at times best suited to their changing training emphasis rather than as a stopover en route to or from a race. A steady flow of athletes from that period willingly participated—Craig Virgin, Pat Porter, Dick Beardsley, Bruce Bickford, John Gregorek, Jon Sinclair, and Tom Byers, to name a few. For them it was a real deal—who wouldn’t accept an offer of free medical evaluation and technical input tailor-made to their event and their own unique assets and liabilities? Probably our greatest contribution was to help them learn more about themselves, stay injury free, and train more effectively. Our mission was not to help one beat another, but to help each be at his very best on race day.

SUCCESS IN LOS ANGELES

AtLos Angeles in 1984, United States athletes selected among the seven sports funded to receive scientific support services met with superb results. It’s impossible to quantify which components of overall athlete development—injury prevention, increased knowledge of how to train and peak, or the mental satisfaction of having a cadre of experts who cared—contributed most to performance excellence. Some of our athletes’ wins at Los Angeles were doubtlessly due to the East bloc boycott, which kept away plenty of would-be medalists, but the combination of good competitive results, favorable reception of the project by athletes, and new practical insights regarding training, competing, and health protection caused the USOC to continue supporting sport science and technology activities for its NGBs.

Since 1988 the approach to providing sports science services has continued its quadrennial format. Top-level athletes are identified primarily during the first two years of the quadrennium before a Games. This permits an effective longitudinal collaboration, which provides the greatest potential for benefit. During the 1980-1984 period no women distance runners were included in the project, as Olympic women’s distance events had only then been added. This has changed, of course, as the women now approach parity with the men.

Instead of the sport science activities being directed by the USOC itself, this role has been decentralized, with the NGBs more responsible. Dr. Brown has remained in charge of USATF’s Scientific Services Program, and my laboratory continues to work with distance runners. In addition, a laboratory at Dallas, initially under the guidance of Olympian Peter Snell, and more recently directed by well-known track coach and exercise physiologist Robert Vaughn, has provided an additional resource focusing attention on distance runners.

STRATEGIES FOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND ENHANCEMENT

Over the years, our laboratory has developed an effective methodology for evaluating the performance characteristics of elite-level runners, and we can now share it here with readers. Perhaps this information can serve as a template for others to use elsewhere.

Our program has three philosophical guidelines. First, we desire to provide rapid turnaround of data collected, in language that the athlete can understand, and with practical guidelines that the athlete can use in training or health maintenance. This information is provided both orally, while the athlete is visiting us, and in written format later, to serve as a record for reference.

David E. Martin A COLLABORATION THAT WORKS ® 73

Second, strict individual confidentiality of laboratory records is maintained. Neither the running magazines nor other athletes coming here for testing need to know anything about a particular athlete’s lab data, or my impression of how fit he or she is for an upcoming race.

Third, our best data interpretation to help athletes improve comes from comparing their own data over time as their health and fitness change. Little is gained by comparing an athlete’s data to so-called “mean values for an elite population.” As George Sheehan put it so well years ago, “Athletes are all Experiments of One, and the more elite the athlete, the more unique is the experiment.”

We have a generalized data collection plan for evaluating health and fitness that is similar for all athletes, regardless of gender and event specialty. We then derive for all athletes an individualized strategy in their best interest to help them achieve their potential. One way of providing an understanding of what we do to help an elite distance runner understand his or her present state of fitness and health is to “bring readers along” through their four-day test session. This provides an insight into the three essential aspects of the program: health evaluation, performance evaluation, and practical interpretation.

To keep airfares minimal, athletes arrive on a Thursday and return on a Sunday.

Lab Work and Road Test

Upon arrival, normally in midafternoon, the athlete is picked up and driven to the lab, where he or she has the opportunity to become “preconditioned” to the testing environment. Athletes typically desire an easy run upon arrival to undo the stress of air travel, so it is convenient that they do this on the treadmill that they will use for their cardiopulmonary performance testing the next day. Good coaching always suggests that runners should “go over the course before racing,” and this is the laboratory parallel—there’s no need for surprises. Athletes can pick the pace that suits them, ensure that they get an easy run whatever the weather, and can practice running with their test gear. This will be described shortly.

Following this easy afternoon run, a nice evening dinner allows us to discuss previous training and racing and review the plan for the weekend. Typically, we choose from two pasta restaurants, which provides a kind of “laboratory environmental control” regarding nutrition and hydration.

After a good night’s sleep, athletes are ready for their most demanding test day. They provide an overnight urine specimen, and before breakfast we collect ablood specimen large enough (seven small tubes) for acomprehensive chemical evaluation—65 different substances are analyzed! These results are normally completed within a week, with written and telephone follow-up of results at that time.

Since endurance running is all about oxygen utilization, emphasis is on evaluating blood oxygenation status. Hemoglobin carries 98.5 percent of the blood’s oxygen, so it’s better if it is on the high end of the normal range. Hemoglobin quantification is thus essential. Iron is an integral part of the hemoglobin molecule, and thus measurement of the body’s iron stores, to ensure enough available for hemoglobin production, is also essential. Iron is stored primarily as ferritin. Other analyses permit assessment of the extent of impact stress and skeletal muscle overwork, which are important in distinguishing between manageable hard training and overtraining.

After the morning blood collection, it’s time for a light but nutritious breakfast, with plenty of fluids. Then comes an hour of nutritional assessment, which consists of interviews with a professional, to learn the athlete’s normal patterns of energy intake (eating) and energy outgo (daily activities), and a bone mineral density assessment. Figure 1 shows an athlete lying on the table of a dualenergy X-ray absorptiometer (DEXA). This machine scans the athlete’s entire body and quantifies three aspects of body composition: bone mineral mass, lean tissue mass, and fat mass.

As you might expect, runners have greater mineral density in their lower limb bones than sedentary people do. This is because these bones generally respond favorably to the increased impact stress of running and deposit more bone mineral for increased strengthening. We can evaluate the extent of bone

COURTESY OF DAVE MARTIN

Figure 1: A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer scans this athlete’s entire body and quantifies three aspects of body composition: bone mineral mass, lean tissue mass, and fat mass.

mineral loss, particularly with amenorrheic women athletes, whose decreased blood estrogen predisposes them to lose bone mineral. If a woman’s percent body fat gets too low, she may become predisposed to amenorrhea. Interpreting the data about body composition together with energy and nutritional intake and outgo patterns permits us to advise an athlete on the best strategies for optimal nutrition and skeletal health.

Another hour is devoted to pulmonary function evaluation. How do the athlete’s lung volumes compare to what would be predicted for an age-, sex-, height-matched individual? What is the maximal airflow capability of air through the lungs? How much oxygen can be diffused from the mouth through the lungs and into the blood? If these values are unusually high, this suggests, for example, that the athletes could respond to altitude training better than someone whose lungs were only normal in size and function. If the athlete has asthma, we can test his or her pulmonary function with and without their bronchodilator ordinarily used just before hard sessions or races. There is variation in responsiveness to such medications, and sometimes athletes haven’t perfected the best technique for inhaling their medications. As you might judge from this kind of systematic evaluation, we are much like the auto mechanic who tunes a Lamborghini. The machine has incredible performance excellence, but it needs periodic tuning, and the owner needs to know how to keep it running at its optimal level.

By now, it is approaching noon, and the “grande finale” of the day is the treadmill stress test to measure cardiopulmonary excellence. There’s an element of dread among athletes in doing such a test, much as with a race, because they are on the line and need to dig deep to achieve their best possible performance. They do not want bad results. But their desire to acquire some practical information that will help their training makes the test a highlight.

Figure 2 illustrates the test gear used to collect breathing gases. Obviously, athletes consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide as they exercise, and these dynamics increase as the athletes work harder. They find our system better by far than any other they have encountered, but then we’ ve been under the gun to make improvements for nearly 20 years. We affix a nose clip so that all of their air goes through their mouth, and they breathe through a mouthpiece that eventually connects to the gas-analysis equipment. As they breathe, their expired gas gets analyzed, and we can determine the amount of oxygen used.

Most laboratories still use a headgear, essentially screwed to the athlete’s head, to which the mouthpiece is attached. It is restrictive, uncomfortable, and distracting. Our gear “floats” in space and permits the athletes complete freedom to move. Not shown in the figure are electrocardiogram electrodes for measuring heart rate during the test. Instead of positioning these on the chest, where the lead wires can get in the way of an athlete’s arm swing, we place the

Figure 2: Test gear used to collect breathing gases.

electrodes on the back, where they aren’t noticed.

Treat It Like a Race

We have streamlined the test procedure to suit athletes’ racing mentality. They are accustomed to racing, where there is a start and a finish. They select a pace they can maintain as long as possible, and they accelerate to the finish line. Our test protocolis similar: we “fire the gun,” they begin running at an easy pace, which gets them warmed up, and the pace gradually increases. Eventually we Start to raise the treadmill grade, because it isn’t biomechanically efficient to run too quickly on a treadmill. This also allows the athletes to EET : use their back and other upper body musculature in addition to lower limbs. Eventually, the combination of increasing upgrade and a fairly fast pace gets intolerable, and they “run out of reasons for running.” They voluntarily step off the treadmill, after which we slow the pace to a walk and permit them to start their cooldown. A blood sample taken five minutes post-test and analyzed for lactic acid indicates the maximum tolerable anaerobic load they could manage. We analyze the oxygen consumed for every breath they took, as well as how their breathing rate changed during the test. Our computer system soon produces a mound of data.

Three pieces of information will quantify a distance runner’s physiological performance capability: (1) the maximum volume of oxygen consumption, typically measured as milliliters of oxygen used per kilogram of body weight per minute (VO, max, in ml/kg/min); (2) the amount of oxygen used at submaximum paces—the less, the better—which gives an indication of running efficiency; and (3) the workload at which anaerobic metabolism starts to provide a substantial component of the energy required. This causes an accumulation of lactic acid in the working muscles, which enters the bloodstream and can be measured as blood lactic acid. The pace at which lactic acid first begins to accumulate is called the anaerobic threshold. The faster a person can

David E. Martin A COLLABORATION THAT WORKS M 77

run without relying on anaerobic metabolism, the longer he or she can endure, and of course endurance is what determines a winner.

Our protocol is different from many, where athletes are stopped every few minutes to permit a fingertip blood collection that ostensibly quantifies progressively increasing blood lactic acid levels. We use instead the athlete’s changing breathing dynamics to identify the anaerobic threshold. For technical reasons related to clinical chemistry, we don’t find finger-tip lactic acid values useful unless they are accompanied by companion measurements of blood hemoglobin. Fluid movement out of the bloodstream, both to the skin for sweating and into the working muscles, causes the blood to become more concentrated. This by itself increases the concentration of lactic acid. Unless one knows the extent of this so-called hemoconcentration, the increase in lactic acid cannot be properly assessed. Measuring hemoglobin permits this determination. But athletes typically find even one fingertip puncture per workload irritating, let alone two per workload! So we monitor breathing instead.

Once the treadmill test is completed, the rest of the day belongs to the athlete. A cooldown, a shower, a nice lunch, perhaps a late-afternoon run to get the kinks out, some discussion of data, a massage, a leisurely dinner with plenty of fluids, and a good night’s sleep. No wonder athletes like coming to us!

Strength and Power Check

On Saturday we switch focus somewhat. After a late wake-up, an easy morning run, and arelaxing brunch to restore energy and fluids, it’s back to the lab. This time it’s strength and power evaluation, using tests that are completed within an hour. Using an isokinetic dynamometer, one test quantifies strength, power, and work output of lower limb extensors and flexors. Is there optimal symmetry between right side and left? Is there optimal balance between extensors and flexors on each side? This information is useful if the athlete is rehabilitating an injury or to identify potential asymmetry that could cause problems later.

The other test is a 30-second, all-out, lower-limb anaerobic power test using a computer-calibrated bicycle. (This is sometimes called a Wingate test to acknowledge its development at the Wingate Institute in Israel.) Figure 3 illustrates an athlete focused on great results with such a test.

Again, all distance runners have a need to improve anaerobic power output in addition to aerobic power as they progress through a training cycle. As mentioned earlier, the athlete who can race at the fastest pace for the longest time, and then who slows down the least (or who can best quicken the pace at the finish), wins the race. Even marathons are increasingly being won at the finish line, not at 35K! This test of raw anaerobic power gives us additional information (along with anaerobic threshold and maximum post-treadmill test

An athlete goes all out on a computercalibrated bicycle.

blood lactic acid level) to quantify the changing anaerobic aspect of an athlete’s performance potential over a training cycle.

At last, at midafternoon on Saturday, the formal testing is finished. We now have the remainder of the afternoon and evening for data assimilation. In a kind of executive session, which may get concluded over an enjoyable evening meal, we bring together all relevant information.

First we summarize the past few months of training and racing. What goals were set, what was achieved, and how has performance changed? We next discuss all the laboratory data regarding general health and present fitness. If this is a repeat visit, we can compare previous data (training and testing) with current data. Finally, we can discuss future training and racing plans and suggest how to use the health and performance data to achieve the athlete’s goals.

Finally, we discuss individual aspects of training and performance that can be enhanced by practical application of sport science information. A variety of questions invariably emerge. I’m going to Europe (or Asia)—what’s the best way to accommodate changing time zones? I’d like to try altitude training— what’s the best strategy to achieve optimal results? I’d like to transition from the 1,500 m to the 5,000 m—how do I restructure my training for the best physiological adaptation? I’ ve recently discovered that I’m anemic—how can I approach this problem from a dietary or iron-supplementation strategy? The national championships are going to be in hot, humid weather, and I live in cool,

‘COURTESY OF DAVE MARTIN,

David E. Martin A COLLABORATION THAT WORKS 79

dry altitude conditions—what are my best options for successfully adapting? And on and on.

Mind-Body Harmony

But there is another element of performance that goes beyond simple physiological principles. Athletic excellence results from a marvelous interaction between mind and body. It’s not simply mileage per week but also attitude toward living that helps create a successful athletic lifestyle. Unbalanced or confused mental aspects in an athlete’s life can be an enormous energy drain and a significant performance deterrent. Many lifestyle stresses can contribute to this disruption of mind-body harmony—switching coaches, getting divorced, trying too hard in training, performing poorly in a key race, coping with a sudden huge success. Athletes often can benefit from input from a neutral figure who (1) can be objective, (2) can respond in the athlete’s best long-term interest, (3) is professionally trained in counseling, and (4) understands the challenge of an athlete living in the world of international sport.

Fast Follow-Up

After testing is completed on Sunday, the athletes prepare to return home, we hope filled with new ideas and knowledge. Depending on where they live and the time of year, they may desire a long morning run in Atlanta and a relaxing brunch before boarding their plane to head home. In any event, within a week of their departure, they willreceive a complete written summary of data to serve as the basis for follow-up conversation as well as review at the next visit.

THE CHALLENGE: HOW TO REMAIN SUCCESSFUL

An elite-level distance runner striving for success is in some ways no different from a back-in-the-pack runner. Both want to get more fit, both have a mental drive to improve, and both find themselves fitting running into their overall lifestyle. The greater the athlete’s genetic gifts, however, the greater will be the focus on training, causing increasing stress as the athlete reaches higher levels. It’s here that the problems of elite athletes begin to set them apart from the weekend warriors, because their workload borders on the excessive.

Elite runners train to improve, not to stay where they are. Competing at the incredible levels that we read about in magazines, over the course of an average year they may experience more days with injury or illness or rehabilitation than healthy running days. Injuries from chronic impact stress, burnout from excessive training with inadequate recovery, and coping with common illnesses take their toll.

Finding Good Support

Elite runners encounter major challenges in building a support team around them. First, few coaches have reached the athlete’s elite level of excellence, and they may have had few opportunities to work with such talented people. Thus, they have little appreciation for the concept of training overload, simply assigning more and more work until the athlete fails, either through injury, burnout, or illness. When this happens, athletes often think they have failed their coach. The coach says the athlete couldn’t tolerate the training. The coach thus maintains integrity and goes on to repeat the same mistakes. The athlete senses that he or she has failed. This inappropriate reversal of accountability can potentially terminate an athlete’s career. Isn’t it the coach who should be held accountable, because the athlete willingly submitted to his or her authority?

More coaches need to realize that it isn’t how much training an athlete does that determines his or her ultimate fitness. What’s important is how much adaptation to training has occurred. The best training load is the smallest amount of the most specific loading that continues to bring improvement. In reality, only the athlete knows what the load is. Consequently, the best coachathlete relationship should rely on a sensitive interaction between the two that ensures the athlete’s right to abort before self-destruction occurs.

Overtraining

Few sport scientists and sports medicine physicians have experience in working with elite runners. They are unaware of the enormous mental strength directed toward training at levels that can produce burnout and injury. Medical science hasn’t yet uncovered a predictable set of blood chemistry values that will identify an athlete’s imminent entry into a state of chronic fatigue from overtraining. This is because the body’s changing response to such excessive loading is initially adaptive, and very gradually transitions into an inadequacy in adapting. Thus, blood chemistry changes may be more corroborative than predictive of having trained at an inappropriately high level in comparison to manageable adaptation.

The traditional family doctor’s best intuition for sensing a patient’s wellbeing is gained by evaluating the quality of the patient’s response (a sparkle in the eye or a cheery tone of voice) to the question, “How are you feeling this morning?” Similarly, the best indicators of athlete overtraining are subjective and intuitive. Increased irritability, inability to sleep soundly, loss of appetite, increased morning heart rate, decreased desire to train, a sense that six-minute pace feels like five-minute pace, all provide an intuitive perception that all is not well. It’s break time, and the difference between a good athlete and a great athlete is the latter’s acceptance of the fact that doing less may bring more fitness.

Different Specialists, Different Problems

Many of today’s athletes tend to be migratory, frequently moving from place to place. It may be due to changing weather, or changing mates, or trying new things (altitude, getting out of the cold, training with a different group). Once they depart the area in which they have developed good support (a local podiatrist, nutritionist, massage therapist, sports medicine physician) who helped them manage their aches and pains, they now are on their own again. But they carry all their aches and pains with them, changing in intensity over time. If they see different specialists at their new locale—even if these specialists are good at what they do—they may get quite different interpretations of what is always a slightly different problem due to healing or exacerbation. Frustration can occur after visiting these new-found specialists, because “no one knows what’s wrong with me—they all say different things.” In reality, each specialist is seeing the problem ina different state of repair. Thus, consistency of health care can be as important as consistency of training—constant change is one of the primary limitations to long-term improvement.

The Elite Get Sick, Too

We tend to think of elite athletes as “perfect physical specimens,” with seemingly nothing wrong—how else could someone run so fast? Indeed, they may have or develop a unique medical problem that worsens over time. Training at a high work level becomes increasingly difficult. Symptoms may occur that make an athlete or trainer suspect that an injury is caused by a common problem, but later it’s discovered that something else is causing the athlete to deteriorate.

I can think of an example from my own experience. One distance runner with a known history of asthma managed quite well using IOC-approved medications. When she was fit, she could tolerate high work loads. Gradually, however, her challenging track sessions became less and less tolerable—when in fact the opposite should have been occurring. Reduction in weekly total training load to minimize overtraining risks didn’t bring improvement. We suspected that her asthma was getting worse or that her medications were becoming less effective. Fortunately, because she was a long-term participant in our Elite Athlete Project, we had several sets of pulmonary function data from her over the years, which we used along with new laboratory information in an evaluation by a pulmonologist. These data showed no change in her asthmatic condition.

She gave us a hint that something else may be involved by emphasizing that her breathing problems seemed more in her throat than in her lungs. Further studies revealed that her real problem was a developing vocal chord dysfunction. During inspiration, when her vocal chords should have been opening wider to allow more airflow, they were closing, giving her a throat tightness and air hunger that slowed her maintainable running pace. As with an asthmatic, this air hunger caused her to struggle harder to breathe, worsening the situation. For her, the best treatment was not asthma medications, but speech therapy, with breathing retraining under stress. She has responded wonderfully and is now performing at a very high level.

SUMMING UP

As you can see, elite distance runners can gain considerable and varied benefit by teaming up with sport science, sports medicine, and sport technology. It has been said that education consists of climbing mountains to see more mountains to climb. We have learned much from elite athletes that has aided our understanding how they can perform at such a high level. But they have in turn learned from us and raised their own performance levels from collaboration. We look forward to continuing our activities with them. tt

Aetna U.S. Healthcare Maine Marathon & Relay & Casco Bay Half Marathon Sunday, October 3, 1999 – 8:00 a.m.

Aetna L

Maine . Join us along val Runners Will Receive:

* Long Sleeve T-shirts ° the coast of Pre & Post-Race Massages

Awards Will Be Presented To:

Maine during : * Overall Top 5 Runners, & Top 3 Runners in 5-Year fall-foliage Age Groups * Also, New This Year… PRIZE MONEY!!!

season!

C#tna

David E. Martin A COLLABORATION THAT WORKS # 83

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Aetna U.S. Healthcare GREATER HARTFORD MARATHON Saturday,October 9, 1999 Hartford, Connecticut

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