What Follow The Summer of Malmo?

I would think you'd do the regular fall stuff- hills, some time of interval work- if you're running 5k-10k XC. Easy days before races, etc

don't even think of trying to copy Malley's workouts from the 70s and 80s. You kids today have no idea about running 120 miles per week, per months on end. 2 workouts a day, 7 days a week. It's something that you can't even fathom. Many of us, around Malmo's age did that kind of volume. Of course, we didn't get the same results, but gave it the 'good fight', none the less.

what follows the summer of Malmo? A fall of injuries for most of you wimps. For those of you that actually make it to October; a fall of good racing results on the roads and X-C and an excellent endurance base to head into track season with.

take it in increments of 10 miles per week as you increase your mileage. Don't go from 50 or 60 mpw to 100 mpw the next. Yes, I did stuff like that back in the 70's as a 20-21 year old; but I was impatient and was sore as hell alot from dumb things like that and going out for a 14 mile run after being out for 4 days with a minor injury.

no summer of Malmo 4 u wrote:

don't even think of trying to copy Malley's workouts from the 70s and 80s. You kids today have no idea about running 120 miles per week, per months on end. 2 workouts a day, 7 days a week. It's something that you can't even fathom. Many of us, around Malmo's age did that kind of volume. Of course, we didn't get the same results, but gave it the 'good fight', none the less.

You know not what "Summer of malmo" is.

what follows the 'summer of malmo'?

the 'fall of Meyers?'

the 'winter of Brantley?'

the 'spring of Lindsey?'

no summer of Malmo 4 u wrote:

don't even think of trying to copy Malley's workouts from the 70s and 80s. You kids today have no idea about running 120 miles per week, per months on end. 2 workouts a day, 7 days a week. It's something that you can't even fathom. Many of us, around Malmo's age did that kind of volume. Of course, we didn't get the same results, but gave it the 'good fight', none the less.

Start here:

as you begin your search for a clue.

JonDCH wrote:

I was reading through Hodgie-San's web pages and wondered what kind of workouts followed the Summer of Malmo training. I'm assuming it's a season a fall racing, but what kind of quality work in between these races? And, are the races all out or more time-trial-like in intensity?

Thanks to those who know of threads which answer this query or to Malmo himself if he finds this posting.

-Jon

Jon, nothing follows "Summer of Malmo" except your cross country season. There is no sequel to follow and it's neither a beginning, middle or an end.

"Summer of Malmo" is "a foolproof, no-nonsense, 100 percent guaranteed program that will help runners of all abilities to improve their fitness over the summer WITHOUT the attendant physical or mental fatigue" just as it says in the first paragraph. It is in-between season training. It isn't a training "program" so-to-speak.

"Summer of Malmo" was born out of John Schiefer's Track&FieldMedia.com message board almost ten years ago. Tranck&FieldMedia was the "Granddaddy of the running message boards" and had Schiefer not decided to spend more time on his day job Letsrun would have never become the "world famous message board" it is today.

Track&FieldMedia.com was just like it is here today, full of runners looking for the secret workout or the secret program that will take them to the next step. Every year about this time they start devising all sort of ingenious plans for the Summer to get them ready for cross country season. Then, as it is now, they were looking for a blueprint for the Summer, when in reality there is no blueprint, there are no secret workouts at all. All there is, is consistency, persistence and patience -- just as it always was. Summer of Malmo is a concept, not a blueprint, feel free to adjust it to suit your needs.

Knowing that "consistency, persistence and patience" doesn't excite anyone, one day I posted on T%FMedia that I had the Summer program that was exactly what all of the young bucks were looking for, and that when I get a chance I'll post it. This became somewhat of a running joke at the T&FMedia message boards, each week someone would ask about my summer "training" program and each week I's say, I'm still "working on it.

Finally in June, I realized I couldn't procrastinate any longer, so I sat down and wrote "Summer of Malmo" with the Seinfeld episode of "Summer of George" in the background on TV. It was born part out of reality, the Summer of 1989 that Terrance Mahon decided he was going to get serious, and went from unknown scrub to College All-America, but it was also part reflection of mine as to how high school and college runners should go about training during the Summer between seasons.

Historically, runners tend to come from two camps; their motivation gets misplaced during the Summer and they do too little training to prepare themselves for XC, or they train too hard, come to school in great shape and don't improve, causing disillusionment and then misplace blame on their coach for ruining them.

I decided that if I could do it over again, or if I were a college coach, I'd direct my runners that the first thing they should do when they get home is to call all of their friends up and make a commitment to meet twice weekly for informal training sessions. I'd tell them to put the word out to all of the local high school teams and invite them to the training sessions as well. The point of those sessions would be that this is a social event and the workouts would be low-stress aerobic workouts. ALL WORKOUTS would be run at an intensity level that is well-within the ability of all runners.

The idea of having runners all run the same pace, periodically jumping in and out of the workout that the lead group is doing, also came out of that Summer of 1989. I had been knocked out of training by a dose of sciatica. When I started running, I decided that rather than building up my mileage with all easy runs, I'd start doing interval work on the track immediately, but I'd start off running slow and short, gradually lengthening the distance and increasing the speed as my body let me. The original "Summer of Terrance" group consisted of Terrance Mahon, Peter Fonseca, Brad Hudson, Colin Dalton and myself, with assorted guest stars jumping (not sure how many times Pat Haller made it) in depending on who was in town for that session. There were times that I'd jump in for a lap (while the group was running a 5 mile tempo run) then wait until they got back around, then I'd jump in again, and so on. Each week I'd run a little bit more and/or a little bit faster, finally by the end of the Summer I caught up to the lead. This was the easiest Summer of good training I ever had.

I.John Nutlall. Iowa St.. 29.30

2 Jonah Koech, Iowa Sr . 29.32

3 German Beltran,Alabama. 29:33

4. Terry Thornton. LSU ana Sr., 29.49

5. Robcrr Kennedy. Indiana. 29.54.

6. Todd Williams,. Tennessee. 29.47

7 Shannon Butler. Montana St, 29.59;

8. Brad Hudson. Oregon. 30:01.

9. Mark Croghan. OSU St 30.03

10. In Peter Sherry. Georgetown. 30.04

11 Darrell Smith. Iowa St, 30.07

12. James Gibson Yale. 3O.08

13 Joe Kirby. Nebraka. 30.09

14. Jesse McGuire WMU 30.09

15. Stan Dollman. WKU 30.13

16. Peter Fonseca Oregon 30.16

17 Pat Hailer. Oregon. 30.16

18. Sammy Cherulyot. Mt. St. Mary’ 30 17.34.

19. Steven Fury. Oklahwna St. 30:22

20. Steven Brown. Penn St 30.23

27. Terrance Mahon, Oregon 30.31

1 Iowa State 54

2 Oregon 72

3 Wake Forest 219

when did you retire from top class competition and 100 + mpw?

I'm surprised you were still running at that level in '89.

(I packed it in after the '84 season, disallusioned about not qualifying for the Trials in anything- and figuring that if it 'hasn't happened by the age of 30, it aint gonna happen). When did your 'I'm retired moment' hit you?

70s guy wrote:

when did you retire from top class competition and 100 + mpw?

I'm surprised you were still running at that level in '89.

(I packed it in after the '84 season, disallusioned about not qualifying for the Trials in anything- and figuring that if it 'hasn't happened by the age of 30, it aint gonna happen). When did your 'I'm retired moment' hit you?

Retired in 1986 after the Stamford Marathon. A slight soleus strain the week of the race didn't get better in time. In 88/89 I decided I missed the routine of training and got into decent shape (23:30, 48:30) I remember deciding to "get serious" around Halloween of 89 and started stretching, two days later I had a groin injury after a 7:00am two mile (9:04) with Dellinger's guys. Took it as a message and hung em up for good.

Did your groin injury fully heal on its own?

That was a sign to stop stretching, not running.

SMJO wrote:

That was a sign to stop stretching, not running.

Isn't that the truth. More runners don't stretch than do.

Living in the Past wrote:

Did your groin injury fully heal on its own?

Yes, all injuries will heal on their own. I didn't see any point in seeing a physician to have him tell me to take ibuprofen, put my foot in a loop of surgical tubing tied to my couch and make like the Rockettes.

As John Schiefer once said, "Injuries heal, slow times never do."

I see that the Summer of Malmo is meant to be flexible in terms of volume/mileage and intensity, but for a high-schooler trying to follow this idea, what sort of weekly mileage would you suggest working up to? I'm a sophomore right now, running slightly over 50mpw so far this season. Any input would be appreciated

hs-- wrote:

I see that the Summer of Malmo is meant to be flexible in terms of volume/mileage and intensity, but for a high-schooler trying to follow this idea, what sort of weekly mileage would you suggest working up to? I'm a sophomore right now, running slightly over 50mpw so far this season. Any input would be appreciated

Whatever you feel is right. Your body will tell you this. I think the important thing is to get used to doing doubles, and get used to living like a clock. Start off by running 3 miles in the morning five days a week. If you can't do five days, then do four. If not four, then three.... The important thing is to start now, meet with your comrades-in-sweat regularly for purpose and support.

Depending on the size of your town, tell the guys from other schools you want to meet up with them weekly for twice weekly session. Remember, none of these sessions should be very difficult, they should leave you feeling invigorated afterwards. Training should be fun. If it's not fun, you won't last very long. You attitude towards training and racing means everything in your development as an athlete. Allow bad attitudes to fester and they will grow and restrict your development. Encourage and nurture positive attitudes and soon you'll be running far above anything you'd ever imagined before.

hs-- wrote:

I see that the Summer of Malmo is meant to be flexible in terms of volume/mileage and intensity,

There is no flexibility in terms of intensity. If your sessions are "hard" then you're not doing it right.

start with light doubles, 2 or 3 miles, enough so that you've done something but not so much as to impact the main workout.

for me, it started HS senior year of HS. 3 miles in the morning of non-meet days, 2 miles otherwise. (ugh, 2-3 meets per week).

in college, i went back to singles (because that still got me 70-80 per week) for a few months until i was ready. and again, started with 3 miles on days with easy afternoons (3 per week) and eventually got to the point of doubling every day, even on weekends (14-16 in the morning, 5-10 in the afternoon). (yes, saw 50 miles on several weekends during early/mid-season my sophomore and junior years, including saturdays with tailgate parties and football games in between the two workouts!!! god, to be young again!)

any magic that will happen will be because of the doubles, moreso than anything else.

Malmo,

Thanks for the describing the origins of The Summer of Malmo and answering my question.

What made me go back to Hodgie-San's website and look up your article was the realization, after years of experimenting with different types of training, that I was going about my hard days too intensely. You and others had it right. Keep it fun and don't strain. So challenging to do and thus the "genius" of making it a fun, social event. Take the edge out of it all and place the emphasis on play rather than work.

This is my new philosophy. No doubt, old new for many. Don't strain, keep the running fun and always something to look forward to at the beginning or end of day.

Thanks for your input. It is appreciated.

It doesn't necessarily have to end. You can continue to train that way through the season.

I've been working with a 14-year-old 8th grader who has been following a very similar program this spring, and he has gone from a 5:3x 1600m at the end of January to a 5:04 1600m at the beginning of April. He has one more race, and barring bad weather, he'll go under 5 for sure. He has increased his mileage to about 30-35 mpw and looks forward to running everyday.

If the race times continue to improve under the such a program, why move away from it?