Todd Williams uncut-training question

Glad to hear Todd is uncut. That's the way I like 'em. Cute too.

I think he also mentioned that year was his best year. AR at 15k, 9th World XC, PRs on the track. I think how he said it was "if it is your moment in the sun, take it". The workout probably was just an indicator of how things were going for him, he was just on.

you say march as if everyone is on the same training schedule. if he set an AR he was clearly on a training plan to do well at that race. and like most runners, he probably had plans to peak more than once a year.

10 minutes of speed work is "speed laiden"?

Todd probably didn't do enough "tempo runs" that time of year!

Alan

How can you say it's a speed laiden workout when you don't say how fast these were?

nevermind. I thought it might spark some talk about periodization. I wasn't being critical, because he was obviously doing something right. But addressing the idea of "10 minutes of hard running" not being speed based, would you say 10 x 400 @ 60 sec is not speed? I personally think we throw around the word speedwork too much, which was the intent of my first post...I guess I was not clear.

I was a track camp in June of 1996 at UT - I seen Todd do 10X1000m in the heat of the day, running them around 2:47-2:52 with a very short jog for recovery - 100m maybe. He went on to win the trials very easily; he was just a beast and hammered away. I remember him doing them in trainers as well instead of flats!

from todd himself. he does things a little against convential wisdom thats why i hoped he would post more of it on pushthepace.com.

What it takes to run 42:22 at the Gate River Run?By Todd Williams*

Wow!  It’s been 12 years since I ran one of the best races of my career and set the American record of 42:22 right here in Jacksonville at the 1995 Gate River Run.  I was also fortunate enough -- through lots of hard work -- to win four other Gate River Runs in the 90’s.  I retired from competitive racing in 2003 and today the question I am asked most is:  how did I run that fast and how did I train to average 4:30 per mile for 9.3 miles?  My reply is always the same. I had plenty of talent but I also WORKED EXTREMELY HARD over a long period of time.  In this article I’ll give an inside look at the training I did leading up to the 1995 Gate River Run.  However, I DO NOT ADVISE THIS TRAINING SCHEDULE for anyone other than a world-class runner.  What worked for me won’t necessarily work for you.  Now that I’m coaching I know it’s extremely important to train each runner differently.  Each runner has a certain mileage and intensity they can handle and must adjust accordingly.  Following is an example of my training leading to my record setting performance.

Weekly mileage for the 10 weeks leading up to 1995 Gate River Run:?110-102-91-86-93-105-105-95-103-106* race week

Long runs for the 10 weeks leading up to 1995 Gate River Run:?12-8-10-10-8-11-12-10-11-10

Specific workouts:?Each week I would do a track workout, hill workout and a faster road run, with some samples of those below.  For each workout I ran a 3-4 mile warm-up at a sub 6:00 pace, followed by 6-150m strides and a 2 mile warm-down.

Key workouts:

1. 4xmile@4:15 with 3 minutes recovery jogs between each mile

2. Hills – 10x380 meter hill with jog back down for recovery between each

3. 8 x 1000m @2:45 with 200m jog recovery between each 1000m

4. 1600m – 1200m--800m-400m@:60-:61 pace with 400m jog recovery between each

5. 5 miles HARD road run (4:45 pace) then back to the track for 4 x 800m @2:02 – 2:04 with 400m jog recovery

6. 20 x 200m @ :30 with 200m jog recovery

7. 6 mile HARD road run then back to the track for a 4:08 mile

I ran twice a day every day, with my pace on each run never slower than 6 minutes per mile.  At the completion of each afternoon run I would do 8 x 150m strides at mile race pace.  The strides helped develop my speed and I left the track each day feeling fast.  I was also in the weight room three times a week for circuit training consisting of body weight exercises (push-ups, dips, lunges, pull-ups etc).  I took very little rest between each exercise.  I wanted to break down my muscles and make them work when they were very fatigued.  I liked to duplicate the feel I would have in the later stages of my races.

Even though I only stretched about 10 minutes before and after each run, I always recommend doing whatever you’ve been doing that keeps you healthy.  Don’t change what works.

As you can see, I didn’t do anything magical.  I just ran a consistent program year-in and year-out that got me to the point of handling a higher work load.  I was also very fortunate to stay healthy for a majority of my running career.

My advice to all runners at any level is to stick with what works, stay consistent and if you are a beginner or a runner that wants advice, contact me at PUSHTHEPACE.com and I’ll help design a program that best fits your needs.

Best of luck to all of you.

*Todd Williams is a 2-time Olympian and is the only 5-time Gate River Run champion.  He set the American 15K record of 42:22 at Gate River Run in 1995, a record which still stands today.

12krunner wrote:

Weekly mileage for the 10 weeks leading up to 1995 Gate River Run:?110-102-91-86-93-105-105-95-103-106* race week

Long runs for the 10 weeks leading up to 1995 Gate River Run:?12-8-10-10-8-11-12-10-11-10

Those are some rather short long runs in context of overall weekly mileage. Interesting.

i think he would do 12 on weeks he didn't race. i think the weeks not over 100 might be race weeks as well. just a theory.

In 95 Todd was running great and prepared to run as fast as he could at world cross and sea ray. Of course it worked, running 9th at WXC and 27:31 in Tennessee. Todd told me what he ran that workout in, as I recall it was 4:08, 3:30 1:58, 56 or thereabouts.

i was around then wrote:

In 95 Todd was running great and prepared to run as fast as he could at world cross and sea ray. Of course it worked, running 9th at WXC and 27:31 in Tennessee. Todd told me what he ran that workout in, as I recall it was 4:08, 3:30 1:58, 56 or thereabouts.

Did you mean 3:00 for the 1200? I think he says how fast he ran the workout in the uncut video on flocasts. 3:30 obviously is way too slow

Sub6 wrote:

Those are some rather short long runs in context of overall weekly mileage. Interesting.

No it's not.

That's one of the three best races of my life. I knew that I was really fit; I was coming off a great workout, 4:04, 3:03, 1:58 and 56 on Monday. I said 'I'm fit, the weather is supposed to be perfect, when the gun goes off I'm just going to sprint and see how long I can hold that.' I went through 10K in 28:06. When I think back on it I don't remember any pain. I probably felt it at the time.

Long runs?

http://www.dyestat.com/training/salazar1.htm

Hey Malmo:

Could you link me to somewhere where you have thoroughly explained your stance on long runs? Or just explain it here?

Obviously most programs feature a weekly long run. Do you not advocate long runs because they detract from the rest of the week? Or what? How about in the context of marathon training?

Just curious.

It's simple: the long run is the single most overrated aspect of athletic training for running. Most runners put a disproportionate emphasis on one run compared to their overall weekly mileage, when they'd be better off concentrating on the 6 other days of the week before they ever throw in long runs.

If you are running 60 miles a week with 15 of them concentrated in one day, why would you be surprised that you are not improving when you've had your thumbs up your ass six days a week?

Malmo,

just read that link to Salazar's training, looks like he goes along with your long run theory, most of his weeks around 100 miles with long runs only 13-15 miles, getting back to the 60 mile/ week runner, what would you say 10-12 miles for long run?

malmo wrote:

It's simple: the long run is the single most overrated aspect of athletic training for running. Most runners put a disproportionate emphasis on one run compared to their overall weekly mileage, when they'd be better off concentrating on the 6 other days of the week before they ever throw in long runs.

If you are running 60 miles a week with 15 of them concentrated in one day, why would you be surprised that you are not improving when you've had your thumbs up your ass six days a week?

How do you feel about guys like Brian Sell, who run about 130 miles in 6 days, with a 20-22 mile long run? He's doing a long run, but he's not blowing off the other 6 days either.