Old School Training

"We ran twice a day, sometimes three times. Twenty miles a day, sometimes more. There were a couple of 170-mile weeks... All we did was run - run, eat, and sleep." - Frank Shorter detailing his training with Jack Bacheler and Jeff Galloway prior to the 1972 Olympics (Frank won the gold medal in the marathon)

Frank Shorter Fan wrote:

So I'm working slowly to build up to the following old school training schedule, adding 10 miles to my weekly total every 3 months till I get their (spring 2008 it looks like).

Mon: am 10 miles pm 10 miles

Tue: am 5 miles pm Strength Work (Tempo or cruise intervals)

Wed: am 10 miles pm 10 miles

Thu: am 10 miles pm 10 miles

Fri: am 5 miles pm Speed Work (VO2 Max or Rep Intervals)

Sat: am 10 miles pm 10 miles

Sun: 20-22 miles progression

I race at distances from 10k to the marathon.

Why don't more people stick to the basics like this anymore?

It worked great for Shorter.

Perhaps because Shorter´s PR was 2,10 and nowadays the WR is 2.04,55...

If Shorter was Kenyan, he'd be just another good runner.

Larry Bird wrote:

If Shorter was Kenyan, he'd be just another good runner.

Nope he'd be the most decorated Kenyan marathoner of all time. Shorter has more big wins than any Kenyan marathoner.

That was a joke fool, given my moniker. But the point is, if Kenyans actually competed at a critical mass like they do today, Shorter would be nowhere on the map.

Should read, "If Kenyans competed at a critical mass BACK THEN like they do today..."

Shorter himself said later that he could have trained smarter.

It is probably a better idea to base your training on someone who had no regrets about anything they did and had the results to prove it.

Because people need jobs as things are a lot more expensive than they were in the years of 1968-1972.

Not that much time to run 170 per week.

Yup, living was free back then. Those guys sure had it easy.

by comparison...YES!!!!

"No one with a full-time job will ever beat me in a race." Bill Rodgers.

Shorter would have run as fast as the best guys, if that was was 2:05 he would have run it. He ran to win, something the US guys don't do these days.

Go to the Stanford Invite and watch all the US guys run fast, no one cares about place, just the time. They don't know how to race just time trial.

Larry Bird wrote:

If Shorter was Kenyan, he'd be just another good runner.

If Shorter had Kenyan genes, he would be the best marathoner of all time. But so would I.

They certainly worked themselves into the ground then, but reaped the rewards eh?

Just loads of hard workouts and no let up.

Total commitment and plenty of pain.not afraid of hard work .Try it you may see improvements for yourself hopefully.

Good Luck and dont give up

shocked and awed wrote:

by comparison...YES!!!!

Hey genius: do you think workers got paid then what they do now? I'm pretty sure minimum wage wasn't 7-ish. More like $2-ish. Apply a little relativity here.

Hell, you want it REALLY easy? Live during the Great Depression, man. Bread was only 10 cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!

Frank Shorter Fan wrote:

Nope he'd be the most decorated Kenyan marathoner of all time. Shorter has more big wins than any Kenyan marathoner.

Frank Shorter 1,2 (72,76)

Kenyan All Stars 7,2,3,2,7 (84,88,96,00,04)

Do the math wrote:

Frank Shorter 1,2 (72,76)

Kenyan All Stars 7,2,3,2,7 (84,88,96,00,04)

It may come as a shock to know that the USA has more Olympic gold medals in the 5k, 10k and marathon than Kenya. USA 5, Kenya 2. Ethiopia has 14. So if you're looking to the winners for a system, go with theirs.

It may come as surprise that Both Rodgers and Shorter used food stamps which is kind of like welfare isn't it?

The difference being that they were at least trying to get to the point where they could make a living at their avocation.

I coach high school. we started track and did all these plyos and crap that everyone seems to be doing now. Finally I said screw this, in the 10-15 minutes we spend doing plyos you could be running 2 extra miles. THAT will make you a better runner.

Old school ran and ran and loved it.