legendary coach Percy Cerutty

Cerutty, in his sixties, ran a flat-out mile. He then said to his protegee, "You will run faster than I have this afternoon, but you will not run harder."

Hey ya'll

Just ran a 36 10k the other day. Got a 10k in 5 weeks. Any suggestions on some structure/workouts to break the 35? Ran pathetic today on a hilly course so with some solid sessions could push for 34.30 imo.

Thanks ya'll.

Lol, this was meant to be a new thread. Sorry ya'll

I love these Cerutty threads.

Here's some things about his training methods that you can't really find on the web:

He suggest the long run was broken into three runs that day, especially for the marathon... This isn't to say that there weren't 30 mile continuous training long runs in the base but, in the peak area he had his marathon guys doing 3 x 10K instead of a long run.

Stuff like that.

Also he believed a 3:30 minute mile was possible if he trained the right individual to specifically follow his "five basic movements" that he determined were the best ways to move across the ground by observing animals.

It seems people brush off these five basic movements as crazy but, I believe he might be onto something pretty advanced there.

He wanted his runners to have a 9 foot long stride as a result.

and what are his "five basic movements"?

domestic pro wrote:

and what are his "five basic movements"?

get Readyy...

The Five Basic Movements:

The Stretch-up and walk

"This sets the other movements in motion. As the runner begins to move, he naturally stretches upward, his arms reachin in the air above his head. This motion takes all tension off the muscles in the neck and back, and lets the runner feel loose all over. After stretching-up a couple of times, the runner should begin to walk, with his eyes looking down about 10 feet in front of him. His feet should be turned slightly inward."

The Amble

"The forearms should be thrown forward at shoulder length, almost parallel to the running surface, as the person frees his musculature while he starts to fill his lungs. The amble starts the runner moving with a natural lift in his pelvis as he moves lightly over the ground with an effortless shuffle. His elbows should not be locked in position; they should be free and loose. The amble is something children will naturally break into as they walk down the street. It is not quite a run but is gradually leading to one."

The canter

"Like a horse, the runner should bound over the ground with an easy, relaxed shuffle. Cerutty often advocated this to break up the monotony of running many miles...The whole body should shift slightly to a dominant foreleg and hindleg style that is typical of all four-legged animals. Emil Zatopek had a natural gait in his running technique that was very similar to the free-form canter. The marathon runner will use a modified canter..."

The trot

"In the trot, the runner's arms come down from his shoulders and chest after the amble is done a couple of times. Then, the legs are pulled up and down to correspond with the breathing. The stride should be shorter than for both the canter and gallop."

The Gallop

"This is the final and most crucial movement. Race horses gallop with a stride that is 20-30 feet long. The average human could easily gallop with a nine-foot stride. The runner should change his arm movements abruptly as he brings his forearms up high into his chest, shortening the muscles in his neck. This takes the pressure off of the upper lobes of the lungs so that the athlete can fill his lungs with oxygen. Once the lungs are fully filled, the athlete should throow down his arms at his side to expel the carbon dioxide. When the runner gallops, his stride length will vary with this inhaling and exhaling of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The outgoing stride, in which the athlete throws his forearm to his hind leg, should be 3-6 inches longer than the other stride, in which he fills his lungs."

Great post. So did people, such as Herb, ever train this way?

Yes...

Cerutty said, "The runner cannot suck oxygen into his lungs." ... he then said racers can take off 10-15 seconds per lap if they learned to gallop with shoulders slightly raised up to relax the muscles of the neck and fill the upper lobes of the lungs. as the lungs are not muscles but, sacks and we don't properly use them since we now walk and run like zombies!

This is the kind of stuff he would try to teach.

Percy also learned about the advantage of sporadic arm movements that allow even more air into the lungs by observing a man with out legs riding a skateboard through town extremely fast, paddling with his arms. He compared this to Emil Zatopek's style of running.

Basically, Cerutty tried to use the upper body movements of primates combined with the lower body movements of horses to achieve the best running form.

I've tried it with uphill running in his style. You basically have to claw for the air and almost dance as you run forward. Fun stuff.

wow, this guy is right up my alley, love it. reminds me of some stuff i was talking about on this site about 10 years ago. will have to get his books asap, thanks.

Oh also, he advocated extremely low arm movements at other times for proper form. I think he realized the lungs are what holds us back from a 3:30 mile not out speed. So the absolutely crazy gallop would be most beneficial to fast runners who are just trying to get more air in. That's how deep his methods went; they weren't blanket statements but, geared towards each event and theory.

his books are not exactly inexpensive; any idea which one might be best to start with, or cover the most info?

domestic pro wrote:

wow, this guy is right up my alley, love it. reminds me of some stuff i was talking about on this site about 10 years ago. will have to get his books asap, thanks.

"Training With Cerutty" might be the most in depth of his theories since it was written at the end of his coaching career. Even though he didn't pen the book he approved of everything in it as perhaps a co-author of the entire book.

domestic pro wrote:

wow, this guy is right up my alley, love it. reminds me of some stuff i was talking about on this site about 10 years ago. will have to get his books asap, thanks.

Cerutty was not an advocate of overdistance. Rarely had his charges do anything over 10 miles and those runs were rare. He was big on high volume reps (30-100), generally between 100m - 600m. An afternoon workout might be 100x60. He believed running fast in training was vitally important to success on the track.

LoopHole wrote:

domestic pro wrote:

wow, this guy is right up my alley, love it. reminds me of some stuff i was talking about on this site about 10 years ago. will have to get his books asap, thanks.

"Training With Cerutty" might be the most in depth of his theories since it was written at the end of his coaching career. Even though he didn't pen the book he approved of everything in it as perhaps a co-author of the entire book.

thanks, at $30 for a used copy that's a good start. "why die" starts at $145 for a used copy, so maybe that'll be next...

domestic pro - if you are a miler then the aforementioned book is great because it has a chart detailing how a 4 minute miler could in theory run a 3:20 mile in six years time detailing the interval paces needed for 220, 330, 440, 660 and 880 to make it happen.

Cerutty believed the runner had to endure extremely long endurance running in the conditioning phase and then the intervals in the race practice period.

Imagine Elliot running a leisurely 35 mile run through the hills during one part of the year then doing the intervals for only three months out of the next part of the year. Then do this six years in a row.

I suspect this is what Cerutty ultimately wanted Elliot to do with him but, then Elliot decided to get a job and move on from running.

Yes, the aforementioned book is Training With Cerutty and is a great choice. Have fun!!!

LoopHole wrote:

domestic pro - if you are a miler then the aforementioned book is great because it has a chart detailing how a 4 minute miler could in theory run a 3:20 mile in six years time detailing the interval paces needed for 220, 330, 440, 660 and 880 to make it happen.

Cerutty believed the runner had to endure extremely long endurance running in the conditioning phase and then the intervals in the race practice period.

Imagine Elliot running a leisurely 35 mile run through the hills during one part of the year then doing the intervals for only three months out of the next part of the year. Then do this six years in a row.

I suspect this is what Cerutty ultimately wanted Elliot to do with him but, then Elliot decided to get a job and move on from running.

Cerutty rarely did any runs over 10 miles (see comment above).

Sorry but, this is incorrect.

He had three phases of training that lasted one year and 6 months out of the year had many runs over 10 miles. If you want to argue semantics they maybe jogged these long runs.

Perhaps he had them jog the long runs in segments all the time?

I've heard stories of Elliot running a really long run, etc etc

"Before he left for the USA in May, he ran a 33-mile training run, believing that “the discomfort of a Mile or 1,500 metres race is more easily born if measured against the suffering…in a torturing 33 miles.” (Elliott, p.144) On the USA tour, he beat both Tabori over 1,500 in 3:45.4 and Grelle in Compton with a 3:59.2 Mile. Then it was back to Melbourne to train for the September Olympics. During his preparation he was buoyed by a time-trial over the Hall Circuit where he beat his best by over 7 seconds."

source/

http://racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=96