Runners who trained with Deek in his prime?

Wombat Runner wrote:

Does it matter what order you do the workouts in?

Not really. It sounds like you're reading way too much into the hills Tuesday track Thursday or vice versa question.

Hills on Tuesday, 8x400 with 200m float on Thursday. Long run Wed and Sunday (up to 23 miles hilly). He surged the hills and pushed the flats often too.

Supplemented this with a lot of racing, especially compared to today's marathoners. He raced 1500m, 3000m, 5000m races quite often. Also ran cross country often, local races, Nationals, international, world cross every year. He ran track national in 5000m and 10000m often. Ran road nationals at 15km, road races in USA. He was not afraid to race. He loved competition. A nice guy and very intelligent.

His amount of racing at all distances is an often overlooked aspect of his training.

I have just realized this.

Econ 101 wrote:

Hills on Tuesday, 8x400 with 200m float on Thursday. Long run Wed and Sunday (up to 23 miles hilly). He surged the hills and pushed the flats often too.

Supplemented this with a lot of racing, especially compared to today's marathoners. He raced 1500m, 3000m, 5000m races quite often. Also ran cross country often, local races, Nationals, international, world cross every year. He ran track national in 5000m and 10000m often. Ran road nationals at 15km, road races in USA. He was not afraid to race. He loved competition. A nice guy and very intelligent.

You got it, he would also go as hard as possible over the last 5k/3 miles of the Sunday long run, the theory being that balls out over the last 5k was what was required in a marathon, practice in training what you intend to do in race. Also, in Canberra the Saturday 10 miler (McInnes 10) and Sunday 22 miler was hilly, with some real friggin killers. Wednesday was 13 miles on bitumen bike paths around Lake Burley Griffin, mostly flat with a few undulations. Saturday and Sunday also included easy afternoon 5, or thereabouts, mile runs and also easy Wednesday morning.

Great stuff- Thank You!

Wombat Runner wrote:

I have read that he ran HILLS every Tuesday,

Also, the hill was more of an undulation to be run at speed with a float recovery similar to the Thursday track session. Put it this way, it seemed that way to me.

He puts on a race in Stromlo where he says he used to run up the hill there in training

He also runs a cool program for Indigenous marathoners

Full of Wombats wrote:

He puts on a race in Stromlo where he says he used to run up the hill there in training

He also runs a cool program for Indigenous marathoners

The Stromlo hill was the main hill of the Saturday 10 mile, and one of the hills from the reverse direction of the Sunday 22 mile.

The 8x400m with 200 float is much harder than it sounds. 62-65 for the 400m with 200m recovery in 40. Total time for the 3 miles was recorded too. It was more like a 3 mile time trail (with fluctuating pace) than interval training.

He would race 1 or 2 1500m, 2 or 3 3000m, 2 or 3 5000m, and a 10,000m track races each year. Times were usually around 3.48, 7.57, 13.34, 28.20 for each of these races on a consistent basis. His pbs were a tad quicker, but not much.

He'd race 6-8 cross country races every year, including world cross and cinque mulini every year.

Road races every year. City to Surf, 15km nationals, etc. Also, one or two marathons a year.

Ran most of his career injury free and built a huge heart/lung engine and strong legs. Was very focused and driven. Those aspects were his talents. He was a mature, sensible guy for his age. Very well regarded as a sports star and person in Australia. He was very famous at his peak, and is still a well-known guy. He has a chain of gluten free bakeries and works with indigenous Australians. He started out looking for an indigenous marathon superstar, but is now focused on improving the longterm health and lifestyle of many aboginal Australians. Great guy.

+1 on the top bloke sentiment ...worth signing up to the Gold Coast marathon every year (amongst others) to hear his Pheidippides speech. Nothing quite like Deeks booming out this story just before a marathon "the harder the struggle the greater the reward and all that"

Wombat Runner wrote:

I am very interested in the Aussie "Complex" training method. I want to follow the pattern that Deek had. I have read that he ran HILLS every Tuesday, TRACK every Thursday, TEMPO or a race effort on Saturday. With his LONG runs on Wednesday and Sunday. My question for those who trained with him. Was there a specific reason why he ran HILLS first in the week? Does it matter what order you do the workouts in? In the book Running Tough. It says he ran his HILLS on Thursday, with his Track day on Tuesday. I'm not sure which one is more accurate? Thanks for any feedback.

Chris Wardlaw wrote an article on complex training that you might find of interest.

There are also several old threads on De Castella training that you should search for.