Nutrition-Back to Basics.

Nutrition-Back to Basics

G’day.

Today, I thought I would attempt to look at nutrition, and how we perceive food, and how it affects our fitness, and health, with a little emphasis on masters athletes (mainly because I am one!)

Firstly, I’d like to say that as usual we have over analysed, and over complicated our nutrition. The food manufacturers have given us many tasty, quick, easy, and seemingly healthy foods in plastic, and cardboard. There are a couple of things in that statement, that I’d like to expand on.

One is choice. I wrote a letter to my niece not long ago about a big problem in this world today,and that is that we have too much choice. So much in fact that we are losing the ability to make up our minds, and stick with it. Realise this. Food companies are only trying to sell you a product, and they make sure it’s sweet, or fatty, and tasty, or both. They are trying to run a business, and it’s to do with doing the bare minimum to stay within the regulations, and do it as cheaply as possible for maximum profit, and that is all. And those of us who take a few vitamins,  and minerals, it is the same. So don’t be fooled by them.Do some research it all there on the Internet. When you go and buy any brand of muesli bar, or savoury biscuit, remember, cheap costs, high profits and you might want to put that packet back, and listen to the Pink Lady or Sundowner apples, and Valencia oranges or the Mercott Mandarins, or the Coffs Harbour bananas, or the Mildura grapes singing out in the next aisle, pick me, pick me, I can do a better job than that other stuff. I can, I really can!!!!.

Fast and easy is another one. Oh I’m too tired, McCain’s pizzas look good, or rice in a bag looks quick. I don’t like cooking much, but I can get a stirfry, or steak, chicken, and veggies going in 15 minutes. Ever tried a big bowl of veggies with mint sauce for lunch, or tomato and bacon sauce, very good! One weekend make up a big pot of veggie soup and freeze it, great in the winter. Salads for summer crunchy. You can eat as much of this as you can hold. No counting calories just enjoy the taste. Fruit is great. Buy in bulk and make a fruit salad. So long as you don’t cut your finger and include that it’s too much Protein!

Protein is the big word on everyone’s lips these days as the secret to weight control, and they do have a point in that Protein needs to be broken down into its amino acids, or building blocks, and then rebuilt into muscle tissues in our body. So that takes more metabolic energy to do that, and so your basal metabolism rate goes up a bit, but don’t dwell on that point too much, it’s not a lot but it can build up over time into some sort of calorie deficit. Older people need a bit more Protein to help slow down the loss of muscle mass as we age, whether we are active or not. The main reason why we lose muscle mass is the 2^nd part of that last statement, we are not as active. So what are you going to do about that! Remember to that Protein used to build muscle needs a stimulus, so you need to get off your bum, and show a bit of “ticker”. Protein also gets laid down as fatty tissue if it is not used for muscle building, and if you do exercise, especially for an endurance sport then Protein can make up to 15% of your energy source. If you are going to increase your protein sources then make sure that that Protein is 1^st class Protein. These are foods that have all the essential amino acids. The ones that I use, and are probably the most common ones, are all types of lean meats, and fish and whey and casein Protein powders. These types of Protein are known to initiate muscle tissue growth in the body. But just as I said to my niece you have to be balanced. There is only one secret and that is that you need to be balanced.

Fats. The stuff that makes things taste good. People think of fats as the “bad boy” of nutrition, and we have been fed heaps of garbage through the media about fats over the years, and really it has done more harm than good, because we have turned to a pseudo-Mediterranean diet and started eating processed carbohydrate, because gram for gram, they are less calorie dense than fats, so we can eat more right?! Wrong. We are in trouble today because of that message. Yep, fast processed foods are out!They have the fats in them that are really doing us alot of damage. Give them up like you did when people were smoking, they are just as bad for you anyhow. The difference between a fresh apple and a processed fruit strip with no added sugar is the cardboard, plastic, price, and all the extra fructose which is the sugar found in fruit. It’s called a labeling loophole! So see what I mean, breads, cakes, muffins, biscuits, chips,Nachos, cheese chips, Twisties, sweet biscuits, a lot of dry biscuits are all in the same list.All hidden fat and again the nasty ones. I will only eat bought bread if there is nothing else. I am proud to say that I make my own bread from fresh ingredients. Yes I have a small flour mill that I grind my own flour, and yes it is powered by me. Not a motor. So I get an upper body workout at the same time, and you can turn down the heater after that too. I make my own biscuits with Chia seeds ground up, and a small amount of flour, and eggs, and a small amount of honey and that’s it. I use these as food for when I am running marathons, ultramarathons, Ironman triathlons, and on my long training runs. Seeds and nuts are full of good fats along with avocados and oily fish. Here another big mistake can happen, and it’s called portion control. These are all calorie dense foods. Fats have about 9 cal per gram, soooooooo ? you just make sure that you get your fats from unprocessed, wholesome foods, and you only need a SMALL handful, not half a kilo of peanuts,. Another big mistake is that we under estimate our food intake, and over estimate our calorie expenditure. Here is an interesting fact. Our bodies can only burn about 10 cal per minute maximum. That is high-speed interval running, VO 2 Max training, intensive weighttraining. It is not jogging, walking, playing tennis, or golf. So if you walk for 30 minutes a day that’s about 4 cal per minute and that is only 120 cal extra, that’s not a reason to have a treat like a cappuccino and a muffin of 1000 cal. Do you see what I am getting at.

 

Carbohydrate as everyone 

knows are the preferred source of fuel for our bodies. They have about 4 cal per gram of carbohydrate. So will carbohydrate be a major part of your diet? Sure will. About 50 to 65%. BUT, not all carbs are the same. We will take the “bad boys” first. Processed carbohydrate, the cause of 70% of illnesses that we get today, from cancer to heart problems to Type 2 diabetes. These carbohydrates should be treated like cigarettes. But I hear you say, that I like them, they taste so good! And you are right, and I fall into the same trap occasionally, but I keep telling myself, learn to like the foods that are good for you. So what are these “bad foods” I am talking about biscuits, cakes, most brought breads, most cereals, chips,  Twisties, lollies,Picinic Bars, Mars Bars,Snickers, bagels, muffins, pastries, and the list goes on. So now we come to the “goody-goody two shoes” of food. Fruit that is raw, not canned, vegetables, fresh or frozen. Porridge, rice cakes, honey, some muesli , nuts and seeds as I have said before, non-flavoured yoghurts, home-made breads, or some of the unprocessed specialty breads like cape seed loaves, and multigrain breads. One thing that catches everyone out is that grain based carbohydrates, although good, are very energy dense. And we eat way too much to support our lifestyle, way too much. So if your job, or lifestyle is largely sedentary, instead of a sandwhich, try a chicken, turkey, or beef salad, or in winter make it with vegetables, minus potato and corn. The Protein smoothie can be good if you make it with just Protein powder and skimmed milk or with water and fruit like blueberries, strawberries, or Kiwifruit. If you feel hungry later in the afternoon, a chicken breast is good, all on its own. Other things are blueberries, strawberries, and other fibrous fruit like apples, oranges, kiwifruit, watermelon, rock melon are all good examples of fibrous fruit. I suppose what I am trying to say is to keep the grain based carbohydrates for before, and or just after your main activity of the day like a workout session, lifting weights, running for more than one hour at a good steady pace, or cycling for a couple of hours or on a wind trainer. Things will be different if your job is active, and by that I mean a lot of carpenters, plumbers, and electricians, anything where lifting, pushing, pulling is a large part of your day, then grain based carbohydrates have a place because they are energy dense. Those of us that use workouts as exercise only need those carbohydrates either just before and just after a workout. Scientific literature notes that there is a 3 hour window, from the start of your exercise routine for carbohydrate, and protein replenishment, but don’t go and stuff yourself with rubbish. One slice of bread, a banana, a protein powder and skimmed milk shake, is all you need if your workout is about 1 hour. Remember, you broadly have only burned 400 to 500 cal if that workout was even moderate. I said before, our upper limit is around 10 cal per minute of very intense exercise. If you’re a marathon runner or an Ironman triathlete who is training for more than one hour per day, then the amount of proteins, and carbohydrates go up too, but they should only be within that 3 hour window. Add some yoghurt to the protein shake, peanut butter or other nut butters, a turkey or chicken sandwich, a banana and yoghurt, a small bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. When building up training for an Ironman triathlon or an ultra marathon, I can be training up to 20 hours a week for short periods of 8 weeks or so, but I try and go back to the fruit and vegetables outside that 3 hour window. Most times it is okay, but like everyone else I give in occasionally to a muffin and cappuccino, hey the muffin had blueberries in it so that is healthy right!? But I have also been on my bike for 7 hours before that.

Fluids are important too. Not only good for health, and hydration, but they can fill you up. Sometimes you are not really hungry,but thirsty. You also need to be aware that fluids can be a significant source of calories in your day. Beer and wine are big culprits. Half a dozen cans or so of beer, or a bottle or 2 of wine, can double your daily calorie intake. I hear all the time, people saying that they lose weight just because they cut their alcohol intake. Most cans of beer, and glasses of wine are around the 150 to 250 cal per glass. So if someone has 6 cans of beer, that is a tick under 800 cal. Do that a couple of times per week and there is your spare tyre. The same with wine. Orange juice is a killer too, healthy yes, but you have 9 oranges in that class and that’s a lot of sugar. Coke, Pepsi, and all the others soft drinks are around the same energy content. So say if you cut out orange juice from breaky, and have an orange instead, and cut the charge you get with a can of Coke or other sugary drinks in the afternoon, you can reduce your daily intake by 400 cal a day without even trying. If you like the bubbles like I do, then low-calorie drinks like Diet Coke, or Pepsi are okay in moderation. Sometimes there is nothing nicer than a cold bubbly drink. Soda Streams that are on the market today are also a good option.

So to sum up, you can increase your protein intake, without affecting your kidneys, but it must be first-class proteins, one with all the amino acids in. All lean meats, and fish, caseins and whey powders are some that I use. Keep the grain based carbohydrates around your highest energy activities during the day, and make sure they have come from a nutritious, unprocessed source with plenty of fibre. Eat a lot of fruit, and vegetables fresh, or frozen. Keep the dairy going with yoghurts, and milk, but watch the sugar, and or fat. If they are low fat, they might be full of sugar, so read the labels. Drink plenty of fluids, but be aware that water is the only calorie free drink. And I forgot. You need to work out too. 3 to 4 hours a week of intense, and I mean intense exercise. Yes I hear all the whingeing, and complaining, and I had this injury or that ,and I have this special condition. In the end they are only excuses and I bet they were being trotted out many years ago at school!! I remember not long ago, I had this one chap tell me he had this, and that wrong with him, and I said to him give me 30 minutes, and I can have a program worked out that will be high intensity, and will not affect your injured part. He ran out of excuses!!. 3 to 4 hours of exercise a week is only 2.5% of the 118 waking hours that we have per week. It’s not much is it.

There is a saying that my strength and conditioning coach likes to use. And it is this.

“Do today what others won’t do, so tomorrow you can do the things that others can’t”. If you really think about that, it says an awful lot about what we need to do to be healthy, fit, and an effective person. It’s your choice, and you are the ones, that must take action. You, not the personal trainer, or the dietician, or the doctor. It is YOU. I already have taken that decision, and I am on my journey. I hope to see you somewhere out on the track somewhere with a Snickers, ummm sorry that was a stick of celary!!! celary not Snickers. What, you've ridden your bike for 7 hours? OK but only half!!! And I hope your bum hurts!!!

Cheers

RELAXATION and  BEING A MENTAL CASE

As our running group head towards their next series of races, the Athens marathon, the Nelson half marathon, and the New York marathon, we are all finding out a few things.

1. It's bloody hot in the Northern Territory at this time of the year.

2. Training for a marathon is a battle of mind over matter.

Our long runs on the weekend start at 5:30 in the morning and it's already 25,° and gets to well over 30° or the time we finish. We haven't had any rain here since the start of April, and when there is traffic on the road, you get coated in a choking cloud of bull dust. We have to carry all our own water these days, as the creeks have all dried up, so that adds at least 5 kg to our packs. If we can organise it, we get a car to come out, and meet us along the way with resupply. The sun beats down on you once it's up, there is not a whole lot of shade. Sweat, and hydration is the name of the game. Everyone is finding the last hour of our long-running pretty tough, as we all start overheating. This is where mental strength comes in. Your ability to hold the line when it all gets very hard. In my mind, it's the biggest lesson we can learn, and relearn, not only for our sport, but in life in general. The battle of physical pain, against mental strength is the hardest combination you are going to have to deal with in your lives. Pain is terribly debilitating, and it can just wear you down to the point of capitulation. Everyone has to find their own way to deal with it.

But there are a couple of common things.

First is to RELAX. Start focusing on what's going on inside, and not to think about other stuff. It takes work, and concentration to relax. All your senses are your gauges, and you have to listen to and decide on a plan of action to address what each of those senses are telling you. Start with the ones that are obviously taking your attention, and deal with those. A lot of pain comes from your technique deteriorating as you become tired. So start looking for technique changes. Think back to my last blog on running technique. I can tell you from some experience now, that if you look at your technique, and make an adjustment, most of the time that pain will go, or at least abate to a manageable level. RELAX it can make a big difference.

As I have mentioned, it is not the time to distract yourself. You have to concentrate, and deal with your issues. This is where mental strength plays a big part.

I have often wondered what mental strength is all about. What does it mean? The best I can come up with is, it's your ability to endure in the face of increasing hardship. Increasing hardship, or pain while you run long distances, is different to pain from an accident, or illness. That pain largely is out of your control, but running discomfort is self inflicted. You have full control over your level of discomfort, and that is the difference. It is so easy to stop, so hard to hold the line. My blog on Excuses, addresses this issue to some extent. You can make an excuse, or a decision to hold the line.

Do things like talk out loud to yourself. This is where experience, and maturity can make a big difference. Hurray for us "oldies"!!!! You also need to be methodical, calm, and remain relaxed. There is that word again. Years ago when I set my fastest times for the marathon, and the Ironman Triathlon, my training had not been any different, my job was the same. There was not anything different physically and psychologically, or in regards to my nutrition that brought about  those better times. But what I do remember, and it is a common observation, is that it was so easy. I was relaxed the whole way. Don't get me wrong, it was fearfully hard work, but I remain focused and aware of my senses, and after 5 or 6 years of these competitions, I had a level of confidence. The ability to play these cards right, takes time with these long distance races. It takes time to try different things, to endure, to not let up, to keep pouring on the pace, the intensity. In the end what ever method you use, you have to say to yourself at some stage, "I am going to do this" or "I am going to slow down, or walk a bit or stop". Again don't get me wrong I've done it wrong plenty of times too. It just doesn't happen right all the time. But when it does happen remember it. Its a good exercise to go back over that race, and write down your thoughts, and how you felt, and use it as a template.

As our group is finding out, running marathons has a high degree of mental ability, and not just physical strength.

I have been following Scott Jurek for some years now. He is one of the best ultra marathon runners in the world, and here is something I pulled out of one of his interviews, and I guess it covers it pretty well.

"Pain is only temporary, it may last a minute, an hour, a day, a week, month, or a year. But eventually it will subside, and it will be replaced by something else. That something else is success. The ability to endure your pain, and to come out the other side a better person. But if you give up, slow down, or stop, that pain will last forever inside of you. You have to want success, and want it as much as the next breath of air. Push, push, push, 'till you go beyond that wall, where there is a never ending source of energy, and peace. The trouble is, most of us, never push hard enough.

Ironman Medals 1st, 10th(legend club) and my Hawaiian W/Champs 

Scott Jurek and Anulfo Quimire in Mexico 

                                                            

Gidday everyone
I put together an article about what I have called Natural Form Running and I wasn't happy with it. So I went searching and these videos explain it better that my own efforts.
Some of the things you need to be aware of though.
This will take some time to perfect. In fact it will always be a work in progress. Take swimming, golf, tennis, footy,they all involve skill and technique sessions whether you are a middle of the pack athlete or an elite one. All the top athletes practice technique and skills, because if you really get it right it will lift your performance well above what is is now. Running is no different. We need to realize that technique in running promotes efficiencies in where our energy is spent and how to best use that energy to move us forward. To improve our technique has a big impact on avoiding injuries. Running should not be an invitation to an injury. We were designed to run and it is how we survived . But you need to continuously work on your skill set to keep those injuries at bay. If you do get injured, do the recovery but focus on what part of your technique went missing and practice, it can be a good time while you are recovering to practice. It could as simple as forgetting to relax. Don't try and do all this at once, and forget it if you are in the middle of training for an important race. This is a project on it's own and deserves your undivided attention to learn and then to incorporate it into your normal training regime.
So become a researcher, student and a mechanic to get this right and your running will be an enjoyable and lifelong pastime .
Enjoy the videos

EXCUSES and Being a JOURNEYMAN

EXCUSES

So you want to be a stronger, fitter, healthier, be better at, and enjoy your sport more, and even have more energy in your day. Plus all the other health  stuff that you can get, and hopefully just be a better person.

BUT!!

I'll warn you. There is a very evil bugger out there that is just looking to railroad you, and your good intentions.

This little bloke is so sneaky, and insidious, and powerful. He knows all of your thoughts, desires, strengths, and weaknesses. And do you know what? He lives inside of you. He has been with you since birth.

His main source of power comes from the way he rationalises things and the never ending, delicious prize of......... COMFORT......... NICE!!

He often says. You know you are not as young as you once were. No, you cannot expect to see the same results as when you were younger. He will sit there on your shoulder, and rub your back. There  there,  yes this really is very hard. But if you just stop I can make you soooo...... comfortable. People say this is really bad for you. It's been scientifically proven. There really is no point is there. It's okay, you tried, and isn't that enough. People won't denigrate you for trying. And then he uses his number one weapon. He EXCUSES you. It's OK.

When you hear those words, know that this is not you, they have not come from the TRUE core of your being. These words are as bad as a cancer, eating you from the inside out. They will infect not only your fitness and health goals, but all the other goals in your life.

In this moment of retreat he has got you, he knows it will be easier next time.

.So, to make sure that does not happen again, realise now that it is a trap, and don't give in to that rubbish.

Remember that NOTHING THAT IS WORTH DOING IS EASY. The harder that your goal is, the more satisfying it will be when you succeed.

You are never too old to begin the journey, to being the best, and strongest you can be, not only in health and fitness, but with family leadership, work ethics, and an inspiration to people that find the negative battle a hard one.

But remember, no one, not even you are perfect. We all fall in moments of weakness, and inattention.

There is a great advertisement on TV at the moment, about people's journey to quit smoking. How they tried, and fell over a number of times, but they got back up, dusted themselves off, and tried again. Get knocked over 7 times, get up 8. Never stopped trying. Never be defeated. Learn from your mistakes,be comfortable at being uncomfortable, and move onwards, always onwards.

So with that in mind. Let's start on a project that has really taken my imagination. After a lot of thinking (very funny mango I heard that!) and research, and requests from some of my running friends I'd like to embark on something that I like to call Natural Form Running,or Evolution Running.

This project is interesting, in that we all think we know how to run. But do we know? Really? I can swim but my technique leaves something to be desired. I can ride a bike okay but I am constantly working on my technique my bike position etc etc. I can hit a golf ball, sometimes but why not all the time because I have no technique. So why is running any different. We really do need to be shown the correct technique on how to run, with good efficient form, and like all other sports you need to work on it all the time. This is not like a computer program where you put in a disc and download the information. This will take time you will fail sometimes, it will take a long time to get the hang of it and it will always be a work in progress. Just like swimming, golf, tennis etc etc. Technique is often the ability to go from good to great, from being always in the world of niggling injuries, to being virtually injury free. So in the next blog I am going to have a stab at trying to explain to those who read this and are interested some basic techniques that will help you to be injury free and enjoy your running what ever your age. So 1st of all here is MY JOURNEY to become a Natural Form Runner.

I hope this video will inspire you to keep going. Remember you only fail when you stop. Be comfortable being Uncomfortable

A JOURNEYMAN

You know I hate the word "barefoot" running because it conjures up so many false perceptions. I would much rather call it “Good Form Running” running. I confess I have pinched the name from a You Tube video. But it is true, changing your gait, and that is what we are talking about  really is an evolution. You will evolve a new style of running from the ground up,(but it is really from the head down) from the mechanics to the mental imprint that is in your brain. My journey to change my gait has been an evolution of 2 years now, and it is still ongoing. I believe I have the basics right, my body has adapted, and my mind has that blueprint, that makes it an unconscious, and enjoyable habit. But it was not always so.

So why have I changed my gait and why I decided to end up in Vibrams. The reasons really are just two. I have, over a long period of time had a lot of trouble with my hips, lower back, and hamstrings, the latter being so sore that at times it meant  regular visits to the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Clinic for an autologous  blood injection into the hamstring tendons. I am lucky that I am a responder, and it had me back running within 10 days, then 6 to 8 months later I was back. My back used to get really sore. There were a lot of times, I just couldn't bend over to pick something up, and my hips felt hot and tender. There was this little demon sitting on my shoulder (little bastard)!! that kept saying "how long are you going to keep this up? I know you are not going to last much longer, you know you’re  55 now, and that's getting a bit old for all this". But I had another person( yep, I have the whole neighbourhood sitting on my shoulder) that told me I didn't want to stop. I loved running, it was a part of my being alive. It is so hard to explain a deep desire, unless you are talking to someone else who has those same feelings. So I decided that I was going to keep going for as long as I could, BUT I had to change something, or many things to be able to do that. I noticed that when I bought a new pair of runners, all the aches and pains went away for a while, then 3 months later they were back, so I would buy a new pair of shoes, then I tried alternating shoes but 6 months was the cut-off point. At $250 a pair, I started to baulk at that. Something was not right. It certainly wasn't a weight issue, I am 60 kg whringing wet. I had never thought about style or technique, you just ran. What caught my eye was some of the Ironman triathletes were wearing a brand of shoe that I had never heard before ,they were called Newtons, they are a minimalist shoe with an unusual design, underneath they have a raised section across the front of the foot that pretty well forces you to land across your forefoot, their heel now has a negative angle to the foot. I had not heard of this brand before so onto the Internet I got, and then all of the sudden a whole new world of stride patterns, frequency, length,  fore foot landing v.s heel landing, keeping your legs under your body,keeping your head upright and over your body.  I am a sad case, I spent months on the Internet researching and sorting through all the information. I became a scientific experiment of one. I became a researcher, and that gave me a really huge lift in my enthusiasm for running. I've tried all sorts of things. Some worked, some didn't. I was still running in my normal shoes, and in the end I basically made a leap of faith and bought a pair of Newton's running shoes. Wow, how strange are those shoes. It felt like my athletic club days wearing my spikes for track races. So, armed with all my new information about foot landing, keeping my legs under the body, frequent striding etc. So, off I went for my usual 14 km run in my new shoes. It was the only run I did that week.!!!I was soooo sore!!!! I could hardly walk let alone run. It was the 1st time I took a cold shower on my legs and hips I was that sore. What the hell happened! I thought I was going to be a gazelle or something. Okay, this was going to be more complicated than I thought . Or was it.? I had browsed over the bits that said, take things easy, don't do too much, resistance training is a great tool. Funny, how you remember only the things you want to. So back to the drawing board I went. I kept my new shoes, and bought a new pair of my old running shoes. And I ran my normal run in my original shoes, and then ran a 1 km block around our home in the Newton's running shoes ,landing or should I say caressing the ground with my forefoot for a minute, and then going back down to my old stride. Changing to the new gait felt very strange, and I had to concentrate on every step.It felt like I had to sprint because that's how sprinters run. So now I could go back to my normal training program, and gradually 1 km turned into 2, then 3, then 5, but it took me 6 months just to get used to my Newtons, and getting the hang of this fore foot running, or at least landing on the front of my feet. I started doing squats, calf raises, and a whole lot of other weight training as well . Then a friend of mine gave me the book Born to Run, and I am sure everyone has heard about it these days . It was a good read, no doubt about it, but, I became more interested in the story behind it. The evolution of us humans as a species. How did we manage to survive. You know, just look at us. We are so weak and small have no speed to write home about, yet we dominate .So back to the Internet I went to look up all of the names of the people in the book, and again a whole new world opened up. Eventually I realised that there are different hypotheses about our evolution, but this one seemed to connect with me. That we really are set up to run, and our intelligence developed through our ability to think ahead about what an animal will do to get away from you, and if you don't catch that animal you will not survive. These days watching documentaries on other animal species like lions and cheetahs, you can see the same things, how they work as a team, how they use different techniques on different animals in different situations to get their meal, to survive. We are no different and over time we have evolved. I started to ask questions, and finding answers gave me a whole new picture. It wasn't just about how you landed on your feet, it became a package deal. How you hold your head, your arms, have your body lean forward from the ankles, your stride frequency and how to turn your stride into a light cyclic motion. Other issues popped up as well. Questions like why do we have the 4 toughest strongest tendons  in the arch of our foot and lower calf. Why do we have 26 bones in our feet and ankles. Why have we got this ability to store energy in these tendons and muscles and be able to release it as forward motion. In the end, I became convinced that our bodies had evolved over millions of years to what we are today. So that we can run. We can think, and unlike other animal species we have this ability to be able to keep ourselves cool through sweating. And we think we are so smart that we can change that in 30 years with a pair of running shoes. Because modern man knows better!! All I can say to this is beware of the almighty dollar!

So I ran in my Newtons. As I said they had this raised section in the forefoot part of the shoe and a low heel and little else by way of support, and they felt good after another 6 months. But at the same time, I changed alot of other things. How I carried myself, leaning forward from the ankles Letting the hips keep a neutral level position relieved my back pain, keeping my legs under me stopped the hip pain, lifting my lower leg  before I brought it forward stopped me from tripping over things, like stones, and cracks in the footpath. For a while I forgot about heart rates and pace times as I journeyed through this time. And I loved it. I couldn't wait to run again to work on something new. Researching through the Internet for articles and scientific papers. I had pads full of notes and sore eyes from the computer screen. Again, things started to evolve. Could you really run without shoes? I could have ended it there and continued on my way with my Newtons or other racing flats, but I guess I have a bad habit of being a very curious person, and that gave me the push to see if I could. I believed I had the basics okay, and to a large extent the pain in my body had gone. So I went back to being a scientific specimen again, and I ran barefoot around our local football oval, and….. It felt just great! It was the most wonderful experience, I just couldn't believe it, but I had learnt my lesson and only did 4 laps. I was sore in the calves the next day, but okay. So I could run on grass, but I heard about people doing marathons barefoot. Abebe Bikila ran barefoot in the 1960 Rome Olympics, Zola Budd on the track later on. I found a lot of barefoot websites, hell there were people everywhere doing it. But only small in number, and they were classed as weird but, they were capable. So I ran on the road one night 1 km around our block at home. Just nice and slow, and it felt…. Fine. Again there was this incredible "talk" between my feet and brain I really felt like a kid in a lolly shop. Also, a big change occurred to my gait, unconsciously I stopped kicking my calves and ankles. I watched my feet as I ran and what I saw was this change in how my feet were coming through under my body. In shoes I always ran pigeon toed, and now without even knowing it or being conscious of my feet they were now  facing straight and I was landing right across the ball off my feet. Amazing. Over the next month my hip pain disappeared altogether. I chose to run in Vibrams, simply because I want some protection for my feet . I felt uncomfortable thinking I might cut myself or would damage the soles of my feet. But I have to say it was the change in the way I run, not the shoe that I am in, and I want to be branded an “Evolution Runner” not a “Barefoot Runner”. I now run in Vibrams  all the time, simply because I love that talk between my feet and my brain. I feel connected to the earth in a way that was not possible in a supported shoe. I still work on my techniques, landing on my fore foot, just caressing the ground with my heel, running with bent knees, keeping that cyclic action, body angle right, practising increasing stride frequency to increase pace. I now run longer, staying pretty well injury free, and have addressed all the issues I had before I started on this journey. I have run half marathons, trails, and marathons in my Vibrams. I have a picture of myself in a marathon years ago and my leg is just straight out in front of me landing on my heel with a dead straight leg, and now I just smile, because I am a long way from that now.But I can't stress enough that it is a journey, not something you can do in a month. And it continues to be a journey even after 2 years. It is a case of millimetre by millimetre, baby steps. But I feel more connected to running, not only with the ground beneath me, but because I feel now I have gone back to how we evolved to run. And it is interesting that the shoe companies are now following us. Still wanting to make a dollar! But I am in a happy place now, as far as my running is concerned and there is no dollar value in that, because it is priceless.

We were born to run. 

Dr Lieberman was a major part of the story behind the story. He is very interesting

Athletes That have Influenced Me

                                                           

                                                                     Tom  Kelly

                                                      Tom introduced me to Running

In this blog I would like you to meet some of the people that have influenced me in my running journey.

Tom Kelly came in to my life when I was 12 years old. I had the distinction of being shortest, and lightest kid in year 7 at school. As someone who loved to play footy and dreamt of being a VFL player for Carlton, that was not a good start. I got really despondent that I went to every training session, and the result was that I "warmed the bench except for the last 5 min of the game, and only if we were winning. At about the same time I got pushed over during a game and I fell on a small rock and tore my kneecap off my knee. What a bloody mess. So with an operation to get it back in and my knee all sown up, was a long time doing not much, and it ended my time playing footy. I had a heap of  energy that had to be let out. One of my mates heard that this Olympian, who lived around the corner from us was starting a running group for young kids. I wasn't really interested in running as such, or thought about it as a sport. But running with an Olympian was just so cool, and so then and there, I started doing something that has had a profound effect on the rest of my life. I am always amazed about how these chance meetings, or innocuous decisions have such a huge effect on the way that your life evolves.

Tom was originally from Ireland, and he had this heavy Irish accent. Today he is in his middle 70s, and still training athletes, and has coached some of the Olympic marathoners through the 1980s and 90s. He is only 5'5", and probably weighs 60 kg wringing wet. He is still very fit, and I can always remember that he had the biggest set of calf muscles I have ever seen, he was all sinew and muscle. Over the next few months with lots of patience on his part, he got a group of 8 of us running about 4 or 5 times a week, just for 45 to 60 min around our local footy oval and back. I was still having trouble with my knee, it ached like hell, but he was pure encouragement, and he seemed to be enjoying having us around him always chatting. I think he knew if we were distracted while we were running then the time would fly by, and it did. It took a while to be able to understand his accent but we all managed it. After about 6 months, he introduced us to the Box Hill Amateur Athletics Club. They were the best days growing up. We would all meet at his place after school, and then head up to Surrey Park at Box Hill South, running of course. There I met people that were pure  energy, the Oval was bustling with it, even as a kid I could feel it. I remember he introduced us to the head trainer there, Reg Barlow, and it was like we were his nephews. I remember leaning on the fence of the Oval, and watching Olympic hopefuls, nationally ranked athletes, and those that were there to just give it everything they had, and a handful of us young boys, and a few girls. After that 1st time, I couldn't wait to get back. Dad paid a joining fee, and I became a member of that club. This is where I saw the difference between team sports, and individual ones. If you put in the training, and decided to enter a race, you were accepted as an athlete on the start line, and you were there to try and win, and if you couldn't, you are there to do the best you could, and you were respected. Team sports, you can train the house down, and still be on the sidelines.

Tom was great, he introduced us to interval training, 400 m floaters he would call them, where we would run hard down the straight, and just "float" around the bends. He would stand on the inside of the track with his stopwatch, and clipboard, and be a ball of pure encouragement urging us on when we started to get tired. On other days, he would have us run up to the local golf course, and there we would run around the tree lines on the edge of the fairways , it was just great. In the summer he introduced us to track racing at box Hill, we could run events up to 10,000mt, and then on other weekends we would go to other clubs in the area. I couldn't get over the friendliness, and the encouragement of everyone. Tom was like a mother hen to us at these meetings, until we all knew what to do, and where to be etc. I am sure we ended his elite running career when he started with us, but he still ran very competitively at club level. He ran the steeplechase in the Olympics, and continued to do so at club level. When we had some spare time at training, we would try out the steeplechase hurdles. I had to stop at each one, and climb up, and jump down off the top which was okay till you got to the water jump, and I landed in the deepest part, which was up over my waist and I had to swim out of the pit. I can remember Tom couldn't stop laughing. Over the months and next few years, a few of us had improved to the point where we made the training squad for the junior state track championship team. It was such a highlight, and Tom was so proud of our efforts. I didn't make the final squad, but it was a great experience nonetheless. During the winter we did cross-country running, road racing, and relay running. As autumn approached our training changed, and we would start doing longer runs, and would compete with other clubs on Saturdays at different courses. I remember my 1st cross-country race. I was so looking forward to it. It was at Wattle Park, not far from home . Tom had taken us there a few times for training, and I really enjoyed running in the bush. On that 1st race I came last! I lost my shoe in the mud, and it was just one of those days. I was so disappointed, I felt like I had let him down. AAt the next race there a month later I came 10^th, and I didn't lose my shoe!! I kept improving, and realised I was better at longer distances than track. I remember when we shifted our club to Haugermeyers Reserve in Box Hill North. It was closer to home and it was to us kids anyway, the Olympic Stadium. It was all so new. I remember a beautiful  rubberised track, with clubrooms, that had a gym, showers, and lecture rooms. Wom introduced us all to weight training, and this was a new addition to our schedule which I enjoyed. I remember he would be using weights that we couldn't even lift off the ground, and then and there I realised you don't have to be big to be strong.

When you ran with Tom you couldn't hear him, it was just swish, swish, swish. I am sure he could sneak up on you, and you wouldn't hear a thing!. These days, as I have become a barefoot runner I realise how important that swish, swish sound was to an injury free lifetime of running.

I grew up, and moved on, and I lost contact with Tom until about 10 years ago. I became friends with a tri-athlete at the Ironman, and we met up for a coffee when we got back to Melbourne. He mentioned one day that his club does their running training at the Doncaster athletics track, and were coached by a Tom Kelly. I just couldn't believe it. It was great to know he was still out there doing what he loved to do.

I met him a few months ago at my dad's funeral, as he and dad were friends. It was a sad occasion, but we had a great chat about what each of us were doing. He was still bright eyed, and full of life , energy, and enthusiasm. It was great to see him, and now as I have positioned myself as a running coach, I can somehow walk in his footsteps. He  had a profound effect on me as a teenager, more than he ever knew. The day we went on our 1st run together all those years ago, I became a runner and I have enjoyed it ever since.

Thanks Tom

                                                              Dave Rabl

                                                      Ironman Aust Finish No ?????

If he reads this he will probably knock my block off. But I can't leave him out, because he was the kick I needed to actually decide, boots and all to enter the world of endurance sport.

I have spent most of my life as a dairy farmer, and most of that in Nth Victoria, not far from Shepparton. I trained when I felt like it, and then raced when l wanted to, which was just every now and then.

I had a stint in hospital, and was convalescing on the couch at home (it is great to have a house full    of boys to milk for me), when I saw the Hawaiian Ironman on the TV, and by the time it had finished I was sitting bolt upright, and transfixed. Man, I'd like to have a go at that one day, and so a small fire was lit. Some time later after I recovered, I borrowed my brother's bike, and after milking one night I rode 20 km. How hard could it be. All I can say is that at 4 o'clock the next morning when it was time to get upand milk, I found out how very hard it had been, and how very sore I was. There were bits on me that I didn't realise could get sore!! But with some perseverance, determination, and a bit of reorganisation of a busy farmers life, saw me on the road, running, and cycling, and driving to the pool in Shepparton to swim. My  family were supportive of this change, and I thank them very much. So while all my farmer friends were playing bowls, their loony mate was peddling, or running around the countryside. The milk tankers realised who I was, and always gave me a toot, and a wide berth as they passed me, especially the B doubles, which I was very appreciative of.

I met Dave when I found out that there was a triathlon club in Shepparton. I found out that they got together on Saturdays, for a long bike ride, a coffee, and a chat later on. So off I went. They were a great group of people including Pam, a 60+ grandmother who could bury any  female half her age. Intros were made, and we wandered off down the road towards Dookie. It was the 1st time I had ridden with other people, and it scared me to death. I felt sure that I was going to fall off, and take others down as well. After a while this bloke came alongside, and said gidday. Dave is about 190 cm pretty wiry, and 2 years older than me. He came from Murtoa in the Wimmera where his dad was the local doctor. He talked about grain, and farming like he had been a farmer all his life, and I found a common bond with him, as we had the same interests in music, politics, families, and a lot of other things that make up life. Dave is a secondary school teacher at the Wanganui  Secondary College at Shepparton. I didn't go over every week, as farming duties were first cab off the rank, but when I could go over there, he would be there, and we began talking about heaps of stuff.  Little by little we got to know each other. And at times we would go running together, and it was there that I found out that running was a real passion for him. Dave is an Ironman Legend having completed more than 10 Ironman Australian Triathlons he has also competed in the Hawaiian Ironman. He started competing in triathlon when bikes were still lent against fences. He is also a Spartan, one of an elite club of runners who have completed at least 10 Melbourne marathons. I think he has run nearly 20. Running, and running tips always passed back and forth, mostly from him to me, which I soaked up like a sponge. But while we talked about time, splits, pacing, and all the other stuff, what I came to realise is that I had found someone who just enjoyed putting the shoes on, and just heading out the door as if it was the most natural thing to do. It was part of his life, just like cleaning your teeth, so you must run, and he just loved it. I just thought I was weird, but now I had a mate who has just the same, and I realised that if there were 2 of us we couldn't be crazy, right? I was always peppering him with questions about marathons,  Ironman Triathlons etc. I was always telling him would like to do marathons and IM one day, and he just came out and said just give it a go. I think you would make a great endurance athlete. And so it happened, although he would deny having any part of it, maybe because I have just turned into a weekend warrier!!! He would say it was my decision, but sometimes you need a push. Anyway that statement just sparked something in me . So I decided I'd have a go at the Melbourne Marathon. I had been doing lots of fun runs, and sprint triathlons so I was in okay shape, and I spent a lot of time on the wind trainer after milking at night, beside my tractor in the machinery shed, putting in the effort, and was also running around the countryside in the dark with a torch. There are certainly no street lights out on country roads. Dave was doing the same thing in Shepparton, and training with his running club. I can only say I must have been a pain in the bum on race day. I was like I had drunk 10 cups of coffee, high as a kite!! We ran together, I was prancing around all over the place like a little kid. We chatted, and talked about what was ahead. Yeah, yeah, but I kept thinking, man am I going to nail this, and he just kept smiling. At 21km I remember telling him that I could run like this all day, halfway so easy. He just said with a smile that the 32 km mark is halfway point of the marathon. I thought being a teacher he could at least get his maths right. But right on cue this little black duck did not see the “wall” coming, and it hit me like a truck. Over the last 10 km Dave kept me going, encouraging, and reminding me to keep drinking, and have a little too eat. Man I was gone, I was running, but the rest of me had taken their bat and ball and gone home. I crossed the line in my first marathon in 3 hours and 18 min, and I don't remember a thing. I came to again a few minutes later with a medal lying beside me on a stretcher in the first aid room with someone trying to get me to drink Gatorade. That time remains my 2nd best marathon time.The best one was at the Shepparton Marathon a few years later at 3:08. Dave has always been there in the background. If I called in to say gidday, the teapot would  come out as well is the bicky barrel and an hour or two would pass by very quickly. He said one thing that I have remembered and tried to do. He wanted me to run with others on their 1st marathon journey, and so in 2007 I ran with my brother Steve as he completed his 1st marathon. It will always be the highlight of my athletic life to see his face at the end. And the little bugger pulled on burst of speed with 400mt to go that I couldn't match and he beat me!

David was there too when I completed my 1st Ironman in Foster Tuncurry. Again I must have given him the shits. I was so scared of what was about to come. I had never swum 3.8 km in one go, and I have only done a handful of swims in open water. 1.9 km was the longest. I could not even see the turnaround point for the Ironman swim. I knew I was going to drown, I just knew it. I stuck to his side like shit on a shovel, hyperventilating, about to throw up. If someone had said boo to me I would have broken down and balled my eyes out (which would definitely fog up the goggles). As we got into the water, he shook my hand, and said “have a great day mate, see you at the end”. We tread water together before the start, and then it was on. The Ironman swim has been compared to a  washing machine on heavy duty cycle. Bashed, kicked, and being hit, are very common as flailing arms, and legs propel us forward. I am happy to say I didn't drown, and as the shoreline approached, and I stood up, right in front of me was Dave. I couldn't believe it was him. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned and smiled and said what a bastard I was for tapping on his feet for the past hour, and then he was gone.

We have raced a lot together over the years, and I have enjoyed his company so much more than he knows. We have had some terrific battles in races all over the place, and we both enjoyed them all   especially the Puffing Billy Run in the Dandenongs, in Melbourne. I have realised that you can be in front of somebody and not necessarily beat them and that's probably one of the biggest lessons  that I've learnt over the years. That we all have different journeys, we all have different stories, we all have different talents, and I really couldn't care less what the scorecard was, we were just 2 blokes out there running until the spit hung off the bottom of the chin. Sadly he can't run any more but when I am out there I think of him often, and how he has had to deal with his life without running (although still cleans his teeth). Thanks Dave

There have been other runners that have influenced me. People like Rob de Castella. He and I are roughly the same age, and I have read his biography many times. I have followed his progress as he became the world's top marathoner, representing Australia a number of times at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. I remember watching him on the TV, as he set a new world record of 2:07 something, and his incredible Commonwealth Games marathon battle in Brisbane  in 1982, with Juma Ikanga. Talk about David and Goliath, I think Juma was about half of Rob’s height. It was a great battle. Reading Rob’s biography has taught me the value of being patient, and treating running as a life long journey.

Steve Moneghetti is really an unbelievable athlete with a passion for running even in his late 40s. He just can't help himself. I have also read Steve's book, In The Long Run. It's very similar to Rob’s story in that I realised these people did not just pop up on the world stage. They have been running for a number of years, trying, failing, succeeding, and finally achieving their goal. Steve is now an age group athlete, still putting in some blistering times, and I have the distinction of actually passing Steve during the run leg of a triathlon in Ballarat. People look at me incredulously, and then I had to admit that he was running from, where I was going to, but I don't dwell on that. I passed him, enough said!!!!!!

                                                                     Emil Zatopek

Emial Zatopek. There is not much you can say about him that hasn't already been written. He was just an amazing athlete, and an incredibly compassionate and likeable man. He raced like he was going to die the very next step. I have included a segment on him from a book I have read a number of times. It’s a bit long winded but there was much more to this bloke than meets the eye.

I have raced the Zatopek 10,000 in Melbourne many times. This is not the elite race but one for all us age groupers. It’s the only track race I do these days. I do it in honour of the greatest athlete of his time. The T-shirts I have of those races are some of my most prized possesions.

Zatopek arrived at the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, as the reigning 10,000 m world record holder, and over the intervening years have not been beaten. 20 times he had run faster than he did in London, and that had been an Olympic record. He also came with a swathe of other victories, and records, national and international, from 2000 mt out to 30 km. He was exciting, exhilarating to watch because, as he told the Runners World  years later, "sometimes I was like a mad dog. It didn't matter about style, or what it looked like to  others; there were records to break". He was in Helsinki despite doctors diagnosing a gland infection, and warned him he must not compete, but that did not matter to Emil. Finland athletes had won the 10,000 metres, and the 5000 m gold medals on all but one occasion since 1936. These people knew running greatness, and they had come to challenge the champ. What Zatopek did in Helsinki, consigned the rest of his record to history and it wasn't just what he did it, was the extraordinary way in which he did it.

In fact, through each of Zatopek's performances, the 10,000, 5000, and marathon, we can glimpse something of the inner man – the qualities, and personality that endeared him to the world, well beyond the power of any individual performance or statistic.

The 10,000 mts began, a 25 lap war of attrition, or at least that's how it must have felt to Zatopek's opponents. He expected to win, the world expected him to win, and so it was. Here is how the British Olympic Association reported that race. "Zatopek took the lead after the first 5 or 6 laps and, except for a short period, he never relinquished it. The race was not in a sense, a race at all. We merely waited while this athlete Zatopek with inexorable monotony, dropped his opponent  one after another, with Mimoun the last to yield some 4 1/2 laps from the finish. The opposition gave all they had, but it was not enough, though in the case of the first 6 they all went under the old Olympic record "

The sense of inevitability that hung around this race is perfectly conveyed. Maybe it is folly to say of anyone that he need only to keep his feet to win but in that Helsinki 10,000 mt no one was beating Zatopek. He broke his own Olympic record, and the hearts of those who chased him. Winning as he pleased, and beating silver medallist Alaine Mimoun by nearly 16 seconds, or more than 100 m, and Zatopek dragged the next 5 runners under his old mark. Between 1948 and 1954 he won 38 consecutive 10,000 m races, and 2 months after Helsinki, when other athletes had been having a break he ran consecutive 10,000 m in under 30 min each, and were to become the  training platform that he built as a ruthless and relentless athlete.

Zatopek's training regime was revolutionary. He would run 40 single laps with only a short rest in between. He ran through snowdrifts, and heavy rain, and when he could not run outside he loaded his bath pub with dirty washing and soapy water, and tread on them to clean them, running on the spot for hours on end. He ran repeated fast sprints, and onlookers would laugh, “who trains for 5000 mt  by running 100 m?” And Zatopek would say "true. But what if I do that 100 mt 50 times?".

Zatopek was experimenting as much as training. He was learning the boundaries of what his body could do, and then pushing further. He was developing strength of mind, stamina of body, and tolerance for pain, which would compensate for his relatively poor raw speed. He wanted to sustain a race pace close to his fastest, and run his opponents off their legs.

He often said "it's at the borders of pain and suffering, that the men are separated from the boys" and if that is a trite cliched then how about this. "When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a certain thing 100, or 1000 times then he has certainly developed in more ways than the physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That does not matter either. It is then that will power becomes no problem. It is simply that I have to." There is a similar quote in one of the Star Wars movies when Obi-Wan Kenobi quotes” there is no try only do”.

If he suffered during training, he then reasoned that the actual performance would be a relief. He would reel off fast laps, like he had reeled off in training sessions. And it made him, over 10,000 mt at least, invincible. If the 10,000 mt was Zatopek at his physical peak, then the 5000 mt gave us his courage. It was strength of character, as much as strength of body. Will power over leg power equals success. The 1952 5000 mt was a perfect hyper bowl and an unbelievable last lap.Here is a report of that race.

Shade, Chataway and Mimoun, along with Zatopek, who is in absolute agony. One of these will win; the rest are dead or dying. At the sound of the bell, Zatopek punches manically leaping the others in a single bound, his eyes barely visible under his furrowed brows. But he cannot shake his attackers! The strategic kick gains him NOTHING, and costs seem nearly everything.

In the next 100 m Chataway sales passed him, Shade in his shadow. 200 m from the finish line

Chataway, Shade, and Mimoun run side by side. Zatopek is behind them, his speed not equal to theirs, his massive strength drained. Shade asserts his right to the lead. Chataway disputes it, taking command, and as they head into the final turn the crowd is frantically howling wildly. Then the howls coalesce. They are screening as won Zatopek Zatopek Zatopek! From deep within, he has summoned the courage of the angels! Chataway, who in 2 years will push Roger Bannister through the 4 min mile barrier, leans hard into the turn, balancing himself for a devastating sprint. It never comes. Zatopek springs like a tiger, his jaws salvilating, his driving legs  pummelling the dirt track. Panicked by Zatopek's fury, Shade, and Mimoun blast past Chataway. One of the Olympics most famous photographic sequences take us back to that last bend that turned into the straight. In the 1st frame Chataway leads narrowly from Shade, and Mimoun a further step back, and Zatopek 3 mt astern, seemingly spent. The next frame is just short of the crown of the bend. Shade has moved to Chataway’s shoulder, and Mimoun to his. Summoning an almighty, supreme effort, Zatopek has swung wildly up behind them. 5 strides later, out past the 3rd lane, and pushing so hard he is looking like he will run off the track, Zatopek has his nose in front, and the other 2 are obscured between him, and Chataway, their legs a blur of motion. The final frame gives us Zatopek, his face a tortured mask, 2 mt in front, and storming to victory,Mimoun, and Shade in painfully futile chase, and Chataway sprawled, heaving on the track. There had been no trip, no bump, foul play ; he simply had been overwhelmed by such a fierce  attack by Zatopek.

But there was more to Zatopek than meets the eye. His sense of humanity was profound, as was his understanding of the world and the times he lived in. He spoke 6 languages, all the better to converse with competitors he said, and his reflection on competing in London, after the winter of the Second World War, it remains an elegant statement of the Olympic spirit. "After all those dark days of the war, the bombing, the killing, the starvation, the revival of the Olympics was as if the sun had come out. I went into the Olympic Village, and suddenly there were no more frontiers, no more barriers, just people meeting together, and having a wonderful time. It was so warm and friendly. Men and women who had just lost 5 years of their life were back again."

Zatopek was a man of great principle. On the eve of the Helsinki games, Zatopek learned that countryman Stanislav Jungwirth had been expelled from the team because his father was a political prisoner. Zatopek knew the unique power his status, and achievement brought, and knew it could influence political decisions, and he was unafraid to say so. Zatopek told his government that if Jungworth  did not go to the Helsinki games then neither would he. For 2 days he held firm, and remained in Prague. Ultimately the Communists conceded, and these 2 teammates were on their way, but Zatopek had been willing to sacrifice the glory that awaited him for what was right. The most poignant demonstration of Zatopek nobility came well after his athletics career had ended. In 1968 the Communist government introduced freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly to Czecholslavakia. An experiment in liberalised communism, and  this brought a swift, and blunt response from their neighbour the Soviet Union. Tanks rolled through the streets of Prague, Czech Communist leaders were arrested and called back to Moscow, never to be heard again. Within days a decree was issued banning anything that violated socialist principles. Alongside many of his compatriots, Zatopek loudly voiced his objection. They wanted self rule and they demanded better living conditions. They got neither. Punishment for supporting the insurgency was severe, Zatopek, who had been a colonel in the Czech army, was stripped of his pension, and this articulate, national hero was made to work down in a uranium mine. But  he did not cease speaking out against Communist propaganda, and he did not stop loving his homeland. When Czecholslavakia finally had her freedom, Zatopek received a public apology for his treatment. He was awarded his nation's highest honour, the Order of the White Loin. His reputation within  Czechoslovakia was fully restored.

Finally came his 1st marathon. Zatopek have never raced one, and at the start, approached the Great Briton, Jim Peters, who  6 weeks earlier had posted the fastest marathon time ever, and asked him if he could follow Peters during the marathon, to get the hang of it. Understandably miffed, the world record holder went out  at  brutal pace to shake this unwanted shadow. But Zatopek remained close, and after 10 miles he slid up alongside Peters shoulder and asked him "Jim, is this pace good enough?" "Too slow," came the reply. If Peters was trying to deflate him, it did not work. With a wave of his hand, Zatopek sped past, and took control of the pace. Peters dropped out after 20 miles.

Zatopek ran into the Olympic Stadium over half a mile in front. The crowd roared his name as they had for the entire week. He ran like he always did, with hunched, and rolling shoulders, head and arms swinging wildly, and his face was a mask of excruciating pain. Journalist Red Smith had described Zatopek’s running "like a man with a noose around his neck, the most frightful spectacle since Frankenstein, on the verge of strangulation. His face was crimson, his tongue lolled out." But as he reached the finish line Zatopek broke from his tortured stride and his face broke into an angelic smile. When Rinaldo Gorno crossed the finish line in 2nd place, over half a mile behind, Zatopek shared with him the apple he had been eating. And finally that is how we might remember him. The man who's running exploits were astonishing, whose humanity was inspiring, but who could still joke, and when asked what his most impressive accomplishment was he replied "for some reason our housekeeper never liked me. But after the 1952 Olympic Games, she said, I am now your friend."

                  








                                                    Ron Clarke

 

Ron Clarke was probably the 1st international Australian athlete that I paid attention to as a youngster growing up. I have read his book the Unforgiving Mile many times, and it gave me the tools that I realised I needed to become a success, whatever that may mean for each of us. Again this is part of his story taken from the same book.

Clarke went on (after a four-year lay-off in which he consolidated his accountancy career) to establish himself as the finest distance runner of his time. At one stage he held every world record from two miles to 20 kilometres. His record in that distance band even surpasses that of Nurmi, who set four of his world times between 1500 and 2000 metres.

In 1965, at the peak of his career, he competed 18 times in eight countries during a 44-day tour of Europe --- and set 12 world records. Nine of those records were established inside 21 days. He lowered the world 5000 metres mark four times (by a total of 18 seconds) and the 10,000 metres record three times (clipping it by an overall 39 seconds).

Why did Clarke’s magnificence on the track not translate to Olympic gold? Largely self-coached, he won bronze in the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, and was placed ninth in both the 5000 and the marathon. His own candid assessment is that he ran bad tactical races, and that with the guidance of a good coach would have won the 10,000 and placed second in the 5000.

In Mexico City in 1968, when the high altitude gave a distinct, disgraceful advantage to distance runners who lived and trained in mountain country, he ran out of oxygen late in the 10,000 metres. He staggered on bravely, virtually unconscious, to finish sixth. He collapsed on the line and suffered heart damage which even now causes him to take daily medication.

Olympics aside, Clarke could hardly have had more successful careers in athletics and business. He now runs a resort on South Stradbroke Island that has set new marks for design and environmental management. And one of his greatest prizes is, yes, an Olympic gold medal. The athlete he admires most, Emil Zatopek, slipped it to him in a package once at Prague airport with the words: “Look after this. You deserve it.”

Zatopek owned four gold medals. This one was for the 1952 10,000 metres. The admiration was mutual.
Ron Clarkes massive record haul. Medals are not the only measurement of success.
2 mile world record
1967  Vasteras  8:19.8
1968  London  8:19.6
3 mile world record
1964  Melbourne  13:07.06
1965  Los Angeles  13:00.4
1965  London  12:52.4
1966  Stockholm  12:50.4
5000m world record
1965  Hobart  13:34.8
1965  Auckland   13:33.6
1965  Los Angeles  13:25.8
1966  Stockholm  13:16.6
6 mile world record
1963  Melbourne  27:17.8
1965  Oslo  26:47.0
10,000m world record
1963  Melbourne  28:15.6
1965  Oslo  27:39.4
10 mile world record
1965  Melbourne  47:12.8
20km world record
1965  Geelong  59:22.8
1 hour world record
1965  Geelong  20,232m
10,000m unofficial world record
1965  Turku  28:14.0
1964 Olympic Games, Tokyo
Bronze medal 10,000m

Clarke was born in Melbourne in 1937 and was educated at Melbourne High School. He became one of Australia’s most prolific world record breakers and in the process revolutionised long distance running in the world. Ron set an amazing 17 world records between 2 miles and 20 kilometres.

As a junior Ron had set world junior records between 1500 metres and 2 miles and was selected to carry and light the Olympic flame in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. However, it was a number of years before he reached his peak as a distance runner. He had been concentrating on his studies and also played reserves football with Essendon in the VFL (now AFL).

Ron was selected for the 1962 Commonwealth Games where he finished second in the 3 miles. He began setting world records in 1963 at the Zatopek meeting in Melbourne where he smashed the world 6 miles and 10,000 metres record. Ron went to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as one of the favorites but was outsprinted by American Billy Mills and finished third in the 10,000 metres. Ron had a great European season in 1965 and 1966, setting further world records and also picked up two silver medals at the 1966 Kingston Commonwealth Games over 3 and 6 miles.

Ron’s medal ambitions were shattered in Mexico’s rarified atmosphere yet still managed a fifth in the 5000 metres and sixth in the 10,000 metres behind African athletes from altitude. The effort Ron made was to cost him in the long term with heart problems.

Ron’s international career closed at the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games where he finished second in the 10,000 metres and fifth in the 5000 metres.

In his career he won nine national titles. His best for 5000 metres was 13:16.6 and for 10,000 metres was 27:39.89, national records until 1998 and 1996 respectively.

Ron’s versatility over the distances saw him ninth in the 1964 Olympic marathon.

                                  Herb Elliot

                          Percy up front and Herb on his tail

There is something greater about Herb Elliott than sporting results can attest to, which makes Australians collectively hold him in high regard. Other Australian Olympians have won more gold, but are not revered in the same manner that he is.

To not mention Percy Ceutty when discussing Herb Elliott would be neglectful beyond euphemism. It has been well documented that under the fitness guru,  Herb Elliott became the world leading athlete, that blazed his way to state national, world, and Olympic records. To say that Percy Cerutty is held in guru status would, simply be an understatement.

 Intellectual; thespian, and accomplished poet and writer, a forerunner in ideals of natural diet, and rigourous training regimes. At his world-famous athletic Centre at Portsea, on the toe of Victoria's windswept Mornington Peninsula, the wise old man of Australian athletics created an incubator of sporting success. There is a famous bunk in which 4 track world record holders have slept, and spent time there. Elliott of course, John Landy, Dave Stevens, and Murray Halberg. Percy the philosopher, friend, and guiding star wrote about Herb, "he never defaulted in any job of training himself to the point of exhaustion. Elliott was not so super as a strength phenomenon, he was a dedicated athlete who spent years of his life to became a world champion as is Halberg, but he had the rare gift of giving himself wholly, and completely to the task, whatever that may have been. Cerutty also said” I would add the name of Herb Elliott, who only after 2 years, far exceeded the performances of any concurrent world athlete of any similar training and conditioning.” It is Elliott's construction of punishing, self-discipline, and embracement of Cerutty’s word that moulded the athlete. He was  never  beaten over the 1500 metre or mile races in his career.

The Olympic games of 1960 in Rome Italy in the 1500 m final Herb Elliott was very nervous. Percy talked quietly to the athlete before Elliott went out to race. Cerutty told him to be guided by his instincts, as to the pace, and when to strike. Herb was told to watch for Percy's signal at 200 m from the finish, should there be either pursuers or  world records in sight. At the 300 m mark Herb Elliott felt very very tired. He succeeded in shaking this off, and moved from 6 to 4th place. The white line of the track shot past under his feet at an alarming pace. Elliott was later heard to say the voice had come in my head and said “Herb buggered”. At the 800 m mark Herb Elliott was still in 4th place, the supreme disciplinarian in Elliott combated that negative voice. It was that little negative voice that attacks every one of us every day when we are trying to improve ourselves,  and taking ourselves out of that comfort zone. “So I ignored that voice, but it was a close one”!. Suddenly things clicked into place. He ran the next 100 m in 13 seconds, and as the press announced Elliott the Australian takes the lead. “My heart beat quickens, as did the pace of the race”, the next 200 m took 28 seconds, and as the bell sounded Elliott went even faster, running the curved 100 m section in 14 seconds to open up a 3 m lead. Meanwhile Percy had jumped over a spiked fence, and crossed a moat, and was beside the track as Herb came streaming down 20 mt clear of the other competitors behind. When Herb saw Percy waving his yellow towel, Herb thought it was meant that he had to run harder still ,the others must have been close. Percy said “I waved that towel over my head indicating to Herb the possibility of a new world record. Herb saw me and then pounded on with his great and all conquering strides, with ridiculous ease”, and the rest of course is history. Elliott running the last 800 m in a stunning 1 min 52.6 seconds. As time fortifies good memories, Herb Elliott's relationship with the older Perc, becomes honeyed in legend. Photos of the Portsea time wash up more treasures. Herb battling in the sand dunes with Percy right on his tail. One last quote from Herb says all the readers need to know about the man. “Running teaches you discipline, if nothing else. The thing about discipline, is not doing the small number of significantly large things well, it is doing a large number of totally insignificant things that nobody ever sees, every time, every time without compromise. It is as simple, and as difficult as that”.

                                          

                                                            Anne Transon Ultra Marathoner
                                   

                                       Scott Jureck with Arnulfo Quimire in Mexico

As dip my feet into the ultra running world, people like Scott Durack, Marshall Ulrik and Anne Transon are showing me what can be possible with human endurance.

The book Born to Run, has had an incredible influence on not only the way I run, but cemented in my own mind why I actually enjoy running. I have it now as an audio book on my iPod, and while I am training I enjoy listening to it.

So as you head off for your next run, reflect on the people that have influenced you to put your shoes on, and head out the door, and just run for the sheer enjoyment of it, and the lessons about life, that you have learned from their and your  efforts.

                                                Hey and have fun out there!!!!