Spring 1999 - British Milers Club

BMC April 1999 7/6/99 9:15 am Page 12Dave Moorcroft - analysis of a championmodified from that previously charted duringhis peak years. Below I have listed a numberof the more important features of his trainingfrom the beginning of 1993 through to the4:02:53 mile.1. Training mileages were reduced by anaverage of 20 mls per week during thewhole of 1993.2. Maximum mileage achieved was 80mlsper week3. The average Jan-March weekly mileagewas only 54 miles due to a number of badcolds causing training to be missed.4. When occasionally feeling very tiredDavid would miss a training session oreven a particular day of training insteadof training through it as he had in the past.5. Due to the reduced training mileages thenumber of days/week with 2 runs wouldtypically be 3 with a maximum of 5.6. A typical training week would stillconsist of 3 repetition sessions but 1 oreven 2 of them would not be performedon the tack.7. Throughout 1993 David very rarely ranthe 3-5 x 1000m (7 mins recovery)session.8. David still maintained the sessions of 4-6x 600m (5 mins recovery) and 4 x 6 x 300fast with several mins recovery.9. The following 2 sessions were regularlyintroduced:a) 10 x 400 (60 secs recovery) andb) 2-3 x 1 mile (3-5 mins recovery).As previously mentioned DavidÕs trainingreally began to improve in both standard andconsistency form the middle of May 93 as theprogress of the 4 x 600m session, in Fig. 5shows. When this improvement was coupledwith an average weekly training mileage of64.5mls during the 6 weeks prior to the4:02:53 it was obvious that David was inexcellent shape. The continued improvementin DavidÕs form during the week followingthis fast mile does suggest that he was ready torun much faster. Unfortunately illnessprevented him from achieving this.Fig. 5 also indicates the times which David ranfor the 4 x 600m training session during hispeak year of 1982. The contrast between the 2curves is quite striking. DavidÕs excellenttimes during his stay in Australasia in Feb 82are obvious as is the time gap of only 4 secsbetween the best and the worst times achievedthroughout the year. As David pointed out tome Òat 40 years of age it is harder to train fora peak of performance and you also lose thetraining effect more quicklyÓ.John Anderson the CoachAdditional facts and items of information1. Date of birth: 28.11.312. Since his early years, John Anderson has been a highly competitive individual who represented Scotland atfootball as a schoolboy and went on to play at the highest amateur level until 1962.3. Was a keen ball games player throughout his early life and also represented Scotland at tennis.4. Only involved in athletics periodically during his school days and occasionally trained for the sprint eventswith Victoria Park Harriers aged 15-17 yrs.5. Was a school physical education teacher until 1964 and it was through this profession that he started tocoach athletics in all events in 1959.6. Was a founder member of Maryhill Ladies AC7. Became a full time AAA National Coach in all events in 1964 and in 1965 was appointed as the first ever fulltimes Scottish AAA National Coach.8. Has coached athletes to International level in all track and field events but has focussed particularly on themiddle and longer distances since the mid 1960 s.9. Prior to meeting David Moorcroft in 1966 John had been sending basic middle distance training schedulesto youth coach and physiotherapist Mick Crossfield at Coventry Godiva Harriers who had requested assistancein this area. At the same time John was also coaching Shelia Carey of Coventry who went on to finish5th in the 1972 Olympic 1500m final and break the UK record.10. John has always based his training methods on a sound physiological foundation and has continued overthe years to maintain his knowledge of the latest developments in sports physiology.11. In the early years as a coach John came to the view that athletes who run slowly for long periods of time inthe absence of speed would ultimately have a greater capability for running quickly if they practicedelements of speed training throughout the year.12. John still believes the above to be true and has extended this view to his belief that in essence all elementsof training should be incorporated to a greater or lesser degree throughout an athlete s annual trainingcycle.12BMC News : Spring 1999