Tribute to Emil Zatopek

 

Hey y’all,

I wanted to throw in a tribute to my favorite hero in the running world. Mr. Emil Zatopek.  I first read about him in the book “Born to Run”, and then in “Running with the Legends” and “Lore of Running”. If you can read any books about his life , I highly recommend it.

Emil Zátopek,  (born September 19, 1922, Kopřivnice, Czechoslovakia—died November 22, 2000, Prague, Czech Republic), Czech athlete who is considered one of the greatest long-distance runners in the history of the sport. He won the gold medal in the 10,000-metre race at the 1948 Olympics in London and three gold medals at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland: in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre races and in the marathon. During his career he set 18 world records, holding the 10,000-metre record from 1949 to 1954, his best time being 28 min 54.2 sec; he was the first runner to break the 29-minute mark. He also set world records for 5,000 metres, 10 miles, 20,000 metres, 15 miles, 25,000 metres, and 30,000 metres.
Zátopek was known as “the bouncing Czech” because of his ungainly running style. He began to run in 1940 when, while working in a shoe factory, he was encouraged to participate in a 1,500-metre race. Though he lacked training, he finished second and thereafter devoted himself to running. Zátopek first attracted international attention in 1946, as a private in the Czech army, when he bicycled from Prague to Berlin to enter the 5,000-metre race in an Allied Occupation Forces meet and won it. His best record in 1951 was for 20,000 metres in 59 min 51.8 sec. At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, he set Olympic records for the 5,000- and 10,000-metre races and ran the fastest marathon to that time. Zátopek’s success owed much to an unorthodox training program. Constantly experimenting with his workouts, he developed interval training—a stamina-building technique of alternating rigorous activity (sprints, in Zátopek’s case) with intervals of less-intense exercise (jogging)—which was initially scoffed at but which eventually became a mainstay in most athletes’ workout regimens.
Zátopek retired as a runner in 1958, though he remained a popular international figure, noted for his modesty and sportsmanship. For criticizing the Soviet Union’s 1968 takeover of Czechoslovakia, he was deprived of his colonelcy in the Czech army and of his Communist Party membership in 1969. After a series of menial jobs, he was allowed to work with the Czechoslovak Physical Training Association and by the late 1970s was associated with the Czech national sports institute. He was married (1948) to Dana Ingrova Zatopkova, an Olympic gold medalist in the javelin throw.

Coach K's opinion on walk-run system

“Coach, is it OK to walk when I get tired?”

I get asked this question a lot by my beginning runners. I will tell them yes, and when you feel better, you can start running again. In the history of track and field, this has been a common coaching principle as evidenced in classic saying “run the straight, walk the curve” for beginning runners.

With the advent and cult status of the Galloway method, this simple prescription has turned into a complex and somewhat rigid (OCD) system. Runners are now listening to their watches for when they should run vs. walk, instead of listening to their own bodies.  They keep coming up with different math formulas of walk/run so that they can have a better next race.  I agree with Randy Acetta and Greg Wenneborg in their book “Marathon training” that the ultimate goal is to be able to run the entire distance of any race that you enter.

While I agree that walking a little bit in order to finish a 5K is better than sitting home on the couch smoking crack, it should not be a person’s training strategy.  I have seen ex-clients “progress” from walking-run a 5K to 15K to 1/2marathon and never actually improve their running skills. I like how Acetta and Wenneborg phrase it, ”Learning to exceed our previous abilities and challenging ourselves to succeed at the distance-those are laudable goals in  and of themselves”.  

Become a real Runner

cyclists and bone density (lack of)

There was a great article in the NSCA research journal (Vol. 25 #3) about the long term changes in Bone Density of Male cyclists.  It seems that the Master level cyclists will show decreased spinal bone density when followed over long term period. The article then goes on to discuss reasons for this.

1.       Loss of Ca and Mg with sweating on long rides.

2.       Cycling is not a weight bearing activity.

3.       Cyclist not participating in strength/resistance training to stimulate bone growth.

All of these areas can be easily addressed.  The 1^st issue of electrolyte replacement can be resolved with a little research into the different brands of sport drinks and picking the one with correct profile.

The 2^nd and 3^rd issues continue to be a tough attitudinal problem to change. My experience is that the vast majority of cyclists, that I have met (like many runners), hold the mistaken belief that wgt training will make them bulky and slow. This is “old wives tale” stuff and not supported by the facts. Chris Carmichael (who coached that Lance guy) talks about wgt training as a part of his training programs and it seemed to work for Lance. The USA National team does some serious wgt training in order to improve their power ratio. So, if it worked for them, it should work for you. Remember, change is good.

As the Boomer generation gets bigger, it may be a prudent thing for them to consider adding some appropriate resistance training to their activities. Check with a certified strength coach for exercises that will improve your bone density and improve your cycling skills.  Having a great cardio system is of little value if you suffer a spinal fracture with a simple fall.

Prepare for next event-Nutrition

This is as important as how many miles you run/cycle, how many days you work out at the Gym and getting proper sleep.  If you recall, in the previous post, we talked about recovery days. This is when your body is repairing and rebuilding muscle and bone tissue. Since we purposely “overstress” our body to stimulate the rebuilding process, it would waste all that hard work if you do not give it the tools it requires for rebuilding.

So let’s look at some simple guidelines:

1.       Timing- this is perhaps the most important thing to pay attention to with fueling. You should eat within 45min. of finishing a workout to take full advantage of post workout biochemistry. Yes, this will take some planning (remember we train smarter). Make sure to have a meal/shake with a 4:1 carb/protein ratio for optimum repair. Plain chocolate milk is repeatedly shown to be an effective post workout drink. Very affordable and easy to buy.

2.       Breakfast- your body will be amazing low on available stored sugar, unless you have eaten in the last 10hrs. Yes, sleep does use up blood sugar-what do you think your heart, breathing and brain use all that time? A simple glass of juice, spoonful of honey will get you through a quick AM workout and then have a real breakfast. Not eating to “burn fat” is plain stupid! Yes, I said that and will repeat it “plain stupid”.  You will end up breaking down muscle tissue in order to make sugar (yes this sounds weird, but it is true).This is the opposite of what your workouts are trying to accomplish (which is more plain stupid). Plus, if you study biochemistry you will see that you need some type of carbohydrate to burn fat.

3.       Too much protein-most of us, unless you are beefy 200# athlete, can only absorb about 20grams of protein per meal. So buying those mega protein shakes/ protein bars/ triple stack burgers are pure waste of money and calories.  Plus your body breaks the surplus protein down into ammonia by products which are bad for your kidneys. And this process also leaches out Calcium from your system which is very harmful for those athletes at risk for osteoporosis(more plain stupid)

4.       Alcohol- my clients cried when I first posted this last year. Alcohol will interfere with your absorption of nutrients.  Your liver views alcohol as a toxin and will focus on breaking it down, instead of absorbing nutrients. This is prime reason for that “beer belly”, not the calories. So slamming a beer post workout (while tasting great) will interfere with your repair process. So hold off on the beer until after you have eaten and had a chance to digest things.

5.       Carbs- endurance athletes should be friends with carbs (complex carbs are mo better). The diets that espouse high protein/low carbs are not good for you.  Follow science (not Atkins or Paleolithic diets) and talk with a registered dietician or sports nutritionist. If interested in more details please email me and I will be glad to expound on this. Herb@Coachkfitness.net

6.       Real Food- Skip those overhyped supplements and eat real food. If you must buy supplements make sure that you see a certification of testing label on the package.  People are unaware of the amazing lack of  packaging laws for supplements. If all those ads for supplements were true, we would all have a 2hr marathon time and winning each Ironman event we attended. 

After your 1st Event- part 3

Recovery Days- This is a big area that is commonly overlooked by many athletes. People will get caught up in two different mindsets.

1.       If this amount of training is good, then more will be better.

2.       OMG. I only have X more weeks until the event, I need to cram in some more training.

Both of these approaches are not good for you. In their book “Basic training for Running” Randy Acetta and Greg Wenneborg use the concept of Hard/Easy. This is idea is to basically follow every day of hard workouts with an easy day to allow your body to recover. Now an easy day does not mean sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating potato chips. Your easy day can be an easy jog/ go for a bike ride/ or cross train with a swim, something that will help your muscles flush out “sludge” and be ready for the next day. And in the classic book “Younger Next Year” by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry Lodge, MD, they do a terrific job of explaining the medical basis behind the breakdown and rebuilding process. I highly recommend this book to all my clients.

Next, is the problem of squeezing in too many workouts or too many of the same type of workouts. This is called overtraining in the sports world. Think of it as adding cocoa powder mix to your glass of milk. The 1^st spoonful is ok, the 2^nd spoonful is mo better, the 3^rd spoonful is getting bit strong and then pretty soon you have something that is undrinkable. I know ,you read in the magazines about so and so doing these amazing ,non-stop ironman events for a whole week and you think you can do it. Trust me on this one. I tried it years ago and took all the supplements that would make me need less sleep,train harder and faster. Nope. Now I train less/smarter and make better progress. Remember, at Coach K fitness, we work smarter. Overtraining will eventually make you slower and erode all the hard work you have been doing to this point.  Always have a structured workout plan that is balanced and has a purpose for each day or activity. This part needs to be repeated, always have a purpose for each workout. If you can not answer "why" you are doing this workout today, then maybe you shouldn't be doing it.  If you have any questions, Ask your Coach.