I recall you saying at the GC seminar about what a beast in training FloJo was with some of the longer rep SE sessions annihilating her male training partners while she just went for it.
What’s scary is that lane 8 has run 50.0 and lane 7 is Kratochvilova (off form to be sure!)
L’Equipe arranged a meeting between Pérec and Koch in Paris after Barcelona’92 games (Pérec won in 48.83). Some quotes from Koch about her training :
About how she started sports :
Marita Koch is not a pure product of DDR system. She went to Weimar club at age 11because her best friend did athletics. “But i only went in spring and summer, no way to run with bad weather!”. No way either to run in the prestigious Rostock club “I was so small that at age 13 i was still not matching the norms of 11 years old childs.” “In Rostock, they fired me saying that i was too often injured. Actually i wasn’t good enough”. At age 15, after a growth crisis, she decided to follow regular training, on PM, after school. 2 to 3 hours workouts 5 days a week, nothing too serious according to Koch, while Pérec explains that the amount of work she had in 1991, the year she won her first World title in 49.13. Koch : “So, you stil have a big margin progression!”.
About Wolfgang Meier’s training “That’s the regimen i needed. If i had more liberties, i wouldn’t have trained like this. From 200m, all the races hurt! After 2 reps, i would have say : ok that’s enough for today.”
Marie-José coughs when she heards the workouts Marita did one month prior her last WR : “I remember very well : stuff like 6 x 300m in 36sec, with 10min rest. My goal was 48sec at 400m, thus i was training at this pace (PJ : 36sec at 300m and 48sec at 400m are both 8,33m/s average speed). I was in super shape, and one day i even did them in 34sec ! This, i would have never been able to do before.”
Marita goes on saying that Pérec needs oponents to break the WR, at her time she had Kratochvilova, WR holder at that time with 47.99 and Vladykina, runner-up to Koch in Canberra with 48.27 and runner-up to Pérec in Barcelona).
She also says that you need luck. 1985 was a strange year, with no major competition but the World Cup in October, an unique occasion in a carrier. She was already in shape in July-August, shown by a 200m in 21.78 into the wind. “I had a lot of time ahead, so i could train a lot more, more than i ever did. Of course, it required a lot of efforts. Not only physical : you soon get bored to feel in great shape and not enter competitions. But the result proves that it’s worth it…”.
However, Marita is surprised to hear about 500m at training (PJ : Pérec used to do it). Wolfgang, with the help of a quick picture on paper, explains his theory. According to him, all the 400m run between 51sec and 47sec all show about the same speed curve : progressove acceleration until 150-200m, then progressive deceleration, which is, proportionnaly, is always identical. “The first part of the race determines the final performance. One have to pass at the half way as fast as possible, still keeping a small margin. If your PB is 22.20 at 200m (PJ : Pérec’s pb in 92) you have to pass at half way in 23sec. And finish in 48.83 is normal. In order to break the WR, you have to improve speed. The day you will be worth 21.71 like Marita, you will be able to break her WR.”
Marita about the 47.60 : “when i received the intermediate time, i couldn’y believe it. I told to myself : it can’t be me!”.
In 1993, Pérec would focus on 200m (21.99 PB), then went to John Smith the following season until 1999 and surprisingly established herslef in February 2000 in Rostock…
I was given the figure of 21.56 for a time trial before leaving for Canberra by Meier when we talked there at the time. PJ, can you confirm that speed runs did not exceed the race distance?
I confirm they did not saw the point of doing more than the competition distance, Grit Breuer (400m World Junior Record holder) told me the same, even for tempo she did 300m or 400m, never longer. However, i know that they had continuous runs, up to 10km for Schönlebe (400m European Record holder), up to 4km for Göhr (short sprint specialist), i don’t know for Koch, i saw Breuer doing these runs but i wasn’t interested to know how long she was doing them.
Note that Marita Koch did a 800m in 1977 in 2:16, quoted in a Track & Field News article the same year. I don’t know if she had other time trials like this later in her career. In 1977 she was already running 22.38/49.53.
For a 49.5 sprinter, 2.16 for 800 shows no indication of serious work above 400m, with or without a tire.
Exactly, and the training was short to long, you can also see it from the competition results : in 1985 : 7.04 World Indoor Record in February, outdoors her season bests were 10.97 on 9 august, 21.78 on 11 August, both head winds, and had only one 400m prior Canberra (earlu october), on 22 september with 48.97. I’ll post her complete 1985 seaon results later if people are interested.
Only two competitions at 400m gives plenty of times to do monster SE workouts and time trials.
Please post, and if you can also post samples of Koch’s annual training that would be great.
Hot off the press from Arbeit. I didn’t even read this fully. Don’t know if you guys can turn him into cannon fodder at all here 
http://www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%20Science/Theory%20&%20Methodology/Throwing%20Events/Throwing%20Events%20(General)/Arbeit%20the%20performance%20Situation%20in%20the%20Event%20Group%20Throwing%202007%20Osaka%20.pdf
Here’s another fairly recent one http://www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%20Science/Planning%20&%20Periodization/General%20Concepts/Arbeit%20Training%20Periodisation.pdf
Is the 1 x 300 confirmed or is it myth like Ben’s squats pre OF final?
Do you think this may have real application? Maybe not 300m but say 200m focusing on rhythm an hour or so beforehand?
That was a big-ass secret weight room- must have been underground.
I’m not convincd I’m totall in the right thread for this post, but as the word rhythm got a mention, I thought I’d stick it here! How important do you feel rhythm is in training and racing. I hav a feling it is something I have overlooked recently. When with my old group every session had a couple of build up rhythm based run before a maximum effort and off that winter I produced my PBs. Now I am with a coach who is very speed based and there is little submaximal work except for 1200m of tempo after Tuesday and Thursday’s sessions, but I almost fel tempo is a little slow to get the ‘rhythmic feeling’ I used to get. I’m not sure if it’s as a consequence, but anyway it appears my training times are suffering and I feel this may be related as I don’t feel quite so good or smooth when I run. I am a taller athlete and perhaps this is more of an important issue for a rangy sprinters. I am not sure of the scientific underpinning, or if there is any for that last comment, or if there is an for this whole post! My degree is in Sport and Exercise Science and I try to use science to explain everything I do, but for this I can’t. Can anybody here give me some help on this? At the moment I can only come to the chicken and egg syndrome of it works because it does, and we do it because it works, and because it works we do it…
Last time it was confirmed was in Nice 2000, not in a secret warm-up pit, it was in front of all the fans and media for Pérec’s opener at 400m, and she did 270m instead of 300m after a negociation with Meier.
It looks like he’s having a seizure every time he does a squat. Maybe that accounts for why he was able to lift 600lbs!
Thanks PJ, do you know how long before hand and what intensity (95%?, 100%). What about my other question?
Do you think this may have real application? Maybe not 300m but say 200m focusing on rhythm an hour or so beforehand?
Maris,
I’m sure other more qualified people can answer this (and may contradict me) but my understanding is that in longer sprints, especially 400m, it is very important.
There is evidence that lactate actually helps to buffer acidosis during activity.
Cyclists have long felt that short harder efforts to ‘open up the legs’ as part of their warmup improve performance for stuff like time trials and I suspect it has to do with this effect.
If you can generate some lactate to get the buffering systems online but do it in such a way as to NOT generate excessive fatigue, that should help.
Lyle
Interesting and certainly something worth investigating in training.
Lactate is an amazing thing. I have been baffled till the last few days about my reaction to it versus comments of others. In my case I don’t get the burn others report, although I do know what they mean from having done 20 rep squats, in my case my legs just get heavier and move slower. :o
It appears ass I suspected it is age related 9I’m 45). I do get it just in a different way which is the heavy, slow legs.
I spoke to one of the guys at work who at 58, and despite most of the winter out with injury, will have a good shot at going under 60 sec for 400m this season. He has exactly the same feeling as me last week I got it real bad. With 80m to go I was gone and I had to concentrate really hard to keep making my legs move. It was like running in water
I asked if this had changed since he as in his 20’s (as I personally have nothing to compare it with) and he thought for a moment and said yes it has.
His PB’s are
52.8 which he did 3 times
Day 1
52.8 in heats
64 sec 400m hurdles (first time doing them)
52.8 in final
Day 2
800m @ 1.58 then 400m @52.8
interestingly he maintained his speed pretty well into his 40’s as he ran 54.1 in mid 40’s :eek:
I’m a speed skater and I often find that my second set of speed endurance work (might be something like 800 negative splitting the second 400 or a set of lap on/lap off with one lap hard/one lap easy) is easier than the first.
My legs don’t tie up as as much towards the end of the set, I still have something to push with, etc.
Lyle
I guess the key as you stated is If you can generate some lactate to get the buffering systems online but do it in such a way as to NOT generate excessive fatigue, that should help. which will be an individual thing (appropriate distance and rest) that may require a bit of time to ascertain hence my reference to doing that in training rather than jumping straight into it at next race situation.
DEFINTELY worth a look at though.