I am just about done with Pat’s book about coaching Evelyn. I think 1-2 lines about their training in any detail. Anyone know anything about their training?
Looking at 1984, it’s definitely a Long to Short program, with 8’s and 4’s up until April. I don’t get the 400m on the same day as having run a 10.88w at Mt Sac, and what about the 800m at the end of May?
14jan 800 2:15.2
27jan 800 2:13.07
10mar 400 52.55
24mar 4x400
14apr 100 11.16
200 22.75
29apr 100 10.88w
400 52.11
12may 100 10.78w
19may 800 2:20.34
17jun 100 11.29
100 11.24
18jun 100 11.43
100 11.18
25jul 4x100
4aug 100 11.06
100 11.21
5aug 100 11.03
100 10.97
11aug 4x100
4x100
18aug 100 10.92
100 10.94
22aug 100 10.76 WR
26aug 200 22.76
31aug 100 10.93
Wow great info!
I believe that year she had some personal issues and started training later. I’ll have to double check the book.
Interesting tough ass month of August with 10 100m races.
Also the possible neural patterning of mid 10.78w to 10.76 legal.
Ashford was recovering from a hamstring pull she had during the 1983 World Champs final.
According to Connolly, those 800s were run for recovery purpose.
She often did 800s before 84. She also was injured in 1984 during or shortly after the 10.78wa in May.
According to the book, Pat seemed to let Evelyn do somethings which she later regretted, as this lead to the injuries.
Finally found it after digging through some all boxes never opened after my last move.
This is from the “Five Cycle Sprint Training Program for Evelyn Ashford” by Pat Connolly, published in Track & Field Quarterly Review 1984 or 1985, based on presentation she gave at the IX International Track & Field Coaches’ Congress, Santa Monica, July 30 1984.
Cycle 1 Endurance
- total body cardiovascular fitness training
- long runs (1,500-5,000m, 3,000 max. for Evelyn), some timed, some easy
- sand running
- drills (high knee etc.)
- easy weight training, e.g. 1 set 10x each exercise
- different types of games, soccer, volleyball, basketball
- stair running and jumping
- medicine ball
- stretching
Cycle 2 Strength
- heavy weight training
- intervals (walk distance run)
- plyometrics
- fartlek: jog-stride-jog-sprint
Cycle 3 Speed endurance
- step-downs (60-90%), e.g. 500/400/300/200 or 100/90/80/70/60/50/40/20
- step-ups (60-90%), e.g. 100/200/300/400
- pyramids (60-90%), e.g. 200/300/400/300/200 or 20/30/40/50/60/50/40/30/20
- starts & quality repeats, e.g. 4x100 or 4x150
- endless repeats: 10 to 25x 75m flying start (on grass, spikes)
- still do weight training, intervals, fartlek
Cycle 4 Competition (speed)
- competition
- stretch
- rest
- maintenance runs, e.g. 2x300 or 4x150
- clean out runs 400, 800, 1600m (Evelyn 800m under 2.20 day before Brussels). Relaxed but fast to get stifness out of legs.
Cycle 5 Active rest
- jogging
- games
- stretching
Normally this program is spread over one year starts in the fall. After the 1984 trials when Evelyn got injured, the 5 cycles were repeated with each cycle lasting only one week to prepare for the Olympics.
That’s basically it. Regretfully It doesn’t get more specific than this.
Interesting!
Charlie and/or PJ, does this look like something DDR athletes would have done in the 60s and early 70s? In her book, she said the program she started Evelyn on was based on what the East Germans did.
The book also talked about sand workouts, but nothing more than they went to beach at one period of the year for workouts.
Seeing she used speed during competitions, I see why there are so many 100m in August.
GDR sprinters used short to long approach and lactic work was performed on competition specific levels. That’s two main differences btw Ashford and Göhr trainings.
I don’t see any similarities at all. PC’s workouts were based on Vince Reel, who coached and married Chi Cheng, who was the no1 woman sprinter in 1970. Connolly trained with that group.
Interesting. Charlie, have you read Pat’s book?
No I haven’t
Connolly and Chi Cheng both competed at Pentathlon in 1964, they have the same background. Chi Cheng later focused on sprints and broke WRs in 1969-1970. She used to compete a lot, maybe the huge number of race was her sprint/high intensity training, the rest beeing general conditioning and endurance type of work.
I can’t remember if it’s in the book or the article, but Connolly mentions Chi Cheng inspiration for the use of drills with arms relaxed dangling on the side. There’s not much information in the book anyway.
From the article:
“We do a lot of “shake-ups” during this period. A shake-up is a different kind of drill. If you watch Evelyn warmup you might wonder why she’s running with her hands down. I learned this from Chi Cheng from Taiwan who held the 100y world record. This drill teaches thythm, cadence and quick turnover which allows a sprinter to reach optimum speed while relaxed. It also strengthens the quadriceps and the hamstrings because the legs are swinging as opposed to lifting and this strengthens the legs in the same way as when actually running. I find this to be more specific for the leg action to the running than it is for the high knee lifts, though we do a lot of those as well.”
Not that I understand what she’s saying here.
Yes. Vince Reel again. It mostly allows relaxation but I wouldn’t put much stock in the idea that it strengthens muscle other than through fitness.
I remember Gerrard Mach coming back from Connolly’s presentation listed above with the one week of each phase and saying he had to give his head a shake.
Back in the summer of 1999 I asked Pat about this… I wrote:
…a coach and I were talking the other day and we were talking about Evelyn’s training. He was commenting that on a few occasions he watched her do 90m shake-ups x 12 with about 3-4 mins btw. We were thinking this might have been one the keys to (her) holding such a high frequency so later in the race. Is this true?
She wrote:
The shakeups are done in sets of five (5 x 100m) with only turn around time for recovery. after the 5th a walk back recovery only. Yes, you are right about sustaining turnover–actually Evelyn’s best race was the 200 which she never ran after the injury in the Olympic Trials in 1984 but clearly she had the potential to run under 21.70
Any video of these? I still don’t know what they are
I had the book. It cost exactly $1.00 at a discount store and is pure fluff with absolutely nothing of value in terms training info. I donated it to a local library.
In terms of the supposed East German in training I think that it is due to a couple of things. From the mid-1970’s Americans became obsessed with GDR system. Lots of coaches were claiming to have knowledge of what was going on there, when in fact is very, very few westerners did. Connolly may not have even known that she wasn’t mimicking said system. My guess is that Vince Reel was at the heart of this “misunderstanding.”