The antics of a former Irish priest aside, the most astonishing thing about this the 2004 Olympic games came from the men competing in distance events on the track. For those of you who may have missed out on the action I would like to share with you some my feelings as I believe they could help you optimize your training.

Point #1 – Speed Kills!
For most coach-potatoes out there, they cannot appreciate the incredible speeds at which Olympic athletes travel around that golden oval. For those of you out there who frequently punish your bodies on a track or out on the roads some of these numbers should shock and amaze you. More importantly, they reinforce one of the key training principles underlying the APTS philosophy of training.

Every athlete in an Olympic final is extraordinarily fit and would toy with all of us in any road or track, but within this elite group what distinguishes between gold and last place in the final?

Here is a hint:

800m	52.6 secs
1500	~54 (38sec final 300m)
5000m	53 sec (last mile 4:01)
10,000m	53 sec (last 5km 13:14)
Marathon Men	29:20 final 10km
Women	33:50 final 10km

Every race on the track finished with a sub 55 sec final 400m! Now I would challenge all of you to go out and try to run a sub 60 sec 400m, to appreciate how fast that is, but your health comes first. Can you imagine running 53sec at the end of a 27 min 10km!? or under 30 minutes for the last 10km of a marathon?

Point #2 – Slow and steady wins the race
Although it seems to contradict Point #1, the point here is that , the leader at the halfway mark of the distance events was rarely in the top 3 at the end of the race. This makes things exciting for the viewers but proves another of our most hallowed training principles, NEGATIVE SPLITS = PERSONAL BESTS. Running controlled in the first part of a race enables you to run a faster overall race.

For example: In the men’s marathon the first half of the race was run in 1:07 and last half was run in 1:03. Although it was hilly in the early middle stages, the last 5km was almost 2 minutes faster than the first 5km (16:00 vs 14:21). There is no doubt that the men learned a lot from the women. The winners ran easy in the first stages, being cautious in the heat and humidity and blazed the final stages, leaving many runners in their wake. The ladies ran the first half in 1:14 and finished in 1:12. The most impressive was Deena Drossin of the US who ran < 16:30 for the final 5km of the race passing 6 people and winning the bronze

Why do I care? You ask.
Point #1: Even at the elite level the faster the runner the easier it is for them to run comfortably through the early stages of a race and run very fast at the end of it. Those without that kind of speed are unable to keep up when the “screws are tightened”. These athletes need the “reserve” speed to be able to achieve this task.. When you train for any distance event, including the marathon, it is probably more efficient to spend one day per week training at faster speeds, than plodding along for 90 minutes on the road.

Point #2: Always start off a race or training session at a controlled comfortable pace. Gradually bring it down throughout the race or training session. This will improve the overall quality of the run and enhance the average speed over the duration of the race/training session. Starting slower will help you run faster.