Peter Snell - 1.44 on Grass

Long Runs, Hill Circuits, very varied track work, morning runs.

In about August 1961, Peter Snell returned from a successful European track tour exhausted from the frenetic racing and traveling, and didn't feel inspired to recommence a buildup until September 17. He established a twice-a-day routine of running to and from his work, and by October 21 won an exhibition mile race in 4:13, in the midst of accumulating the first 100-mile week of that buildup. By November, he was able to cover the 22-mile Waiatarua circuit confidently, covering 4 miles to Lydiard's home before running the full course in 2:11, his best since before his Rome Olympic 800m triumph.

The following day, he started two weeks of hill circuit training, with Wednesdays given over to club races, presumably over sprint and middle distances. After the first week of circuits, he ran a picnic meeting mile in 4:14. He continued his long Sunday runs, as well as morning runs of 10 miles during the week. At the end of his second week of hill circuit training, he competed in the Owairaka Marathon. He stayed with the leaders in a top field, being fourth at 20 miles. Half a mile later he was reduced to a walk and at 24 miles, he sat down.

He dredged himself to a very tired finish in 2:41. Later that day, he played in a social cricket match, and when he batted "lasted about three balls before being clean bowled ... my vision was obscured ... there was no coordination at all." Obviously Snell had managed to totally deplete his glycogen reserves.

He recovered all week, running another Waiatarua circuit the next weekend half an hour slower than usual, then the next Monday started track work with a 4:10 picnic meeting mile and a last 440 yards of 58.6 seconds. Thereafter followed a variety of track work on several afternoons a week, with 10-mile morning runs every day and the weekly long run.

He recorded a 9:18 2-mile in his first week of track training, followed soon after by a three-quarter mile in 3:04.5 and for the next two weeks, in training or at picnic race meetings, a number of hard time trial efforts over distances between 440 yards and 3 miles.

On Christmas Day, he ran a 1:52/4:15 half mile/mile double. Four days later, he ran 10 half-mile efforts in 2:10 average, with half-mile recovery jogs. All the while, the 10-mile morning runs and long Sunday runs continued. In the next few weeks, he ran sessions including a 9:12 2-mile the day before 10 x 440 yards in an average of 59.8 seconds, a half mile in 1:51, and a windy 3 miles in 14:23 (equivalent to about 14:50 for 5,000m), a few days before a 440 yards in 50 seconds.

He then started to ease up the pressure for a few days, before winning an international race series 880 yards in 1:48.2, passing through 800m in 1:47.7. Although due to run another international half mile the next Wednesday, he felt strong enough to run his usual 22 miles on the Sunday. (Barry Magee says that Snell's long runs during the business end of his track season were slow and restorative, about a minute a mile slower than his best aerobic speeds achieved in his buildup.) The next day he ran half an hour in the morning, and 8 x 150 yards, working up to sprint speed in the closing stages of each.

On the Wednesday, he ran 880 yards in 1:47.1, passing through 800m in 1:46.3, tying his Olympic record time. The 10-mile morning runs continued.

A week later, on January 27, 1962, he ran a world mile record of 3:54.4 with a last 440 yards of 54.8. The next week, on February 3rd, he ran a world record 1:44.3 for 800m on grass, enroute to 1:45.1 for 880 yards. Eight months later he won the 880 yard/mile double in the Commonwealth Games. Thirty months later he won the 800m/1500m double in the Olympics. So what?

Well, obviously regular long runs don't harm one too much. When we look at what Snell did while juggling training, working, and a racing tour around the country, we can see one certain fact: Snell ran his world 800m record within two months of completing his first and last competitive marathon.

What Was The Physiology Again?

Before his marathon he'd run a number of hill circuits over a fortnight, which re-stimulated his powerful type IIb fast-twitch fibers with plyometric input that reversed the normal "size principle" of muscle fiber recruitment (smallest to largest). He'd also redeveloped a substantial aerobic capacity with consecutive 22-mile runs.

In running a marathon at a constant pace, Snell ran to the limits of his slow-twitch fiber capacity and then exhausted the glycogen stores in his fast-twitch fibers to adapt. They were now quite possibly acting as type IIa fast-twitch fibers, with aerobic endurance characteristics as well as a very large anaerobic glycolytic potential.

This potential, of course, couldn't be realized until a variety of hard fast workouts and races capitalized on their emergence. The rest is history, and we can learn from history. While most modern coaches wouldn't recommend a full marathon so close to track racing, at least one great coach of the 1970s was paying attention. John Walker ran for over 20 miles at the head of New Zealand's tough Rotorua Marathon in April 1975. Then he jogged off the course, with his mission accomplished, amid quite a few ruffled marathoners' feathers. Why?

A couple of months later he was the first man to smash the 3:50 mile barrier. His coach, Arch Jelley, was a member of Owairaka Athletic Club and applied the Lydiard principles famously.

Walker broke the world mile record with 3:49.4 in 1975 after a period of training over the Waiatarua circuit with Kevin Ryan, the top New Zealand marathoner of the time. Eight years later, in 1983, he trained on the same circuit with marathoner Chris Pilone, and subsequently he ran his PB over the mile, 3:49.08, still the New Zealand record.