Thursday, September 8, 2011

Frank Shorter's Favorite Interval Workouts

Frank Shorter leads and wins 3 mile race, June 26, 1970, Steve Prefontaine far left places 5th, national AAU championships, Bakersfield, CA, Sports Illustrated photo, Jul 6 1970.

According to Olympic Gold, A Runner's Life and Times by Frank Shorter, speedwork or interval training was one secret to his success.

His two favorites sessions seem to be 4 x 3/4 mile with a relatively long 660 yard recovery jog (at sea level he shortened the recovery to 1/4 mile) on Tuesdays, and 10 x 400 on Thursdays with a 220-yard jog for recovery.

You would think a marathoner would include more longer, grinding intervals like the Yasso 800s, but apparently he thrived on the high intensity work. Remember, Shorter was fast enough to place 5th in the 10,000 meters just days prior to winning the marathon in 1972 in Munich and more than once gave Prefontaine all he could handle at shorter distances.

Shorter ran his intervals hard from the first repeat; there was no easing into a hard session, or saving himself for the last 400. His recovery between each repeat was short and quick. Shorter would finish his interval sessions exhausted, feeling like he could not do another repeat. -from an earlier post on Shorter and intervals here

1 comment:

  1. I think as running is important in athletics o any other games same as yoga has same importance too. Yoga makes our body light as well as it also make our mind cool and helps in performing diligently. So I would like to suggest all runners to practice yoga on a daily basis. Diet means to have a food in a good routine basis to have a good diet and to loose unwanted fat is to eat green vegetables and fruits on a daily routine basis.
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