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Phidippides Track Club is dedicated to track specific training for runners and fitness enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.

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We need your contributions! Please help us by contributing any sort of articles about training, racing, nutrition or whatever might be helpful to our members - send to the webteam@phiddippides.org or give to Jay or Jeff at track.

Current Articles:

Second Thoughts, A Quest for a Sub 3 Hour Marathon

So who was Phidippides?

Plyometrics

Second Thoughts, A Quest for a Sub 3 hour Marathon By Carl Mather (With credit to Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights Big City)

You are the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. The location is new though you cannot say that the surroundings are entirely unfamiliar. It is Sunday October 15^th, 7:20 am, ten minutes before the start of the Long Beach International Marathon.

Your Garmin GPS is causing you suspicions. The proof is the data being registered for elevation; alternately reading -1 ft, 3 ft, -4 ft, -7 ft. You are mildly amused.

How did you get here? Let’s go back to the beginning of the year.

There was the 16 mile race. You ran so hard; you busted a gut, literally. You felt like you had the runs, but are shocked when you see the toilet bowl is filled with bright red fluid. You tried to convince yourself that it was Accelerade that you could not digest. Runner’s Ischemia was the wife’s diagnosis. That episode resulted in a colonoscopy before being given the go-ahead to run some more.

You ran Boston; got the medal to prove it. It was a dream come true. You got your picture taken with Bill Rogers and Frank Shorter, two childhood idols.

On May 21^st you ran the Colfax Marathon along the nation’s longest main street. The temperature was in the 80s by the finish. You were thrilled with your finish; 3:10:46, 11^th overall, 2^nd in your age group.

You ran the Arby’s Rocky Mountain ½ Marathon on June 11^th because it was your birthday. You finished 11^th overall, 2^nd in your age group with a time of 1:27:20. There was a nice picture of you running alongside former World Marathon Champion Mark Plaatjes; it must have been in the first 10 yards of the race.

Your weekly training consisted of three workouts and averaged about 35 miles/week. Those workouts were: a track workout, a tempo run and a long run. You ran training races of 10 and 15 miles, finishing second in both.

You ran the American Discovery Trail Marathon in Colorado Springs on September 4^th. Four weak miles spoiled your hopes for breaking 3 hours. You finish in 3:01:36, 6^th overall and 2^nd in your age group.

At the Boulder Backroads Marathon on September 24^th started the race with Dean Karnazes who was partway through running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Your attempt to run three marathons in six weeks pales in comparison. You received the 1^st place age group award, a very nice framed poster. You hung it in the smallest room in your house. The wife repainted the walls to match the poster; so sweet.

Your bounty for the year also included: two plaques, a premium water bottle, his & her Road ID tags, some cool medals, two pint glasses, a nice big coffee mug and gift certificates with which you purchased a pair of shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt.

Your Fall vacation plans brought you to Southern California. The wife and your daughters planned to spend the day at the American Girl Store in Beverly Hills. You were given the green light to run Long Beach, so here you are.

The drill is routine for you by now: Carbo loading, obsessing about clothing like a nervous bride, little sleep the night before, bowels vacated in a fight or flight response, the tying of shoelaces, etc.

The horn blasts. The Garmin keeps you from going out too fast, as others do. During the first ten miles you hold your pace and enjoy the spectacular ocean scenery. Then you turn right as the half marathoners head home. You overtake one runner after another, banking precious seconds. At mile 17 the first female passes you. You glom onto her and ride her wake for the next six miles until she drops you like a 42 year old has been.

Disaster strikes in the 25^th mile; a stitch. You clock 8:20 and your hopes of a sub three hour marathon are fading. You rally and run the 26^th mile in 6:19 as if chased by demons of marathons past.

You round the bend down the hill to the finish where the race clock relentlessly keeps time. The significant digits you make out are 2:59 and the seconds march on 34, 35, 36. The gathered witnesses are cheering. You are screaming. You cross the line at 2:59:42 (2:59:29 chip time.) It is a moment sublime. Officially you finish 20^th overall, 3^rd in the Master’s Division.

You will be ill for several days. You will recover physically, but there will be an emotional tank to refill as well. There will be goals to set and miles to cover. You will be back, but it will take time. You will have to go slowly. You will have to learn everything all over again.

So who was Phidippides?

The Marathon Story - The Battle that Changed Human History By Paul Ostapuk

Setting the Stage

The first two decades of the fifth century B.C. marked one of the great turning points in world history. These were the years of the Persian and Greek wars. The powerful Persian Empire in 546 B.C. extended from Asia to Eygpt to what is now Turkey. This great empire built the first Suez Canal which linked the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.

Greece on the other hand, consisted of a scattering of independent city-states, called poleis. These early city-states spawned the democratic ideas that have persisted into modern times. Athens eventually became the largest and most prosperous polis. Another Greek polis, Sparta, was not so democratic. They kept their kings and maintained a conservative, regimented society built around military training and the art of war.

The Persian/Greek War

The Persian Empire over the years expanded to the Mediterrean Sea. In the process some Greek settlements were conquered. Ionia was one such settlement. After many years, they tried to revolt against the Persians but the uprising was immediately squashed by the powerful Persian Army. By the year 490 B.C., the Persian Army was ready to expand their territory and move into Europe. They landed a large force just outside of Athens on the plains of Marathon and prepared for attack.

The Role of Phidippides

The Athens, vastly outnumbered, desperately needed the help of Sparta's military base to help fend off the attack. Time was short, so the Athenian generals send Phidippides (or Philippides) a professional runner to Sparta to ask for help. The 140 mile course was very mountainous and rugged. Phidippides ran the course in about 36 hours. Sparta agreed to help but said they would not take the field until the moon was full due to religious laws. This would leave the Athenians alone to fight the Persian Army. Phidippides ran back to Athens (another 140 miles!) with the disappointing news. Immediately, the small Athenian Army (including Phidippedes) marched to the plains of Marathon to prepare for battle.

The Battle of Marathon

The Athenian Army was outnumbered 4 to 1 but they launched a suprise offensive thrust which at the time appeared suicidal. But by day's end, 6400 Persian bodies lay dead on the field while only 192 Athenians had been killed. The surviving Persians fled to sea and headed south to Athens where they hoped to attack the city before the Greek Army could re-assemble there.

Phidippides was again called upon to run to Athens (26 miles away) to carry the news of the victory and the warning about the approaching Persian ships. Despite his fatigue after his recent run to Sparta and back and having fought all morning in heavy armor, Phidippides rose to the challenge. Pushing himself past normal limits of human endurance, the reached Athens in perhaps 3 hours, deliverd his message and then died shortly thereafter from exhaustion.

Sparta and the other Greek polies eventually came to the aid of Athens and eventually they were able to turn back the Persian attempt to conquer Greece.

Concluding Remarks and Beginning of Olympic Marathon Races

The Greek victory marked one of the decisive events of world history because it kept an Eastern power (the persians) from conquering what is now Europe. The victory gave the Greeks incredible confidence in themselves, their government and their culture.

In the two centuries that followed, the Greek culture spread across much of the known world. It made Europe possible and in affect won for civilization the opportunity to develop its own ecomomic life.

Modern European-based nations such as the United States and Canada can trace their growth straight back through an unbroken chain of Western historical events back to the Victory at Marathon.

Centuries later, the modern Olympic Games introduced a "marathon" race of (40,000 meters or 24.85 miles). The winner was Spiridon Louis, a Greek postal worker from village of Marusi and veteran of several long military marches , His time was 2 hours, 58 minutes, 50 seconds for the 40 kilometer distance (average pace of 7:11 minutes per mile).

At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castleto White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box. After 16 years of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon distance.

Plyometrics

Speed and strength are integral components of fitness found in varying degrees in virtually all athletic movements. Simply put the combination of speed and strength is power. For many years coaches and athletes have sought to improve power in order to enhance performance. Throughout this century and no doubt long before, jumping, bounding and hopping exercises have been used in various ways to enhance athletic performance. In recent years this distinct method of training for power or explosiveness has been termed plyometrics. Whatever the origins of the word the term is used to describe the method of training which seeks to enhance the explosive reaction of the individual through powerful muscular contractions as a result of rapid eccentric contractions.

The maximum force that a muscle can develop is attained during a rapid eccentric contraction. However, it should be realised that muscles seldom perform one type of contraction in isolation during athletic movements. When a concentric contraction occurs (muscle shortens) immediately following an eccentric contraction (muscle lengthens) then the force generated can be dramatically increased. If a muscle is stretched, much of the energy required to stretch it is lost as heat, but some of this energy can be stored by the elastic components of the muscle. This stored energy is available to the muscle only during a subsequent contraction. It is important to realise that this energy boost is lost if the eccentric contraction is not followed immediately by a concentric effort. To express this greater force the muscle must contract within the shortest time possible. This whole process is frequently called the stretch shortening cycle and is the underlying mechanism of plyometric training.

The golden rule of any conditioning program is specificity. This means that the movement you perform in training should match, as closely as possible, the movements encountered during competition. If you are rugby player practising for the line-out or a volleyball player interested in increasing vertical jump height, then drop jumping or box jumping may be the right exercise. However if you are a javelin thrower aiming for a more explosive launch, then upper body plyometrics is far more appropriate.

Plyometric Exercises

The following are examples of lower body body plyometric exercises.

Lower Body

Drop Jumping: - This exercise involves the athlete dropping (not jumping) to the ground from a raised platform or box, and then immediately jumping up. The drop down gives the pre-stretch to the leg muscles and the vigorous drive upwards the secondary concentric contraction The exercise will be more effective the shorter the time the feet are in contact with the ground. The loading in this exercise is governed by the height of the drop which should be in the region of 30 to 80 cm. Drop jumping is a relatively high impact form of plyometric training and would normally be introduced after the athlete had become accustomed to lower impact alternatives, such as two-footed jumping on the spot.

Bounding and hurdling: If forward motion is more the name of your game, try some bounding. This is a form of plyometric training, where over sized strides are used in the running action and extra time spent in the air. Two-legged bounds reduces the impact to be endured, but to increase the intensity one legged bounding, or hopping, can be used. Bounding upstairs is a useful way to work on both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the running action. Multiple jumps over a series of obstacles like hurdles is a valuable drill for athletes training for sprinting or jumping events.

Examples of lower body plyometric exercises with intensity level:

Standing based jumps performed on the spot (low intensity) - Tuck Jumps, Split Jumps
Jumps from standing (low-medium intensity) - Standing long jump, Standing hop, standing jump for height
Multiple jumps from standing (medium intensity) - bounds, bunny hops, double footed jumps over low hurdle, double footed jumps up steps
Multiple jumps with run in (High intensity) - 11 stride run + 2 hops and a jump into sandpit, 2 stride run in + bounds
Depth jumping (high-very high intensity) - jumps down and up off box (40 to 100cm), bounding up hill
Eccentric drop and hold drills (high-very high intensity) - hop and hold, bound/hop/bound/hop over 30 meters (athletes stops and holds on each landing before springing into the next move), drop and hold from a height greater than one meter.

Last updated 02/26/07