Originally published on Flotrack and reproduced here with permission, here is Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview, this one with Ian Torrence, an experienced ultra-runner (150 ultras to date) who has joined McMillan Running in Flagstaff, AZ as an Ultra Coach.

=====================================

© Copyright  – Christopher  Kelsall – 2010

McMillanRunning.com, has hired veteran ultra-runner Ian Torrence to head its new ultramarathon coaching division. The creation of the new ultramarathon division expands the offerings of McMillanRunning.com to include any distance beyond the marathon (most typically 50 kilometers, 50 miles, 100 kilometers, and 100 miles).

Torrence has more than 15 years of ultra experience under his belt. Since his ultra debut in 1994, he has, to date, finished 150 ultras, 22 of which were 100-mile races. In all, Torrence has won 49 ultramarathons. Some of his wins include the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 Mile Run (twice) and the Superior Trail 100 Mile Run. He’s a two-time, top-ten finisher at the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.

(more…)

Following is another excellent interview by Victoria’s Christopher Kelsall. Originally published on Flotrack it has been posted here with permission.

================

(c) Copyright – 2010 – Christopher Kelsall

Brett Gotcher has gone from regular fast guy with Olympic dreams and a part time job to regular fast guy who is spending his post-marathon recovery time answering more questions about his training (in one week) than he has had to his entire life – maybe. And all he did was run a marathon. Mind you it was the fourth fastest debut marathon in US history, 2:10:36. Not too shabby for a surfer-dude from Aptos California.

(more…)

The following interview is courtesy  of Christopher Kelsall (who now twitters! @chris_kelsall) and was originally posted on the Flotrack website…

========

In 1968 at the age of 21, Amby Burfoot won the historic, B.A.A Boston Marathon. John J. Kelley, who at that time, was the most recent American to win Boston, 11 years prior, happened to be his coach at Robert E. Fitch High School in Groton, Connecticut. Therefore Amby’s win at Boston held personal significance on several levels.

December of that same year Amby ran the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon in Fukuoka, Japan and finished 1 second off the American marathon record with his 2:14:29. Amby added: “Fifth in 2:14:29, one second off Buddy Edelen’s American marathon record and, at the time, the fastest-ever fifth-place performance in a marathon… if your readers are geeky enough”.

(more…)

Originally published on Flotrack and published here with permission – © Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall

I remember watching Ryan Hall race the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon and thinking to myself that he seemed to be putting in a great effort and really just hanging on to the pace. He was not demonstrating that mystique he exuded in past races, like during his previous efforts in the New York and London marathons. He went out hard that day in Beijing, in very warm conditions – the type of race that apparently does not suit him.

He recently told Peter Gambaccini during his Runner’s World online interview:

“It wasn’t the most enjoyable marathon I’ve ever run, going out that hard in those conditions that I’m not particularly good in, and just how the race played out. It was just a huge mental battle, more than anything, to try and stay positive and keep myself in the race and tell myself I’m doing well.”

(more…)

Chris Kelsall recently reviewed legendary running coach Bart Yasso’s latest book “My Life on the Run”. Bart invented the Yasso 800s, a marathon-training schedule used by thousands around the world. Although originally posted on the Flotrack website, this article has been re-produced here with permission from Chris…   

==================

I read the book “My Life on the Run” by Bart Yasso, the Mayor of Running, for clues to its relevance to his public image as defacto race ambassador at Runner’s World Magazine. I am happy I did, because, in many ways, the memoirs are a constant reminder echoing his life’s transition from misdirected youth to sub-elite runner and adventurer, to the present in how far he has come as a person. According to Bart, life’s journey is about how far we have come, not in how fast we run through it.

For those who haven’t read My Life on the Run here is a truncated synopsis:

Bart begins with his childhood set in the small town of Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania, just outside of Bethlehem. In the Yasso’s small family home his existence was crowded by a set of six other siblings who over-shadowed any accomplishments Bart may have managed if he wasn’t too misdirected and under-appreciated by his sport-loving father. A possible manifestation of the emotional chasm between them is demonstrated in one backyard photo where the senior Yasso and Bart stand apart from each other. The distance between them was perhaps too great a gap even when Bart began to accomplish in running, what he clearly lacked as a stick and ball athlete during his teens.

(more…)

Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview is will Kiwi athlete, coach and author Keith Livingstone. Keith is a Lydiard method enthusist, and has just published a book on the famous training method titled: Healthy Intelligent Training (H.I.T). This is a long interview, but if you are a fan of the Lydiard method then it is well worth the read. 

Note: this interview was originally published on the Flotrack website and is reproduced here with permission from Chris. 

=============================

(c) Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall

Keith Livingstone, from New Zealand recently published a new book about an old training method, writing it in today’s language. He has taken the famous training method of the late and incomparable Arthur Lydiard and modernized it so everyone can understand the theory and application fully in a book he calls, Healthy Intelligent Training or H.I.T for short.

(more…)

Originally published on the Flotrack website, here’s Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview, this time with elite Canadian marathoner Nicole Stevenson…

==================

With a Commonwealth Games appearance and a 2:32 marathon personal best, Nicole Stevenson has been one of Canada’s elite marathon runners since 2002.

Coached by Hugh Cameron, Nicole transitioned from a middle distance runner to a marathoner smoothly, able to maintain fairly low-mileage training while working full time for a Pharmaceutical company in marketing.

Coach Hugh is the head coach with the Brooks Canada Marathon Project in Ontario, which enables Canada’s best runners to maintain their focus on their training and he is doing so with good success.

(more…)

Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview is with World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt. Originally posted on the Flotrack website , Chris has given Trainharder.com permission to post his material (to check out Chris’s other interviews with athletes visit his blog ). Thanks Chris!

========================

Some things that exist in this universe we accept and expect just as they are, like the daily ebb and flow of ocean tides, the changing of the seasons and the proverbial pedestals of which we mount our heroes upon.

On that point, we can all agree that Pele is the finest football player in history, Gretzky the greatest in hockey and perhaps Jordan is to basketball what Woods is to golf. In mountain running Jonathan Wyatt is the world’s greatest, there simply is no disputing this fact.

Wyatt owns 7 WMRA World Mountain Running Association Championships with 5 consecutive wins, both of which are records themselves. He holds the New Zealand record for the half marathon and has competed in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and is a 9 time IAAF Worlds participant including 3 IAAF World Track and Field Championships. Like many Kiwis before him, he is a versatile runner, who owns impressive personal bests in distances from 800m to the marathon and every distance in between.

Some requirements for running at a high level are undeniably necessary: consistent training, natural talent, running a variety of paces. Great runners of track, cross-country and road all seem to spend years developing a large aerobic base; Jonathan says, “… in my case, a large endurance base over many years has given me the strength to maintain a relatively high tempo while running uphill.”

(more…)

Here’s another great interview from Victoria athlete Christopher Kelsall. Originally published on the Flotrack website and reproduced here with Chris’s permission…

===========

Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, adventurer and founder of the Virgin Group of companies, is delighted to be a part of the London Marathon, so-much-so that he signed one of his business ventures, ‘Virgin Money’, to a £17million, five-year commitment to be the title sponsor of the event.

Virgin Money is commited from 2010 to 2015, which includes the highly anticipated 30th anniversary race. Branson said, “it’s an epic and inspirational event and raises a fantastic amount of money for great causes. It’s the single biggest fundraising day on the planet and we want to make it even bigger, our aim is to help runners smash the £¼ billion mark in five years.”

Can Sir Richard’s company help the London Marathon and its participants break the £¼ billion mark in five years? Don’t bet against him, the tycoon and adventurer, does not give up on his goals easily. He is a competitive businessman who currently owns more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people. Branson’s personal net worth is estimated at nearly $5 billion US.

(more…)

The following interview of Olympic gold medalist runner Constantina Dita is courtesy of Christopher Kelsall and was originally posted on the Flotrack website .

======

Constantina Dita (previously Tomescu-Dita) grew up on a farm surrounded by hills and the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. She would spend much time outside running for fun, chasing livestock, being free during the Nicolae Ceausescu communist dictatorship.

At the age of 19, she was too busy in sport to notice her hero, middle-distance runner Maricica Puica, speak out on television, in favor of the revolutionaries in their attempt to overthrow the government of the day.

Constantina had Olympic dreams.

As it turns out, Constantina Dita, is the first European woman to win the Olympic marathon since Russian, Valentina Yegorova won in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

August 17th, 2008 in Beijing, China, Constantina became the oldest Olympic marathon gold medalist. The previous oldest had been the legendary Carlos Lopes of Portugal who won the men’s marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at the age of 37. Rosa Mota, also from Portugal, previously was the oldest women’s winner at the age of 30 in the 1988 Seoul, Korea Olympics.

(more…)

The following interview is courtesy of Christopher Kelsall and was originally published on Flotrack …

Although Dave Scott-Thomas is not an official Canadian Olympic Team Coach (Athletics), rather Varsity with the University of Guelph Gryphons, he is in Beijing anyway. Scott-Thomas is there to view the track action and discuss pre-race strategy with rising stars, Eric Gillis and Taylor Milne, who have already competed in the 10, 000m and 1500m respectively – by the time of this interview submission.

Oddly, getting a hold of Scott-Thomas is easier while he is in Beijing than when he is at home in Guelph, Ontario. Perhaps he has more free time in Beijing with family and work getting all his attention in Guelph. He is after all a dedicated coach and Dad.

“I know it’s a drag to have to wait for people, so I’m trying to get back to you ASAP – but am also running on about 3hrs sleep in the past 38 and in a pretty crowded, noisy bar – I think it’s 8am!

Anyway, fire back at will”

3 hours of sleep? This is the same committed coach who worked through the night on behalf of Eric Gillis’ appeal, when Gillis was told unceremoniously that he wasn’t going to Beijing. He was told this even though the criteria preventing him read sketchy and gray at best and left the decision makers open to the appeal.

Obviously the appeal worked. This is the stuff of champions, in this case a champion coach, who has been recognized with enough Coach of the Year awards to sink a tornado class sail boat competing in Fushan Bay, Qingdao, China.

(more…)

The latest interview by Victoria’s Christopher Kelsall is with Nobuya Hashizume, head of the Lydiard Foundation board and advisory team. This interview was originally posted on the Flotrack website . Thanks again Chris!

=======

The legend and the legacy of Arthur Lydiard is alive and well. Perhaps the method he developed over a 50 year period is more popular today than when he coached Olympians directly or headed various national governing bodies of sport throughout the world.

From New Zealand’s greatest athlete ever, Olympic Gold medalist and world record holder, Dr. Peter Snell to Finland’s legendary Lasse Viren, Lydiard’s influence was widespread and the success of it was undeniable.

Since his passing in 2004, while on tour in the US, 4 time Olympian Lorraine Moller and Nobuya ‘Nobby’ Hashizume, one of the most knowledgeable coaches on the Lydiard method together created the Arthur Lydiard Foundation, mostly to perpetuate and protect the easily misunderstood method.

Any running chatline forum where the name Arthur Lydiard is bantered about explodes with interest and debate. Want to grow a thread? Feed it generously with Arthur Lydiard.

(more…)

Victoria’s Chris Kelsall’s latest interview is with four time Olympian Lorraine Moller from New Zealand. She talks about her best selling autobiography, On the Wings of Mercury , growing up in New Zealand and being the co-founder of the Arthur Lydiard Foundation. Originally posted on Flotrack .

====

Phidippides the Athenian foot-messenger left a legacy that grows greater each year and is propagated by the millions of people who now participate in marathon races all over the world. In 490 BC, Phidippides was fighting for democracy, when he ran back-to-back ultra-marathons; two days each way, to ask the Spartans to help fight a war for democracy against the Persians and return with their answer.

His inaugural marathon, delivering the news of victory, after back-to-back ultras, killed Phidippides; he was a martyr of sorts. Thus sport has become one of the greatest political arenas. Roman god, Mercury was a messenger, a mediator and a god of commerce, trade and profit. His legendary trait of being able to move from one place to another swiftly is his best known characteristic.

Running is many things to many people, but ultimately is an expression of freedom.

(more…)

A little late on this one but better late than never! See http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=188, interview recap below:

Okay, imagine being alone in the wilderness. You know, where the big animals with teeth and claws live. You’ve got no water, no food, no shelter – nothing. Terrifying, right? Now, imagine that’s your job. Well, say hello to Les Stroud.

For the past several years, Les has been living out most people’s worst nightmare. All for our viewing enjoyment, on his hit show ‘Survivorman.’ Here’s the idea. Each episode, Les is alone in the wild for a week, with just his brains and stamina. And he films everything himself – lugging around camera gear, the entire time. But forget getting lost in Muskoka. Try Alaska, a swamp in Georgia, the Amazon, or the Kalahari desert. Ah, but fear not because Les is the best. Not only does he survive, but he does it with humility and a love for nature.

By Chris Kelsall, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008

Rod Dixon holds court 5 minutes from downtown Victoria in a rain-soaked, gravel parking lot at the back of the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre. He has an enraptured audience; a handful of early-arrival runners who have come to spend 6 hours listening to him talk about the finer details of training. He is here as a representative of the Lydiard Foundation, along with co-founder Nobuya, ’Nobby’ Hashizume.

On first meeting Rod Dixon at 6:30 a.m., one would be remiss to blame him for being a bleary eyed guest however, he is anything but that. After all he is a much traveled Kiwi with an American address or two, he gets around.

(more…)