I Am A Runner (1979)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the runners look at their hobby or whatever you want to call it as a way of life and they just keep running and they you know once they get a sense of physical well-being they want to keep that up you know whether or not they're competitively at their best or not they want to keep running I run because deep down inside i' love to run you know you you are what you do and I choose to run so I am a [Music] [Applause] runner well now that a lot of us have been running for a while I guess we're pretty pretty much thinking the same thing how can we improve how do we learn to run faster and does it ever get easier yeah I think that you can really improve tremendously by Leaps and Bounds after you've gotten this uh initial base of let's say a year or two of running once a day ways to do that are to do more Hill work to do speed work on the track which is what they call interval trainings you run a certain distance at a faster pace then jog very slowly do several sets of that or else you can do what they call fart lick you go out on the roads and change your pace and Vary your pace slow fast maybe walk a little that sort of thing um those are all different methods or you can always try working out twice a day if you got the time that'll really bring uh fantastic improvements the body has to learn to adjust to this stress but then you also need some recovery in between and I think if you tax your system in some way whether it be through Hill workout whether it be through track workouts intervals um even even endurance uh doing long distances your body is going to adjust it's going to be able to take the new loads as long as you give yourself recovery in between to rest it will get better and I think after you've been running for a while maybe a year or two then start experimenting with different trins like Hill work trying to integrate some not too steep a hill but something with a moderate grade and something that's not too stressful that you can adapt to pretty easily in your training workout bartl is a Swedish word it means Speed play it's a very effective workout for example Gail Baron and her husband often practice it and she's one of the top marathoners in the country hates any kind of track work so what they do is they'll go out on a run which most of the time they take they're taking a very steady pace and they'll put burst and burst of speed where for maybe 400 U yards 440 yards they'll run towards an object at a specific Pace that they want to do whether it be race Pace whether it be above Race pace and then get to this object and then you rest again and do an easy paac jog you then might want to do a Sprint they'll pick up and do maybe a a 100 yard Sprint or 200 yard Sprint and it's a constant speed play it's a lot of fun if you hate tracks it's especially fun on Cross Country Trails to do something like this and Hill running can be very very effective a good workout might be to run up a moderate incline fairly hard and then when you get to the top turn right around and Jog back down again repeat this 8 to 10 times and then finish the session off with an easy jog down you have to be careful going downhill always um there's always a risk of turning an ankle or pulling something okay here's a slow motion shot of Bill Rogers running uphill bill is one of the world's finest distance Runners notice his exaggerated arm motion and notice how hard he's pushing off with his legs also he's leaning nicely into the hill if you want to get involved in competition that sort of thing you can always um join what they call fun runs which are not so competitive they're more for fun but they'll be about 2 miles long 3 miles long and I wouldn't recommend people to begin their racing program with a marathon begin with two three five mile runs and I would do that for a year or a couple of years uh I didn't run my first marathon until I've been running for 10 years so I would say that you have plenty of time always ahead of you to experiment with the long ones one important thing which sometimes is overlooked is running style um a smoother flow uh less uh excess energy being put out will make you run smoother and go faster you want to concentrate on rhythm with the arms a rhythm in your in your running they say that running starts with the arms and um you want to think of Landing this is for Racers now not for beginners but more up on on your foot rather than just the heel and you want it go smoothly not up and down not choppy and I think that um the better your style the more efficient you'll be all around probably uh one of the better things to do is to actually just sit down and watch some of your better Runners watch How They Run watch the body motion um go to a track where you know maybe a a coach is going to be coaching a college team and just watch some of the better runners tomorrow these women will be running in a championship race they're the finalists from the Bonnie Bell 10K road race series 10K or 10 km is a distance of just over 6 miles and some of these top competitors will be completing the course in 32 or 33 minutes some of these women have had track and cross country experience in high high school and college yet others are marathoners and rarely compete on the track depending on which events they're training for they'll run between 60 and 110 m a week about 10% of that will be all out speedwork fast running and then the other will be moderately paced runs of various lengths 5 10 18 miles before running they always do some stretching exercises this is helpful keeping the body in balance and also most important prevent [Music] injury then after stretching they do some jogging warmup maybe 10 or 20 minutes of that before they begin their workout what we're going to do this morning is do some slow motion film studies of these Runners and then we'll have John babington coach of the Liberty Athletic Club critique some of the [Music] Styles this is Chris lavali she's a very versatile Runner she runs the 1500 M as well the 800 3,000 she's good at 10,000 M and she holds the Canadian women's marathon record her style is easy and relaxed nice low loose arm motion she swings those hands just past the hips smooth efficient stride not too bouncy keeps herself nicely in Balan bance but good Runners don't always have perfect style Here Comes Mary Shay her form is quite unconventional her head has a tendency to tilt over to one side as you can see Mary's form isn't that smooth you'd have to say that she's asymmetrical but somehow all those motions fit together in such a way that she gets great great results if I were coaching her i' I'd be very hesitant to tamper with her form this is Marty cookie she's not very big but but there's a lot of power in that stride notice her typical distance Runner stride not a very long stride but she takes more steps per minute it's a very compact style Marty is relatively new to running but she's one of the finest American women Road Racers ever she's the national Marathon champion and does extremely well in the shorter distances also but though this is interesting look at what her feet do as she runs toward us look at that little flip in her foot just before it strikes the ground I couldn't begin to say exactly what effect that has on her running but it certainly is interesting also no notice that her left leg tilts in slightly the leg is not completely vertical at the moment it strikes the ground and that foot wiggle could be a compensation for that in fact it probably is uh Here Comes Ruth Caldwell Ruth is the national 800 meter champion she specializes in short fast races she's running here in her training flats and at a 10,000 meter Pace she's landing on about the middle of her foot and her stride is not particularly long at this pace now Ruth is running in her Spike shoes her Racing shoes and closer to her 800 met race Pace notice the difference here her feet kick back much higher her arms are much more active and her stride is much longer yet she's not really in the air that much see how smoothly she's running she's Landing more in her toes yet not bouncing she's almost skimming along now this type of stride would be inefficient in a very longdistance run this type of stride tires out the muscles very quickly but it's definitely the fastest way to get from the start to the finish in a shorter race this is Mary Rodriguez whose first race was a year and a half ago the Bonnie Bell race in New York she's lost a lot of weight and she's gotten a lot faster in her running but let's look at her style she's very hardworking Runner but perhaps she's trying a little too hard look at those clenched fists actually her legs are quite relaxed but from the waist up there's a little too much tension relaxation is often a problem for a beginning Runner it's something that sprinters have to learn as well as marathoners but there are little tricks you can play on yourself as you're running along you can ask yourself are my facial muscles relaxed do my shoulders and neck muscles feel nice and relaxed are my arms loose you can shake your arms out just for a second just to give yourself a feeling of relaxation you can check your hands to make sure that they're not flopping around but that your fists aren't clenched too tight either just try to maintain an overall feeling of relaxation and smoothness as you run along actually your running style though will pretty much take care of itself just keep at it and enjoy it it's important to have a well-rounded training program to do stretching exercises after you run some some before would be helpful also um to have good pair of shoes with good cushioning to run on grass or dirt surfaces like we see here around the pond stay away from concrete and don't increase your mileage too soon you have to build up very slowly which is the major thing I'm emphasizing if you want to improve the only way to really do it is through consistency uh and moderation you can't do it through an intense program really quick no one's ever done that way your body will just won't take it it'll quit on you I think that races are the reward and I don't think anyone should deprive themselves of that pleasure you put in all that training and what is it for what is it about it's to prepare to go out and take the test you know run the race see how good you are see where you stand on race day Jacqueline Hansen one of America's great distance Runners was on hand we asked her to tell us something about the race and if she could pass along a few tips about racing technique and strategy when thinking about getting into the actual race it's important to plan it out exactly what you want to do 5 4 3 2 1 Wom you have to think about what's a conceivable Pace to run what kind of a time are you capable of doing at any given time in your training pick a goal and you plot it out how many minutes of mile does that require and then you listen to the mile marks in the race and you try to see if you're on Pace it's very important to not go out too fast as much as it's you know not to go out too slow but it's something you have to think about before you get to the starting line 4500 24 Runners everybody let them know what you think this race was definitely a major event it was a major thing in several different senses you know one that we had 4,500 women out there running that is a social phenomenon perhaps but we also have the very high highest quality number of Runners that I've seen in one given race this is why I think it's really exciting to see a woman's only race because they get the due recognition it is their event they're on the front line they get the good positions they get first grab at the a stations they get all their splits they get to break the tape first it appeared to me to be maybe the youngest fastest field going a lot of them have come up from track uh track background and I think that's why we're seeing you records dropping in the 10 km cuz we're seeing MERS and cross country Runners running 10,000 M and I think that now we're beginning to see product of Collegiate running programs High School running programs we're beginning to see some results the race started in the Boston Common and went down Charles Street and over the Long Fellow bridge by the first mile there was a a good healthy pack of including like Elizabeth Barry Marty cookie Chris Laval Karen Bridges Joe Beno and Betty Springs so at the first mile Mark we've got a time of 5 minutes 14 seconds which is on the money that's going out pretty fast but the first mile out the first and most important thing that these Runners want to do is get out clean and have some free running rooms it's critical to get out fast at the start to go with the leaders if that's your intention to run with a lead pack because they'll slow down as much as you will everyone will get tired at the same time but if you're 50 or 100 yards back you may never catch up it's difficult to catch up it's easy to stay with a pack and it's difficult to catch a pack it seems to me that this is a big Progressive step in women's running this was one of the first times I have actually seen a race with this quantity of women and this caliber of women at this distance where there was some real strategic running going on there was some very intelligent running going on usually in the past we've seen races where a few people go out too fast and then burn out of the mile they don't really know what they're doing it seems like the runners sort of string out in Hopeless abandon and they finish in that order and this race was not like that at all the women's running has really moved into another whole plane and it's really exciting to see it was like watching a competitive men's race that theyve you know they've had a lot more experience with this there they were at four miles all together you know eight of them it could have been anyone's race but they were all working off each other they all had this mutual respect for one another and they were all running intelligent races nobody was going to take it out too fast and yet they were all looking for their best times they weren't dogging it either now let's take a look at the Four Mile Mark in the lead we've got number four and that's Karen Bridges from still waterer Oklahoma he was third of the making a move in the latter stages of a race can really work to your benefit you know if you're capable of doing it and if you're confident you don't waver at all if it needs passing somebody you pass them quickly and you put enough distance so that they don't go with you they don't draft off you Joe right said she knew at 5 and 1/2 miles she had to make a move she had to break away just you know to get that distance between them when Joan Beno made her move I think she did take the three of them with her and they pulled away but maybe because Joan was making the intentional move it became her game and they were going to have to try to play it the first three runners were all from North Carolina they knew each other they knew how each other ran and they would each say the same thing Janes said I knew I had to stay on Mary because if she's anywhere near me at the end she can outsprint me Mary was saying I know I have to stick with Joan Benoy she's so strong I know I had to sit with her you know and Ellison Goodall knew who she was up against they all knew and I decided if you're going to run you got to get up with them now and I made a move and got up with them and then just stuck tight and then from there on it was joany Mary and me pretty much fighting out it seemed like the three of us I think Marty was pretty close behind us but the three of us were just going strong really it felt great it was great fun I just felt really good but Jony was tough and she put in a really strong lift down Commonwealth and really blew me off I couldn't keep up with it if I hadn't let that distance separate it could have been a closer finish because I never really gained it the in the lead and she stayed really strong she wasn't going to let me game Goodall is in second place 32 55 is the time right now this is very very fast time everybody Joan B Cape Elizabeth m is going to win the national body Bell 10 km Championship Jo Berard everybody Ellison Goodall second place her time 33 minutes and 20 seconds look how close this is let these Runners know you're round everybody Mary Shay in third place from North Carolina number 11 Mary Jay in third place Marty cookie in fourth place number six Marty cookie number four is car bridges from Stillwater Oklahoma winner of the Denver bunny Bell 10k race I thought the race as a whole just went Splendid it was just a beautiful production the whole race went so smoothly the only thing that went wrong of course was that funny little incident where the car drove over the Finish Line in 15th Place and everybody was baffled as to how it even got there but you know it was no big tragedy were there a lot of people on the car it is true the camaraderie is great it's just I mean if I take anything away from running it's the friends I've made just make it so worthwhile and they're also warm I think Runners are really you know warm neat stable people other as we would pass we come this way and most of the runners going that way you know they all go I don't know about you guys but I was going y when the although when when the gun goes off it's not Crush kill destroy but competitive Spirit comes forth and you go to it you're your own man then and you run now the oldest competitor in today's race 77 years old Ruth roar I began my racing at the age of 75 no 76 76 years old and since then I really enjoyed running it did something to my way of life that I've never had before never experienced it I'm hoping to do more and better in time to come and I think I will I really do I am a runner