“Your flight’s at ten o’clock, right?” asked Emil as he swerved the car on to the highway and as Ron gave a slight nod, he said “Don’t worry; we will be there well in time.”
Ron Clarke, Australia’s Olympics Champion athlete was returning home after having spent an enjoyable weekend in Prague with his ‘role model’, Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, the man who had earned for himself the sobriquet, ‘Czech Locomotive’ because of his unprecedented, great accomplishments in Olympic Games. In the entire history of the Games he is the only one to have made a ‘hat trick’ of sorts in distance running by securing a triple win: he had won all three gold medals for running in the 1952 Summer Olympics at Helsinki (500 meters, 10,000 meters and marathon) and to this day, the record remains unbeaten by anyone.
Ron too was a sporting legend in his own right; well before he had crossed thirty he had already proved himself by notching up seventeen world records to his credit. In the 1964 Tokyo Games, he was the sole hot favorite for the 10,000 meters event. But, though he had by then broken almost every previous record from 2 miles to 20 kilometers, the Olympic Gold medal had, however, eluded him so far and he had to be satisfied with winning only bronze or silver medals and that was precisely what had been eating him up lately. The 1968 Summer Olympics, which had just been concluded in Mexico City, had proved to be a total fiasco for Ron Clarke. Not being used to running at high altitudes, the lack of oxygen there had caused him problems and though he had somehow managed to finish in the sixth place, he had collapsed and almost died at the finishing line surviving with a somewhat weakened heart and a ruptured valve that called for surgery. But, one thing was certain: he had returned from Mexico as a completely heart-broken man!
As the car sped towards the Prague International Airport, its occupants observed an awkward silence for a while, only to be broken first by Emil who glanced sideways at his friend as he spoke: “It was just too bad, Ron ---- I mean, what happened to you in Mexico City was just too unfortunate. Well, as they say, the most important thing in Olympics is not to win but to take part in it. So also in life, the important thing is not the success you get but it’s the struggle you make to find it. The essential thing is to have fought well and not to have conquered.”
“When the chips are down, there’s nothing one can do except, perhaps, let them fall where they may. Anyway, no use brooding over it because, it’s all water under the bridge now. All you got to do is stand up again and face life with a renewed vigor. I have a gut feeling that you can do it if only you try once again, young Man. I am not saying this because I like you as a person, but, because, gold or no gold, I respect you as an able athlete! ”
“You really think I can do it?” asked Ron eagerly.
“Yep, all you got to do is to train the right way and put in some hard work.” said Emil. “Running is easily understandable: all it requires is speed and stamina. When I was young, I was too slow a runner, but, I had a passionate desire to win the race. I thought, I already knew how to run slow and all I needed to learn was how to run fast; so, for that I would have to practice running fast. So, I started running as fast as I could, first for a hundred meters stretch and then, I gradually upped the figure to 400 meters. I’d do it forty times in the morning and then once again in the afternoon, that is, I ran total 20 miles in one day! I did that for about two weeks.”
“What 20 miles a day for 2 weeks! That’s mind boggling, Man!!” Ron couldn’t help shouting.
“Well! People thought I had gone crazy. In this business, you’ve got to train like mad. There’s no other way, because, the more you tax your body, the more you’re in control. You must practice running at a steady, maximum sustainable pace at which you can easily manage a 5K or 10K meters stretch and you will have to log in at least 20 to 30 miles a day. For, if you do it once nothing happens; it’s only when you force yourself to repeat the strenuous part hundred times under most excruciating conditions that you start seeing results in more ways than one. I have trained in snow, in slush and in bad weather in army boots on rough, countryside roads and sometimes, even uphill. For my resistance training, many a time I would carry my wife, Dana on my back. Training under most unfavorable conditions not only builds up your endurance but also your will power and I tell you, it’s worth the great relief and pleasure you get when you cross the finishing line ahead of all others in the race."
“Don’t you think continuous training at moderate steady pace over long distances, while you keep increasing both gradually everyday is a better bet, any day?“, asked Ron.
“No, that’s the traditional way – this slogging day in and day out. In the long run, it doesn’t do you much good, you know. I think running at one’s personal best pace even if it be over short durations is a much better idea. Between these bursts of intense activity you try to squeeze in short periods of recovery, which you run at much lower comfortable speeds. For example, you run two minutes at a hard effort and then follow it up by two to three minutes of easy jogging, or even walking, while you catch your breath. I think this method --- I call it “Interval Training” --- wherein you alternate between bouts of fast running and slow running is more beneficial to distance runners than a traditional, more rigorous and strenuous regime. Firstly, it trains your muscles to work more efficiently at higher speeds and you learn to quickly switch over from slow to fast speeds and vice’ versa. Secondly, because you’re running at higher speeds, just above your discomfort level, at which you gasp for breath but not really so hard as to pass out, your maximum uptake of oxygen increases as in any aerobic exercise and your muscles gain in strength and train faster. It improves both your PR running speed as well as endurance in a much shorter time than the traditional tedious method that focuses more on high-volume, medium-paced workouts rather than one with a better efficiency. Running at your fastest sustainable speed – but not at an all-out, topmost racing speed – is the key to running with good form and avoiding injury. You must choose your running pace just above the level, which you perceive as the one you can easily withstand for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on your fitness. In other words, it’s a controlled, intense effort followed by a truly easy jog. The secret of success of the method lies in the so-called recovery period during which one recuperates from exhaustion of the previous half, just enough to enable you to run hard again in the next interval. Thus by end of the session, you’re a little fatigued, but, not necessarily completely fagged out.“
Ron Clerk was pondering in serene silence over what Emil had just told him. Little did he realize then that what he had just been witness to was the birth of an innovative idea for effective training that would be wildly accepted and commonly used someday in athletic training, not only in running but also in allied fields like bike-racing, sprinting, steeple chase, swimming etc. It is called, “High Intensity Interval Training” or simply HIIT.
The airport Control Tower with its rotating radar dish were just appearing on the horizon when Emil suddenly announced, “Well, there you are, Prague’s Ruzyne International Airport! ----------------- I think you got to hurry, Ron; you have just enough time to catch your flight at Terminal 2. Okay, then. Take Care of yourself and wish you All the Best. Good Bye and Bon Voyage! ---- Oh, wait a minute! I almost forgot. Here, take this --- this is for YOU, Ron. I am giving it to you not because of friendship, but, because I sincerely believe you deserve it. Please don’t open it right now, though – wait till you reach London. Bye again!” He felt his own voice slightly choked with emotion as he warmly embraced Ron. Then, he reached into his inner vest pocket and produced a small parcel, neatly packaged in pink paper, which he gently passed into Ron’s hands.
Ron was curious to know what the parcel contained. “Was he being used to smuggle something out of the country, like a precious diamond, secret weapon, contraband or something else? No, Emil won’t do such things. Or was he trying to defect to the West like some of his countrymen? ” he wondered. Whatever it was, he decided, he was not going to wait patiently all of two hours to London. So, no sooner had he boarded the aircraft and settled down in his seat than he was seen rushing towards the toilet taking the pink parcel along with him. Once inside the toilet, he hurriedly opened the package and to his utter astonishment found inside a tiny round, brightly shining, metallic piece staring him in the face. It was Emil’s 10,000 meters Olympic gold medal that he had won at Helsinki in 1952! For a minute, he was too stunned to react; it was then that Ron Clarke, the famous Australian long distance runner, known for his seventeen world records, slowly sat down on his toilet seat and wept like a small child. As long as he lived, Ron would tell everyone that the gold medal he had got from Emil that lucky day in Prague was his life’s most cherished possession.
