The Ultimate Training Partner & Foe!

By Coach "GP" Pearlberg, Coach, Masters Athlete, RunningBuzz.com Founder
As featured in the March 2008 Newsletter

An excerpt from Run Tall, Run Easy, The Ultimate Guide to Better Running Mechanics (Second Edition)
Reprinted with permission of the Author, Coach "GP" Pearlberg.

Run Tall, Run EasyWhat I am about to tell you is self-discovered. Never have I read it, been taught it, or had it recommended to me. In the early years of my adult running career, after 1990, I found myself to be motivated on a long-term basis as many of you are. However, motivation is a psychological response to a given goal. For example, in 1993 I raced the Honolulu Marathon. In early January that year, on that typical cold winter's evening, would I be motivated enough to get out and do that recovery run when I still have months and months before my marathon?

As daunting as the marathon distance is, would it be intimidating enough to force me out the door several months ahead of time in the freezing rain, or could I take the mañana approach? What is one missed session? It can wait until tomorrow, right?

Perhaps one missed session is not that big a deal. Perhaps it is. One thing is for sure: it is rarely one missed session. Once a precedent has been set, typically the trend remains and it is a dangerous trend. I came up with a different plan. I needed not just motivation but a physiological stimulus. I needed to be inspired on a minute-by-minute, moment-by-moment, training-session-by-training-session basis.

As a professional coach, I demand that my athletes train in the fashion of an Olympian and practice the same disciplined principles that the very best at their respective crafts do each and every day -- train hard and train smart and work toward becoming faster than they were the day before.

One day many years ago, I was thinking long and hard about becoming better, about becoming stronger, fitter, and faster. I was in marathon mode at the time, and one day I was thinking of the marathon world record set several years before by Ethiopian Belayneh Dinsamo in Rotterdam, Holland. I was thinking about the courage, determination, and hard work that had to gel for this amazing accomplishment to materialize. I was certain that Belayneh, in preparation for his world record race back in 1988, would not have skipped a workout because of inclement conditions. It was now the winter of 1992-1993, and bringing my mind to the present time, I wondered where Belayneh was now. Was he still running? I thought of who were his latest challengers and the type of training that they must be doing to break Belayneh's world record. And so it hit me -- it is often said that the best things in life are free and that the best-laid plans are the simple ones. I was about to come up with the simplest of plans, one that would stand the test of time.

Each and every day, I would work toward the world record time in the event that I was training for. In early 1996, Belayneh's marathon world record still stood at 2:06:50, and my current marathon best at the time was 3:28.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not implying that I would break the world record, not at all. But what I am talking about is the aforementioned inspiration to train as smart and as hard as I could each and every day, even if it was months ahead of my goal race. Coming up with the idea that the world record holder would be somewhere on this planet training hard would provide the impetus and inspiration that would get me out that door every morning, afternoon, or night. He would become my friend, training partner, and foe. It was his world record that I was looking to close upon, and yet it was his determined methods of training that would inspire me.

Remember, it is not just about the motivation; it is about the moment by- moment, day-by-day inspiration to get you through the harsh days of winter and the dog days of summer. The moment that I came up with this completely reliable training partner, never again would I need prodding to hit the street, track, or trail on any given day.

Depending on the event that I was training for at a specific time, I would know the current world record in that event. I also knew that as time progressed the record would likely be broken only in increments from tenths of a second in the case of a middle-distance event to perhaps a minute or so in an event such as a marathon. I knew that if I worked smart and worked hard, I could close the gap by significant amounts in races ranging from the 800 to the marathon.

Each day or night that I went out and trained, I imagined the world's best at the event training hard in far-off exotic places, on long, lonely roads and trails, on the highlands and lowlands, and of course on the track. This would set my blood racing through my veins and arteries and sometimes would make the hair on my neck stand up in excitement and anticipation. I would imagine that they knew I was there in the far-off distance, seconds, minutes, and hours behind them in specific events but every bit as determined and professional as they were at their craft and closing in on them like a runaway freight train!

Beyond The Horizon

During the years when I was continuing to become faster -- in my case up until 1998 -- this plan was bulletproof. During an eight-year span from 1990 to 1998, I closed to within approximately 35 seconds of the world record in the mile and to within less than 30 minutes in the marathon, a far cry in both events from where I began.

That is all well and good. But what about now, as I move toward my mid-40s and am no longer as fast as I was then? Now that I can no longer close in on the world record in any event, what to do now as a masters runner? Now that I am beyond the horizon, so to speak, as far as my fastest days go, or perhaps on the dark side of the moon, I still train as hard and as disciplined and smarter than ever, and I still use the same concept for daily inspiration as I did in previous years -- with one difference.

Instead of trying to bring myself closer to the various records that I just discussed, which I cannot do, I continue each year to try to retard the slowing-down process. In other words, I try to remain as close to the current world record in the event that I am training for as I possibly can. That fact alone leaves me heading out the door every day with the crazy notion that the world record holder is still out there in some far- off exotic place, knowing that I am no longer coming at him like a freight train but still working harder and smarter than ever to prevent him from increasing the distance between us. Crazy maybe? But take it to the bank. This strategy is effective.

About the Author

COACH GERARD "GP" PEARLBERG, aka Coach GP, hails from England and has been an avid athlete for 36 of his 44 years. An international rugby player for many years, GP took up distance running in April 1990. He ran his first marathon at New York that year after being challenged by his sister Nicole. After that initial 4:41 at New York, GP was determined to find out why the marathon had been such a challenge.

From that day forward, he was committed to uncovering the secrets to moving the human body through space with as much efficiency, economy, and speed as possible. Over the next 17 years, GP completed 23 marathons, including a 2:34:00 in the 1998 Napa Valley Marathon and a 4:21 mile at the Capital Mile in Sacramento at age 35. His professional coaching career was born. GP is considered one of the top authorities on running biomechanics, and he is the full-time coach to several world-class runners including Florida's two time Olympic marathoner, Ronnie Holassie. GP also coaches age-group runners around the world via www.runningbuzz.com

Coach GP is a top masters track runner achieving the Master's All American Standard multiple times for both the 1500-meter and mile distances in addition to winning five indoor and outdoor NJ Master's State titles.

GP is the author of Run Tall, Run Easy: The Ultimate Guide to Better Running Mechanics. He has also just released his first DVD entitled "Training & Racing in Pursuit of Success, Not Fear of Failure"

A member of Team Mizuno, Coach GP co-founded the Iron Maidens all-women's running club in California and co-founded the running and triathlon camp of Mark Allen, six-time Hawaii Ironman champion. GP does TV and radio commentary, and he is a frequent guest at races across North America. Coach GP is one of the featured speakers in the Marathon & Beyond Speakers Bureau, joining a distinguished panel that includes legendary American distance runners Dick Beardsley and Patti Catalano Dillon. Coach GP brings his own brand of energy, humor, and high degree of motivation to his speaking engagements, along with straightforward facts that runners can put into use immediately.

You can contact him here