In 1991 at the World Track and Field Championships, the men’s
marathon was held in sweltering conditions, described as the worst ever
reported for championship marathon.
Steve Spence was able to handle it better than almost everyone –
thanks to his innovative training – earning himself a bronze medal.
Steve was ahead of his time in several ways.
He used high weight, low rep strength training and also bucked the
accepted marathon training model by putting his speed work first and
following it with high mileage and long runs.
Also, Steve was one of very few runners to coach himself onto the Olympic team.
Some of the things that Steve and I talked about included:
How Steve became his own coach and lessons you can learn from his experience with self-coachingThe training program that allowed Steve to race consistently well for months at a timeSteve’s unusual-for-the-time approach to marathon training and weight trainingHow Steve approaches to his own running since his retirement from elite competitionSteve’s coaching work at Shippensberg and his thoughts on the future of the sportThis was an amazing interview, especially for those of you who are
interested in how to add strength training to your running, looking for
innovative ways to train for the marathon, and who are trying to coach
themselves.Innovations in Weight Training and Speed Work When Training for the Marathon: An Interview With Steve Spence