One of my favorite running books is aptly titled “Running.” It was written by legendary ultrarunner Arthur Newton back in 1935, and it’s full of excellent advice that holds true even today. Newton started running seriously in his late 30’s, and routinely ran 500-700 miles or more per month. On a few occasions he ran over 1000 miles in a month, and during his career he set records at multiple ultra-length distances. He was also an experimenter and had a way with words that makes reading his book a joy – it feels like you’re chatting with a running partner over a beer. And despite the book being almost 80 years old, his advice for the most part holds up very well (he even devotes an entire chapter to the topic of why runners shouldn’t smoke!).

Arthur Newton; Image is from his book titled “Running” (1935)

A lot of the advice that coaches and experienced runners give out now has been part of running lore for a long time. In order to present a historical viewpoint on the topic, I thought I’d follow up on Caleb’s post with a few passages on pacing from Arthur Newton’s book:

“There is one rule that I have strictly adhered to for many years. I have not seen it advocated before, but my experience proves it to be thoroughly sound – never race until you must; always practise at an average of some 20 per cent or 25 per cent. below the speed you actually can travel if put to it. It may take longer and be more laborious to train thus, though I doubt it, but it is infinitely safer…”

“…I do not believe in trying to race during practice. Racing is abnormal; no wild animals ever seriously indulge until they are forced to by fright, yet they are faster than tame beasts. There are other reasons too. Running will, as you know, strengthen and develop your heart, lungs, legs, back, mind and other odds and ends. If you try to force development there will be strikes or rumours of strikes all around, and consequently, to use a very mild term for it, discomfort.”

Regarding his own approach to pacing in ultramarathon training (I love his concept of what constitutes a “jaunt”!):

“For practice jaunts of from thirty to fifty miles I rarely averaged as much as seven miles an hour, not including stops for meals or refreshments; for twenty to thirty milers about 6 3/4 to 7 1/4; from ten to twenty, something in the region of 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 m.p.h. Of course, I knew from experience that I could go faster but had learnt decisively that it would be a mistake. When it came to the fifty-two mile race I averaged eight and nine-tenths miles per hour and arrived at the finish quite reasonably fit – pretty sound proof of the value of these methods of training…”

“If a man on the wrong side of forty can manage this little lot without any ill effects, don’t you think a younger fellow – yourself for instance – could do better if he stuck to similar principles? There can be no doubt about it. So once more I will emphasise – all your practice should be done at a speed considerably below your racing ability. I am convinced that you will do less well if you fail to observe this.”

If I apply Newton’s advice to my own training, it turns out to be quite accurate. My 5K race pace is just above 6:00/mile, and 25% slower than that would be about 7:30/mile. If you plug my most recent 5K time into the Daniels Running Calculator, it predicts an easy pace range of 7:49-8:18/mile, which is probably the pace range for most of the miles that I run these days.

It wasn’t always like that – in my first few years of running I would frequently try to run my usual 5-mile route faster than the previous time I had run it each time out. I ran way too many miles at a near all-out effort for that distance. Nowadays I run my hard workouts hard (I might get down to sub-6:00 pace during repetitions), and my easy workouts easy. For easy workouts and long runs my average pace is typically in the range of 7:30-8:30/mile (varies depending on how I feel on a given day), and my first mile is typically a warmup and is often closer to 9:00. I’ll even still take walk breaks on runs if I feel it’s needed due to heat or if I’m having a particularly rough day – interestingly, Arthur Newton would typically log 150-300 miles walking each month in addition to his ridiculous running tallies.

So the point here is that advice to approach pacing wisely in your training has a lot of collective history among coaches and runners to back it up. It’s ok to run fast in training, but don’t make every training run a race. Mix things up, you’ll be better for it.

If you are interested in the story of the chase for the 4:00 mile, I highly recommend reading “The Perfect Mile” by Neal Bascomb. Interestingly enough, Bannister’s record breaking mile may not have even been his most exciting race – you can read about and see video of his 1954 Empire Games race against John Landy here.

In the article, Williams discusses footwear design in general, pointing out that “the demand for thick-soled boots by occasional pedestrians is due to a tenderness or weakness of the foot induced by habitual sedentary life and swaddling of the foot.”

He discusses running shoe design in particular, pointing out that contrary to pedestrian shoes, running shoes of the time have “no raised heels, are as light, soft, and thin as possible in affording the requires protection and grip. The foot is nearly free as if bared.”

He discusses running for general health, pointing out that “I profoundly regret that I did not make this discovery thirty years earlier. Had I done so my present girth would be very different.” He feels that “all civilised European nations are going wrong in their habits of locomotion. We walk too much and run too little.” He advocates covering long distances via a mix of trotting and walking.

He even discusses his “small invention” of elasticized laces for shoes, and rants on the “ridiculous high heels” worn by fashionable women of his time (to no great benefit as evidenced by their popularity to this day nearly 130 years later).

You can read the full article below – I enjoy finding stuff like this that reminds me that many of the discussions and debates we have today are far from new.

In the second chapter of his book, Cavanagh describes footwear history, as well as the history of running shoe up to 1980. One of the most interesting bits in the chapter is a description and photo of what Cavanagh believes to be the first specialized running shoes ever made. Here’s what he writes about it:

“One of the most exciting finds during my own search of museums was made in Northampton – the center of the British shoemaking industry from early times.

Beautifully made, and extremely well preserved, the shoe in Figure 2.7 was displayed in a glass case, labeled “Running Shoe – possibly belonged to Lord Spencer c. 1865.” It is likely that this shoe represents the earliest spiked running shoe made on a production basis.

——-

The Spencer shoe bears a definite relationship to early cricket shoes. The low cut design is of all leather construction but is nevertheless extremely light at 280 grams. There are three spikes under the forefoot and one under the heel, suggesting that the shoe was used as a distance running or cross-country shoe. It incorporates a broad toe band, which is a separate piece of leather, sewn into the welt of the shoe to add lateral stability.

My own view of the Spencer shoe is that it pinpoints the first branch in the evolution of running shoes. From 1865 on, specialized shoes for running turn away from street shoes to form their own line of evolution.”

What did the shoe look like? Below is the photo that Cavanagh includes in his book – looks like Bill Bowerman can’t be blamed for inventing the heeled running shoe after all!