emil zatopek
Emil Zatopek is the guy you see in my new header so I thought I’d take a moment to explain why he’s displayed there so prominently.
Zatopek was an unbelievable runner who achieved great great things. He was nicknamed The Locomotive because of his relentlessness, laboured form and (chug chug chug) heavy breathing but, even with those “deficiencies” he defied odds and accomplished the impossible.
Ever since I began running seriously (definition please!) I’ve been drawn to Zatopek and not solely because of his accomplishments. This was a guy who went against the grain. He had an inner voice that told him to train differently and work harder and THAT’S why he won – he had a winning attitude!
If you read my blog frequently, you know I believe in synchronicity. For some strange reason, there are synchronicities going on right now between Chris and I. Something’s in the air. The other day as Chris was buying a Batman hat, I was making him a Batman logo. Yesterday I was making my new Zatopek header and was surprised to see Chris talking about interval training. Guess what? Zatopek is widely regarded as the granddaddy of interval training. In fact, he was famous for pounding out ONE HUNDRED 400 meter intervals (in one session!) during his marathon preparations!
Zatopek ROCKED. No question about it.
Zatopek Quotes
“Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.”
“When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.”
“A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.”
“To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it.”
“What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.”
“There is a great advantage in training under unfavorable conditions. It is better to train under bad conditions, for the difference is then a tremendous relief in a race.”
“If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.”
Emil Zatopek describes his marathon win at the Helsinki Olympics,
“I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known.”
When asked about his tortured expression during races, Emil Zatopek said, “It is not gymnastics or ice skating you know.”
Emil Zatopek on Interval Training, “Everyone said, ‘Emil, you are a fool!’ But when I first won the European Championship, they said: ‘Emil, you are a genius!’”
“It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.”
“He does everything wrong but win.”
Larry Snyder, Ohio State track coach, about Emil Zatopek’s contorted style of running.
“Great is the victory, but the friendship is all the greater.”
Comment by Pamalamadingdong
Thursday February 10, 2005 @
That was VERY interesting.
And now that Police song is going through my head.