Robert de Castella

All the below information about the training of Robert de Castella was taken from the book ' de castella on Running', with Gaylene Clews, by Currey O'Neil, unless otherwise stated

Profile

- Date of birth: Febuary 27^th, 1957, Australia
- World record holder for the marathon with a time of 2:08:18
- 1983 World championship gold medal for the marathon
- 1982 and 1986 Commonwealth Games gold medal for the marathon

The seeds of Castella's success were no doubt laid by his coach from the age of 14, Pat Clohessy. Clohessy successfully motivated Deeks and kept him away from any serious injuries for years on end, a key component to building enough strength to become a champion. Clohessy used a 'soft soft' approach to training and always aimed towards long term development and goals.

Mental aspect

Instilled in Deeks was a mental toughness rivaled by very few runners. Deek's mental toughness and commitment to training combined with his ability to relax and concentrate on his goals and challenges allowed him to utilise his natural ability

Sub threshold training

Deeks has stated that perhaps his greatest strength is his ability to under-train. Under-training allowed Deeks to stay in the sport and it kept him injury free in order for him to slowly build strength and fulfill his potential. Deeks therefore undertook a lot of slow, relaxed running as well as long relaxed runs over tough hilly courses. He used such easy running to slowly condition himself and to aid the recovery process between his harder training days.

The complex training program

Pat Clohessy's complex training program is unique in that it involves the same weekly format all year round. However, during certain times of the year the emphasis of Deek's training did differ in the sense that during the off season he would concentrate on endurance and strength building, whilst before races he would lighten the workload and work harder at the speed component of the program in order to allow himself to sharpen up for races. Deeks also took his relaxation very seriously, making sure that he slept adequately and kept a degree of life balance so that his life was not all about running

Training sessions

A typical week in the training of Deeks is outlined below. This information was taken from 'Running with the legends', by Michael Sandrock

Monday:

• AM: 10 miles at recovery pace
• PM: 6 miles at recovery pace

Tuesday:

• AM: Hill session. 2-3 mile tempo run, followed by 8 hill re-peat's
• PM: Hilly 30 minute fartlek run

Wednesday:

• AM: 18miles
• PM: 6miles

Thursday:

• AM: Track session, such as 8 by 400m with 200m jog recovery, or 16 by 200m with 200m jog recovery
• PM: Easy run

Friday:

• Recovery day, same as Monday

Saturday:

• AM: Race or tempo run
• PM: 6 miles at easy pace

Sunday:

• Long and hilly 22 mile run