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Copyright by Nicholas David Bourne 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Nicholas David Bourne Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: FAST SCIENCE: A HISTORY OF TRAINING THEORY AND METHODS FOR ELITE RUNNERS THROUGH 1975 Committee: Janice S. Todd, Supervisor Terence C. Todd Janet M. Davis B.C. Green Roger P. Farrar FAST SCIENCE: A HISTORY OF TRAINING THEORY AND METHODS FOR ELITE RUNNERS THROUGH 1975 by NICHOLAS DAVID BOURNE, P.T., M.Ed., M.Sc. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The University of Texas at Austin August, 2008 DEDICATION To my mother and father, Edna and Harry Bourne; To my sister, brother-in-law and nephew, Jackie, Alan and Matthew Langdon and To the rest of my friends and family who have encouraged me along the way Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank Dr. Jan Todd of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Without her initial suggestion, encouragement, guidance, support and friendship, this dissertation would never have been completed. Although it is a cliché, words do not do justice to my feelings of appreciation. I would also like to acknowledge my other committee members. Special thanks go to Dr. Terry Todd, former professor at the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin who helped bridge the gap between the world of academia and the practical training of athletes. To Dr. Christine Green of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas, to Dr. Janet M. Davis of the Department of History at The University of Texas, and to Dr. Roger Farrar of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas. I am grateful for your patience, willingness to be on my committee and for your insightful feedback. A special thank you goes to a dear friend, Dr. Kim Beckwith who not only led the way but also helped in a multitude of ways—I’ve lost count of how many dinners I owe you! Deepest gratitude is extended to coach and mentor Dan Pfaff who epitomizes the reasons why coaches take up such a noble profession. I am indebted to Vern Gambetta (former editor of Track Technique) and James Dunaway, frequent contributor to Track and Field News who provided valuable feedback on specific training and history related v questions throughout the course of this dissertation. I would also like to thank coaches Jeff “Mad Dog” Madden, Ed Nordenschild and Lance Hooton, who helped me “cut my teeth” as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Texas. Moreover, I would like to extend my gratitude to Mark Verstegen and the coaches and staff at Athletes’ Performance in Tempe, Arizona and Los Angeles, California who welcomed me into their fold and continue to offer the finest services available to enhance an athlete’s performance. I am grateful to the ever helpful but under-recognized staff at the PCL and Life Science libraries at the University of Texas at Austin who promptly delivered (even while in the UK) many of the materials necessary to write this dissertation. In particular, I would like to thank Nancy Elder, Head Librarian at the Life Science Library for her patience and help with the occasionally temperamental Endnote program. The ultimate dedication and acknowledgment goes to my immediate family— Edna and Harry Bourne, Jackie, Alan and Matthew Langdon for their love, encouragement and support. Whatever accomplishments I have achieved are ultimately down to them. vi FAST SCIENCE: A HISTORY OF TRAINING THEORY AND METHODS FOR ELITE RUNNERS THROUGH 1975 Publication No._____________ Nicholas David Bourne, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2008 Supervisor: Janice S. Todd This dissertation examines the history of the application of science to the training of elite runners through 1975. In particular, it details the changes that occurred in the ruling theories of training within the framework of what Thomas Kuhn, author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions refers to as a “paradigm shift.” The quest for the origins of training began in ancient Greece where the earliest written histories of athletics were recorded. There, according to the sophist Philostratus, a rudimentary form of periodization (a process of structuring training into phases) was born. Examination of eighteenth and the bulk of nineteenth century training practices revealed little difference in the training of horses, fighting cocks, greyhounds, pugilists (boxers), and runners. In the lead up to WWI, training could be classified as “light,” vii where athletes stayed competitive with very little training. Athletic training between WWI and WWII was characterized by the advent of “moderate” training loads and the introduction of innovative training methods—fartlek and interval training. Arthur Lydiard’s recommendations of preliminary marathon training for distance runners (800- 10,000 meters) in the late 1950s, along with the training of Emil Zátopek, Peter Snell, and Jim Ryun, epitomized a transition from moderate to “heavy” training loads that occurred between 1945 and 1975. Meanwhile, other eminent coaches such as Payton Jordan of Stanford University and William Bowerman of the University of Oregon offered balance to the heavy volume training approach by emphasizing quality over quantity. Following WWII, in the battle for world ideological supremacy, the Soviet Union utilized sport as a political tool to demonstrate the superiority of its communist system. Integral to achieving the best sporting results was the application of “cutting edge” sport science and the advent of modern-day periodization. The first detailed English-language overview of Professor Lev Pavlovich Matveyev’s groundbreaking theory of periodization by Frank Dick of Great Britain in 1975 caused a major shift in the paradigm of planning an athlete’s training—so much so, that by the turn of the twenty-first century, periodization formed the foundation of most modern coaching theory and practice and the basis of every serious athlete’s training. viii Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. xiii INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Literature Review...................................................................................7 Organizational Overview ..................................................................................27 CHAPTER ONE ATHLETIC TRAINING IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME AND THE BIRTH OF PERIODIZATION...........................................................36 Exercise and the Role of Medicine ......................................................42 The Development of Greek Athletics ..................................................48 Training for Athletics in Ancient Greece.............................................51 Nutrition, Massage and Manual Therapy.............................................58 The Training Program..........................................................................59 CHAPTER TWO OUT OF THE DARK—TOWARDS TOWARDS THE LIGHT: ATHLETIC TRAINING FROM THE DARK AGES TO WORLD WAR I....................71 American Involvement in Athletics (1700-1885) ...............................75 Origins of Organized Track and Field .................................................79 Early Nineteenth Century Training......................................................85 The Emergence of Scientific Training.................................................94 The Organization of Sport and Physical Activity (1885-1917)...........97 The Growth of Track and Field ...........................................................99 The Coaches and their Literature.......................................................101 The Athletes.......................................................................................114 The Science of Athletic Training (1885-1917)..................................118 ix CHAPTER THREE ATHLETIC TRAINING BETWEEN THE WARS (1917-1945): THE ADVENT OF MODERATE TRAINING LOADS AND INNOVATIVE TRAINING METHODS.............................................................................123 The Growth of Sport, Physical Education and Track and Field ........126 The Growth of Track and Field .........................................................128 The Growth of Physical Education....................................................131 The Coaches and Related Literature..................................................133 Clyde Littlefield.................................................................................136 Brutus Hamilton.................................................................................142 Dean Cromwell: Maker of Champions..............................................145 The Athletes (1917-1945)..................................................................153 Paavo Nurmi: The "Flying Finn".......................................................155 Glenn Cunningham: The "Iron Man" of Kansas................................160 Jesse Owens: An American Hero ......................................................165 Gunder "The Wonder" Hägg and Fartlek Training............................170 Rudolph Harbig and Interval Training ..............................................173 The Science of Athletic Training.......................................................177