If you’re interested in the science of endurance, then you can’t avoid bumping into the name “Michael Joyner” on a regular basis. Case in point: I’m currently writing about Nike’s sub-two-hour marathon quest; Joyner wrote an influential 1991 paper suggesting that such a run was physiologically possible.
He’s an anesthesiologist and physiologist at the Mayo Clinic (and a former collegiate distance runner at the University of Arizona), but those titles don’t really do justice to the breadth of his interests and his ability to draw connections across disciplines—as you’ll see in the guest post that follows.
I first heard about Joseph Campbell’s world-class 800-meter credentials in an email conversation with Mike a few years ago, and it has stuck with me ever since. Somehow, it’s no surprise that the archetypal structure of the “Hero’s Journey” was articulated by a runner. In a small way, stepping out the door for any ordinary run is a heroic microadventure. Racing—both the act itself and the lengthy process of preparation—is a deeper odyssey.
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It’s in that spirit that Mike recently suggested a “call to adventure” to mark the beginning of another year—a workout challenge culled from the annals of classic distance running.
You may not think 20 x 400 meters is right for you. That’s okay: In the Hero’s Journey, right after the Call to Adventure comes the Refusal of the Call (“The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly”). But then there’s the Meeting With the Mentor (“The hero comes across a seasoned traveler of the worlds who gives him or her training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey”).
That’s Mike. I hope you enjoy his take below:
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I participate in a lot of email exchanges that have something to do with the general topics of “how to get in better shape,” “I want to PR,” or “what secret workouts did you do back in the day (I am 58) when everyone ran fast?” The short answer is usually some combination of work out more, lose weight, and interval train. When I get more specific about interval training it usually includes doing some longer 3- to 5-minute intervals. This is an evidence-based recommendation designed to help people increase their VO2max towards its biological upper limit and improve their performance.
However, sometimes I digress and suggest that people might want to build up to something like 20 x 400 meters with a 200-meter jog, for reasons that are almost as much spiritual or philosophical as they are physiological. The topic came up a few weeks ago when I found a fascinating quote by the mythologist and philosopher Joseph Campbell, whose work The Hero With a Thousand Faces is perhaps best known as a template for the original Star Wars trilogy. Campbell was also an outstanding half-miler in the 1920s (i.e., an 800-meter runner, in today’s measurements), and in the Power of Myth interviews with Bill Moyers in the 1980s this exchange occurred:
“BILL MOYERS: How do you explain what the psychologist Maslow calls ‘peak experiences,’ and what your friend James Joyce called epiphanies. I love that word, epiphany.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Oh, well, they’re not quite the same, but…
BILL MOYERS: I know.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: The peak experience refers to actual moments of your life when you feel that this has told you something, something has come through in your experience of your relationship to the harmony of being. It can come… my peak experiences, I mean, the ones that I knew were peak experiences after I had them, all came in athletics.
BILL MOYERS: Which was the Everest of your experience.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Yeah, well…
BILL MOYERS: Which one was it, was it when you were running at Columbia?
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Yes, of course. And I ran a couple of races that were just beautiful, and the whole race, I knew I was going to win and there was no reason for me to know I was going to win, because I was touched off anchor in the relay with the first man 30 yards ahead of me, and I just knew, knew, it was a peak experience. Nobody could beat me today. That’s a kind of being in full form and really doing it. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything in my life as competently as I ran those two races. And those consequently were the experience of really being at my full and doing a perfect job. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like that, quite, that I really came up to anything quite that way.”
My point is that an interval workout like 20 x 400 meters can help you learn to find what Campbell is describing and learn to experience it more often. It is also the chance to essentially channel the great Emil Zatopek and other “heroes” who have frequently employed high volume 400s in their training. How is this possible?
First, you can learn to establish a rhythm with 20 x 400. Each fast repeat can be run at race pace or a little faster, and you can focus on your form, breathing, and learning to relax while at the same time managing your effort. The goal for each 400 is hard but under control. The 200-meter recovery jogs should entail the sensation of cruising or coasting with your foot off the gas pedal.
Second, you can “descend” the workout. After a brief warm-up of a mile or two, run the first five at a pace similar to your 10K race pace, the next five a little faster, 11-15 at about 5K pace, and then try to run each of the last five faster and faster but still under control. The “under control” part is a real skill. Follow the “no-bend-over” rule: if you have to stop and bend over before the 200 jog, you are not under control. Cool down with a mile of jogging and you have done about 10 miles.
By establishing a rhythm, relaxing, and descending the workout you can sometimes get into the state of hyper-focus and awareness that Campbell described to Bill Moyers. It does not happen every time, and many such workouts are simply hard. However, it will come—and when you learn to do it, will happen more often. This means that the so-called “zone” does not have to be a random experience, and my take is that getting there more often can be an acquired skill. Practice it in training and it can happen in races as well.
There are a few caveats before playing with this sort of training fire. Unless you are experienced, don’t jump right into 20 x 400. Start with 8-10 and add two per week. When you get to 20 x 400, do them every other week. Incorporate 400s into a 12- or 16-week training program for a marathon or half marathon if you are looking for a personal best time.
If you are doing a lot of indoor winter training, you can do your 400s on the treadmill. Treadmills can be great for this sort of training because you can precisely control the speed. Sometimes it is easier to do something like 90 seconds or two minutes of fast running alternating with one minute of jogging. You can use the same approach on a bike, and a similar classic interval session for swimmer is 20 x 100. The idea is the same, a calibrated effort over 45 minutes to an hour that requires self-control, relaxation, and focus.
Key elements of Campbell’s hero rubric include a call to adventure, a series of trials or experiences that expand or reveal hidden capabilities of the individual, and the harnessing of these powers for some higher purpose. Doing 20 x 400 is a call to adventure for 2017. It will provide you with a series of trials, and if you do 400s religiously you will discover and expand your hidden capabilities. The powers emanating from your 400s will probably not destroy any external Evil Empire, but it is one systematic way to take on your internal Evil Empire of self-doubt and self-imposed limitations and find the zone more often in 2017.
Michael Joyner is an expert in human performance at the Mayo Clinic; these views are his own. You can follow him on Twitter at @DrMJoyner.
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