Origins, Pt.1--Walk the Talk of What You Believe

 In 1988 a friend (Greg Walters) gave me a sheet he had with a picture Of Cerutty and a brief outline of his teachings. I was instantly drawn to what it said and I began buying all the Cerutty's books I could.
I formed a running group called The Stotans and began running the trails in our area near Buffalo, N.Y.
We trained and raced on the Finger Lakes Trail system around the Ithaca, Virgil, Dryden area of N.Y.
 I then started The Stotan News, a Cerutty based newsletter.
 I eventually moved to the Atlantic coast of North Carolina to fully live the Stotan life.
Sound extreme? You mean packing up everything and just leaving with very  little  money? Yeah--it was extreme.
To me--Cerutty was more than just a coach, he was a teacher and a philosopher who knew what was truly important in life--- a healthy, vibrant, body and mind.
 PMA Books has recently published 3 of Percy's classic books--Middle Distance Running, Be Fit! Or Be Damned!, Athletics: How To Become A Champion) and they are available online at their site or on Amazon. It is so great that they have done this.
If anyone is interested, I have a Cerutty Facebook page called Stotans United, check it out.
My blog here, livingthestotanlife.com, is all Cerutty and Cerutty based content--it is unlike any running/fitness site  you will see.

Christmas Dinner at Grandma's in 2022

In this now 21st Century, healthy eating has morphed into food fanaticism and/or food snobbery.
This has become a popular post which I will continue to put up each year at this time.
Has anyone experienced something like the following at a family event? I have. Too often.
Nothing is more obnoxious than having your guests calling ahead to give you their food peculiarities and needs


Written by Grandma's daughter Daphne--
Christmas at Grandma's--2019
It has been a hard 5 years for Grandma since her husband of 55 years died. Before Grandpa passed on, it was a family tradition for everyone to get together for Christmas dinner at their home. It was a joyous time, kids opening presents, the wonderful smells of foods cooking and baking, a chance to get together with family and relatives we only saw but once a year.
So you can imagine the happiness I felt when Grandma announced that after 5 long years she wanted to resume the tradition of having Christmas dinner at her house.
My joy was short lived when my dear Grandma called with a somewhat panicked tone in her voice. She said that in the 2 weeks before Christmas she had received several calls, mostly from Grandsons and Grandaughters with special requests as to what they could eat. Grandma was confused, what did this all mean? So she wrote it down in the hope I could explain it to her.What follows is my Grandma's list--
Grandaughter Mary eats nothing that is white.
Grandson Ted, his wife and children are vegetarians.
Jenny and Lisa say they are raw fooders.
Granddaughters Jill, Edith, Marcy, Molly, Lucretia and Daisy are vegans.
Grandaughter Joan and her Mom and Dad are Gluten Free.
Grandson John and his Mom will eat only organic foods.
Granddaughter Hayley and her boyfriend say they are Lacto/Ovo vegetarians who will eat dairy and fish but absolutely no meat or poultry!
Grandson Phillip is a Lacto/Ovo vegetarian who will eat NO fish!
Grandson's Paul and "Junior" can not eat dairy because they are lactose intolerant.
And finally, there is Grandma's favorite Grandson, 'Little Brucie', well, 'Brucie' is all grown up now, all 6'2'' and 135 lbs of him, he told Grandma that he didn't eat anything "that casts a shadow".
After reading the list Grandma paused and asked---"What in the world can I cook?"

An Often Forgotten Aspect of Strength Training

There are many very basic differences in the training philosophies of Arthur Lydiard and Percy Cerutty.
One area in which they differ is in regards to weight training. Lydiard did not believe it was necessary,Cerutty thought weight,and more specifically, what he referred to as strength training, were essential if an athlete wished to reach his full potential.Strength training to Cerutty was more than lifting weights,it also included cross-country, mountain walking and running,swimming,as well as using a gym rope and horizontal bar.
I believe that strength training is a needed component to a runner's workout routine,especially if they are seeking competitive success. Percy wrote this in Athletics:How To Become a Champion: "The athlete who confines all his training to running around a track with occasional outings over the country must be limited in experience, variation,enjoyment and the development of strength(power) in comparison with the athlete who bases his training on regular visits to the weight-training venue,the gym,the coastal regions and hilly places,the sand hills,beaches,deserts and the high mountains. This all adds up to power--the mental and physical power that is behind fast running as we practice it.Power(strength) has always been behind fast running,although weak people prefer to dissect technique as if technique alone is all that is required to enable a weak man to run a mile in four minutes. Technique is an important factor but technique today is useless against the athlete who is supported by technique plus power(strength)."
Herb Elliott once said: "My golden rule was to train for mental toughness."
Something that is overlooked in strength training is the mental strength and confidence that comes from such training. Sure, you will become stronger and less likely to succumb to injury because of strength training,but, we must not ignore the important mental benefits that will be gained. There is something to be said about the way you feel when you are able to pick it up in the last part of a race knowing that no one else has done the kind of strength work you have done.

Cerutty On the Benefits of Hill Training

Do all of us recognize the many ways in which hill running can make us better runners? It is my belief that for the average runner,if they did nothing but running up hills that varied in length and steepness,as well as aerobic work, they would become fitter than if they just did track and aerobic training.
Cerutty mentions the sometimes forgotten benefit of running hills on a regular basis in the following excerpt.
Percy writes: "Flat-out hill running,on roads or grass, help more than any other type of training,as they teach the 'habit' part of our mentality to deliver full effort irrespective of pain and fatigue. The more it hurts,the harder we try to run. In time,one of two things will happen to us. We will have developed a 'retreat complex', which means we will avoid very painful efforts,irrespective of our will,or we will become one of the few who can do the super-normal on occasion, which means we have learnt to run through the pain barrier, that barrier that stops so many. We all know that little voice that says, 'postpone your effort to the next lap or mile...He will come back...It is not my day...next Saturday I'll do it.... Is it so important after all...? and many other equally disconcerting whisperings. We all know them. Only a few ever learn to dominate them. The sandhill and hill running are the answer if we are ever to learn."
The above brings a few things to mind.
First,that "little voice" that Percy mentions,who hasn't heard it and succumbed to it at one time or another? Remember how crappy and angry we felt after we did?
Also, what he says regarding hills goes nicely with what Elliott said about the spirit.
Something else, Cerutty used to teach that we should "thrust against pain" and that "pain is the purifier." There is no question that pain can be a purifier if you enter into the workout with that thought in mind and allow it to do so.
In closing, if you have been neglectful of hill work for whatever reason,now is the time to make it an integral part of your training.
For those whose fitness may not be where it should be,try incorporating an easy aerobic run over a hilly course for starters.

Some Words of Encouragement and Advice

The following are some things to read and consider with the hope that they will inspire you along the way. The author is unknown. As usual, I add my two cents after a few of the comments.
1."It is very easy to be ordinary but it takes courage to excel."
As they say,"nothing ventured,nothing gained." Who wants to live a life of familiarity and no risk?
2. "Knowledge makes for confidence."
Know that your training was right for you,know your racing distance,know your course,know your competition.
3."Persistent people succeed where others fail."
Persistence is what separates the also rans from the successful people. Some people,and they are in the minority,refuse to give up.
4."Most everyone has more talent than they will ever develop."
A nice companion to #3.People tend to underestimate what they can accomplish.
5."Accepting defeat can be habit forming."
Have we come to accept performances that early on in our racing career we wouldn't have?
6."An opponent may be faster than you on a particular day but they should never beat you in fighting spirit and determination."
7."The key to success is a continuing enthusiasm for the sport."
Don't allow the rigors of training and racing to negatively effect the love you have for distance running.

Contemplate This!

Perhaps some of you may recall a book published many years ago entitled,The Quotable Runner. What follows is a take-off  on that format called,The Quotable Stotan, which is geared towards those who live for the run. An effort was made to print quotes that were not familiar to most.
Here goes:

Marty Liquori from Real Running by Marty Liquori and John L. Parker Jr., "There are no secrets to running success,anyone who says there are is probably trying to sell you something."

How true! If more runners realized this then most of the running books and seminars published and held during the last 20 years would have made very little money.

Percy Cerutty from his book Middle Distance Running, "Suffering and dedication is the only way to understanding,compassion and courage."

Very profound. What the man says is true,but, only if the athlete is a thinker and open to the idea that what you gain from a workout is more than something purely physical.

Herb Elliott from,The Golden Mile, "The purifying quality of pain that has to be suffered is like that in confession. You walk away with a clear conscience."

In the same vein as what his coach said above,once again,the athlete must be.......

Yiannis Kouros from an interview by Trishul Cherns, "Each horrid event should equip you with the necessary provisions so that you can confront the next one; it shouldn't make you yield. The continuous confirmation is that despair and hopelessness supply you with the means--inconceivable at first, and make you discover hidden unexpected powers. Later, an unhoped for tranquility and sobriety should follow so that you may pursue your goals with precision."

Yiannis is a living example of the truth of those words.The key here is not to drive from your mind the details of disappointing performances once they're over. They can be stepping stones towards future success.

Ted Williams from,My Turn at Bat:The Story of My Life by Ted Williams, "Nobody in the history of the game hit more balls in practice,pleasure or dead earnest than I did."

Some may think it odd that I placed a quote from one of the greatest hitters ever in baseball, but, to attain success in any sport you must do more than most who say they desire success are willing to do.However, as you will read next,it is not all work and drudgery.

Ron Clarke from The Unforgiving Minute, "The number of miles I have run since I was a toddler would have taken me around the world several times and still I cannot define precisely my joy in running. There is no sacrifice in it."

As Cerutty once wrote, there are no sacrifices in the quest for success (refer to my prior post featuring Percy's essay--On Sacrifice.

Percy Cerutty from the essay, What It Takes to Be a Champion, "In the ultimate, if you are to succeed,you must believe in the worth-whileness of your goals,find the means to attain them,and do the essential work, make the personal effort."

There it is in a nutshell,the formula for achieving success.I find the key in this quote to be,"you must believe in the worth-whileness of your goals." Those who do believe will not give up easily.

Arthur Newton,ultra great wrote: "Many of the ordinary pleasures of life have to be banished for a long time while you are preparing for a peak achievement."

If you really desire success in sport, then you cannot always live like those who don't. This is an often ignored aspect.

Percy Cerutty, "Running as I teach it is not a sport or a physical activity so much as a complete expression of ourselves,physical,mental and spiritual."

In closing,something by Sri Chinmoy,something that we should never forget, "You can do infinitely more than you have already done."

Consider and contemplate the above--the wisdom comes from those who have achieved success, and you can to......IF--- you really want it!

Cerutty Stories

The following is an account of an incident that occurred while Percy Cerutty and Herb Elliott were touring California sometime before the 1960 Olympics. I am uncertain of the source of this excerpt but it possibly is from the first bio on Percy called Mr.Controversial written by Graem Kelly.

Cerutty was often blunt and tactless but he always told it like he perceived it.
This is a great story.
"Aside from softness,perhaps nothing annoyed Percy more than a coach who failed to practice what he preached. While in Los Angeles, soon after Elliott ran the fastest mile ever recorded on American soil,they both attended an instructional clinic on track and field at UCLA. All of America's leading coaches were there along with their athletes who went through prescribed paces and demonstrations while the coaches lectured to the audience of nearly 2,000. Puffing their cigars and cigarettes,the American coaches glibly ordered their athletes around taking about 15 minutes each on the microphone system. When it was finally Cerutty's turn to speak, he was told he had two minutes. He didn't need three. According to Elliott, his coach 'electrified the arena' as he called all the coaches a pack of pompous clowns who had no right teaching students in that fashion.

When he'd finished, the coaches were bristling with anger and embarrassment."
If only we had some more coaches like Cerutty around today,how interesting it would be.