Marita Koch training

She had some decently high volume workouts too IIRC (might be confusing her with Kratchikova) but I remember something like 10x300m in 45

lots of plyometrics. i recall hearing they wouldn't even start running on a track until the athletes could do amazing plyometric movements.

http://www.amazon.com/Track-Field-East-German-Textbook/dp/0920905382

Charlie
Posts : 1942
Administrator Forum Moderator 5/8/2002 : 10:11:36 PM
Re Marita Koch
Marita ran her special endurance at race pace in an ascending order of distances and a descending number of reps (I don't have the time over which the sequence was carried out) She had timing lights set up every 5 meters set at the planned ultimate race pace and she followed the lights during all of her runs. The runs started with a significant number of 50 meter runs and culminated with one run over 325 meters. When she successfully completed this distance she was considered ready for the 400 race. She raced at the 400 meter distance no more than 2 or 3 times a year. She, of course, ran sprint distances at well above any conceivable race pace (Official PBs of 10.83 and 21.71) I was told by her coach/husband, Wolfgang Meyer, that she ran an unofficial,but electronically timed 21.56 just before the world record of 47.60 that she set in Canberra in 1985. I was there and it was a sight to behold! The key for her was her incredible speed reserve. Her 200m split in Canberra was 22.4h with 33.9 at 300m. As her hand timed 200PB would be 21.3, this left her with a speed reserve of 1.1 seconds. In other words,even though she went out far faster than anyone else,she still had a bigger differential, meaning the split was easier for her than for any of the others!

Since I've been putting a lot of research into JKrat, I might as well look into Koch as well, as the 2 of them inspired each other to these ludicrous times. As we all know, her 1st 400m WR was set at 49.19 on July '78 and the final WR was set at 47.6 on Oct '85. That's surprising longevity for someone who's supposed to be to the gills.

I'm interested in JK's and MK's training because they're both the same height as I am. Very long ago 18 year old me who only ran a 54.x in HS, with significantly more natural testosterone as a male, would've loved to have eventually gotten to 47.x.

This has been posted elsewhere on this site, but putting this here (interview with Koch):

Interesting stuff. Never knew about that 21.56.

I also never knew that GDR sprinters moved from short to long, with an emphasis on plyometrics and strength. That is very similar to what many many high school runners do these days.

Does anyone have any knowledge or sources on the history of sprint training and how it has evolved? People in the 70s-90s did far more rounds than people do nowadays, so why did collegiate/pro/high level training change from short to long to long to short?

Both Koch and Kratch did extensive tire pulls. Nothing that anyone else isn't doing, but it's interesting nonetheless, and I wonder to what extent.

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Anniversary: 400 m world record holder Marita Koch turns 50

Rostock/dpa. - On February 18th, the 16-time world record holder will celebrate her 50th birthday with around 60 friends and relatives. She has stored all the trophies in her basement at home. «It's all well sorted. A few years ago I even exchanged the crumpled shoe boxes for three beautiful, colorful cardboard boxes," notes the 1980 Olympic champion in Moscow with her mischievous smile and adds modestly: "I don't have to look at it all the time. The memories are much more important to me."

The Wismar native can clearly remember her world record run over 400 meters. «I went to Australia with high expectations and had prepared specifically for this meeting. Then on the day of the competition I felt sick. I had built up fear of myself. Because I knew I would probably never be that good again."

Koch's fabulous time is repeatedly linked to doping, although no wrongdoing was ever proven during controls. “I did not knowingly dope or take anything that was on the doping list at the time. But I looked at a current doping list in 2000 and there were vitamins on it, for example. I can’t rule out the possibility that we did that in the meantime,” says Koch. Heidelberg doping hunter Professor Werner Franke can only shake his head at this statement. “Vitamins were and are not on the doping list,” says Franke.

Koch attributes her achievements to the training methods. «My husband Wolfgang and I always saw the 400 meters as a sprint distance. That's how we structured the training," says the three-time World Athlete of the Year, who had to drag a Trabant car tire behind her during every exercise for six weeks of training. “That kicked up a lot of dust on the cinder track. Handball players and football players called us crazy back then.”

Koch doesn't believe that her world record will last forever. “Everyone is due at some point,” she says. But she doesn't currently see a legitimate successor from her own country. “In general, things aren’t looking good in sprinting in Germany,” emphasizes Koch, who, however, has a lot of confidence in the American Sanya Richards: “She is determined to break my record. She told me that herself." Richards' best time is currently 48.70 seconds. That's 1.1 seconds left until the world record - an eternity over 400 meters.

After reunification, Koch and her husband Wolfgang Meier opened a sports shop in downtown Rostock. Since 2000, both have also been running a fashion store in the Hanseatic city. “Today you have to row twice as much to move half as fast,” says businesswoman Koch, whose daughter Ulrike turns 18 three days before her mother’s anniversary.

Marita Koch does not have any specific wishes for her birthday, which she is celebrating near Rostock: “A nice trip to New Zealand or Australia would be great. In 1985 we didn't get that much from Australia. There is certainly a lot to discover besides the career in Canberra.”

Strange that French sprint great Pérec picked Koch's husband and coach, Wolfgang Meier to be her coach after John Smith in 2000, although that didn't help at all.

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Marie-José Pérec apparently didn't worry about the lack of competition practice. After all, they have a preliminary and intermediate run in Sydney as well as a semi-final before the final, Pérec explained in an interview in Rostock a good two months ago. She has been training there since January under her new coach Wolfgang Meier after she left the successful US coach John Smith. "Smith had too many athletes and I needed intensive care after my problems," explained Marie-José Pérec. The choice of coach is considered quite delicate, as Wolfgang Meier is the husband and former coach of Marita Koch, who has held the 400 m world record with 47.60 seconds since 1985. However, it was later revealed in the book "Doping Documents" that Marita Koch had doped, which she still denies.

After her victory in Atanta, the Frenchwoman stated that her time of 48.25 seconds was a "drug-free world record". “The 47.60 seconds don’t count for me,” said Pérec. But her opinion changed after she started training with Wolfgang Meier. "Today I believe that it is very possible to run 47.60 seconds without doping," explained Marie-José Pérec. "Of course there were reservations about going to Rostock. You also think about doping in the former GDR. But I had to put all that aside because I knew that Meier could help me. He does hard training and I needed that." , explained Pérec. In order not to be suspected of doping herself, she voluntarily gave a blood sample in Paris about every three months.

Interesting discussions on CF's site/forum:

L’Equipe arranged a meeting between Pérec and Koch in Paris after Barcelona’92 games (Pérec won in 48.83). Some quotes from Koch about her training :

About how she started sports :
Marita Koch is not a pure product of DDR system. She went to Weimar club at age 11 because her best friend did athletics. “But i only went in spring and summer, no way to run with bad weather!”. No way either to run in the prestigious Rostock club “I was so small that at age 13 i was still not matching the norms of 11 years old childs.” “In Rostock, they fired me saying that i was too often injured. Actually i wasn’t good enough”. At age 15, after a growth crisis, she decided to follow regular training, on PM, after school. 2 to 3 hours workouts 5 days a week, nothing too serious according to Koch, while Pérec explains that the amount of work she had in 1991, the year she won her first World title in 49.13. Koch : “So, you stil have a big margin progression!”.

About Wolfgang Meier’s training “That’s the regimen i needed. If i had more liberties, i wouldn’t have trained like this. From 200m, all the races hurt! After 2 reps, i would have say : ok that’s enough for today.”

Marie-José coughs when she heards the workouts Marita did one month prior her last WR : “I remember very well : stuff like 6 x 300m in 36sec, with 10min rest. My goal was 48sec at 400m, thus i was training at this pace (PJ : 36sec at 300m and 48sec at 400m are both 8,33m/s average speed). I was in super shape, and one day i even did them in 34sec ! This, i would have never been able to do before.”

Marita goes on saying that Pérec needs opponents to break the WR, at her time she had Kratochvilova, WR holder at that time with 47.99 and Vladykina, runner-up to Koch in Canberra with 48.27 and runner-up to Pérec in Barcelona).

She also says that you need luck. 1985 was a strange year, with no major competition but the World Cup in October, an unique occasion in a carrier. She was already in shape in July-August, shown by a 200m in 21.78 into the wind. “I had a lot of time ahead, so i could train a lot more, more than i ever did. Of course, it required a lot of efforts. Not only physical : you soon get bored to feel in great shape and not enter competitions. But the result proves that it’s worth it…”.

However, Marita is surprised to hear about 500m at training (PJ : Pérec used to do it). Wolfgang, with the help of a quick picture on paper, explains his theory. According to him, all the 400m run between 51sec and 47sec all show about the same speed curve : progressive acceleration until 150-200m, then progressive deceleration, which is, proportionnaly, is always identical. “The first part of the race determines the final performance. One have to pass at the half way as fast as possible, still keeping a small margin. If your PB is 22.20 at 200m (PJ : Pérec’s pb in 92) you have to pass at half way in 23sec. And finish in 48.83 is normal. In order to break the WR, you have to improve speed. The day you will be worth 21.71 like Marita, you will be able to break her WR.”

Marita about the 47.60 : “when i received the intermediate time, i couldn’y believe it. I told to myself : it can’t be me!”.

In 1993, Pérec would focus on 200m (21.99 PB), then went to John Smith the following season until 1999 and surprisingly established herslef in February 2000 in Rostock…

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PJ: I confirm they did not saw the point of doing more than the competition distance, Grit Breuer (400m World Junior Record holder) told me the same, even for tempo she did 300m or 400m, never longer. However, i know that they had continuous runs, up to 10km for Schönlebe (400m European Record holder), up to 4km for Göhr (short sprint specialist), i don’t know for Koch, i saw Breuer doing these runs but i wasn’t interested to know how long she was doing them.
Note that Marita Koch did a 800m in 1977 in 2:16, quoted in a Track & Field News article the same year. I don’t know if she had other time trials like this later in her career. In 1977 she was already running 22.38/49.53.

Marita might have doped, but she was also ridiculously talented.

Sprintfan wrote:

Marita might have doped, but she was also ridiculously talented.

No doubt about it. The level of talent required to run 47.60, even with drugs, is staggering.

Charlie - Administrator Forum Moderator 5/9/2002 : 9:59:49 AM

Re Koch
I know she had at least two tempo phases of training. I believe they were separate periods though I don't know how long they lasted. During this phase, she would do runs like 10x400 meters in 65 to 70 seconds with a short break (though I don't know how long) Interestingly, her tempo fell within the same rate as ours did- 75% of best time or slower. I wonder if anyone can get hold of Wolfgang Meyer [sic] to ask him for more details. I heard that Marita and Wolfgang had opened a sporting goods store in Germany a few years ago.

runfrancisco wrote:

Charlie
Posts : 1942
Administrator Forum Moderator 5/8/2002 : 10:11:36 PM
Re Marita Koch
Marita ran her special endurance at race pace in an ascending order of distances and a descending number of reps (I don't have the time over which the sequence was carried out) She had timing lights set up every 5 meters set at the planned ultimate race pace and she followed the lights during all of her runs. The runs started with a significant number of 50 meter runs and culminated with one run over 325 meters. When she successfully completed this distance she was considered ready for the 400 race.

Thank you for posting Marita Koch's training.

That progression is quite interesting.
Also interesting is that both her and Jarmila Kratochvilova ran volumes of 50 and 60 meter sprints.

Currently, Karsten Warholm is doing the same thing with his training.

dunes runner wrote:

runfrancisco wrote:

Charlie
Posts : 1942
Administrator Forum Moderator 5/8/2002 : 10:11:36 PM
Re Marita Koch
Marita ran her special endurance at race pace in an ascending order of distances and a descending number of reps (I don't have the time over which the sequence was carried out) She had timing lights set up every 5 meters set at the planned ultimate race pace and she followed the lights during all of her runs. The runs started with a significant number of 50 meter runs and culminated with one run over 325 meters. When she successfully completed this distance she was considered ready for the 400 race.

Thank you for posting Marita Koch's training.

That progression is quite interesting.
Also interesting is that both her and Jarmila Kratochvilova ran volumes of 50 and 60 meter sprints.

Currently, Karsten Warholm is doing the same thing with his training.

I can't imagine he invented it but Pietro Mennea was well known for doing similar workouts.