Runnerslife
Meet The Guest
Phill Sly
Phill Sly is a very successful business man who fits in his training in between his highly demanding job and travel around the world... running is defiantly second best in his life. Long hours, very little sleep but still managing to claim a 2hour 15minute Marathon time to his name.
The following interview will hopefully shed some light into how you can run fast and fit around a high powered job and whether you actually need to be a full time athlete. He has raced all over the world and is known for his excellent pace judgment, he paced British International athlete Peter Riley on his first marathon at London to over half way at the exact mile splits that were asked of him.
Personal Bests
10 Mile: 49.33
Half Marathon: 64.39 (GNR, 2003) - 64.10 (en route, Beijing marathon 2001)
Marathon: 2.15.18 (Hamburg, 2003)
Questions
Q. Can you give a typical week in full training and race week?
Typical of recent years when fit: (in minutes)
M: 60 am / 60 pm
T: 60 am / 90 pm progressive
W: 90-105 steady
T: 60 am / session of some kind - hills etc
F: 60 v easy
S: 90 am progressive / 45 pm
S: 120 am
Q. Race week?
A. Depends on where I am at in the phase, although if it's a target race I will do a time-trial of some kind on Tuesday, reduce Wednesday / Thursday runs and then jog, plus strides on the remaining days. If I back off too much, I feel a little stale.
Training
Q. What have you learned with all your experience?
A. There was a time when I did a lot of my so-called easy runs at a solid, progressive pace. What I learned was that I couldn't train really hard on hard days and hard on easy days as injuries would creep up. So the best thing I did was learn how to jog.
Q. So easy runs are quite important then?
A. I think they are immensely important in regenerating your body and building condition and strength. No such thing as junk mileage. A key aspect is maintaining good form and using the slow pace to work on efficiency.
Q. How fast do you do your steady running?
A. I do them very often, 4.40 - 5.30 mile pace. I don't really stress about just how fast they are, but adjust to make sure that they are efficient and not too hard. I think these days I am simply too lazy/ distracted to get out and do lots of repetition type sessions, so this kind of running is compact and achievable straight from the desk.
Q. Do you have company for your steady runs?
A. Where possible yes. Much prefer to run with people - especially those that I can have a good banter with.
Q. How many times will you do interval training per week?
A. This happens in fits and spurts. There have been times when I was doing 2-3 interval sessions a week. These days I would be lucky to do them once every couple of weeks. During my best periods of fitness, I think twice per week was adequate.
Q. Examples of important/key sessions?
A. All my interval sessions have rolling recoveries, I never stop and walk as you don't do that in races. Almost all are speed endurance focussed. At my best, sessions that I would do are:
5k warm up, 8x800 (2.14-16) with 200 recovery (43-5sec), 5k cool down
5k warm up, 5x1200 (3.10-15) with 400 recovery (1-45-2min), 3k run, 5 x 200m quick/ relaxed with 200 recovery easy, 3k cool down
Q. On own or in a group?
A. You would think that living in London would mean that you can always run with people, but it isn't the case. I do a lot of running on my own out of circumstance (timing, pace, etc).
Q. Hardest session?
A. The hardest session I used to do was a 20 miler on Tuesday at 7 AM with the first 10 mile in around 65 minutes along a rolling, undulating river trail in Melbourne. We'd turn around and blast it back at marathon pace or quicker for around 9 mile+ then jog the remainder. Best ever split was 30.30 through 10k before ascending up to the finish. I would be shattered for the rest of the day. It was such a great mental preparation for a marathon. I'd do that each week in the context of a 150 mile week. My hardest session these days would be long tempo runs - up to 90 minutes. They're tough.
Q. Did you change surface dependant on time of year?
A. Generally mixed between road, trails and grass. I really don't enjoy the mud, so won't go looking for it. My stance is that you need to condition yourself to road if you are to race on it, so will mix it up with tempo runs etc on the road. Heavy mileage weeks are on as much softer ground as possible. Nothing too specific throughout the year, only getting on the track every now and then when the weather's warmer.
Mileage
The more the better in my book - balanced against quality and frequency. Much better to run 90 minutes once per day, than to run 2 x 45 minutes. I'm from the old-school system where you just get out and run and don't be afraid of the distances. Mileage doesn't get you injured; it's usually the other things like doing speed work before you are strong enough or having a mishap on the terrain (rocks etc). I think to consider yourself a full-time athlete or at worst very serious about it, it is impossible to do less than 100 miles per week.
Q. What sort of mileage are you doing in training phases?
A. Rarely do I count mileage unless someone specifically asks. I think of it more in terms of key sessions/ runs and then all the running around it is for support. However, when I am going well my mileage is consistently between 120 and 160 miles per week. Biggest I get to is 170 for about 3 weeks at altitude - done that a few times in the past.
Q. What was your longest run of the week?
A. Up to 2.30-45 leading into a marathon (Basically a marathon, but do go as far as 28 miles)
Q. Did you run big mileage when racing?
A. All relative, but yes mileage doesn't drop that much throughout the year.
Cross country
Highly important for marathoners - builds strength, speed but most importantly it prepares your head. I enjoy it when I am fit enough to enjoy it. It's that balance between producing lactic and running long with it. I've competed in state/ county, national and world championship level and have enjoyed it in the past.
Strength work
Haven't done this so much in the past, instead have done lots of core/ pilates type work. Highly recommend spinning in the gym, especially out of the saddle, for variety and safe, tough work-outs. Discovered it during an injury period, and I can regularly get my HR about 200 on a stationary bike so it can't be all bad!
Q. How many times per week
A. 3-4 times
Q. Weights?
A. Core work with medicine ball only.
Massage
I would get one every week, once at least, when training hard. It is highly important to cope with the repetition of training. I prefer it to be after hard sessions, not too close before the next hard session or race (2-3 days).
Diet
I love my fruit and veg, so it is easy to eat that regularly. I do eat out a lot, so food that is healthy is my preferred choice.
Training races
Q. Did you use races as training?
A. I use half marathons and marathons as training. Half's to learn how to relax on a quicker pace and maintain commitment, marathons to get my body and head right for the distance. I have done 2 half marathons back to back (a week apart) then 2 weeks break before a marathon. I have also successfully run a full marathon 4-5 weeks before racing one.
Group training
Q. What are your feelings on group training?
A. I think it's vital to improve, but commitment has to come from within. I think you use the group to help you in whatever part of your training that you need - for me, I don't find doing long runs difficult, but I do find the repetition sessions most difficult.
Q. Was your training group good if you have one?
A. If they weren't good (in personality/ style etc) then I would always prefer to train on my own. Back in Melbourne I used to have some great groups to train with. In the UK, I can train with a great group on Sunday (Thames Hare and Hounds) and with a mixed session on Tuesday (I get to that from time to time).
Altitude / Warm Weather Training
Q. Did you ever use altitude or warm weather camps?
A. I believe altitude is really important, having trained there a few times (Ifrane, Morocco; Font Romeu, France; Falls Creek, Australia). Each time 2-3 weeks as work permitted. I doubt so much that warm weather has much of a physical benefit, but more a mental one. Happy runners tend to perform well in my book.
Marathon
Q. Do you think you could have run faster if you weren't working so much?
A. I'm sure that's the case, but that is the reality of my existence! Busy people get more done, and mine is a mental balance as well as a physical one. Getting enough sleep is my downfall and that is primarily commitment driven as opposed to work related.
Q. Were you disappointed not to get to the Olympics in 2008 after injury hampered things?
A. I was disappointed that I didn't get to run the marathon I was preparing for. Injuries and setbacks are part of the sport, so failure as such is more the norm than incidental. In the end, I think realistically I would have missed the Australian qualifying time (2.12) by at least a minute.
Q. You are probably the best pace maker out there, do you intend to go in to pace making?
A. Bold statement, and quick answer is no! Although, I am willing to help people out if I can be useful.
Q. On this have you always been good at hitting times or has it been perfected over the years?
A. For the most part, yes. I would say that I listen to my body a lot and know how things should feel. Throughout the years many a track session etc. has been run without a watch, with my coach setting goal times and giving me the results afterwards. If I was slow (or he thought I was slowing) he'd tell me to 'pick it up'; if I was fast he's usually say 'good'! I'd be within fractions of seconds of goal times but it would be done on feel.
Q. As an 'Aussie' what are your thoughts on the current British distance running scene?
A. Other countries may have rising standards, while British probably don't have the talent pool to adequately compete. Or, more importantly, the talent is there but it is more than likely overweight, run 2-3 times a week, working and jogging 40 minute 10km fun runs with their mates and partners. I'm thinking more in terms of marathon when saying this.
There are of course some selective stand-outs, but there is a major standard missing. Maybe it could be put down to a 'want now, have now' culture that has lost the willingness to embrace consistent, disciplined training for long-term health gains and improvement. Simply put, the numbers might be up in fun-run participation, but the base doesn't appear to work hard enough to achieve the relative standard it once did.
Q. Lastly...You have the course record for the toughest stage at the Castles Relays with a 5mile climb to the finish, how did you find it that day?
A. I was flying at that point in my running and to be honest I didn't even feel the climb to the top...those were the days!
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