Lucian Rosa had a pr of 2:14:31 for the marathon in the mid 70′s and was in 2:10-2:12 shape heading into the 1976 Olympic Marathon. Unfortunately he was informed by his country (Ceylon) days before the race that he would not be able to compete. Sub 2:12 would have been top 5 in that race. Sub 2:11 would have been a medal.

Here are three key workouts Lucian ran to prepare his mind for the marathon.

Workout #1 – One hour run on the track. Running in circles for an hour can be tedious. Lucian was able to turn off his mind during this process and put in a good training run. His best effort before the Olympics was 150 meters short of 12 miles.

Workout #2 – Counting Steps. Lucian would often count his steps during his runs. He explains that this would allow him to know how many steps it took to run a mile. He also mentions that it would take his mind off of his run because he was focusing so much on counting his steps. He once counted 7,700 steps during a run which was probably around 15 or more miles.

Workout #3 – The 30 mile run! Lucian had his coach drive him 30 miles away from campus and his goal was to get back. But this wasn’t just an easy run. The goal was to run the first 26 miles at a moderate pace and then the last 4 hard. Although this is a tough workout on the body, the mental benefits of being able to run 3.8 miles further than the marathon with the last 4 blazing are extreme. Prior to Lucian’s  pr of 2:14:31 in Fukuoka he did this workout in 2:53:+. Prior to the 1976 Olympic games he ran this workout in 2:47:17, with the last 4 miles in 19:20!