The secret of success is selling "the secret to success". There are countless books and articles with the "answer". It is hard to keep up with all the books that tell me how to be happy, more efficient, smarter, taller, and more muscular…all at the same time.

And, believe it or not, compared to training for distance events, these are simple subjects. For every John Maxwell or Steven Covey there are hundreds of distance coaches with the answer. Each month, Runner's World (as well as this magazine) will have the definitive 8, 4, 24 or 10 steps to "your best 10K" or whatever distance. There are seemingly thousands of coaches on the internet that will gladly take your money for their version of the "secret" and beyond that there are hundreds more of us that throw out ideas in magazines or blogs or while standing out on a track.

The most amazing thing about all this information is that somewhere, out there, there is the actual "secret of success" to distance running. Even more amazing is the fact that each and every coach or advisor that prognosticates about how this workout or that workout will improve your 10K, Marathon or ½ Ironman could actually be right. The bottom line is that there is not a single secret of success besides the important, but non-specific advice of "have fun, train hard, get plenty of sleep and stay hydrated".

Each athlete is a unique individual that may or may not respond to the same stimulus as other, seemingly, similar athletes. So, when we each start looking our secret to success, we all should all try to educate ourselves about as many different training techniques and the subsequent workouts that result from following these techniques. The challenge to this is that not all prominent distance coaches are willing to simply give away the knowledge they have honed over many years of trial and error and painstaking research (and I mean painstaking as many new workouts are often tested out by the coach himself).

Rest assured though, each and every coach out there has a set of workouts or ideas that they believe are the true secret of success. Some will gladly share this information openly and others choose to not provide their knowledge so freely. I have been lucky enough to have worked with a number of coaches that have been kind enough to either share their secrets with me, or (in this particular case) have had me perform the actual "secret of success" workouts in my own training during the time he coached me.

The coach I am talking about is Jim McLatchie, a man who has coached for decades and has produced 31 USA Olympic Trials Qualifiers (29 for the Marathon and 12 for the track), 5 Olympians, and 14 World Championship Team Members for Roads, Cross Country and Track. Jim has an acquired wisdom that has done wonders for many runners, elite and non-elite alike, initially in Texas, but now, upon his retirement from his real job, up in Bend, Oregon. But this article is not about Jim. It is about some of his workouts. In fact, it is about a specific set of interval workouts that are lovingly referred to as "Ball busters". These workouts are just a few out from the very large cache of workouts that Jim has that include interval sessions, hill sessions, fartleks, tempo runs etc. But these three, to me, are the three that are his "secret of success" when training for distance races. These workouts will be of immense benefit to anyone that is trying to perform at their very best in any running race 5K to the marathon or any duathlon or triathlon distance ranging from a sprint to the I012ronman.

The Original Workouts

There are three variations of these interval based workouts. All of them are long and have portions with very short rest. Needless to say each of them is challenging.

1) In running short had the workout reads like this: 6 x 1 mile with 1 minute rest. This one is very simple and is very similar to any bread and butter repeat mile session. The tough part is that you only get 1 minute rest throughout the session. Each mile should be run at about goal 10K pace or maybe 8-10 seconds per mile slower.

2) The running short had for this workout reads as follows: 2 miles, take 3 minutes rest or jog 400 recovery, (2 x 1 mile with 30 seconds rest), take 3 minutes rest or jog 400 recovery, (4 x 800 with 30 seconds recovery). This version is more complex than the 6 x 1 mile version. It starts with a two mile effort followed by a very easy 400 meter jog or a standing 3 minute rest. After the first recovery the athlete will run 1 mile, rest ONLY 30 seconds, and run a second mile. After the two repeat miles the athlete repeats the rest he or she did after the 2 mile effort. After the second recovery, the athlete will now run an 800, rest 30 seconds, a second 800, rest 30 seconds, a third 800, rest 30 seconds, and then the fourth and final 800. The two mile should be run at about the same speed as the 6 x 1 mile session. The two repeat miles should be run anywhere from the same pace as the 2 mile up to up to 16 seconds per mile faster. The repeat 800's should be run anywhere from the same pace as the 2 mile to as much as 16 seconds per mile faster than the repeat miles.

3) 2 x 1 mile with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes, 2 x 800 with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes, 2 x 400 with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes. REPEAT. That is correct, this version of the ball buster requires 2 repeat miles with short rest, a good rest, 2 repeat 800's with short rest, a good rest, 2 repeat 400's followed by a good rest and then do it all over again. The time each effort is run should get quicker from the mile's to the 800's to the 400's. The miles should be at the same pace as the 6 x mile pace, and then the 800's should be 4 to 5 seconds per 400 faster than the mile and then the 400's should be another 4-5 seconds faster per 400 than the 800 was.

The following are examples based on a 7 minute pace (43:45) 10K runner.

• 6 x 1 mile with 1 min. Run each effort at 7:00-7:10 which is 1:45 to 1:47 per 400)

• 2 miles, take 3 minutes rest or jog 400 recovery, (2 x 1 mile with 30 seconds rest), take 3 minutes rest or jog 400 recovery, (4 x 800 with 30 seconds recovery). 2 miles at 14:00 (1:45 pace per 400); 2 x 1 mile at 6:44-7:00 (1:41-1:45 pace per 400); 4 x 800 at 3:14-3:30 (1:37-1:45 pace per 400)

• 2 x 1 mile with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes, 2 x 800 with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes, 2 x 400 with 30 seconds, jog 400 or rest 3 minutes. REPEAT. Each set should be run at the same speed. Repeat miles at 7:00 (1:45 pace); repeat 800's at 3:22 (1:41 pace); and repeat 400's at 97. Don't forget, there are two full sets in this with a total of 7 miles.

Variations based on slower paces

The above examples are at what I believe are the upper limits of the time each effort should be run. So if for example your goal 10K is slower than 7 minute pace but faster than 9:30 pace, I would encourage you to run 's the prescribed distances

• 6 x 1200

• 1.5 miles, 2 x 1200, 4 x 600

• 2 x 1200, 2 x 600, 2 x 300, repeat

If your goal 10k pace is slower than 9:30 per mile pace I would encourage you to run ½ the prescribed distances.

• 6 x 800

• 1 mile, 2 x 800, 4 x 400

• 2 x 800, 2 x 400, 2 x 200, repeat

When should these workouts be conducted?

These are designed to be very challenging workouts and should only be done after a prolonged and substantial endurance base has been established. The runner should be comfortable running at least for 1 hour and 30 minutes and should have completed at least 4-8 weeks of a hill training/fartlek training period. At this point the workouts can be done about every 3 weeks. One cycle (9 weeks) is normally enough to get an athlete ready to race at his or her best, but 2 cycles (18 weeks) can be done if you have a very long competition season.

Do not do the workouts within 7 days of a race that is important to you. I would recommend at least 10 days and up to 2 weeks between doing one of these workouts and running an important race.

These should also be the only really difficult sessions done during the week that they are conducted. A light tempo or low stress fast session can be done 72 to 96 hours after a ball buster, but it should not in any way be that taxing.

Where can they be conducted?

They are normally done on a track, but can be done on any measured area-roads, a field, a training trail etc. The variation is the rest (400 jog or 3 minutes rest) allows for a little easier adaptation to different training environments.

Why do them?

These workouts will undoubtedly challenge each person that attempts them. They are long sessions (up to 6-7 miles) that challenge both a body's aerobic ability and anaerobic (lactic tolerance) for a long time. To put another way, these workouts are often tougher than the races one is training for, thus allowing for success.

Now for at least one coach, I have made what I consider one of his "secrets of success" a secret no more.