Steve Jones at Scotstoun.

As I said in an email just now, it was worth every penny in petrol money just to get to see him. Ith's a pity more from the west end of Glasgow/east end of Dunbartonshire weren't there - I only counted Duncan MacNeil, West Dunbarton, myself, Graeme Smith, Joe Doyle and Peter McGregor from VPAAC plus Stevie Cullen and his friend from Garscube. Phil phoned to say he couldn't get away for 6:30 but I had anticipated a couple more from the general area. However, what did he have to say?
Well one of the best moments was when someone asked if sports science had a lot to do with his success and he got a look that said a lot before The Man spoke. What you need for success is hard work, toughness and the right attitude. he then held his forefinger and thumb about an inch apart and sai that science had about that much to contribute! The face of Mike Johnston at that point was a study. he was asked about speed of training runs and his reply was that "you were always pushing the envelope." They were all hard. He ran himself to exhaustion a couple of times a week, You have to put the body under stress, there is too little stress in running nowadays and the results are seen by everyone. Even if he went out with his mates from Newport Harriers and someone upped the pace, then that was it. They just all went with it and it became serious.
What he teaches people is to keep it simple. You run regularly, you improve regularly and build up year on year. One chap asked if he ever did weight training, plyometrics or circuits on an organised basis and he said that he never did either of the first two and the only circuits that he did were some wee ones of his own that he did in the RAF gym. Running action? He quoted Zatopek saying that running was not a beauty contest, once you have been running for a while your body knows how to run!
What did he teach his runners? What did he bring to the table? (I hate these expressions - B McA) Relaxation and a calm approach. Running was not the be-all or end-all but a part of life.
He had started running in 1970 when he was 15 because the ATC Cross Country meant a day away and a free tea, etc. He had not trained at all but had a generally active lifstyle and didn't start real training until he was 17 or 18 when he was doing 4 or 5 days a week. By the time he was 21 it was 6 days a week and after he was married he put in the odd double session. he had a coach and did excatly what he was told and improved at every distance as time went on. He didn't query why he was doing something - if asked why he was doing a hill session his reply would be "Because the coach said so." He ran his first marathon at 29 years of age and when asked if he thought that was too late, replied it was maybe too early! The thing was that he had improved and done well in every event from 800 up and reached pretty well his potential at the shorter faster distances before moving on up.
So - not too much science, hard work, keep it simple and calm. That's just a summary from almost two hours that sped by. I have eight pages of notes and if anybody wants any of that elaborated, ask me!