"How to avoid altitude sickness": Practical advice from Lorraine Moller

Gary,

Lorraine Moller training at
altitude in Boulder
Colorado some time ago

I have a question about altitude sickness.

I've just decided to do the Tour Du Mont Blanc but I'm nervous about some of the climbs which go up to about 2600m.

I have been at 2200m before and never had problems but experienced pretty bad altitude sickness at 3000m.

At what height does altitude sickness become a real possibility and is there any way to manage, minimise or hopefully eliminate the possibility of getting it so my trek doesn't become a nightmare?

Thank you

"D"

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Lorraine Moller replies:

Hi Gary, In reply to D's query about preparing for hikes at high altitude: I have some experience with altitude training but it has been the other way around, train high and race low. 

Since you are training at sea level and your event takes place at quite high altitudes I will attempt to make what I know relevant to your situation. 

 There are two primary limiting factors with regards to any endurance activity, muscular conditioning and oxygenation. The muscular conditioning needed to meet the requirements for your hike can be trained for adequately at sea level. However the ability of your body to meet the specific requirements of high altitude is a little more difficult as this type of training requires specificity that is not most efficiently met by training at sea level. 

The biggest challenge for your body at high altitude is the lower air pressure that makes the breathable air less dense. So for every 500 meters you climb you lose about 4% of your available oxygen and by about 3,000m you are only breathing in about 3/4 of the oxygen that you would have at sea level. However the more developed your oxygenating system is, the better you will fare and most walkers and runners can greatly improve their aerobic capacity at sea level by undertaking a simple conditioning plan of regular and variable intensity hikes, two or three challenging ones a week with hills to get the heart pumping and time on your feet, interspersed with some gentle recovery hikes. 

If you are limited by terrain, I suggest running some of your workouts to get the heart rate up and stimulate the body systems to become efficient oxygen processing units. Don't overdo it; too much has the opposite effect and gets you tired and injured, but a regular weekly cycle of workout/recovery can greatly improve your VO2 max in just a few months. 

Here's some suggestions for you from one of our recent Lydiard Coach graduates, Kathy Pidcock, who has trained many ultra and mountain runners: 

"That's always tough on transitioning from sea level to altitude. My recommendation is to do lots of hiking on as tough a trail as they can find (steep works best) and hike it with gusto. Try to get almost anaerobic for several minutes before resting then repeat the process several times. Climb with full packs, it will get them to AT (Aerobic Threshold) quicker. 

Hopefully they will have at least 2 weeks to train. If they are flying into someplace to do the hiking, I suggest they arrive just before the hike, not a week or 2 before. That's when the body begins to break down and tries to make more red blood cells for oxygen carrying capacity. That whole process can take up to 4 months. They will be more tired if their body is trying to repair AND suffering from lack of oxygen with exertion. 

I also recommend taking in foods/drinks that are high in iron to prep the blood prior to the hike. Tell them to take it very slowly on the hike, enjoy the sights, rest often and take lots of pictures and to have a fabulous time!"

A further comments from Gary: 
I would add in a sauna twice a week in the time left leading up to the expedition, as well as increase your daily intake of multi mineral salt such as Himalayan salt (such an appropriately named product!):  Heat acclimatisation boosts blood volume (meaning you have a greater sink for holding oxygen and nutrients) and you will be better able to handle and avoid dehydration which is usually experienced in the very low humidity of high altitude, even if conditions are freezing.
http://blog.garymoller.com/2009/09/how-to-use-sauna-to-improve-health.html

About Lorraine Moller and the Lydiard Foundation
http://lydiardfoundation.deliriousvisions.com/lorraine-moller-inducted-to-boulder-sports-hall-of-fame/

Become a Certified Lydiard Coach: http://www.lydiardfoundation.org/

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

Have a Back Up Plan for Running!

I am often asked how my sister, Lorraine, managed to last so long at, or near the top internationally as a runner?  That’s a fair question because Lorraine’s career lasted an astonishing 28 years, representing New Zealand in events as diverse as the 800m, cross-country and the marathon.  She is the only female runner to have run four consecutive Olympic Marathons.  She is still arguably the fastest ever female ultra-distance runner with her best over 50 km just a tad over 3 hours and 23 minutes.

Whether we are marathon runners or walkers, there are some lessons we can all learn from the experiences of durable extreme athletes such as Lorraine.  So, what do I think is the most valuable take home message from studying Lorraine’s durability?

There are, of course, many, including nutrition, rest and following the Lydiard Training Method; but the one that is most valuable is this:

Have a back-up plan!

If ever there was a fatal flaw in a person’s fitness programme it is not having an alternative activity should one ever get ill or injured.

Lorraine was a competitive swimmer before she took up running.  Once she switched to running she continued to swim at least once or twice a week.  Swimming was her back-up plan.  If the joints or tendons began to ache, being conditioned for swimming, she was able to seamlessly switch the emphasis of her training to swimming, thus giving her legs a well earned rest for several days.  Meanwhile, her fitness barely suffered.

A runner or walker who has no alternative activity that they have had ticking quietly away in the background is at great risk of suffering season-ending injuries and potentially career-ending ones.

Unless there is a large bus involved, most walking and running injuries are of the slow motion kind: They creep up on you over several days, starting with a niggle that eventually causes a painful halt.  By switching immediately to your back up activity at the first hint of a niggle, the odds are it will never come to anything.

Your back-up plan can be a gym programme a couple of times a week, swimming, paddling, yoga, riding a bike.  If you are a walker or runner, it would be preferable that your alternative is low impact, non weight-bearing and not entirely reliant on the legs - just in case your injury is something like a stress fracture.   Swimming is perfect when you think about it.

So, if, for example,  you are out on your long Sunday walk and you slip and twist your ankle, or maybe you just start to get a niggle of tendonitis in a knee.  Your action is to take the next four days off all walking and switch to swimming daily.  This “actively” rests the injured part while the gentle exercise will expedite recovery.  On the fourth day, cautiously resume walking, keeping close to home so you can cut the walk short if needed.  

This is simple, effective injury management!

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness. 
 

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

Short video of Lorraine Moller Arboretum, Putaruru

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Big Congratulations to Lorraine Moller for getting inducted to Boulder Sports Hall of Fame!

“I asked my coach (Dick Quax) how to become the best in the world.  He just said; ‘Oh, you just have to think you’re the best!’”  I really can’t remember much else of what she said then… 

Article here by Nobby Hashizume

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About this website

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

"On the Run" Short Film about Lydiard and Running in New Zealand 1979

Click on this image to view the movie

This film showcases legendary running coach Arthur Lydiard's training methods through the example of his acolytes, including reigning Olympic 1,500m champ John Walker. 'Arthur's boys' (Snell, Halberg, Magee) scored attention by winning unheralded medals (two golds and a bronze) at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Lydiard later led the 'flying Finns' to similar success. His method revolves around building stamina to complement speed, and was influential in popularising jogging globally. Beautifully filmed, a doco highlight is Jack Foster's exhilarating scree slope descent.

Gary:

• If my memory serves me right, the "Cave Man" runner in the opening scene is my team mate of the time, Gary Wilby, of the Victoria University Harrier Club.  Another "Gary", of course!  He was, and still is, very, very hairy.
• What you see in the movie is a succession of incredibly well-conditioned male and female athletes.  Look closely at their wonderful muscle development.  There are no over-trained and under-nourished athletes to be seen.  They trained to a system and ate well.  And watch them run with great efficiency!  
• This is back in the days when New Zealand really did inspire a sense of awe and disbelief in the running world.  I am getting overwhelmed with nostalgia.
• Great to see a few shots of my sister, Lorraine, although a wee bit off the pace in the race sequences.
• Look at the strength these athletes have in their legs.  There is not a hint of a flat-footed runner among them.  Look at the terrain they are training on - no manicured trails to be seen.  Agile!
• Take special note at about the 6 minute mark.  There is demonstrated a largely forgotten pair of running drills - Hill-springing and hill-bounding.  And look at the muscles on the female runner demonstrating the drills.  Every runner, serious and recreational, should be practicing these drills as part of their weekly training.  I am in the process of getting back into running and several minutes of hill-springing are part and parcel of just about every run around the block.

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About this website

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Lorraine Moller replies to a question about Lydiard training for longevity and ultras

Hi Gary
My names Gary also from NZ!  I've been a dedicated long distance runner since October 2004 and loving it.
I've been pretty lucky with injuries and had very few of them(except a plantar faciistis which I have recovered from).Because of my job I'm pretty busy and I can't train and race the way I want to, but still manage every day to get out and do a run. My peak milage gets up to about 190km-200km .I'm planning to do 1 or 2 races April or May next year which is the peak season here in Japan for road racing and athletics in general.
After that I want to focus more on my job for the next 3 years ,doing a reduced schedule of around 100-120km per week then 3 years later get back into the long miles and competition again ,by that time I'll be 42 .I believe that my best running will be between 42-46 in marathons and especially the ultras.
I saw on U-TUBE an interesting comment that Lorraine made about the japanese runners in their first year of a 4 year build up for the olympics they do a lot of back pack hiking.
My question is - How much running are they doing during this period of their training?

Lorraine Moller videos

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About this website

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.  Please give me your support by subscribing to my free email updates. Please shop at my Online Store. Please encourage your family and friends to do the same. While we may not always be able to compete with the big operators on price, we aim to more than compensate through personal service!


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Lorraine Moller

Lorraine with Osaka Marathon Samurai trophy

Here's a succinct summary of Lorraine's running achievements which was sent to me:

Lorraine Mary Moller (born June 1, 1955 in Putaruru) is a former athlete from New Zealand, who competed mainly in the marathon. She represented her native country at four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984. Moller won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain.

She is a triple winner of the Osaka Marathon. Please go here to read the full entry about Lorraine.

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About this website

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.  Please give me your support by subscribing to my free email updates. Please shop at my Online Store. Please encourage your family and friends to do the same. While we may not always be able to compete with the big operators on price, we aim to more than compensate through personal service!

Your email address:

Powered by FeedBlitz

Do you have a question?  Email Gary: gary@myotec.co.nz. Include any relevant background information to your question.  Please be patient and be aware that I may not be able to answer every inquiry in detail, depending on workloads (My paying clients take precedence!). I will either reply by email or, most likely, by way of an article (Personal identifying details will be removed before publication).

Train Smart: The Lydiard Way

Olympic marathoner Lorraine Moller discusses how to build a base for your running, including the importance of aerobic capacity, partner running, avoiding over-training, and building endurance.

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Summer Book Sale - Two for the price of one!

Are you wondering what to buy a loved one this Christmas?

To celebrate another bumper year, I am giving you two books for the price of one.

Buy both books for $20 and Save $39.99!

Now, I am not being stupid here even though this is costing me: I want you to give these books to other people as a gift. I am steadily building a strong base of loyal customers and offers like these help immensely.

It is the support of customers like you that has helped us have our best business year yet - and despite there being a worldwide recession.

So, please take up my offer: Buy as many books as you like and give them to your family, friends, workmates and business associates.

Please go here to make your purchase

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When you become older, you must do more recuperation after training

"When you become older, you must do more recuperation after training and you are not doing the mileage that you were doing when you were young"

Quote from Tomescu-Dita of what it takes to become an Olympic champion at 38. She stunned the field in China by breaking away after half distance to become the event's oldest winner.
For the complete article please go here.

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Gary comments

It happens that Tomescu-Dita lives in Boulder, Colorado, the same city as my sister Lorraine, who won Olympic bronze in Barcelona when she was 39.  Lorraine was an inspiration to Tomescu-Dita that she was not too old to go for it at Beijing.  "I met her last year and I told her I am too old to win a gold medal, or a medal, at the Olympics," said Tomescu-Dita. "She said, 'You are not old.

This article discusses Paula Radcliffe's tendency to hammer out the miles in training and her less than favourable chances of winning the London Marathon after her recent run of injuries and poor performances.  Among those interviewed is one of the greatest female distance runners, Ingrid Christiansen.  As an aside I met Ingrid and her young family over a few days way back in about 1988.  I put together a lecture about exercise and pregnancy based on that and other experiences.  Here it is. Exercise and Pregnancy

As an athlete gets older the need for big training diminishes.  After about 8-10 years of continuous training any further gains in strength and endurance are negligible.  Further ramping up of training intensity and duration merely add to injury and illness risk for no real gain.  It is better to concentrate on recovery and competing smart.  This principle applies regardless of age after one has done 10 years of hard base training.  Please go here for my presentation notes that explain this in more detail:

Train to Win - Training the Lydiard Way

From about 40 years of age the body also needs progressively more recovery time between training and competition.  There needs to be much more attention to optimum nutrition, seeking to identify and correct subtle deficiencies.
The older athlete should not make the mistake of trying to do a young man's training schedule as so often happens when an aspiring older athlete hires some whiz-bang fitness specialist to design a training schedule.  The result may be short term gains for a huge amount of effort and cost at the risk of eventual chronic fatigue and injury - and consequent premature retirement.
The better approach is to concentrate on a training and competition programme that yields the best results for the least effort.
I have applied this principle to my own fitness and sporting competition and am delighted to be going as strong as ever at 55 years.

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Part II of Final Sprint Interview with Lorraine Moller

Dear Colleagues,
Episode 66 of The Final Sprint Podcast features the second and final installment of a two-part series of interviews with the legendary female running pioneer and Lydiard protégé LORRAINE MOLLERI encourage you to listen to the podcast and to please share it with your readers and other contacts. 

She also discusses helping to create the Arthur Lydiard Foundation, her charity efforts and much more! The audio interviewis also available at no charge in the iTunes Store.  Any and all feedback from you and/or your readers is greatly appreciated. Thanks again and please feel free to call and/or email me if there is anyway that I can assist you, your publication or organization.
Sincerely, Adam Jacobs

A brief chat with Lorraine Moller

By Peter Gambaccini

"Few runners enjoyed the range of success or career longevity that Lorraine Moller attained during her career. When she started running barefoot as a teenager in New Zealand in the early 1970s, women were only allowed to run races up to ... "

Please click on the linked title to go to the Runner's World article.

Photo: Please take note of Mum's vegetable garden in the background

Barking up the wrong tree seeking a cure for cyclist Sarah Ulmer's back injury

Opinion
Here is a TV3 news video about Sarah Ulmer who is still struggling with a painful back injury suffered a year ago:

I wrote about Sarah's injury woes several months ago, noting that I had predicted about this time last year that Sarah would come unstuck. My reasons why are explained in this article here. Again, my predictions appear to have proven to be true. I am convinced that seeking a medical or physical therapy solution is proving fruitless. These will not repair her weakest link.

Before I go on; let me state that this is not an "I told you so" story. This article is written out of concern that we are far too good at burning out our sporting talent, forcing them into early retirement well before their due date - just look at our rugby players - retired before they are 30 when we know that the strongest and fastest athletes on the planet are historically much older. Al Oerter, Lynford Christie and Carl Lewis, for example. How was it that Lorraine Moller was able to extend her international career for an astonishing 28 years? Sara Ulmer is just maturing as a cyclist, yet she is on the verge of being forced into early retirement through injury. This need not every happen.

We fail to learn from history - from the experience of others who have gone before. In this article, I make observations and relate them to my experience as both and athlete and as an actively involved bystander in the careers of many great sports men and women, including my sister, Lorraine. In their experiences lie the solutions to Sara's ongoing injury woes. Read on and please comment on the article, thanks.

I attended a bike coach conference when Sarah Ulmer was on top of her world. She was the guest presenter. She promotes healthy MacDonald's meals like their salads. What really struck me was Sarah's almost religious conviction that nutrition supplements were bad, to the extent I was left with the impression she had them in the same category as illegal ergogenic drugs. She expressed the view that an athlete could get all she needs from a good diet. I am assuming this includes a MacDonald's salad (Commercially grown salad plants are poor sources of minerals and other nutrients).

I do not have confidence in the modern diet. While a young athlete can get away for several years on a "normal" healthy diet, the sad fact is that our modern diet will inevitably come up short nutritionally; especially for an athlete like a marathon runner or cyclist. The body will have progressivley developed serious mineral and other nutrient imbalances due to losses from stress, heavy sweating and tissue damage. I have also found that competitive cyclists can be seriously vitamin D deficient which has all manner of ill effects, including muscle and joint pain.

Sarah would benefit from talking to somebody who has been there- done that! Like Allison Roe, or my sister Lorraine who managed to hammer her body, sometimes running marathons in less than 2:30 in the worst conditions of heat and humidity and dirty air imaginable. Yet she managed to extend her career for 28 years in an event where few come back for a 2nd Olympics. I believe this is a world best for longevity as an internationally ranked distance runner.

Lessons can be learned from runners like Kevin who has discovered how to become injury free through training and nutrition; running close to three hours at Rotorua Marathon at 50+ years old (Rotorua is a tough course, so take 5-10 minutes off your time Kevin!). Refer to this article.

It is worth noting Lorraine's advice about recovery in this video series. The rule about rebuilding for so many days for each mile raced also applies to cycling and is the basis for my prediction last year that Sarah would break down. The laws of recovery cannot be defied for long.

Following Lorraine's remarkably long running career was a huge education for me and it was fascinating to see why and how equally talented athletes fell by the way from injury and burnout. This happened time and again with disturbing regularity. An athlete would win a big event and become an overnight celebrity - they would be on the speaking circuits, doing film shoots for adverts and all kinds of interviews. These are exhausting things to do. Big sponsporships are signed and with those come the obligations to perform and to Glad-Hand. These are equally as exhausting as an ad film shoot - emotionally and physically. Whenever I give a talk I want to have a snooze afterwards - not to train. Sleep is disturbed, training is disrupted and the wrong foods are consumed. Too much time is spent sitting in cars and planes when one should be soaking in the bath, lounging about on the living room couch, or on the floor having a good stretch. Being in crowds of enthusiastic admirers and reporters is very stressful and one is exposed to all kinds of bugs and stressed athletes are highly vulnerable to the lot.

The nervous and glandular systems of any athlete, epspecially the highly strung ones are highly susceptible to chronic burnout and disruption.

Exhausted, disrupted and under-done, the athlete then attempts to emulate past performances as anxious fans, sponsors and officials look expectantly on. Injury and illness beckon, as does failure to heal.

When I carefully view the TV3 news video here I see a noticeably thinner Sarah Ulmer (Excess catabolism at work?) and she looks tired and stressed during the event, despite the smiley public persona. The body language and her voice tone are revealing. Where on Earth is the physical and emotional energy going to come from for her next quality training session? It is so easy for a gifted athlete to lose control and to lose sight of what really matters most when it comes to being a consistent performer at the highest level. Sometimes the best thing an athlete can do is disappear for an extended period of time, recharge and do nothing else later other than to gradually get back into training over the next year or so.

Lorraine shunned the spotlight. She never had a management company selling her as a product and she had very few sponsors and all of those were directly related to her performing on the road or track (eg: running shoe companies). She did very little in the way of public speaking, photo shoots and so on while she was in training and competing. She did not chase the dollars. She was an athlete proudly representing NZ and not being packaged and sold a product. She trained and trained and trained. She rested up in between, she raced and then she concentrated on recovery. She learned that even the most wholesome diet was not quite enough to sustain the punishment of elite sport. She worked on a four year cycle with the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics carefully tucked in where she ran her heart out.

Of course she made lots of mistakes and so did plenty of other very good sports people I know; but she thought about what was happening, bounced back and she learned from these mistakes that could easily have been career ending. These are the lessons they do not teach in exercise science and defintely not in medical school.

How one long distance runner found his way

Kevin writes:
Went for a 3hr easy run today, and I feel good.

I began running seven years ago, with a history of hunting, tramping, and working out doors, I thought I would be fit enough to adjust. I remember watching runners doing the Kepler Challenge, and I felt I was getting to old to start at the bottom, so I set my sites high, and decided to do the Kepler the following year. Six months out from race day, I put on my old sneakers, and at a steady pace went for my first run, I arrived back home with blisters on my feet, and for the next week I could hardly walk. After I recovered I bought myself a pair of running shoes, and set off again with my own training programme, throughout that six months, I had lots of injuries, groin, shin splints, twisted ankles, sore muscles, you name it. On race day I made it around, but only just, and I kept saying repeatedly, I would never do this again. But after I learned to walk again, and my body got back to normal, and being a slow learner, I thought I would have another go.

Looking on the net for some sort of training program, I decided on a seven-day on, and two days off, which I ended up with more injuries, frustration, and stress. I did four more Keplers, and then I took a year off, to let my body heal completely. While looking up the Rotorua marathon on the net, I came across Gary’s training programme, and this is where things started to change for me. I rang Gary, and he put me on to some supplements, and we talked about a training program, which involved three long runs and one short fast run per week, it has made a big difference, I used to think recovery was a good nights sleep, now I only run every other day, I feel so much fresher, and I haven't had any injuries. It is much more enjoyable.

I would say to anyone who is thinking of taking up any sport, or just wants to feel better, give Gary a call, don’t be like me, and do it the hard way, start off right. Thank you so much Lorraine, for taking the time to answer my questions, you have been a big help, I shall change my ways and heed your advise, It has been so neat to have two professionals to work with. Thank you.

An interview with Olympian, Lorraine Moller, about her autobiography

An interview with multiple Olympian and marathon bronze medal winner, Lorraine Moller, about her autobiography which is being published in October 2007

Lorraine Moller included in inaugural Colorado Running Hall of Fame class

New Zealand runner, Lorraine Moller, has been named in the first class of inductees for the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.
Moller, a four-time Olympian from New Zealand who won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1992 Olympics will be inducted, along with six others at a reception May 18 in conjunction with the Colorado Colfax Marathon, which will be run two days later.

Other inductees include:

Pat Porter who won eight straight U.S. cross country titles.

Frank Shorter, gold medalist in the 1972 Olympic marathon and silver medalist in 1976, an adviser for the Bolder Boulder and the first chairman of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Joe Vigil, who coached for three decades at Adams State, producing 14 national championships and 425 All-Americans. Vigil also coached Deena Kastor to a bronze medal in the marathon at the 2004 Olympics.

Colleen De Reuck, a four-time Olympian who won the U.S. women's marathon Olympic trials at age 40 in 2004 and won a bronze medal at the 2002 world cross country championships.

Jon Sinclair, a former Colorado State runner who dominated American road racing in the early 1980s.

Ted Castaneda, a University of Colorado runner of the 1970s and longtime Colorado College coach whose record for the mile in Colorado (4 minutes, 4.86 seconds) has stood for 41 years.
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Gary Moller comments:
It is great to see our sports people gaining due recognition overseas. It is a shame that they have to leave our shore to ply our trade, I still think we could do more to honour them and we could do a lot more to stop losing them for good. In Lorraine's case, it begs the question: "Why isn't she in our (New Zealand) sporting hall of fame?"

Have a read of my Prime Minister's Scholarship discussion document which offers some practical and affordable way to stem the drain of our sporting talent and honouring them as well (Page 9 onwards deals with solutions).

Lorraine Moller still feeling the force

"It is almost impossible to tell the Lorraine Moller life story without mention of her legendary coach and mentor Arthur Lydiard - and now Moller is bringing Lydiard's techniques to colleges across the United States.

Now 50, Moller, like many of Lydiard's devoted students, attributes her lifetime of running success to his innovative coaching. Moller was a secondary student when she met Lydiard through middle-distance runner John Davies. When she was introduced to his now legendary methods as a 15-year-old she never looked back. "
(Click on the linked title above for the whole story.)

My Heroine

Here is a photo of my sister, Lorraine, celebrating winning the 1984 Boston Marathon.

Wayne Clarke, kindly scanned a copy from his athletic club's photos and sent it to me - Thanks Wayne.

It has always fascinated me how Lorraine managed to have so much success as a runner over a breath-taking 28 years and at a time when women's distance running had so much depth and talent - Ingrid Kristiansen, Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota, Joan Benoit, Lisa Martin, the Japanese, all the other Kiwi women and more and more...

Lorraine never showed any athletic ability as a child, as far as I can recall. Her childhood was hardly remarkable other than the fact that it was physically robust. That could be said for almost every child in Putaruru. In fact, Lorraine was a rather sickly child who spent a lot of time in hospital and at the doctors. I vaguely recollect, at one stage the Drs ended up running out of options and Mum and Dad as good as brought her home to die or get better of her own accord (I am sure that she does not mind me saying this and Mum will eventually read this and get me to correct things, if I have got anything wrong). Mum resorted to alternative therapies. The one therapy I remember most vividly is "colour therapy". To state the obvious; Lorraine survived.

Her athletic ability began to show during her early adolescent years when she pretty much rewrote the regional and national age group record books for every running event in the country from about 220 yards and longer, including cross-country and road. As her brother, her physical ability never really registered with me during our teens, possibly because I could still dump her to the ground and force her into submission with a neck hold.

What I think set her out from the crowd was her dogged determination: She had the ability to push herself harder than anybody else. Did this ability come about as a result of her years of ongoing battles with serious illness as a child? It helped that she happened to be a real bright spark, leaping a couple of years in primary school to land in her big brother's class (Lorraine and I went through school together and even ended up doing nearly identical studies at Otago University). It certainly helped that she was coached from about 16yrs by the late John Davies using the Lydiard Method and she spent her three years at Otago University doing the long Sunday runs with the boys, including Richard Tayler. This time at Otago gave her the grounding for a long and successful career, as well the education for a life after running.

Lorraine is writing a book (No ghost writers for this athlete!) that will deal with these matters and by all accounts it is going to be a good read. I am not sure when it is coming out but it should not be too far off. Top triathlon caoch, Chris Pilone, who stayed with Lorraine this month got to read a draft of her book. This is what he had to say in his recent newsletter:

"To say I was glued to it would be an understatement. Would have to be the best I have read for many years and probably be in my top three of all time. Its probably a little way from the book shelves but when it gets there a must to buy".

When it comes out I will make sure that all my readers know about it.
For all articles about "One the Wings of Mercury, go here

What makes a champion athlete?

Here are some interesting comments by Wayne about Lorraine Moller's career:

Its what you do with what you've got, perseverance, common sense a little intelligence goes a long way!, she hit on the right recipe, and persisted with it, but the most gifted can make anything look easy, at the end of the day she was the head of the pack and one of the best in the world at what she did for quite a while and had a career at the top to rival anyone else's, she learnt the secret to top level performance and survival at the top level, don't over do it, pace yourself, push your limits at the right time and come off the accelerator at the right time,, listen to your body, take advantage of the cycle of tearing down and rebuilding the body to a higher level, its a science and an art combined and one of the hardest to master, too much ego, or too little soul and you blow yourself to pieces, most people fail at it few practice it to perfection.

she wasn't out there blowing her own trumpet and if anything under rated herself leading to her missing out on a better placing at Barcelona, as a result she has ended up as under rated as one of NZ's finest ever athletes and is now probably one of NZ"s finest coaches lost to overseas, her understanding of Joseph Campbell's power of dreams shows her lateral thinking and holistic approach, she can piece together how people tick beyond just what training they have to be doing and has abetter chance to getting the best out of people to perform better.