Today · 4:00 PM UTC
Last Chance Meet
Today · 4:30 PM UTC
MHSAA Outdoor Champs | 1A/3A
May 9-11, 10:30 PM UTC
GHSA Outdoor Champs | 1A-2/2A
May 9-11, 11:00 PM UTC
GHSA Outdoor Champs | 3A/4A
May 9-11, 11:00 PM UTC
GHSA Outdoor Champs | 1A-DI/6A
May 9-11, 11:00 PM UTC
GHSA Outdoor Champs | 5A/7A
May 10-11, 2:00 PM UTC
NMAA Outdoor Champs | 1A-3A
May 10-11, 2:00 PM UTC
BIG EAST Outdoor T&F Championships
May 10-11, 2:45 PM UTC
OSSAA Outdoor Champs | 5A-6A
May 10-11, 4:00 PM UTC
Lenoir-Rhyne Last Chance Meet
May 11-12, 12:15 AM UTC
AIA Outdoor Champs
May 11, 8:00 PM UTC
CIF SS Finals
May 15-18, 6:30 PM UTC
NSAA Outdoor Champs
May 15-18, 8:00 PM UTC
FHSAA Outdoor Champs
May 16-18, 2:00 PM UTC
CHSAA Outdoor Champs

Antonio Cabral

Antonio Cabral

Jun 27, 2011 by Christopher Kelsall
Antonio Cabral
Flotweet

© Copyright – 2011 – Christopher Kelsall


Athletics coach, Antonio Cabral of Lisbon, Portugal may best be known for his distance running method that at first glance harkens back to the 1950s and that of legendary coach, Mihaly Igloi however, if we dig a little deeper, shades of another coaching method begin to appear, that of Arthur Lydiard.

Mihaly Igloi's training method is somewhat unknown and subsequently largely misunderstood. Interestingly the legendary Arthur Lydiard method is pervasive yet is also often misunderstood.

From The Science of Running website (Steve Magness):

The Igloi system of training is misunderstood because it was portrayed as the complete opposite of the Lydiard approach. Lydiard was simplified to “all aerobic long running”, while Igloi was simplified as the “all interval approach”.

Because Lydiard's approach gained so much popularity and people started to make the connection that intervals equal anaerobic conditioning, the Igloi method got seen as a high-intensity "anaerobic" training system.

Magness writes, “The key to the Igloi method of training is not in looking at intervals vs. distance, it's looking at what the actual workouts accomplished”. Antonio Cabral, as you will see during this interview, prescribes interval training, with an eye for what the intervals accomplish, just as Igloi had done.

Magness adds, “Igloi manipulated the intervals to create both aerobic and anaerobic adaptations. The basis of the system is running by feel and progression”.

The latter comment is a very Lydiard-like approach, ala, “knowing thyself” or as 4-time Olympian Lorraine Moller recently wrote in an issue of Running Times Magazine, “Becoming a Body Whisperer”. As Moller wrote, "The Principle of feeling-based running, one of the five principles that define Lydiard training..."

Magness continues, “The Igloi system is based on running at different levels of effort (easy, fresh, good, fast good, hard, very hard)”.

What we do know about the two systems are the differences. What is often misunderstood the most, are the similarities between the two often misunderstood methods of distance training.

Cabral, Athlete and Coach

As a master runner, Cabral experienced some success in the longer distances. As a coach he has had greater success, including working with Portuguese Olympian (marathon), Alberto Chaica. Chaica finished 4th at the 2003 IAAF World Track and Field Championships, finishing with a time of 2:09:25.

Cabral also worked with fellow countryman Fernando Couto who participated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, in the 5000m. He moved up to the 10,000m when he competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Cabral also coaches runners of all abilities.

The Interview

Christopher Kelsall: You were a self-coached runner and achieved some success. How did you discover running and recognize that you have some ability at it?

Antonio Cabral: My father was a runner and ever since I was a kid he took me to track meetings, cross and road races. All that old ambiance, the public, the competition excitement, that is what got me interested with passion and enthusiasm towards athletics.

The distance runs were the events that I was most curious, because during the late 50s, 60s and on, the distance run events were seen as the “excellence of the effort” the hard-long kind of effort - the harder events. I did appreciate the distance runner as different from all the other athletics disciplines, with different behavior, other life attitudes, like some say about blues musicians, they got something else, they are different than all the other musician-artists.

In the old days the “culture” of long effort made the winning runner, the champion as an idol and a hero, and the long distance run was seen as something mythical, adventurous.

From Fan to Runner to Coach

CK: And how long was it until you gained a good understanding of the causes and effects of training and how to apply them to yourself and eventually others?

AC: My next step was to move from spectator to runner and self-coach and to coach others. I did have some success as runner in the 70s-early 80s in 800m and 1500m, but then I got one serious injury and I quit training, and some years after when I did have the opportunity to get back to training and competition, I decided to quit track training because I wanted to run just what pleases me most, road runs and some cross.

To be a runner - a self-coached runner, I got all kinds of information that I could about find about coaching. I tried to learn from every means, from self-study to IAAF formal credentials, talk with physiologists, coaches, runners etc and finally to coach other runners. I feel it like it is one logical path that still goes on. Acting as coach, the training methodology is on the top of my coaching interests; but I also am privileged in the act of coaching, to be present and lead my runners in training sessions. I used to say “I´m not a runner, I just run, I´m not a coach, I just help others”. This means I keep the interest I put on practical and technical coaching versus just coach theory.

Staying Motivated

I still run and compete. I try to keep up to date with all aspects of distance running, from science to methodology to real practice. However, actually what´s on the top of my motivation? It´s the progress of the ones I coach, to be able to maximize each runner’s potential, it really doesn´t matter what´s his/her talent. I rarely refuse to coach anyone except if he doesn´t want to accept my training lead. If he/she accepts to follow my training 100% I coach male or female, young or master, from national to international category to the average local runner.

CK: Having been reading training books, blogs and online forums, I see that there continues to be discussion regarding the relevancy of V02max measurement in relation to an athlete's potential. Do you continue to consider V02max in your assessment of athletes and their progress?

Read the rest of the interview at Athletics Ilustrated

Lifestyle Markets

  

The Q's Victoria Track Series, come on...you know you wanna

 

LydiardFoundation

Contact Chris: chriskelsall@flocasts.org

Flotweet

Related Content