Running: through the looking glass

‘Running: through the looking glass’ is a compendium of distance running experiences that have built the philosophy and coaching methods of Dick Telford, international distance running coach and exercise physiologist. We follow Dick Telford through his pioneering sports science work at the Australian Institute of Sport. It saw Dick produce Australia’s only marathon medallist in Olympic history and more Commonwealth Games medallists than any other athletics coach of the last 50 years. Dick writes about the athletes he has coached, consulted to, or just learnt from. Every story brings with it a message. Among the characters in these stories are world record holders and Olympic milers John Landy, Roger Bannister and Herb Elliott; coaches of the golden era of Australian and New Zealand distance running Percy Cerutty, Franz Stampfl and Arthur Lydiard; champion marathon runners Alberto Salazar, Robert de Castella and Lisa Martin (Ondieki), and two of Dick’s current charges, Commonwealth Games medallists Michael Shelley and Lisa Weightman. The personal stories are combined with studies in elite athletics carried out at the Australian Institute of Sport. Readers will understand Dick Telford’s world of running and that getting the best out of his runners has involved a lot more than holding a stop watch.