HAVING been a student at Boston University and been through the NCAA system, David Hemery was used to racing regularly. His build-up to the 1968 season was little different, as the 1966 Commonwealth 120 yards hurdles champion raced the cross country, indoor and outdoor seasons for his university, often including multiple events. His weekly training programme would typically go something like this: Monday – moderately hard, Tuesday – hard, Wednesday – moderately hard, Thursday – easy, Friday – light warm-up or rest, Saturday compete and Sunday rest or light warm-up.
“That sounds like a lot of rest but, as Istvan Balyi points out, adaptation takes place in recovery time,” explains Hemery. “All of my competitions were full effort and often multiple events indoors and out. I often raced a 4x400m at the end or sometimes 4x800m. The indoor individual events always included the 600 yards and occasionally 1000 yards, as well as the sprint hurdles,” he adds.
It might shock many 400m hurdlers today to know that, such was Hemery’s emphasis on building a strong aerobic base, he would regularly complete 10 miles at a fraction under 6:00 pace. The longer runs did not seem to hamper his speed either, as Hemery went on to retain his Commonwealth sprint hurdles title in 1970.