Absurd? Not a bit of it, just take time out to ask John and Sheila Sherwood.

Read more: When Olympic glory was made in Sheffield

Athletes of today would be aghast if they had to go through a similar regime to the husband and wife team who, 40 years ago, grabbed the headlines when they won silver and bronze medals at the Mexico Olympics.
At that time it was all about amateurs – both of them held down jobs as schoolteachers while John also played football and Sheila was a more than useful hockey player.

Training facilities in Sheffield were almost non-existent. Hillsborough Arena offered them the only cinder running track but the grassed central area was often used for football… and that took priority, which meant the athletes had to find somewhere else to train.

Sheila remembers the council sending copies of every letter from football clubs requesting a booking just to make sure they wouldn't turn up to use the track for training.

In the end they spent most of the summer time on a puddle-ridden dirt path that cut up through some woods overlooking the Northern General Hospital, while in winter they ran round the streets.

"John used to run up, count the number of strides and then scratch a line for a hurdle," said Sheila. "When he'd marked out a sufficient number he'd go back to the start and begin his run, 'hurdling' every time he came to a scratch line.

"I did a similar thing, marking out my run-up with lines drawn in the dirt.

"We spent hours up there and I'm sure people who saw us must have thought we were looney!"

Such dedication in the face of such adversity certainly deserved the success that came their way. Mexico was still very much a dream for them and they made a pact – if one of them failed to gain selection, neither of them would go.

Thankfully for the Great Britain team and Sheffield that situation never materialised.

Sheila also recalls that it was around this time that drugs started to impact on the sport.

"Some athletes had started to dabble," she said. "It was mainly the 'heavy' men (hammer-throwers and shot-putters) but then there was talk of blood doping among the middle-distance runners.
"By the time we came to the end of our careers it was affecting almost every area of the sport, worldwide."

Ironically 40 years on and the problem remains, albeit in a much more sophisticated form.