SHORTS MICAH TRUE

5 MINUTES WITH had to keep up 170-mile weeks. That’s when I found myself getting
hurt, when I started taking myself too seriously. After a few stress

Micah
fractures and really bad ankle sprains, I stopped racing. But then
I had a really bad bicycle accident in 1993 and I decided to cele-
brate being alive by going to Leadville and running it again, and
that’s when I originally met the Raramuri, their fi rst year they were
brought up to run there. In 1994, the Raramuri came back and I was

TRUE
IN THE EARLY 1990s, ultrarunner MICAH TRUE had
the fortune of getting acquainted with the Tarahumara
recruited to run the last 50 miles with one of them, MARTIMIANO
CERVANTES, who eventually came in third that year. It was a lot
of fun and engaging — getting to know them, spending time with
them and running with them.

Q What’s the ultimate goal of your race?

It’s an opportunity to help the Raramuri help themselves. It’s about
the old traditions of farming and the old traditions of running and
Indians who had ventured to Colorado for the Leadville for them to know that people respect those things. The world would
100, even pacing one for the final 50 miles of the race be a better place if we all lived more simply like they did. Using our
in 1994. race as the main stage — with smaller races among the villages on a
regular basis, with prizes of cash and corn, to encourage the young
That connection eventually led him to start a low-profile, self- ones to run, and others to run again, to remember and re-realize
sponsored race that supported Raramuri people (the name the what a good and positive thing it is — and that they and the life-
Tarahumara call themselves) in their native land of the Copper style they live is respected and honored by others — to continue
Canyon region of Mexico. But when Born to Run became a New York to be proud and humble simultaneously, like the unique running/
Times best seller last year, True gained notoriety as the mythic char- walking contradictions that they are, and to provide traditional
acter CABALLO BLANCO through whom author CHRISTOPHER non-genetically modified seeds to plant again, to once again be the
MCDOUGALL explores the mysteries of the Tarahumara and min- sustainable farmers they have been.
imalist running.
True eschews pub- Q What do you think about the barefoot
licity, but through running trend the book fostered?
the years his Copper I certainly think less is better when it comes to what you wear on
Ca nyon Ru n a nd your feet when you run, and I run in sandals myself. There’s a lot
Ultramarathon has about that in the book, but it’s become a total commercialization.
b e c o m e k n o w n Vibram is really cashing in but they have nothing to do with my race.
for its pure racing It would be nice if some people would give back.
i nteg r it y a nd cu l-
Q
t u r a l i nter ac t ion Do all the Tarahumara run in huarache sandals?
with the Raramuri It’s not just a Tarahumara thing. Everybody in the Sierra Madre
people w ho have wears them. It’s the footwear of choice. They’ve been wearing hua-
become his friends rache sandals since they were born. They’re made out of old tires.
and neighbors. (He They’re cheap, they last a long time and every little store in every
spends his summers little town sells a kit for three bucks that has a slab of tire tread and
l iv i ng i n t he foot- laces. Or you can have someone make a pair for you for about $8.
hills west of Boulder, I’ve worn them for a long time, but it takes a while to get used to the
Colo., and his win- leather strap between your toes.
ters in a small adobe
house he built near Q What’s your take on the book?
Ur ique, Me x ic o.) It’s a really good read. It’s inspiring. It was waiting for me when I
His next race, which got back to Boulder last May, and when I read the fi rst 40 pages, I
i nc l u d e s a p r i z e thought, ‘What the #*%&!’ He drew you in with
purse of $10,000 and a character that was supposed to be me. He
True, aka, Caballo Blanco, running in sandals.
31 tons of corn, will made me out to be some sort of bad-ass, but
be held on March 7 and will likely include about 60 “gringo” run- it’s far from the truth. But as the book went
ners and 200 Raramuri and Mexican runners. on, it captured all of us well. And it did take
some liberties with all of our personal lives,,
Q
Luis Escobar (Micah True)

What is your running background and how and some of it was very controversial and it
did you get involved with the Raramuri? made a lot of people mad. It hasn’t been trans--
In the mid-1980s, I was running 5,000 miles a year, but I never really lated to Spanish yet, and that’s probably a good d
raced. I ran for fun for the most part, but then I won the fi rst ultra thing. A lot of people have read the book and d
I ran, called the Rocky Mountain 50, in 6:12. I started doing the have become inspired to come run with us, and d
Photo:

Leadville 100 and some other races, but I found myself thinking I that’s great. — BRIAN METZLER

14 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
 PERSONAL RECORD BY R ACHEL TOOR
Shirtless
Days
HE IS across the street, coming
toward me. In a sideways glance, I
see him. In a moment, I know him.
His legs are unshaved, and the muscles and
tendons ripple. He has scrawny, sculpted
arms, a bony, hairless chest and flat stomach.
His belly button barely makes an indentation.
His ribs are too prominent. You could count
them; he doesn’t wear a shirt. Not in the sum-
mer. He wears running shorts — one color,
usually dark, split up the side.
He sweats but doesn’t drip. He never stinks.
His hair is long and floppy, his skin weath-
ered but not tattooed. He does well in school,
less well with girls. He is good at math. He
reads. He pays attention. He can seem ner-
vous, ill at ease. Often, he is.
He eats like a linebacker. He is mindful of
his weight, notices a couple of extra ounces,
16 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
but is unaware of how his body looks, only how it performs. His body
is an instrument. He knows how to drive past pain, to hold in what is
difficult. He tells himself things that he will never say aloud. In his
mind he sometimes beats his breast, but more often he thinks he
deserves to suffer. When he has an orgasm, he doesn’t make a sound.
In groups he is reticent, offering an occasional gentle joke, a clever
aside. When he has a girlfriend, he will talk to her about his races
only if pressed. When she asks how he did, he will say, “It was good.”
He waits for her to ask the question. Yes, he responds. Yes, I won.
Running will be for him something special, something sacred. He
will not talk about it with civilians. He will not, in fact, admit how
much of his time training takes up, afraid he will be seen as less seri-
ous about the other things he takes seriously.
As he ages, his body will retain that look of the teenage boy, all
slim hips and underdeveloped upper body. He will crop his hair, now
speckled with gray. His face will become longer, and lines will etch
themselves around his eyes, but not from smiling. Cheek bones will
jut. (Note: On men this manifests as rugged, athletic and outdoorsy;
women do not fare as well in the modifier department.)
He will continue running, even as his times slow. He will con-
tinue competing, but will not linger after races to collect age-group
awards. Instead he will head off to warm down, maybe running the
course again, maybe running home. He will not talk about how fast
he used to be, or, when he does, it will seem as if he’s talking about
someone else.
He will remember, though, what it was like to run fast. He will
remember, though it becomes hazy, what it was like not only to be
at home in his body, but to have a home in the world.
Th ings will never be that plain again. The simple formula, the
ticks of the clock, the purity of measurement, the pleasure of hav-
ing a rival, the clarity of a fi nish line, this is what he will miss. He
will not be able to say that this is what he is missing, but he will feel
it. He will feel it every day.
He will excel at some career. His work ethic has been set from
early days at cross country practices where he beat himself up to
stay with others, where he labored to surpass his teammates. He
will garner professional successes the way he collected trophies;
caring and not caring about the material markers.
His wife will become fleshier and more interesting. His cowork-
ers will marvel that he manages to stay so fit. He knows that he is
not fit, not really. Not compared to who he used to be.
He fears — but will not admit — that at some point he may no
longer be able to run. He knows that he will continue to slow, to be
felled by injuries from a lifetime of doing his body little good. He
knows that time is not on his side.
He knows a lot.
What he doesn’t know is this: he is beautiful.
When he runs he becomes that floppy-haired loose-limbed boy
Nate Dyer
again. When he is in motion, he celebrates himself in all the ways that
words fail, especially on hot days when he glides shirtless through
Illustration:
summer streets, unselfconscious, unaware, wearing nothing but
side-split shorts and the pride and pain of making himself run as
hard and as far and as fast as he can. •
RACHEL TOOR teaches writing at Eastern Washington
University in Spokane. Her latest book, Personal Record:
A Love Affair with Running, was published in 2008.
 PERFORMANCE PAGE BY GREG MCMILL AN, M.S.

Training
their way into better races, they peaked too
soon — more mentally than physically I
think, but with the same outcome.
In 2010, I’m going to add more hill train-
ing instead of the race-specific training in the
early season. The athletes ran fast after their

Tweaks for
2010
short hill training phase in 2009, and I’m
confident that I can extend their hill train-
ing to later in the season. I think I can also
extend the base period two to three weeks
longer as we head into track season. High
school and college coaches can apply this
idea to their training schedules, and road
PART 2: NO FEAR + HILLS AND MILEAGE racers who want to run well later in a long
season can also use more base training and
TO MANAGE PEAKING hill training to help them peak on time.

DELAYING FATIGUE WITH

LAST MONTH, I shared some lessons I had learned in 2009 that I intend AEROBIC RUNNING
to apply in 2010. Here are three more to consider as you head into your Related to peaking too early, another mis-
spring training and racing season. take I made was to add too much recovery to
try to keep the athletes fresh. Once I saw that
DON’T BE AFRAID/ clear your life schedule as much as possible, the athletes might peak too soon, I inserted
DO WHAT IS NECESSARY then go for it! Be smart about how you prog- a “down” week of just easy jogging for 30–45
Every coach is nervous about overtraining ress the training, building up to your “red minutes twice each day to allow them to
or injuring an athlete. As a result, we often zone” level gradually, but then hunker down recover. They recovered, but they lost their
keep the training short of the “red line.” But, and get to work. I bet you’ll fi nd yourself not mojo. Their training after the down week was
with competitive runners who have high only physically jazzed for racing; you’ll also good but the interruption in training stole
goals, it’s important to not be afraid to spend be mentally pumped knowing you did the their momentum. The break from the train-
some time of the year in the “red zone” as work to achieve your goal. ing routine was just too much.
you get ready for your big race(s). Nothing W hen I discussed t his w it h t he at h-
instilled this more than a conversation I had USE HILLS TO PEAK ON TIME letes after the season, they suggested that
with Coach Shigeo Watanabe, who coaches The biggest mistake I made in 2009 was with maintaining their normal weekly mileage
Yoko Shibui — the seventh-fastest woman peaking the Olympic hopeful track athletes I but avoiding speed and strength workouts
marathoner in history with a time of 2:19:47. coach. Since they are young and didn’t have would have been better. They would have
When asked about their training, his answer fast times, I rushed the race-specific train- maintained the feeling of being “in train-
was simple: “We do the training that is nec- ing so they would achieve fast times early in ing” and getting ready to race.
essary to win the race.” Wow! How simple.
No ifs, ands, or buts with Coach Nabe. Just
an acceptance of the work that is necessary to Be smart about how you progress the training,
win. For Shibui, that means up to 150 miles
per week with lots of marathon-specific
building up to your “red zone” level gradually,
workouts. She doesn’t do this year-round but but then hunker down and get to work.
when it comes to the three months before her
goal race, the gloves come off. Is it danger-
ous? Could she get injured? Absolutely. But the season (something high school and col- Instead, I took them out of their routine
as I’ve begun to push the elite runners I work lege coaches have to do frequently) and thus and had them focusing on the wrong thing
with a little more into this “don’t be afraid” earn their way into faster and better meets — recovery instead of racing. Lesson learned.
mentality, new personal bests and break- later in the season. In 2010 with my younger track athletes, I may
through races are becoming commonplace. The problem, of course, is that the athletes still need to insert a recovery week to delay
T h is “no fea r ” st rateg y requ i res a often peak too soon. I knew this was a risk their peak but I will make sure it includes lots
heightened focus on recovery — including but felt the athletes needed the race-specific of long, aerobic runs and full weekly volume.
massage, stretching, nutrition, sleep and the training to build their confidence and their Th is will keep them physically and mentally
like — but you can do it. Pick your period fitness for these important fi rst meets. While fresh so we can charge until the end of the
where you want to make a breakthrough, the athletes certainly ran fast and earned racing season. •

GREG MCMILLAN is an exercise physiologist

and USATF-certified coach who helps runners
via his Web site mcmillanrunning.com.

18 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
 OWNER’S MANUAL

JETTISON YOUR BY PETE MAGILL

PRE-RACE
Jitters
10 STEPS TO STAYING CALM

WE ALL GET NERVOUS before a race. During my

35 years of competing and coaching, I’ve seen race start
lines that could double as medical triages. I’ve witnessed
athletes vomit, cry, fake injuries, warm up so long they
miss the start, urinate, and even arrive on crutches.

“Any runner who denies having fears, nerves, or some other kind
of disposition,” said 1950s British Olympian GORDON PIRIE, “is a
bad athlete, or a liar.”
Race jitters — irrational panic in the buildup to a race — can
undermine our running goals more completely than illness or injury.
What makes jitters especially destructive is that we don’t always
recognize them, even when we’re shaking in our shoes.
Here, then, are 10 signs of race jitters, along with practical advice
for coping with them.

01 SPONTANEOUS INJURY GENERATION

As race day approaches, we’re suddenly overwhelmed with aches
and pains. We ask ourselves, Can I really be this injured?
Yes. Yes, we can. But never fear. Because we’re always that injured.
Anyone who trains hard will develop sore spots. Training breaks
down muscle so that it can rebuild stronger. Normally, we shrug off
the minor aches and pains that accompany this process — until
race anxiety amplifies them, creating the illusion of major injury.
The night before the 2007 USATF National Club Cross Country
Championships, I remember this one jerk who complained non-
There are as many ways of dealing with pre-race anxiety
stop about lower back spasms and a tight hamstring. The next day, as there are racers.
he won the masters overall title by 8 seconds. I was that jerk.
athletes: The training we scheduled was the training you needed.

02 SECOND-GUESSING SYNDROME
He calmed down. And then he set a PR by 11 minutes.

It’s the week of our race, and the realization hits: Everything I’ve
done to prepare for this race is wrong!
We’re convinced we should have run more distance. Or more
03 LEAVING YOUR RACE IN YOUR WORKOUT
The race is almost upon us, and we doubt our fitness. The answer
intervals. Or a long tempo run. Or hills. Or rested more. Or some- seems clear: Run a time trial or all-out interval session to test
thing. Anything! our conditioning.
101° West Photography

Relax. Workouts overlap in their training effect. Mile repeats
will tap the same muscles and energy systems as a tempo run.
Hill repeats will buoy your “speed” every bit as well as a good set
of quarters. And a long run with hills will work just about every-
Stop. Do not pass go. Testing our race readiness will not improve
our fitness, but it will deplete the resources we have available for
the actual race.
Th is is the difference between a race and a workout: A race is a
Stacey Cramp

thing. So even if your training wasn’t perfect, chances are good 100 percent effort, and a workout is not. As far as our bodies are con-
that you’re fit to race. cerned, a 100 percent effort during a time trial or workout is a race.
Recently, a runner I coach phoned me three days before a half It results in the same energy depletion, muscle inflammation, and
From Left:

marathon. He was concerned that he’d run less volume and shorter psychological fatigue.
tempos than some of his friends. I told him what I always tell my Trust the fitness you have. Don’t waste it on a workout.

20 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
 AVOIDING PRE-R ACE ANXIET Y

04 TRAINING THROUGH A RACE

Anxious runners sometimes try to lessen their anxiety by treating
a race like just another workout.
“Hey, I don’t have to worry about my performance,” the runner
tells himself, “because I’m training through this race.”
Don’t do it. Our bodies need a modest taper prior to race day and
then a short period of recovery afterward. Th is facilitates the muscle
repair and glycogen replenishment required for a race effort.
Nervousness is no excuse for overloading our body with an effort
it cannot handle.
session for his warm-up. On the spot, you decide to copy what
he’s doing.
Stop! Race day is no time to experiment. Stick with the warm-
up you use before interval sessions. Your body has adapted to
that rhythm.
And let’s face it, you’re going to feel like a schmuck when Haile
pulls on his sweats — and you realize he was doing a training ses-
sion before watching you race!

05 WAITING UNTIL PEAK CONDITION

Come on, admit it, some of us postpone racing until we can reach
that promised land known as “peak condition.” We refuse to com-
pete at anything less than optimal fitness for fear of looking foolish.
Only one problem: Racing is an integral part of the journey toward
“peak condition.”
Racing makes us stronger both physiologically and psychologically.
Besides, “peak condition” describes a Utopian future that, for
most of us, never arrives.

06 BETTER RACING THROUGH FOOD

Since the advent of carbohydrate loading in the 1960s, runners have
sought better racing through diet.
But our stomachs are fi nicky. New diets can lead to new and unfor-
tunate gastrointestinal reactions — especially when our stomachs
What’s the rush? Start sanely to finish fast.
are already upset from race nervousness. Changes in diet need to
be tested long before race week.
Also, watch the carboloading within 24 hours of race time. You
don’t want to carbo-unload during the event. Same goes for eating 09 THE FAST START
en route. As masters champion and former 2:13 marathoner DAVID I know, I know. It’s so tempting to go out hard the fi rst 400 meters of
OLDS has noted, “It’s not a meal, it’s a race.” a race. But nothing can be more destructive to your performance
than an overexuberant start.
The laws of physiology do not change from workouts to races. You
The best plan for avoiding wouldn’t sprint the fi rst lap of a mile repeat. You don’t run 5K race
pace for the fi rst mile of a 10-mile run. And you don’t go deeply into
race jitters is to accept oxygen debt before less than 5 percent of the race is completed.

that our 100 percent effort Steady wins the race. It’s a cliché, but it’s also the truth.

will be good enough. 10 OVERTHINKING THE RACE

Finally, don’t overthink things. Runners can become so blinded

07 ROUTINE CHANGES
by pace calculations, weather reports, course concerns, shoe deci-
sions, Gu purchases, technical details (like the correct body lean for
Panic-stricken runners sometimes change their routine in advance downhills), and competitors that they fail to see that a race is not
of races. They skip work. Dodge ordinary chores. Sleep more. Avoid unique among runs. It’s not magic. It’s not a mystery to be solved.
stairs. Do extra stretching. A race is simply a 100 percent effort. And a good race is one in
But operating outside our normal routine only increases our anxiety. which we fi nd our correct effort level for that day and then maintain
Instead, stay in your comfort zone. Go to work or school. Wash it from start to fi nish.
the car. Take out the garbage. It’s counterproductive to plan ahead for every conceivable aspect
As über-coach JACK DANIELS says, “Most great performances of a race. There are simply too many variables.
come when you’re not trying to do it. When you try to do something The best plan for avoiding race jitters is to accept that our 100
special, it usually backfi res.” percent effort will be good enough. Some runners can’t. Successful
runners do. •

08 WARMING UP TO FAILURE
You’re jogging the fi rst mile of your race warm-up, and suddenly you
spot a dead ringer for HAILE GEBRSELASSIE doing a mini-interval
PETE MAGILL holds three American age-group records and
is the oldest American to break 15:00 for 5K, which he did
at age 47. He runs and coaches in South Pasadena, Calif.

RUNNINGTIMES / 21
 OWNER’S MANUAL
USUAL WAY/BETTER WAY
Practice PACE
GOAL: TRACK YOUR PROGRESS TOWARD A
GOAL RACE WITH A KEY WEEKLY WORKOUT
USUAL WAY
Pick one workout you think is important
to do for your goal race. For example, for a
5K, 6 x 800m with a 400m recovery jog.
Run the workout every week in the
few months before your goal race.
Track your progress by noting how much your
repeat times fall as your goal race approaches.
WHY: The point of a key weekly workout
before a goal race isn’t to see how well you
can do the workout. Rather, it’s to build what
elite coach BRAD HUDSON calls “specific
endurance,” or your ability to sustain goal
race pace without becoming unduly fatigued.
Doing the same workout again and again
means that you’re training to become better
at doing that workout. In contrast, running
a series of progressively more race-specific
workouts means that you’re moving your fit-
ness increasingly in the direction of being
able to sustain goal pace for the duration of
your race.
24 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
TRIED
AND TRUE:
COMPRESS
SUCCESS
BETTER WAY
W
hen you finish a long run or hard
Map out a series of race-pace workouts that workout in cold weather, immedi-
logically progress as your fitness does. ately put on compression tights,
socks or calf sleeves. Doing so will speed
recovery. Explains coach, author and two-
While continuing to work at race pace, alter
time Olympian PETE PFITZINGER, “There
the variables of amount of work, repeat
are a few diff erent theories on how they do
duration and rest between repeats.
that, but the key thing is that they work.” One
Track your progress by noting how you theory is that the compression gear produces
can run for longer at race pace with less more venous return, so there’s less blood pool-
rest as your goal race approaches. ing in your workout-damaged leg muscles. For
maximum help with recovery, the compres-
Each of the workouts in a progressive sion gear you wear post-workout should have
series builds on the previous one. As race graduated pressure.
day approaches, you run longer repeats at
goal pace, and you run them with shorter rest
periods. As a result, you’re preparing your
body for the specific physiological (and psy-
chological) demands of your goal race, rather
than just “getting fitter” or “getting faster,” as
is common to think when your repeat times
drop by a few seconds over the course of a
weeks-long buildup. The last workout in the
series, run seven to 10 days before your goal
race, is the most challenging. Treat it almost
as seriously as a race. It should give you an
accurate idea of whether you’re ready to sus-
tain goal pace for the full length of your race.
HOW: Here are progressive weekly workouts
for goal distances of 5K and 10K, as recom-
mended by Hudson:
5K
• 10 x 400m @ current 3K-5K pace
w/ 2:00 jog recoveries
Charles Bloom (Illustrations)
• 12 x 400m @ current 3K-5K pace
w/ 2:00 jog recoveries • 8 x 1K @ current 10K pace
w/ 1:30 jog recoveries
• 7 x 600m @ current 5K pace
w/ 2:00 jog recoveries • 6 x 1 mile @ goal 10K pace
w/ 1:30 jog recoveries
• 5 x 800m @ goal 5K pace w/ 1:30 jog recoveries
101° West Photography Stacey Cramp
• 5 x 2K @ goal 10K pace
• 5 x 1K @ goal 5K pace w/ 1:30 jog recoveries
w/ 1:30 jog recoveries
• 5 x 1K @ goal 5K pace w/ 1:00 jog recoveries
• 4 x 2K @ goal 10K pace w/ 1:00 jog
10K recoveries, followed by 1K @ max eff ort •
• 8 x 800m @ current 5K-10K pace
w/ 2:00 jog recoveries
Tables adapted with permission from Run
From Left:
• 8 x 1K @ current 10K pace Faster, by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald
w/ 2:00 jog recoveries (Broadway Books, 2008).

Take Your BY STEPHEN PYLE
MEDICINE
FOUR FUN EXERCISES
(Ball)
TO BECOME A BETTER RUNNER
IF, WHEN YOU BOUGHT your first pair of run-
ning shoes, you thought you would never have to pick
up another ball in your life, think again.
Incorporating medicine ball routines into your routine can provide
flexibility, coordination and core strength that you don’t get from
running. The pay-off: A better balanced body that can better absorb
the demands of your running-specific work.
JAY JOHNSON, who coaches several elites in Boulder, Colo., is a
big fan of distance runners emulating gym rats. “We use medicine
balls at least twice a week and it’s not uncommon that athletes would
employ them in their training eight or nine times a week as part of
our post-run routines,” says Johnson, whose runners include BRENT
VAUGHN (13:18 5K) and RENEE METIVIER (15:15 5K).
STEVE PLASENCIA, head coach of the University of Minnesota
cross country and track teams, also puts his runners to work with
a medicine ball. “I feel that the med ball has a fun aspect to it,
particularly for American kids who are so accustomed to sports
that involve balls and throwing,” he says.
“The exercise movements
take you through varied
and full ranges of motion.”
Johnson and Plasencia like medicine ball exercises because they your arms toward each other. Try to
emphasize full-body movements rather than isolated muscles. As touch the medicine ball to your feet or
such, they’re highly pertinent to building a flowing, powerful run- your elbows to your knees.
ning stride.
Consider the high toss (seen at the right), which forces you to
get triple extension at the ankle, hip and knee joints. “For the dis-
tance runner, this is important — the ability to express force into the
ground,” Johnson says. “I’m always looking for a whole-body exer-
cise when doing non-running training for runners, and the high
toss is a great example of this.”
One of Plasencia’s runners, CHRIS ROMBOUGH, a four-time All-
American and Big Ten champion in cross country and 10,000m,
notes the value of medicine ball work for his core. As Plasencia says,
“The exercise movements take you through varied and full ranges
of motion designed to increase abdominal and basic core strength.”
Rombough also feels the advantages come race time. “During
races, your shoulders and biceps start burning, getting tired, towards
the end of races and these workouts can help delay that.”
Johnson says some moves, like the single-leg haybales, might not
TARGETED TR ACK TR AINING • COMPRESSION GE AR
seem to have much to do with running at fi rst glance. “It looks like
an odd interpretive dance move,” he says. But try it a few times, and
you’ll start to understand its relevance. In general, says Johnson, “All
of the work I prescribe that involves a medicine ball has an underly-
ing goal of involving as many muscles and muscle groups as possible.”
HAVE A BALL
Here are four medicine ball exercises with big benefits for runners.
A 6– or 8-pound ball, which you can fi nd for $30–$40, is best for
most people. Start with 10 repetitions of each exercise and prog-
ress to two sets of 10 reps.
01 HIGH TOSS
Hold a medicine ball at waist level. Squat down
by bending your knees while keeping your back
straight. Th row the ball straight up by extending
your arms straight up and exploding off of your
feet. It should look similar to shooting a basket-
ball granny style (i.e., underhand). Th row the ball
six to seven feet above your head, let the ball bounce,
catch and repeat.
02 HAYBALE
Stand on both feet and hold the medicine ball at waist level.
Bounce the medicine ball and catch it (similar to dribbling
a basketball two-handed), then lift it up over one shoulder.
Bounce the ball again, and lift it over the other shoulder.
Th is exercise can be tweaked to be more running-specific
by doing it on one leg.
03 V-UPS
Lie flat on your back with
your arms extended straight
back. Grip the medicine ball
with both hands. With slightly
bent knees, lift both your legs and
04HAMSTRING FLIP
With a partner standing over your back
and facing your legs, lie flat on your
stomach. Your partner rolls the med-
icine ball down your hamstrings, and
then you fl ip the ball with your feet up
to your partner. •
For a video of medicine ball exercises, go to
runningtimes.com/mar10.
RUNNINGTIMES / 25
 A FEWOF THE
GRETSSENIOR WRITER MIKE TYMN CAUGHT UP WITH
FOUR OF THE ALL-TIME GREATS ON OUR
LIST TO GATHER THEIR MEMORIES AND FIND
OUT WHAT THEY’RE UP TO TODAY
RAY HATTON, 77
‘Running is just
part of me now.’
“If anyone my age wants to take me on, I’m ready,” says 77-year-old Ray
Hatton of Bend, Ore. “Otherwise, I am not really motivated to race these
days. I much prefer to go out on the trails and enjoy the scenery.”
When, during the early and mid-1970s, masters competition was still
in its infancy, Hatton was “the man” on both the track and the roads, at
least in races up to 20K. He set many American 40–44 records on the track,
including 4:24.0 for 1 mile, 9:17.6 for 2 miles, and 30:56.0 for 10,000m. He
no doubt would have had many road records, but his best performances
came in the days before course certification and record keeping. Still,
Hatton’s name can be found four times among the all-time age-graded
performances. They came between ages 49 and 55 and include a 31:51 (97.2
percent) for 10K at age 51 and a 1:09:23 (95.3 percent) for 20K at age 55.
Born in Lichfield, England, Hatton took up running in 1943 while in
high school and didn’t give up racing until 1992 after back surgery. “But
I am still putting in 30 to 35 miles a week and my weight is still at 138–
140, pretty much what it has always been,” says Hatton, his English accent
still very much with him even though he has lived in the U.S. since attend-
ing the University of Idaho on an athletic scholarship, where he won the
1959 Pacific Coast Conference cross country championship. He earned
his master’s degree at the University of Oregon and taught geography at
Central Oregon Community College in Bend for many years.
Looking back, Hatton most treasures his days of running with the
Birchfield Harriers in England, when he ran a 4:11 mile and 8:57 2-mile,
excellent times in those days of low-mileage training, when the mara-
thon was not a popular event. “I never really had the time or desire for
high-mileage training and so was never motivated to run a marathon or
go more than 20K,” Hatton explains, mentioning that he rarely did more
than 35 miles of training in one week.
“I do it mostly for health and fitness now,” he adds. “But I don’t really
think that much about why I do it. Running is just part of me now.”
40 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
MARION IRVINE, 80
‘It was time to get out.’
In 1993, when she was 63, Sister Marion Irvine entered a half marathon
expecting to finish reasonably close to 1:30. “When I ended up running
1:59:53 or somewhere around there, I knew I didn’t have it anymore and
it was time to get out,” the 80-year-old retired Dominican nun explains
by phone from her San Anselmo, Calif., residence.
Because of stenosis, a degenerative condition of the spinal discs, Irvine
is unable to run even for exercise these days. “But I walk and hike when-
ever I have the opportunity,” she adds.
It was on Memorial Day 1978 that Irvine started running. “I recog-
nized that I had a lot of pent-up energy that wasn’t being expended,” she
said in a 1980 interview. “I tried swimming, but that didn’t work. Then a
niece suggested that I try jogging. At first, I thought it was a crazy idea,
but then I invested in some tennis shoes and shorts and started out by
walking stretches in the sun and running in the shade. I found that I felt
better almost immediately and I’ve run just about every day since.”
Initially, Irvine was a big curiosity around the convent, where she was
the supervisor in charge of 17 elementary and secondary Dominican
schools in California. Not only was it unusual for a nun to run, but heads
really turned when she went out to run in the rain.
Irvine peaked at age 54 with a 2:51:01 at the 1983 Cal International
Marathon in Sacramento, qualifying her for the Olympic trials in 1984, where
she recorded a 2:52:02. “Those two races would have to be my most memorable
experiences,” she says. “Those two and every time I broke 40 minutes at 10K.”
Her best 10K was 37:43. At one time, she just about owned the record
books for women 50 and over. She still has four times among the all-
time leaders, including her Olympic trials marathon (98.6 percent), a
40:37 10K (97.9 percent) at age 61, and a 19:53 5K (97.6 percent) also at 61.
(The 2:51 was not eligible for record consideration as it was on a point-
to-point course.)
“I don’t regret a day of it,” she says about her running career. “I met many
nice people and overall it was a very wonderful and broadening experience.”
When not “slumming” on her computer, Irvine is now active in lob-
bying for social justice reforms, especially in legislation for abolishing
the death penalty.

SHIRLEY MATSON, 69
‘I didn’t buy the
extended warranty.’
After she retired her racing shoes four years ago, Shirley Matson found it too
depressing to look at the many trophies and medals she had garnered over
some three decades of competition, so she boxed them all up and put them
in the garage. “There was no evidence that a runner ever lived in the house,”
Matson, a 69-year-old resident of Larkspur, Calif., says with a laugh.
“I didn’t like the idea of fizzling and fading, which is what I seemed to be
doing,” Matson explains about her decision to quit racing. “It had reached
the point where it was getting to be like a job and the body just didn’t
want to take that intensity any longer. I didn’t buy the extended warranty.”
Matson’s name can be found 28 times in the all-time women’s age-
graded rankings, including first at 10K with a 40:20 (98.6 percent) at age
61 and also at 25K with a 1:41:01 (96.3 percent) at 56. However, she con-
siders ages 50 and 51 as her best years. “I was on a roll then,” she says,
referring to a time when she erased many of the age-group records set by
Sister Marion Irvine, including a 2:50:26 in the 1991 Twin Cities Marathon.
Born in Oakland, Calif., Matson grew up in the Bay Area and gradu-
ated from U.C. Berkeley. Although she ran her first race in 1977 at age 37,
she was only a casual competitor until turning 40 on Nov. 7, 1980. She
qualified for the 1984 Olympic trials marathon with a 2:50:03 and went
on to win the 40–44 division in the Cotton Row 10K, the Cascade Run
Victor Sailer/Photo Run (2)
Off 15K, and the Peachtree 10K. She looks upon that Peachtree victory
as probably her most memorable race as she ended a string of 75 consec-
utive masters victories by Cindy Dalrymple, then the reigning queen of
masters distance running.
Three days after turning 45 in 1985, Matson broke the W45–49 10K
©Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
record of Mila Kania by nearly a minute with 35:32, her personal best.
Since leaving the sport, Matson has channeled her energies into danc-
ing. “I’ll go out for a walk and then break into a jog, sort of stride out, just
to get the old feeling back,” she says, “but when I left running I transi-
tioned to dancing. I’ve always loved dancing — tap, jazz, ballet, ballroom,
From Left:
swing — and I’ve found an extended family with other dancers, just as I
did in running. And dancers can be as crazy as runners.”
NORM GREEN, 77
‘I had nothing
more to prove.’
Like many other runners who have excelled as masters, Norm Green
has wondered what he might have done had he been competitive dur-
ing his 20s and 30s.
“There are times when I wonder if I could have been an Olympian,”
muses Green, a 77-year-old retired pastor and administrator for the
American Baptist National Ministries in Valley Forge. “But I have no
regrets. I hit the sport when the window of opportunity was right and
with relatively fresh legs. Who knows what I might have done during my
50s had I subjected myself to all the pounding during my younger years?”
A native of Oakland, Calif., Green was a standout miler in high school
and got down to 4:24 at the University of California at Berkeley before giv-
ing up the sport during his sophomore year because of a heavy study load
and a part-time job. He was “born again” as a runner in 1981. “I started
running for exercise in 1968, but I suppose it was around Christmas 1979
that my brother Ron and his family visited us for a week and made daily
training runs a pattern to follow,” he recalls.
It wasn’t until two years later that Green decided to test himself in a
road race. Within a matter of months, he established himself as the best
50-over runner in the country, if not in the world. At age 52, he recorded
a 2:25:51 marathon (98.0 percent), and at age 55 he clocked 1:10:23 for a
half marathon (99.4 percent), the latter being the top age-graded time at
that distance. He also turned in a 2:27:42 marathon at age 55, making him
the oldest American to break 2:30, and had a 1:09:30 half marathon at 52.
“It’s difficult to single out one race,” he responds when asked about his
most memorable event, “but [the] Twin Cities [marathon], which I ran
six or seven times, was always a favorite, and I was able to go to several
international races.”
Green was forced to the sidelines when diagnosed with prostate cancer
in 1995, but returned to the racing wars at age 72 after beating the dis-
ease. After two years of competing, he took a fall during a training run. A
condition known as an ascending aortic aneurism was diagnosed by his
doctor, and surgery was required. After the surgery, Green decided not to
return to racing. “I had nothing more to prove,” he shrugs.
Green still puts in around 25 miles a week on the bike paths near his
home in Chesterbrook, Penn. “I’ve adjusted to it,” he says, referring to not
being able to race. “I had a great career and I cherish the experiences.” •
For a podcast with current masters phenom Colleen
De Reuck, go to runningtimes.com/mar10.
RUNNINGTIMES / 41
 By Parker Morse

KENYA
STRIKES BACK LINET & VIVIAN
ECLIPSE
THE ETHIOPIANS
SOMETIMES THE STARS OF OUR SPORT
CAN BE MORE LIKE THE MOON,
HIDING OTHER STARS WITH THEIR GLARE.
THE FOUR-YEAR OLYMPIAD
BETWEEN ATHENS AND BEIJING
BELONGED TO THE ETHIOPIAN DUO OF
TIRUNESH DIBABA AND MESERET DEFAR,
WITH DIBABA CONQUERING BOTH DISTANCE EVENTS
IN THE BIRD CAGE IN 2008.
During that period, their light was so bright,
it was difficult to see any movement in the ranks behind them.
The story of Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot’s 5,000m PR
sums up the picture very neatly.
In June of 2007, Cheruiyot took the track
in Oslo’s Bislett stadium, one of the shrines of the sport,
and shattered Meseret Defar’s world record of 14:24.53 by running 14:22.51.
Few, however, took note of Cheruiyot’s feat, as Defar was in that race as well, and reached the line in 14:16.63.

42 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
 At the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin, however, Dibaba and
Defar left nearly empty-handed. With some of their brilliance dimmed, we
can now look back and trace the rising paths of the new princesses of the
distances, Cheruiyot, and her training partner Linet Masai, who shocked
the Ethiopians in 2009 and promise to make 2010 very interesting indeed.
One upset in Berlin would have been plenty. Ethiopia had owned
the women’s 10,000m gold medal since Gete Wami’s 1999 win in
Seville, and three of the six Olympic golds since women have been
running the event. Only Xing Huina of China had defeated the
Ethiopian women in a global championship 10,000m fi nal. Whether
the early pace was slow or fast, the Ethiopians would close faster
than anyone in the first women’s track final of the championship.
Masai, however, had a plan reminiscent of the team tactics used by
Kenyan men in the steeplechase. As Masai’s and Cheruiyot’s agent and
advisor Ricky Simms explains, “Our plan in the 10,000m was to make
the race honest in the second half. Linet and Grace Momanyi worked
together and took turns pushing the pace. Our aim was to take away
some of Defar’s speed on the last lap.”
“We knew we’d have to run the last eight laps fast to run the finish out
of them,” Masai explained after the race. And in the end it was Masai
who had the kick, sprinting from a tight pack of four on the homestretch
to grab the championship. Defar, who is usually well clear of the field by
the time she reaches the homestretch, faded to fifth.
But there was more drama in the making the following weekend, when
Cheruiyot ran essentially the same script in the 5,000m final. In 11 pre-
vious races against Defar, including the 2007 world championships in
Osaka, where they finished first and second, Cheruiyot had won only one.
In Berlin she cranked the pace up with each successive lap such that Defar,
again, was unable to kick clear of the pack. (The pack, this time, included
Sylvia Kibet who grabbed second behind Cheruiyot.)
“Viv knew that she couldn’t give Meseret a headstart in the last 200m,”
says Simms.
And so the stage is set for 2010, an “off year” with no Olympic or world
golds to be won, but one in which competition rather than domination
is once more the center of attention.
44 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
2007 was not Cheruiyot’s arrival, but her return. She began competing
internationally for Kenya in 1998, just 15 at the time, but fifth in the junior
race at that year’s world cross country championships. She went on to
build one of the best competitive records ever seen in the junior ranks, fin-
ishing second in the junior cross country race in 1999, winning it in 2000,
and racing 5,000m in the Sydney Olympics, all before her 18th birthday.
Cheruiyot earned the nickname “Kadago,” Swahili for “the young one.”
Making a mark as a senior took a little more time, however, as
Cheruiyot committed to her schoolwork and limited her international
competition until finishing in 2005. Her 5,000m mark from Sydney stood
as her PR until 2006, but in 2007 came the Bislett breakthrough, which
buoyed her to silver in the 2007 world championships behind Defar and
highlighted a string of top performances that year. Running with the ends
of her long hair dyed red, the images of Cheruiyot on the track showed as
much fire as her results.
That year also brought Cheruiyot a training partner even younger than
the Young One. Linet Chepkwemoi Masai won the world junior cross coun-
try title in Mombasa in March, finished seventh in the Oslo record race
and was fourth in the Kenyan selection race for the Osaka world cham-
pionships, a race Cheruiyot won. That team finished second, third and
fourth in Osaka, so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine Masai as at
least a finalist had she been allowed to compete.
 OPENING SPREAD AND BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS:
and Linet Masai training in Bushy Park in Teddington, southwest London.
COLOR PHOTOS: 5,000m and 10,000m finals at the 2009 world championships in Berlin.
Linet Masai is the second of three racing siblings, led into athletics by
her older brother Moses and followed by junior brother Dennis. All three,
along with Cheruiyot and Momanyi, spend competition seasons at the
house owned by their management company in southwest London’s
Teddington neighborhood. There they train intensely, share the house-
work (Moses does most of the cooking) and spend the rest of their time
reading, sleeping, and watching European soccer matches on television.
The sibling rivalry between Moses and Linet has grown up with the
pair, Moses usually going first and Linet usually beating his standard a
few years later. Both Masais finished fourth in their respective Beijing
finals; before Berlin, Moses announced, “Whatever she does, I’ll do bet-
ter.” Um … not likely.
After her debut appearance in the international athletics world in 2007,
winning that junior race when Kenya hosted the world cross country
championships in Mombasa, Masai has shown most promise in cross
country. In 2008, still eligible to compete as a junior, she stepped up to
the senior race and finished third; in 2009 she was second, after winning
several of the highly competitive European cross events leading up to the
world championships.
The steadying influence of Moses and Dennis likely contributes to
another of Linet’s talents, one that she shares with Cheruiyot. Both women
are able to put away their on-track competitiveness when they’re off the
track. They’re able to race each other (and have, frequently) and still be
friends once the finish line is crossed; they’re also able to stretch each
Mark Shearman (2,4,7)
other in workouts, where Cheruiyot performs better in short, fast repeats
and Masai has the advantage in the longer speed work.
At home in Kenya, both women are nominally based in Kaptagat, but
Masai has the advantage of training partners Dennis and Moses at the
Victor Sailer/Photo Run (1,3,5,6)
family home near Mt. Elgon, which is closer to Iten.
Photo:
Vivian Cheruiyot (left, shorter)
The Beijing Olympics illustrated both how far Kenyan women had come
and how far they still had to go. Masai raced the 10,000m final on the
first day of track competition and set a world junior record of 30:26.50 (a
Kenyan national record until early 2009) but finished fourth. Cheruiyot,
ill before her 5,000m competition, could finish only fifth as Dibaba swept
the golds and vanquished Defar.
It was a disappointing end to the Olympiad, but, nine months later,
Masai telegraphed the way 2009 would go on the last day of May in New
York City. The Reebok Grand Prix was the site of a Defar record run in 2006;
last year, the meet brought Dibaba to make an attempt at the 5,000m mark
despite the meet’s unreliable weather. Late in the race, with the pacemak-
ers off the track and a stiff breeze on the backstretch ruining any chance
of a record, Dibaba signaled Masai to take the lead. Perhaps she was hop-
ing to draft off the tall Kenyan, whose stride recalls Paul Tergat’s, but
instead Masai opened a gap on Dibaba and simply left the Olympic cham-
pion gasping in her wake. Masai finished in 14:35.39, and told reporters,
“I was expecting [Dibaba] to pass me in the last lap, even when I saw the
lead I had. I was surprised when she never showed up.”
For Masai today, the 2010 campaign is already underway. The world
cross country championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in March is the first
goal, and Masai is using the European circuit as preparation for the
Kenyan championships. Cheruiyot is focusing on the world indoor track
championships, so Masai will be left to face Dibaba, Defar or both alone
in the senior race.
RUNNINGTIMES / 45

Fortunately for American fans, the competition between Kenyan and
Ethiopian women is heating up just in time for the arrival of the IAAF’s
new Diamond League. Intended to replace the six-meeting Golden League,
which was an entirely European circuit, the Diamond League is a 14-meet
circuit including both the New York meet (newly rechristened as the adi-
das Grand Prix) and the Prefontaine Classic. With the circuit featuring all
the richest meets and dedicated to signing top athletes, Cheruiyot, Masai,
Dibaba and Defar will almost certainly be competing, which means there’s
a very good chance many of them will be racing in New York, Eugene, or both.
(Preliminary schedules have New York hosting both a women’s 5,000m and
another sprint face-off between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay.)
Unlike the Ethiopians, Cheruiyot and Masai may expect to compete
in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi in October, and
that goal may affect their racing plans for 2010. If anything, however, it’s
likely to benefit their American appearances, as the Kenyan athletics fed-
eration rules following selection for Berlin limited the pair’s competition
in Europe. Commonwealth Games selection may motivate Kenyan dis-
tance runners to push for events earlier in the Diamond League schedule,
which means New York and Eugene.
Either way, these two women — the Young One and the Younger One
— will be faces to look for in the front during 2010 and on through Daegu
2011 and London 2012. •
46 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
A TYPICAL
TRAINING
SCHEDULE
According to coach/manager Ricky Simms, Linet Masai’s
and Vivian Cheruiyot’s 2009 success was not due to
anything new, but the accumulated fitness of steady
improvement. He describes a typical week’s training dur-
ing the winter as including these elements:
01 Long run of 70–90 minutes
02 Tempo run of 30–40 minutes
One long interval session (e.g., 5 x
03
2,000m or 8–10 x 1,000m) or fartlek
04 One hill session (e.g., 15 x 30–45 seconds)
The other days are steady running of 45–60 minutes, often
over hilly terrain.
“They normally run twice per day with gym or strength
exercises two to three times per week,” adds Simms. “Two
Mark Shearman
or three times a week they will do a very easy third run.
They always rest on Sunday.”
Simms compares Masai and Cheruiyot by their strongest
Victor Sailer/Photo Run (1,3)
workouts. Cheruiyot’s best workouts, he explains, would be
6 x 800m or 12 x 400m; Masai is stronger at 7 x 1,000m or
a descending ladder, 1600m – 1200m – 800m – 4 x 400m.
Not to be overlooked is how they recover. Simms reports
that, like many elite athletes, “they sleep most of the time
Photo:
when they are not training. Linet is a champion sleeper!”
Q. THE NEAREST TRACK IS A LONG WAY AWAY. HOW Q. MOST WORK DAYS, I NEED TO RUN BEFORE
CAN I KNOW WHAT TO SHOOT FOR IN RACES IF WORK, OR IT JUST ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN. BUT THE
ALL OF MY SPEEDWORK IS DONE ON UNMEASURED QUALITY OF MY RUNS AT 5:30 A.M. ISN’T WHAT I
COURSES OR BY TIME ON THE ROADS? NEED TO RACE LIKE I SHOULD BE ABLE TO.

NICOLE HUNT: To help my athletes determine their race fitness when the NICOLE HUNT: Effort trumps pace when conditions are less than ideal.
track is inaccessible I suggest doing one of three things: Ask yourself, What pace would I race at 5:30 a.m. without a taper, in
• Race a local low-key race and plug your results into a running calcula-the middle of a work week, slightly sleep deprived? Adjust your pace to
tor, which will estimate your equivalent race performances. reflect the conditions.
However, it is critical to include goal-pace running in your training
• Run a goal-specific workout using a GPS monitor. Wear racing shoes plan. Reserve these necessary workouts for the weekends when your body
and run on terrain, grade, and in weather as close as possible to your is primed to run fast.
goal race.
• Run a goal-specific workout on a treadmill comparing results to pre- JENNY SPANGLER: Here are a few suggestions that might help in increas-
vious years when you knew your race fitness. ing the quality of your 5:30 a.m. runs:
• Fluids are extremely important even early in the morning. Make sure
Repeating race-specific workouts on a tread- you are well hydrated before you go to bed the night before and drink
mill or measured road every six to eight weeks when you first wake up in the morning. I have trained my body to stom-
also helps gauge race fitness level. ach orange juice and a banana before I head out the door for a run.

JOE RUBIO: There are two types of runners • Stretch right before you go to bed at night. I don’t know if there is any
— those who are very good at understanding scientific evidence to support this but I have found that I am “looser”
efforts and how that translates into paces, and fi rst thing in the morning if I stretch right before I go to bed.
those who aren’t. If you’re good at judging paces, • Get your running clothes and shoes ready the night before. This will
just convert the workout you would do on a track into an give you a few extra minutes in the morning to stretch or get in a short
Americanized fartlek, meaning a set amount of time running hard walk or easy run before you break into your workout.
and a set amount of time for recovery, and don’t worry about it. I trained in
• Sometimes spending extra time warming up and reducing the amount
this fashion for most of my career — I just found it mentally easier to run
of the intense portion of the workout is more beneficial than attempt-
hard on a golf course, around a dirt field or on the roads instead of a track.
ing to do a greater portion of the workout at a slower pace. For example,
If you have no sense of pace, you have two options available. Either
instead of a 2-mile warm-up and cool-down around a 4-miler at 7:00/
invest in a Garmin-type GPS device, or break out the trusty old-school
mile pace, do a 3-mile warm-up, then 3 miles at 6:30/pace, followed
measuring wheel, measure set distances on a road, and do your work-
by a 2-mile cool-down.
outs there.
• Consider doing a high-quality workout on the weekend from time to
Q. I DO NEARLY ALL OF MY WORKOUTS WITH A GROUP, time instead of a long run, or incorporate quality into your long run.
BECAUSE I GET IN BETTER QUALITY THAN ON MY OWN. IN MY
RACES, HOWEVER, I SOMETIMES STRUGGLE TO HOLD A PACE Q. I’M UNSURE WHEN TO SEE A DOCTOR OR PHYSICAL
WHEN I’M NOT IN A PACK. SHOULD I DO MORE WORKOUTS THERAPIST ABOUT A RUNNING INJURY, VERSUS RESTING
BY MYSELF TO TEACH MYSELF HOW TO RUN HARD SOLO? TO LET IT HEAL. THAT’S ESPECIALLY THE CASE BECAUSE SO
MANY DOCTORS I’VE ENCOUNTERED ARE UNKNOWLEDGEABLE
PETE PFITZINGER: It’s useful to do some of your workouts with others ABOUT OR UNHELPFUL TOWARD RUNNING.
because you may push yourself harder, and learning to respond to others’
pace variation in workouts is great preparation for racing. It’s also use- PETE PFITZINGER: The most important thing is
ful to do some of your workouts alone because you then learn to dictate to find a doctor or physical therapist who has
the pace, which takes a higher level of concentration than simply keep- experience working with runners and
ing up with the pace set by others. other athletes. Even if you need
One tip that worked for me is to focus on maintaining leg and arm to drive an hour or more, it’s
turnover because sometimes when the mind drifts, leg turnover slows usually worth the extra
slightly, which slows you down. You can also gain the skill of maintain- time to work with some-
ing pace by leading parts of the group workouts rather than just tucking one who understands
in behind others. your obsession and can
get you back on the road
JACK DANIELS: The key is to train at specific paces based on your abil- with minimal downtime.
ity level and state of fitness. If running with others gets you going faster A guideline that I use with runners is if you have pain that gets worse
than necessary, nothing is being accomplished that is better than going while running then you need time off and/or treatment. If you have minor
at the proper training pace. Maybe you’re trying to run too fast when by pain that eases while running then it’s usually (but not always) OK to train
yourself, and without others there, you feel demoralized. I feel you can through it. In this case, evaluate the pain at the start of the run and run
run at the proper paces by yourself, or with others, but don’t let the con- a 5- to 10-minute loop back to your starting point. If the pain has eased
ditions or situation dictate pace. you can likely continue. If the pain has worsened then you should stop.

RUNNINGTIMES / 57
 JOE RUBIO: The concept is that, as you age, you need greater recovery
between hard efforts, not necessarily more days off. An easy, short run
is actually probably of more benefit than a complete day off since it
allows you to move the crud out of your legs. There is absolutely noth-
ing that says you need to take another day off after you turn 40, but
life happens and if you need an extra day off to stay healthy, plus your
reality is long hours at work, family obligations and the like, it proba-
bly makes a lot of sense to take the day off and come back another day
more rested and better able to handle it on top of getting the other pri-
orities in your life covered as well.

Q. WHEN A LONG RUN ISN’T GOING WELL, I’M UNSURE

WHETHER TO CUT IT SHORT OR GUT IT OUT.

JACK DANIELS: When a long run is not going well, I’d recommend end-
ing the run, before you fall into poor mechanics and bring on an injury.
Some days on a long run you feel better going a little faster than normal
Q. MY GOAL RACE IS LIKELY TO BE RUN IN HOTTER and that is OK if backing off a little leads to less-desirable mechanics.
CONDITIONS THAN I’M TRAINING IN. IS THERE ANY
VALUE IN TRYING TO ACCLIMATIZE BY WEARING EXTRA JENNY SPANGLER: Always know the purpose of your run, as this will
CLOTHES? WHEN I DO SO, MY TRAINING PACE ISN’T help in your decision. Obviously if there are any pain points or you’re ill,
QUITE AS SPECIFIC FOR THE EFFORT; AM I SABOTAGING you need to cut the run short.
THE FITNESS GAIN FOR THIS SPECIFICITY? If you’re doing a key long run building up to a goal race and you have
no extra days to spare, then you need to gut it out. It’s OK to slow the run
JACK DANIELS: It depends on the race distance. It takes about two weeks down but it’s important to get in the time. If the long run isn’t a key run
to acclimatize to the heat. Maybe some runs indoors on a treadmill will in a race build-up then it’s just fine to cut it short, but don’t let doing so
help. Some extra clothing can also help, but not so much that it affects become a pattern.
your mechanics. When I’m doing a long run that isn’t going well but I need to get it in,
The key here is to wear extra warming clothes but not much extra then instead of thinking about the entire distance I have to cover I reduce
weight, which will mess with running technique. Running in the warmer it into segments, which helps me mentally. For example, I tell myself to
part of your day can help, but I would avoid running under too warm con- concentrate on my form for 10 minutes or to the next ridge. Once the 10
ditions, because then you can’t perform good workouts. minutes are up I tell myself to concentrate on my breathing for 10 min-
utes. Of course, running with a group helps tremendously when your
Q. I HEAR THAT, AS AN OLDER RUNNER, I SHOULD long run isn’t going well.
TAKE OFF ONE DAY PER WEEK. THAT SEEMS LIKE AN
ARBITRARY STANDARD. ALSO, WON’T THAT JUST
ACCELERATE THE SLOWING AND WEIGHT GAIN
THAT I’VE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH AS I AGE?

PETE PFITZINGER: Taking off one day per week is indeed an arbitrary
guideline, but the principle of providing increased recovery time as you
age is valid. Typically, after about age 40 to 45 more recovery time is
required from high-intensity efforts such as races and hard interval ses-
sions. This may mean including one extra easy day before your next hard
run or a few days of cross-training until your leg muscles have the resil-
iency to resume running. It’s usually advisable to not run hard again until
your muscles feel close to completely recovered from the previous race or
other high-intensity effort.
Recovery from long runs is somewhat different in that some older run-
ners handle them as well or better than their younger colleagues, while Q. I HAVE TO DRIVE 10 MILES TO FIND A HILL. ARE
other older runners (perhaps those with a history of injury or who aren’t THERE ANY WORKOUTS THAT SIMULATE THE BENEFITS
as biomechanically sound) require an extra recovery day or two for the OF HILLS THAT I CAN DO ON FLAT GROUND?
muscles to loosen up from long runs. The key is to know how your body
responds to various types of hard and long efforts and to adjust your sub- JAY JOHNSON: Technically, no. However, there is a drill where you “run
sequent training accordingly. against a wall.” Place your hands on a wall, leaning in at a 45-degree
angle, and bring your quads up to parallel with the ground. When you
JENNY SPANGLER: As we age, not only is recovery from workouts longer do these, do them all out. Start with 10 seconds, rest 90 seconds, and then
but our muscular strength and mobility of our joints decline. For adequate do another 10 seconds. Over time, build to 3 x 15 seconds with 30 seconds
recovery it’s important that most masters runners take at least one day rest for a real challenge metabolically.
off per week of running. This is really more a fact of life than an arbitrary Also, a parking garage is fantastic, but the grade is steeper than I like,
standard. You can, however, on non-running days do some form of cross- as I typically have athletes run a 1 percent grade. And you obviously have
training, including non-impact aerobic activity and strength training. to be careful with traffic.

58 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
JOE RUBIO: Hills are generally done as a prelude to speed work. Hills Q. I’M NEVER SURE HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE NORMAL
mimic the exaggerated movements of running at a faster rate of speed, FATIGUE FROM TRAINING FROM THAT CAUSED BY
but do so with the added resistance of gravity. The thing to do if you don’t OVERTRAINING, ILLNESS OR ANEMIA. BUT IF I BACK OFF
have hills is to do faster-paced running; it accomplishes much the same EVERY TIME I HIT A ROUGH PATCH FOR A FEW DAYS, IT
thing. Can’t get to a 250m hill to do six reps at a good effort? Simple: Do SEEMS LIKE I’M COMPROMISING MY ABILITY TO PUSH
six x 60 seconds at faster than race effort. THROUGH AND REACH A HIGHER LEVEL OF FITNESS.

Q. SHOULD I DO SUPPLEMENTARY WORK LIKE CORE ROUTINES, JACK DANIELS: When I have an athlete with “dead legs” I go through a
STRIDERS, ETC., ON HARDER DAYS OR ON EASIER DAYS? IF checklist: Are you getting enough sleep? Are you on some silly diet and
ON HARDER DAYS, BEFORE OR AFTER THE HARDER WORK? trying to lose weight? Are you dealing with a particular stress in your
life? If none of these are the case, then I recommend seeing a doctor and
JAY JOHNSON: Harder days and after the workout is the only way to ini- getting a blood test, to check for anemia, thyroid condition, mono. When
tially implement any extra work that is hard. That said, most sophisticated you’re not feeling so great running there is a reason. Of course it could
programs have core work and strides on easy days, but that’s because they be increasing the stress of training too rapidly. I suggest staying at one
facilitate either recovery (gentle core work) or get your body ready for level of stress for four to six weeks before increasing the stress of train-
something the next day (e.g., hill strides in the afternoon before a track ing, and if increased stress leads to poorer feeling or poorer performance,
session the next morning). then you have to back off.
So the real issue is that you should always put the extra stuff after the
hard days when you are first implementing it into your workout. Then, PETE PFITZINGER: You need to trust yourself that you won’t be too soft
you’ll find that some of it can move to your easy days, yet other aspects on yourself and will make the right decisions. In almost every case, a dis-
need to be part of your hard days. For example, see the five-part video tance runner will tend to push through overtraining or illness or injury
series on general strength at runningtimes.com/gsvideos. The more chal- rather than backing off, so it’s unlikely you’re being overly cautious.
lenging exercises, such as leg circuits, are done only on hard days, while You can reduce the frequency with which you hit rough patches by
pedestal holds, which once were hard-day activities, soon become an learning what causes them and staying below that threshold. Are your
easy-day activity. rough patches caused by having three hard days in a row, or trying to
squeeze in high-quality training during the work week, or not allowing
NICOLE HUNT: I suggest to my athletes that they perform strides and enough recovery from racing? By understanding the triggers for rough
other supplementary training nearly every day. Supplementary work patches, you’ll be able to train hard enough to optimally improve with-
can be done both before and after a hard workout. If you’re doing it after out going over the edge. •
a hard workout, refuel fi rst, then begin your supplementary training.
Refueling immediately gives the immune system a boost and will help
repair cellular damage. After refueling you’re less susceptible to injury FOR A PODCAST WITH MORE REAL-WORLD TRAINING QUESTIONS
and an impaired immune system, and therefore able to optimize your AND EXPERT ANSWERS, GO TO RUNNINGTIMES. COM/MAR10..
RUNNINGTIMES.COM/MAR10
supplementary training.

A GUIDE TO YOUR GUIDES

JACK DANIELS: Come on, do you really need to JAY JOHNSON: A former assistant coach under JOE RU BIO: Rubio is a two-time Olympic
ask? One of the most influential coaches of the Mark Wetmore at the University of Colorado, marathon trials qualifier and coach of the
last 35 years, Daniels is the author of the best- Johnson coaches elites such as Colorado-based ASICS Aggies in central California. He oper-
selling Daniels’ Running Formula and advisor to, Sara and Brent Vaughn and Renee Metivier. He ates the online running specialty store
among other elites, Olympians Magdalena Lewy is the co-creator of runningdvds.com. runningwarehouse.com.
Boulet and Abdi Abdirahman.
PETE PFITZINGER: A two-time Olympic mara- JENNY SPANGLER: Best known as the sur-
NICOLE HUNT: A two-time Olympic mara- thoner and former columnist for this magazine, prise winner of the 1996 Olympic marathon
thon trials competitor with a best of 2:40, Hunt Pfitzinger is the chief executive of the New trials, Spangler at one point simultaneously
was the 2006 U.S. mountain running cham- Zealand Academy of Sport. He is the lead author held the American junior and masters records
pion. She coaches competitive runners via of Advanced Marathoning. in the marathon. She coaches runners of all lev-
speedendurance.net. els of ability in Illinois and via jennyspangler.com.

RUNNINGTIMES / 59
 TRAILS
Timmy
BY ADAM W. CHASE
ON
TOP
EX-COLLEGIATE RUNNER PARR FINDS
NICHE IN MOUNTAIN RUNNING
ENDURANCE IS ONE of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the
one who endures that the victory comes. — Buddha
We all strive for, or at least dream of, that race
where things fall into place and we’re able
to keep a steady pace, push hard in a sus-
tained effort and run across the fi nish line
to break the tape in fi rst place. But few of us
dream of putting together four such perfor-
mances in the same season, especially at four
Parr is somewhat of a legend
at Western State, where he
showed up to his first collegiate
cross country practice in
cut-off jean shorts, hiking
shoes and a polo shirt.
diverse, national-caliber races. TIMMY PARR
did just that, however, all within a couple of
intense months.
It’s debatable which of Parr’s two big-
gest 2009 wins was more impressive — the
13.3-mile Pikes Peak Ascent (2:12:32, by
more than 7 minutes) or the Leadville 100
(17:27, a 17-minute margin) — but the fact
that he won both mid-August races a week
apart is beyond category, as they say in
cycling parlance. Before Pikes, Parr won
the 12K Cheyenne Canon Mountain Race
outside Colorado Springs, earning him
his third trip to the IAAF World Mountain
Running Championships.
At those championships, held in Italy
only two weeks after the Leadville 100, Parr
managed a 48t place in the 12.9K race,
close behind teammates MATT BYRNE,
Parr won the Leadville 100 in his first try.
ZAC FREUDENBERG and RICKEY GATES,
70 / RUNNINGTIMES_MARCH 2010
helping the American team fi nish sixth. A
week later, Parr headed to Ouray, Colo., to
win the grueling 17.1-mile Imogene Pass Run
— which tops out at 13,120 feet above sea level
— by more than 2 minutes in the fastest time
(2:15:06) in a decade.
Parr was pleased how well his Leadville
training, including a day where he ran 31
miles in the morning and another 31 in the
afternoon, transferred smoothly to both
Pikes and Imogene. He went into the sea-
son thinking he might be able to win some
of the races but was told by many his plans
were too ambitious. “But mentally, emotion-
ally, and physically it was something I had to
do,” Parr says. “I almost wish I had also run
the Pikes Peak Marathon [the day after the
Pikes Peak Ascent] this year as well. I was
signed up for that too.”
Parr grew up near Lake Tahoe, where he
ran through the neighboring mountains
until moving to Colorado Springs with his
family in 1997. Parr’s father instilled in his
son what the young Parr describes as “a
desire for the outdoors, mountains, hard
work and love of the gift of life from God.”
At Western State College in Gunnison,
he earned a degree in exercise and sport
science in 2005 while garnering multiple All-
American honors in track and cross country
under since-retired legendary head coach
DUANE VANDENBUSCHE.
“His leadership demanded perfection, pas-
sion, hard work,” Parr says, relating why he
was able to run so well in college. “And it was
no place for slackers.”
One of Parr’s former instructors at Western
State, SCOTT DRUM, an associate profes-
Scott Drum (2)
sor in the Recreation and Exercise and
Sport Science Department, started the
Gunnison Endurance Project early last year
Nancy Hobbs
as a means to train runners, cyclists and tri-
athletes while also using the school’s labs
From Left:
For more details on the hydration study,
go to runningtimes.com/mar10.
 LE ADVILLE 100 CHAMPION TIM PARR • HOW TO HYDR ATE

to study the effects call Timmy and I will literally fly right back Who knew that somewhere hidden in there
of a lt it ude-based into a positive thought process. Th is is one was the fact that you could literally win sim-
endu r a nc e t r a i n- of Timmy’s greatest strengths, positivity. It ply by not quitting. How cool is that?”
ing. Drum enlisted is also contagious.” Parr’s goals for 2010 include running the
Parr and his close Callahan recounts that one of Parr’s favor- Boston Marathon, another 100-mile trail
f r iend a nd t r a i n- ite things to do on their runs is, at any given race (probably Western States), returning
ing mate, DUNCAN random point, scream “I’m alive!” or “I’m a to Pikes Peak for both the Ascent and the
CA LL A H A N, t he Timmy!” at the top of his lungs. Marathon and the Imogene Pass run. He
winner of the 2008 “That’s right: ‘I’m a Timmy!’ No joke,” also plans to go after some speed records: the
Leadville 100, to be Callahan says with a laugh. “It defi nitely 44-mile Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim
t he project’s f i rst keeps the runs entertaining.” But it’s Parr’s Run (where he currently has the fourth-fast-
t wo specimen ath- mental strength that Callahan credits as est time) and possibly the Colorado’s 14ers
letes, and later added being the source of sustained success. record. But he planned to start the year by
fe l lo w Gu n n i s on That and some natural talent, like his envi- marrying longtime girlfriend LYNETTE
endu r a nc e f iend ous stride and the fact that Parr can take JACKSON in late January.
KERI NELSON, who a month completely off and “not gain an When not running, Parr can be found
won the 2008 Pikes ounce of fat” only to come right back and working as an evening manager at a coffee
Parr cruising Peak Marathon and perform close to where he was before he shop on campus or doing construction work
to a win on
Imogene Pass. Imogene Pass Run. took the break. around Gunnison. The combined love of the
Drum calls Parr If Parr is going to break records at Leadville outdoors, running and mountains has given
an “under-the-radar free spirit who never or Pikes, he’s going to have to break those set him a passion for mountain climbing, rock
ceases to amaze me and anyone else lucky by MATT CARPENTER. climbing, speed climbing and winter moun-
enough to spend a few days with him or “If I had to pick something that stands taineering. He thrives off of challenges and
watch him compete.” Drum paints a vivid out for me, it would be the fact that when loves what he does. “I do it because I love
picture of Parr as an “animal” who lets out things got ugly he did not quit,” Carpenter getting out and seeing and enjoying God’s
spontaneous, sage-induced yelps when says. “Kind of a case study for the phrase, wonderful creation,” he says.
running around the high altitude terrain ‘Quitters never win and winners never quit.’ And because he’s a Timmy. •
of Gunnison.

HOW TO HYDRATE:
“He’s a habitual hitchhiker and seeker of
inconspicuous places to sleep while on the

BOTTLES OR PACK?
road,” Drum says, “but also a champion trail
runner who logs over 120 miles per week on
trails and dreams of chasing down antelope
through persistence hunting.” (According to

A
re you better off carrying hydration in
Parr, deer are too easy to catch.)
a pack or with handheld water bottles?
Parr is somewhat of a legend at Western
The pack rules, according to a study con-
State, where he showed up to his fi rst colle-
ducted by SCOTT DRUM, PH.D., director of the
giate cross country practice in cut-off jean
High Altitude Performance Lab at Western State
shorts, hiking shoes and a polo shirt. “Sure,
College in Gunnison, Colo. The findings of the study
he was laughed at, until he started running
will be presented in June at the National American
and winning,” Drum recounts. While Parr
College of Sports Medicine Conference in Baltimore.
is a relentless and determined runner, his
Test subjects ran on a treadmill at 63 percent of
physiology is also a big reason for his endur-
VO 2 max to mimic ultra race conditions while they
ance prowess. Parr’s VO2 max and speed at
were hooked up to a number of performance-mea-
lactate threshold at 7,750 feet, the eleva-
suring devices. As a control, they ran without carrying anything, and then ran with three diff erent
tion of the Western State labs, were off the
types of hydration gear: a single handheld water bottle — either a Nathan QuickDraw Plus (roughly
charts compared with his Mountaineers
2 pounds with a gel in the pocket) or an Amphipod Handheld Pocket (roughly 1.5 lbs with a gel in
cross country teammates.
pocket); with both bottles; and a Nathan Sports pack with a hat, jacket, headlamp and 2 liters of
He clocked 29:58 in the 10,000m while in
water and two gels (6.5 pounds).
college, but a better indication of his running
When the one bottle, two bottles and pack were measured against the no-load control, the
prowess is his 2:19 marathon PR.
hydration pack, even though it greatly outweighed the bottle or bottles, did better than the hand-
Callahan is most impressed with Parr’s
held options based on performance data of heart rate, perceived exertion, VO 2 and ventilation
indefatigable optimism. “Tim is absolutely,
rate (ease of movement of lungs). The only category of measure where the heavier pack scored
positively, never, ever negative. Ever. He is
lower than the single– or double-bottle method was the respiratory exchange ratio, which mea-
always positive. No exaggeration,” Callahan
sures how much carbohydrate the test subject burned.
says. “I cannot think of a negative comment
Because bottles carried in hand are held away from the body, as opposed to the on-body pack,
ever coming out of his mouth. Ever. It makes
there was an increased effort from the torque and arm momentum. That probably requires greater
him a joy to be around. And a great training
consumption of oxygen, and raises heart rate and breathing more than when a load is closer to
partner. If I am ever down, not feeling good,
center mass. — A.W.C.
or just not into training, I know I just need to

RUNNINGTIMES / 71