1. Tell us a about your background in the States, how you got
into running and some of your earlier successes?
I started running at age 14 by joining the high school track team like
thousands of other kids. At age 15, I showed some promise by running
9:33 for 2 miles (roughly 8:55 for 3 km?), which probably put me in the
top 50 or so 15 year olds in the country. At age 19, I ran 29:49 for
10km on the track and qualified for NCAA Div 1 meet, which was a
breakthrough and indicated that the longer distances would suit me best.
At age 23, I ran 43:37 for 15km (roads), 22:46 for 8km (roads), and
2:12 marathon. There were lots of ups and downs (stress fractures,
glandular fever, etc.) along the way.
2. Give us an indication of your marathon career, and your
training programme when you were a US Olympic marathoner?
My best trait as a marathoner was consistency. After a debut in 2:22, I
ran 2:12 in my 5th marathon, and from then on my slowest time was
2:14:44. Ended up with two 2:11's, four 2:12's, three 2:13's and three
2:14's. Also dropped out twice-once due to injury and once due to stupid
pacing. Years of running hard over the hills made me strong and
consistent.
My best marathon was winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1984 and outkicking Alberto Salazar-ran 2:11:43 on a warm humid day with a head wind for 15 miles. The race was in May. I arrived in New Zealand for the first time the previous November to run the Winstone (Wiri) marathon, and avoid the northern winter. I was working at New Balance and training with Kevin Ryan in Boston and he arranged the trip. After winning Wiri in 2:12, I did maintenance training for 4 weeks and then launched into the highest mileage I had attempted (Kevin didn't think it was all that high). For the 8 weeks of January and February I averaged 143 miles per week, with a low week of 137. Had moved in with Chrissey by that stage, and she had me eating a healthy high fibre diet, so I quickly learned where every toilet is in Cornwall Park. The cornerstone of the week was a 22 mile Waiatarua, usually with Chris Pilone. We ran hard every week, which may have been excessive, but was fun at the time. Also did 2 or 3 15 milers each week. Did a set of strideouts each week, and every second week would do a workout on the track (which was highly unimpressive doing that sort of mileage).
After returning to the U.S., I dropped the mileage down to 110-115 and felt fresh most of the time. Kept up the hard long runs, but did a set of 5-6 mile reps most weeks in about 4:33 to 4:36, with a 2 min jog, and kept up the strideouts. Didn't do any brilliant races leading up to the trials, but ran 48:33 for 10 miles on a hilly course which proved to be enough speed for the marathon. On the day, I took off at 13 miles and gained a 30 second lead on Salazar, Meyer, Sandoval, Rodgers, etc. Salazar and John Tuttle passed me at 25 miles, but I had a bit left at the end.
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3. Given what you have learnt from your physiology studies tell
us how this training might vary if you had your time again? Have a lot
of NZ athletes fallen off the pace in terms of physiological
developments?
I don't think "the problem" is that NZ athletes do not know how to train
or do not train hard enough, but rather that there are too few high
school kids getting serious about the sport. We have lost the base of
the pyramid and so are thinner at the top.
4. If ANZ got a donation of say $500,000 tomorrow, how in your
opinion could this money be best spent to raise the standard of the
sport in NZ?
The biggest problem is that there currently aren't enough serious
runners in NZ. The competition is uninspiring and the promising 20 year
olds have little to look forward to.
To help middle-distance and distance running, get every high school in the country to have an annual John Walker mile for the boys and the girls. If every kid could see running prowess as looked up to by his or her peers and highly regarded in NZ in general, and every kid had a go in the mile, then we would find at least as much talent in NZ as 20-40 years ago. If 200 good 15 year olds were identified in this way each year, and trained at all reasonably, we could have 25-50 very good 20 year olds each year and end up with 10 world class runners at any given time, and perhaps 1 champion.
5. In you opinion can men naturally run under 13 flat, 27 flat
and 2.07 - or has EPO just enabled already outstanding athletes to take
things to an artificial new level in the last decade?
I have no doubt that some of the individuals who have run under 13 flat
and 27 flat have not been cheating. There is also little doubt that
some others have been cheating.
6. You must have run against and spent time with a lot of great
athletes in big races, training and the 84' and 88' Olympics. Who was
the athlete you admired most or who got the best out of themselves and
why?
Perhaps the toughest runners I ever faced were Rex Wilson and John
Treacy. The most intelligent was probably Deek. They all got the best
out of themselves.
Cool Running 31.12.00.
