by Larry EderRacing in high school was fraught with fun and nervousness. My first two years, I did not break six minutes for the mile, or 12 minutes for 2 miles. I finished dead last most of my races. But, I loved running. My coach in Saint Louis, at DeSmet, Jim Marheinecke, changed my life by telling me that if I stayed with it, I would run fast. Paul Heck, our top runner, would slow down in his cool down and run with me. His patience is one of my big memories 40 plus years later. As a sophomore, I moved to California with my family as my Dad took a new job at Ford, building small cars. After getting my butt kicked, I asked my Coach, Father Rocket Ray Devlin, how to get better. His response was, “run more”.
Those final moments prior to a race, photo by Mike Deering/The Shoe Addicts
So I ran 11-18 miles a day in the Summer of 1974. I lost weight, got faster and in my junior season became more competitive. During track, I ran 2:12 for 880, 4:53 for the mile and 10:56 for 2 miles. I even took 3rd in the mile after battle a guy 30 seconds faster than me. I found racing to be fun, and with some success, it changed my view of running.
Tell me about your experiences, write me at runblogrun@gmail.com.
And most of all, remember that, when you are looking for running shoes, check out www.hokaoneone.com and check out the results of their fall racing contest, www.hokaoneonepostalnationals.com.
Time for spikes, photo by Mike Deering/The Shoe Addicts
Week 11, 2019 Track buildup-time to get serious, racing is almost here
Monday-warm up, 40 minutes moderate run, back to the track, 16 times 150 meter stride outs, easy jogs between, core work, cooldown
Tuesday-warm up, 20 minute tempo run, run at 30 second per mile above your 5k current race pace, 4 times 800m, 2 mile pace, 400m jog between, cooldown
Wednesday-warm up, 50 minute run, 8 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Thursday-warm up, 6x200m good effort, 200m jog btw each, 6x300m, good effort, 300m jog between each, 6x400m, 200m jog btw, 6x300m, good effort, 200m jog btw, 6x200m, 200m jog btw each, cooldown
Friday-warm up, 50 minute run, 8 x 150m, core training, cooldown
Saturday-warm up, Prime distance (1 race) and relay, if needed, cooldown
Sunday-warm up, 75 minutes, cooldown
