by Jeff Benjamin
RunBlogRun opines: I first met Coach Bill Squires during summer of 1985, just afterRunner’s World was sold. Kim Wrinke, Dan Ferrara (fellow RW staffers) and I slept on Coaches’ floor just before Falmouth. Meeting Coach was a dream come true. The man is eccentric and brilliant, all at once. His sense of humor, his love of live, and his enthusiasm for coaching, his athletes, and his life are well, infectious in a non-Covid-19 manner.
Coach knows his stuff. His athletes, from Bill Rodgers to Greg Meyer, and all of the regular humans, have learned from this amazing man. Now at 87, Coach Squires should be recongnized as one of the wisest and finest coaches in American distance running history.
Thanks to Paul Clerici for getting coach to answer the questions from Jeff Benjamin, which is always a challenge
Awaiting The Baton In The Relay Exchange Zone – Profiles Of Athletes, Coaches & Legends During The War Against Corona
Profile # 26
American & Boston Coaching Legend Bill Squires!
By Jeff Benjamin
1)How is your daily training/ coaching/ life routine doing and how challenging has it been for you in this environment?
“Everything’s going good – I’m still kicking! I still run and walk a few miles a day, but I don’t fly anymore. I’m running about eight-minute to 10-minute miles, for about a half-hour or three-quarters of an hour. But the thing is, I’m really afraid of this virus thing now, so I stay inside [mostly and exercise]. It’s good to get out of the house sometimes. But they [town orders] want everyone done by 7, 7:15 p.m. and wrap it up and go home because of the virus.”
2) What advice can you give to runners, -especially youth, high school, collegiate- who are challenged during this time as well?
“The thing is, they’ve got to wear masks and not run in a group. And they can’t be too close to each other, so they ought to be at least six feet away from each other on both sides. I’d have three groups of runners – an A, B, C group [of talent levels]. I’d get together with three or five guys or gals and alternate the training levels. That’s the best thing. They don’t have to all be stars. If they’re all stars, all it is is they’d be running each other in the ground. When the faster ones have some average people with them and they run the pace pattern [with] other faster guys, they need rest and they’re learning to be able to run slower and be able to adapt. And mix it up.”
“And every three weeks you do a little time trial where you have the slower people lead off at the gun; the middle-level people go next, four minutes later; and then seven minutes later, the fast ones in the rear, go next. As the fast people come up to each group, they rest with them [at their pace] and encourage them, and then move ahead. Learn to float-run instead of just running themselves hard and then crawling back and not finishing. This is for about two to three miles to maintain fitness.”
Great Thanks To Author Paul Clerici For Arranging This Interview!
Author Paul Clerici
To Purchase Paul’s Biography On Coach Squires Or Any Other Books Written By Paul – Pls Go To
Boston Marathon, Mile by Mile, py Paul Clerici
Born to Coach, the Story of Bill Squirers, photo by Paul Clerici
