Steve Prefontaine, Gerry Lindgren and others

You Can! We Can! SPOKANE!

Gerry Lindgren posts here. In that link(and in the Letsrun search function), look for posts by GerrytheJogger

Gerry's high school stats:

5k: 13:44

indoor 2mile: 8:40

mile: 4:01

Steve Prefontaine high school training:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=8992&PageNum=3

(towards the bottom of the page)

Prefontaine's high school stats:

2mile: 10:08 freshman year, 8:41 senior year

1mile: 5:01 freshman year, 4:06

400m: :53 seconds senior year

5k: 13:5X?? 'cause he ran 13:43 in June after(i dont know when his high school got out of school?) his senior year

Those are 3 miles not 5ks you idiot

Everyone wishes to be someone, no one wishes to grow.

See "Running with the Champions", "Pre", and Lindgrens book...

http://www.amazon.com/Run-Champions-Training-Programs-Americas/dp/1579542905/ref=pd_sim_b_13

Think wrote:

Those are 3 miles not 5ks you idiot

no, those are 5 ks

I would like to Thank everyone who has responded to my post so far. I did want to ask does the book "Running With The Champions" have the High school weekly mileage and the times of Steve Prefontaine and Gerry Lindgren...??? I greatly appreciate the posts if theres more information please keep it coming.

Thanks!

Jordan

If you can get a copy of Fred Wilt's "How They Train;Long Distances" both Lindgren and Prefontaine are profiled.

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY that I know for a fact Gerry Lindgren used to put in around 4 to 6 HOURS of running every day for over 8 years. He was not as naturally gifted as most runners (resting heart rate 105; Oxygen uptake 4.8lit) so doing more miles was necessary to catch up to the more gifted runners.

It should not take a rocket scientist to know that if you put in more miles than other runners you tend to get more out of your body, no matter how wimpy it is, than you would have gotten if you did not put in those miles. Prefontaine too, did a lot of milage.

When Pre was a wee lad he tried to make the Coos Bay softball team. In Coos Bay everything was softball in those days. When he got cut from the team he was rather dispondant. Gerry was visiting a friend in Reedsport, Oregon some 15 miles north of Coos Bay and their son had made the softball team Pre was cut from. He told Gerry about this dispondant kid in Coos Bay and told Gerry how to get to his house. Gerry ran down to Coos Bay and knocked on the door of Steve Prefontaine.

Pre himself opened the door and when he saw Gerry his eyes got really big; "Iknow you! You're Gerry Lindgren," He shouted. Pre came out the door, backing Gerry back off the steps and into the grass. Pre danced around Gerry yelling what a wimp he was. "You're just a wimp! I can beat you." Pre shouted. He stood behind Gerry, who stood silent and mesmerized by the boastful Pre, and compared their heighth to his own advantage. "I'm bigger than you. I'm gonna kick your ass."

With that Gerry turned and ran back to the highway and back up to Reedsport, not having said a single word to Pre. Pre told me afterwards that he ran back into the house, put on his shoes, and chased me back up the highway for several miles. I never looked back so I didn't see that.

No way his resting heart rate was 105. That is double what most people are and way above the average.

I think he meant 65, which is more reasonable.

No, it was 105 before he started running which is what the OP meant.

some clueless guy who runs wrote:

No way his resting heart rate was 105. That is double what most people are and way above the average.

For any who don't know, the poster Gerry is most likely Gerry Lindgren himself. He does post here.

As for the high heart rate...i say it's possible. Gerry was said to stay away from athletics due to his weak lungs. I'm no medical doctor, but weak lungs mean less oxygen per breath, which means more breaths/more heart beats needed to supply necessary oxygen.

Gerry wrote:

Pre himself opened the door and when he saw Gerry his eyes got really big; "Iknow you! You're Gerry Lindgren," He shouted. Pre came out the door, backing Gerry back off the steps and into the grass. Pre danced around Gerry yelling what a wimp he was. "You're just a wimp! I can beat you." Pre shouted. He stood behind Gerry, who stood silent and mesmerized by the boastful Pre, and compared their heighth to his own advantage. "I'm bigger than you. I'm gonna kick your ass."

With that Gerry turned and ran back to the highway and back up to Reedsport, not having said a single word to Pre. Pre told me afterwards that he ran back into the house, put on his shoes, and chased me back up the highway for several miles. I never looked back so I didn't see that.

I think this is the best post so far.

Tall tale, sure. Probably didn't happen, yeah. (Sorry I mentioned it out loud, Gerry.) But I like it. Kind of puts all Lindgren says in perspective, doesn't it? This is what he wants people to get. Whether he did 300 a week or 200 or even just 150--he wants you to believe you can be better than he was, he wants you to think he was just a wimp and you can do better than him. And he doesn't mind perjuring himself to do it. Nice to see he has a sense of humor about the whole thing.

It will surprise some people here to know that although you don't have to register to post here, you are under oath to tell the truth and can actually go to jail for contempt if you don't.

YEA! What is written here is the truth. Gerry was excused from PE. He really and truely was an untalented wimp if I ever saw one in the mirror.

And I do firmly believe that ANYONE can run better than Gerry or Pre did. What marks all outstanding runners is that they stepped out; did workouts others would not try; did not fear injury; didn't read books telling you how to run (there were no books back then); they just set a schedule and worked it.

Gerry decided that if he did all that long milage something good would come of it. Stupid way to think perhaps but his goal was to get EVERYONE to run. Gerry saw himself as lighting the way for others. The running revolution that followed was far beyond anything Gerry could even dream. To have even a tiny part in changing the lifestyle of so many people around the world was a dream come true for Gerry.

If you were in Gerry's shoes (smelly though they were), you would think all those miles were no big deal. ANYONE else with more ability could do better.

This is patently untrue. I hardly know where to begin when reading something like this.

Lots of people don't appear to have a talent for distance running until they put in the work, at which time it slowly emerges. ANYONE who puts in exagerrated amounts of training isn't going to turn into a Gerry Lindgren or a Steve Prefontaine.

And by the way, I don't believe that story about Lindgren running to Pre's house etc. etc. for a millisecond. This has never been related in all the decades and all the reams of words spilled about either runner. Nice try.

And by the way, I've heard from "Gerry's" coach that those stories of 210 miles were false. The dude worked hard, but not that hard. And not being "afraid" of injury doesn't prevent them from happening if you overwork.

By the way, I ran against both Pre and Lindgren -- not that that gives me any huge cred. But it does say that I followed both of their careers and have huge respect for both, despite both of their obvious personality flaws. (Although Pre was coming around late in his life -- well-documented fact.)