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Whatever It Takes:
Todd Reeser Part II
Life After College
After graduation,
Reeser immediately returned to the tutelage of John Luther, the
man who had helped him to his high school success. Luther, a
former 4:01 miler who attended Rochester in the 1970s, has been
coaching post-collegiate athletes in upstate New York for 15
years. He started working with Todd in high school, however,
after the basketball coach at Reeser's school, who also "coached"
the cross country team, introduced them. Luckily for Todd, the
basketball coach was smart enough not only to realize Reeser
had some real running ability but also smart enough to realize
that he knew nothing about distance running and needed to find
Reeser a real coach.
An experienced coach, Luther
knew that Reeser definitely had the ability to succeed at the
top echelons of the sport, despite his injury plagued collegiate
career. "We both knew from the get go that he had lot of
talent," said Luther. "(When he was debating coming
back to me after graduation and devoting himself to running),
I certainly pressed on him what I thought he was capable of accomplishing
in the sport, and he basically said 'O.K., this is what I'm going
to do for the next eight years. So we mapped out a plan to go
through the 2004 Olympics and now we've updated it to go through
the 2008 Olympics."
Luther, however, did much more than just layout a
coaching blueprint for Reeser to follow.
"We took a look at what
athletes at the top level need to succeed, coaching, physical
therapy, massage, financial support and tried put together a
real good support team," said Luther. "We really tried
to put all the components in place. My partner (Clark Brown of
Brownstone
Physical Therapy),
is a physical therapist and he has put together a whole network
of medical personnel who provide their services free of charge,
there's two orthopedists, an acupuncturist and (more all at Todd's
disposal)."
A key component of Luther's
training program is the strong working relationship he has with
exercise physiologist Tom Pendergrast of the University of Buffalo,
who provides testing and training advice for Luther.
A few years ago, Luther had
Pendergrast put Reeser through the standard barrage of tests
for distance runners and found that Todd had the exceptional
VO2 max of 84.7. The only problem was that two years ago Reeser's
lactate threshold was only at 50% of his VO2 max. Since then,
he's improved it to 62-63%, but there's still room for improvement
according to Luther. "(Pendergrast) has estimated (he'll
be) a 2:07 marathoner in another 3 or 5 years," said Luther.
Upon his reunification with
Luther, Reeser quickly started to show the promise he first displayed
under Luther's tutelage in high school. He was the top American
at the 1997 and 1998 World Half-Marathon Championships and ran
an impressive 2:15 marathon in Chicago in 1999, which was the
first marathon that he really prepared for (he ran one other
marathon, 1998 Houston, where he finished an impressive seventh
in 2:24 in absolutely horrendous conditions).
However, while Reeser may
have earned the notice of a few distance aficionados, injury
problems (four stress fractures in four years) prevented him from
making a real name for himself on the national scene until the
last few months when he has lit the US scene on fire.
En Fuego
At the 2000 US Half-Marathon Championships in Parkersburg, West
Virginia in late August, Reeser ran a PR of 1:04:13 on the difficult
course and was beaten only by US Olympian Rod DeHaven, who was
in the final stages of his preparations for the Olympic marathon.
However, considering that
Reeser had run well in Parkersburg in both 1997 and 1998 and
his time wasn't all that fast (unless one considers the difficulty
of the course), many would have discounted his performance had
he not backed it up with the real breakthrough at the New Haven
Road Race 20K on Labor Day.
Each year, the New Haven Road
Race 20K serves as the US 20K National Championships each year,
but unlike Parkersburg, it also offers prize money for foreign
runners. It's a good thing as Reeser absolutely destroyed all
of the American competition and went toe-to-toe with the top
Kenyans in the field, William Kiptum, Joe Kamau and Joseph Kibor,
all of whom have significant accomplishments behind their names.
Reeser actually pushed the
pace a bit in the middle miles and was still in contention for
the win with a half-mile to go, before the Kenyans pulled away
and Reeser finished 4th in one hour flat. Nonetheless, it was
a huge breakthrough for Todd, who had gone head-to-head with
a few of the top road racers in the world.
Reeser admitted afterwards
that it was a huge learning experience to realize that he could
run with some of the top Kenyans.
"Yeah, I was a little
surprised (that I was up there battling for the win). I was sort
of expecting 20 Kenyans to come flying by me," he said.
"I just felt great that race and only lost because they
have a little more leg-speed than I do. But it was great to realize
I can compete with them. I mean they were breathing hard, and
sweating and they were talking to each other in Swahili, and
I don't think they'd be doing that (speaking in Swahili) unless
they were hurting," added Reeser with a laugh.
"I now know that they
(the Kenyans) hurt too - they're not invincible. They're not
any different than anyone else. You've just got to be fit to
run with them. The next time I get in that situation, I'll be
a little more assertive."
"Looking back (at the
race), I'm pretty much disappointed I didn't push the pace more
at miles 6 and 7 to try to break away from the Kenyans. I think
I could have gotten away from them, but I didn't know that at
the time. It was kind of a breakthrough race for me and I didn't
expect to feel so good and for them to feel so bad," concluded
Reeser.
The Rock?
The fact that Reeser was slightly annoyed with himself for not
taking it to some of the top Kenyan road racers in his first
major face-off with them on even terms reveals that he is a no-holds
barred, fearless competitor. Reeser credits his wrestling background
for his toughness and definitely thinks it gives him an important
competitive edge in running.
"(When I was a wrestler),
I thought runners were like the biggest wimps going," he
said. "I have lot more respect for what runners do now,
but I used to bust my ass wrestling, and it makes the training
I do for running seem a little easier. It's my edge; the Kenyans
may have run to school every day but they've never had to go
through a Palmyra/Macedon Wrestling practice."
Reeser followed up his breakthrough
in New Haven with a convincing win over an all American field
at the Cow Harbor 10K on in a PR of 29:18.
Reeser's breakthrough this
Fall certainly didn't come as a surprise to Luther. "There's
certainly been signs of this in the past, but generally he'd
get two or three good races in and then get hurt," said
Reeser's coach. "The breakthrough that everyone has seen
the last couple of months has been a direct result of him staying
healthy. He's been able to get some good training in since the
Trials."
While injuries plagued in
college, Reeser says he's been injury free for the most part
since graduation save for a freak injury suffered at the Cherry
Blossom 10-miler in Washington, DC in April of 1999, when he
stepped in a pothole and broke his fibula. The bone healed fairly
quickly but after effects of the injury greatly curtailed his
training for the next 15 months, until June of this year. The
problem was that when the bone healed, it became thicker than
before and as a result, Reeser suffered from chronic tendonitis
for more than a year.
Due to the injury, Reeser
had only run 200 miles in all of 2000 prior to June's US Olympic
Men's Marathon Trials in Pittsburgh. In fact, up until 11 days
before the trials, Reeser hadn't run a step in 3.5 months. Amazingly,
he was able to lead the field from the 5 mile mark past the 10
mile point at close to 5:00 mile pace.
"He realized that if
he didn't step on the line, he had no chance of going to the
Olympics," said Luther. "If he stepped on the line,
he at least had a chance. One in a million, but it's better than
zero. At the 5 mile mark, he started to feel it a little bit
and decided to help the guys out by keeping 5-minute pace for
as long as possible."
Reeser's performance at the
Trials clearly is a testament to his cross-training prowess,
which is a staple of Luther's program. At the beginning of each
year, Reeser takes one week completely off and then gets back
into things by doing a lot of pool running for 3-4 weeks, starting
initially at one hour per day but working up to 25 hours per
week. Reeser then gradually switches over to running and cuts
back on the pool running to the 5-6 hours a week he does during
his hard training phase. While injured, Reeser had the mental
discipline to maintain the 20-25 hours per week of pool running
for weeks on end, a feat which is probably worthy of an Olympic
medal considering how monotonous pool running can be.
The 2000 Marathon Trials marked
a turning point for Reeser in more ways than one. In addition
to being healthy for the first time in almost a year-and-a-half,
Todd also adopted a new mental attitude of sorts according to
Luther.
Thinking Long Term
"The last couple of years, it seems like we've were always
fighting a race schedule. This year, probably a month before
the trials, he decided not to get keyed up for the Trials (since
he was injured)," said Luther. "He changed his thought
process to I'm going to get healthy first, get in shape second
and race third. It was a major difference in the way he was approaching
things. Not trying to cram workouts down his throat for some
race six months down the road."
Due to the long-term outlook
that Reeser and Luther have on things, don't look for Reeser
to run his signature event, the marathon, until next Fall when
he plans on running Chicago. "After the Trials, he said
'I want to run a fast marathon but I want to prepare properly
for it so we put together an 18-month program' (to gear up for
2001 Chicago). If he ran it this year, maybe he'd go and get
just under 2:10 and finish in top 15, but so what. When he runs
another one, he wants to run from the front," added Luther,
who also said a reason that Reeser is going to pick and choose
the marathons he runs is to ensure that he has a long career.
A third reason why Reeser
is going to not run a spring marathon is that he feels he needs
to work a little on his track speed, especially considering that
his 5K PR is technically 14:30 (14:45 on a certified course),
although he has run faster in practice and gone through 5K faster
in 10K road races.
In the short-term, Reeser
is in the final stages of a mini-training cycle designed to get
him ready for this weekend's World Half-Marathon Championships,
where he is shooting for the lofty goals of a top 20 finish with
a goal time of 1:03 flat (4:49 per mile according to Luther) (Editor's note: The World-Half Marathon is now complete. Todd
Reeser went through the 5k with the lead pack in 5th place. He stayed with the lead pack until 9k when his
hamstring went out of him. He continued to the finish because the U.S. needed him for the team scoring, but finished in 57th in 1:09:52).
Considering that in two previous appearances at the World's,
Reeser's highest finish was a 73rd place in 1998 and his half
marathon PR is 1:04:13, Todd definitely has his work cut out
for him.
However, despite the fact
that Reeser is focused on shorter distances in the short term,
let there be no doubt about it, he firmly believes his future
is definitely in the marathon. His ultimate dream is to perform
well in one of the running world's most prestigious events, the
men's Olympic marathon.
"I'm not going to run
that many marathons, but I'd like to run a bunch of fast ones,
in the 2:08 range, or even faster. We'll see (what happens).
Not only do I want make the Olympic Team, but I'd like to try
to do a little better than we have the last couple of times,
a top 10 finish, maybe even a medal down the road," said
Reeser.
It remains to be seen whether
Reeser's long-term goals will become a reality. However, one
thing is certain, a lack of effort won't be the deciding factor
in whether or not he ultimately accomplishes his goals. His coach
John Luther summed it up best by saying, "Whatever Todd
does, he does to perfection."
(Editor's note: Since the article was initially submitted,
there have been a few developments in Reeser's situation which
many readers will find relevant.
First of all, Reeser's has
changed his mind and committed himself to running the 2001 London
Marathon in the Spring, so that he can get a good marathon under
his belt before 2001 Chicago.
Secondly, Todd's strong performances
this Fall have resulted in him signing a sponsorship with Saucony.
Lastly, the World Half-Marathon is now complete.
Todd went through the 5k with the lead pack in 5th place. He stayed with the lead pack until 9k when his
hamstring went out of him. He continued to the finish because the U.S. needed him for the team scoring, but finished in 57th in 1:09:52.
He did a few races leading up to the World-Half Marathon.
On October 22nd, Reeser helped
take the lead group at the Chicago marathon through 10K in 29:40.
After jogging for about 50 seconds, he then helped take the lead
pack of Americans through the half in 1:06:40. The performance,
however, wasn't exactly what Reeser was looking for as he originally
was scheduled to go with the lead pack through 10 miles, although
in his defense, he was bothered by light-flu like symptoms.
On November 4th, just one
week before the World Half-Marathon Championships, Reeser ran
in the US 10K Road Championships where he finished in 20th in
30:11.
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