Mark Nenow

The lowdown, from an actual book:

5-8, 125

Began running in 1975 at age 18. "Some of my best friends were runners and they convinced me to give it a try senior year."

1976 18 Anoka HS 4:20y 9:17y

1977 19 Kentucky

1978 20 " 14:17 28:46

1979 21 " 14:16 30:55

1980 22 " 13:53 28:32

1981 23 Victory AC 13:57 28:45

Lots of other interesting stuff in this profile. He says he wants to move away from Kentucky and find a coach and some training partners. Which is funny because I believe he gave Eugene a try once, but spent all of the 80's in Kentucky training by himself.

The workout Storey gave him was far from revolutionary: 5 x 1600 in 4:40 w/400 jog betw. Almost laughable for a consistent 27:40 guy to be "working out" at slower than 10k pace. I always thought that Nenow was a good example of how the precise training you do matters not a lot, just that you push the envelope. I think if he had trained scientifically he would have reached 27:20 sooner, or more often, but I doubt he would have run much faster.

Kind of like when BK went to Australia for the winter a few years ago and ran 13:15 during their track season, after 110-120 mpw there for 6 weeks. Nothing but 10 AM/10 PM at 6:00 pace for 6 weeks ... then he runs 13:15.

These two are examples of why it doesn't matter "what pace should I do my tempos at? Hadd says 5:17 and Daniels says 5:24 and Coe says 5:08. BLah, blah, blah..."

Nenow also (I think) has the most sub-28 10k's of any American. Meb K, Abdi or Alan Culp. have to be catching up now but I believe that Nenow has the most. More than Shorter, Pre, Virgin and Salazar ... all previous Amer. record holders.

There is a site with all sub-28:00 10k's in all of history on it and I forget what it is right now, but the number of 27:20-28:00 10k's Nenow has is startling.

Bite your tongue, Nenow would have run much faster with a proper coach over the years. I believe all the best have a master that they talk to on a regular weekly or so. MN was great, maybe the best here in the USA...

Also how many pacers did MN have in his 27:20?

Minnesota Nice wrote:

With all the discussion of Ritz's 10K, I find myself wondering more about Mark Nenow. I did a google search and found surprisingly little about him:

..good but not great in college (Kentucky),

..excelled after college by running lots of miles on a hilly course, and almost no intervals.

I also have some vague recollection that he was a soccer player in high school who did not start running until his senior year... in Minnesota? Is this correct?

Can someone fill in more history about Mark Nenow?

What I remember most about Nenow was how he would go out for his runs at 10pm at night.

Nenow did move out of Kentucky. He was in Sacramento for a while, as I recall. Still did his runs at night, probably because it was in the triple digits during the day in the summers.

The photo ads for the Zinkwazee hood/neck thing with Mary Decker's face were hilarious.

idealist wrote:

Nenow did move out of Kentucky. He was in Sacramento for a while, as I recall. Still did his runs at night, probably because it was in the triple digits during the day in the summers.

What kind of work was he doing at the time, as far as I can remember he wasn't a full time athlete?

I don't think Culpepper has a coach does he?

And, of course, KK wouldn't be the runner he is today without his wife coaching him. Hmmmm.

Jim777 wrote:

I don't think Culpepper has a coach does he?

And, of course, KK wouldn't be the runner he is today without his wife coaching him. Hmmmm.

Yes, but KK is the runner he is today with his wife coaching him.

The Fixer wrote:

I always thought that Nenow was a good example of how the precise training you do matters not a lot, just that you push the envelope. I think if he had trained scientifically he would have reached 27:20 sooner, or more often, but I doubt he would have run much faster.

Kind of like when BK went to Australia for the winter a few years ago and ran 13:15 during their track season, after 110-120 mpw there for 6 weeks. Nothing but 10 AM/10 PM at 6:00 pace for 6 weeks ... then he runs 13:15.

These two are examples of why it doesn't matter "what pace should I do my tempos at? Hadd says 5:17 and Daniels says 5:24 and Coe says 5:08. BLah, blah, blah..."

Which is why Lydiard said the exact way you do your track training phase is unimportant. In one of his books he describes working on the track with a 10k guy in the early 70s (a top runner, but the name escapes me) and someone asked how many 400s he was doing and how fast. Lydiard replied he didn't know and didn't care -- the guy was just going to do them until he was tired. The ignored part of his system is to go more by feel than by the watch. And it's REALLY hard to learn that after being barked at by a coach until you're 22.

The athlete was Richard Tayler.

In the mid-late 80s (86 or 87 maybe) Nenow destroyed a good field at this high prize money 10k race in Bali. I think they were offering $1 million to break the track world record on the road (or maybe just the world road record), as well as a large prize for first place. He broke the field and ran about 27:40 under what looked like very warm and humid conditions.

Did he even make the 88 Olympic team? Anyway, I recall reading a quotation from Lydiard saying that "Nenow should have a gold medal around his neck," but he needed a knowledgeable coach who could reign him in from doing things like the Bali race when he should be staying home and focusing on his base, and the big prizes like the Olympics or World Championships.

we went to work for promotions in asics for a couple of years. he then moved to oregon and works for nike. his mom lives in sacramento.

Jzs wrote:

Bite your tongue, Nenow would have run much faster with a proper coach over the years.

how much faster??? he was just off of the world record at the time...

I've just read the Cathal Lombard thread and now the Mark Nenow one. Forgive me if I'm off in my judgement, but isn't there a great similarity between the two guys?

1 - Both were not that good in High School and therefore neither is believed to be a great 'natural talent'

2 - Both trained at high volume (120-140mpw) with limited success but some good runs: 28:30s in college for Nenow, World XC at age 22/23 for Lombard.

3 - When already mature athletes with fully developed mileage backgrounds, each have added intervals and run really fast some time after that: 27.20 Nenow, 27.33 Lombard.

Exactly the same routine - high mileage at home for years, intervals added later to hone that strength pace - is typically claimed as the foundation for Kenyan success in distance running.

Nenow was not on drugs, so there's every reason to believe Lombard is equally clean.

Realize that Nenow ran 28:46 just THREE YEARS after starting running. To draw any conclusions about training or your own path from this guy is the wrong way.

Nenow was unspectacular in HS only to those who don't get it. HE won the State Meet in XC in his first season of competitive running. That IS spectacular. Just because he didn't run 8:40 doesn't mean anything. Malmo ran 4:16/9:10 and he went on to 3:40/8:22st/1:01 hmar/2:11 mar ... you have to factor in the fact that a lot of guys who eventually are elite either weren't training to their potential in HS (not malmo!) or lived in the North and not the distance hotbeds of Texas, Arizona, Florida or California. Pat Porter was slow in HS because he wasn't trying very hard, not because he could only make it to 9:40.

What were we all running after three years?

I don't know much about Lombard, but don't draw conclusions about anything from Nenow, he is an alien, a genetic super-mutant that would have been good at running no matter how he ate, trained, or where he lived. That is what I was getting at. I don't reccomend those things, but the super-great can get away with them more than the average athlete can.

Just like BK making the OG 5k final off of just 60 miles per week, the best in history are going to be good whether they run at 10 PM or 3 AM or whatever.

Nenow=White Kenyan...all legs and lungs..

Nenow...white kenyan, exactly,I saw him run a 10k back in 93 I think in San Jose. Race was offering great dollars for a new CR. Brian "Dash For Cash" Abshire shows and brings in Nenow to help with the pacing. Amazed at how long Nenows legs are, swear he wears a 36 inseam. Looks sort of comical with the short torso, but anyway, the gun goes off, and there is Mark and Brian and a few others at the front. Mark in his mid calf white socks and a ratty asics t-shirt just clicking off sub 440 miles like he was on a walk, with Abshire on his shoulder. They get to 5 miles, Mark jogs off the course, Brian continues, runs 29 flat and collects parkplace. End of story. Lots of pissed off Aggie guys at the race thinking they were going to make a few dollars.