F60-64 wrote:
Ed, I'm totally inspired! At 61, I have my "am I getting too old for this?" moments (especially when I get injured) and then I read about what you're accomplishing and think, "No way--I'm still just a kid. Bring it on!" You keep so many of us motivated. Thank you!
EXACTLY!
Congratulations, Mr. Whitlock. Your amazing accomplishments are truly inspiring and one cannot help but admire your talent, hard work, determination and "heart". Good luck with your training,thank you and long may you run.
How many 46yr old guys run 1:59.9 for 800? It strikes me that, in a parallel universe, had Mr W spent his teen / 20s on an elite program, he'd probably be a household name like Coe or Geb.
The 800 time at that age is almost as remarkable as the marathon times in later years IMHO.
Congratulations, Mr Whitlock. Best of luck for the October marathon!
The M45 world record is 1:54.18. When I did my best 800 time there were two other M45s were in front of me. Just to keep things in perspective.
Ed
That must've been a competitive year. Before I posted, being based in the UK, I checked the power-of-10 site, which lists the fastest UK performances of 2012. Your 1:59 for 800 would be the fastest in the UK for 2012 in the 45-50 group, by a couple of seconds (2:01:45 is current fastest).
Have you read Gordon Pirie's free ebook, Ed? At the start he lists his 10 golden rules of running. I wonder what yours would be?
Here's the 1st link I found, but there will be PDFs minus adverts if you google it:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13695/Gordon-Piries-Running-Fast-and-Injury-Free
[quote]WD40 wrote:
That must've been a competitive year. Before I posted, being based in the UK, I checked the power-of-10 site, which lists the fastest UK performances of 2012. Your 1:59 for 800 would be the fastest in the UK for 2012 in the 45-50 group, by a couple of seconds (2:01:45 is current fastest).
Have you read Gordon Pirie's free ebook, Ed? At the start he lists his 10 golden rules of running. I wonder what yours would be?
Yes I read his book a number of years ago and somewhere I have a copy of a different biography. Gordon of course was a contemporary of mine and lived not far from me when at school so we met in competition. I was competitive with him while at school but my relative performance fell off while I was University while his took off during those years. By the time I graduated he was far better than me. Gordon was always forceful and opinionated which led to many of his difficulties with various people. His golden rules of running reflect his personality. He is given to absolutes whereas I am more given to pros and cons.
So I don't have any rules and for that reason I don't give advice to other people on how to run or train. I am always willing to divulge my experience but I consider that to be personal and it may not work for anyone else.
Ed
Thanks for giving us your thoughts, Ed. If you wrote a book, I'd get a copy in a flash.
It's a lot easier to adopt some 'cookie cutter' training plan off the shelf, and I guess they can work in the early stages for someone who's relatively untrained. I think the hard part comes when the same plan no longer yields benefits and you have to really try and work out what your body needs, based on personal experience. This is the stage I'm at now. Have I reached the limit of my ability, or is it just time to adopt a different strategy? I wish I knew.