Henry Marsh's training

Sharold:

Your information is accurate. The norm for the Oregon boys under Bowerman's direction was a 20 minute run, nearly every day except if they ran a 10-14 miler on the weekend. Bill thought it was important, much like Jumbo Elliott, to stay regular about training, so year round doubles was the norm.

Kenny's normal routine was a 10 or 11 days cycle, dedicating 6-7 challenging days per every 3 weeks. He normally rotated a very LONG run (30-34 miles when he trained for the marathon), a long rep session (6 x 1 mile or 1320 reps) at about 10k pace, maybe a little faster, and 330s on the track, at about 1500m race pace. In between, he jogged 20 minutes in the AM and 20 minutes in the PM. Tinman

Thanks Sharold!

My previous post should have read a morning and afternoon 20 minute run (40 minutes for the day). Tinman

Sherald W. James, M.S.

Associate Professor

Office: T-112 SFH

Phone: 378-3965

Education:

MS. Brigham Young University, 1962

Assignments:

* Coach - Men's Cross Country

Tinman, you are most accurate with the earlier bowerman system emphasis on light recovery days for his middle distance charges. These 20 minute bouts really were for ensuring that recovery was executed. THese 20 minute jogs really were jogs, i.e. 8 - 10 mi / mile ( for a 4 minute miler even). ANother fact, the loop used for the 20 minute

session as had several steep inclines. good for strength.

Moore's cycle is a perfect example of tailoring the athletes

schedule to their unique physilogy. several easy days ( moore at one time ran even less than 20 minutes so progession was even used here, 1-2 miles ( with bowerman watching him!).

In the early days, pure speed was something that the uo guys developed frequently even during the early fall and winter, well before the peak college racing season. Here are some examples:

Keith Forman: Could run 4x200M at sub 25 sec anytime of the year.

50m at mile - 50m sprint - 50 m at mile drill

usually 4-6 repetions used.

Saturday test efforts in fall rotated around a three week cycle of 800 - mile - 2 mile . Of course using the 3/4 effort ( current fitness / date pace) and then final 1/4 of distance accelerating to full effort.

i witnessed many workouts of padilla...(sorry i can't comment about marsh's workouts, though a great guy.) anyway, padilla was an amazing talent. i think the 13 barrier would've been attainable for doug had he trained better or harder. his greatest asset along with his incredible god-given talent was his toughness.

i swear, one week he would be totally out of shape, struggle along a 10-miler with the team (he had already graduated when i was on the team) and dogged in at 7+/mile pace or slower. and then, bham, two weeks later he'd run an 8:30 two mile. then two weeks after that, an 8:20...this is not b.s. he had an incredible system like that to make huge leaps in fitness in little time and on little work. typical workout for him was warm up 2-miles, run a 400 in 56, rest 5 minutes and pop off a 52 second 400. that was it...warm down, then shower. and yes, 35 miles a week was about his average. of course, he didn't run on sundays.

Shorter than Frank ( cute).

Thanks for sharing the info on Doug's training.

SInce you were at BYU, do you have additional info

on his weekly training. I heard it was (during indoors)

in the 30-35 / week range, with just about everyday on

the track with some form of 800's & 400's. The 800's

for strenght / vo2 max and the 400's ( as you outlined earlier) for speed endurance ( much fatser than his 3000 meter race pace).

Towards the end Padilla & Marsh did work out more together,

and henry took on even more higher quality during the last

couple of years. This was around the 88 games. He did share with me that he ran an 800m in 1:53 ( his pr) in a workout the week before the finals in the steeeple and liked doing high quality sessions with padilla.

Very consistent stuff between the two athletes here. Short runs / jogs for recovery, low overall volumes weekly but an emphasis on quality work. I guess Paul Cummings ( RIP, great guy) was always amazed at Padillas ability to get by on such training. He once commented that " Oh Doug. Sure he trains. I'll see him do 1-2 800's and then he's on his way home. A big week for Doug is 35 MIles. I get that in less than 2 days."

i like your moniker as well...i got excited thinking it was really you, coach james! hey, whatever happened to the equipment manager, rick ramos?

anyway, to answer your question about padilla, i know it was common for him during indoor season to do the minimal quality 400 reps...if you can really call only two, reps. of course, he would do more as he became more fit, but i swear he didn't make an impression on me as far as it being a whole lot of work. he really believed he couldn't train more than he did because he would get injured. i guess i had heard later (maybe late 80s) he got up to running above 70/week in the summer but i could be wrong about that. sorry, not much more info. than that. at byu, we were allowed to do anything we wanted. i'm doubt that that's eyestone's approach currently but i remember thinking at the time how strange it was. definitely not a program i could excel from...i needed more structure, but i still had a great experience! i have nothing negative to say about those mormon boys...lots of talent surrounding me in the early to mid-eighties.

I'm puzzled about Sharold James' posts. I think Sherald James used to coach guys at BYU such as Henry Marsh, Doug Padilla and Ed Eyestone. Is this some sort of wierd coincidence, prank or what?

Know it wrote:

Sherald W. James, M.S.

Associate Professor

Office: T-112 SFH

Phone: 378-3965

Education:

MS. Brigham Young University, 1962

Assignments:

* Coach - Men's Cross Country

Henry Marsh is an absolute king of Ponzi schemes.

Yes, his professional life is kind of a big question mark. He definitely works in some very dubious businesses. But hey, he's a lawyer so what can you say?

I was also present during this time and can attest that this is pretty much what Doug did for workouts. Doug could go from being out of shape to in shape in a very short amount of time. Very nice guy and was very approachable.