Pearls of Wisdom From the Late Jack Foster on Training and Shoes

I can answer that one. Jack told me that he'd gotten a big stockpile from Tiger in his peak years, until he was 50 or so. When he retired from competitive running he did loads of cycling but not that much running, so he didn't use the shoes up very quickly and was able to keep running in shoes from the stockpile.

It's worth noting here that the old shoe models were way more durable than their modern counterparts.

What Rich says is right. I had a run with Jack about 10 years ago and the shoes on his feet looked brand new. How many pairs he had been given I don't know. But he did not semm to "beat them up" that much.

I mentioned on the other thread how he had been given a pair of shoes (Obhoris I believe) and they made his feet overheat so he punched holes in them. Onitsuka were fascinated by that and from that point manufactured them with holes.

At his funeral anyone who owned a pair of those 'old' shoes wore them.

Kim & Rich --

Were Jack's shoes the Ohbori's (of which I had a pair around 1980) or the old Tiger shoe that was on the cover of Jim Fixx's book years ago (that might have been called the Tiger Pinto at the time)? This is a shoe-nerd's question, admittedly, but I was curious as I got a pair of Tiger "Super Marup" shoes lately, which look a lot like the old ones on the Fixx cover, and I had a lovely 17-mile run in them the other day. They seemed like a shoe Foster would enjoy.

Kim,

Who's going to Helsinki for NZ? Is Warrender in? I think of him as a young guy, but he's actually been around for a few years. Is he the guy who got under the Olympic A standard and said it was because he went from two sessions a day to one? Or was that Craig Kirkwood?

Spider, I didn't discuss shoe models with Jack other than the Tiger Marathon. I have a brochure from his funeral that Kim sent me and there's a photo of him running a pair of marathons and another of his coffin on which there was a pair of what looked like x-caliburs. I've also seen a photo of him running in the Ultimate-81 and yet another of him wearing a Tiger shoe that I have but can't think of the name for. I'll find it and post this again. There's also a photo of him in a pair of adidas which look like it might have been the Oregon.

But you, my friend, got the Super Marup. Where? They were out of stock when I tried.

The reason why most of the time people refuse tou admit the worth of cross training is b/c of the lack of specific strength training/use of muscles that are used in running. However, from the sound of it, he got a lot of strength from running 70-80 mpw on mountains. Aerobic work+leg strength=good program.

...it was dale who went to fewrer sessions....as of now it's winton, dale and wyatt.....

Dale's qualifier for Helsinki turned out to be on a course that had not been certified. So has not met the standard.

He won Queenstown a few weeks ago and then here in Rotorua last weekend.

What I did not mention on the other thread was that Jack rode a bike to and from work (not a huge distance) probably added 30 to 50 miles a week to his running. However, as I did mention, if he felt tired and unmotivated after a hard Sunday run in the hills he quite often rode his bike for an hour or so. In the early days of him doing that some of the local Coaches at the time told him he should not do ride as it worked "different muscles".

Jack ignored the warnings and carried on.

I still see the guy he rode those Monday nights with. He also runs but is a little inconsistent and not as fit as he was.

May as well keep this thread going !!!

If anyone here has been to NZ and fellow Kiwis that post here know what much of the Countryside is like.

Many athletes here train on that Terrain but Jack and Derek Turnbull seemed to have found the "secret" that suited them.

You don't need 100 mile weeks as Arthur said.

I also mentioned on other post that Jack did not "mess around" pace wise. That 70 miles a week was VERY quick. Problem was it varied all over the place because of the nature of the land he was running over. Fartlek would probably the nearest way to describe most of his training.

His Sunday runs in the forest were the nearest to a "steady run"

HRE wrote:

But you, my friend, got the Super Marup. Where? They were out of stock when I tried.

_________________

At the time, I got them at Harput's. I note they are now out of stock (that's probably where you looked). Putting super marup into my search engine at present gets me to several sites in the UK; try it, and I imagine you will find lycos (lycos.co.uk or something like that), shoe-shop.com (a good site), and a couple others. Of course, with shipping and exchange rates, these get pricey (. . . and I noticed that they run progressively larger; in most modern shoes I am an 11, in most retro shoes like the Ultimate 81 I am a 10.5, but in the Super Marup I am a 10 . . . go figure).

bump

Kim's right. When you see that a Kiwi is running X miles at Y pace, you have to think that it's the equivalent of either more than X miles for most of the rest of us, or the equivalent of running at faster than Y pace. The terrain, as Jack might have mentioned, works you over pretty well. I've never been surprised at how well Kiwis have done in the World Mountain Running Championships.

I am a PE teacher here in NZ and one of the strengths of our programes (nation wide) is the fact we all have spacious grounds at our schools and all are grass covered.

Just about every kid does PE in Bare feet. From grade school to Seniors in High School.

Even in the Gyms many kids will just not bother with shoes.

All this makes for stong feet and legs.

Most High Schools still run an annual "Athletic" sports.

A School Track and Field Champs. 99% of kids will run in bare feet.

Even though Jack was not a Kiwi by Birth, he grabbed the Kiwi culture very quickly and Summer times of bare feet would have been no different for him and his family.

Strong feet means the shoes don't have to be built to handle all sorts of problems that may or may not be there.

Arthur Lydiard preached minimal shoes as well.

Having readen all of this, why can't lance armstrong ran 2:15???

Just what size shoes did Jack wear?

I have to agree about the terrain one trains on. I know a 6 mile run in 2"-3" of snow and sluch in winter running clothes does not feel the same as 6 miles at 6:00 am in the summer when it's about 60-70 degrees.

Steve Jones ran several 2:10 or faster marathons using mileage in the 80s per week. I remember watching his 2:08 and 2:07 marathons on tv in Chicago, the latter in which is split the first half of race was in 1:01:47, as I recall. He ran just 45 minutes as recovery days three times per week and he rarely ran very far - just fairly fast.

I met Steve at the Runner's Roost in the later 1990s in Boulder. I was very impressed with how down to earth he was - and he has an excellent Welsh accent! I asked him questions and exchanged 3 or 4 emails with him. What an impressive guy! I liken Steve to Jack. They bother tough as nails and gave it there all. If Jack is remember for many years, I hope it is because people respected his toughness and tenacity as much as his stellar times as a not-so-young runner.

Tinman wrote:

Steve Jones ran several 2:10 or faster marathons using mileage in the 80s per week.

Actually, as Jones told me in person, he ran 100mpw in his marathon training.

classic sports shoes.com is now selling some Onitsuka models that look a good deal like the 'marathon' trainers that were available in the early-mid 70's.

Has anyone tried them?

One of them is a cool blue suede with yellow stripes.