Rick Wohlhuter

hey with epo Rick would be a 1:42 guy, but as a man of integrity I don't think he would have cheated.

4x400 in 49-50 avg with 20 sec rest is monster... if not a little far fetched....

Glad to see this thread as well. I saw Rick run an all-comers meet at the old University of Chicago track in Jan of 75 I believe. He was in a heat with a truck load of 1:53-1:57 guys and after working his way through traffic for 2 laps he cruised to a 1:49 880 on that old clay 220 track. Physically he reminded me of Seb Coe - very light on his feet and tremendous gear changing abilities.

Interesting. I posted on this thread saying that Rick Wohlhuter deserved at least as much attention as Steve Prefontaine, based on his accomplishments. But my post was deleted! I guess some topics are just taboo.

Living in the Past wrote:

Interesting. I posted on this thread saying that Rick Wohlhuter deserved at least as much attention as Steve Prefontaine, based on his accomplishments. But my post was deleted! I guess some topics are just taboo.

I agree! there are certain key words that can make even a good thread evaporate fast. I don't get it.

Wohlhuter was definitley a beast, amazing talent. Nominee for under-rated runner for sure.

Wohlhuter was the last American to win an Olympic medal AND set a world record at any distance from 800 and up. He also finished sixth in the 1976 Olympic 1500 final, which wasn't even his main event. You're right. The guy was an animal. And he is the most underappreciated American talent from the 1970s. He was in the same league as Shorter, Prefontaine, Liquori, and Rodgers. But you rarely hear about him anymore. He also didn't get much notoriety during his career, either.

I guess if he said that he ran 100 miles a week, this tread would be at over 100 by now. Malmo, where are you, you must have some stories on RW

media coverage wrote:

hey with epo Rick would be a 1:42 guy, but as a man of integrity I don't think he would have cheated.

With EPO he'd be 1:40.

if he ran 4x400m in 49-50 with 20secs recovery he's bloody near a 3.30 miler, that has to be a mis-quote.

yeah, that 20sec recovery thing?.. would also (even more obviously) equate to a (sub?!) 1.40... how would one even get back to the line in 20 sec after coming through it at 49-50sec 400m pace?

It was probably 20 min. rest, rather than 20 sec. rest, which is still a bloody hard workout.

condor wrote:

It was probably 20 min. rest, rather than 20 sec. rest, which is still a bloody hard workout.

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You may be right. I did read in an old Track Technique article that Rick would do 3 x 600m in about 1:17-1:21 with a 15 minute recovery between reps. Seems similar!

3*600 in 1.17-1.21 is nowhere near as good as the 4*400m. BTW, jrinaldi, have you retired again this year, or has the State title convinced you to keep going another year ? With those 5*300m in Keohe's squad you used to run, I was sure you had a 1:44 in you!!

I used to love to watch Wohlhuter run, even more so than Pre or Shorter. He was so skinny, but boy could he run.

My college coach was rick's high school coach. Those workouts seem familiar. NOT that any of us were even close to those times. But the rest days were often farklet runs. The coach would make or break you. It was lots of fun back then.

/

i disagree, i think these sessions are very comparable.

I ran against him at the USTFF Championships in '73.....He was a small, slight guy....but oh, what a talent...he moved away from Bruce Fisher and the rest of us and glided to a sub 4 mile win. And, a nice guy. Last I heard, he was an insurance salesman in the Chicago area.

a true great..below the radar wrote:

I ran against him at the USTFF Championships in '73.....He was a small, slight guy....but oh, what a talent...he moved away from Bruce Fisher and the rest of us and glided to a sub 4 mile win. And, a nice guy. Last I heard, he was an insurance salesman in the Chicago area.

Are you sure that wasn't 1974? I was there, Wohlhuter ran 3:55 and pulled Fisher and Casteneda and two guys from Kansas State to their first sub 4:00s.