I was leafing through an old issue of Track and Field News (November 1984) trying to look up some stat and came across a great interview with '84 Oly marathon winner Carlos Lopes. The article was 2 pages long so I'm not about to copy the whole article but there were a few answers he gave that seemed relevant to what had been discussed on this board the last few months. (Especially the second question about his 10000 mark a few months before the Olympics since there was a thread here a few months back on how well 10k and half-mara times correlated with marathon success)
T&FN: So other than your run-in with the car, your Olympic buildup must have also gone according to plan.
LOPES: My pre-Olympic plan was simple - race often and just be ready to run whatever the pace the leaders did in the Olympic race. I was not worried about the heat and smog conditions in Los Angeles. I had trained in heat and I knew I was prepared for whatever the conditions would be.
T&FN: You ran 27:17.48 for 10000m in Stockholm when Mamede ran a World Record 27:13.81. What did that tell you about your preparations for LA?
LOPES: That 10000 told me that I was preparing well - and that I had run a fast 10000! I don't feel the 10000 really reflects on the marathon because, to me, they are two entirely different events.
When you blow up in a 10000, it comes on gradually over a several laps. When you blow in a marathon, it seems to happen all at once. That is the only thing I have ever feared in any marathon I have run: to blow up suddenly and lose everything in such a short period of time.
Obviously, the 10000 told me all my preparations were goingwell, but only in a general sense and not specifically about the marathon. I must say, though, that I feel I mad that 10000 record by running hard in the second 5000.
I mean, I would have been just as happy to win the 5000 or 10000 in Los Angeles! But I was prepared for the marathon; I felt I could win the marathon so that's where I went.
T&FN: You have been racing at the top world level ever since you won the silver medal in the '76 Olympic 10000. Why have you developed into such a consistently good racer?
LOPES: The main thing is consistency in training. I have had the same training program for about 12 years. I like to race more marathons and road races than national coach [Mario Moniz Perreira] does. So I work with him only on the track. I just do my own program.
I listen to my body to avoid injury. You must believe in the pain and the demands made on your body in the closing stages of a marathon. You must forgive your body after a hard physical effort like a marathon. You must let your body recuperate and regain its strength before you test it again.
I always run hard when I am in a race that is important to me. But the most important thing to me is also the most simple - I like to win.
It should be noted that after the LA Olympics, Lopes took a little time off before coming to Boulder to train; in CO he ran 29:10 to win a 10k in Denver, and then a week later he won a 15k in 43:20. And then he ran 2:09:06 in the Chicago marathon for second place behind Steve Jones' WR of 2:08:05. So not a bad haul of races (and two marathons) in the space of about 4 months. (For those who don't know, Lopes also had two world xc titles prior to '84 and a 2:08:39 PR from '83 going into the games).
Other tidbits from this issue that people might find entertaining:
'84 HS List (#1 distance times for the year):
800 - 1:49.21 - Eric Scermerhorn
1500 - 3:50.55 - Jim Nielsen
Mile - 4:07.07 - Jim Nelsen (Joe Falcon #2)
3000 - 8:20.6 - Roman Gomez
2Mile - 8:56.5 - Joe Falcon
Steeple - 9:03.79 - Andy Martin
5000 - 14:25.7 - Brad Hudson
10000 - 30:29.5 - Brad Hudson
Some funny one-liners from the milers after the Olympics:
Steve Scott: "The Olympic Games are fairly nerve-racking. Now I know why they only have them every four years. If they had them any more than that, they would have a lot more athletic alcoholics."
Jim Spivey on his eye infection: "Everybody looks at Coe, Scott and Ovett, but I might even get on TV if I walked out there for the final with an eye patch."