Steve Spence article in Running Times (excellent read)

Do you have a link to the article? Anyone?

And they both are still in the sport. Spence coaches at Shippensburg and Taylor is now at the University of Richmond.

I read it too. It was good. Seems like a very humble guy too. I should totally try this hermit thing for a year.

anyone have a link?

Generally Running Times posts articles a month or so after the come out in the print edition. Check the website in early/mid August, or just buy the mag.

pablosan

Both Spence and Taylor are great guys. Spence has always been a very quiet individual, but is still a fantastic guy.

Yeah, the article is not online yet.

Just picked up a copy tonight. Great read. I liked the part where Spence and Taylor talk about doing a 30 mile run and they dropped the pace throughout. The last 4 miles Spence averaged 4:51 and Taylor 4:56 average. That was before the '92 trials. Crap that's a workout? I have a very long way to go :(

ha ha thanks. that was awesome.

Anyone know the purpose for that 30 mile workout?

thanks for the link Dave in chicago!

Chambersburg runr wrote:

his daughter might become even more of a stud than him.

So you think she has WC gold or silver potential?

Mel Y wrote:

Anyone know the purpose for that 30 mile workout?

to improve mile speed.

I don't think so. I would assume it was to increase endurance and train the body to run fast at the end of a marathon.

Mel Y wrote:

I don't think so. I would assume it was to increase endurance and train the body to run fast at the end of a marathon.

I trained with Ron Daws in the 1960s/70s, and he believed in doing 2) 30 mile runs about 6-8 weeks before a major marathon. Usually 3 weeks apart,and we built up to that doing 20, 22, and 25 milers about every other weekend. Ron believed that the 30 mile run had psychological as well as physiological benefits. If you can do 30 miles, 26.2 will seem easy....??!! Also, 30 milers put incredible stresses on the hips, quads, etc. that you didn't get doing the 25's. Dunno about the logic, but it seemed to work. The first 30 miler was HELL, mentally and physically; the second one was easier ( we even ran 6:00 mile pace for some of the last 10 miles, after running 7-7:30 pace). I guess back then we didn't question our guru Daws. He was usually right!! Ron was a devotee of Lydiard, but I'm not quite sure what Arthur thought of doing 30's. OSS

Back when Spence was winning everything in the States, including the trials and the 91 medal in Tokyo, there was a very long runner's world article on him. RW actually used to be respectable. Anyway, he talked a lot about running along the Erie Canal trail near where he lived and grew up. The thing I remember most from the article: He had two golden retrievers who ran all his easy runs and long runs with him. Even the hard 20 milers and the like. They would run along next to him and ahead. When he knew there was about 1/2 to 1/4 mi left he would tell them to "go" and they would take off in a full sprint. and when he got to his car, they'd already be playing and splashing around in the canal. He said he was amazed by their abilities. That's probably the article that made me want a dog to run with.

Steve,

Barry Magee told me that Lydiard used to have him do a 50km or two about 6 weeks before a marathon. It's not in any of the books other than a reference to a 40 mile race he and Bill Baillie once did.

That would have been the C&O Canal. The Erie Canal is in upstate New York. The C&O runa along the Potomac and isn't all that far from Shippensburg.