Question to Ed Whitlock

Hi Ed,

Please comment about what you usually eat and drink in a day, how you manage to keep so lean, and how you balance this with your running.

need advice please wrote:

Hi Ed,

Please comment about what you usually eat and drink in a day, how you manage to keep so lean, and how you balance this with your running.

I don't pay a lot of attention to my diet and don't restrict intake. I think my diet would be considered high on carbohydrates, eg bread, pasta, potatoes, sugar. Somewhat high on fats, butter particularly. Fair amount of vegetables and fruit. Low on meat although not a vegetarian. I drink quite a lot as a defense against kidney stones which I suffered from in my 40's. My weight drops with running, particularly it seems in the summer. If I am not running because of injury I quickly gain around 20 pounds.

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your detailed reply. Do you usually drink water, or something else?

need advice please wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your detailed reply. Do you usually drink water, or something else?

Main drink is tea, not strong, sometimes with milk, sometimes clear. Also coffee mid morning. Wine with the evening meal. On a hot day after a training run sometimes have an electrolyte replacement drink.

Ed

Very inspiring Ed, thanks for posting here! Do you have any specific time goals in your races in the short to moderate term future?

Lemme tink

Hi Ed,

You stated that you just run laps. Is that laps on a track or do you have a route, 3-4 miles(or whatever), that you run? Three hours on a track seems brutal.

Before I didn't have an inhaler so I'd do xmin/xminbreak. But I just got an inhaler so we shall see what I can do now!! Suggestions?

Raptured wrote:

Very inspiring Ed, thanks for posting here! Do you have any specific time goals in your races in the short to moderate term future?

I might run a 10k on the road soon and will try for 46 mins if I do it. Longer term I am looking to improve my half marathon time from last year and then to run the Toronto Waterfront marathon in October and hopefully run sub 3:20 if my training goes well.

old guy 67 wrote:

Hi Ed,

You stated that you just run laps. Is that laps on a track or do you have a route, 3-4 miles(or whatever), that you run? Three hours on a track seems brutal.

I run in a small cemetery and a loop is about a third of a mile. It has its pros and cons but overall seems the best choice for me. Its less brutal than a track would be.

I go out to eat for practically every meal and I eat a lot of carbs. Throw in a few greens and a cupcake and that's the magic.

And I have ridiculous genes and the normal person would be 300 lbs on my diet. I get it from my mom.

CuriousJane wrote:

Before I didn't have an inhaler so I'd do xmin/xminbreak. But I just got an inhaler so we shall see what I can do now!! Suggestions?

I have no credentials as a coach and I am reluctant to give advice to others. I am really only willing to say what I do and I make no claims that it would work for anyone else although I think it might.

Glad the Toronto storm didn't affect you.

As a 65 yr. old I am getting a lot of inspiration from following this thread.

Ed, What is your marathon pacing stragety? Do you pick a time that you feel you can run and then set out on that exact pace, or do you start more slowly for the first 10K, get down to business from 10K to about 30 or 35K and then take it in as best you can? Or, do you just play it by ear, going by how you are feeling on that day. Do you monitor every single mile/km split or just check about every 5km or so?

As far as training is concerned, do you train in the same shoes that you run the marathon in(I don't mean exactly the same shoes, you could have multiple pairs of the same shoes) or do you train in a heavier shoe? Thanks for posting Ed. I always gain some knowledge and inspiration from you.

Montego wrote:

Ed, What is your marathon pacing stragety? Do you pick a time that you feel you can run and then set out on that exact pace, or do you start more slowly for the first 10K, get down to business from 10K to about 30 or 35K and then take it in as best you can? Or, do you just play it by ear, going by how you are feeling on that day. Do you monitor every single mile/km split or just check about every 5km or so?

As far as training is concerned, do you train in the same shoes that you run the marathon in(I don't mean exactly the same shoes, you could have multiple pairs of the same shoes) or do you train in a heavier shoe? Thanks for posting Ed. I always gain some knowledge and inspiration from you.

I generally have a shorter race 10k or so, 2 weeks to a month before the marathon from which I can judge my fitness. I then set an objective time for the marathon and carry kilometre splits on a piece of paper to carry in my hand. The aim then would be even splits all the way. Depending on weather conditions I will reduce my expectations if things look tough. I then check the splits fairly carefully every km until about half way then its more or less holding it together.

I run the marathons in light flats. I train in heavy training shoes that I have won in races, I keep several pairs on the go with varying degrees of wear. I wear them down more than would be recommended, I find the worn ones are more comfortable than new ones.

Ed,

I am enjoying this thread. Thank you for posting.

I would like to hear about the training and racing you did while still living in England including races and who was in those races. Who were the other members of your running club?

Was Cross Country racing different than it is in the US?

enjoyed reading all the posts....funning how ed breaks a lot of rules of running but is the best master of all time

Ed, during the lead up to your best 70 plus marathons did you do many shorter races?

In saying you would build to 3 hours per day, did you get to a stage of running 3 hours every day of the week or did you typically have a few days where you would not complete the 3 hours (weather, fatigue, soreness etc)?

Thanks Ed for taking the time to give people an insight into your training/lifestyle.

mo'pak wrote:

Ed, during the lead up to your best 70 plus marathons did you do many shorter races?

In saying you would build to 3 hours per day, did you get to a stage of running 3 hours every day of the week or did you typically have a few days where you would not complete the 3 hours (weather, fatigue, soreness etc)?

Thanks Ed for taking the time to give people an insight into your training/lifestyle.

In 2004 prior to running the marathon in 2:54:49 at age 73 I ran 21 races. Four weeks before the marathon I ran a 5k and 2 weeks before a 10k in 37:33.

During the 2 months before the marathon I once ran 21 consecutive days for 3 hours and altogether more than 40 days. Missing days were shorter runs tapering for the shorter races etc.

No time off specifically for reasons of weather, soreness, etc