Bill Rodger's training log is insane

This was running in the 70's-Billy just took it to a higher level. All " serious runners" then did at least 100mpw-worked-drank-indulged. Nostalgia can be inhibiting but all i can say is, " you should have been there". Rain at Montreal and a boycott otherwise he would have the same haul as Frank. Also he was a man of conviction. CO during the insanity of Vietnam-emptying bed pans. PBS should do an American Masters show on Boston Billy.

Back in the UK I would run a 1km grass lop 100 miles a week around a empty field and also a 400m grass track for 2 years. The only reason I ran there instead of anywhere I wanted was I could run barefoot all day which was waaaay more fun. Feeling the wet grass in the mornings or the warmth from the sun under my feet in the evenings and every step feeling different was an absolute joy. On the roads every step felt the same in shoes so even though the scenery changed the raw feeling of running was same. I miss those days a lot ugh

Also Wow he ran late! 11 am runs or even 12pm that's suprising I thoufj he'd run 6am. Also he ran 11 am then 3pm that's like 3 hours recovery and some days he ran so law at 9pm. He must of felt sleepy on race day 9am surely

Rodgers ran a Pepsi Challenge 10K in my town in the early 80s, and he was there the whole week for some reason.

I'd see him run the race course a few times a day. Then on race day, he ran the course in the a.m., raced it, then ran it twice more in the afternoon.

swedish meatball wrote:

Ed Whitlock used to do 3hr runs around a 500m loop cemetery near his home.

I know. In his 70's. Every day for weeks on end. 140 mile weeks around that loop.

Compared to that, 1.5 mile loops when much, much younger seems a lot easier.

Whitlock was the true beast.

Agreed Billy was awesome. I witnessed the 2:09:55 AR in 1975 when I was a high schooler. What a ROAR on Boylston St. Plus, you'd see the guy around and he seemed down to earth.

He was the best of all American Beasts for sure, but do remember that FRANK SHORTER has the medals.

Thank you to all that took the time to answer my questions. JP looks like a beautiful place for a run.

I like how he tried cigarettes for the first time 17 days out from the Boston Marathon. Lol.

faa wrote:

I like how he tried cigarettes for the first time 17 days out from the Boston Marathon. Lol.

From his 1979 Boston Magazine interview, he said, "When I got back into running in 1973, I was drinking a lot and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I gave it up."

This "we were TOUGH back in the old days, and now runners are wimps" caca is a bad joke. Guess what, people? Then and now, there were/are grit-their-teeth grinders who would have run/do run through a tornado to get any run in, and there were/are runners who rolled/roll over in bed for that extra hour of warm shut-eye instead of keeping on schedule by putting in the 10 miler in the icy cold outside.

hinpoln wrote:

faa wrote:

I like how he tried cigarettes for the first time 17 days out from the Boston Marathon. Lol.

From his 1979 Boston Magazine interview, he said, "When I got back into running in 1973, I was drinking a lot and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I gave it up."

Isn’t there a photo of Bill stopping for a cigarette break during his first Boston Marthon win?

Big Red wrote:

Agreed Billy was awesome. I witnessed the 2:09:55 AR in 1975 when I was a high schooler. What a ROAR on Boylston St. Plus, you'd see the guy around and he seemed down to earth.

He was the best of all American Beasts for sure, but do remember that FRANK SHORTER has the medals.

4 x Boston and 4 x New York counts for something. Rodgers also missed the 1980 Olympics due to the boycott when he was at his peak. Shorter’s the same age and was well past his peak at that point. Rodgers won A LOT of road races over the years.

Ancient mariner wrote:

This "we were TOUGH back in the old days, and now runners are wimps" caca is a bad joke. Guess what, people? Then and now, there were/are grit-their-teeth grinders who would have run/do run through a tornado to get any run in, and there were/are runners who rolled/roll over in bed for that extra hour of warm shut-eye instead of keeping on schedule by putting in the 10 miler in the icy cold outside.

You're absolutely right about there always having been tough guys and wussies. But the sport has changed in ways that can make it seem like people in the old days were tougher. You hear today about how tough it is for runners to earn a living. In the amateur era you couldn't do it from running so you found a job and trained around it and got in the kind of miles Rodgers did when he was a hospital aid or special ed teacher. I see posts here from people "needing" to find a nice trail or park with a soft surface to run on. In the old days we loved those things too but if there wasn't one handy we'd run on sidewalks or roads. I knew a guy who used to run on the DC Beltway.

There's a cautiousness that's entered the sport today that wasn't as evident in BR's prime that can look like less toughness. We rarely worried about being overtrained and I do not recall that avoiding injuries was much of a conversation topic. You kind of expected to get one now and again, you'd have some down time, and it would go away. There was not the emphasis on having distinct hard and easy days. You knew not to hammer for days on end but the mantra of running really, really, slowly, on easy days was well in the future.

I'm not saying either way is better or worse, just that things seem different in a way that does feed the "we were tougher back then" story line. I'm sure there are plenty of really tough modern runners. But you really don't see stories much anymore like the one where Shorter taped an ice bag to an injured hip so he could run despite the injury.

It was only a 25 mile day and the course was flat.

I recall reading in his book that Rodgers would go out and run in his jeans during his breaks.

Corn pop wrote:

144 laps around the indoor YMCA track takes some serious balls.

I have done 20 miles runs on a 1/11 mile indoor track multiple times. (That's 220 laps.)

And I don't understand what's insane about that. For me, running in snow, ice, hard rain, below 20F or over 90F is insane. Indoor track is very comfortable in comparison.

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

[quote]Corn pop wrote:

… unning in snow, ice, hard rain, below 20F or over 90F is insane.

Here's one who has never been to the Midwest.

That's all but a week or so, dude wrote:

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

[quote]Corn pop wrote:

… unning in snow, ice, hard rain, below 20F or over 90F is insane.

Here's one who has never been to the Midwest.

-10/10.

I have lived in the Midwest for the last 17 years, thank you very much.

I get completely sick and tired even of a 1.3M windy forest loop after three or four, so I can't imagine doing nearly 100 laps a week of a 1.5M loop but then again not so many turns. I wouldn't consider myself a wimp running an average of 16M a day in middle age. Central Park 2.5M loops on dirt would even get a bit boring for a long run. Much nicer to extend them by taking the occasional path down to Columbus Circle and back to add on about 3.4M or so. But Rodgers was incredible and lifted the entire sport in this country, building on Frank Shorter's Olympic performances.