Lessons from Elite Runner

I have been catching up on my Running Times and my Runner’s World magazines – we had 6 or 7 that were unread. Crazy, I know. And I came across this article about UM coach Ron Warhurst and Tim Broe – how they started a training group of elite runners who don’t have a place to train or a contract to live off of. It resonated with me, but it also inspired me. Why can’t more runners have someone they can go to for training, advice & support?

Here’s the article straight from Running Times/Runner’s World.  And below is the part of the article that every runner at every level should read… (Note: this is taken straight from RT/RW.  I am not claiming it as mine.)

LESSONS LEARNED

Tim Broe severely undertrained and overtrained throughout his 14-year running career. “I learned my lessons the hard way, and that’s the only way I learned,” Broe says. He recounts some of his major mistakes and what runners today can take from them.

RUNNING COMPETITIVELY IS A LIFESTYLE, NOT A SPORT
“As a collegiate runner, I did way too much partying and got way too little sleep. It wasn’t that we didn’t work hard. We worked, hard during workouts, but after a Tuesday workout we might go bowling at night and stay up until 1 a.m. having a few pitchers. We, as a group, never held each other accountable.”

RUNNING REQUIRES A SINGULAR FOCUS
“In my priorities, running was not at the top of the list. I just had too many things going on. As a professional, I would run in the morning, and then I’d go golf or fish or hunt in the afternoon. When I returned to the track for a workout, I’d be tired.”

EASY DAYS STILL NEED TO BE PRODUCTIVE
“In college my easy days were a joke. I’d be running 7:30 mile pace and stopping to pick up cigarette packets to collect them for a free poker table at the casino. Then I moved to Michigan after graduation to train with Kevin Sullivan and saw he did the easy days at 6 minutes per mile pace. It was an eye-opener.”

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
“In high school I never wore a watch, and the routes were never a measured distance. The coach would just say, ‘Run out to the second bridge and back.’ I later measured it and realized it was only 3 miles — not as far as I thought.”

PUMP IRON
“I hated to lift weights, and I didn’t do it until I became injured as a professional. After a month of strength training, however, I really liked it. It was, one of those moments where I thought, ‘If I would have had this kind of strength two to three years ago, I would have run 8 minutes for the steeplechase.'”