By: Tony Mozingo, two-time winner of Columbia, MS C.A.N.A. 5K A couple of years ago, I met four-time Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers at a pre-race seminar that he was conducting at the expo in Chicago. Bill has since become a good friend, as evidenced by our brief chat before the start of the Azalea Trail Run last spring in Mobile. Although he hasn’t returned any of my calls, I decided that it would probably be all right with him if I let everyone in on the things we shared when we met concerning running. Bill really is a good guy. He just has a lot to learn about training properly. The first thing we talked about was this business of carbo-loading the night before a marathon. Personally, I take issue with that idea, preferring instead to enjoy a good meal at a fine restaurant while talking some philosophy with my friends. But according to Bill, you should load up on things like bread, pasta, and such, and stay away from foods high in fat. He seemed surprised and even got a little sarcastic at the Q and A session of the expo when I suggested that the bar-b-que ribs that I planned to eat that night seemed to work for me in the past. On the subject of food and nutrition, about the only thing we could agree on was that fried catfish will inhibit your performance during a marathon. I decided to ignore his attitude and change the subject to something more important. The subject of not quitting on the uphill was next. It is not logical to me that a person would run up a hill and walk down the other side when it is much easier to do just the opposite. Bill insisted that it was a mental thing, but I was still not convinced. It seems clear to any rational person that you are going to get to the finish line either way, so why push it? Again, I changed the subject when he started in on this business of “charging” a hill… By then, Bill was taking questions from the other runners in the crowd that had formed around the platform that he was speaking from. I had to ignore several obviously undernourished skeletons in their favorite race t-shirts that were trying to get my attention to ask me questions. For some reason, Bill thought they were talking to him. And not wanting to hurt his ego, I let him go ahead and answer a few. He then led us to the subject of his belief in “easing into a run”, or warming up by running the first mile or two slower than the rest. I think that that notion is ridiculous too since doing so only prolongs the run. In other words, it takes longer to finish. Over the other runners’ objections, I tried to explain to him that I personally find it easier to slow down toward the end of a run, but he insisted that you should run something called a “negative split”. I told him that he would finish at the same time either way, but he didn’t agree… By then, we had to walk and talk because he said he had another appointment and the so-called seminar was over. We continued our conversation through the lobby and back to the hotel. We finally found common ground on the subject of massage. We vary somewhat in that he thinks that you receive the same benefit by massaging yourself with the aid of Dixie cups full of frozen water, but that’s only because he’s never met my personal masseuse, Desiree. There is no way that anyone can convince me that a paper cup of ice yields the same benefits as a Swedish deep tissue hot oil massage by a fine woman. At the hotel, I tried talking to him about his moodiness. (It was evident as he stepped on the elevator that his mood had darkened in the last half-hour as he was forced to reevaluate every principle that he has believed in and written about). As the elevator door closed between us, I was trying to encourage him by telling him that it’s o.k. to hate running, that really everyone secretly does. “Hey Bill”, I said, “Even I sometimes don’t feel like talking at 5:30 a.m. at the beginning of a long training run in the freezing cold…” Bill Rodgers has a lot to learn about running. It is sad that he thinks he has all the answers, but as the saying goes, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. So-called elite athletes may think they have the corner on the market when it comes to the secrets of being successful, but I know better. For more on the subject of proper training and nutrition, I sometimes give free advice on various subjects early Saturday mornings at the Longleaf Trace and before and after the local races. I may not have much to say early though, and if I don’t, you can always catch me at the nearest fine steakhouse the night before a marathon… Happy running! |