by Larry Eder
This is Sunday, May 12, 2024.
Week 9, day 7.
This is your long run day.
Your workout:
Warm up slowly,
75-90 minutes of running for juniors and seniors and 65-70 minutes for freshmen and sophomores.
Hydrate,
Cooldown,
get out of wet clothes,
Recover,
Larry’s Deep Thoughts:
Long runs build many things.
If you are a middle-distance runner, long runs are part of your weekly programs.
I would run on trails on many long runs. My first real long run was in the summer of 1977 at Quicksilver Park in New Almaden, near San Jose, California. Hollis Logue III, a writer for Runners World in the 1970s and a trust lawyer most of his career, was one of my training partners. We would run in Quicksilver Park 3 times a week, a 15-17 mile run, just enjoying the trails, grinding up the hills, and enjoying the bobcats, turkey buzzards, deer, and wild pigs in the park. Hollis would tell us jokes that had me gasping more than the hills.
Running on trails during most of the summers in college helped build up my base and gave me confidence in climbing any hill on a cross-country course. I recall the 5.8-mile home course we had at Coyote-Helyer Park. The mountain came near the end, giving me the confidence to move late in the race.
Long runs build you up.
The picture below is of Horace Ashenfelter. Horace was a father, FBI agent, and elite athlete. He trained at a park near his home for one hour a night after the kids were asleep. He used a bench for hurdle practice.
In 1952, Horace improved in each round of the Olympic steeplechase and, in the final, beat the World record holder with a gutty push over the last steeple water barrier. Horace Ashenfelter won the 1952 Olympic steeplechase, one of the biggest upsets by an American Olympian of all time!
Horace also competed in the 1956 Olympics and lived into his 90s, running most of his life. A race is run in his honor. in New Jersey each year.
Horace Ashenfelter dreamed big, and so should you!
