A must-read in the March issue of Running Times magazine is a profile of 78-year-old masters running icon Ed Whitlock, a Canadian who has set all sorts of age-group records -- including being the first man to break 3 hours in a marathon in his 70s.
(Note: The content of the March issue, including the Whitlock story, has yet to be uploaded to Running Times' online site.)
What is particularly fascinating is Whitlock's training philosophy. He runs three hours a day -- get this -- around a cemetery.
Some days, he runs faster; other days, way slow. Here's Whitlock, describing his running philosophy to writer Scott Douglas:
I do what not to do to an entreme. I go out jogging. It's not fast running, just that I do it for a long time. I don't follow what typical coaches say about serious runners. No physios, ice baths, massages, tempo runs, heart rate monitors. I have no strong objection to any of that, but I'm not sufficiently organized or ambitious to do all the thigns you're supposed to do if you're serious. The more time you spend fiddlediddling with this and that, the less time there is to run or waste time in other ways.
"Fiddlediddling." Love that.
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