Jud: 4-time Olympian

Jud Logan is looking forward to turning 48 on Thursday. That’s strange. You normally go for a figure divisible by 5. Well, Jud is using 48 as a kickoff to a two-year training program that culminates with an M50 world record in the hammer throw. Ah, now you recognize the name. That Jud Logan — four-time Olympian who once said: “I’m going to keep throwing until there are three guys who can keep me off the Olympic team.” Well, he’s changed his mind. He’ll throw even if he can’t make an Olympic team. Over the past week, I’ve exchanged e-mail with Jud — and learned how serious he is about taking down Briton Christopher Black’s 66.92 (219-5) age-group world record set in 2002.

“I have a pretty in-depth plan to assault the world record,” Jud wrote this week. “If the meet were this July 19th with a 6-kilogram at the age of 48, I would crush the (M50) record with NO training. But I am grounded enough to know that two years is a long time and a lot can happen as I start to implement my plan.”
I asked Coach Logan if he minded my divulging his quest.
He replied: “I am trying to surprise no one. Everyone that knows me is encouraging this attempt at the 6k and of course the 25-pound weight. Jim Wetenhall (holder of the M50 AR in the weight throw) is my hero and the first to plant the seed.”
Jud also is a little irked that his M40 hammer best isn’t listed as the American record.
On August 12, 2000, Jud threw 75.62 (248-1) in Rudlingen, Switzerland. He was 41. Yet the listed M40 American record is Ed Burke’s 74.34 (243-10) way back in 1984.
(If I were the records czar, I wouldn’t make THIS gent unhappy.)
Anyway, Jud says he hasn’t thrown in compettion since the 2004 Olympic Trials, where he tore his right forearm flexor.
“My qualifier for the Trials that year was 70.00, which was done with an 18 lb. hammer at Akron,” he says. “Yes I was in shape to throw 76+ and make a fifth team. I tore a rhomboid five weeks before Trials, which precluded any leadup meets. Two weeks before I was healthy again — and regularly throwing 71-73 in training. Then boom-tear. The good news was I coached two young throwers who made the team in the hammer — A.G. Kruger and Jackie Jeschelnig.
Jud continued:

When I do demonstrations for my team, I use a 2k, 3k and 4k (hammer). I make them go very far if I want. (Note: he’s written about this training style.) What I have learned is that speed patterns are more important then strength — anyone can get strong. Many PRs by power lifters well into their 50s- ie. Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell. So I am doing no strength training until six months before my summer debut.
I have a pretty in-depth plan to assault the world record. . . . It is a 5-phase plan:
I am currently preparing to start that phase upon my 48th birthday next week:
PHASE #1 12 Weeks
Goals:
Bodyfat reduction to 16% Currently 23%
Bodweight reduction to 265 lbs. Currently 284
Circuit Weight Training (light) 2 x per week
Non weight bearing cardio 2 x per week
Structural Core work 1-3 per week
Turning drills 2 x per week w/ no release
PHASE # 2
Will lead me into some light ball work 2k 3k 4k 5k — only started if goals from Phase 1 are met. Much more to Phase 2. But I won’t reveal details until each phase is completed. (Note: But see how he views the psychology of the event.)
So, I guess you could say, I have a plan- 🙂

I wrote Jud that turning 50 in July 2009 is perfect timing, since the WMA World Masters Athletic Championships will be held later that summer in Lahti, Finland.
One thing I didn’t ask Jud about: His Barcelona drug positive.
Here’s what The New York Times said back in 1992:

Jud Logan, a hammer-thrower expelled from the Barcelona Olympics last week, has charged the International Olympic Committee with “character assassination.”
“The thing that really irks me the most is that they are implying that I was stupid enough to take a drug three days before the greatest accomplishment of my life,” Logan said.
Logan, 33 years old, became the first American in 16 years to fail a drug test during the Olympic Games when traces of Clenbuterol were found in a urine sample he provided after finishing fourth with a best throw of 259 feet 2 inches.

Another New York Times article reported:

In a handwritten statement distributed before he left, Logan, who is 33 years old, said that he had used Clenbuterol for five months through last February “as a safe alternative to steroids.”
He denied ever using steroids but said that “all high level athletes look for safe, legal vitamins and minerals to enhance performance.”
“Upon hearing Clenbuterol was to be put on the banned list,” he said, “I immediately stopped its use.”

Jud took a hit to his reputation. He didn’t compete again until 1997 — but still came back to throw in one more Olympics. I’m sure he learned from this.
Welcome to masters, Jud. Glad to have you back!