Ed Riewerts isn’t a household name in masters track. Give him time. Although he turned 50 in March, he’s been throwing the discus for only two years. But this season has been a breakthrough for Ed, who lives in the Dallas suburb of Mansfield. His best marks have been close to 190 feet. He’s also thrown himself into the sport, helping found TexasThrowers.com with Steve Patridge, Robert Rogers and Marty Wright. “By the way, we are having our first annual Throwers Meet on (June) 6 in South Texas, ” Ed says. “Patridge did a nice job on the medals.”  Speaking of nice, check out my Q&A with Ed, who hasn’t learned yet to shun the nosy media. He’s just having too much fun. 

With a good wind and natural progress, Ed could erase Al Oerter’s M50 record.

Here’s my interview with Ed:

Masterstrack.com: I hear you took up discus only recently, like three years ago. Is this  true?

Ed Riewerts: Yes. Actually, I’m starting my third season, My first meet ever was the Lions Club Meet in Elgin, Texas, in May 2007. The desire to help my youngest son Ed (now a high school junior) with the discus got me started. I always wanted to get into discus and hammer but was told I couldn’t play baseball and track in high school, and the University of Hawaii had no track team in the late ’70s.

I’m pretty good at studying techniques. So I got online and got started studying the discus. Naturally I tried it on myself which helped me help Ed. And I enjoyed it.

You lead the M50 rankings with a toss of 57.39 (188-3). That’s way ahead  of No. 2. Did the mark surprise you?

Not really, I had thrown around 190 in practice a few times, but I’m still so new at it I know “the stars have to be aligned” for me to get it out past 180. I’ve thrown over 190 since then in practice but am struggling now trying to figure out a good recovery time between the weight room, throwing and keeping it up with the current meet schedule. Like this past weekend was a disaster, I was off. But so was Steve (Patridge). We both threw in the 160s.

Are you shooting for 200 feet? Al Oerter’s record of 205-10 isn’t much  beyond that.

Wouldn’t that be awesome! That would be something, breaking a 20-year-old record — and Al Oerter’s to boot. Even though I’m new to throwing, I’ve always known of Al Oerter. I love his quote: “Every time I throw, I find out something more I need to work on.” My goal right now is 58 meters (190-3) in a meet although I’d really want to hit 60 (196-10).

One of the interesting things about being new to throwing is I’m still on the left side of the learning curve, and have a “laundry list” of things to work on. I believe with some help and a lot of hard work it’s possible.

How do you train and get strong?

I could write pages on how I train; it’s a real passion of mine. . . . . I had the good fortune to work as an assistant strength coach and friend to the late shot put world record holder Terry Albritton. Back in the early ’80s Terry tossed out the conventional strength manual and replaced it with “specificity” of training. As a result, I don’t spend much time on the power lifts like bench press, full squats and dead lifts.

Although they are great for strengthening the major muscles, by themselves they will slow you down. The focus of my workouts are power cleans, snatches, high pulls, hang cleans and hang snatches, front squats, 1/4 -1/2 range tiptoe squats, and I superset these with a variety of core exercises, including Russian twists and standing bar twists.

Right now I power-clean 285 for a set of three, but I want to get up to 315 for sets of 3. I also start and end my workouts with some plyometrics and jumping. My favorite is two jumps over bars set above 30 inches, wearing a 40-pound weight vest. I feel real good when the vest comes off.

Recently I’ve seen the need to work in some speed training. It’s probably too late for this season, but I started running 110 fartleks and 20s and 40s. As my cardio improves, I hope to throw in some agility drills. More speed in the ring has to help. I don’t have the large wingspan like Alekna so I figure I need to make up for it with power and speed like Kanter does.

Where does your technique come from? Have a coach? 

I’ve learned a lot from watching and listening to coaches like Steve Patridge. Right now my best coach is the video camera and the Internet. I would love to spend a couple hours with a guy like John Powell, but then again, what thrower wouldn’t?

What do you do a living, and how do you squeeze in training and competition?

I’m in retail packaging sales for International Paper Company. I’ve been in the packaging industry for over 20 years, starting when I left coaching football for the University of Hawaii in the mid ’80s. It’s a great job; I meet and work with terrific people. I also work out of my office at home when I’m not traveling, so the fact that I don’t have to drive to and from work every day helps with the training schedule.

I plan the training week on Sunday by starting with the work (travel ) schedule, weather forecast, and time to the next meet, then plan out what I’d like to do that week, making adjustments during the week for the unexpected. I try to keep my workouts to less than an hour but intense.

Also I like to go twice a day during the summer, throwing in the mornings and lifting, stretching or footwork drills in the evening. As you can imaging, winter is tough on throwing, and those short days are hard to work around. Also my garage is set up as a gym, with all the weightlifting equipment I need — bumper plates, squat rack, pulleys, rubber floors, medicine balls, kettle bells. I did this to save time (and money) and allow me to fit the workouts to my schedule.

I miss having guys around for encouragement, but most summers I have a few dedicated high school guys in to work with.

 What is your support system — in terms of family, friends, fellow athletes?

 I have a great wife and family. Jule and I both remarried and have a blended family of five kids and a new granddaughter. We have three boys and two girls, all of them in the 20s except for Ed (17). I also have a very inspiring family. Mom and Dad live in California along with my sisters and their families, I have two older brothers that were athletes themselves. One graduated from the Air Force Academy and ran Air Force One for a few years during Clinton’s first term, and my other brother (51 yearrs old) is a retired Navy Seal and does works for the Pentagon.

They all think “this throwing stuff” (as they put it) is pretty cool but in a jovial way ask: “So when are you going to break the record?” My wife, however, is more into it on a day-to-day basis. She gets real excited and asks about each practice, then gives me a shot in the ribs and will say something like: “Come on; stop slacking.” Pretty funny since she is cute, and only 5-4.

 I also really need to mention the group of guys I compete with. I can’t say enough about them and the network of throwers that make up TexasThrowers.com. It’s really great to go to meets and everyone is encouraging each other on each throw. Steve and I had a real battle going on at McNeil, but I heard him each throw: “C’mon, Ed; get it out there!” When I hit the 57-meter mark (187-0), there were high-fives from everyone around from guys over 70 to Josh Teamans, 23.

What obstacles have you overcome to become an elite thrower post-50? 

Wow, I’ve never considered myself as an elite throwers, but thanks for the compliment. I think the biggest obstacle was the first meet. I knew (thanks to your site) what guys were throwing, and after a year of tossing a discus around I knew I could hang in there with the middle of the pack, but it was not wanting to go out there and embarrass myself and my wife that kept me from competing in a meet.

Little did I know the environment is set up for just getting out there and trying it. There are guys of all skill levels, but until they throw you would never know it.

What are your competitive plans this summer — Oshkosh, Lahti, Palo Alto?

This summer, in addition to the regional meets, I plan on going to Oshkosh. I had hoped last year to join several of the guys throwing at the Senior Olympics in San Francisco, especially with my family close by (in San Leandro). But as the rules have it, I needed to qualify last year, but I couldn’t because I was 49.

So this year it’s Oshkosh, which I’m looking forward to experience. My wife mentioned Finland, but I figure I’d do a national one this year, and then perhaps an international one next year when I’m more consistent.

What’s your advice to other novices who take up discus late in life?

My advice is have fun, and work on one or two things at a time. Also start with the release of the throw. For the serious novice guys, I’d say concentrate on each element of the release, feet, hips, block, head, eyes, throwing hand, etc. and when you train in the weight room focus on core exercises and flexibility.

I’d like to thank John Stilbert, who tipped me off to Ed.

John wrote me: “He’s also one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. He might make a good interview.”

I’ll say. Best of luck, Ed, and all your Texas buddies.