Have faith, folks! Track season is right over that next snowdrift!

Jerry Smartt of Warsaw, Missouri — our favorite 1950s world-class distance ace — took the picture below on March 21. Yeah, the first full day of spring. He wrote: “Hey, Ken, no steeple practice for a while.” While I doubt a steeple barrier is depicted, I get the point. But don’t cry for Jerry, Argentina. He still trains seriously. Asked about his current regimen, he writes: “It’s all outdoors. The closest ‘rubber’ track is 40 miles, so I never get over there. I train on an asphalt oval that measures one mile and 100 yards. My measuring wheel is in feet so I have the oval marked with spray paint. I have the start/finish of one mile, 110, 220, 440, 880, and 1K. I train twice a day and I do all kinds of repeat intervals. As the weather warms, I’ll work up to a total of ten miles a day. At almost age 79, I’ve learned that really ‘fast’ speed work can be unhealthy. Instead of 110s in 23 (fast for me), I’ll swing through in 27-28.”

Jerry's scenery in west-central Missouri doesn't look hospitable to track.

Jerry, a crackup, continues:

I’ll do something like 80 x 110. I do resistance training. I have a rope on a fat ATV tire. I’ll do jogging repeats dragging that sucker. I’ll go to Wal-Mart, load a cart with 60 pounds of cement blocks and push it around the perimeter on the jog. So far, no locals have joined me. Smile. Yes, I keep my eyes peeled for those cats in the white coats because I KNOW that the locals think I’m nuts. My main goal is to stay vertical because the alternative is forever. Hey, 21 years and I’ll be 100.

His training must be working, though. Last week he ran a 7:17 indoor mile.

Heck, I’d be thrilled with anything under 8! (But I ran an 8:34 warmup mile today at workout today.) Overcast and low 60s in eastern San Diego. Guess I’d better shut up.

Here's Jerry on a warmer day -- running a relay at 2009 Oshkosh nationals. (Photo by Ken Stone)

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March 23, 2010

6 Responses

  1. Jerry Smartt - March 23, 2010

    Actually, that’s a real 30 inch steeplechase hurdle. I needed one for practice and a friend helped me. Now, all I have to figure out is how to get over that $#%#$&. Jerry

  2. peter taylor - March 23, 2010

    You’re a good guy, Jerry, keep it up. See you at the track.

    Peter T.

  3. Who's your daddy - March 23, 2010

    Jerry;

    I think you’re a sissy. Better move to Charlotte where JIm Russ won’t come outside; unless it’s above 40. You should try what we had here in Western PA. Our snow did come up to our hurdle crossboards….at 36 inches !!!

  4. al cestero - March 23, 2010

    to jerry : that’s easy… snowshoes…and to the fellow above, i thought 36 inches was but a flurry for you tough guys in western pa… best wishes to all !

  5. christel donley - March 23, 2010

    Hi, come to Colorado, deja vu – and really all over again.
    Our YMCA is as busy as Grand Central Station.
    Outdoors, forget it.

    Hope, we can get out of Denver on Thursday, to fly to Boston.

    Winter Wonderland, my plants don’t know what season
    it is.

    Spring was on the calender -like Saturday

  6. Don Pratt - March 28, 2010

    I ran with (behind) Jerry at Oshkosh and Lahti. He’s the real thing. I thought I trained well but
    his schedule is something else.

    Don Pratt age 77.

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