In NYC, Gary Patton pulverizes 30-year-old M70 indoor mile WR
John continued:
As the race last week got under way, Patton settled in and felt relaxed. Perhaps he was a bit too relaxed. To set the record, he needed to cover each quarter mile in a shade over 83 seconds. But when Patton heard his half mile split time of 2:49.2, he realized he was well off pace.
āI kind of messed up the first half,ā he said. āAnd when I saw I was almost four seconds off the pace my thought was, āIām just going to sprint this sucker and see how long I can last.āā
He sped up on each of the remaining four laps to finish in his record time. His take? āSometimes you just start flying,ā he said, āand it works out.ā
Patton does not run a lot of miles. But he is adamant about supplementing his running with a full complement of strength work and cross training. Each of the past few years he has tacked a bit more onto the schedule.
āThis year Iāve added a morning session of a lot of squats, push-ups and burpees, and a lot of stretching,ā he said. āI spend 30 to 40 minutes every morning doing those. And Iām on a three-day rotation with my afternoon workoutsāone day of running, one day of weight training, and one day of cross training.ā
Gary already holds the outdoor mile American record of 5:35.03, but heāll have to work to catch the listed M70 outdoor mile WR of 5:19.75 by Hollandās Joop RĆ¼ter in 2003.
But mega-kudos to Gary. Keep up the pace all the way to Malaga worlds.
10 Responses
Jeff Davison - December 13, 2017
Well done Gary
Duncan Greenshields - December 13, 2017
Wow! Incredible performance, especially given his 1/2 mile split. Super run … super guy!
Curtis Morgan - December 13, 2017
When I asked for it, Gary gave me his “secret sauce” earlier this year. “I don’t run all that much,” he told me during the Indoor Championships in Albuquerque. “Only about 15 miles a week.” All I can say is, Wow! Personally, I don’t think I run 15 miles a YEAR.
Jeff Davison - December 13, 2017
Hall of Fame 2017 includes Gary.
https://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/Masters/
Randy Harris - December 14, 2017
Congrats Gary. Very impressive.
Ken Ogden - December 14, 2017
Way to go, Gary. See you at Landover.
Ken Stone - December 14, 2017
Linda Cohn and Gary Patton set world records ā and an eighth-grader wins a cross country race for USATF Athlete of the Week.
Oh well.
At least Linda and Gary’s marks are notable:
http://www.usatf.org/News/Erik-Le-Roux-s-USATF-Junior-Olympics-win-earns-him.aspx
Sherwood Sagedahl - December 15, 2017
Gary, congratulations to a great competitor who has a great work ethic!
Gary Patton - December 15, 2017
Thanks, Sherwood. You’re an inspiration to me, as a world record holder yourself.
Matt B. - December 17, 2017
Even if Gary runs 6 seconds slower than Joop’s record , it will surpass the AG mark.
Age 70 5:19.75 = 95.11%
Age 72 (May 2018) 5:25.75 = 95.78% equiv. 3:52.4 open.
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