. . . running that as a single parent of three children and working a full-time factory job! Ritz should look at this and think what he should run! But all the credit to Coppess.
. . . running that as a single parent of three children and working a full-time factory job! Ritz should look at this and think what he should run! But all the credit to Coppess.
At some point you have to sit down and take a hard look at the priorities in your life.
Doesn't sound like this guy has done that.
Single parent to 3 kids?
My first thought: poor kids.
That was a good read but I am curious about what happened to him after the race. Story doesn't tell us much about the rest of his running career.
Yes, great read. An original 'blue-collar' runner.
I didn't get the impression he neglected the kids. The article mentioned he worked his training around his work and child caring schedules. He raced once a month when he was 'off'.
He schlepped the kids to the Twin Cities marathon because $20,000 was on the line. Well worth it.
I watched this race. It was very cold and Coppess ran totally alone in front. Really an amazing performance!
Ran once a day 14-15 miles, 20 on the weekend. One interval workout/week, one hill workout/week. Pretty simple.
Great article! Thank you for posting it here, Montesquieu!
Great article, great guy.
Thanks. I enjoyed that a lot.
The runner racing next to Coppess ,in photo wearing Diadora gear, Is Barry Brown. He was 39 yrs old at time of photo. I believe he ran still existing master's
AR the following year at Twin Cities in 2:14.
Phil didn't race all too often that I am aware of, but he's a big name in Iowa. Lived away from the big cities, so could not get so much attention, and his kids and work were priorities. He still holds Des Moines' Capitol Pursuit 10 mile record of 48:00 (this year was won in 51:30, just to compare).
I was lucky to watch him win a monstrously hilly 10 km (prize money of some amount) and he raced hard from the gun, so that no one was close after 5 km and he won by a minute, times didn't matter, he just RACED. If I was still living in Iowa and still keeping state records there, I could say more, just wish I had half his courage with racing that way. Certainly had fast times, but I believe injuries caught up to him too soon.
If he was at a race, you knew you were going to hurt.
child protective services wrote:
At some point you have to sit down and take a hard look at the priorities in your life.
Doesn't sound like this guy has done that.
Single parent to 3 kids?
My first thought: poor kids.
So single parents should not train for marathons?
I ran against him at an indoor race in Sterling Illinois. He told to get ahead of him at the starting line, WOW!
I thought he was a printerwhile he was running a lot. and after he got his degree, he went into teaching.
ck3237 wrote:
I ran against him at an indoor race in Sterling Illinois. He told to get ahead of him at the starting line, WOW!
I thought he was a printerwhile he was running a lot. and after he got his degree, he went into teaching.
Wow, if only we'd had this fantastic story 7 years ago!
Singles wrote:
Ran once a day 14-15 miles, 20 on the weekend. One interval workout/week, one hill workout/week. Pretty simple.
Haven't read the article, but that's not true. Tinman posted about his training years ago:
"I attended a clinic Phil gave in about 1982. He told us at that time his story. He had been working a labor job (I think it was at an elevator shoveling corn and stuff like that) and not running; out of shape. He started going to his local cemetery to run, away from the eyes of others. He was slow, overweight, etc., at first, but he just kept putting in distance and his fitness grew rapidly. He started doing doubles and his fitness raised even more. Up to that point he had run 2:13 for the marathon on about 130 miles per week and most days the runs were 6-8 miles for one run ant a bit more for the other, but not much. When I asked Mr. Coppess to recommend training for high school runners, he said we should run twice a day and get in distance as much as possible without overdoing it. He said he started with 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening, and he implied that is what we should do too.
In 1985, I believe, I watched Phil workout on an indoor track in Sterling, IL in the middle of winter. He was running 800s, as I recall, in about 2:10. Soon, thereafter he ran 2:10 for the marathon, and an article in Runner's World said he had reduced his mileage to around 100 per week with more quality reps included than before."
Tbh, I don't think his training is anything that should be copied. Likely he was just super talented, I doubt people back in the days had better training methods than what we have now. He did Yassos 800s before they became a thing tho, lol.
LateRunnerPhil wrote:Tbh, I don't think his training is anything that should be copied. Likely he was just super talented, I doubt people back in the days had better training methods than what we have now. He did Yassos 800s before they became a thing tho, lol.
Why not? Run a lot, that's how you get good at marathons. K.I.S.S
I have to wonder if he is the most successful single parent of all time? 130 miles/week with three kids by yourself is a crazy load. Either one would be beyond my capabilities, I would think. I do realize there are people out there that can get by without things the rest of us think they need, like sleep.
LateRunnerPhil wrote:
Singles wrote:
Ran once a day 14-15 miles, 20 on the weekend. One interval workout/week, one hill workout/week. Pretty simple.
Haven't read the article, but that's not true. Tinman posted about his training years ago:
"I attended a clinic Phil gave in about 1982. He told us at that time his story. He had been working a labor job (I think it was at an elevator shoveling corn and stuff like that) and not running; out of shape. He started going to his local cemetery to run, away from the eyes of others. He was slow, overweight, etc., at first, but he just kept putting in distance and his fitness grew rapidly. He started doing doubles and his fitness raised even more. Up to that point he had run 2:13 for the marathon on about 130 miles per week and most days the runs were 6-8 miles for one run ant a bit more for the other, but not much. When I asked Mr. Coppess to recommend training for high school runners, he said we should run twice a day and get in distance as much as possible without overdoing it. He said he started with 6 in the morning and 6 in the evening, and he implied that is what we should do too.
In 1985, I believe, I watched Phil workout on an indoor track in Sterling, IL in the middle of winter. He was running 800s, as I recall, in about 2:10. Soon, thereafter he ran 2:10 for the marathon, and an article in Runner's World said he had reduced his mileage to around 100 per week with more quality reps included than before."
Tbh, I don't think his training is anything that should be copied. Likely he was just super talented, I doubt people back in the days had better training methods than what we have now. He did Yassos 800s before they became a thing tho, lol.
This is where I quit taking your posts seriously.