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The
strange case of Ed whitlock (Extract from a book “Running
over 40”) |
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More or less everything we have written
about inevitable slowing down appears to be contradicted by Ed
Whitlock, a seventy-year-old English-born
Canadian, who lives in 
October
2000 he ran 2 hr 52:50 for the
Of course every runner would like to know
his secret, but there is no secret. He doesn’t take any magic potions – not
even vitamin pills. He doesn’t stretch, he doesn’t do weights or cross-training
and he doesn’t do any quality running apart from his races. He continues to
maintain a high mileage – running two to three hours a day, over 100 miles a
week, something which none of us ‘experts’ would recommend. Laboratory tests
showed just what one would expect from someone who can run those times – low body-fat and a VO2 max of 52.8ml/kg/min.
Studies of his hormone levels and his
haemoglobin showed nothing out of the ordinary. The answer lies in his attitude
and in his family background. His mother lived to ninety-three, his father died
in his eighties, and his father’s brother lived to 107. It seems likely that Ed Whitlock is one of those people who
ages very slowly, and that is why he doesn’t break down or get injured, in
spite of his volume of training.
Without those genes, he could not be the
success he is, but the genes would not give him success if he didn’t have the
will to succeed, the desire to be the best he possibly can be.
He has the ability – he won a World Master’s title at 1500m when he was 48 – he has the
desire and he has found a training method which suits him. That’s all you need.
Submitted by: Martin Bates
Date: 21st December 2006
Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor