Jack Daniels
from The Missoulian
Recently I received a note from old friend Bill Schnier telling me about an evening in Cincinnati spent with Jack Daniels and his wife Nancy. Bob Roncker another good friend and former competitor who founded a chain of running shoe stores in the Queen City many years ago hosted a gathering of the Daniels duo and twenty guests at his home to listen to the man talk about his experiences and running formulae and strategies. It sounds like an evening that any of our readers might have travelled a long way to attend. Jack is now 90 or 91 years old. He competed in two Olympics in the modern pentathlon in 1956 and 60 winning a team bronze in 60. I first encountered Jack when he was coaching at Oklahoma City University, and they easily crushed our overrated, under coached U. of Oklahoma team in cross country. We thought it was just because he had a few Aussie imports including George Scott who was I think a few years older than us and looked a lot older. We heard rumors about some of his training methods, and our coach thought he would adapt something he heard about. It was a twenty mile run. Most of us had never in our sheltered lives run more that 5 or 6 miles without taking a shower and kicking back with a Budweiser. This was late September, about 85 degrees and sunny and Coach did not provide us with water to take along. Nor did he wait beside the road handing some out. We were so naive about long distance running that we probably would have objected to the idea. So off we went. Coach drove us out 20 miles from campus and left us at the side of the Interstate coming up from Dallas to OKC. Cars were zipping by at or above the then 80mph speed limit. I think I ran on the edge. Some ran in the median. On those Oklahoma plains we could start seeing the high rise dorms from about 15 miles away. Believe me it was a long afternoon. Wearing those thin soled, canvas Converse track shoes was no help either. We had more blisters than brains by the time we all got in and our cross country season was pretty much over. It took weeks to recover. I think we misinterpreted Jack's theories a bit. May have confused him with Arthur Lydiard.
Next time we all ran into Jack was at Tinker Air Force Base outside Oklahoma City where we as 'athletes' were asked to participate in a study being conducted by Bruno Balke a renowned former Third Reich scientist looking at recovery and exercise on middle aged men who had had heart attacks. In those days the common prescription was bed rest. Balke thought this was wrong and decided to train post myocardial infarct patients by walking and jogging. We young 'healthies' were to serve at setting a baseline at the other end of the fitness spectrum from these heart patients. The testing was treadmill running with a gradually increasing pace. I don't recall that they increased the grade. We usually maxed out about 27-30 minutes with Balke's protocol. Jack Daniels was, I think, Balke's assistant. I'm not sure at this writing who was in charge.
Jack would go on to coach at the University of Texas and also work with the US Modern Pentathlon team in San Antonio. Then he coached very successfully at D III Cortlandt State in New York. That's where I met him again at the D III nationals at Baldwin Wallace U. when I was coaching at Wittenberg U. in Springfield, OH.
Anyway, I'm sure all of you know who Jack Daniels is and his influence on US distance running and his book, and things about him that I haven't mentioned in this brief intro.
Bob Roncker who hosted Jack and Nancy sent me some "Take Aways" from that gathering on April 1 in Cincinnati. Bob also told me that Jack will be giving a lecture or seminar at the Penn Relays coming soon. If you are in the area don't miss it. You will have to look up on your own the interpretation of VDOT. My scanty understanding is that it is derived from a runner's best performance and from that used to determine their training intensity or speed. You are not to exceed it in the Daniels school.
Here are Bob's notes:
Takeaways from “An Evening with Jack Daniels”
I think that we would agree that last evening was an extraordinary treat for each of us. Being able to listen to the experiences of Jack and his wife, Nancy, was something that I feel could help each of us, either in our own particular running capacity or as an advisor/coach. Unfortunately, our memory plays tricks with us. It only retains a certain amount, and as time passes on, more and more of what was said, dribbles away. The intent of this letter is to put down in a more permanent status, while things are fresh in our minds, ideas that were offered last night. In no particular order, I am going to begin listing, as I understood them, thoughts that I heard and recall. What you will initially read below is certainly not intended to be a complete recollection of what we all witnessed. As you read what I note, I would like you to respond to this document and add some of your own personal takeaways. After a week’s time, I will assemble what you all have contributed and resend it out to you. Hopefully, the end result will be a document that can prove to be quite beneficial to each of us.
1.There are four elements leading to future success. Jack ranked them in this order: Inherent native ability; motivation; coaching; and opportunity.
2.The same type of training affects people differently. Someone who tends to be more of an 800/miler type probably has more fast-twitch muscles and will not respond as well to tempo, or VDot training, as well as somebody who is more of a 5000/10,000 meters type of runner. Individuals with predominant speed muscle fibers will probably respond better to a repetition type of running.
3.During a week’s cycle, Jack advised two quality days as well as the weekend race. Research indicates that after 48 hours there is an onset of peak muscle damage after a strenuous workout. With this in mind, it probably is not best to have a hard workout on Thursday if one is running a race on Saturday. A preferred training week cycle might be to have quality days on Monday-Tuesday; Monday-Wednesday or Tuesday-Wednesday. The remaining days might be longer easier efforts with a number of 15 to 20 second stride pickups afterwards.
4.In preparation for a cross-country season, Jack had his teams, during the summer, primarily doing repetition type workouts. His intent, by having them run faster during this time frame, was to make them more efficient as runners and help improve their economy of running. Then, once everyone convened in late summer or early fall, they would concentrate on developing their endurance by doing VDot workouts.
5.On race day, as a preparation for the actual race, he would have his team jog for a mile. This was to be followed by strides and completed by a half-mile run at VDot pace. After the race’s conclusion, with time and weather permitting, the team would jog another mile to help remove built up waste products.
6.He advised against going out too fast early on in a race. We have aerobic as well as anaerobic capacities within us. The anaerobic element is very finite and once it is used, it is gone for that day. For that reason, he did not like his team members to sprint out immediately. He advised them to go out at a VDot pace and maintain it throughout the race.
7.At the 2-mile point he wanted his runners to begin counting the number of opponents that they passed all the way to the finish. This was tremendously motivating during the race. He would reward or recognize that individual who tallied the highest number.
8.Having all team members training at the same pace is not ideal for each of them nor the team. Try to individualize the workouts whenever possible.
9.Jack said that he would have runners asking him to allow them to run faster in workouts. His response was, “Fine, first give me a faster VDot.”
10.Jack had a set of the VDot workouts which he used with his runners. They consisted of 16 X 200s; 8 X 400s; and 4 X 800s. Each of these was run at the VDot pace. It is best to continue moving in between each of the runs. This helps facilitate the removal of waste products that are building up.