Human Limits

Here are a couple of vintage pictures of Hayden Smith who I mentioned earlier in the week.  These shots give you some idea about how his body changed as he made the ten pound transition from a speed/strength/power “fast-twitch” athlete in the middle 1970s to a 2:26 marathoner by the late 1970s.   His comments about the pictures are instructive.

Tucson Marathon 1975

“After the race I coached at the regional wrestling tournament for 8 hours.  Now I need a nap after a 5 miler.”

Eugene Marathon 1979 

 

“Little did I know Stoney (Dennis Stonehocker) had just missed qualifying (for the Olympic Trials) that day.  Blair (Johnson) was 2:16 or 2:17, Tom (Rotkis) was 2:23.  I spent the final 100 looking at the clock ticking in the 2:20’s.  Finally under 2:30:00!  I didn’t bother to kick (like the day we raced to the finish in the parking lot in Tucson).”

Denis Stonehocker and Tom Rotkis were part of our group of “sub-elite” marathoners in Tucson from that era.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 at 5:23 am and is filed under Current Events, Elite Sports Performance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.