Wednesday, August 25, 2010

13:11 Tim Broe becoming a coach

by Duncan Larkin for RoadsMillsLaps
Once upon a time, before the Solinskys and the Tegenkamps came to the fore, before Ritz and Lagat did it, America had a whole bunch of hard-working guys going after Bob Kennedy’s elusive 5,000m American record (12:58.21).

Tim Broe of Peoria, Illinois was one of these guys on that quixotic quest. And though his ultimate PR, 13:11, fell short of Kennedy’s 13-year-old mark, there’s no doubt that his untiring work ethic--his ability to throw absolutely everything on the line every race and ignore the inevitable pain and doubt that goes with 4:1X pace--inspired the next generation of Americans to keep tilting at the windmill.

Broe helped pave the way; there’s no doubt about it.

Good news for America: Broe hasn’t walked away from the sport. He’s not spending his days sitting atop a deer stand with a warm cup of coffee cradled in his hands. He hasn’t slipped under the radar.

After years coaching budding Solinskys at East Peoria High School, Broe recently accepted a professional coaching gig with In the Arena, which is now based in Lyme, New Hampshire.

RML: You spent your career whittling your 5K down to 13:11. During those days, Bob Kennedy was the only American to go sub 13, but since you’ve retired, the list of sub-13 Americans has grown substantially with folks like Ritz, Teg, Lagat, and Solinsky running times that were once thought practically impossible for Americans. What do you think these runners are doing right when it comes to training and racing?

Tim Broe: My first thought--and this is kind of an obvious answer--is that they are doing everything right from a younger age. As collegiate runners, they have a long-term plan other than, “I got to win the podunk invite this weekend.” This is especially true for the Wisconsin kids. They are doing everything right from a young age. They are getting that consistent, uninterrupted training that you need at a young age. They establish a big base, just like the Africans have done from a young age. And now they are reaping the benefits of that.

You mentioned the Wisconsin guys like Solinsky. He was logging a ton of mileage for high school runner. As a high school coach, do you think its good for kids to get in a lot of miles in order to establish the base you referred to earlier?

I think that every kid is so different. I’ve never really been opposed to it, because everyone has their own path. For me it was 13:11. For Solinsky it’s 12:55. If a kid really enjoys it and it’s healthy for him and it’s healthy for his mindset and he enjoys doing it, then by all means, let him run--as long as they have some perspective and they have someone looking after them, as opposed to going out and just hammering like crazy without real direction. And there are other kids who don’t need it. Their bodies just aren’t ready for it. But in Solinsky’s case, he’s a big, strong kid who can handle that kind of mileage. For example, I had a kid in high school who I coached. He was a “miler” and looked a lot like Solinsky--a big, strong kid. I was running him 70 miles a week. He ran 16:20 for 5K. Now, I had another kid the same age who had a totally different build. He ran the same times, but was only logging 40 miles a week. So it just depends on the athlete.

Staying on the topic of aerobic fitness: What does “aerobic base” mean to you and what does it take to establish one?

In my opinion, it takes two, consistent, solid years of long runs, long tempo runs, longer fartleks and hills. It means just working on that anaerobic threshold or that lactate threshold and getting yourself so efficient that you can play at any speed or with any gear. You just have better command over your body when you are racing.

A lot of younger marathoners right out of college seem to move immediately up to the marathon. What do you think about that?

I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. They are getting big paydays, so why would you not? If you’re going to get $100,000 just to show up at a marathon to make your debut, it would be pretty hard to say no. Just because you do a marathon early in your career, doesn’t mean you are destined to run marathons your whole career. If someone’s going to offer me 150 grand to show up to a marathon, I’d take it in a heartbeat.

Despite the fact that the U.S. is showing strength in events like the 5,000m and the marathon, it still seems to be lagging behind in the steeplechase event as well pretty much being a no-show at the world cross country championships. Why do think that is?

I think the steeple is coincidence. Everything comes in waves. When I ran six years ago, the 5K was pretty pathetic. It still wasn’t too shabby. We had guys going under 13:20, which at that time, was the best we had in a long time. But the steeplechase was really strong. Besides myself, there was [Robert] Gary, Fam, and Dan Lincoln. We had like seven or eight guys under 8:20. Now it’s flipped. The steeple has kind of been the red-headed stepchild of distance running on the track. Why risk injury in an event like that when you can run 13:00 for 5K? Right now, all our best distance stars are running 5Ks and 1500s. I think it will come back. Now, about cross country: It’s a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, it’s a long trip to compete in it, because it’s always in Europe or Africa. It’s a long haul to go over and, to be perfectly honest, get your ass kicked for 12,000 meters. It’s that simple. You have to adjust your training, because it’s always nice to have a short indoor period. Run a couple times; make a couple bucks. You run U.S. cross to make sponsors happy and because it’s a fun event. But now you have to extend that another month, when you really need to get back to your base training and ramping up for the outdoor season. On top of that there’s the money part. I keep bringing that up, but as a professional athlete, you have to pick and choose where your effort is going to be. So if you go over to world cross, a guy there can run well, but end up getting 15th or 20th place. And you are worn out, because you had to taper a week before and you’re tired the week after. So you’ve really kind of screwed with your training for six weeks, for what? I guess it would be really cool to have all the good guys that America has running now show up and go win a team medal. America could legitimately place second or third. Ethiopia and Kenya would obviously be up there, but the hard part is getting all those guys to commit to doing it.

Do you think the U.S. has a shot to win an Olympic medal in the 5,000m or 10,000m in 2012?

Oh absolutely. I think Solinsky and Ritz both have a legitimate shot in the 10K, depending on what Ritz decides to run. I think Lagat has a big shot at medalling in the 5K. The thing about championship events is that it’s hard with our trials system to get ready for that--especially now that we’ve got four or five guys who are as good as they are for over 5K. You really got to be prepared at the U.S. Trials or you could end up being a 13-flat guy sitting at home watching the Olympics. That’s the thing even with a Lagat or a Solinsky: If you can’t run a 54-second last lap off a quick pace, off of running a race of 64s, or run 27 seconds for the last 200, as good as you are, you aren’t going to medal. The Africans just have this other gear--even when they are running quick. They can dig down and split 26 or 27 at the end of 12 hard laps.

Why do you think the Africans have that extra gear?

I think a little bit is genetics. I think a lot of it is that huge aerobic base they’ve had from a young age. Even as fast as they are running, they are so efficient. Their body may be tired, but they still have one or two more gears left in them. One thing that always bugs me is when people say that they are just tougher than we are. And that’s why they are successful. I don’t think that’s it at all. Americans are finally catching up. Now that Nike and the Oregon Project have set the bar so high. I wish they’d share some of their secrets, but I don’t think it’s about secrets, though. They’ve got every medical advantage and they are doing all the right things. So absolutely: I think we have several shots at winning medals.

You just recently moved to New Hampshire, correct?

Yep. Three days ago, in fact. [He laughs.]

What are you doing there?

I’m going to be coaching a group of post-collegiate runners who are sponsored by a charity called In the Arena. They were located originally in Boston, but have recently moved their operations to Lyme, New Hampshire. Their goal is to get athletes into the finals of the Olympic Trials. Hopefully, if I could get two of them into the Olympic games that would be a huge feat in the next two years. Their ultimate goal is to get athletes to become positive role models for kids in their communities. These athletes will come up. We will all live and train together. I think the difference between ours and other programs is that they will spend a couple hours a day in schools and other programs around the area just mentoring kids and being positive role models for them.

How is your own running going?

I ran twice in the last two years. It seems to have gone ok when I ran those two times. [He laughs.] I probably will do some running now that I’m up here. But I’ve been kind of bummed out with my foot that’s been chronically hurt. You just get worn down from trying to run when everything feels good, but you wake up the next day and my foot just kills me. I’m doing some biking and enjoying life more than anything.

How’s the fishing in New Hampshire?

I have no idea. I really don’t. I know I’m standing here looking at a barn and there are about 25 turkeys 50 meters away from me right now.

New Hampshire is a good place for hunting and fishing. Are you excited about that aspect of living there?

I got a couple kids running for me. One kid, Ben True, is from Maine originally. He moved back from Oregon, because he got homesick. He’s a fisherman and redneck. Another kid, Robert Edgerton, is a UNH grad. He’s a big-time hillbilly, so I think we’ll be doing some outdoor stuff together as well as training.

You’ve hunted and fished your whole life. What lessons, if any, have you learned doing those outdoor sports did you apply to your running?

It sounds kind of corny, but the biggest thing, especially with deer hunting is kind of being patient, allowing the deer to come to you. When I was first hunting, I used to sit for about and hour and then chase the deer, spooking them away. I couldn’t sit and wait. But just learning to be patient has a lot to do with running. There are so many guys who are so anxious to get better, they keep pushing and pushing. One thing we are going to work on here, is that we will work on our training, but we’re also going to teach these kids just to relax and not feel like they have to kill themselves just to get better. You do have to push yourself to a certain point, but sometimes you have to let it come to you, too. You’ve got to learn to relax. Ben [True] is a great example. He’s been training for a full year. He took two days off. I said, “Why don’t you take two weeks off?” He said, “You know, two weeks is too much. I’m already bored.” And so I told him: “Take two weeks off to let your body and mind recover. Get them ready for a fall training session.”

What lessons are you imparting as a coach that you learned as a runner?

My biggest thing is was to learn to calm down and just relax during the day. I couldn’t just train in the morning, sit around all day, and then train at night. That’s what’s really special about the charity, is that we’re going to be doing a lot of training. That is the big part of this, but we’re getting these guys out of the mindset where life is all about you 24/7--getting them out of their training and racing, getting them out of their own head and ego, giving back a little bit and being around kids. I think that’s why I hunted and fished a lot, because I was bored and had nothing else to do. Sitting around just didn’t suit me. I want these runners to try and relax and not do so much throughout the day. I used work out in the morning, golf in the afternoon, run around for the rest of the day, and then just be exhausted at night. We are going to be running in the morning, going to be working in schools for a few hours, and running at night. As far coaching is concerned: it’s challenging to say the least. It’s a lot more stressful being a coach than being an athlete. Let me put it to you that way.

Why?

I guess, because at the end of the day, no matter how much you want it for the athlete, how much you want all your training to go right, they have to go out and run on the track. At the end of the day, they have to be the one strapping it on. I think I’ll have a lot more fun with professionals. With high school runners, I was so stressed out all the time, because as much as I cared, kids would say, “Whatever, coach. This is a dual meet.” I would just pull my hair out all the time. People would say, “Relax, it’s just high schoolers.” I would say, “But when I was in high school, I wanted it bad.” A lot of it with professionals is that they putting their trust in me. I don’t want to let them down. I think that is going to probably be my biggest stressor. I’m a chronic worrier. I think I’m going to spend a lot of time hoping that I’m doing it right. I don’t want them saying at the end of the day, “Well I didn’t race well, because Broe had me doing this.” It’s a learning process, but we will learn together.

You were featured in the movie Five Thousand Meters: Nothing Comes Easy. How was that experience?

[He laughs.] You know, I got in a lot of trouble from my mom because of that movie. They did a premier of it in the old Apollo theater in Peoria. My whole family was there. At the time, there were a bunch of kids walking around with camcorders. It was just something to do, so I let them follow me around. They were good kids. But you sometimes forget all the things you say. And so when it comes on the screen, my mom was just glaring at me. I was the only one dropping f-bombs. My mom stared at me and says, “Only you. Only you.” [He laughs.]
 
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