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| At World Masters Games, Finland, 2009 |
(9-18) Norm Goluskin
came late to running but made up for lost time. His father was an immigrant
from Odessa, Ukraine (formerly Russia) and the focus in the household was on
making a living and making sure his sons had an education. Exercise and sports were not even on his parents' radar. But by sheer luck, Goluskin
happened to be in Central Park on September 29, 1974 and saw a bunch of old
guys running around the park for 26.2 miles and thought, “Heck I can that.”
Historical note: On that day, the late Norbert
Sander and Kathrine
Switzer became the only New York City residents to win the New York City
Marathon.
Childhood: I was raised in The Bronx in a
middle-class housing project. Well, at least we aspired to middle class. The
project was built around a playground with a softball field, handball courts,
basketball courts and even a paddle tennis court. In addition, there were
regular games of ring-a-levio, a game born on the streets of New York City. My
early years were largely spent playing these street sports. I ran around a lot
and I was one of the faster kids in the neighborhood, but I never participated
in races or on a track team.
After high school my participation in these street
sports fell by the wayside. I spent time in the Marine Corps, then went on to
college at night and worked full time during the day for an advertising
agency. There was almost no time for
recreation. Once I finished undergraduate school, I started playing tennis and
skiing.
Started running? I was 36 (born September, 1938 -
just turned 80!). I started running
somewhat regularly in advance of the 1976 New York City Marathon, the first
5-borough marathon and my first marathon. I was 38 when I ran that one. For
those of you who are running historians, Bill Rodgers won that marathon in 2:10
(a 4:58 pace) and Miki Gorman in 2:39 (6:04 pace).
Why did you start
running? In September of 1974 I was in Central Park and happened upon the New York City Marathon. I was astonished that anyone could run 26.2 miles. I was 36 at the time, and was inspired and started putting in a few runs a week. I found I was better at
running than tennis and skiing, and I liked it much more. Running has been a very important part of my life ever since.
running than tennis and skiing, and I liked it much more. Running has been a very important part of my life ever since.
Did you have an early
inspiration or person who motivated you?
One of my
friends was running regularly, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. Eventually
I started joining him for runs and met other runners who invited me to join
their running club, Central Park Track Club. They had some great masters
runners, including Fritz Mueller (who held the masters marathon record of 2:20
set at the 1978 Boston Marathon when he was 42 and a few weeks later he won the
Yonkers Marathon in 2:28. That record was broken by Roger Robinson in 1981,
when he ran a 2:18:45 in Vancouver at age 41.).
When I turned 40 they asked me to join them in team competition. I was
honored.
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| With Jim Milne and Ron Hill (center) at the Tameside races, 1996 |
How much did you run
per week in your peak years? Now? I was a mileage junkie. I loved to
run and discovered I was good at long distance. Also, I never had the
confidence that I could race far and fast unless I trained long and hard. In
other words, I was regularly over-training.
The year leading to my best marathon, a 2:40 in Boston, (I forget the
year) I averaged 75 miles a week for 52 weeks. Some weeks were only 40-50 miles
while a few weeks were over 100 miles. My typical week included a track
workout, fartlek on the road and a long run.
Now, I'm lucky if I reach 40 miles a week. I admit to
no longer having the same level of enthusiasm as when I was younger. Also, I'm
now living in a small town in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New Paltz, where there are
almost no runners my age and few who run at my slower pace. Many days I run
alone, which is not as enjoyable as it was.
What were some of your
better memorable races? Once
my race times weren't getting any faster, I began to look for events that
offered a different experience. In 1996
I went to England with my friend Jim Milne to run The Tour Of Tameside, six
races in seven days. The event is put on by Ron Hill, a Boston Marathon winner,
European champion and holder of the record for the most consecutive days of
running - 19,032. It turns out that Ron and I were both 58, born on the exact
same day, September 25, 1938. I beat Ron on the first day, and he beat me
soundly on the next day's Fell run. The third race was the Ron Hill 7-Miler. We
ran most of the race near each other with me just a bit in front. The last 300
meters finished on a track and, with Ron right on my shoulder, I sprinted like a
scared rabbit. I finished a step ahead of him. He told me he had run as fast as
he could but couldn't pass me. I felt that beating the great Ron Hill was the
peak of my running accomplishments. I could have happily hung up my racing
flats and retired from running. Of course, I didn't.
When I turned 62 I decided to run 100k in Italy. The
100k equals about 62 miles and the symmetry resonated with me. This is the
longest race I've ever done on a very beautiful course that went from Florence
to Faenza.
Annually I run Rock the Ridge, a 50-mile challenge
held on the breathtaking lands of the Mohonk Preserve right in my backyard. I
ran the full 50 when I was 75 but most years I participate in a 4-person relay.
The event is a fundraiser for the Preserve. This is an example of how races can
be used to help a non-profit organizations finance its mission.
Over the years I've run hundreds of races, every
distance from 400 meters to 100 kilometers. I love running but I don't feel as
strongly about racing. However, training for races gives me a goal for my
training.
How did you train
differently in your younger years? I
ran more mileage and more quality. Weekly mileage was typically 60+. Each week
I did an interval workout on the track and a fartlek run on the road. On the
weekend I did my long run, which was 16-20 miles. At the time I lived in New
York City and did these runs with Central Park Track Club.
How do you train now?
Do you attend coached workouts? I run fewer weekly miles and all
are a lot slower. When I was in my 40s and 50s I never planned a rest day. Now
I build in one rest day a week. Most
days I manage to take a nap. If I'm feeling really tired I sometimes take a
second day off. I'm lucky that my friend and world-class masters runner Roger
Robinson is willing to coach me. Typically, my week includes a series of
repeats and a long run. The repeats are not as fast and the long runs not as
long as when I was younger. Currently, one day a week I do mile repeats. Last
week I did three, each at 8:48/mile. I'm
not sure if Roger will want me to increase the number of repeats or try to run
three faster miles. He gives me the same workouts he gives to younger runners
except, as a concession to my age I am allowed a longer recovery. Hard training
may not make me faster but it allows me to slow down more slowly than other
guys in my age group. His plan is working as I just placed third age in the
Fifth Avenue Mile in 07:44.
Has your diet changed
throughout the years? My
diet has evolved over the years, but this has more to do with trying to stay
healthy than with improving my running. I have a family history of heart
disease so I rarely eat red meat though I do eat fish and chicken. I've cut
down on dairy and sugar. Weight has never been an issue for me. I typically
weigh 135 pounds.
Cross training: I
try to hit the gym 2-3 times a week. I've read weight work is important for
general health, especially as we age. I
do lower-body weight work to offset muscle imbalances from running and to help
slow the natural process of losing muscle mass with age. I go to the gym
because it offers benefits, but I can't say I enjoy my time there. I'm also
likely to stretch when I'm at the gym. I like stretching even less than lifting
weights.
How important is
social running to you? If you were/are a competitive runner, can you adapt to
the slower times and enjoy a social run? I enjoy social running. Having a set date and time to
run with someone makes it a lot easier to get out the door. Slower times are a fact to which I've adjusted.
However, when I'm running hard the effort is the same as when I was in my 40s.
In other words, I feel the same as I did 40 years ago and age has no bearing on
the good feeling of running to my max.
Obstacles along the
way? I've been lucky and have only occasionally suffered
with minor injuries. Since my retirement from the advertising business, my wife
and I do a lot of traveling. When I was
in my 60s I could come back from a 3-4 week trip, and within three weeks I was
running well again. That's not the case anymore. Now, if I don't run for three
weeks, even if I've been hiking most days, the start back to running feels as
though I have never run before. It's very difficult even at a slow pace and
often feels as though it's not worth the effort. When planning our trips now,
my wife builds in places and times for me to do some running so that I can
maintain a semblance of running fitness.
A favorite quote: As it applies to life and running:
“You can only be young once but you can be immature all your life.” In other
words, have fun.
Running – training
philosophy: You get out of it what you put in
to it. This, too, is true of both life and running, in my opinion.
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| Running NYC Marathon in 1977. |
What do you know now
about running/fitness that you didn’t know way back when? I
came to know that the benefit of getting in shape is more than just being able
to run/race well. Running is an integral part of who I am. I have also learned
that with age I must start out slowly and that no matter how I feel, after two
miles I will feel better. The first two miles are uncomfortable no matter how
slowly I run. I've learned from my Garmin that my heart rate is very elevated for
the first 2 miles and then drops even as the pace picks up. It's not uncommon for me to run the last mile
or two of a 5-6 mile run at least a minute per mile faster than the early
miles.
You were a board
member of NYRR: I was a board member for about 17 years. I
stepped down two years ago when we instituted term limits. I'm now an emeritus
director. When I retired from the advertising agency (president of the New
York-based Smith/Green Ad Agency) in 1999, Bob Laufer, then NYRR's lawyer,
asked me to start a program for what was then the NYRR Foundation,
a running program for middle school kids. I started it in 2000 with
14 kids in Red Hook, Brooklyn and even coached that first year with Jennifer
Stockton, the only Foundation employee. Today, the Foundation has evolved into
NYRR’s Rising New York Road Runners and offers free running programs for kids
pre-school through 18 years of age with over
250,000 kids participating in the program.
What are the biggest
lessons (life lessons and running lessons) you have learned? We are capable of much more than we
might expect. I believe the accomplishments of racing 26.2 miles and completing
ultras translates to other things in our personal makeup. I feel that I
expanded the intellectual and emotional boundaries as I accomplished expanding
physical boundaries.
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