Jeff Galloway's Blog

Life in Olympic Village

When I qualified for the Munich Olympics, it was my first international competitive experience and I had high expectations.  The excitement and the variety of experiences expanded my world and changed the way I looked at my sport.

When I arrived in Olympic Village I took every opportunity possible to learn from those who ran faster than I.  Almost all of them were open to talking about how they trained. But after 10 interviews, I had 10 different programs. I concluded that while there are many training schedules that will produce the same level of fitness, some result in more injuries than others.  Some athletes succeed in spite of their training - they did a great job of choosing their parents.

The Olympian’s dilemma is to maintain this performance peak without getting injured: a very tricky mission. Most tend to stay with the program that they have been using. Even without increasing intensity, many athletes will improve performance because of extra rest and the stimulation of competition. It is unlikely that a distance athlete can improve conditioning between the Trials and the Olympics. Sadly, there is a high injury risk when increasing training intensity before a big competition.

The higher the level of performance, the greater the pressure. Most Olympians I spoke with had a projected performance level. Some expected a specific time goal. Others mentally projected themselves competing with certain athletes in the race and beating them. I imagined myself moving up through the race, as I had done in the Olympic trials. I staged my workouts so that the pace would increase throughout the session. I always stopped the workout before I was totally exhausted.

Even if I didn’t feel good at the start of a workout, I stuck it out. Some days I had to lower the intensity because I didn’t have it. Since it is common to not feel great at the beginning of a workout, I felt that it was important to try to work through this on the "down" days - to prepare for "down" feelings on race day. In most cases I ran just as well when I didn’t feel good at the beginning.

Most athletes try to follow the eating plan that they have used before. In another country this may be difficult. Many of the meals in Olympic Village had foods that I was used to eating. On other occasions, I tried new foods. This did not bother me, but several of my friends, including Steve Prefontaine, complained constantly about the food. Having seen many athletes break records on diets that would make dieticians cringe, I don’t believe that diet made much of a difference during the month before and during the games. I would have a breakfast of granola, yogurt, fruit, whole grain bread and sometimes eggs. Lunch would usually include a sandwich with vegetables. For dinner I chose chicken or fish with vegetables and whole grain bread. I usually had snacks at mid morning and mid afternoon: fruit, energy bars, or whole grain bread.

During the 2 weeks leading up to the Olympics, I ran harder, every other day. On the easier day, I just jogged. Each day I ran 5 miles in the morning. The faster afternoons would be spent at the track. The first few repetitions would be at race pace. Inspired by the other athletes, I often found myself running too fast at the end.  I believed that my exuberance during the last 3 workouts inspired me to exceed my speed limit. On the easy days I would run about 5-7 miles on the afternoon workout, through a park. My total mileage was down about 50% from pre trials training levels.

Jeff Galloway
US Olympian
Director, breastcancermarathon.com (2-15-09)
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Making The Olympic Team: My Experience

As my friend Jack Bacheler and I entered the track for the final quarter mile of the Olympic Trials Marathon, the crowd jumped to their feet. With only one spot left on the 3 person marathon team, most expected a race to the finish. I glanced behind us one more time to make sure that no competitor would catch us and told Jack that he was going to Munich--but he didn’t hear me. The roar of the crowd was overwhelming and empowering as we ran stride for stride toward the finish.

Fourteen years before, I was a fat 13 year old entering a new school that required athletics after school. The "lazy kid grapevine" told me that the track coach was the most lenient--you could jog to the edge of the woods, goof off (out of sight from the coach), and jog back at the end of the period. I didn’t like exercise but, as fate would have it, met some kids that were funny. At first I tried to keep up with them to hear the jokes.

I wasn’t an instant star. It took 4 years of hard running before I finally qualified for the Georgia State High School championships. I continued running at Wesleyan University without an athletic scholarship, but didn’t achieve any NCAA overall ranking. It was during Vietnam and I drew a draft number of "3". I was not good enough to apply to one of the armed service track teams so I served on a ship in the Navy. When my service was over in 1970, I decided that I would try to qualify for the Olympic Trials race. My times were so much slower than needed, and this was unlikely. But I was looking forward to the journey when I first met Jack Bacheler.

Rumors spread that a new track club was forming in Florida, the FTC. The Florida Track Club was a vision of University of Florida track coach Jimmy Carnes. He had offers of support from area businessmen including Gatorade inventor Dr. Robert Cade (who helped us travel to key competitions). But 1968 Olympian Bacheler gave the club legitimacy while he worked on his doctorate. The first time I met Jack I liked him. He was fun to run with, but focused on steady improvement through hard work.

Like me Jack had not been an instant running star, but had made the previous Olympic team. A friend during college days, Frank Shorter, had joined Jack a year before and had already become a leading candidate for the 1972 Olympic team. I cannot understate the power of these mentors at this stage of my running. I continued to make steady improvement until February of 1972 when I qualified for the marathon trials in a major time improvement.

Frank had arranged for he and Jack to train at altitude for 2 months before the ’72 national championships, which were 2 weeks before the Olympic trials. When they invited me to join them, I didn’t hesitate. I was probably about 12th on the national rankings of marathoners. My plan was to run in the national championships in hopes of achieving a qualifying time to get into the 10,000 meter race. I needed to improve by over a minute so this was unlikely.

During most of the hard workouts at Vail, I could not keep up with my teammates. But even when struggling, I was inspired to do my best when running with Jack. When he sensed that I was motivationally challenged he always said something that made me laugh or gave me hope. I drove from Vail, CO to the Nat'l Championships in Seattle. Conditions were perfect for distance running. My training had paid off and I qualified to get into the 10K race.

I knew that I didn’t have a logical chance of making the team in the 10K. Even after my surprise improvement in Seattle, I was probably ranked about 10th—and only 3 qualified for the Olympics. It was over 90 degrees at the start of the race so I decided to just get through it. I was in last place through 4 laps and then passed someone. Because many of the runners had started too fast, and I did not, I found myself catching up to the stragglers, passing one, then another. I played a game with myself, guessing when I would pass the next person. With about 6 laps to go in the 24.5 lap race, I decided to see who was ahead and was shocked to see that it was only my two teammates, Jack and Frank.

Jack was struggling, probably from lingering fatigue and I passed him and finished second. Even on the hot day, I had run under the Olympic qualifying standard. I cannot express the joy in this unexpected accomplishment, but this was tempered by what happened to Jack. Coming down the 80 meter homestretch, Jack was in third place. But the crowd was encouraging the local favorite, John Anderson (son of the Mayor). Jack was weaving under the fatigue and bumped John on the way to John’s 3rd place finish. An official called a foul on Jack and disqualified him from the race.

I knew that Jack could strengthen our team in Munich if he could qualify. So I offered my services as a pacer during the marathon trial, one week later. This was my specialty and I looked forward to the chance to help my friend, while improving our Olympic chances. Jack had set a tone of cooperation and support for one another in the FTC and it was time for me to give back.

We started in the lower half of the pack and moved up every mile until, at 21 miles, there were only 2 runners ahead of us. Jack was not feeling good and so now I became the cheerleader. I had had a great mentor as I talked Jack through some low moments.

It was an overwhelming moment for me. This former fat kid was running in the Olympic Trials, in a tie for 3rd place. But the best part was bowing to my good friend at the finish so that he could finish 3rd. My victories in races like the Peachtree Road Race and the Honolulu Marathon don’t come close to the lasting joy of helping a friend.

In the Olympic Marathon, two months later, our team finished better than any in Olympic history: Frank Shorter 1st, Kenny Moore 4th, and Jack Bacheler 9th.