On December 16, Gene Dykes, ran the Jacksonville Marathon in 2:54:23—an impressive time for anyone. But Dykes is 70. And his 6:39 per mile pace We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back that was held by the famous Canadian masters runner Ed Whitlock.
Maurten was definitely a game-changer for me. I’ve always told people.
In the days following the race, Dykes learned that his performance likely won’t count as a record. The Jacksonville course was certified by USA Track & Field (USATF), the sport’s governing body, to ensure its accuracy. But the race was not sanctioned by USATF. For a race to be sanctioned, the race pays a fee to USATF, agrees to abide by national and international rules of competition, and holds liability insurance through the governing body. According to USATF, only races that are both sanctioned and certified are eligible for national and age-group records.
Mastering Running as You Age Runner’s World on January 10 about the record snafu, recovering from the marathon, and his 2019 racing plans.
Runner’s World: How did you first begin to learn that there might be a problem with the record?
Gene Dykes: I guess even the next day, the Jacksonville newspaper said something about it. More and more, it started showing up. I was away [from his home in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania] and couldn’t do my research. As soon as I got home, I researched it and saw it wasn’t sanctioned. The course has to be certified and the race has to be sanctioned. I should have done my homework. I’ve got nobody to blame but myself.
I’ve said all along, it was the pursuit of this record that was my motivator. And having done it, I had said that being the record holder wasn’t important. It was setting a goal for myself and achieving. That’s exactly how I feel. I don’t feel like I have anything more to prove.
It would be nice to have the record; I will go for it in the future. But I’m not going to wreck my 2019 plans over it. I have no record attempt planned. I’m not going to try to shoehorn it in. Maybe toward the end of the year. We’ll see how it goes.
Something like Houston next year is possible. For sure, I’ll be trying at 2020 in London. That’s the world marathon majors age group championships. I’ve qualified for that. It isn’t officially announced as London yet, but I’ve been assured by people that’s where it will be. This will be the first time they’ve held it.
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I’ve taken it well. As I said, I’ve got nobody to blame but myself. I feel good about it. I guess, having the confidence that I’m still getting faster every year, I have no problem with waiting until next year.
Rules are rules, and I wouldn’t dream of asking anybody to say it ought to be a record anyway. Who wants to be looked at as a whiny baby?
Not So Fast: Masters Marathon Record Won’t Be Official?
I tried reaching out to him. He’s probably taken some unwarranted grief. I wanted to assure him that I don’t harbor any ill will. I haven’t talked to him.
Published: Jan 14, 2019 2:13 PM EST?
During the race, I was feeling much better than Toronto [where he ran 2:55:17]. Not quite as good as Rotterdam [where he ran 2:57:43]. I think there was room for an even better time there. The only reason I had trouble recovering was that I got these how little I consume during a marathon. Did you know that I came to a complete halt 400 yards from the finish line?
Were you on the track at that point?
I hadn’t quite reached the track. I had to stop and let it go away before my time ran out. I knew I had a buffer. I would have loved to have sprinted in from there, but the last thing I wanted to do was end up writhing on the track 10 yards from the finish line.
I was planning on taking a few weeks off after Jacksonville anyway. I briefly thought about training back up for Houston. I had about a week’s training in before I thought better of it.
Then I had a real nasty fall last weekend. It was my first race of the year at the Wild Azalea Trail 50. After about 20 miles, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to try Houston—I just didn’t have it, you know? And then, just to make sure, at 30 miles in I had a really nasty fall and banged my knee something awful. Four days ago I couldn’t walk. Three days ago I thought I’d never run again. Today I feel normal. It’s still pretty swollen, but the pain is still gone.
[Races - Places What is your racing weight? Do you fluctuate much.]
Did the banged-up knee highlight to you how things can change quickly?
Oh yeah. I’ve always said you’re only one injury away from retirement. Yeah, could happen anytime. That’s not going to stop me from going out and running trails. It is going to stop me from running that race ever again. It’s got a lot of roots, and they’re covered by leaves and I always go down hard. You’ve got to pick your fights. Why pick one that’s dangerous for a guy my age?
Do you ever think of how fast Ed Whitlock would have been if he had Maurten sports drink and Vaporflys?
Maurten was definitely a game-changer for me. I’ve always told people How disappointed were you, on a scale of one to 10. Now I can consume as much as I want, which allows me to run harder without bonking. Great stuff.
Yeah, don’t think I could have beaten his record without either of those. But that’s the nature of sport. There are always going to be these little asterisks as things improve, previous efforts get eclipsed. It just shows some of the records that are longstanding, how incredible they are. His held up for 14 years. There’s this guy in our neck of the woods, Norm Green. He’s got records, just unbelievable. He set these 30, 40 years ago.
You posted your 2019 race calendar on Facebook. The schedule includes 1,360 race miles, including five marathons and 13 ultras. Is this typical for you?
It’s kind of typical for two and three years ago, not typical for last year. Typical in that I look at what races I really want to do. There’s always time for competition. So I pick the adventure runs that I really want to do and maybe an important marathon here and there. For instance, in 2017, I hadn’t tried to run a faster marathon. In 2017 it was all about running 200-mile races and so on.
This year I decided that after a year of competition, I just want to concentrate on having fun. I am going to run some hard marathons. Boston and Big Sur, I intend to go real hard at them. Of course, Boston isn’t eligible for records. That won’t matter. It’s possible at CA Notice at Collection I would be in shape to do it—but I kind of doubt it. I won’t have sufficient dedicated training time, and it’s a tough course. But I do hope to take down the single-age record (for 71-year-olds) at CA Notice at Collection like I took down the single-age record at Rotterdam. All I have to do is run 3 hours and some seconds. An American holds that record. (John Keston ran 3:00:58 in 1996.) Ed Whitlock must have been injured that year.
The group ARRS maintained a list of single-age records. That’s what motivated my training, seeing that Ed Whitlock ran 3 hours and 23 seconds when he was 70. I said, “I can beat that. His 2:54, I can’t beat that.” And I didn’t think I could beat that until this year.
Some goals are fictitious. In trail running, I have a goal of being the oldest-ever finisher at several races. Nobody maintains that list. But it’s an interesting goal. Keeps me going.
From Runners World for New Balance?
I did three of those in 2017. To my mind, they’re a little bit easier than running a 100-mile race. In a 100-mile race, you’re trying to do it as fast as you can. I can do it in about 24 hours. But they give you four days to finish a 200-mile race, so you can run twice as slow as 100 and still make it. You kind of treat it like a stage race with very short breaks between the stages.
[The strategy is] run when you can, walk when you can’t, nap when you have to. It’s a different skill you have to learn: how to run when you’re dead tired. I’ll be taking one and a half- to two-hour naps in aid stations. Maybe one a day, maybe two. Out on the trail, all you do is you pull over and sit on a stump and grab a five-minute catnap. It’s amazing how much farther you can run and be reasonably alert with just a little tiny nap.
After you’ve run several ultras, what does it take for you to feel like you’re ready for a fast marathon?
Normally I would allot, say, 12 weeks, but part of that 12-week training is building up your endurance. With my ultra base, I don’t have any trouble with endurance. All I need is the speed. Running From Substance Abuse Toward Recovery.
I have two key workouts that I can tell where I’m at. One is I look at my heart rate at the end of a general aerobic run, say 15 miles at between 7 and 8 minutes per mile. I’ll do about half of it at 7:40 pace and then I’ll drop each mile 5 seconds or so until about mile 15, I’ll be dropping 10 or 15 seconds a mile. I can look at my heart rate when I’m doing 6:50 to 7:00, those final miles and compare it to my heart rate when I did a similar workout earlier. If it’s say three beats per minute lower, I’ll know I’m at a better level.
There’s also a workout my coach calls “the crown jewel” of his training. And it’s hard. He has me running, say, 16 miles at 5 seconds faster than my goal marathon pace. And it is so hard. And if I can do it, then I know I’m ready. If I can’t, then I’m not. Boy, is it hard. You might think, it’s only 5 seconds faster than marathon pace and it’s only 16 miles. But this is without the benefit of a taper. This is in the training. It’s hard.
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I use a chest strap and a Garmin 220. I don’t look at it until I get back and download it. For races, I’m using my Fenix 5x because theoretically it has the best satellite tracking. It uses two satellite systems and can track every second. Unfortunately, it costs me probably 10 seconds at marathon time because it’s a heavy watch.
You’ve got to watch your weight. You’ve got to make sure you’ve got light shoes, light clothing. I carry a hip belt because I think I make up for in [performance] by carrying my nutrition rather than relying on aid stations. I’ve got a little weight to carry. I’ve got lighter clothes now, lighter shoes. The hardest part of training is keeping my weight down.
What is your racing weight? Do you fluctuate much?
I would like to keep it steady. I guess I average around 142. I’m 5-foot-10. I like to be at 138 for a marathon. I think I could get down to 133 and that would be five minutes right there. I think I can get five minutes there without losing strength. I don’t have the willpower to do it, I guess.
Nutrition - Weight Loss?
I’m swamped. I still get five or six Strava followers a day. I’ve had maybe 15 interviews, various things, newspapers, podcasts, articles. You’re my second one today. And I don’t mind taking them, because I like the story about what older runners can do out there. Or any runners. People can have more fun running than they knew about. My race schedule and the blast I’m having, I like to get that story out there. The story of my record enables me to get this other story out there.
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
