Training and racing with #ultrageezer Gene Dykes

Gene Dykes was the talk of the running world this weekend when he broke the M70 50K world record in 3:56:43, beating the previous record by nearly 19 minutes. For those of you keeping track, that means he averaged 4:35/kilometre, which would be an impressive performance for anyone, let alone someone who’s 73. We caught up with the #ultrageezer after his race to chat about his record-breaking run, his running philosophy and what he’s got planned next.

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Right off the bat, he didn’t sugar-coat things for us: “I’m a wreck,” he tells us. “I really didn’t hold myself back in the last mile, and in the last quarter-to-half mile I really picked up the pace. I was going about as fast as I run a mile race.”

It’s difficult to fathom running your mile pace at the end of a 50K race, but Dykes didn’t earn the moniker ultrageezer for no reason. He already owns the age-group record in the Boston Marathon (2:58:50 in 2019) as well as the U.S. M70 records in the 100-mile and 24-hour, so this latest record is yet another accolade to add to his collection. Despite his impressive performance, he tells us that he isn’t in nearly the shape he was when he ran his unofficial M70 marathon record in Florida in 2018.

“I probably could have run 20 to 30 seconds per mile faster if I were in really top shape,” he says. “This shows how far I have to go if I want to break the marathon record in the fall.”

RELATED: RECORD ALERT: Gene Dykes breaks US 100-mile and 24-hour M70 records

The record he’s referring to is the late Ed Whitlock’s M70 marathon record of 2:54:48, which he is hoping to break at the London marathon this October. In 2018 Dykes beat Whitlock’s time at the Jacksonville marathon in Florida, where he ran 2:54:23, but learned later that Jacksonville was an unsanctioned race and therefore was not record-eligible.

Dykes credits his coach, John Goldthorp, for helping him get to where he is and refers to him as a “miracle worker.” He started training with Goldthorp about eight years ago, and claims he was a mediocre runner until that point. “I’d still be an ordinary runner without him,” says Dykes. “There’s no way I could have coached myself to this.”

To most runners, Dykes’ training style might seem a bit unconventional. A mere five weeks before his 50K he ran 152 miles (245 kilometres) at the Cocodona 250 in Arizona, which he says only gave him a few weeks of training before his record attempt. Despite this, he still ran four other races between the two events, and just a few days from now he plans on running a 100-mile race. That means he will only have had five days to recover from the 50K before he’s toeing the line again. For most of us, that much racing would be completely exhausting, but for Dykes, it’s fun.

“I keep up my running volume by hitting every enter button I see,” he laughs. “I like running every weekend. Experience has shown me that the more I race the better I get.”

Dykes cautions that you shouldn’t just jump into racing that much right away, but if you simply start doing a little more each year, it becomes much harder to outdo yourself after a while, and you eventually end up entering a race every weekend. He also doesn’t do anything special to maintain that kind of volume, and his training philosophy is to “just run”. “I never stretch, never do flexibility exercise,” he says. “No weightlifting, no strength, no core, no cross-training, no special diet.”

While the M70 marathon record is the next big goal on Dykes’ list, he won’t be sitting on his heels between then and now. He’s got a lot of events coming up, including the USATF Master’s Track and Field Championships this summer. Dykes’ love of the sport is undeniable, and is no doubt one of the keys to his success. When asked for his advice to other runners, he gave us the following:

“Don’t be afraid of getting old, don’t be afraid to try new things in running. Just enjoy it, and get out there and do it.”

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