Craig Davis, USA - M67

http://www.shortestfastestoldestwhiteguyiknow.com/
My Wife and I will remember 2014. Karen, my beautiful wife, was diagnosed with HER2+ Breast Cancer; aggressive but we are confident that "With God`s Speed - Out Run Breast Cancer"
Well in April 2005 my massage therapist, Joanne, told me about the Sunshine State Games that would take place In June on father`s day. That short time frame only gave me about 6-7 weeks to go from a "Desk Jockey to a World Class Sprinter".
Desk Jockey to World Master`s Sprinter:
The first week was a challenge just trying to find a pair of jogging legs let alone sprinter`s legs at the age of 48. The second week felt a little better and by the third week I started to feel like I was back in my school/college days. Big Mistake, Huge Mistake. But just like many of weekend warriors, I strained my hamstring, go figure. But still determined to run my first track meet in 25 years, I rehabilitated the injury best I could. On race day, I accomplished Silver Medals in both the 100/200 meter events in 12.75 and 27.77. The Track Fever began but definitely I needed to learn the proper training regimen.

I struggled and fought that inner youth mind set through the next 7 years. Researching articles, videos, books, and especially talking to the other Master’s athletes where you pick up little gems of information. There is not an exact formula but a culmination of the trial and error in finding out what works best for you. At the National Senior Games in 2011, the best discuss I had was the concept of training at 80-85% while focusing on athletic form, breathing and body position. Limit the 90-95% effort in training sessions to avoid muscle strain/fatigue/injuries, compete at 97%, and never at 100% which does not allow a sprinter to run fast and relaxed.

After what I may consider my rebound year of 2010, I placed my training into the hands of Coach Cliff Campbell. Cliff often said, “Well Craig’s 80-85% effort always looks like 95% to me!”. I was always placing to much strain instead of just training. He taught me how to train and for the first time I competed the entire 2011 Season without sustaining an injury. If you view my track history on http://www.mastersrankings.com you would see a big contrast in the number of events from year to year compared to the number of events I ran just in 2011. Additionally, how all of my times progressively dropped in all three events (100/200/400) from the beginning of the year until the July World Masters Championships.