MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Motoring
  • Video
Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

These Are The Worst Training Mistakes You Can Make, According To Bodybuilders

These Are The Worst Training Mistakes You Can Make, According To Bodybuilders

How Surf God John John Florence Rehabbed His ACL In Record Time

How Surf God John John Florence Rehabbed His ACL In Record Time

Just One Energy Drink Can Increase Heart Attack Risk

Just One Energy Drink Can Increase Heart Attack Risk

This Guy Trained Like Chris Hemsworth For 90 Days, And His Results Were Insane

This Guy Trained Like Chris Hemsworth For 90 Days, And His Results Were Insane

{headline}

{headline}

Is It Healthy To Combine Intermittent Fasting With Keto?

Is It Healthy To Combine Intermittent Fasting With Keto?

Why 30/10 Is The Perfect Macro Ratio For Burning Fat

Why 30/10 Is The Perfect Macro Ratio For Burning Fat

8 Rules Of Muscle-Building, According To A Bodybuilder

8 Rules Of Muscle-Building, According To A Bodybuilder

{headline}

{headline}

5 Tips And Tricks To Hide A Receding Hairline

5 Tips And Tricks To Hide A Receding Hairline

Mike Tyson Just Announced His First Opponent

Mike Tyson Just Announced His First Opponent

Lewis Hamilton On The Physical and Mental Pressure To Stay Fit

Lewis Hamilton On The Physical and Mental Pressure To Stay Fit

Can You Finish This 220-Rep CrossFit Workout?

Can You Finish This 220-Rep CrossFit Workout?

LeBron James Breaks Down His Core-Busting Workout

LeBron James Breaks Down His Core-Busting Workout

What Happened When This Guy Followed Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' Diet

What Happened When This Guy Followed Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' Diet

A Kickboxer Just Broke The World Record For Most Punches Thrown In A Minute

A Kickboxer Just Broke The World Record For Most Punches Thrown In A Minute

  1. Home
  2. Running

Masters Runner, 75, Sets American Age-Group Record for 3,000 Metres

Paul Perry ran a 4:06 pace at the Armory track in New York - by Sarah Lorge Butler
  • 16 Mar 2020

Septuagenarian runners continue to rewrite the record books. The latest to make his mark? Paul Perry, 75, of Orland Park, Illinois, who is going after middle-distance times on the indoor oval this winter.

Masters Runner, 75, Sets American Age-Group Record for 3,000 Metres

Perry went to the Armory in New York earlier this month thinking he had to run faster than 12:52 to set an American 75–79 age-group record in the 3,000 metres. A few days before the race, he double-checked the time, and good thing: The record had fallen last March when Doug Goodhue of Michigan ran 12:29.32.

It didn’t matter. On January 9, Perry shattered Goodhue’s time, running 12:18.49, which works out to 4:06 pace.

Perry first started running as a child, and he competed through college at Georgetown University, where he ran 2:34 for the indoor km his senior year. But after graduation, he knew he wasn’t going to make the Olympics. He stopped running, went to law school, and became a prosecutor in Chicago.

One night at a party, when Perry was 45, a friend told him about races for masters runners. “I didn’t even know they had races for old guys,” he said. Perry started training again.

When he was 54, and in the middle of one of his most serious murder cases, prosecuting a hitman, Perry ran a mile in 2:58—a single-age world record at the time. He had slowed only 25 seconds in 33 years. As for the hitman? “He got 80 years,” Perry said.

These days, Perry follows an unconventional training plan. Whenever he can, he goes to one of the tracks near his home in the Chicago suburbs and runs 6 x 600 meters with 200 meters rest between each. He’ll do it as many days in a row as his legs will allow. It’s a method he says he picked up from a book, The Perfect Mile, which details the quest of Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee to break the four-minute mile. (Landy used daily 600-meter repeats in his training.)

Perry will sometimes run those 600s for seven or eight days in a row. If his legs are tired, he’ll do an easy run of 5 to 7 miles instead. And if he’s really exhausted, he’ll do a 2-mile shuffle. On the worst days, about once a month, he takes off completely, but he doesn’t plan it in advance. “I don’t do a day off unless I can just barely walk,” he said.

Then he goes back to the 600-metre repeats, which vary from 6:30 to 9:00 pace, depending on how many days in a row he’s done them. Before his record attempt, Perry cut all his training in half for two weeks.

The indoor season isn’t over for Perry. Assuming he stays healthy, he plans to go back to the Armory to go after Goodhue’s km record, currently 03:54, which Goodhue also ran last year. Any luck and Perry will come close to the outdoor km record, which is 3:41 and has stood since 1992.

He’s penciled in March 5, another of the New York Road Runners’ Night at the Races, for the attempt.

Until then, it’s lots of 600-metre repeats. “I spend way too much time at this sport, but I’m retired,” Perry said. “What am I going to do?”

armorynyc View Profile
2,318 likes - View Post on Instagram
ICYMI: 7️⃣5️⃣ year old Paul Perry returned to @armorynyc & smashed the Masters 75-79 age group 🇺🇸 record in the Mile with 6:10.98 (pending ratification) 🏆💐#NYRRNightattheRaces | 📸: @mikei19

This article originally appeared on Runner's World

  • News
  • Fitness
  • Running

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Subscribe Now-

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now

Recommended to you

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic
Watch 0:10

Bjornsson Deadlifted 1,026 pounds On The Elephant Bar To Win 2020 Arnold Classic

{headline}

{headline}

These Are The Worst Training Mistakes You Can Make, According To Bodybuilders

These Are The Worst Training Mistakes You Can Make, According To Bodybuilders

How Surf God John John Florence Rehabbed His ACL In Record Time

How Surf God John John Florence Rehabbed His ACL In Record Time

Just One Energy Drink Can Increase Heart Attack Risk

Just One Energy Drink Can Increase Heart Attack Risk

This Guy Trained Like Chris Hemsworth For 90 Days, And His Results Were Insane

This Guy Trained Like Chris Hemsworth For 90 Days, And His Results Were Insane

{headline}

{headline}

Is It Healthy To Combine Intermittent Fasting With Keto?

Is It Healthy To Combine Intermittent Fasting With Keto?

Why 30/10 Is The Perfect Macro Ratio For Burning Fat

Why 30/10 Is The Perfect Macro Ratio For Burning Fat

8 Rules Of Muscle-Building, According To A Bodybuilder

8 Rules Of Muscle-Building, According To A Bodybuilder

{headline}

{headline}

5 Tips And Tricks To Hide A Receding Hairline

5 Tips And Tricks To Hide A Receding Hairline

Mike Tyson Just Announced His First Opponent

Mike Tyson Just Announced His First Opponent

Lewis Hamilton On The Physical and Mental Pressure To Stay Fit

Lewis Hamilton On The Physical and Mental Pressure To Stay Fit

Can You Finish This 220-Rep CrossFit Workout?

Can You Finish This 220-Rep CrossFit Workout?

LeBron James Breaks Down His Core-Busting Workout

LeBron James Breaks Down His Core-Busting Workout

What Happened When This Guy Followed Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' Diet

What Happened When This Guy Followed Hugh Jackman's 'Wolverine' Diet

A Kickboxer Just Broke The World Record For Most Punches Thrown In A Minute

A Kickboxer Just Broke The World Record For Most Punches Thrown In A Minute

MensHealth
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Chris Hemsworth Hugo Boss
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Chris Hemsworth Hugo Boss
  • Terms
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement

Brands

  • Women's Health

Our Network

  • Paragon Media Pty Ltd
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from Men's Health

Magazine Subscription Offer

Subscribe Now-

Shop This Offer
Subscribe Now