Talent for running in India as good as anywhere else in world: Jack Daniels

Jack Daniels is no ordinary running coach, he's an encyclopedia of anything even remotely related to running. From co-devising the VDOT calculator in the 1970s that can help runners be aware of their fitness levels depending on the volume of oxygen used, to coaching many an Olympic long-distance runners in the US over the years, the octogenarian has dedicated a large part of his life to the art and science of running.

In India as the coaching partner for the first-ever Pune Half Marathon scheduled to be held in December, Daniels held a workshop for coaches in Mumbai on Saturday.

The two-time Olympic medallist in modern pentathlon sat down for an in-depth interview with DNA. Excerpts:

What attracted you to running?

I started running because I was involved in modern penthathlon, and that includes swimming, horseback riding, etc. I had done a lot of the swimming and shooting but I had never run. So, that's why I started running.

As someone who has seen the sport from the 1950s and 60s till date, how has running evolved over the year?

It depends around the world, really. Like in United States, years ago there wasn't much road running at all, it was just in high schools and colleges. It then evolved, and now, there is more road running than track running. So, it's changed quite a bit.

With your VDOT invention, you brought about a revolution in terms of use of technology in running. How much of an impact has technology had on the sport since then?

That's a good question, because some runners don't pay any attention to it at all. It doesn't mean they're bad, it means that they do fine without it. But then sometimes it ends up being like, people learn something but they don't know why. It's nice to know, isn't it? If something works well, one should be able to tell other people, that here is how it works and why it works.       

But has technology become an inseparable part of running as a sport now?

Yes. You have to learn more, always. Well, some people don't have to learn anything, they just need a good coach. So, either the runners need to know what they're doing, or they have to have a good coach who knows what he/she is doing. It has to be one or the other.

Having deviced something that can measure fitness, do you think fitness levels of the runners worldwide now is better than before?

I don't think it's any better. And I'm talking of the good ones. They have just learnt how to race better, I don't necessarily think that they are any fitter. Thirty years ago, we had some runners who were fitter than the ones now. Their timings weren't as good but they were fitter.

Why is that so?

Probably the performances are better now because more people do it (running). If you have a million people doing something, your chances of having a good performance are better than if you have only a hundred thousand people doing something. Even though both group has more runners, one group has more good ones because there are just more bodies. I think that's the main reason why the timings are better now than before. But I think people were very, very fit 30-50 years ago.

So, I'm not sure if we have better runners than those who were the best before. Their performances are better only because there are more people doing it now.

You've coached many Olympic athletes in America. In your opinion, do you think people are born as natural runners and athletes or can they be nurtured and made into one?

It has to be both. If you don't have the ability, it doesn't matter how much and how long you train, you're not going to be good. So, you have to have good ability but you have to be well trained to back that ability as well. The two things have to go together.

In India, there might be many people with the natural talent to run well, yet somehow they're not able to go to the next level. What could be the reasons according to you?

Well, most of them, probably, if they're interested, they're highly motivated. So, if they have the ability and motivation, then they also have to have opportunity and a coach. Somebody who is really qualified and motivated may not perform well because they don't have opportunities or a good coach. So, you could have two people who are equal, and one beats the other because this one has other things working for him, and this one doesn't.

From an Indian perspective, the country hasn't had a lot of long-distance runners doing well globally. How can India start producing quality runners in the future?

There just has to be more opportunities for people to be more involved. Because the talent is here. I think the talent for running in India is as good as anywhere else in the world. But you have to have enough people doing it, so that the good ones can come out on top from that. Maybe, there hasn't been a big interest in running, so the people who have the ability to be good runners don't do it. They do some other sport, or they don't even do a sport.
But I think once more people start doing it, you will have more success. It's just logical statistics. If you have a million people doing something, the odds of success are higher than if you have only a handful.

In the US, it may be very different than in India because most of the young people are running in school. I don't know if they do that here?

Well, not so much. At least not at the level that you're talking about...

So, that's why. There should be school programmes for running. And then you start developing youngsters.

So, what's the ideal age to start if one were to pursue becoming a professional runner?

For some people, it's not too late to start even if you're 30 years old. Because most people can still improve till they're about 40, after which they start going down. But the big advantage of starting with the young ones is that some of them will want to keep doing it. And if you have a thousand young ones doing something, you might have a hundred of them that are good ones. However, if you have only a hundred of them starting young, then you'll only have tens of good ones.

You spoke of good coaching being the key. We've seen an influx of foreign coaches in our athletics programme, at least at the Olympic level. Do you think foreign coaches could make a difference in endurance running?

Well, it'll help, but only until you develop your own coaches. Having your own coaches can be very useful. You just don't have enough of them right now. The coaches seem very interested in learning here. So, that's good. We've also learnt from the British and the Kenyans and the Australians.

Can sprinters be good long-distance runners too?

No. Not the good sprinters, at least. Because to be a good sprinter, you need to have a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibres, the type that go fast. And those aren't good for running.

Although, there are exceptions to that rule. About 40-50 years ago in the US, it was popular to do muscle biopsy: take a piece of muscle, and see what percentage is fast and what is slow. For a while, they said in order to be an endurance runner, you need to have mostly slow-twitch muscle fibres.

Then, in the 1976 Olympics, we had a marathoner finish fourth in the Olympics, and he had never done a muscle biopsy. After the Olympics, he got it done, and he was 60 per cent fast twitch! He wasn't even supposed to be a marathon runner. So, he did it because he wanted to do it. If he would've been tested if he was young, he would've been told not to do it and he would never have gone to the Olympics.

So, you have got to do what you want to do. Some of these tests can be detrimental. I would never discourage someone who comes up to me and says, 'I want to be a marathoner'. I'd say, 'Good! Train for it. See what happens'.

A lot of the top Indian marathoners go to the Olympics and take part in events like steeplechase. Is that something you'd advice them against?

I think a lot of people in the US do this too. We hardly had any interest in road running. The college runners who ran in the track — 5,000m and 10,000m — when they graduated from college, they finally got interested in the marathon. But I think we should have marathons in college. Why not? They assume that you do the shorter and faster things now, and then later on in your life you do the marathon. That's the way it has been, but I don't think it has to be that way. You can start thinking about marathon right away.

Know Daniels

Full name: Jack Tupper Daniels
Born: April 26, 1933; 
Detroit, Michigan, USA