90 Year Old World Record Holder Shares His Secrets!

Dr. Cooper

Welcome to the latest episode of the Catalyst Health, Wellness, and Performance Coaching Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Bradford Cooper and today’s episode will inspire you and encourage us all to consider the untapped potential that we have within us. Our guest is Earl Fee the holder of the 90 year old age group, world record for the 800 meters. That’s a distance of about a half mile that he ran in 3:34. It’s about a seven minute per mile pace. Most likely the majority of our listeners can’t hold that pace regardless of age. Mr. Fee, as I mentioned before, is 90, he’s the author of five books, including how to be a champion from nine to 90, and a hundred years young, the natural way. He has set a total of 60, 60 master’s records ranging from age 57 to his current 90 at the time of this recording. And he’s planning to set the mile world record for 90 plus this year, if you’re currently a coach or planning on heading that way in your career, we have a number of complimentary resources available for you on our website, which is CatalystCoachingInstitute.com from continuing education to special reports, information on our annual coaching retreat, NBHWC approved coaching certifications, and much more. You can find it all there. Of course always don’t even hesitate, reach out to us anytime Results@CatalystCoachingInstitute.com. We can set up some time to discuss anything that’s coaching related. Your career, where it all fits together, et cetera. And you can pop over to the YouTube coaching channel, which is literally youtube.com/coaching channel and find a growing library of freely available video resources there as well. Now it’s time to listen in on the secrets of success with 90 year old world record holder Earl Fee on this latest episode of the Catalyst Health, Wellness, and Performance Coaching podcast. It is my pleasure to welcome Earl Fee joining us today on the podcast, Earl. Thanks for coming.

Earl Fee

Well, it’s a pleasure to participate. I’ve heard good things about your program. So I’m feeling very fortunate to be interviewed.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah, I think we’re gonna have some fun. I just, for the audience, you have a whole bunch of world records. We’re going to talk about some of them, but just to set the tone for the audience folks, this guy ran a 3:34, 800 meter at the age of 90. My guess, just wild guess is 90% of the population can’t run that fast of any age. So we’re gonna be talking about some of that, but let’s start off. You ran in college and then you took a break for 33 years until restarting at the age of 56. What was the catalyst for getting started again?

Earl Fee

Well, the thing was, I, I started running with my, my young boys first. I would take them to the running club, you know, train there a couple of times a week. They were like eight and nine. And then after a while, I started going to these training camps in Florida and California with them. And then I started training myself and then I started running again myself. So it was really, my boys got me going. And when they stopped, I kept going.

Dr. Cooper

And now they can’t keep up with you,!

Earl Fee

But, that’s how I got going again. I was really enjoying it. So I particularly, when I started to break some records, I thought, well, this is a good hobby.

Dr. Cooper

You found your gift. Absolutely. Obviously your genetics play a role, but you’re not alone in having good genetics. What do you think are some of the keys to performing as well as you are the age of 90? When most folks are just happy to get up out of their chair, you’re running a 3:34, 800 and multiple other world record speeds at different distances. But outside of genetics, what do you think it is?

Earl Fee

Okay, but I’ll tell you about that. But first I will mention about my genetics when my mother was 69, she looked about 43 and my grandfather was pretty amazing. He was very active up to 85 and, you know, acting like a young man. So that helped a lot. But the thing is I got very interested in longevity. Like I have a lot of books on the subject and then I started, I thought maybe I could write a book to help myself, you know, at the same time. So I learned a lot, a few of the tricks, but the main thing I’ve found is that it’s important to do intense exercise. The long slow running is good, but intense intervals are better. And then, as I continued training, I found that my diet started improving and I’ve now, I think the diet is so important. Particularly a lot of vegetables at dinner I have about my plate is about 85% vegetables. I have fish or chicken, but, I don’t eat beef. Like I like it, but I think that it’s not, not really too good for you. So I think it’s really the activity and the, and the kind of vegetarian diet and avoiding sugar and, well, there’s a few other things. So in my book, a hundred years young, the natural way, it’s in three parts, body, mind, and spirit. Like most of longevity books are mainly on the body, but I think the mind and the spirit are very important too, you know,

Dr. Cooper

Well, let’s jump into some of those, that’s an area that we have a lot of guests coming on to talk about behavior, change, mental toughness, cognition, those kinds of things. So take us through a couple of those. Give us a couple of examples. That’d be great.

Earl Fee

Okay. I have a very good chapter in my, my running book, my running book is called the complete guide to running. It’s been a, quite a successful book anyway, and this running book I have, my best chapter probably is about mental training. So this is, these are some of the tips. Like for instance, when you go at the start of your race, you’re warming up. Do you have a lot of nerves in the beginning? I didn’t know how to get rid of these nerves. I was a nervous wreck for the first world championship. Anyway, the thing is, if you think about your, the good training you’ve done and the good races you had, think about those things mainly like just before your race, a few hours before your race. Like if you, if you think energetic, or if you act energetic, you can be energetic. Or act confident, you can be confident. It really works. So some of the things that help calm the nerves.

Dr. Cooper

So for you specifically on that one, let’s just jump into that one for a second. Do you have a certain phrase that when you’re lining up for these big races that works, and obviously everyone’s a little different, but for you, have you found the phrase or the word that you’d like to repeat to yourself right before race?

Earl Fee

Well, that’s a good idea, actually like to have some kind of mantra when you’re running, you know, like I used to think, well, this is not, this is not too fast. You know, as, you know, things like that, you can repeat. I have something I might say before, a race, like I’m a little bit religious and I might say like, God, be with me. You know, I think it used to help me, help me to be my best, my best or whatever, you know. In a short race, you don’t have time to just say that, but the longer race you might.

Dr. Cooper

So let’s, let’s talk through your 800 here. So it’s 3:34 world record. You’re saying certain things to yourself before you start, as you come through that second lap, are there different things that you’re saying to yourself, do you break it down into, okay, the first 200, I’m going to say this the next 200 that, have you done any of those types of things?

Earl Fee

Like my, my best races are the hurdles and the 400 and 800 and the mile or the 1500. So for the 800, I think about getting to the halfway mark and I, I like to be on schedule, you know, like you can read the big clock there.

Dr. Cooper

Sure. So you’d like to know that you’re right on pace at that point.

Earl Fee

So if I’m slow, I pick it up. And so I think about getting to that point, then I, then I start thinking about getting to 500. And then when I get to 500, I start thinking about getting to 600. Cause I know when I get to 600, I’m going to pick up the pace, you know, and, and this actually helps me because when you break it down, it’s not as bad. You know, it’s like running a long race, you think about the next telephone pole?

Dr. Cooper

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. We call that segmenting. That’s a great strategy.

Earl Fee

It helps to break it down. And like, when I run in the pool, I’ve run in the pool, I simulate 800 meters by the same effort in the deep end, you know, the same effort and the same time. And so I think about, about that reaching the halfway point and then reaching the 500 point and 600 point. And then I think of picking it up and that’s what I do when I’m in the water. Like the water running, running in the water is a very good exercise. I find I can simulate the actual race.

Dr. Cooper

Okay. So take us down that path a little bit. In your weekly running, how much of it is water running? How much of it is interval training and how much of it is more traditional, more long, slow distance type things.

Earl Fee

Okay. Well, the thing is, I, in the last 10 or 15 years. I gave up the long running for aerobic training. So I adopted this high intensity interval training. You know, I would, during the week I would spend like one day, like I would run three days a week at the track. And, and then the other days I’m in the water or cycling or are the elliptical, but, but mainly running in the water.

Dr. Cooper

That’s interesting. So you’re, you’re at the track three times a week now? That is fascinating. And in the pool a couple of days and then elliptical bike, those kinds of things.

Earl Fee

Well, I might, I might take a day off, but lately I haven’t been doing that because my workouts haven’t been that hard. But okay, so then in the summer I would, I would be training for the 400 and 800 and the hurdles. So normally, most weeks I would have, like one day a week I’d spend on sprinting and the next, the other day with on 800, you know, I can get in shape pretty quick.

Dr. Cooper

I love hearing the fact that you’re at the track three times a week. I have so many friends in their forties, fifties, sixties that say, Oh, I don’t go to the track. Cause I don’t want to get injured. And I’m like, but you’re not going to get faster. And here you are at 90 saying you spend three days a week at the track doing your intervals. That’s, that’s fantastic. Love that.

Earl Fee

Well, I should mention on Sunday I do something long. You know? Well, I used to do like a couple of miles or longer running when I was under 75. I would, I would sometimes train with the, the marathon club, but like do some, maybe a couple hours of running. But anyway, no, I, I do these interval training, but on Sunday I would, I would do some like 400 meters repeats at mile pace, for instance, you know. When I was younger, I used to do like run on the track and then a few hours there, but around the water, you know. But I don’t do that nowadays, but I just do one a day workouts. But when I was like 60 or 65, I was doing like sometimes two a day work outs.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah. I love this. Okay. All you listeners out there who are saying, Oh, I don’t know if I can run that. Oh, I don’t know if I can run three times a week, listen to this guy. This is awesome.

Earl Fee

It’s a habit. You know, once you, once you get into the habit, it’s not that bad.

Dr. Cooper

Exactly. Exactly. It’s not even not that bad. It’s great.

Earl Fee

If you train with other people, I don’t do that lately because it’s really better to be on my own doing my own pace. And you always have to show up right on a schedule. But with me, I’m retired. I, I can go anytime. It was better to do it on my own. I find that if you’re with other people, it takes twice as long. It’s a lot of talking.

Dr. Cooper

Okay. So let’s go back a few decades once you got started. So you were mid fifties when you restarted, did you see improvement just for the first year or two? Or did you continue to see improvement for, you know, four or five, six, 10 years as you got back into it?

Earl Fee

Okay. Well, the first, the first year I tied a world record in the indoor in the 400 meters. So I kept in good shape for those 30 years. So like I’ve been doing a lot of skiing and water skiing.

Dr. Cooper

So you weren’t coming from out of shape.

Earl Fee

I had a good coach. He worked us pretty hard. If you see my book, it’s called Earl Fee is running, my autobiography book. It has the workouts in there, different age groups. And they’re really tough. I’m sort of amazed that we did that, but that’s what you can do when you’re younger. You know, you can do some amazing workouts.

Dr. Cooper

So walk us through that then. How, how has your training changed fifties versus 60 versus 70, eighties versus now? You’ve talked about some of that, less of the long run, a little bit more running in the pool. What else have you noticed? That’s changed over those three and a half decades?

Earl Fee

Like I was doing weight training too, a couple of times a week. Lately, I’ve just been training, doing the weights on my, at home, on my own, pushups and different things at home. And I feel I’m still in pretty good shape before I was 75. I was running with, with this marathon club. And then I had some problem with my left calf. There was some, a circulation problem, and I wasn’t able to run that long. That’s when I had, so I was kind of forced into this high interval training, which I was still able to break records with that method. You can still get the endurance, even though you’re doing fast intervals, I was doing more of this interval training and, and, but I, I kept up with the water running, but not quite as much. Well, the thing of course, I slowed down every year at my age, 80, 85 or 90 slow down about 3% a year. And even this is for world record holders. So you have to adapt, you know,

Dr. Cooper

So, so is that kind of the trend that you’re seeing? Cause the, the data from 40 on is a little less than 1% a year, but once you hit 85, you’ve, you’ve basically seen about a 3%, is that as you look at your own times?

Earl Fee

Well, the way it works is like, I looked into this pretty extensively up to 65, but it’s about 1% all the way. But then when you get 65, it’s about like, it could be 2%, but at 70% it’s definitely like 2%. And then, near the end of the eighties, it’s near 4%. even Whitlock, my friend is Whitlock. He was 82 when he died. And he, he was slowing down by 4% a year too.

Dr. Cooper

Well, that’s what I was going to ask you. So all that data is based on general population trends. So for you,

Earl Fee

This is based on world record holders.

Dr. Cooper

Okay. Very good. Beautiful. So how about for you specifically? So if we even take it, the microscope down further, your 3:34. Was that about 3%, 4% slower than it was?

Earl Fee

I’m probably about 2% per year. That’s one reason why I do these records, I think.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah. Yeah. So you’re, you’re saying generally it’s 4%, but for you, you’ve been able to hold it about 2%, even at 90? Beautiful.

Earl Fee

That’s the reason why I can break these records because I’m slowing down much slower than most people, but the thing is I’m doing the right things and that, of course, with the genes and they’re good. I have a little bit of wine every night, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem.

Dr. Cooper

So, come back to sleep, any changes or suggestions with sleep? Have you adjusted that over time? Are you getting more? Are you getting less? One of the trends you read about in the research is that as we get older, our sleep gets disturbed more easily. Have you found ways to overcome that? Any suggestions there for people listening?

Earl Fee

Well, one thing I, I take a magnesium, magnesium helps you to sleep and, and the thing is you have to, like, I try to avoid too much light, like a couple hours before. And they said that the thing, well, I don’t think I have any other tips on the sleep, but firstly, Oh, well sometimes I have a nap. You but, you have to do it before three o’clock right. To keep you awake. And also lately I really started to like coffee. I didn’t use to drink it. I thought the caffeine might be a problem, but I have to avoid that late at night. So you should take coffee before three o’clock or it will keep you awake. And also the regular hours, you have to have regular hours.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah. Consistency. Yes. Very valuable. What about motivation and focus Earl? You, you obviously are extremely motivated. You’re very focused. You’re at the track three times a week. Can you talk to us a little bit about that in your own life and maybe tips that might help people, that maybe even if they’re not runners, things that might help them stay motivated or stay focused on the things that they’re wanting to?

Earl Fee

My motivation is the records. I see a record. I think well I should, I say it’s feasible. Right? And I start working on it and I see progress. And that progress is motivating, you know? And I’ll tell you another thing, I get a lot of compliments, but the thing is that people say, Oh, you shouldn’t pay attention to that. Like, like I’m a modest person. It doesn’t go to my head. But the problem is they do help. I do admit, you know, it’s like Mark Twain said, well, like a good compliment can keep me going for a week. So my motivation is the records and mainly, and when I see progress. Then, but you have to get in a habit. You know, you have to develop these habits. You have to have a goal. And then you have these mini goals to meet the big goal. When you were succeeding at the small goals, they give you motivation, you know? And you think, well, I’m getting there. That’s kind of the thing that helps.

Dr. Cooper

So would that be your advice to somebody again, maybe they’re not even a runner if they’re coming to you and they’re saying you are so motivated, you’re so focused. I can’t seem to do that. Would you help them break down those big goals into smaller pieces so they can see that mini progress? And then as they’re doing that, they’ll get momentum towards the bigger things.

Earl Fee

Yeah. That would be, I think that would certainly help. You want to think about the small goal as well. You think, well, I’m never going to get there, but if you can see that you’re, you’re slowly, you know, on the way. Well then you can. I think that certainly it gives hope and motivation, but it also helps to have a coach. The coach will give motivation if he’s a good coach,

Dr. Cooper

Are you still working with your coach now?

Earl Fee

No, no, I don’t need it anymore, but you know, I tell you that sometimes I think, you know what happens, I get too ambitious. And I think if I only had a coach, he would have prevented me from doing that. Yeah. So maybe, maybe a coach is still a good idea.

Dr. Cooper

If somebody were coming to you and they’re in there, pick a decade, 50, 60, 70, eighties, and they’re hearing this and they come to you and they say, Earl, I want to start exercising. Or I want to start running, either one. What advice would you give them if they were just starting? They’re 60 years old. They’re 50 years old. They’re 70 years old or they’re 90 years old. What advice would you give them?

Earl Fee

Well, one thing they should, they should find a coach. But the other thing is, if you can find some friends who are equally, have equal goals or similar goals, that’s good. But then another thing they could read a couple of my books, this book that I have, the complete guide to running has everything in there. You need to get everything in there. There’s diet, there’s exercise, there’s weights, there’s base training, there’s plyometrics. And there’s a theory in the mental training, whatever. So that would, the thing is if we just leave it up to your coach, well, that’s okay, but it’s even better if you, if you have a good knowledge yourself, because the coach is not going to be watching you a hundred percent of the time. Right.

Dr. Cooper

All right. So you’ve, you’ve always been very goal oriented and you’ve got your eye on these world records. So that’s a big part of your vision outside of running. What vision do you have your life over the next year with the running aside? So other aspects of life, talk us through that a little bit.

Earl Fee

Well, I got, I have a friend and he’s a very good karaoke singer. He got me, he’s a coach, the track coach too, retired. And so he got me quite interested in this karaoke and I have it on my computer, a program. I can get any song I want. I can practice in front of the computer.

Dr. Cooper

I love it. I love it. That’s perfect. We won’t ask for a sample today.

Earl Fee

If I see a tub tune I like, I practice it about 10 times. I get it down right.

Dr. Cooper

I love it. I love it. Just like going to the track, pull up that music. You’re on it.

Earl Fee

I think I have a song and it’s called the, you’ll never find another love, like mine with Rose. I have the voice for that. I sound nearly as good as him because I’ve sung it about 50 times, But then I sometimes take some dancing lessons, but I found that they could interfere with the running. I did hurt my ankle one time doing some steps. And, so I don’t, in fact, I, there was a Valentine’s dance, I went there, but I didn’t take my lady friend because she normally wants to dance every dance. And, and the last time I got a sore foot out of it, there’s pros and cons with it, but I like hiking as well. That’s another good activity.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah. Yeah. All those supplementary things. Last question. Any, any final tips for our listeners or folks that are wanting to improve their own or help other people improve their health, wellness performance? So just as you think about your, your knowledge and all the things you’ve learned and read and written about, any final tips that we haven’t already talked about for people that are trying to improve one of those areas.

Earl Fee

Well, okay. I think the mental rehearsal, like if you want to run a good, whatever, you can rehearse it in your mind and many times. And then, so when you rehearse like the stadium, even I know that that’s good. If you could visit the stadium, then you have this mental training and it’s nearly as good as the real thing, you know? So I think that’s a, that’s a very good tip.

Dr. Cooper

I love it. I love it. That can be applied to anything. No, doubt.

Earl Fee

Another thing is most people don’t practice mental training. They should be spending time, they don’t even spend 10 minutes a week on mental training, but they should be looking a lot into metal training. Like for instance, I’m planning to break the indoor mile in my age group. And I’ve rehearsed this quite a few times each lap. What time am I going to have at that lap? And what time have I got to have on different laps? So when I, when I get there, I’m not going to be confused.

Dr. Cooper

How soon is that race? And what time are you shooting for?

Earl Fee

It’s in two weeks, this is a record it’s not in my opinion, it’s not too hard. So it’s going to be close to like an eight minute mile.

Dr. Cooper

Yeah. Based on your 3:34, you’ve got that.

Earl Fee

I’ve already done this in training, but you never know if I go too fast or something like it could be a problem I have to face that’s very important. I often go out too quick and you pay for it at the end. So you gotta be relaxed. And it’s very hard to be relaxed. When you think of a runner when you’re doing your strides or whatever, think of a relaxation, you know, like think of when like I’m using minimum energy and this will help.

Dr. Cooper

Well, that probably applies to a lot of things that we do when we’re gritting our teeth and bearing down too much on anything. Maybe we’re not at our best.

Earl Fee

Well, no, I’m not. I was, when I was like, in high school, I was still pretty good, but I would tense up on the face and nobody told me about it. But I used to do, a lot of walking, I had a job and I walked a long way to and from, and this helped my running at the same time. I memorized my French.

Dr. Cooper

That’s a good combination. Actually. I’ll carry a tape player with me once in a while when I’m working on a speech or a new talk or a writeup of some sort, and just, it’s amazing what the brain can do when you’re out there moving,.

Earl Fee

That’s true, yeah.

Dr. Cooper

Well, Earl, thank you so much. Really appreciate you joining us. There’s no doubt people are going to love this one. You’re a huge inspiration, good luck in that mile that’s coming up and keep us updated.

Earl Fee

Well, anyway, I enjoyed talking to you.

Dr. Cooper

Well, I guess that’s the end of our excuses isn’t it? Earl and I had been working on that interview for a full year and it was fun to have it come together. I’m sure you hear, and maybe even use all the excuses about exercise after specific ages. It’s fun to see someone who’s still getting it done at a high level at 90 plus years of age. Thank you so much for tuning into the number one podcast for health and wellness coaching. And thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing with others. Next week’s episode, this is, this is going to be an interesting one, very special episode. It features physical therapist and nationally board certified health and wellness coach, Susan Clinton, she’s discussing a sensitive, but very important topic, incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction. This is an area that often stays in the background and we thought it was important to highlight the topic with our amazing listeners who may either be struggling in silence or know someone who is. Susan did a wonderful job sharing evidence based hope during our discussion. I know you’re gonna enjoy it. If you’ve been enjoying the podcast, you might also be interested in the new YouTube coaching channel, it’s literally youtube.com/coach channel. Some recent episodes have included brief clips on fitness in our forties, fifties and beyond, speaking of Earl Fee, revisiting your personal vision that maybe you set earlier in the year and multiple, multiple resources if you’re a current or future coach. Folks, now it’s go time. Mr. Fee demonstrated so effectively that we can do so much more than we realize. Let’s stop talking about it can take that step, that next step toward better than yesterday. This is Dr. Bradford Cooper signing off, make it a great rest of your week. And I will speak with you soon on the next episode of the Catalyst Health, Wellness, and Performance Coaching Podcast.