Marathon man Glass backs off training ahead of Bix

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By Craig DeVrieze | Monday, July 21, 2008 |

Biyan Glass cools down after winning the men's marathon race during the annual Governor's Cup Race in Helena, Mont., on Saturday, June 7, 2008. (Lisa Kunkel/Helena (Mont.) Independent Record Buy this Photo

A win and a runner-up finish in successive marathons would seem to point to a big Quad-City Times Bix 7 for Geneseo, Ill., native Bryan Glass.

That certainly is what Glass, 34, was thinking as he bore down on the unbroken tape at the Governor’s Cup Marathon in Helena, Mont., in June.

Then, though, Glass measured his response to his first marathon victory and decided something wasn’t quite right.

“It was really weird,” he said of winning that race on the heels of a runner-up showing at the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon in February. “I thought I would have been jumping for joy. I wasn’t jumping for joy. I was just happy. And I think that’s why I knew I had to take a break.”

Glass still will run the Bix, his favorite road race. He still will run it as hard as he can.

“I still think I’ll be in contention for one of the top Quad-Cities guys, for sure,” said Glass, who last year finished his career-best-Bix in 20th place overall, one spot behind Rock Island native Nick Hird.

Glass, though, said he doubts he will be able to improve on the personal record 35:36 time he ran a year ago.

That’s because he cut back his training routine by nearly 20 miles since early June and Montana, from an average of 80 miles a week to closer to 60. He also stopped doing his speed workouts.

Although the timing wasn’t ideal, he said, it simply was time for a break.

“It was one of those things where at some point you have to decide do you keep going or do you take a rest?’’ he said. “I gambled on the safe side this time.”

Glass said he just had worn himself out physically and mentally over a solid year-long stretch that started with last year’s strong Bix showing and featured a slew of personal records — in half-marathon, the 8K, the 12K, the mile and with 2:28:34 marathon in New Orleans.

Backing off his training in advance of the Bix wasn’t an easy decision, Glass said, but he suspects it will make the experience more enjoyable.

Check that.

“Yeah, I don’t know if you can even say that,” he said of dashing over the hills of Davenport. “Is there such a thing as an enjoyable Bix?’’

Still, he conceded, “If I would have kept going, it really felt like I might have been flirting with danger, or I would have been so fatigued that it would have turned out to be a poor (Bix) performance, and I would have been upset.

“Now, I’m rested, and I am starting to get back into it,’’ he said after resuming his full 80-mile regimen and workout schedule last week. “I feel like I am going to go into it feeling more confident than I did a month ago. It sounds weird, but the rest is so important.”

As Glass ramps his training back up, he is pointing toward another big marathon finish in November in San Antonio.

He will work toward that by running a Springfield road race post-Bix, racing hard at the Quad-Cities half-marathon in September and then by serving as a designated pacesetter for Chicago Marathon runners looking to run a 3-hour race.

“That’s like training,” said Glass, who is enjoying a late and rare resurgence in his running career.

“I am really running faster than ever over the last year,” he said. “It is really odd, and it hasn’t been anything anyone has been able to teach me. I just have been able to figure some things out on my own that took a long time to figure out.”

Don Fredericks, Glass’ mentor and former coach at Geneseo High School, said Glass recently opted to heed his advice to increase his roadwork mileage. But he said the suburban Chicago high school gym teacher still doesn’t run as much as a lot of elite road racers.

What is most impressive, Fredericks said, is that Glass has found his stride, training mostly on his own.

“Most runners at this level have a group they train with and most have a coach,” the mentor said. “He doesn’t have either of those. He is on his his own.”

Glass said he doesn’t now how long his running renaiscance can continue, but he already is pointing toward a big 2009 Bix.

“I will be back on track,” he vowed.

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com.