Veteran runner hopes to share expertise

LYNN – James Green has finished second in the 1959 Pan Am Games. He is a former record-holder in the 1-hour run for his performance in 1960. And he would like to share his knowledge of running with the community.Green, who has worked as a teacher at both Saugus and Marblehead high schools, is holding a free Monday-night running clinic at Kings Beach by the bathhouse near the Nahant Rotary. The next clinic will be Monday, July 28.Yesterday, he gave several tips on training to an Item reporter.?The most underrated part of running training is rest periods,” he said. “Young Johnny Kelley (a former Boston Marathon champion who won the 1959 Pan Am marathon) took Monday off, so we (did too). He took off most of December so (we did too). … I recommend one day (off) every 2-3 weeks.”He recalled a conversation with his late friend John McGloin, a Lynn runner and lawyer whom he described as “an excellent all-around athlete.”?He said, ?Jimmy, do you realize if you take one day off a week, that?s 50 days you missed??” Green said. He added that he told McGloin that not taking time off meant “not enough quality rest for the muscles. With a rest day, you can run more quality days. You can?t just throw mile after mile onto the pile.”Green also discussed mixing hard and easy workouts.?I would run three regular days in a row and say, ?that?s great,?” he said. “I?d have three terrible days in a row and say, ?that?s horrible.? It happened several times. So logically, every other day I should make hard.”When it comes to running technique, he advocated a low knee lift for longer races.?The race is not vertical, it?s horizontal,” he said.He practiced this technique in the corridor when teaching in Saugus.?I would get in the habit of shuffling my feet,” he said.He also recommended “not a lot of arm action,” and said, “It?s just not that important, unless you?re sprinting or doing 400 repeats.”Originally from Quincy, Green is an Army veteran who has run marathons as far away as Argentina and Japan and as close as Boston. In fact, he ran Boston this year.After he and his wife were married, the first place they lived was The Breakers on Lynn Shore Drive. He has also lived in Kensington Park in Lynn. He and his wife have three children, all of whom took up running.?When I was running well,” he said at Kings Beach, “I would come down here and make four round-trips to the Tides (restaurant). I?d start at the end of the stairway (by Kings Beach). That?s three miles round-trip. Before the 1964 (Olympic) tryouts, I did it nine times, 27 miles.”Asked why he likes to run, he said, “I guess when you run really, really well, you get a runner?s high. You feel like, on occasion, you can run forever. I?ve felt that a few times in my life. To achieve that level is a very exciting, exhilarating feeling. Even though I?m much, much slower now, I still occasionally get that adrenaline rush. The endorphins kick in.”For those looking to improve their running, Green will be at the Kings Beach bathhouse next Monday at 6:30 p.m. Email [email protected] for more information.