"Ever since I was five years old I though of the 4 minute barrier as being a sort of magical barrier, and that it takes a special person to do it." -Gabriel Jennings

by Pepe Cervantes

The track high school track season of 1997 was a season for milers to remember. Three young motivated high school seniors came tantalizing close to the four-minute barrier in the mile. It is a barrier that hasn’t been broken by a high schooler for over 30 years. Indeed Gabe is right, it does take a special person to do this. And Gabe was one of those special people that almost did this. He recorded one of the fastest times in high school history with his 4:02 mile at the 1997 Prefontaine Classic.

Two weeks before the 1997 Penn Relays, Gabe’s season seemed bleak. He had not been running for almost 3 months. He had an injury problem that persisted throughout the winter season. He got this injury after racing in the Footlocker National Finals. He placed in the top 30 in the race when he had placed in the top 15 as a junior. He searched for help from many different types of doctors. None of the doctors could help him. That's when it became apparent to him that it was an injury that he would have to heal himself. His Yoga Guru got him onto the right track by telling him to run faster during his workouts. The problem that was causing his injury was believed to be too many "slow miles" which meant slower than 6:30 pace. When you run slowly your form degenerates, beginning with your arches collapsing if you are an over-pronater; many distance runners have this problem. To solve this problem, Gabe didn't run any miles slower than 6:30 for the whole season.

Gabe started running again and just two weeks away was the Penn Relays. Amazingly, with just two weeks of running after 3 months of injury, he was able to win his second consecutive mile title at Penn. Thus this began the road to his great season. A season that was been dubbed as one of best ever for high school milers.

I questioned Gabe about the 35 miles per week mileage Gabe had been doing during his senior track season. He had done the relatively low mileage after coming off an injury. Yet the miles were run quickly at 6:30 or faster pace. He had been running 80-90 mile weeks during his peak mileage during the cross country season. Yet this slow "junk mileage" may have caused his injury. I asked him about his training philosophy and he then told me the following:

"My philosophy is that when you need a recovery day, do not go out and run say seven miles at a jog, but instead don't run at all (take a day off), or maybe just run 3 or 4 quality miles depending on how you feel. However, a distance runner will never be great only running 35 miles a week. The problem with our country's distance runners is that they are lazy, and consequently we are getting whooped by other countries where training hard is a lifestyle, not a chore. The solution is easy: run more miles, and faster. Of course one also needs to be smart about progressing at safe increments to avoid injury, and that is where a smart coach comes in. Running is about good habits; all of the little things need to be done consistently to make a great runner. That means doing situps and pushups everyday, lifting weights 2/3 times a week, running in the mornings as well as the afternoons several times a week, and loving every bit of it. One has got to be disciplined, and one has got to love the struggle because that is the beauty of it all. It is by far better to do less consistently than more dramatically."

Gabe follows his own philosophy and it is paving the way for him to the top of the running world. In his first college season of running he has built up a strong base by running 110+ mile weeks. He ran all of the miles under 6 minutes. This strong base has shown its stability. For the current 1998 track season he has had quick times in many events. He placed a high 4th in the NCAA indoor Nationals 3,000 meters. And then he has run a 1:47 800m and to top that he has a sub 14 min 5,000 meter clocking.

Gab's specialty is the mile and metric mile (1,500m). At the recent Mt. SAC Relays, he broke four minutes for the mile. With a sub 4-minute mile experience under his belt, he has lowered his standards for himself in the mile. His new standard for himself is the mile world record, which currently stands at 3:44. He would like to be a world champion someday. He certainly looks to have a good season this summer. He has not hinted at what events he plans to run at the NCAA finals but he says whatever event he runs in, he will be running to win.

I wish Gabe the best of luck in his career. He may be the perfect candidate to put US mileing back into the international spotlight. And he probably will break the world record in the mile if he keeps dreaming of doing so. He dreamed since he was five that he would break 4 minutes and he did. There's no reason why he can dream of breaking the world record and not break it if he has already achieved one of his childhood dreams.

-Best Wishes Gabe....