Ed Eyestone
Appearances
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
Yeah, you know, it's just whatever's on sale that day, that particular day or whatever our trainer comes back with, you know. And, uh, it's interesting though, because, uh, I've been contacted from a olive oil company out of New York. I won't give you the brand name because we haven't, uh, inked the deal yet, but they, they want to be our sponsors. So kind of funny.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
Well, I don't know that that would have been that dramatic. I think more than anything, it's interesting because I've got a couple of mechanical engineering majors in my program that actually ran. One was in particular, they said because of the viscosity of the oil, it can kind of trap a thin layer of air between your skin and the oil itself. So it's kind of multiple layers there.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
And that provides some insulation from the convection that you would normally have from the cold air.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
No, and I don't think it's really that unique. I think the older coaches had probably seen it done before, and many of them, if they were runners in a previous life, had actually experienced it. I was a runner before going into this coaching gig, and I actually won the NCAA championship back in 1984, so I think that was a 40-year anniversary.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
The race was in Penn State, and we had little snow flurries that morning, and my coach had me... Donned the olive oil, and I crossed the finish line smelling like a plate of spaghetti or whatever. Stay greasy, Ed. All right.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
Prior to the start of the race, there's that five minutes where you will strip down, take those sweats off, and you're just standing there shivering in your short shorts and your singlet. So the little hack that we found, and it's very old school— our trainers and coaches will just coat the runner's arms, exposed shoulders and legs with a thin little layer of olive oil.
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HTDE: The Perfect Christmas Present with James Patterson and Gillian Flynn
And that tends to give them a little buffer from the cold and And particularly if it's a windy day and if the temperatures are, you know, freezing, it just kind of bridges that gap until the gun finally sounds and then they are on their way.