Tom Brunick

This story was originally published in the May 1985 Illinois Runner.

An Illinois Runner Profile
Tom Brunick: The Man behind the Stopwatch

Ask Tom Brunick what he does and he will tell you, "I cut up shoes and coach runners."

He is National Shoe Consultant to the Athlete’s Foot stores, the chairperson of the Association of Testing and Measurement Subcommittee on Footwear, and he writes a monthly column about running shoes for the national magazine Running Times. On Wednesday evenings at six p.m. from April to November, he coaches the Chicagoland Club at the University of Illinois at Chicago track.

Of the four Illinois women who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials last May, three of them—Karen Bukowski, formerly a member of the Marquette Park Track Club, Cindy James nee Utes, and Sarah Linsley, then a law student at Northwestern—ran Brunick’s Wednesday’s workouts. Linsley qualified with a fine 2:37 marathon in her very first attempt at the distance. "She couldn’t have done it without her Rosie Ruiz bus tokens," Brunick joked.

The Chicagoland Club includes runners from other clubs in the Chicago area; the club has been under Brunick’s guidance since 1979. Runners who came to the Wednesday track sessions are divided into four groups according to their race personal records (PR’s). There is a timer for each group.

More than one hundred runners showed up the first Brunick workout on April 3 this year. Amazingly enough, he seems to keep track of everyone. Once, a runner thought he could take it easy by hiding in group four, a slower group. The coach caught him after two weeks and advised he move up to group three.

With many, Brunick has a close working relationship, runners such as Bukowski, Kim Gattone (CARA’s Up and Coming Female Runner of 1984) and Carl Minor, a 2:45 marathoner. He "kind of works with" others, such as Cindy James, who is also coached now by her husband Bud.

"I don’t really know who I coach. But if you think I’m your coach, then I’m your coach. It’s like the University of Chicago Track Club Philosophy: membership is a state of mind. My role model as a coach is Ted Haydon. I hope to have his longevity. I try to emulate Ted. In fact, I’m already gray."

Brunick has been coaching since 1973 when he had knee surgery that left him with a pin in his knee. Because of the pin, he has to keep his running mileage low, five miles per day with one long run per week of about eight miles. Two years ago, he ran a 10K in thirty-nine minutes, but last year his knee problems returned, and he ran only a couple of races for fun. Since his running has been more consistent this year, he hopes to keep his 10K’s under forty.

Brunick prefers to undertrain his runners ran than overtrain them to avoid injuries and mental burnout. He thinks too many race in practice and break down before they reach their potential. "You don’t get trophies for what you do in practice," he said.

His system is divided is divided into four phases with the runner peaking in the fall. In the first phase, from January to March, he tries to develop the runner’s mileage base; then April to August in the second phase, the runner develops strength by maintaining the mileage and doing pace work one day a week and a race once every three weeks; in the third phase, the sharpening phase, August to early November, the coach gradually increases the intensity on the track work nights; the final phase is the rest phase, from late November to early December, when the runner takes off five to six days from any kind of exercise. Brunick feels his runners have fewer physical and emotional breakdowns by incorporating this rest phase into their training.

This year the University of Illinois at Chicago required that Tom’s have ID’s to get onto the track. "The University is sensitive about security," he said. "We couldn’t afford to print up ID’s so we had everyone join CARA. We’re using their membership cards to get the runners in. I think they will get a lot out of the CARA membership, including discounts and the Finish Line."

"The track is large enough to handle all these runners," Brunick said. "We could handle about two-hundred runners, but we would have to divide the workout into a six- and seven o’clock session."

He plans to add a fifth group for runners who are new to racing and track work. They will do "phase-in" workouts that will teach them to run anaerobically. He also plans to get tougher now with groups one and two as he feels they have evolved after six years of running under him.

At their first workout of 1985, the club members decided to have three parties this year instead of two. "If we keep this up," Karen Bukowski said, "in ten years we’ll have more we’ll have more parties than workouts."

Coach was unaware of this unanimous vote. Asked to comment, he said, "Well, they didn’t invite me to two of them!"

Every track session begins with what he calls "At the Races," which he admits is a take-off of "At the Movies" by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. The runners tell the club about their latest PR. News of PR’s travels fast within the club; the more modest runners are usually pointed out by Brunick, who by some uncanny sense happened to hear about their PR.

"I like to reward PR’s," he said. "The theory behind ‘At the Race’ is that it serves to reinforce the group. If you can see improvement in others, you’re likely to improve, too. Most runners underestimate abilities. Telling the group about your PR and getting applauded helps others. Everybody gets singled out."

Brunick will answer any questions runners have, but occasionally he is stumped. When Nancy Rollins discovered she was pregnant and asked for training advice, he said, "I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never coached a pregnant runner. If I were you, I would only run as long as it’s comfortable."

Chris Coley, a member of the University of Chicago Track Club, said he enjoyed the social aspect of the Wednesday workouts at the U of I track. "I saw some old familiar faces my first night back. I think the main reason I run with Tom is that I like the variety from UCTC. Plus I get to meet some of my friends."

"I didn’t see anyone for five months," said Bukowski. "But after the workout, I felt like I only missed a week."

If you are new to Chicago area running, Brunick feels this is a great place to meet people. "Many runners tend to over-race just so they can socialize," he said. "This program helps you get the socializing in on Wednesday night instead of having to run an extra race that might lead to an injury." Many runners go out to dinner after practice.

Nathalie Kavanaugh, CARA’s Most Improved Female Runner of 1984, attributes her success to Tom Brunick. She had been injured before she ran a string of PR’s which enabled her to clinch the award.

"Tom was very positive," she said. "He told me, ‘Everybody gets injured. Your body probably needed the rest. You’ll come back much stronger.’ He’s such a nice man! He makes you feel good about yourself."

Nathalie’s sister, Jackie Pinkowski, can’t make the workouts because she lives in Lemont, but Nathalie gives her the workouts over the phone so Jackie can do them the next day. Following Tom’s system, Jackie’s running also improved.

Coach Tom Brunick believes in the self-fulfilling prophecy that "you can will yourself to be the best runner you can be."

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DavidDiegoRodriguez@msn.com

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.