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|  Barlow's program building powerhouse at S.A. Holmes May 1, 2002
by John Welch This feature is a continuation of the Front of the Pack article
on Steve Barlow in the May 2002 issue of Runner Triathlete News.
To get the "rest of the story" on Barlow, please read the Front
of the Pack article in that issue.
After all, it worked for him in his native Melbourne, Australia.
And Barlow also feels that it will work for his oldest child,
daughter Faith, an eighth-grader at Connally Middle School in
the Alamo City. With a consistent dose of planned distance and
interval work, Faith won the Northside Independent School
District 1,600-meter run in 2001 as a seventh grader, in a time
of 5:48. Faith's time was good, but considering that she
finished over 20 seconds faster than the eighth-grade winner, it
comes across as even more striking. "I believe that Faith should be preparing for college and
after," said Barlow, who holds the steeplechase record of 8:46
at UTSA. "She (Faith) also likes volleyball and basketball and
she competes in both of them, but she's really a runner, because
she's good at it. She also ran a 5:24 mile with me in practice
this past October." But Barlow is careful to insist that his daughter, and his son,
Daniel (a sixth-grader at Connally), train to compete
effectively during the season. He sets up a set distance workout
for both his son and daughter, and monitors their progress with
an open eye for improvement, and fun on the track. "I think that having been a runner is a great asset for a
parent, who has children competing in track and cross country,"
Barlow said. "I made my mistakes doing high mileage, so my
philosophy for youngsters is keeping them as healthy for as long
as you possibly can. My athletes at Holmes, for instance, run
once a day, and we're lucky to do 35 miles a week." Barlow reports that his Holmes Huskies have had very little
injuries, despite the fact that they don't have any grassy parks
to run around in. They do most of their workouts on the roads
and on the track, and it seems to have benefited that quite
well. "To be good in high school is great, and I can't say that what
other coaches are doing is wrong, but I feel that we need to
train athletes for the long haul," Barlow said. "I can set goals
for my daughter, but I like to let the kids set the goals
themselves. I know that she (Faith) has the talent to do 5:00
minutes in the 1,600-meters this year."
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