Oregon’s Elijah Greer (pictured by Margot Kelly) has a realistic approach when it comes to his weekly track workouts.
It’s not about taking his body to the limit and pushing to the extreme each time he begins an interval. For some diehards, that might work. It worked for one of the state’s most celebrated runners, the legendary Steve Prefontaine.
But for the 18-year-old senior from Lake Oswego High, he’d rather take the less painful approach.
“Everything is full recovery,” Greer said. “Run an interval, feel good and run another one. It’s all about feeling good and feeling motivated.”
With the outdoor track season in its early stages, feeling good and feeling motivated certainly have to be how Greer is these days. After an illness forced him to forego his indoor season, one of the nation’s best middle distance stars is back where he belongs - at the top of the list.
On March 21, Greer attained that distinction when he blazed to a time of 3 minutes, 50.6 seconds for the 1,500-meter run at the Oregon Preview meet. Competing against mostly collegiate athletes at the invitational, held at Hayward Field, Greer placed fifth overall.
“I did some good workouts that showed potential (to run that fast), but until I saw results I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure. I was very pleased with the results.”
It should come as no surprise that Greer was able to compete with the big boys and run the nation’s No. 1 prep time for the 1,500, just over two seconds faster than Lincoln (Ore.) High senior Nathan Mathabane, who had a 3:52.8 effort at the Oregon meet. Greer’s been one of the country’s fastest for the middle distances ever since he was a tenth-grader and ran a then personal best of 1:51.49 for the 800 and a 3:57.76 for the 1,500.
The slender Greer opened more eyes last year when he earned the top prize at the U.S. Junior National Championships (Columbus, Ohio) on June 21 with a nearly three-second PB of 1:47.68, a time that ranks No. 4 on the all-time list among high-schoolers and was one of the top three clockings for juniors worldwide in 2008.
The progression has surely been a rapid one for Greer, who recently accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Oregon. He noticed right from the beginning he had a gift to excel. In his initial taste of competition in the seventh grade, Greer blazed to a course record in a two-kilometer cross-country race.
“I realized then that maybe I’m actually good at this,” he said.
By the eighth grade, Greer was running times that would win a handful of high school races. He was already close to two minutes in the 800 with a best of 2:02.
“I ran a 2:09 at first, but that was after doubling and also running the 1,500,” he said. “Once I ran it alone, I dropped seven seconds.”
With about eight weeks of training due to an Achilles tendon injury and a stress fracture that hampered most of his freshman year, Greer still managed to run some quality times in his specialties with a 2:01.6 for the 800 and a 4:08.4 for the 1,500.
Following his successful sophomore campaign, Greer made some noise on the track as a junior, particularly in the 800. He had an indoor best of 1:52.66 and eight times ran under 1:51 on the outdoor surface, including victories in the OSAA 6A State Championship (1:50.6), a runner-up effort at the Prefontaine Classic (1:50.31) and his breakthrough performance at the Junior Nationals.
Had he run his 1:47 at the nationals just six days earlier, Greer would have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“It wasn’t until the end of the year that I realized I could run fast enough to run 1:47,” he said. “I did a workout before the meet and ran 64 seconds for 500 (meters) and ran 51 seconds for the first 400. That really showed me that I could do it.”
While he wasn’t able to compete at the Olympic Trials last year, Greer did qualify for the IAAF Junior World Championships, held in early July in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and made it to the semifinals with a quality 1:50.47 clocking. It was his first time competing overseas.
“It was a really unique experience,” he said. “I think I learned a lot from that.”
Under the tutelage of distance coach Bob Williams, Greer generally runs about 30 miles per week, which includes one or two speed workouts, depending on the meet schedule. He also incorporates some pool workouts, weight training and plyometrics into his training.
A typical speed workout a few weeks ago consisted of a 500 at 68 seconds that was followed by a series of 6-400s that gradually got faster beginning at 63 seconds. The last two, which were run in spikes, he finished at 56 and 55 seconds, respectively.
“My coach and I have a good relationship,” he said. “We don’t try to push things. When I’m happy about my workouts, when I enjoy it, it goes better. (My philosophy is) do what you feel good doing. Try to get some rest and don’t overtrain.”
Greer’s recent performance in the 1,500 came after taking the indoor season off because of a virus infection.
“It was similar to mono. It took me a while to get better,” he said. “It impacted my season. I never really got a rhythm going.”
Greer actually led late in the Oregon Preview meet. He was hovering between second and third for the first 800, passed in 2:04. With 300 meters left, he took the lead only to get passed shortly after.
“I felt really good,” he said. “I felt really good and then things started to catch up to me. I kind of paid for it in the end, but I gave it my all.”
Greer credits Williams for his maturation as a top-level runner. In the fall, he’ll take his talent to Oregon and the famed Hayward Field, where such runners as Prefontaine, Alberto Salazar, Rudy Chapa and other such greats have left their marks. The school is just over an hour drive from his home in Lake Oswego.
“I was attracted to other schools like Georgetown and the University of Washington,” he said. “but it wasn’t big enough to pull me away (from Oregon)…I have faith in their coaching ability. It just seemed like the best place for me.
Steve Prefontaine, (legendary coach) Bill Bowerman, I’ve heard all about the tradition.”
It’s a tradition that Greer has a great possibility of becoming a part of in the not-so-distant future.