How A World-Class Musician And World-Class Runner Reached For His Ceiling

Bill Yelverton winning the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2021 USATF Masters Outdoor Championships (56.78). When he was on his game before injuries there was a wide margin between Bill, now 64, and the runner-up in many events, like in this race. Photo by Rob Jerome.

By Ray Glier

You can’t cut in line in Bill Yelverton’s playbook. You can’t skip steps, or pay a tutor to take a test. You get what you put in.

Yelverton, 64, is a world-class musician and a world-class Masters track athlete. I talked to him for an hour trying to uncover something radical in his habits that put him on stage with his guitar with Pavarotti and in 2021 made him No. 1 in the world in the 400 meters outdoors and No. 1 in the world indoors in the 200 and 400.

There is more Yelverton track background here. Injuries mounted up in 2023 and 2024, but not before he was No. 1 in the U.S. indoors in the 400 for M60 (58.84). 

At the same time as his success in track, Bill was a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and producing students skilled enough to play at venues like Carnegie Hall.

But…back to the point. How did he become such a high-achiever?

For the umpteenth time, I found this out:

There are no shortcuts to excellence.

“I practice,” said Bill.

There it is. I’m sorry. I tried to dig out his potion for success for 62 minutes. I wanted to find out what he knows and what we don’t. Does he dip his hog's ear in white wine or a fine red? Is that it? All I got was ‘let ‘er rip in practice’. 

Of course, you all understand this exacting thing called “practice.” Now in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, Geezer Jocks have figured out there is no replacement for the provisioning to go fast, or throw something far. You gotta practice.

But…I got other stuff from Yelverton. He is steeped in the knowledge of what works…and what doesn’t.

Like this:

Spike the spikes for practice. Don’t wear them. He read Bill Collins’ and Rick Riddle’s book The Ageless Athletic Spirit. “I ignored the advice,” Yelverton said with a slight sigh.

Bill has an arthritic right foot. It is not from tapping his toe to the beat of music the last 36 years on the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University. It’s from spikes.

“It's just the result of so many years of practicing in spikes 100% of the time, which is a very bad thing to do,” said Yelverton, who has won nine USATF national championships indoors and outdoors combined. “And I didn't know in my early 50s how bad that was for my feet.

“I was doing ridiculous workouts back then. I was doing six 600s, or stuff like that, with spikes on, which isn't healthy.”

Bill trains on turf now without spikes.

Geezer Jock is here as your nanny. Leave the spikes at home for practice.

That wasn’t the only time ambition got the best of Yelverton.

He started the 2024 indoor season in 2023, of course, and by January he ran a 58.84 seconds indoors in the 400 at Vanderbilt in an open college meet. Bill got it in his head he could go 57.0 and duel the Europeans.

Yelverton trained eight out of 10 days over spring break and the proximal hamstring, which he first injured in December, 2021, and arthritic foot nagged him.

Bill fell across the 400 finish line in Chicago last March at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships because of that bad hammy. He missed nearly all of the 2024 outdoor season. The fanatical practices had to stop, he told himself. And they did. He went hiking in the Alps, instead.

If you think Bill trains for track, his work ethic with the guitar is relentless, too.

Take this in:

“Playing a solo concert takes more preparation than track in terms of hours per week. I might spend a max of an hour or two per day five times a week training for track. Practicing for a solo concert could be four hours a day, seven days week.

“For a guitarist, playing a full solo classical concert is the ultimate challenge and 100 times more difficult than playing pop music in a band.”

Listen to the result of this music practice. Right now, if you like. Just 2 minutes, 8 seconds of Bill with the guitar. Read the rest of the story in a moment. 

**

For runners in their 50s, who want to compete on a world-class level, I asked Yelverton about his training regimen. This is a sample when he was healthy.

Six 200s with three minutes rest with an average of 28.5 seconds per rep...

or...

...five 300s with six minutes rest for an average of 45 seconds each 300.

or...this killer, a split 700, with 500 meters and 90 seconds rest, then 200.

The result: In 2021, Yelverton won gold in the the 200, 400, and took silver in the 800 and bronze in the 100 at the USATF Masters Outdoors Championships.

The man has gotten his heart rate to 192 and kept a good accounting of it on his blog. He trained hard enough after he turned 50 to run in 65 NCAA-sanctioned meets with college athletes.

Now, he knows better.

“I’ve got to be content with doing less,” Bill said. “I can't tolerate the volume anymore. So 150s on turf with 30 seconds rest is really no joke. You can really get a lot of bang for the buck when you limit your rest to 30 seconds.

“It pushes my heart rate into the 180s every time when I do that type of interval workout.”

The arthritic foot and proximal hamstring, notwithstanding, Yelverton is going to try and get back on a national stage by July, 2025, when he is 65. Running the 400 after such a long break is not like riding a bike. It doesn’t just come back overnight.

It's going to take practice.

You don't say.

“The body will adjust,” he said of running with the arthritic foot, “and I’m thankful
they've made so many advances in training shoes. I found shoes that are really fantastic that I like to train in; they've got the carbon plate, which really helps with my foot issue.”

So what about curbing the practice regimen? His caution might have been blown up with Friday's news the 2025 USATF Masters Outdoor Championships will be held July 7-10 in Huntsville, Alabama.

Yelverton is a visiting professor at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., which is one hour from Huntsville. The meet will start nine days after Bill turns 65.

That is some kind of goal to practice for but, please, take it easy Dr. Yelverton.

**
And one more Bill performance.

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