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Birthday: February 26th, 1956 Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI Current Residence: Colorodo Springs, CO College: Frostburg College PRs
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Deciding to focus his energies on the Olympic Trials, in January 1980 Schueler arranged to work four-hour days and train the remainder of the time. He quickly became a lot faster. In less than six months he improved his 50K time from 4:24 to 4:06. Putting it all together at the 50K Olympic Trials of May 1980, Schueler walked an impressive 3:59:33. While he had sacrificed in his career, essentially training full time, he was not rewarded. The U.S. boycotted the Olympics. Schueler also raced at the 20K Olympic Trials, but had not yet perfected the 20K distance and thus finished sixth.
After the Trials, he temporarily retired from race walking and entered a graduate program for regional and urban planning at the University of Michigan. Not training, he did join the occasional Alongi Invitational. After finishing all but his practicum in 1983, Schueler had nothing else to do, so in the spring he began working out again. He trained in Ann Arbor that summer, and then in September moved to Colorado Springs for an opening in a residence program at the USOTC. At that time, specific time standards weren’t required to be a resident; he was accepted on his past credentials.
The training center environment proved beneficial for Schueler. Although he claims to have mostly self-coached, he acknowledges receiving a lot of physiological help as well as other assistance from numerous people, then and over the years.
Going into the 1984 Olympic trials, Schueler was the man to beat. He had won the National 35K with a very fast 2:41, but then had a terrible race at the Trials. He became dehydrated and lost to fellow residents Marco Evoniuk and Vinny O’Sullivan. Fortunately, Tommy Edwards just didn’t have enough speed to catch him.
At the Olympic Games in L.A., Schueler showed why he had been the favorite at the trials. Under very hot conditions, competitors kept dropping out around him. It was a war of attrition. As the race went on, hopes rose for an American medal. Schueler finished sixth, just two minutes away from fourth place. America had been one DQ and two minutes away from its first Olympic race walking medal in years.
Schueler pretty much took 1985 off and, as a testament to his amazing ability, still won the National 50K, “Drinking beer, hanging around, and working full time,” as he puts it. (I am sure somewhere in there he managed to get in a walk or two.) His success was contagious. In 1986, Schueler met his future wife, Debbie Van Orden, and infected her with the race walking disease. He likes to think of it as his curse.
Shortly after, Reebok and Rockport started sponsoring walking. With more money pouring into the sport than ever, Schuler started to train again. Wanting to give up the 50K for a while, he focused instead on the 20K. In 1986, he established his 20K PR of 1:25:04. However, he was soon back to the distance that proved so successful for him, racing the 50K at the World Track and Field Championships in Rome. He set his PR of 3:57:09 at that event.
As the 1988 Olympic Trials approached, Schueler again turned up the effort. He returned to working part time, this time six-hour days. This break from work proved enough to get him in “very strong shape.” He won the Trials, but at the Olympics didn’t place anywhere near as high as before. The combination of international race walkers getting faster, the additional walkers returning after the 1984 Games boycott, and a respiratory problem lead Schueler to finish twenty-third. He thought he was in 3:52 shape, but felt flat and walked 3:57:44.
