Dr. Druker's workout regimen

[Guest guest]

Dr. Druker shares his workout regimen in the " My workout " column in today's

edition of " The Oregonian "

Doctor on the run keeps work pleasing

Monday, July 04, 2005

NANCY DOW

Name: Dr. Druker, 50, Portland

Stats: 6 feet 2 inches; 165 pounds

Private, and public, life: Druker, who led development of the cancer drug

Gleevec at Oregon Health & Science University, is a researcher and professor

but also a runner and a relatively new dad. He's been married to andra

for three years; his stepson is 7 and his daughter is 2. A Minnesotan, he

moved to Oregon in 1993.

He attended Harvard Medical School and graduated from UC San Diego School of

Medicine. He's the Jeld-Wen chair of leukemia research at the OHSU Cancer

Institute and an investigator with the Medical Institute. He

is fine-tuning Gleevec, working on resistance issues and looking for new

drugs that will work like Gleevec on other diseases. He sees patients one

day a week and says he truly enjoys his work.

Fitness history: Druker says, " If I'd had my choice I'd have done something

in professional sports, but I wasn't good enough. " That didn't stop him,

however, from playing football, tennis, soccer, softball and hockey and

spending a year on his junior high track team.

In college, he biked a lot. He's done Cycle Oregon and has run marathons in

Chicago, Portland and San Diego. In 2002 he carried the Olympic torch in

Portland, spurred on by grateful cancer patients.

Workout: Druker opts for efficiency by running back and forth to work. It

takes him 25 to 30 minutes each way, depending on the route he takes, which

gives him a base of 25 to 30 miles of running each week. He commutes this

way five days a week, rain or shine, and the route is pretty hilly. On a

weekend day he runs five to 10 miles, or up to 15 if he's training for

something. Weather permitting, he might run with his daughter in a jogging

stroller. He and his wife sometimes have running dates on Friday nights.

He lifts weights for half an hour, two to three times a week, at the OHSU

gym. Without the strengthening exercise his knee problems will flare up. He

also takes walks with his family.

Why it works: Druker says running is a good release for him and leaves him

happier and more productive. Turning his commute into exercise leaves him

more time for family.

Nutrition: He has high cholesterol, courtesy of genetics, so he sticks to a

low-fat/high-carb diet. He eats seafood and chicken but no red meat.

Basically he tries to follow the advice he gives his patients: Just eat a

well-balanced diet. He likes local berries in summer and misses ice cream.

Druker takes no vitamins or supplements regularly, though he may pop a

vitamin C if he feels a cold coming on. He prefers to get what he needs from

his diet.

In the future: He says there could be a few more marathons in his life if

his knees will allow it. He qualified for the Boston Marathon one year but

never got to run, and he'd like to accomplish an under-three-hour finish. He

hopes as his children get older the family can cycle together. " Biking lets

you get to know a city like no other way. "