Track and Field Blogs - Flotrack Blogs

Training in Flagstaff has been going well and it's been great running into old friends and meeting new ones. Last Saturday we met up with the Canadian triathletes on their last night in town. The next morning we had a nice long run with the Indiana guys and a bunch of locals. That was followed by a great brunch hosted by Alicia Shay and her family and then an Easter Egg hunt put on by Mike Smith (top pic).

On Saturday night Simon Whitfield (2000 Olympic Gold Medallist) and myself sat down to 20 questions that someone… more »

Hello all you crazy Flobians,
I haven't posted in a while because I am lazy. I put it out there and I am not embarrassed to say so. Anyway, things are going very well. I am training like a mad man and feeling great. I had a bit of a slow indoor having to pull out of a few meets with some weird cramping and flu-like symptoms. I finished 5th at US indoors which of course is not ideal or what I had in mind. Now that I am an old man, I am learning how to get over… more »

Happy (track) season greetings everyone. I'm sure anyone who is reading this is wondering why i titled this blog the Ice Season. Well... I'm no expert on the records in weather, but I'm quite positive that Kodiak, AK has had the Snowiest spring ever. In addition to our ferocious snowstorms the weather has been incredibly inconsistent between cold and semi-warm. As a result of all this meteorological madness our one and only Kodiak Island Track is currently covered with 6 inches of ice and several patches of ankle deep snow.
Now this situation would not be nearly as… more »

I got in yesterday at around 5 pm and went for a run with Amy, Ryan, Josh, James, and Renee. My legs felt really good considering I was in planes for so many hours. I was really worried about how cold it was going to be here but its really nice. The sun is out right now and its probably between 40 and 50 if not warmer which is great running weather.

I got up this morning and ran up to the Royal Mile which took around 10 minutes where my girlfriend is staying but a call… more »

A couple of weeks ago, I learned some disturbing information about one of my teammates, well....actually two. It seems that Michael William Reneau commonly practices nude massage. I have nothing against getting a massage in the nude, but I do have a problem with getting it from one of our dude teammates!!!

Apparently he disposes of his clothes and hikes his little Ewokian body onto the massage table, leaving a trap for Chad Johnson to find. I have no idea where Reneau picked up on this naked man-to-man (teammate) massage idea. As I began to ponder where… more »

I want to start out by expressing that Yolanda is full of crap. Winter is FAR from over here in Michigan. Sure, we've gotten a whole 2 days of sunlight since November, but that doesn't make it spring. There is still snow in the forecast and last I checked, we haven't had a morning run over 32 since some time around men's trials. It's probably going to be this way until after women's trials too and we just have to deal with it.
Moving on, many of you read last month that I got hit by a car while… more »

In a couple of hours I will head off to the airport for the long journey to Edinburgh. I am really excited for my second Team USA appearance and my first trip to Europe. My bags are packed and I've checked at least 8 times to make sure that my passport is in the same place that I left it.
I don't feel any pain at all in my foot anymore and work outs have gone pretty well. Last Thursday I did 8 1/2 miles out in the park with 1 minute recovery in 2:26,2:21,2:25,2:24 (all slightly uphill) 2:20,2:20,2:18,2:17… more »

Only two weeks and six days to go. I've now had 7 consecutive weeks of mileage over 120 a week. I've been handeling the training for this marathon better than usual and my milege has been a little higher. Hopefully that translates to a faster time. Last week I was able to test my fitness a little. We got out of the cold weather and went to Virginia beach for the half marathon. We were able to do this only if we didn't race and ran marathon pace. I felt nice and relaxed and ran 1:06:48. A good sign considering… more »

I told you all that I was not very good at keeping New Year’s resolutions!! My apologies if you were wondering what have been going on with my Olympic year preparations over the past weeks. But I figured I really better get a blog out when Coolsaet threatened to call me out. So here it goes.

My indoor season was really a mixed bag of results. I opened up with a 3000m at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games and came away very disappointed with the 7:55 effort. My training was progressing really well at that point… more »

well, the weekend is coming to a close. i hope every has enjoyed a lovely easter weekend. it was sunny, hot, and fun here in austin.

the meet yesterday went well. it was my first real competition in about a year. i vaulted, hurdled, threw discus, and ran a leg on a 4x400.

vault: warm-ups the winds were weird. kinda swirly and mainly a nice head/cross. but as the comp worn on (40 vaulters), i managed a first attempt clearance at my opening bar 4.75m on a pretty big stick for me from 5… more »

Last month's Mustache belonged to none other then Doug Drabek 1990 Cy Young Award winner. I only saw a couple games at Three Rivers Stadium when Doug Drabek pitched but I knew then that it was a great mustache.

There are always those things that you don't forget especially in sports. Some memorable things for me seeing the Penguins in a Stanley Cup game versus the North Stars, sadly watching Sid Bream destroy the last good thing the Pirates had in the league championship game, the demolition of Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers winning the Super Bowl.… more »

The first official day of spring was yesterday. In southeastern Michigan, we tipped the mercury over the freezing point, so it seemed appropriate. The mornings have still been cool (low 20’s for morning runs), but it has been sneaking up to the mid & upper-30’s in the afternoon, which, if the sun is shining, feels nothing short of glorious.

I didn’t realize it was the “official” beginning of spring until I heard it on the news the day prior to spring’s triumphal arrival, but I was starting to notice a few signs indicating that spring may… more »

So I made the trek (hardly that) from Boston to NYC last weekend to cover the NSIC at the Armory and the US 8K champs in Central Park with Victor, Andrew, and Mike (see Mike trying to sleep and not happy with me in the pic). There were definitely some great races to watch this weekend on both sides.

The 8k saw Jorge and Shalane with victories, but some great runs by a bunch of athletes out there! Everyone was great to meet and seem really excited for this upcoming track season. On the high school… more »

Eric Gillis and I arrived at Phoenix airport on Sunday and made the drive to Flagstaff with a stop in Sedona. The only car they would give us for a one way rental to Flagstaff was the Nornee Mobile. I knew it was supposed to be snowing in Flagstaff so I figured we would run in Sedona and skip the snow. That wasn’t the case as there was snow on the ground in Sedona. The run itself felt alright once my travel legs loosened up after the first 30 minutes. Last year at this track I was running without a… more »

Hello FloWorld, The 3rd week in Flagstaff just flew by. The past 3 weeks have been very good training for everyone in our group. Everyone is running really good miles and the workouts have been great on top of that. Life in Flag has also been good; we have been eating meals at the food court on campus. That makes life easier for me; I was cooking dinner for everyone the first week. The Center for High Altitude Training really helped us out with access to the food court. We also spent last Friday night down in Sedona. Paul Coover,… more »

So, I recieved an interesting email from noneother than Mike Morgan today. It was informing me that Blackheath Golf Club has an unlimited weekday golf pass for $600. That's very interesting, because Brian Sell's great uncle- George W. Bush is cutting me a check for $600 here in the near future. What better way to stimulate economics than by stimulating the local Rochester economy. I'm just doing my part, right? Now, the big concern is this. Two years ago, I could drive a golf ball 300 yards. Not every time, but 50/50. And don't say I'm full of crap, because… more »

Arrived in Arkansas yesterday afternoon for the NCAA Championships and I am excited about this weekend's action. I guess I'm looking forward to the DMR and the Mile the most but I think every distance runner out there looks forward to those races every year. The days before nationals is always pretty cool. The Holiday Inn in Springdale is where most of the teams stay and hang out. The hotel has a huge atrium so you can see all 8 floors with the nation's best runners, throwers and jumpers weaving in and out of their rooms. Race day at the… more »

So, Dathan is off the team and he will be replaced by Jon Pierce. Losing Dathan is tough but Jon is racing well and he will have an amazing oportunity in a couple weeks. We still have a great team and Jon is a qualified replacement. Being from the states our minds are way past cross-country but hopefully everyone is excited for the last cross-country race of the season.

I've hit my first little setback for the spring by straining a tendon in my foot. It was pretty painful on Monday and Tuesday but it seems like… more »

starting to get excited for outdoors... indoor worlds is over, ncaa's is this weekend, and starting to get hot here in austin!

began doing some tests to see where my power and technique is compared to years' passed. i'm still not as explosive as i would be after a good indoor season, but i'm far more powerful. i threw the discus today and set it up like a competition(only taking three throws) and two of them were well over my pr!! i'm starting to feel some adrenaline in practice and am really letting go and getting after… more »

Flight from Buffalo, NY to Jacksonville, FL = $368.04

Airport shuttles= $75.00

Hotel in Jacksonville = $335.61

Competitive 15km = Priceless



.

Going into the race I, first and foremost, wanted a solid effort over 15km with people to run with, check that off. I also wanted to finish in the top three and run under 44 minutes. I didn’t get the time but, considering the wind (25mph with 40mph gusts) I was happy with 44 minuted and 25 seconds. When… more »

I wanted to write a short blog post before I make the bumpy 8 hour trip by uncomfortable bus from Nairobi back to my room in Iten so here goes.

The last month has been exciting for me. My training is good and my legs feel quite strong again. I built back up to 150ks for the week, a far cry from what I wanted but it’s quite good considering I was doing nothing for a while.

The filming is going well. I have finished filming two of the characters, and have all… more »

So I travel from Melbourne, Australia all the way to Tallahassee, Florida for a training camp with my group and I am given the walk in cupboard as my bedroom! I am the oldest here by a mile by the young kids these days just don't have respect. In all seriousness, it is very intimate, I don't have to walk far, if anywhere, to get dressed and it will prepare me for the accomodation at the Beijing Olympic Village (see picture below).

Things have really picked up for me since my last blog back in January. I… more »

I’m nearly 7 weeks into Olympic Trials marathon training with five more to go. Workouts are going great. However, I’m taking recovery days easy, out of necessity. I’ll hit about 115 miles for this week. Hungry? Tired? Sore? Winter blues? YES, all of the above. Spring is around the corner though and soon enough I’ll be running in shorts again!

After the Houston half marathon in January, our coaches decided on target times and workout paces for each of us. Mine is definitely aggressive, yet achievable. It is a nice change from Chicago’s “safe” marathon training… more »

Hello Floworld, we have finished our first week here in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. Our first week at altitude went very well; the adjustment has been very smooth. When we arrived in Flagstaff the ground was covered in snow. Since then, the weather has been sunny and warm everyday. We even got a little sun burnt while working out in Sedona this week. To help adjust to running at 7000ft, we broke the first few runs into doubles. Typically we only do 2 or 3 doubles a week, but this week we ran twice almost everyday. My mileage the first week… more »

Making the world team was goal for early in the season and I am extremely happy to have accomplished it, but... it certainly made my season a touch more complicated. I am well rested from USAXC and my legs have come around and feel better than ever, now it is time to build for the important stuff. This weekend I did a really short speed maintenance work out on the track (2,2,3,2,2,3 in 30,29,45,29,30,43) and I was pleased: it was nice to dip under 60 second pace for the first time in a long time.

So how… more »

(Okay, so these titles are really generic, but a good way to put things into perspective and keep some context and continuity...)

The 29 days of February were all over the place, literally: we started out the month in Seattle, where we spent a great week visiting the good folks at the Brooks corporate headquarters in Bothell and exploring the Pacific Northwest – which even had some snow to make us feel right at home. We were back in Michigan for about 10 days before heading south for some spring training in Hilton Head, South Carolina and… more »