en-us Copyright 2006-2009 Flocasts Inc Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:32:59 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/assets/portal/simple30/images/logos/flotrack-logo.gif http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mollyhuddle/7730-fearaphobia I’ve been thinking a lot about fear the last few days. Surprisingly, it was sparked by an article I read in one of the pile of mostly trashy magazines I brought on the odyssey of a plane ride home from Eugene last week. As entertaining as they are, normally I don’t come away from reading Us Weekly or Star with a realization any deeper than “man Paula Abdul is ALWAYS on that embarrassing outfits page in the back”- but this was an Oprah approved article so it was pretty insightful. The article was about how sometimes people use a fear of failure as a subconscious motivation to self-sabotage themselves just to end the anxiety of worrying about failing. I know it sounds convoluted and makes no sense, but naturally I tried applying the idea to racing. I was familiar with the Nelson Mandella quote about not fearing greatness, and the idea that fearing the new expectations and the power that come with success may subconsciously hold someone back, but this was an interesting new angle on the idea of fear getting in the way of someone accomplishing her dreams. I’ve lined up at five US championships now. Sometimes the goal is just to gain experience, sometimes to hang in there as long as I can and sometimes it’s to qualify for a team and over the years I have definitely felt the pressure increasing along with the size of the aspirations. Maybe this last goal is a tall order, because there are some truly great women in the U.S. distance arena, but I have not yet made an Olympic or World Championship team. Somewhere between 2004 and 2008 I decided I am not afraid to take on the high expectations and pressures of representing the US at a championship meet, so on a small scale I faced the possibility of ‘fearing greatness’ and I don’t think I have that fear (now I just need to work on the greatness part, ha). I can’t stop thinking about the other kind of fear, though. Although it requires some typically taboo negative thinking, maybe I need to face the fear of NOT making a team and all the results of that. For example: maybe my value as a runner decreases, maybe when all is said and done my career won’t be as bright, maybe I’ll have to watch the stupid thing on TV again, etc. Anyone who has raced before knows that there are times when anxiety can creep into your mind in the few hours before a big race, so I think it is possible that a runner might drop out, or blow up to escape that feeling, as the article implies. It would make sense then that facing the fear by acknowledging the worst of the worst scenarios and how you’d deal with them might make them less of a big deal. Personally, I’m not sure how true the whole phenomenon is because for me most fears and doubts feel like they float away with the gun smoke, but the subconscious is a tricky bastard after all, and at the least it’s an interesting idea. As for this year’s USATF championship, I can’t say fear had anything to do with it. Though I’d say I made a mistake in not being more aggressive, it was mostly the cut and dry excuse of being injured and unfit for too long. Regardless of what the complicated workings of fear are, I’m going to make a conscious effort to have less of it. To be more brave. More courageous. At least when the spikes are on. I’ll still need my nightlight in the bathroom…. Mollyhuddle http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mollyhuddle/7730-fearaphobia Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7690-there-is-no-i-in-track "The greatest memory for me of the 1984 Olympics was not the individual honors, but standing on the podium with my teammates to receive our team gold medal." Despite being the number 1 gymnast in the world that year, winning 3 individual Olympic medals and being the first American gymnast to score a perfect 10.0, Mitch Gaylord highlights the Olympic team gold as the pinnacle of his historic 1984 season. Gymnastics is unique to many other sports in that it has a strong emphasis on both individual and team competition. For elite gymnasts in the US, many train together all year just to battle against each other for a coveted spot on team USA. Once the team is formed, it is back to working together to defeat international competition, because team glory is as important as the individual competitions in the sport. In high school and college cross country and track, we see a similar dynamic in which team and individual success seem to have a harmonious balance. Once in the professional ranks, however, this seems to disappear. A few times a year, for international championships, ‘Team USA’ is formed, but it often appears to be a group of individuals running in the same uniform. A successful Olympics for one American runner, for example Dawn Harper, can be a disappointing Olympic experience for a member of the same team, like Lolo Jones. This may be because at meets like the Olympics, team scores are not kept in track and field. Imagine if places 4-8, which do not garner a medal, were still coveted for precious team points? It would give a much different feel to an Olympic final. That however, is a digression perhaps for another time. It seems that the shift from a team and individual sport to the post collegiate solo game is abrupt. Teammates, training partners, allies can be an invaluable resource in practice and competition. What pushes us more than when we have only a few laps to go and, whether it is in practice or competition, you look to your right and see a teammate on your shoulder? Why do I bring this up? Well, the 2009 USA Outdoor Championships were absolutely saturated in a ‘team’ essence. The most overt example were those awesome green (and one pink) Oregon Track Club singlets you saw in every final from the 800 through the 10,000 (except the women’s steeple). During the 10k, the first track final, we saw the definition of teamwork. Both running for the Portland based OTC, but under different coaches, Olympians Amy Yoder Begley and Shalane Flanagan worked together to cover the 6.2 miles with a hard effort and 2 trips to Berlin. The plan was to exchange leading duties every 800 until the final laps of the race at a pace that would set Begley up for a significant personal best and they did exactly that. Flanagan, the Olympic bronze medalist who is coached by Jerry Schumacher, could have tried to blow the race open from the gun, knowing she has run over a minute faster than the rest of the field, but she worked with Begley, who is coached by Alberto Salazar. Doing this she risked losing in a battle of closing speed while dodging lapped runners (which ultimately happened). Salazar and Schumacher became co-workers this year at the Nike Campus and the collaboration was obvious in this well implemented joint effort by the 2008 and 2009 US 10k champions. During the race, if you were watching on Flotrack, you heard Kara Goucher, Begley’s teammate, talk about how beneficial training with each other has been. Goucher won the 5,000 the next night. The opportunity for Goucher, Begley and Flanagan to train together in the future will make any distance fan hopeful of what’s to come. Similarly, the men’s 10k saw Salazar’s prodigy Galen Rupp and coach-less Dathan Ritzenhein pull away from the field in the final stages to put on quite a show for the crowd. The following day Ritz announced he is joining Salazar’s group and will now become training partners with Rupp. Both Salazar and Ritz are optimistic that training with Rupp will be beneficial for the two athletes. As Ritz stated, “There’s only so far you can get on your own.” Third in the 10k was Schumacher coached OTC member Tim Nelson. His teammates swept the podium spots in the men’s 5,000m race the following night. Former Madison based Badger’s and now Portland based OTC members Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky and Evan Jager executed a very clear race plan that could not have been more successful. The three teammates tucked in single file behind early leader Anthony Famiglietti and mid-race leader Bolota Asmerom and made a hard move at the end. The group had closing laps from 53.4 to 54.8 to lock up the three spots to Berlin. Clearly elated at the accomplishment, the trio celebrated as Solinsky even hoisted Jager over his head. The two had both made their first major US team. Also wearing the green OTC jerseys on the podium were men’s 800m champ Nick Symmonds and women’s 800m runner-up Geena Gall. Both are members of the Eugene based branch of the Oregon Track Club, OTC Elite, which Gall is the newest addition to. The Oregon Track Club members weren’t the only ones exuding the team aura at the championships. Even heading into the meet, Shannon Rowbury and Leonel Manzano were asking Flotrackers to help them derive a name for their team. The duo, temporarily called Team Applebury, is coached by John Cook (who used to work with Salazar at the Nike Campus). At USA’s, Rowbury won the women’s 1,500, while Manzano was a close second in the men’s race. 1st and 3rd in the women’s 800, Hazel Clark and Phoebe Wright are both coached by the former’s brother, JJ Clark. Clark stated after the race that she will help Wright get the A Standard this summer. Wright needs either herself or Gall to get the standard to run in Berlin. It is not just distance runner’s who have teammates helping push themselves. A California based training group of Dawn Harper, Allyson Felix and Shawn Crawford, coached by Bobby Kersee, won 2009 US titles in the 100m hurdles, women’s 200m and men’s 200m, respectively. Stepping off the track after her victory, Felix went directly to congratulate her training partner Harper, who was receiving a $25,000 check for winning the Visa Championship Series. Felix has said in an interview that training with two teammates that have individual Olympic gold medals is extra motivation to upgrade her two silvers. This is despite having World Championship individual golds and Olympic relay gold. Here is where having teammates, even in the professional ranks, can be essential. Not only do you motivate one another in practice, but you are able to work together in races for the betterment of each other, the team, and US track as a whole. When you see athletes generally happy, or disappointed for their teammates, it illuminates unseen elements to the sport. Usually we only get to see a few minutes of racing without witnessing the months of training. Seeing these training partners congratulate and console each other can unveil the complexity and depth of the puzzle to which we only see a small piece of played out in races. After the 800, when champion Nick Symmonds was being interviewed, he interjects to find out how the 1500m final played out. When he hears that Lopez Lomong, Manzano, and Dorian Ulrey were the top 3, you can briefly read disappointment on his face. Later in the tent after just missing out on making the US team in the 1,500 for the second consecutive year, Will Leer was visibly despondent. Symmonds, his teammate, sat down and consoled his friend. Moments like this let you realize what these professional athletes go through together in training and that despite one’s personal achievements, they still want success for those who were there grinding it out with them along the way. For anyone who has read Henry V or more likely, Running with the Buffaloes may be reminded of the Shakespeare quote, "We happy few, we band of brothers; For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." Ultimately, by working together, each athlete can better fulfill their potential and avoid becoming complacent. In the end, it leads to a better athlete, a better training group, and a better Team USA. Whether you are on the team or not, that is the ultimate goal. A few athletes echoed this sentiment at the meet; that the most important thing for the US in Berlin is to be sending the best team possible. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7690-there-is-no-i-in-track Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:14:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mgm7739/7594-brooks-id-camp This past weekend, I had an excellent opportunity to participate in the inaugural Brooks ID Camp. This camp was unlike any other that I have ever attended. The camp took place at a mountain resort just outside Seattle, next to Mt. Rainier. While there were certainly some elite athletes in attendance, that wasn't the purpose. Instead, Brooks pooled together 65 people in the running community that 'inspire daily”. These people included athletes, coaches, race directors, doctors and physical therapists from all over the US. It was a great mix of ages and personalities. While a wide variety of topics were discussed, the key purpose of the camp was to provide feedback to Brooks regarding future footwear and appearal products. From wear-testing and color schemes, to new materials, and presentations from the actual designers, Brooks took feedback from real runners to make sure that they have great future products. Let me say, the technology that Brooks has looming in the future is awesome and will play a major role in the future of running performance, I can't wait! Here are a couple of highlights from my trip: The collection of stories. With so many different types of people, the stories were amazing. Two that stick out are Bill Hoffman's triumph over cancer, and Dan Shaw being captured in Columbia by some cocaine drug lords. Both are lucky to be alive, and their stories really inspired me. We took a trip up the mountain for a really nice dinner. It was supposedly summer solstice, however, at the top of this freaking mountain, wind chills were below 30 degrees, and I froze my can off. It was definitely the first time that I have ever felt snow and temps. like that in June. We got to tour the Brooks headquarters in Bothell. Believe it or not, they actually do a ton of research on every part of a shoe and every piece of appearal. I didn't think that it existed! Right now I have a little injury, so to get some exercise, I decided to climb the mountain. It was around 50 degrees and pouring rain. After hiking strait up for 40 minutes, I started to get a little freaked out when I ran into snow and could see my breath, I started to think that I might get hypothermia and end up stuck on this mountain. I was picturing CNN covering a rescue effort for this moron runner who decided to defy mother nature and climb this mountain. However, I made it down and everything worked out fine.   I hope that you enjoyed my blog, special thanks to Brooks for having me out, and thanks to the 65 athletes for the inspiration to get back on the horse once I heal up. -Mike     Mgm7739 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mgm7739/7594-brooks-id-camp Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:20:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7452-the-revival-of-us-womens-middle-distance What a difference one year makes. After the 2007 season wrapped up, I had a conversation with a friend about the strengths and weaknesses of the US track and field team. Obviously sprints, hurdles, relays, and field are all strong suits for the red, white and blue. Distance had been coming along as Lagat grabbed 5k gold in Osaka (with Tegenkamp 4th), Kara Goucher nabbed 10k bronze, we had 2 marathon medalists at the previous Olympics in Athens (and a new crop of marathoners were looking promising). Men's middle distance had everyone hopeful for the '08 Olympics with Lagat's 1,500 World Championship title, Nick Symmond's 800 win at the Pre Classic, and Webb's world leading 1,500m, AR mile and 1:43 800. Our consensus was that the weakest sector of the team was the women's middle distances. The top US times in the 1,500 and 800 were way down on the world lists and no American women were making it through the rounds at the World Champs. A high school junior was leading the US Championship 800m final with 200m to go. As good of a race as that was for Chanelle Price, it left much to be desired of the professional women in that race. As 2008 came along, a beacon appeared for US women’s middle distance running. Shannon Rowbury had a breakout season like none other. She ran PR’s of 4:20.34 for the mile, 4:00.33 for the 1,500m and was highly competitive internationally. She won the 5th Avenue Mile, was 2nd in Paris, 7th in the Olympic Final, trounced the field at the US Olympic Trials and finished the year ranked 6th in the world over 1,500m. When all was said and done, Rowbury had knocked a dozen seconds off of her best 1,500 time. It was a huge step forward for women’s mid distance running in America. The previous few years, the top time floated between 4:04 and 4:06. Rowbury had skipped over the 4:01-4:03 range and began flirting with sub-4. After her, however, there was over a 4 second drop off to the 2nd best time by Christin Wurth-Thomas and another 2 seconds to the third best from Goucher (a 10k runner). The super-star was there, but the depth was not. It seemed coming in to 2009 that Rowbury would be the class of the US field and continue her domestic dominance. That however, would not be the case. On June 7th of this year, 3 American women beat Rowbury. Did she have an off day? No. She went out hard and, as it was her outdoor debut at 1,500, she faded a bit over the last quarter. She will undoubtedly sharpen as the season progresses. What did happen is that 3 other American women caught up to Rowbury. Jenny Barringer ran an astounding 3:59.90, Anna Willard ran 4:01.44, and Wurth-Thomas clocked in at 4:01.72. All were significant personal records and Rowbury was still close with a solid 4:03.92. It is surely the deepest 1,500m race by American women in history. There are currently 4 American women who have run 4:01.72 or faster in the past year. The last time any American woman ran within 1.5 seconds of that mark was 2003 when drug cheat Regina Jacobs and Suzy Favor Hamilton ran 4:01.63 and 4:01.69 in separate races. So how have the women’s 1,500m runners come from such a slump to such an apex in one year? There are many factors that brought us to this point. Picking one would be difficult, but if I had to then I would say Shannon Rowbury’s 2008 season is the main cause. She upped the ante and showed that 4:06 was no longer an acceptable US leading time. These other women had two choices; they could fold under the pressure, or crank up the intensity themselves. When one person is so far ahead of the curve, they either scare off competitors, or light a fire under their peers. It appears for women like Wurth-Thomas, Rowbury did the latter. This is not the only explanation, but it’s the short answer. If someone asked me, ‘why are New York State girls xc teams so good every year?’ I’d respond, ‘short answer, Saratoga.’ Their program executed high school cross country so well perennially that it raised the bar for every other girls team in the state. I know this is not the only reason, but it is a major factor. Rowbury made a statement last year which set 4:00 as the new benchmark for this generation of runners. As I have stated, there are other reasons as well. Do I think Jenny Barringer was training up in Boulder thinking ‘I have to beat Shannon Rowbury in the 1,500 this year’? Of course not. But what Barringer has stated is that she wants to legitimize the steeplechase as an event by proving steeplers are just as fast in flat events, but choose the steeple because the event suits them. The best way to do this is to match the top women in the flat events and Rowbury happened to have made low 4 minutes the new mid-4s. One might notice that the 2 atop this year’s US leaderboards for 1,500m, Barringer and Willard, are primarily known for competing in the steeplechase. During training in the off season, the drive to be the best in the 3k Steeple most assuredly also resulted in the two dropping significant time off of their 1,500 times. Going into the US Championships and with the World Championships in Berlin around the corner, the women’s middle distance crew seems to now be one of the stronger areas of the team, and certainly the most improved. Make sure not to miss these women battle in Eugene for the US titles and World team spots, as they will produce some of the meet’s most electrifying moments. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7452-the-revival-of-us-womens-middle-distance Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:20:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mollyhuddle/7292-immersed-in-runculture Aside from conveniently being the name of the Saucony casual product line, I have been thinking about how running culture is an actual phenomenon. I was thinking about this as I was embarking on my quest for abs in the gym the other day. I noticed a group of dudes who showed up pretty regularly and lifted pretty hard. One of them was there every day, mostly training high school kids, but he must have been a body builder of some kind himself. Between the time he obviously spent lifting and the time he spent training the kids, he must live in the gym. “Lame” I thought, not realizing my hypocrisy. He was meticulous beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed or done in my own workouts, and I do this for a living whereas he is doing it as a hobby… obsession, compulsion….etc. He usually brought a cooler of food and bright pink powdered supplements to the gym. One container actually had brussel sprouts in it, so I’m sure the others were equally appetizing. I heard him talk about how he “hasn’t had junk food in 30 meals”. He counted be the meal! The other guys joked with him and asked if he wanted to go out for beer and ice cream. He simply pulled up his tank top and flexed his stomach, which showed every vein and muscle under his papery, tan skin. “you must not be fun to hang around right now” said another large dude. “That’s why I live alone” he answered matter-of-factly. He boasted about his pants size, said his clothes were feeling tighter, “ just since January” . I rolled my eyes, figuring the others would do the same, but no, they compared trials and tribulations in the weight room and were genuinely in awe of him. “What is the point” I wondered “in just getting as muscular as you can? What is the function of ‘being swoll’? Who cares?” Then it hit me, well what’s the point of being… fast? What’s the point of being the fastest person of ALL, even? Like the lifter, other runners would respect you. Like lifting, it carves out a lifestyle for you. We go to bed early, eat a certain diet, do certain drills and spend money on massages because, well what an obvious question, because we will run FASTER. And everyone who runs thinks it makes sense, it’s just a part of the culture. Race a 5k at 7 am? Sure, part of culture, not weird at all, like eating Haggis to a Scotsman, or wearing Ugg boots to a sorority girl. And it can be a lonely, too, like the body builder. Running culture includes solitary moments, whether you’re actually alone with just the tumbleweeds at mile 15 on a training run, or just alone in your choices like not going out every night of the week, or being too tired to do something fun so you take a nap instead, or not taking that day trip to Santa Fe because then you’d have to move your run to an inopportune time, (grumble). I left the gym thinking I actually wasn’t so different (sans abs) from the lifter dude. I am so far into a culture of running that I didn’t even notice that my life is kind of weird too. Kind of solitary at times, maybe not as meticulous as his, but certainly governed by what makes me faster. But, I guess that’s how a culture works: weird to those on the outside, and a sacred and unquestioned way of life to those on the inside. Heavy. Mollyhuddle http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Mollyhuddle/7292-immersed-in-runculture Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:33:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7174-the-legacy-of-an-inspiring-runner This past Memorial Day weekend, the string of major professional and DI collegiate meets took a break while the local 5ks took center stage. On Sunday the 24th, Trav's Trail Run went off at Muadslay State Park in Newburyport, Massachusetts for the 9th consecutive year. This isn't the most competitive trail race you'll find, or the most difficult, but every year it stands out in my mind. It is a 3 mile memorial for Newburyport native Travis Landreth. You may have never heard the name before, but those who have, remember it. Every August before the cross country season officially starts, like many high school teams, mine would head off to running camp. Our destination was Lyndonville, Vermont for Nike's Green Mountain Running Camp. Every year we ran with and heard from countless collegiate and professional athletes, including Shalane Flanagan, Foot Locker finalists, accomplished coaches, like Villanova’s Marcus O’Sullivan, Nike representatives, nutritionists, and trainers. In 2001, before my sophomore year, and every year after, the speaker that stuck with me the most was Don Hennigar, coach of Newburyport's cross country team. With his thick New England accent, he spoke of his former athlete, Travis Landreth, who had become a mainstay at Green Mountain over the years. Landreth was an accomplished runner, who died on January 12th, 2001 in California while on a tempo run for the Nike Farm Team. He was only 24 years old at the time. The story Coach Hennigar told begins well before that tragic day. In middle school, Landreth had an intense passion for skateboarding, but that gave way to running after discovering an aptitude for it in high school. He was a solid high school athlete, but not a top recruit by any means, with personal bests in the mid-4:20's and 9:30's. His unparalleled will to succeed and toughness are what set him apart. Landreth went on to represent the US at the junior level at the Pan Am Games in the 5,000m and at the World Junior Cross Country Championships. He also was an NCAA All American, Northeast Regional XC Champ and the 1997 Big East XC Champ. In fact, he was the first Big East Champ in UConn history. Landreth could have easily been a good runner, but he was not destined to be great. The difference maker was that he went above and beyond what his natural-born talent gave him to become a stand-out runner on his way to greatness. The type that represented his country internationally and could stand atop a major DI conference as the best. This is what spoke to many of the runners in the room as Coach Hennigar shared with us his experiences with Travis. That anyone, regardless of their own mediocrity, could put their nose to the grindstone, the rubber to the pavement and achieve their own great accomplishments. For many of us it was not about garnering All American honors, but maybe it was being good enough to run in college, or winning your league meet. For my teammates and I it was about winning a state championship. Each account from those who knew Travis personally, paints a picture of the same man. He had a tireless work ethic and drive to succeed, but he also loved running and brought an unrelenting enthusiasm and positivity that was infectious to those around him. It truly was a tragedy when his heart failed him while he was doing what he loved, running. A major loss for the running community. The final diagnosis was that he died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease which causes the walls of the heart to thicken. Many will be familiar with Ryan Shay, who also died of HCM in 2007 at the Olympic Marathon Trials. Coincidentally, Shay too was a Big East Cross Country Champ, for Notre Dame in 1999, and was 11th in the race the year Landreth took home the title. Both men sacrificed everything to the sport of running, but it was not for nothing. Landreth’s legacy is one of inspiration. While living, he seemed to inspire everyone he ran with from his younger sisters (who both became successful runners), to teammates, to campers and counselors at Green Mountain. He showed those who ran with him what it truly meant to work hard and to run tough. After his passing, his character continues to inspire runners through those who knew him. Coach Hennigar is one who continues to tell Landreth’s story in hopes of motivating young runners to train with the same amount of grit, integrity, humility and passion. He also organizes Trav’s Trail Run each year in honor of his former athlete, a race that Landreth’s sisters have won more than their share of the women’s titles. Additionally, Asics named a shoe in honor of the late runner. For those of you who are neutral runners who like Asics, like me, you may own a pair of GEL Landreths. Throughout my running career, many people I met along the way, ran with, and ran against motivated me, but Travis Landreth did so without me having known him personally. Runners like Steve Prefonataine, Jim Ryun, and Billy Mills do this same thing for thousands of young runners each year and Landreth would do it for me and hundreds of my fellow campers each summer. I found myself as a senior in college, working at a running store telling anyone who looked at the GEL Landreth everything I could remember about him. That’s when I knew this story had stuck with me all those years; the words of those who knew him still echoed in my head. I had been taking pieces from what I learned about him with me on every run and in every workout since I was 15 and that speaks volumes about the impact one runner can make. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/7174-the-legacy-of-an-inspiring-runner Tue, 26 May 2009 10:10:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Anthonyfamiglietti/7172-live-it-up Live it up. These are three words I've heard quite often recently. Normally they just roll through my psyche without much effect, but recently I've started to really dwell on this little mantra. If any of you know Jack Daniels then you know this is Jack's personal mantra whether he recognizes it or not. If you show up for a workout and feel unsure, Jack will just say, "Live it up". Got a big race coming up and you're feeling the pressure, Jack will say, "Live it up". Stop in Jack's office up here in Flagstaff and on your way out..., "Live it up". When you're passionate about what you do and you want to excel to the highest level at what you love you'll begin to get wrapped up in it. Your daily routine, mindset and lifestyle will start getting built around developing that success and it can consume you. I don't think there are many people out there that are more dedicated, headstrong, and passionate about what they do than runners. Running is not a sport for us dedicated few. Running is our lifestyle. It's who we are. It's our culture or I should say sub-culture. Many of us live, breath, eat, and sleep running day in and day out all year, year after year until the last step. We're reaching for something more in our lives. In this way I think all runners are existentialists to some degree. Think about it, when you go out for run are you thinking about what you'll do when it's over or thinking about some work you need to get done? Chances are you're in the moment, you're letting you're mind wander and it's going to places of clear, unfiltered thought. When you're running you will most likely be focused on the air, your breathing, how you feel, the immediate environment in front of you. It's a type of meditation, mental, physical, emotional meditation. A type of meditation that yogis recognized, developed and have devoted their loves to for 1000's of years. What happens when the run is over though. Some of us go on with the rest of our day, but those of us who live running are already planning the next run. Then you'll start planning your runs to build up to workouts and then races. It happens, It's the natural order of things. To get that feeling you get, that endorphin rush, that feeling of really being alive you have to keep stepping things up. You have to start pushing the body more as it adapts to the stimulus of running and training. As a professional runner my life is basically an extreme of this concept. I have taken my mind and body to It's greatest limits and I have to find ways to push even further and go beyond that. I have to go beyond pain, beyond fatigue, beyond weakness. As I get faster and faster this becomes exponentially more difficult. I start thinking about all of the little details day in and day out that might help me get to that next level. I may think about these things for hours or try to formulate plans, strategies and ideas on how to go further. This is when you start to get consumed. This is when you might start to lose sight of why you started running and what you're really trying to achieve. Remember that you're not out to impress anybody, you're not a time, ranking or statistic. You are simply a person reaching for something better. A person reaching for something real, visceral and pure. It's easy to get lost along the way. It's easy to get wrapped up and lose sight of what's right in front of you. So, if you're one of the dedicated few like me and you can relate to these ideas, then take a step back for a second. Put your sneakers on. Go for a run on your favorite route and take a look at who you've become. Be immediately present in that run, even for just moment if you can. Take a deep breath, kick up the tempo a notch and say to yourself, "Live it up". "The greatest of victories is the victory over oneself." Pali Tripitaka, Buddhist collection of sacred texts, Dhammapada -fam Anthonyfamiglietti http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Anthonyfamiglietti/7172-live-it-up Tue, 26 May 2009 08:17:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Coldneck/7161-i-live-to-dream-again The two things that worried me the most going into the marathon were being able to handle the pace and my legs holding up for 42.2km. To be specific, I was worried that I wasn’t going to feel comfortable running 3:12/km (5:12/mile) right from the gun, imagining that it would take a few km to warm-up. And, I ultimately thought my calves would let out on me or completely seize up towards the end of the race. Throughout my cross training (pool running, biking, elliptical and XC skiing) I never extensively worked my calves like I did other leg muscle groups. I was feeling pretty good on my short, 12 minute, shake-out jog done on the first section of the course and I got to the line feeling like I have done the best preparation I could have, given my timeline. The gun went off and I settled in behind the second group of pacers in what seemed like 20th place. I was running beside Steve Osaduik and behind Worku Beyi and Michael Musili (the two 2:15 pacers). I felt great and was convinced part of the reason for my fresh legs was that we were running a little slow, better a little slow than fast at that point. We hit 3:12 at the first km and it was then I knew I actually felt good and the confidence grew. About 150 meters later we passed the 1km marker for the half marathoners and Worku checked his watch and thought he was too slow and I reassured him he was exactly on pace. The same thing happened at the second km mark (6 minutes and 12 seconds), we were right on pace and for some reason Worku doesn’t see the orange marathon KM marker but the blue 1/2 marathon KM marker 150m later. I reassured him, once again, we were perfect for pace. This time as the 3rd orange marathon km marker approached I pointed it out to him and he looked at his watch and understood. We passed 3km in a perfect 9:36. About 150m later we passed the 1/2 marathon marker and Chris Moulton was standing underneath looking at his watch and I’m already laughing because I know he’s freakin’ that were running too slow. The look on his face was priceless when he was trying to figure what to say, I could tell he wanted to yell “you’re running wayyyy to slow!” and at the same time didn’t want me panicking. So I yelled over to him, “you’re at a 1/2 marathon split” and added the middle finger as a joke (which I had to make sure later he knew was a joke, he did). Oh, and Musili who was employed to take us to 21km was already behind us. We passed 5km in 16:03, 3 seconds slow but a slight uphill so it was fine. As we were exiting Hull back into Ottawa I decided I needed to pee and I stopped on the bridge (about 9.5km into the race) for no more than 15 seconds to relieve myself. I had to do it. That created a size-able gap between myself and the pair of Osaduik and Worku. I thought I could make up the gap in 1.5km without having to go too hard. I then passed 10km in 32:02, 2 seconds too slow but good considering the pee break that was more than fine. It took me another 2km (in 6:08) to catch the guys and settle back into pace. Around the 18km mark Osaduik started to drift off the pace and it was just Worku and I until I caught up with my training partner, Josephat, who went out pretty fast. The three of us were running together until the next bottle station where Josephat had complications picking up his bottle and was never able to bridge back the gap. I passed the 1/2 marathon in 67:15 and I was feeling like a million bucks. Cal and Dave told me it would still feel easy halfway through the race but this was much easier than imagined. I ran up to 25km still on 2:15 pace, still feeling like I was out for a typical Sunday run. It was at that point that Worku dropped out (he initially thought he could make 30km) and I found myself running beside another Kenyan competitor, Thomas Omwenga. We were running into the wind so I slowed my pace (not necessarily my effort) and yelled over at Dave that I was going to fight the wind and that I was going to drill the $#&* out of the canal on the way back. This was probably around 27km and I was still feeling great and quite confident about running 2:15.xx. As we crossed the overpass to the other side of the canal the wind picked up even more and I was crawling up the hill and it was at that point that my quads were starting to get tired and sore. But I knew a tail-wind was around the corner… When I turned the corner and hit another head wind I was dumbfounded and dejected. I wasn’t going to write about this wind phenomenon because it doesn’t seem possible however my competitors and the spectators encountered the same abnormality. From 30-35km I hit my slowest 5km split of 16:40. When I hit 35km I knew that I wasn’t going to drill the $#%* out of the way back like I so over-confidently declared 8km earlier. I figured I would not take any chances and cruise in for a 2:16.xx. It was also around that point where Thomas pulled away from me. My main goal of 1st Canadian under 2:18 was still in check. As each kilometre crept up my quads were getting worse and worse. At 37km I was in considerable pain and by 39km I was in what I would call “survival mode.” I took my last bottle of PowerBar C2Max after 39km and slowed considerably to gobble every last drop and had a horrible time getting back up to speed. I was hurting. Altough it was such a foreign sensation because I had plenty of energy and I wasn’t breathing too hard. It was just that my quads didn’t want to function anymore. I remember looking down at my quads expecting that they were going to look different than usual. My legs looked the same as always, surprise surprise. As I hit 40km (about 2:09:30) I knew I had about eight and a half minutes to get in my last 2.2km to make the World Championship team. The next km took me 3:40 (I think) and I was trying to do the math but that 0.2 on the end was complicating my calculations so I just kept chugging along as the crowd was getting thicker and louder. In the last 100 metres of the grand stands I knew I was good for time and decided to relish the moment and celebrate the hard work. I started to pump my fist and lift my arms, each time I lifted my outstretched, palms up, arms the crowd responded with more noise. Ya, it’s cheesy but it was fun and when you’re hurting that much you might as well have some fun. I finished eighth overall in 2:17:08.5, first Canadian and qualified for the World Championships team (as long as four guys commit). I wasn’t too pleased with the time at first however, the top three were all 2:13.xx (they are 2:10 guys who were shooting for 2:09 and had a pack of seven through 30km) and I realised it was not a particularly fast day. It was a nice day but at 17 degrees and sunny it was a little hot for ideal, although the heat wasn’t my main problem. I’m very excited about my next marathon as I know where I can make huge improvements. One obvious one is that I’ll have many more months of running under my belt. Maybe a couple escarpment stair sessions for the quads? haha. Thanks to my family and friends for the support. Big ups to New Balance and PowerBar. Thanks to everyone cheering me on, especially those making the trek to Ottawa from the Hammer, TO, Guelph and elsewhere. Thanks to the road crew, Dave, Cal, Moulton and Desy. Thanks to my training partners at Speed River and ’satellite river’, especially Josephat (who finished 10th overall). Thanks to Osaduik, Worku and Thomas for the company during the race. Thanks to Trent for advising me on my race fueling, it worked awesome! Thanks to Marcell, Aras and Brenda for the massage, chiro and physio. And last but not least thanks to Dave Scott-Thomas for all the planning, coaching, support and getting me to the starting line prepared and ready to rock. 5KM SPLITS: 16:03 (5km)15:59 (32:02 10km)15:40 (47:42 15km)16:02 (1:03:45 20km)16:02 (1:19:47 25km)16:37 (1:36:25 30km)16:40 (1:53:55 35km)16:33 (2:09:29 40km) TIMELINE: Nov 3rd – paced Hamilton marathon, 16km at 3:07/km pace Nov 6th – ran 1km, broke my foot, last run for three months Jan 1st 2009 – Able to start real cross training, elliptical, pool and bike Jan 13th – bought XC skis Feb 4th – ran 1km Feb 28th – 20km XC ski race Mar 4th – First 10km run Mar 22nd – First long run (over 90 minutes) Mar 29th – First running workout, tempo April 8th – Marathon idea is born, 6.5 weeks out April 12th – first marathon type workout, 35km run with 16km at marathon pace April 18th - Commit to running Ottawa marathon, 5 weeks out April 26th – Billy Taylor 15km road race May 10th – nagging injuries are gone May 24th – run a marathon, 2:17:08.5 THE NUMBERS (since November 6): Highest weekly running volume for marathon – 145km (90 miles) Cost of pee stop - $500 (under 2:17 is an extra $500) Hours of sleep the night before the race – 2 (too excited and then just stressed that I wasn’t sleeping) Swear words in race - 2 (one out of cockiness describing how good I was feeling at 27km, one out of pain at 39+km) Number of double running days during build-up - 2 Highest single day (single run) - 39km (24miles) Running days in the past 168 days- 96 Runs over 10km – 73 Highest X-training week (cardio only) – 17.1 hours Fuel bottles on course- 15 (got ‘em all) Calories consumed on race day – 5000 (roughly) Number of deaths heard while training - 2 (gunshots) Number of kms at or below race pace on April 3rd (10 X km workout) - 1 (the last) Number of running workouts – 17 (2.2 per week on average) Times I heard “Hey, the first white guy!” - 7 (or so) Coldneck http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Coldneck/7161-i-live-to-dream-again Mon, 25 May 2009 10:35:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Kd/7096-go The season has started! I hope all is excited and tuned in. Let's focus on having fun and keeping it simple: The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, "Kemo Sabe, look towards sky; what you see?" The Lone Ranger replies, "I see millions of stars." "What that tell you?" asked Tonto. The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, "Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all powerful and we are small and insignificant in comparison. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What's it tell you, Tonto?" "Someone stole our tent." Kd http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Kd/7096-go Wed, 20 May 2009 16:04:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/MrPants/7054-suggestions-and-dedications Alright, the first part of this blog is aimed at a certain young man whose name happens to be Mike Kilburg. Since Mike has come to the team he has managed to steal Kyle O'brien's guitar and taint it with that Starbuck's drinkin', flannel wearing, screatching Seattle based noise!!! Well, listen here PAL, if you are going to live in the Midwest, then you need to learn some good ol' Midwest, Motor City, Rock and Roll Harmony! Here are two suggestions. First start with Detroit's Own White Stripes cover of Son House's 'Death Letter' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1_ETuWIbE Once you get this down, move on to Ohio based Black Keys 'I got mine' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9AfKcHwoP4 After you learn these, you may limit yourself to one Alice in Chains or Nirvana song a week. Soundgarden has no limit. Thank you for you your cooperation! Ok for serious now, an old friend of our moved back east a little while ago. She taught me a lot of life lessons. We once traded CD's of our favorite music.I gave her a Greg Brown CD and She gave me a Damien Rice CD. I fell in love with it unexpectedly- so this is a fitting dedictation to the time she spen here in Rochester: (Kilburg- If you learned this song, you'd have a girlfriend in no time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEKCsSlK3jg Alright- beofre I get any nasty posts- the stuff to Kilburg is a joke! He is a good guitar player and I am not a music snob! MrPants http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/MrPants/7054-suggestions-and-dedications Sun, 17 May 2009 11:11:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Trevbar/6951-going-for-it So I have about two hours until I will be racing the 3200 in my last track meet in my hometown. My freshmen year seems like yesterday when I so excited to be running in my last "regular" season ending home meet because the Dinnan twins were coming to race. They were a pair of seniors who ran around 4:20 in the 1600 and it was my burning desire to try and keep up with them. So I ended up having my breakthrough performance that day as I ran a huge pr for the 1600 in 4:27 and barely stole fourth place. Oh, how the times have changed. Today I'll be attempting to be the first person to run a sub-9 3200 on Alaskan soil. Well maybe just the first high schooler but still, it is rare speed. Considering that would take a pr and a stellar solo performance I am preparing for war. Workouts have been going well now its just time to put it all together in one soul-finding performance. I finished the last of my AP tests this morning so mentally I'm relieved...time to get pumped now, Weezy time! Off to the track, I'll leave a comment below tonight and tell you how it goes! Trevbar http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Trevbar/6951-going-for-it Fri, 08 May 2009 17:40:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6950-sounds-like-a-broken-record Every year, records fall. It is inevitable. Some broken records are easily predicted, while others stun you into silence. After a bounty of new records indoors, the outdoor season has shown no signs that the pace is slowing. Already this season, the Tennessee women at Penn Relays took down a collegiate record in the 4x800 and world record in the 4x1500, with 2 other teams under the old NCAA record. Jenny Barringer ran a solo effort 15:07 CR in the 5k and Sam Chelanga quietly ran an NCAA record in the 10k. New Bern NC and Albemarle VA ran some stunning early season HS relay records along with a slew of HSRs in the field. These are just a few of the records broken during this early portion of the season. There are still tons of vulnerable records to keep an eye on over the upcoming months. I will be looking primarily at American runners climbing the All Time lists. High School: Boy’s Sprints: The individual records seem safe, with Jeff Demps’ 10.01 from last year looking as though it may hold up for a while. New Bern NC already took a chunk out of the Sprint Medley record at 3:19.58. They could lower it some more, or make an assault on the 4x200 or 4x400 records, although they are more formidable (1:23.3/3:07.4). Fordham Prep ran a HSR in the Shuttle Hurdle relay indoors, and could may take a run at the longer, outdoor record come NON. Boy’s Distance: Between Mike Granville, Alan Webb, German Fernandez and Galen Rupp, these records are a mighty big hills to climb. This winter, Bobby Andrews smashed Granville’s 800m record as the first HS under 1:50 indoors and took a second off Webb’s 1k record. With Elijah Greer, who ran 1:47 as a junior last year, these two could scare the HSR at 800m at 1:46.45. I would say it is unlikely, but after seeing Andrews run a 2:22 going out in 30, I can not say anything is out of the question for Andrews this year. The indoor 5k was broken by both Lukas Verzbikas and Solomon Haile, but Rupp’s outdoor record is in a different league. As for relays, Auburn WA anchored by Chris Lukezic already lost their 4x800 HSR this season to two teams, Albemarle and Morris Hills NJ. These teams are expected to clash again at NON and the record could be lowered more, but it is hard to imagine them running faster than they did at Penn. West Windsor Plainsboro North NJ ran the indoor 4xMile record with their first leg hitting the track, but dropping from 17:21 to 17:06 is a large task. Luckily, they may have solid squads from Dana Hills CA and The Woodlands TX to push them. As for the DMR, already 11 teams have run sub-10:10. The South Lakes record of 9:49, with a 3:59 anchor from Webb, may be out there, but these teams have done some amazing things already. Either way, there is likely to be a record number of sub-10 teams this year. Girl’s Sprints: With nobody touching the indoor Girls Sprint Records, the outdoor records do not seem to be in jeopardy. They are held by the likes of Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards, posting some of the most impressive high school records on the women’s side. Girl’s Distance: Jordan Hasay, already the 1,500m record holder and #2 All Time at 3,200, can take down any distance record she sets her sights on. She may have to do the record breaking solo, or in professional races, as her California rivals from last year (Babcock and Chetelat) have graduated. While writing this, I had to revise my comments about the steeple. I was going to say ‘Shelby Greany is a shoe in to take down the steeple record’, but she beat me to the punch. In her 6th race in 4 days, Greany won by 33 seconds setting a new HSR of 6:33. With fresh legs and some girls breathing down her neck she can clip a few more seconds off and perhaps take the 3,000m Steeple (10:15) record if she chooses to run it at Junior Nationals. Greany and her Suffern NY girls 4xMile record seems to be the most vulnerable relay record. There has been chatter that Saugus CA has the girls to break the 19:56 record, but their early season attempts at the event have them a ways off. College: Men’s Sprints: The record with the most potential to be broken this year is the 4x400 Relay record of 2:59.59. Baylor returns 4 relay members from last year’s team that ran 3:00 at NCAA’s. Add to that the top ranked 200m runner, Trey Harts, and 2nd ranked 800m runner, Chris Gowell, in the NCAA currently. Florida State and Florida also have a strong teams, so a close race at NCAA’s could give the record a scare. Baylor is too good at the 400 to not own the NCAA 4x400 record. Men’s Distance: Chelanga has already taken Rupp’s 10,000m CR this season, and there is no doubt that Rupp can take the record back. Chelanga may have to beat Rupp in order to keep his record, something he has been unable to do thus far. Both ran under the indoor 5k record, so the outdoor record of 13:08 is in sight. Rupp also lost his American Junior 5k record to Chris Derrick and German Fernandez, who ran 13:29 and 13:31, respectively. You can expect that record to be chipped away at more before the summer is over. Fernandez, the Junior World record holder for the mile should be looking to add an outdoor American junior record over 1 mile/1500m to his resume, but has he says, you can’t have every junior record. Fellow freshman Luke Puskedra should also have his eyes on an American junior record of 28:15 over 10,000m. He has already run 28:34 this season. Women’s Sprints: Texas A&M was 0.09 seconds off the NCAA record at last year’s championship. They currently have 2 of the top 3 and 4 in the top 25 for the 100 in the NCAA right now and they ran a 0.4 off the record over a month ago. The 4x100 has a lot of variables and anything can happen. Last year the LSU women had 3 girls in the 100m final at NCAAs, but only finished 2nd in the 4x100! If everything clicks, the Lady Aggies have a legitimate chance to get down under that 42.50 mark. Women’s Distance: She already owns the CR in the Steeple and the 5k to go with her indoor records. Jenny Barringer is a threat to take any, or all, records from the 1,500m through 5k. With Susan Kuijken and Sarah Bowman running like that have, there are 3 girls that could make a run at the 1,500 record of 4:05.81. As for the steeple and 5k, Barringer could lower her current records, with the former event being the most certain record to be broken of the upcoming months on any level. Professional: Men’s Sprints: Everyone knows Bolt will be riding this wave of success he is on, but the question is what can a healthy Tyson Gay do? His wind aided 9.66 and 9.77 American Record last year was followed by a season hampering hamstring injury. He seems healthy so far this year, running a 46 and a 45 for the open 400. This shows Gay is focusing on strength and will definitely show improvements in his 200. Two other guys will also be shooting for a sought sprint after record. Jeremy Wariner and LeShawn Merritt have both made it clear they want Johnson’s 400 WR of 43.18. If Wariner can get back to his 2007 form and Merritt can improve upon a fantastic 2008 and superb 44.50 ’09 opener, the two could flirt with the record this year. Both men are faster than Johnson was for their current ages, but this may not yet be the year as both has a few tenths to drop. That being said, the pair along with Angelo Taylor and a 4th have a great shot of breaking the 4x400 WR of 2:54.29. The trio paired with Darold Williamson to run the #2 AT in 2007 and then improved one that last year with David Neville. There are 4 Americans out there that can break that record, but it is a matter of having all 4 legs being on the top of their game while presumably running alone. Men’s Distance: A rarely run event, the 4xMile has been a major topic of discussion this season because Oregon has pronounced that it is looking to take down some records. Michigan ran a 16:04, the NCAA record, 4 years ago with a team that had well under 16 potential when looking at PRs. In a relay this long, however, a record breaking team is often running out in front, as was the case for Michigan. Oregon is inviting a field that includes a pro team from OTC. If the race comes together perfectly, we may see a new world record (15:49), but new American and collegiate records are more likely. AJ Acosta red-shirting the season will hurt Oregon, but Matt Centrowitz’ recent 3:36 performance bodes well, as they also have Olympians Rupp and Andrew Wheating. With Rupp’s indoor 5k American Record, many are speculating that he is fit enough to assault the American 10k record of 27:13 and that is the likely case as long as he can get in the right race. The AR in the 2-mile is always in peril. Matt Tegenkamp took it from Webb in 2007 running 8:07 and if run at a meet like the Pre Classic, runners such as Bernard Lagat, Chris Solinsky and Ian Dobson, all have a shot at it. ** Update: Oregon ran 16:03 for a new CR this past weekend** Women’s Sprints: The women’s American 400m is the only sprint record that looks like there is any chance it will come down this season. Sanya Richards was the youngest women to break 49 seconds for 400m, setting the American record of 48.70 at the age of 21. The following year, Richards struggled with illness and began to return to form in 2008. She has done it before, which means she can do it again this year if healthy. She is not the only contender, either. Richards may be pushed by Allyson Felix who has focused on the 200 in the past, but threw down a sub-50 performance last year in May which held up as the fastest American time through August. Felix also had the only sub-50 second 400 split at the Penn Relays by a field of women that included Richards. Women’s Distance: At each level of American women’s distance running there seems to be one dominant figure this year. At the professional level, that woman is Shalane Flanagan. She holds almost every AR for distance events on the track and based on her outstanding 14:47 indoor 5k, her outdoor record of 14:44 will be lowered considerably this year. She has mentioned getting into the mid-low 14 minute range as a season goal. The only question is ‘how will she respond to the coaching change?’ In the 1,500m, Shannon Rowbury seems untouchable on the national level, but the AR of 3:57 will be a tough egg to crack this year. First she will have to bust through the 4:00 barrier, but given her improvements last year, it is not out of the question. Also, you can expect the 9:22 AR in the steeple to have some significant time chopped off by either Anna Willard or Barringer. Many of these will not ever come to fruition, but those mighty attempts that fall just short can be just as exhilarating. Additionally, some people and records not listed will be big stories this year that take us by surprise and that is the great thing about track and field. At any given meet a record could be broken, you just need to know where to look. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6950-sounds-like-a-broken-record Fri, 08 May 2009 16:16:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/TreyDECA/6941-usada-and-the-supplement-cloud the line between legal and illegal should be in plain sight and it should be blatant. but today, in our sport, it's cloudy. i agree whole heartedly with shannon's take on PED's and USADA. no one is offering advice or counseling on the matter. i take protein, a multivitamin, and pre-workout amino acids. i have been taking the same thing for 3 or 4 years now and have been tested around 30 times (give or take 5) in and out of competition. i love the product and trust in the results i've seen and experienced. but, i still have to ASSUME everyday that it's a clean product. if USADA came out with a nationally sponsored product line.... i'd drop everything and start using it. just give some guidance and help the sport clean itself up. you can educate people all you want, but the bottom line is that someone, somewhere is going to cheat the system. i'm as competitive as it comes and i stay and will always stay on the clean side of the line. but there are tons of people who will toe that line or get as close to it as possible. offer something that YOU, as testers, would approve of and pass all drug tests WADA, USADA, NCAA, BIG12, SEC, on down the line, etc. you would get people banging down the doors for it. make it "The Official Supplement of USA Track and Field". make a profit from it. fund your research with it. stay ahead of the dopers. i don't know, just rambling here. if they gave us a CLEAN option, then i think you open the door for much more threatening punishments (ex. lifetime bans for 1st offense). get cheaters out of the sport. this topic really bugs me, and i haven't thought about it much this year until today. what do you guys think of a nationally sponsored supplement? TreyDECA http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/TreyDECA/6941-usada-and-the-supplement-cloud Thu, 07 May 2009 17:44:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Elitestatus/6870-that-ship-has-sailed More and more as I look at results from track races out in California and Oregon that I used to go to every year, I am amazed at the results and the performances that Americans are throwing down. A lot of times I wish I was one of them, but currently, even at the ripe age of 25, I feel that I have lost too much of my leg speed. I guess that being a marathoner does that to you. One good thing about it is that I can live vicariously through my one College teammate who is still burning up the track, more so in the last 2 months than ever before. Yes, this is a shout-out to the one Jordan Horn, who in 4 track races this season has put out 4 consecutive pr’s, going from 3:51 to 3:46 in the 1500, and 14:01 to 13:31 in the 5k. I am Proud, jealous, and amazed. He is now 50 seconds faster than I am at 5k, its so unfair. All that being said, in about 2 weeks I have finally found the courage to step onto the track again and race. This will be my first track race in 2 years. I hope that the past 2 years has made me strong enough to go out there and get a pr, despite the fact that I have not done any workouts yet that would suggest that I am in pr shape. Even right now my heart is racing just thinking about racing on the track again. I guess that means that I am excited? Scared? Both? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Elitestatus http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Elitestatus/6870-that-ship-has-sailed Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6881-the-dope-show Yesterday the shocking news came out that Rashid Ramzi is dirty. My favorite article about the incident is the one on the NBC sports website with a picture of him licking his medal. ( http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30458294/ ). That picture reminds me of the little kids I grew up with who would lick a cookie to ensure that no one else would eat it. Its like Ramzi was saying "its mine, don't touch." Usually when a kid licked the cookie, it wasn't actually theirs... no different here. I hate Performance Enhancing Drugs for several reasons but the number one publicized reason for hating drugs is not one that I think about too much. This would be the "Cheaters rob the Clean athletes of Medals and Records" reason. Of course my opinion could drastically change if I were Asbel Kiprop or anyone else robbed of a Gold, Silver or Bronze or advancing to the final in the Olympics or World Championships that he participated in but I still think that everyone he beat can still be satisfied that they did their best which is really what the sport is all about. Don't get me wrong, I would love to set some records and win some medals, but more importantly I want to do the best that I can do and it doesn't do me much good to worry about anyone else. But then again, my only experience being beat by someone who tested positive was at the World XC champs, and I think he got around 20-30th or so and I magically moved up from 52nd to 51st sometime last year. What I hate about Performance Enhancing Drugs is the attitude that everyone at the top of the sport is on them. In a way Kiprop and Willis are lucky that they didn't beat Ramzi because then everyone would be saying "Ramzi was on drugs and they beat him so they MUST be on drugs." This isn't how it works though, I don't know very much about PED's but I highly doubt that they take normal people and make them superhuman. I certainly think they give you an edge, possibly a big edge, but I don't think that someone who's natural ability peaks at 15 minutes in the 5k would be able to beat guys like me if he all of a sudden started taking EPO. Guys like Ramzi are naturally very good runners, then they take some drugs and they become Champions, but that doesn't mean that someone with amazing natural ability who works very hard can't also be a Champion. (Ramzi suddenly went from 3:39 to 3:30... no one knows when he started doping but presumably he either started that year or he did something different. but either way, 3:39 is still pretty quick and he probably could have improved on his own without drugs). I have no idea how good I can become but it bothers me that if I am somehow able to break 27 minutes in the 10k or win a medal at a World Championship or Olympics that some people will think that I must be on Drugs. I also hate the attitude that if one wants to be the best that they have to take drugs. I have never witnessed this attitude in American distance running in my lifetime and I am very thankful for that but I have heard it as an excuse in other sports. I have heard of conversations with baseball players who swear that it would be impossible to make their High School or Jr. College team with out doing PED's, not to mention the Majors. I'm sure this attitude isn't exclusive to baseball either and happens within different populations throughout virtually every sport. I guess we're stuck with it though. I'm glad Ramzi got caught because it validates the whole testing process. Taking drug tests isn't my favorite thing to do and I hate trying to remember to update USADA every time I leave home for a day or two but knowing that cheaters are getting caught validates my doing so. I certainly don't feel bad for Ramzi but I hope that his coach, manager, teammates or anyone else that knew what he was doing or facilitated him doing so gets punished too. I know he wasn't alone in the process. On one hand I hope that this is the beginning but on the other hand I hope that there aren't too many others out there that are stilll cheating. Maybe he'll grow boobs like Marilyn Manson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkw4_lXx4bQ Xcrun04 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6881-the-dope-show Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/MrPants/6866-post-boston A lot of people asked me within a couple days after Boston, "What's next?" I really tried to shy away, because in my mind, retirement was the first option. I really want to talk about is the fire and desire to become the absolute best you can. As I eluded to, I was pretty bummed after Boston and really had no desire to go through the cycle anymore. However, after a few days, the depression really turned into anger and frustration. Over the last?year and a half I have gone through an amazing transition as a runner. I have been consistant, realized what I truly need to work on, how to stay healthy, and?most importantly, train at a new level. It just hasn't translated into anything spectacular on the roads. Training is a funny thing. Sometimes you run races that seemingly come out of nowhere and tank the ones?you thought you could crush. AND- when you really lay it on the line, success or failure is only a breath of difference. What got me out of my funk was this passage from Once a Runner (I don't mean to write as if I am speaking from the written word of God, but it just clicked.) "Quenton Cassidy's method of dealing with fundamental doubts was simple: he didn't think about them at all. These questions had been considered a long time ago, decisions made, answers recorded, and the book closed. If it had to be reopened everytime the going got rough, he would spend more time rationalizing than training; his log would start to disclose embarrasing information, perhaps even blank squares. Even a self-made obsessive-compulsive could not tolerate that. He was uninterested in in the perspective of the fringe runners, the philosopher runners, the training rats; those who sat around reading abtruse and meaningless articles in Runner's World, coining yet more phrases to describe the indescribable, waxing mystical over various states of euphoria that the anoited were allegedly privy to. On the track, the Cassidy's of the world ate such specimens alive. Cassidy sought no euphoric interludes. They came, when they did, quite naturally and was content to enjoy them privately. He ran not for crypto-religous reasons, but to win races, to cover ground fast. Not only to be better than his fellows, but better than himself. To be faster by a tenth of a second, by an inch, by two feet or two yards, than he had been the week or year before. He sought to conquer the physical limitations placed upon him by a three-dimensional world (and if Time is the fourth dimension, that too was his province). If he could conquer the weakness, the cowardice in himself, he would not worry about the rest, it would come. Training was a rite of purification; from it came speed, strength. Racing was a rite of death; from it came knowledge. Such rites demand, if they are to be meaningful at all, a certain amount of time spent precisely on the Red Line, where you can lean over the manicured putting green at the edge of the precipice and see exactly nothing. Anything else that comes from the process was by-product. Certain compliments and observations made him uneasy; he explained that he was just a runner; an athlete, really, with an absurdly difficult task. He was not a health nut, was not out to mold himself a stylishly slim body. He did not live on nuts and berries; if the furnace burned hot enough, anything would burn, even Big Macs. He listened carefully to his body and heeded strange requests. Like a pregnant woman, he sometimes sought artichoke hearts, pickled beets, smoked oysters. His daily toil was ardous; satisfying on the whole, but not bounding joyous nature romp described in the magazines. Other runners, real runners, understood this quite well. Quenton Cassidy knew what the mystic-runners, the joggers, the runner-poets, the Zen runners, and others of their ilk were talking about. But he also knew that their euphoric selves were generally nowhere to be seen on dark, rainy mornings. They primarily wanted to talk it, not do it. Cassidy very early on understood that a true runner ran even when he didn't feel like it, and raced when he was supposed to, without excuses and with nothing held back. He ran to win, would die in the process if necessary, and was unimpressed by those who disavowed such a base motivation. You were not allowed to renounce that which you never possessed, he thought. The true competitive runner, simmering in his own existential juices, endured his melancholia the only way he knew how: gently, together with those few others who also endured it, yet very much alone. He ran because it grounded him in basics. There was both life and death in it; it was unadultered by media hype, trivial cares, political meddling. He suspected it kept him from the most real variety of schizophrenia that the republic was then sprouting like mushrooms on a stump. Running to him was real; the way he did it the realist thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made hime free." I am a runner, will always be a runner, and it's the only thing I really understand. There is no retirement, no such thing. To be done would only mean that I had quit. ? ? ? ? ? MrPants http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/MrPants/6866-post-boston Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:09:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Coldneck/6851-ive-been-too-long-im-glad-to-be-back It's closing in on one year since my last Floblog. I know it's been a long time but, it's been even longer since I've raced (so not much excitement). I just raced this past Sunday, I'll get to that after answering the question "What the heck happened?" Last April I pinched my sciatic nerve and after 2.5 months of x-training and trying to race at the Olympic trials (which didn't happen) I took some much needed recovery time. I started back up running in August and was just logging miles until I did a 25km trail race at the beginning of October. After that trail race I started getting fit and doing workouts again. I rabbitted 16km of a marathon at 3:07/km pace and started to plan some races... And then on November 6th I broke my foot (5th metatarsal) pretty bad. I went over my foot on a run and completely fractured the bone. I couldn't walk for seven weeks and wasn't able to run for three months. By January I was able to bike, pool run, XC ski and use the elliptical, I completely submerged myself into X-training. The running ramp-up started in February and was really slow as I started with 1km and could only add 10% per day. The past seven weeks or so my training has been pretty good and I still X-train quite a bit to keep my overall volume high. With the amount of volume I had been doing between running and x-training I felt more geared towards longer stuff but I kept the 5000m as my goal. After reviewing my training, my coach pitched the idea of running a marathon to me and I was all over it. The plan is to do the Ottawa Marathon on May 24th with the goal of running 2:15 in the attempt to qualify for the Canadian World Champs team. I'll likely have to run around 2:16 to qualify depending on how the other Canucks do in Ottawa. I know this won't be an ideal build-up however, I'm not trying to run an equivalent time to my 5 and 10k PB's. This past Sunday I did my first race back at the Billy Taylor 15km in Guelph. To give myself a marathon training stimulus I warmed up for 16km (10miles) in 64 minutes and then ran the 15km race in 47:14 and then ran another 8km (5miles) in 32 minutes. 39 km (24miles) for the day and I actually felt pretty good on my run this morning. Stay tuned for an Ottawa wrap-up, it should be interesting either way...   Coldneck http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Coldneck/6851-ive-been-too-long-im-glad-to-be-back Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6850-three-races-down My early season efforts have consisted of a 13:56 10th place finish at Carlsbad, a 3:41 win in front of the hometown (Chico) crowd and a 13:30 at Cal Berkeley. I think i'd have to give myself a C, A and B (respectively) averaging out at a B for the "preseason." While I want to do my best every time that I step to the line, I'm happy with the spot I'm in right now. I am set up very well for the regular season which will start off at The Adidas Track Classic in Carson, CA. The NYRR set up a great race at Cal for the group of us to chase after the "A" standard. The problem was that they didn't think to put up 30 foot walls on each side of the track or set up a retractable dome because the wind thwarted the attempt. The pace was perfect for about two laps but the wind made an even effort impossible. If we were to remain on the desired 64 second pace it probably would have required 31 second 200's on the home stretch, followed by 33 second 200's on the windy backstretch. I felt awesome when I was sitting in the pack but once I started trying to hammer on my own it got a lot harder. I would have been thrilled to get the win but I'm happy to settle for a small PR and the confidence that once I get into the right race I will be ready to go a lot faster. Like I said before, the regular season is going to start with The Adidas Track Classic and I am hoping to follow that with a trip to New York for the Reebok Grand Prix. After that I will be running the 10000 at the USA championships and then I will head to Europe for some more racing. If I'm lucky there will be a "Post season" as well with a 10k at the World Championships in Berlin. For now it is time to get back to training. I am in a much different place than I was last year at this time. Last year I feel like I peaked right around this week (Cardinal 10k) and this year I feel like I am just getting started. I am having a great time with the new team and Alistair Craig showed up yesterday and will be training with us for the next three weeks as well. The weather down here in Chula Vista is great for training and practice is about 30 seconds away from my room. P.S. I'm not running at Cardinal. My agent entered me in the 5 and the 10 because it is easier to scratch than it is to add in late but right now I'm focused on different things. Xcrun04 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6850-three-races-down Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:16:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Pjrizzo/6846-2009-is-already-better I have to start out by thanking everybody for the immense amount of support I have gotten leading into and since the Boston Marathon. I have been very fortunate to have a great support base coming from my family, my college teammates, my high school teammates, and even some old teachers (their memories must not be strong enough to remember me well). People say it a lot, but I mean it: I would not be where I am without the support of everybody. When I come home and it is 100 degrees and I have a workout, there is always somebody there to come grit it out with me (likewise when it is -20). Through any rough patch, physically and emotionally, I have always had people who were living vicariously through my performances that I knew wanted with all of their hearts for me to persist and succeed. I am also glad that I have listened to them. That said, I finally feel like I have started to show some hints of justice to the amount of time and effort I have given to this sport. In February of 2008, I thought I was ready to run a 2:16 high marathon. I had a good training segment leading into the Boston segment and I had no problems hitting workouts at the start of Boston training either. Needless to say, that changed in a split second. It took a week before I could run again after getting hit by a car and even then I use the term “run” loosely. Obviously, my personal worst (or personal best if you look at it as longest I've ever spent on a race course) at Boston did not do any justice to the fact that I had been training from junior high school until February 18, 2008 without a single injury inhibiting me from moving forward. I may be incredibly inflexible but I have never had any injuries that stopped me from running. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise as I came to appreciate even the painful runs for the simple joy of not being a quadriplegic after an accident that easily could have rendered me such. Regardless, it was a painful, frustrating journey back to where I am now. This year's Boston training segment was MUCH better than that though. We started out in Florida again to get a sense of pace versus effort as the Michigan winter more often forces us to gauge pace off of effort than what the watch says. Mission accomplished and we were off to a good start. The Boston segment always starts out with downhill workouts to pound the legs into being (more) comfortable in spite of all of the downhill in the first 16 miles of the race. It really is more like trying to train yourself to be able to land safely jumping off of the Sears Tower. It might help, but reality is reality and the landings wear on you regardless. I DO think it helps delay the onset though. As a whole, we were more aggressive this segment with the times we all wanted to run. There were a few of us on a mission to prove ourselves and to do some justice to what we feel has been a great last entire year really. I remember asking Kevin after the second week of workouts if it was okay for me to adjust my pace a couple of seconds per mile because everything felt easy. He (rightfully in hindsight) told me no and that I SHOULD be easy on the intervals because that will be my pace for 26.2 miles. I also asked if my afternoon runs could start getting longer so I can have 9-10 aerobic runs a week instead of 5-7. That might have been what saved me from myself more than anything else this year. I think I was better able to recover; I was better prepared to cover the later stages of the marathon distance; I was in general more confident because I did not have a single bad workout all training segment. When the race came around, Kevin asked us all what our biggest worries were going into it. My biggest worry was that nothing had gone wrong...NOTHING! That was honestly my biggest worry with 24 hours to go. In the race, everything played out well for me. I took a risk going into a pack that was all expecting to run 2-3 minutes faster than I was. But the main thing was that I did so confidently and comfortably. It isn't every day that you take that risk in a marathon...even more rare that it works out favorably. Boston may have been far from perfect conditions, but I still managed to whittle a little more off of my PR and gained valuable experience and confidence going into whatever may come next. Thanks again to everyone who called, emailed, texted, and otherwise contacted me congratulating me. I know I have not gotten back to everyone yet. Really though, it means a lot to me knowing how many people I am representing every time I set foot on the course. It means a lot just to know that that many people care. Pjrizzo http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Pjrizzo/6846-2009-is-already-better Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6792-5k-on-a-yellow-track There is a game that American distance runners play every year. It is called "pick the best early season 5k." This year I went with the wild card at Brutus Hamilton. It was a hard choice given that I ran a good 5k last year at Mt. Sac and that I have never run at Stanford with out coming away with a P.R. Given that Mt. Sac was a great race I may have already lost the "pick the best early season 5k" game but I am still excited about my race on Friday. This will be my first time on UC Berkeley's track since I qualified for the state meet in 2004. That race was a P.R. so I certainly have fond memories of this track as well (I got second in that race and the person that beat me, Yosef Ghebrey will be running in this race as well, hopefully I can beat him this time). I chose this race because the NYRR runners chose to help out this year with pace setters in hopes that it would inspire some fast runners to come. When the NYRR tries to do something usually it goes well. It helped my decision that the race is about a half hour from my home and that I spent several hours of my youth walking through the used record and clothing stores on Telegraph Ave. In the race I get to race one of the people I have admired ever since I learned about him, Kevin Sullivan. He has been running forever and has been running fast times year in and year out. His consistency is something that I aspire to and I can only hope to have a career like his. I am also looking forward to racing Jorge Torres, Bobby Curtis and Sammy Chelenga (hopefully he and Bobby don't ditch the 5k for the 10k as they are double entered) and all the others. If any of you reading this are from the East bay, you better be at the race. It is going to be a good one. Xcrun04 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6792-5k-on-a-yellow-track Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:59:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Dtorr/6748-come-get-some When I first heard about this race a couple months ago, I didn’t think much of it. Travel and Gear. I don’t need to get locked into that BS. But after seeing what Puma has been setting up, with this Unattached Mile, and the Street Meet in Boston and the ones to come, I thought to myself, “This is what I’m all about.” Events like those are something that I love to do and want to be a part of. Whether it’s making my own singlet (Your Ad Here), holding my own Mile Street Race, taking my quest to become professional public… it all goes back to the same thing. I don’t want to be another name in the crowd. Another athlete among the many, all wearing the same singlet. I want to stand out. I want to help the revitalization of this sport and be apart of a company that shares that same vision. US Track and Field is the greatest Track Team in the WORLD. No doubt about it. And people deserve to know who we are and what we can do. I want to let the masses know who David Torrence is and what I can do. So after finding out more details about the contract, I thought that this could be a great chance to not only establish some talking lines with Puma if I win…but also to prove myself as the best Unsponsored Athlete in the nation. With my main focus having been on Brutus Hamilton, it took a little adjusting adding this race in at the last second, but I feel I am as ready as I am going to be for this race, and look forward to battling with my competitors over the course of the mile. Too many races these days are simply about time. Pace-makers, rabbits, standards, even splits. Where’s the excitement in that? Tomorrow will be a battle royale, with who knows what kind of tactics. Everybody gunning for that win. In basically every meet where placing counts, there is at least a medal for 2-3, points for 2-8, etc. Tomorrow is DO or DIE. To quote the great Ricky Bobby, “If you ain’t first, you’re LAST.” It’s time to put on a show. P.S. The Puma Mile and their street meets got me thinking of what I’ve been doing as well to have some fun. Got to thinking that Puma and I…we’re not so different. So I give to you from this past December, The 3rd David Torrence Downhill Mile. P.P.S.: Quick story here…. I was looking at letsrun.com yesterday, checking out the articles, when I see the headline: “David Torrence Picked up By Puma.” On one hand thinking to myself, “what the hell?” and on the other, “what the AWESOME?!!” Did I get sponsored without even knowing about it?! Turns out it was a mistake, and I’m obviously still unsponsored. Still pretty funny though. You can see the crossed out mistake on their homepage.   Dtorr http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Dtorr/6748-come-get-some Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6742-track-rivalries-2nd-edition As mentioned in the first edition of this series, rivalries are the spark that ignites added interest into sports. Here I hold a magnifying glass up to three more pairs of track rivals to see if we can get some flames of interest going as the outdoor track season gets underway, because we all know how effective holding a magnifying glass up to an ant on a hot day can be. Half Mile Headliners: Khadevis Robinson and Nick Symmonds In 1999, Khadevis Robinson burst onto the national scene by grabbing the indoor and outdoor US championships at 800m. He just missed making the Olympic team in 2000 and played second fiddle to David Krummenaker and Jonathan Johnson for the next few years, while still qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. After that year, however, KD would go on a three year tear where he dominated the half mile in the states. He won every US Championship he entered in at 800m from 2005-2007 (1 indoor and 3 outdoor). In 2006, Robinson had the top 7 times in the US for his signature event! During that time, a young mid-distance runner was quietly making his name in the NCAA DIII ranks. While at Willamette, Nick Symmonds won every NCAA final he competed in for a total of 7 between the 800 and 1,500. Upon graduation, Symmonds showed he could hang with the big boys by placing 2nd in the 800m at the 2006 USA Outdoor Championships. Robinson won that race by a significant 1.7 seconds. Symmonds would win his first national title in 2007 in the indoor 800m, but the defending indoor and outdoor champ, KD, was not in the race. A few months later, the rising star proved this was no fluke, winning the 800 at the Prefontaine Classic. Not only did he defeat Robinson 1:44.54 to 1:44.99, but he also took down 2004 800m Olympic Gold medalist Yuriy Borzakovskiy. KD got redemption at the US Championships that year, trouncing Symmonds 1:44.37 to 1:45.17. Both made it to the semi-final round of at the World Champs in separate heats. Robinson kept rolling, beating Symmonds at the 2008 Boston Indoor Games by 0.2 seconds and at the US Indoor Champs with a photo finish 1:46.95 to 1:46.96. At the World Champs, the two ran in separate heats and although KD ran a faster time in the semi-finals, Symmonds won his heat and was the sole American in the final where he placed 6th. His time was a US leading 1:46.48. At the Prefontaine Classic, KD was on top this year as they finished 3rd and 4th in the race. The 800m at the 2008 Olympic Trials was the most dramatic final of the meet. Robinson lead for a good deal of the race, while a late charging band of Oregonians, led by Symmonds, passed by leaving him in 4th. It was the furthest apart in place the two have ever finished when racing each other and that meant KD would miss qualifying for the Olympic team, despite having the 2nd fastest time by an American in 2008. In fact, only 1 American has run as fast in the 800 as these two have since 2002 and that is Alan Webb from his incredible 2007 season. This pair has dominated the US these past few years, yet they are very different. Robinson has a front-running style of racing, while Symmonds employs a late charging tactic. Sometimes Symmonds has spotted KD too much of a lead, while others KD runs out of gas. Either way, it always makes for an exciting last 100 meters and an epic rivalry. Symmonds is young with his career on the upswing. Robinson, 7 years his senior, has had a highly decorated career that is winding down. Treat each race they face off in like it is their last, because it very well may be. Already this year, they clashed at the Tyson Invitational, with Symmonds getting the win by a mere 0.04 seconds over his rival. They were set to wage war again at the US Indoor Champs, but Symmonds could not race due to illness leaving Robinson to pick up his 7th US title at 800 meters. The outdoor title will no be won as easily, with a healthy Symmonds and stable of legitimate young contenders, so be prepared for a great race. Chasing Steeple Superiority: Jenny Barringer and Anna Willard At the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships, one of the top young distance prospects in the country shocked the crowd by taking the 3000m Steeplechase title as a freshman. In an event that she started running that season, she ran 9:53.04, her personal best was 10:19 coming into the meet. She had won the national title in an event that she had not even won at her conference meet. Finishing in 6th place at NC’s was Brown senior Anna Willard. Who would have guessed that this would be the beginning of a record breaking rivalry? A year later at NCAA’s, Willard was a Michigan Wolverine now having a stellar 5th year and Barringer was the NCAA XC runner-up. In the prelims, both made it through easily with Barringer topping Willard by 2 seconds, but the showdown in the finals was not to be. The defending champion’s show got knocked off going over a barrier. Stopping to re-tie the shoe, Barringer was able to finish a solid 7th in 9:59, but Willard was 21 seconds ahead running a meet record 9:38. Two weeks later they were able to truly race each other for the first time. Barringer emerged the US Champion over Willard in a close 9:34.64 to 9:34.72. Both times broke the meet record and qualified them for Worlds in Osaka where neither would advance to the final. In 2008, their rivalry really took off. Still at Colorado, Barringer looked unbeatable at NCAA’s with a solo effort 9:29.20 winning by 26 seconds and missing the American Record by less than a second (again she didn’t win her conference meet that year). Going into the Olympic Trials, Barringer seemed primed to defend her US title, but Willard was fresh off eye-opening PRs in the 800m and 1500m running 2:02 and 4:06. Willard would come out on top in Eugene with the US title, American Record of 9:27.59, Olympic berth and an engagement ring to boot. 6 seconds back was Barringer, who also made the Olympic team by placing 3rd while Lindsey Anderon was sandwiched between the two rivals. The pair met once more before the Olympics, in Heusden, where Barringer would deploy a then uncharacteristic kick to out lean Willard 9:22.73 to 9:22.76 and take the American Record as her won. In Beijing, the Buffalo would lower her American Record to 9:22.26 in placing 9th, while Willard was a few ticks behind in 10th. Both have won NCAA steeple titles, both have held the American Record, both have been US Champions in the steeple, both have been top 10 at the Olympics and both have personal bests of 9:22. With so many similarities, a legendary rivalry is undeniable. Their differences are what make their races interesting, however. Willard has the speed to be one of the best Mid-D runners in the US. Her PR of 2:02 for 800 and reportedly around 53 for the 400 is undeniably her weapon to combat her rival. Barringer counters that with immense strength and the ability to methodically hit splits, even when running alone. Last year, when predicting a race between the two in the steeple, many would point to Willard’s far superior flat PRs. For example, 4:06 to 4:11 in the 1500m. This winter, that all changed. Barringer became the fastest collegiate women ever from the mile to the 5k indoors, running 4:25, 8:42 and 15:01. In one season she became one of the fastest American women of all time and the flat talent is unquestionable. Not to be forgotten, Willard also had a notable winter. She handily won the Tyson Invitational Mile in 4:30 over NCAA champs Sally Kipyego, Brie Felnagle, and Sarah Bowman and then won the US Indoor 1500m title. While her times were not as impressive, Willard was unbeaten and ran great tactical races. They will undoubtedly be one of the most anticipated match-ups of this outdoor season as we will find out if Willard can respond to the incredible hot-streak Barringer is on right now. Additionally, Willard has said she may try to double in the 1,500 and Steeple at USA's which will make for an interesting year. Pac-10 Phenoms: Chris Derrick and Luke Puskedra The high school graduating of class of 2008 had an arsenal of elite distance talent. Many accomplished feats that would make them the hands down stud of their grade in any other year. Chris Derrick won Nike Team Nationals individually and as a team then came back a week later to place 2nd at Foot Locker Nationals. He also won the Arcadia 5,000m in the fastest time ever in a high only race, 13:55. Luke Puskedra won the Boston Indoor Games Invitational Junior Mile, the Nike Indoor National 2 mile in nation leading 8:49 and bettered that time at the Prefontaine Classic in the Men’s Open event. These two crossed paths a few times in high school, but with a myriad of other runners mixing in with the pair, it was hard to tell that as freshman in college these 2 would continually be opposing each other. Derrick went to Stanford and Puskedra to Oregon. They joined the two best distance programs in the most competitive running conference in the NCAA and the rest is history. In cross country, these 2 each turned in solid performances at separate meets leading many to pose the question, who is the better freshman? Running message boards were full of Derrick v. Puskedra banter. In their first meeting at the Pac-10 Championship, on his home course, Puskedra beat Derrick by a decent margin. The pair went 2-3 against a superlative field, only behind the eventual national champ. A week later at the West Regional, the results were reversed as Derrick took 5th and Puskedra took 6th in the strongest region in the country. It was clear that these two were legitimate threats regardless of age. At the NCAA Championships, the two were not only the top 2 freshman finishers that year, but they had some of the best true freshman finishes by Americans ever at NCAAs. Puskedra came in at 5th with Derrick close behind in 7th. In track, this duo did not disappoint either, as they posted times of 13:44 and 7:56 for Derrick and 13:46 and 7:58 for Puskedra. At their indoor conference meet, Derrick beat Puskedra by 1 second in the 3k and at NCAA’s by 2 seconds in the 5k. In the latter race, both earned All American honors by placing 4th and 6th respectively. Additionally, at the USA Junior Cross Country Championships, the two 18 year olds finished 2nd and 3rd to earn spots on Team USA at Worlds. There, they were again the 2nd and 3rd finishers for the US in placing 15th and 30th in the World for juniors. This rivalry is a fascinating one. Off the track, these two may become good friends based on a mutual respect and the sheer volume of time they will spend around each other. On the track, however, these two will butt heads time and time again. Even when racing in different states, observers are going to compare, contrast, and debate over these two for years. They entered college the same year at the same talent level. They have personal best’s within seconds of each other and always seem to finish close to one another. On top of that, they are on teams that race often and are the top two distance running schools on the West Coast. Conference meets, Regional meets, and National meets will be guaranteed showdowns while these guys are in school. Also, if their current success is any indication of what is to come, we may be seeing a career long rivalry that illuminates the accomplishments of these two talented harriers. The spring season has gotten underway so keep an eye out for the meets where this trio of rivalries will be heating up. In the next edition of Track Rivalries we will explore some current and rising rivalries and if you have one you would like to see, let me know and it may make the cut. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6742-track-rivalries-2nd-edition Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:13:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Ryanf/6734-happy-anniversary Anniversary 1: the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event ; broadly : a date that follows such an event by a specified period of time measured in units other than years Its been about a year for me now, and what a big year its been. A one year anniversary. I put the definition above solely because I've read some cool things that start with a definition so it feels like you are about to be given some great knowledge about life or something....but don't worry, you probably won't learn too much here ;) Many of you know that a little over a year ago I was sitting at a desk (it was actually just a table, not even a cubicle) in Boston working behind a computer for 8+ hours a day. I was wondering, "what am I doing. Am I supposed to go through everyday day of my life going to a job and while I'm there constantly think of other things I could be doing with myself?" I felt like my job was holding back my life (I know some of you out there know what I'm talking about). I've told others this, but I got to the point where I said to myself "I have the rest of my life to find a job I don't like that much, why start at my first job out of school??" I was on xmas break in FL with the fam thinking ok I am gonna quit when I get back. Then I was wrestling around with my younger cousin (but he's a lot bigger) and he kind of dropped me on my head. Anyway, long story short, I hurt my neck and had to keep my job a little longer to get those sweet insurance benefits (you still miss that and 3 weeks vacation everyone once in a while, but I think the sacrifice is worth what I am doing now). But luckily I didn't quit right away and leave Beantown. I had gotten a camera for xmas and then indoor track rolled around. Only a few months prior I discovered Flotrack, and yeah, I put two and two together. Camera+Track+Boston (great indoor scene)=me doing something cool on the weekends! It was awesome. I emailed Flotrack, Mark came to my place to crash and things took off from there. You may remember some Red Runner Recaps. But back to the anniversary.... This coming weekend is where it really all went down. Boston Marathon, Mt. SAC, and the road trip down to Austin. Honestly I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but thats how I wanted it to be. Go with the Flo (a little pun for ya). Boston was the first big weekend for, I had done some track meets but never a professional event. Elite athletes, media, agents, late nights, early mornings, interviews..... It was exciting stuff! But it wasn't just a big weekend for me, it was a big weekend for Flotrack. '08 Mt. SAC marked our first ever live broadcast! I could tell Mark was excited and I tried to share that excitement with him, but shoot I was new and walking around like a deer in headlights. I remember we went to a bar one night (just a social thing, not craziness)....athletes, agents, all these people there I had never met. There where guys walking around that I looked up to as young runner, so cool. But I remember Mark found a computer in the back corner of this bar and we pulled up the Flotrack website, I could sense Mark was nervous hoping this Live thing was going to work. We're standing there next to Todd Williams, the US's top 10k guy while I was growing up, just hoping it would show up. Whats the first thing we see.....FAM!!! Just killing the steeple chase! All of a sudden people were crowding around the computer wanting to see what was going on and that when I knew I was a part of something special. Fam stormed up the bleachers into the announcers booth with his spikes on chanting "USA USA".....man I had never seen anything like that, its still one of the coolest things I had experienced in track and field. A lot has happened since then....so many trips, meeting so many people, sooooo many races, and tons of interviews. My road trip to Austin took over 5 weeks after that and I don't think Mark thought I was ever going to actually make it. But I met so many people on that trip, learned so much and saw how great our running community really is. After that it was even crazier. Meet after meet, breaking down (twice) on our road trip to the trials, watching one of the greatest meets ever (the Trials), meeting Olympians, and then being told only 2 days in advance that I needed to get to Europe! Haha, if you know us, that is the Flotrack way....you can't be anal in this job (I used to be, had to have all the details blah blah blah), but not now. As long as I'm not getting rained on while sleeping and I can score some cheap food, I'm golden! And the thing is that it never stops, thats the beauty of our sport (and also the exhausting thing about it!). Always great things going on from XC to indoors to outdoors to the Euro circuit....never ending goodness. So this weekend is very special to me, very special to Flotrack. The anniversary of going live, the anniversary of the road trip that changed things for me. Not to mention this past weekend, almost a year to the date, we had our first race footage on the track!! We constantly trying to push and make things better. I really hope you are digging what we're doing because I am. I am so thankful to be in this position and a lot of that is because of you out there. We couldn't survive if you weren't into it, you weren't getting involved, caring about the sport, caring about Flotrack. I thank everyone out there for all you've done, the people on my road trip, the coaches who helped along the way, the volunteers that do so much to help us get where we are (that's how I started too!), and the fans of track & field/Flotrack! It's been an amazing ride so far and its just going to keep getting better.... And how fitting is it that I'll be sitting in the announcer's booth with Todd Williams this weekend, commentating races we watched in a bar together one year ago...ironic? Thanks to everyone for all you do to make our community great. Hope you're ready for another crazy weekend, Mt. SAC and Boston! Ryan P.S. Yes, we'll be live again this year at Mt. SAC ;) Ryanf http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Ryanf/6734-happy-anniversary Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Trevbar/6726-twelve-and-a-half-laps So it has been quite awhile since my last blog, sorry guys. I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting this and finally I have something worth talking about haha. Since my last blog describing the Boston Indoor Mile I have battled an achilles tendon injury and the Alaskan winter. Luckily I has able to work my way into descent shape in time for my SoCal trip.Coming into Arcadia I was wanting to get 4:36 mile pace down pat. Unfortunately my hometown track has been covered with snow and thick ice. You may be thinking that I thrive in those kind of conditions from my video, but that was pretty light compared to the present condition. I did however get some good workouts in on the roads and was even able to squeeze in a workout in Anchorage during a long layover on Thursday. Anchorage has a freakish 400 meter indoor track, so running there is always nice.Watching the races on Friday and Saturday was extremely exciting for me. Seeing a 9:09 when the c heat of the 3200 Friday night was unreal! Congrats to everyone in the 3200 actually those were awesome races. The depth of that event was so crazy, part of me really wanted to add to that depth but still I was thrilled to throw down something good in the 5k. For the most part as the distance gets longer I get better.The warmup was kind of interesting for me. I jogged on the streets away from the warmup area for about 20 minutes. When I got back to the warm up field my bag that I left with my spikes and phone in was gone. Bad move on my part to leave the Arcadia backpack (that everyone had) all alone. It remains a mystery to me how the backpack returned to the field after the meet but to my surprise when my mom and I left the stadium there it was. I want to give a shout out to Zack Torres for letting me borrow his spikes, It was hard to find someone with the same baby feet as me.So I lined up for the race a little rattled from the whole shoe situation, but the gun had a medicinal effect when it went off and I was in competitive mode instantly. I did a fine job grinding out 69 (snickers) until I couldn't last. Wow did I really just say that, haha but its true the last mile my pace faltered to 71-72 seconds and brought it home in 14:33. I was really happy with my effort out there and I can't wait to tee it up under the lights again. Until then I'll be putting in the training and getting into shape. Look out because I'm hoping to go sub 9 in the 32 before my next lower-48 trip! Peace. Trevbar http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Trevbar/6726-twelve-and-a-half-laps Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:05:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6723-back-on-track Some times it is impossible to understand why things work the way they do. I felt like I was in great shape going into Carlsbad and was eager to take on some of the worlds best. I ended up leaving Carlsbad with my tail between my legs after being so far back that I didn't even see the leaders finish. I went up to Chico with no expectations and just hoped not to get beat up again and I ended up running a PR and taking down one of the best Milers in the country. If I'm not mistaken I think I'm even the outdoor US leader in the 1500 right now (something that will not last long and may never happen again). Being back in Chico was awesome. I got to spend some very quality time with my Fiance Audrey for the first time in a while. We had seen each other a few times before but it was really nice to just lounge around with her in an environment that we are both very comfortable with. It was also nice to race with her there because I always seem to run a touch faster when she is there cheering me on. It was also great to run in front of the Home crowd and run with a few Chico runners. I think almost everyone from Chico PRed in the race so everyone was happy after. I'm glad Steve and Brent were able to come out even if their races didn't go as planned and I certainly need to thank Pat Boivin for 900 meters of perfect pacing, even if it made him collapse at the end. Now I'm back in Chula Vista and I am training for the next round of races. I miss Audrey already but that gives me all the more reason to train hard. If I am sacrificing time with the one I want to be with the most then I better be making the most of it. Next up is the Brutus Hamilton Invite 5k there should be a good field and I am hoping to come out as close to the top as I can. -Scott Xcrun04 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Xcrun04/6723-back-on-track Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:15:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Melissaxc10/6700-downtime Well tomorrow will be the end of my downtime, and my first run in the last two weeks. A lot of people have a hard time taking time off from running, but I really think allowing your body to rest after a hard segment is just as important as training in the long run. It was nice to have a break after the last segment to think about the positives and negatives of my last few races. I think a lot of things went well and it felt really good to PR in the 3k, 10k, and 15k but I also realized that the segment lasted a bit too long and I ran out of gas for the last 10k at Stanford. My 10k at Stanford showed that we have to adjust things for the next segment and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Running really is a learning game and I don’t know if I will ever stop adjusting my training. Most importantly the last two weeks have given me a mental break from the day to day grind of training. I feel much more refreshed and ready to train hard again. I will start back with a few weeks of easy mileage to get in the swing of things and then add some workouts back in. My main goal for the next segment is to run a huge PR on the track in the 10k and hopefully run some more PR’s on the road. I’m sure I will feel pretty rough running the next few days but within a couple weeks everything should be back to normal. Happy Easter and have a great run. Melissaxc10 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Melissaxc10/6700-downtime Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:22:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Chadj1111/6701-hansons-at-boston It's always exciting when we have a large group of guys getting ready for a marathon. It seems like we have the best performances when everyone gets ready for the same race. I'm not taking part this time but it always gives me confidence when the guys I run with every day do well. From what I've seen there are going to be at least a couple on them with break through performances next Monday. You always want to see that jump to the next level after you made a big step in your training. Sometimes it takes longer than you think to race like you're training, but a couple of our guys are overdue for a good one. Anyways, good luck to the guys and expect so see another great Hanson performance like Boston 2006. Chadj1111 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Chadj1111/6701-hansons-at-boston Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:00:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6692-school-of-track April Fool’s Day; a holiday that tests one's creativity, duplicity, and gullibility. This year, every one of your favorite running websites attempted to pull a fast one on you. Here at Flotrack, the promise of an insane Usain workout left many Rick-Rolled. Let’s Run claimed the recession was forcing them to shut down, and Track Shark, oh…well (RIP). One that had some people fooled still days later came from Dyestat. They posted an article in which the premise was a little out there, but plausible enough. That combined with most reader’s desire for the story to be true got message board posters talking. It told of the Grindstone Mountain Elite Distance Development Project, which was to begin in the fall of 2009 on a mission to gather and train the countries most promising distance talent at a private academy in North Carolina in hopes of producing world class distance runners. The facilities were state of the art, with altitude simulating rooms, underwater treadmills and miles of trails. On top of that, there would be top notch coaching, rehabilitation, training partners, nutrition and a challenging academic curriculum. We now know it was an elaborate hoax that left many disappointed, but it left me wondering about the idea. Is a program like this feasible in America and would the juice be worth the squeeze? Right now, the US distance running landscape is having a rebirth and it seems this would be the perfect time to try and experimental distance training program. Even though young Americans are running faster than ever, they still are not at the level of their elite African distance running peers. However, the United States is a premier place to train, as many of the world’s top athletes spend at least some of their time training within its boarders. What this fictional school hoped to do was utilize our assets and marry that with regimens of the globe’s top athletics dynasties to produce the best possible American distance runners. What does the United States have? All the things Galen Rupp gets slammed for having, great technology, equipment, and coaching. Imagine Alter-G and underwater treadmills, altitude tents, first-rate coaching, weight training, and proper nutrition made available to the top distance prospects at 14 years old. Add to that what US teenagers do not usually have, like dorms a few miles from school that they are forced to run to and from (like many African children must do out of necessity) and a swarm of training partners. All this sounds promising, but there are some drawbacks and looming intangibles. The first would be money. Of course this would be terribly expensive and many of the athletes would require financial aid, or scholarship. To get the school off the ground you would need some generous benefactors, or corporate sponsors. The dyestat prank suggested that the school would have students not in the program that attend simply for the academics and their tuition would cushion the amount, as well as being able to rent the facilities out, primarily in the summers (perhaps some first-class running camps). Also, it would be difficult to get these prospects to move so far from home. These students would have to make a very large commitment at a very young age. But, perhaps this type of sacrifice is what is needed to become the best in the world. Elite gymnasts move their families and devote their lives all to attain greatness. Some of the Olympic Chinese gymnasts were given away by their parents at a young age to be trained for gold. They often achieve this, but that example is a bit extreme for the US. Many of the world’s elite in all sports make the commitment young and sacrifice the comforts of home. David Beckham signed with Manchester United at 14 and that is not out of the ordinary. Many countries have Olympic Development programs for young prodigies. In Jamaica, one may end up at a specific high school because they showed sprinting or jumping promise. It is no coincidence that the same few Jamaican high schools that give the US a thrashing at Penn Relays each year. It may be time America got in the game if they want to stay competitive in distance running. A big question would be how to find these prospective students. It would no doubt be a difficult task to locate the countries most promising runners who are middle school. Obviously some of the country’s best talent does not poke through until the back half of high school and even into college, but there are a select few who show promise quite young (think Rob Finnerty, Sintayehu Taye, and Charles White). Elite middle-school girls will be not as hard to locate, but distinguishing which have long term potential will be the test (think Jordan Hasay, Nicole Blood, and Marie Lawrence). Another question is what will happen to the students after they graduate. Will they go to a nearby college and continue under the same coach at that facility, or will they take the chance of a possible downgrade in facilities by choosing to enter the NCAA. If the school had a corporate sponsor, sort of like the Nike Farm Team of high schools, would they be able to enter the NCAA? There are clearly many variables that would be involved in a project like this. Of course most of these athletes would not turn out to be Olympic medalists and American Record holders, but would the entire project be considered a success if you got 1 Olympian out of each class. How about 1 major international championship medalist out of every 40 students? Would the money put in by investors, or the sacrifice of the students and their families, or the blood, sweat and tears of the staff be worth the reward? You may end up with a cautionary tale, or the catalyst for a new method of training for our elite distance runners. Picture schools popping up around the country; in Flagstaff, Boulder, Eugene and New York. The idea is not as far fetched as it may seem at first, which made it perfect for fooling the ever-hopeful distance loving youth. Perhaps, one day we will see a similar training project for our young distance runners and maybe, just maybe, the founder got inspired by a April Fools prank. Bx_Runner http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Bx_Runner/6692-school-of-track Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:10:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Cphredrun/6640-boston-2-weeks At the request of Seamus "PD" Nally, here is a new blog. Boston is now only 2 weeks away, and our 6-man group looks really strong. Everyone has been able to hit every workout, it's almost scary how well everyone is handling the training right now. I am getting pretty comfortable running my threshold work at about 5:05 pace or just under, and I am hitting some workouts, that I have never been able to do. I'm definitely excited for the race, and looking for a big PR. On April 20th, I'm hoping I can inspire some friends and teammates of mine to return the favor they have done for me over the years. This camaraderie exists in running and we keep each other going... Some things that have inspired me... 1. Gerry "snowshoe" Greenlaw; At the 2007 Atlantic XC Regional Gerry's shoe came off a half mile into the race. Gerry knew, that the team was counting on him, to send em to nationals, instead of wasting his time putting the shoe back on, he ran shoeless spraying blood over the course as he went. After the race he went to the ER so that they could remove stones from his foot. Gerry even lined up the next weekend to compete at Nationals, nearly finishing in the top 200. 2. Andrew "toy soldiers" Cloke; At the 2006 DIII Indoor NCAA championships, I found out, while checking in for the 5k, that my spikes were illegal. Andy gladly loaned me his size 8.5 spikes, without hesitation, even though I wore size 11. I went on to finish 4th that year, outkicking Patrick Rizzo. 3. Seamus "pink shirt" Nally; I told Seamus it made you tougher to run short laps every day for your run instead of running one big loop. Seamus went on to do his 20 mile long runs around a half mile circuit. Unfortunatly Seamus still hasn't had much luck with 400 meter laps. 4. Andy "baconator" Choke; During the 2007 DIII Outdoor championships I was dealing with an injured back, after the 10k I had to go to the hospital, and I recieved some pain killers. I told Andy before the race I wasn't sure what I could do for the 5k, so I was just going to go out hard and see what happened. Andy agreed we would take it out hard together. Unfortunatly Andy forgot about the plan, and I ran the first half of the race by myself 100 meters in the lead, before fading badly to a 14:51. Andy went on to finish 3rd, about a half lap ahead of me. 5. Garcia's; I mastered the art of eating 8 pound burritos at the best Mexican restaurant North of Pennsylvania. Cphredrun http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Cphredrun/6640-boston-2-weeks Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:32:00 -0500 http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Anthonyfamiglietti/6638-transcendence-in-running tran-scend Pronunciation: tran(t)-send Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin transcendere to climb across, transcend, from trans- + scandere to climb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1 a: to rise above or go beyond the limits of b: to triumph over the negative or restrictive aspects of : overcome c: to be prior to, beyond, and above (the universe or material existence)2: to outstrip or outdo in some attribute, quality, or powerintransitive verb: to rise above or extend notably beyond ordinary limits synonyms: EXCEED Ride the wave. I try to ride the wave while I race. To make the connection and begin to transcend. Become fully present. I was four seconds away from an American record yesterday. I ran on pace through two miles, but fell just short with my 13:28 5k and was personally disappointed. The past six weeks of hard work and workouts were basically a set up for this year. In surfing you usually wait for the "set" to come in. You basically wait for the water to surge up and drive in a set of waves. The earth and all of its many forces and systems are what drive the waves. It is simply your decision to have the guts to paddle hard to keep up and drop in. Running is different. Months of hard work, passion, focus and dedication are what create the surge for a runner. Sometimes you can feel the buildup and you start to work like crazy to get ahead of the wave. Work too hard, get too far ahead and you wipe out. Drop in too late and you miss the wave entirely. Training and racing are parallels in this way. Go out too hard in a race and you crash and burn. Wait too long a gap forms and you miss your chance. Achieving a truly transcendent performance is dependent on finding the balance. Becoming fully present and embracing the challenge at hand is key to unlocking your full potential. Knowing yourself, eliminating the conditions of fear and anxiety and tapping into your instincts moves you toward, "That to which words and thought do not reach."* Sometimes the transcendent reward is embodied in winning, but many times it is not. Running with purpose daily in this way will open your eyes to what that really means. Sometimes I get in my own way when racing. Sometimes others get in my way. Sometimes it is important to not think, to not anticipate and just race. It is easy to get upset when you know your fitness is there, but fail to fully rise to the occasion. I know why I was unable to find the balance yesterday. I know why I didn't ride the wave. Reflecting on and understanding what is keeping you from moving toward rising above is essential to manifesting a great performance. I'm sure the windy conditions had something to do with why I lost a few seconds today. But wind is what creates most of the good waves out there. I'll sit patiently in the mean time waiting for the next set to rise up knowing the work has been done. Hopefully I'll have the presence of mind this time to follow my heart and not hesitate. I'll drop in and never look back... maybe I'll look back just once as I near the finish. Footnote * From the Kena Upanishad philosphy as spoken by Joseph Campbell in The Hero's Journey available at itunes. Anthonyfamiglietti http://www.flotrack.org/blogs/blogger/Anthonyfamiglietti/6638-transcendence-in-running Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:09:00 -0500