Ryan

More from WADA: Jamaica and Kenya

/ News/Elites / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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The regulars know I don’t want this blog to become the doping blog. I hate posting about doping because I think it detracts from the positives of the sport. That said, I’ve come to the conclusion that what the sport’s doping problem needs is to have a bright light shining on it. If I can do some part to make the light shining on it a little brighter, I will. For the good of the sport.

On that note, a couple of items broke overnight that I thought were worth mentioning.

First, WADA officials are in Jamaica. This is good news. It will be interesting to see what comes of this but it’s good to see that WADA is being proactive here in auditing a questionable anti-doping system. Of course, it’s bad that WADA isn’t getting answers. Is Kenya hiding something? Is Kenya’s anti-doping agency complicit? Right or wrong, these are questions that are naturally going to be asked. I hope WADA applies pressure until they get answers.

Second, WADA is "very frustrated" with Kenya. This has to do with the lack of investigation into the controversy Andrew and I mentioned in prior discussions. Again, I consider it good that this is being publicly mentioned. It has seemed for some time that this controversy got swept under the rug. Hopefully, this is a sign that it will again get the attention it deserves. Of course, the bad part of this news is that WADA is not getting answers. Why? Is Kenya hiding something? Not getting answers naturally raises more questions. I hope good answers come soon.

As for the case in Kenya, I see a lot of people insisting that they are sure Kenyans are clean. I want to believe them. However, if they are so sure they are clean, there’s one way to prove it to the world. Have a very stringent testing program and be as transparent as possible. If they are right and the athletes are clean, they have nothing to hide. In fact, I would argue they have every reason to be completely open and honest. Remove all doubt and suspicion by proving beyond any reasonable doubt that they are clean.

Elite Diet?

/ Training / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ed at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I am looking for an edge to make better improvements in my speed and endurance. I refuse to use caffeine or other stimulants (even if natural) to help give a boost. I wondered what diet the amazing Kenyan’s ate or even other elite runners. Some of what the Kenyan diet consists of seems to go against the grain of current dietary health trends in the US. I am going to explore other elite runner diet habits and begin to adapt some from each. I know I will have to find what I can afford, what other members of my family can tolerate as well as what will work for me. Should be a good challenge. Here is a good article about a typical elite Kenyan runner’s diet.

https://www.active.com/running/articles/eating-practices-of-the-best-endurance-athletes-in-the-world?page=1

Could/would Jamaica be banned from the Olympics?

/ News/Elites / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

For those who haven’t been following, Jamaica has had some doping troubles recently.

Could the nation as a whole, including Usain Bolt, pay the price?

The obvious answer is yes, obviously, this is a possibility. It is within the power of international agencies to ban the nation that is performing its doping control responsibilities so poorly.

Would it realistically happen? The likely answer is don’t count on it. Would the IAAF, IOC or any other governing agency really want to take away the most famous name currently in the sport and one of the most famous names currently in the Olympics? Would they want to take away one of the premier rivalries (Jamaica vs. USA in the sprints)? Even if there is some short term punishment for the nation as a whole, don’t expect it to last. Everyone in power wants them to keep competing.

Race report: 18 years and counting

/ Race Reports / 7 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Always in our Hearts 5K

To make a long story short, I ran my first sub-17 5K in an indoor track race in La Crosse in January, 1996. Through 2012, I stopped the clock in under 17 minutes at least once every year since then.

This May, in my first race of the year, I ran a 5K in 17:04, then later found out from the guy who laid out and measured the course that it was long. He measured it at between 3.2 and 3.3 miles. Based on what he was telling me, it was at least 15 seconds long. That meant I passed through the 5K point comfortably under 17 minutes. Still, I didn’t want to keep the streak going with an asterisk. I wanted to officially stop the clock in under 17 minutes. This was my last good shot this year to do that.

Fast forward to late August and early September. I had been having some trouble with tight calves. I went to the Stout alumni meet and, on the uneven course, twisted my ankles several times. This especially did my right foot and ankle in. They were bothering me pretty badly. I managed to keep things together through a successful Al’s Run, then I shut things down as I tried to get healthy. It was a struggle to get the calves loose and the foot and ankle happy but, over the last week especially, I felt like I made great strides. Not perfect but about 99%, especially while running.

Going into race day, I didn’t know what to expect. I had basically done no real training in the past month but I was fit and running well before then. I’d gone into this race before off recovery periods and run well. My legs seem to be able to go sub-17 by memory when the course is fast and the weather is favorable. That gave me confidence in my ability to find a way under 17 minutes but how difficult would it be and how close would I cut it?

I started my warmup how I start my warmup on pretty much every race day. Feeling sore and sluggish. There is some road construction on the course so I scouted out that part especially carefully. There would be spots I’d need to step over two curbs and run through some uneven soil. I moved a construction barricade so there would be room on the other end of the construction to slip through on the paved road between the barricade and the curb, giving a better transition to the sidewalk than the alternative, stepping over another curb onto uneven soil before stepping up about 3 inches onto the sidewalk.

As the warmup continued, I began feeling better. I threw in a bit of faster running around 1.5 miles and my legs just found a rhythm. This was a good sign. If I can lock into a rhythm during a race, I’m usually set.

After a bit of a delay, the race was off. I instantly jumped into the lead and locked into a quick rhythm. Through the rough spot of the construction area and someone I believe giving me the directions for the walkers. These directions confused me for a moment before I just decided to go with the route I have known from prior years. Up to the construction barriers, shoot! Someone moved the barrier back and it’s blocking the whole road! Up over the curb and through the uneven soil to the sidewalk. Now, I settled back into the quick rhythm I had and just clicked off the distance, working hard but keeping relaxed. Through an intersection with traffic control with no problems. On to the mile mark. 5:12. What? No, that’s not right. I know I didn’t just run a 5:12. I did lock into a quick rhythm but I knew I wasn’t that fast. I could believe 5:20 because I could feel the quicker than anticipated rhythm I had settled into. I actually thought of dialing it back a bit with the fear I would pay for the fast pace later but I’ve always been a rhythm runner and breaking my rhythm is usually a mistake. I’m better fading some later than messing with my pace when I settle in and am at least in range of my target pace.

Into mile 2, the going is getting tough but I keep fighting. Now, I have a right turn coming up and I’m on the left side of the state highway. Usually, there is a police officer doing traffic control up there but I see no sign of any police presence. So I check over my shoulder, see a car approaching at a distance and take things into my own hands, crossing before that car gets too close. As I approach the turn, there is a police car on the side road, about 3 car lengths off the highway but the officer never even opens the door before I’m past. I keep pushing through the loop through a neighborhood, though I admit I could feel the effort sagging a bit. I told myself I’m at least halfway through the race now. I have to push. I have to keep it going or sub-17 is out the window. I can feel myself losing the fight but I keep close to 100% effort. Now, approaching the state highway again and I have to go straight across. Again, usually traffic control but no sign of police this time. Traffic is pretty steady with a 35 mph speed limit. I weave through a bit to shoot the gap between two northbound cars with the nearest southbound car at least 50 yards away. Not a major problem but definitely not ideal in a 5K.

Through another neighborhood and into the 2 mile mark. I know this split isn’t quite at the 2 mile mark but, when I hear 11:00, I get a bit worried. Initially, I respond by increasing the pace but I find myself within a couple hundred yards settling back into that pace I carried through much of mile 2. A good solid effort for a 5K but not on the edge. Enough for sub-17? With about a half mile to go, I tell myself screw this, I’m not letting sub-17 go without a fight and I give it everything I have. My legs don’t want to respond but I force them to respond with what they can. Through the construction area, a bit of a slowdown to handle the uneven soil but nothing too bad. Then, I just hammer my way through a few turns and into a loop around a park and into the finish. I bring it in as hard as I can and come to the final turn, just a short distance from the finish line. As I come around that final turn and into sight of the clock, I see it right around 16:50. To be honest, when I saw that, I had more a feeling of relief than anything. I was just relieved that my easing off the effort in mile 2 and early in mile 3 didn’t cost me the sub-17. I crossed the line feeling like I didn’t leave it all on the course but getting the sub-17 I was looking for.

Final result: 1st, 16:54. 18 consecutive years with a sub-17 5K. No asterisk needed. I can’t say I’m thrilled with my effort out there. I could have run faster. That said, I keep going back to one simple thing. I had one goal in this race. As long as I ran 16:59, I was going to be happy with the outcome. I made it with 5 seconds to spare. I can’t be unhappy with this result. I accomplished the goal and kept a streak I’m proud of alive.

This is likely it for me in 2013. Time to make sure the calves are well taken care of, the right foot and ankle are happy and the base for 2014 is strong enough for a 19th consecutive year under 17 minutes.

Offshoring Development Funding

/ News/Elites / 3 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Andrew A. at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Now I am far from an isolationist, competitively speaking. I am all for scholarship runners from outside the U.S. competing in the NCAA/NAIA and certainly welcome top competition from across the globe coming to top U.S. races to compete. I see those aspects as enhancing domestic talent development, at the top of the sport it gives U.S. runners a higher bar to aspire towards. However, a report was recently shared with me that left me rather puzzled. While I can recognize that the supporters behind the efforts to give some Kenyan athletes a leg-up have their hearts in the right place — and, after all, it is their money to spend as they see fit — I have to wonder why there is this type of push to support good-yet-not-great elite runners in the world of elite marathoning (perhaps a generous assessment) from Kenya instead of a crowdfunding effort for U.S. runners at that level. The two runners in question have run 2:21 and 2:30+ which, even at altitude in the U.S., would not be considered on the cusp of world class performances for men. It is not as if there are not agents and coaches combing the Kenyan countryside for talent to develop and bring to marathons in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. already, there is a scouting and development system that has been in place for many, many years, as attested to by the world class results from Kenyan runners for the past four decades or so. If there are African runners who are not getting the opportunity to compete abroad, it is far more likely that they are simply not (yet) good enough to warrant that investment rather than having slipped through the cracks in the system.

Comparatively, there is little in the way of a system of talent identification and development in the U.S. for the marathon. There are sponsored training groups here, certainly, yet they are small in number and have limited funding and space. On top of that, this effort will bring these Kenyan runners to a race to compete with national-class and regional-class U.S. runners — many of whom hold down jobs to make ends meet — for a rare substantial marathon payday for runners at that level. This effort is subsidizing talent not good enough for any number of agents to take to any level of prize-money road race in Europe or Asia to come to a race in the U.S. and compete with U.S. runners in one of the few races that stands in support of grassroots development here. Now I honestly hope that the two Kenyans come in and run sub-2:15 and contend for the win, as long as they will be coming I genuinely wish them success. I am just grasping for the logic why this endeavor would be a more worthy expenditure by the U.S. running community over doing the same for our own runners. Is this outlook a short, slippery-slope away from viewpoints that desire U.S.-only prize purses at all domestic races or want to see scholarships at U.S. colleges and universities reserved exclusively for U.S. athletes?

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