Optimal Training

Five most impressive performances of the weekend: Stanford edition

I've been doing some research on a new topic and haven't been spending much time writing.  And I know the World Cross Country Championships were last weekend, but I don't have much to say yet as I haven't watched the videos.  Hopefully soon. 

I did take the chance to go out to the Stanford Invitational this weekend, however.  I went to the distance carnival on Friday night and most of the Saturday session.  Below are my top five performances from the meet:

1.  The weather.  As usual, the weather at Stanford stole the show, particularly on Friday night.  It was cool, calm, and absolutely beautiful.  At no point did the runners experience any wind faster than 13-14 mph, save for a few athletes during their kicks.  A perfect night for distance running.  So good, in fact, that Shawn Forrest just got Mebbed by the weather.

2.  Shawn Forrest 13:28 5000m.  I usually stick to the Americans on these lists, because it's just a bit hard to follow all the goings-on around the world.  With that said, Forrest's performance at Stanford was incredible.  He passed the pacemaker at the mile mark, and then just hammered his way to a big PR.  He beat Olympian Jonathan Riley and a very strong group of runners easily.  The best part was that he looked like the pace had caught up with him at the 3400m mark, but he just kept grinding and grinding.  What a performance.

3.  Laurynne Chetelat 15:43 5000m.  She only finished 4th, and a full second behind Nicole Blood of Oregon, but here's why she gets the nod.  It was her first time running the 5k; she ran the 2nd fastest junior time ever (behind only Molly Huddle's 15:36.95, I believe); and ran an amazingly controlled race.  By the end of this year, Stanford may have the two junior American record holders at 5000m.

4.  Dan Nunn 28:24 10000m.  I don't think I even realized he was in the lead pack until the last 600m, when he exploded to the front and hammered it all the way home.  I don't know how old he is, but Girma Mecheso, a freshman at Auburn, also ran in the lead pack the entire way, finishing in 28:26.  For me, that gave an indication of what we could expect from Fernandez or Derrick right about now, as I don't think Mecheso has anything on them.

5.  Diego Estrada 13:47 5000m.  I admit I'm biased towards youth.  But you have to admit that Estrada's time, despite it coming in a race where he finished 11th, is amazing.  It's tough to imagine him knocking ten seconds off of it this year, but there is potential for four freshman to run as fast as Galen Rupp's junior American record this year.  That's ridiculous.

Some other random musings...

Jen Rhines is tiny!  Sarah Bowman is not a smooth runner...powerful yes, but not smooth.  Christine Babcock looks like she should be slower.  Kyle Perry (BYU steeplechaser) reminds me a bit of a giraffe.  Josh McAdams just doesn't look like an elite distance runner.  I'm regretting putting Chanelle Price so high in my Trade Values column after her stinker this weekend...seriously, she's just too big.  Lacey Cramer is legit...she's going to be very good.  Bolota Asmerom drops out of more races than anyone in the history of the sport.  My wife thought Galen Rupp looked like a high schooler...but to his credit she still knew who he is.  Speaking of little kids, the little kids race at Stanford was absolutely adorable...pure entertainment.  The blanket finish in the men's 10k was the best of the meet, though.  The Heaths won the battle of the brothers...1) Heath's (low 13:40s); 2) Mercado's (28:40s); 3) Ghebrays (28:29 and DNF).  Solinsky and Dobson both looked flat in their 1500m race.  Austin Abbott didn't.  The Shackletons at UCLA officially knocked me off the all-time 10k top ten list...kudos to them.  I think Hall will be alright in the steeple...but never good enough to make a US team.  And seriously, the weather was AMAZING.

2009 US Distance Running "Trade Values"

My most recent article at Runner's Tribe is now up, and it's a big one.  In it, I attempt to rank all US distance runners--men and women, high school to pro, 800m to marathon--based on their make believe "trade value".  After I go through the selection criteria, I give a mini profile of my top 50, and why I put them in their respective spots. 

Here's the intro:

One of my favorite columns from one of my favorite columnists is the annual NBA Trade Value column by The Sports Guy at ESPN.  In it, he basically tries to rank all the top players in basketball according to how much long-term value they have, while taking into consideration a range of factors including salary, age, connection to the team/city, etc.  He writes it around the all-star break, and as I read it this year, I thought to myself, "How would this look for distance running?"

So here's the first annual USA distance running Trade Value column.  I'm publishing it after the USATF and NCAA Indoor Championships, because that's the best equivalent I can think of to the all-star break.  Distance running is obviously different from basketball in a number of ways--like, for instance, there are no trades--so the main gist of the selection criteria will be this: as a coach, if you had to pick one runner to bank on for the rest of their career, who would you choose? 

But that's too broad, really, because who could ever turn down the opportunity to spend every waking moment with Kara Goucher?  No, we need more specific criteria.  Criteria that serve to mitigate Kara's devastating charm.  Maybe even criteria that have to do with running.

Click here to read the full article, which includes my selection criteria, who didn't make the cut, the top 50, and of course, who made the top spot.

And of course, feel free to send me a comment or join the discussion on the forums.

Firsthand view of Amman, Jordan

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  I've just finished a really fun (and really big) article for Runners Tribe that should go up in the next couple days.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share this firsthand view of Amman, Jordan by Rojo at LetsRun.com.

It reminded me of my experiences in India this past summer.  If you're interested in some non-running but hopefully still entertaining pieces about international travel, check these out:

Day 1 in Bangalore
A Day Trip to Mysore
10 Most Common Honks in Bangalore (this post got covered by Bangalore news)
Delhi Sightseeing Day 1
Delhi Sightseeing Day 2

And of course, there's the photo album.

German Fernandez and World Cross

I'm often amazed by the incredible performances I see at track meets.  I'm occasionally amazed by the interviews athletes give (or more precisely, the questions they are asked by the interviewer).  But I'm rarely amazed by the decisions athletes make.  Most athletes go with the flow--run the same meets everyone expects and compete in the same events they always do--and so are judged by how they perform relative to previous years' records.

Last weekend, I found myself amazed by German Fernandez's decision not to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships.  My most recent article at Runners Tribe dives into this decision and explains why I think he made it.  Here's a snippet:

Most of [the criticisms leveled at German] are the product of disappointed fans who feel they missed out on one of the great potential NCAA races ever.  I certainly sympathize with them.  Other questions are grounded in the reality of our past experience: with few exceptions, the best collegiate runners have always prioritized the best collegiate races, i.e. the NCAA Championships. 

But most importantly, those questions assume that German's expected performance at World Cross is constrained by the limits of those Americans who have competed before him.  You know, the best he can hope to do is match Dathan Ritzenhein's 3rd place, which was "a fluke" because the race was run in swamp-like conditions.  (Great performances by white people against Africans often need qualifiers.)  All Fernandez can realistically hope for would be a 10th place finish that no one but diehards will remember a few years from now.

Well I disagree with that.  I love his decision, for three reasons:

I hope you'll check out the rest of the article to learn why I think it was a great decision.  As a bonus, we've embedded the video of German's solo 3:55.02, so you can watch that as well!

(Image from Drawn to Running)

An unprecedented weekend

My most recent article at Runner's Tribe recaps last weekend's unprecedented action in US distance running.  In it I discuss:

• Rupp's NCAA Triple
• New Collegiate and World Records
• Kipyego wins No 9
• Lukas Verzbicas high school 5000m record
• Gebrselassie loses a world record attempt race
• Eight Olympians at Gate River Run
• NCAA meet streamed live...to some people

As a bonus to my Optimal Training readers, I've ranked the performances below by how impressive they were, something I don't do in the article.

1.  Galen Rupp wins 5k, 3k, and anchors DMR to victory at NCAA Champs.  This is completely unprecedented.  The kid is a beast.

2.  Lukas Verzbicas sets new high school indoor 5k record.  He ran 14:18.42.  Now check this out.  He's a freshman (just 16 years old), he's run just four track races in his young career, and he came back the next day and ran an 8:57 two mile!  I'm very tempted to put him up at #1, because it's such a shame he's getting Mebbed here.

3.  Jenny Barringer wins NCAA 3k, sets NCAA record 8:42.03.  She now holds the collegiate records for the mile, 3k and 5k indoors.  A perfect finish to the best indoor season ever by an American woman.  Mebbed athlete #2.

4.  Tennessee women's DMR breaks world record, runs 10:50.98.  Normally, a world record would rank you higher than 4th on this list, but when you look at the team Tennesee was putting out there, it was pretty much expected.  A great run by a great squad.  And the first Mebbed team of the weekend.

5.  Sarah Bowman wins NCAA mile, anchors DMR world record.  Quite a weekend for the perennial bridesmaid.  She finally won her first individual title by outleaning Kipyego at the line and, in the process, helped her Lady Vols win the national title.

6.  Sally Kipyego wins 9th NCAA title in 5k, finishes 2nd in mile.  She's incomparable.  Simply amazing.  She's now tied with Suzy Favor Hamilton for the most NCAA championships by a distance runner.

7.  Jacob Hernandez wins NCAA 800m.  He held off a hard-charging Andrew Wheating to earn his 2nd national title.

8.  Lacey Cramer, BYU frosh, wins NCAA 800m.  She beat a solid field filled with past champions.

9.  Lee Emanuel wins NCAA mile.  He was my darkhorse pick to win it, and he came through.  His performance might even be enough to make me forget I took Gwen Jorgensen in the 5k.

10.  Amy Yoder Begley and Anthony Famiglietti win USATF 15k Championships.  Both had impressive runs, with Famiglietti just holding off Tim Nelson for the win.

Disappointment can be great motivation

The Science of Sport just returned from the Rugby World Cup, in which South Africa lost to Wales in the final.  In the disappointment, Ross captures the essence of what separates those who become high achievers from those who never do. 

I have written before that when an athlete takes to the line or the field, they must believe that they have done 99% of the work in training, and that the final 1% lies before them. The team that has prepared the best (99% as opposed to 90%) has the advantage. If you have done more than the opponent in training, then he needs to do more than you to win - you hold the advantage, both physically and mentally. I believe that sports science is the quest for those percentages, or millimeters, or milliseconds. It asks "What stones remain unturned, and how do we overturn them"? That is comprehensive, integrated sports science and management.

There are many more great quotes within his article.  No matter your level, it will serve as motivation for how you view your own performance.

NCAA Indoors distance preview

I just published a preview of the distance races at the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend.  This has been an amazing start to the year in the distances, and while there are plenty of reasons not to expect the times we've seen so far, many athletes could surprise and a few of the races look to be quite close.  Here's a snippet:

In looking at the fields, I'm struck by one fact: the quality and quantity of fast times being put up across the NCAA this year is staggering. 

As for quality, we've seen many major collegiate records go down this indoor season.  On the women's side, Jenny Barringer broke the women's mile and 5000m records, running 4:25.91 and 15:01.70, respectively. Sally Kipyego ran 8:48.77 for 3000m and 4:27.19, the second fastest time ever in the mile.  And Tennessee's women's DMR team ran a smokin' 10:56.40, which I believe is an American record.  On the men's side, German Fernandez broke the indoor mile record (3:55.02) and the junior American record for 3000m (7:47.97, #2 NCAA).  Galen Rupp broke the American collegiate record for 3000m (7:44.69) and the collegiate record for 5000m (13:18.12, in a race that saw Samuel Chelanga also break the previous record, running 13:19.79).  We haven't seen an attempt at the 800m records this year, but with the solid fields present on both sides, could this be the year?

Then there's the quantity of fast times being run.  I took a look at the qualifying times for all events and saw an amazing statistic.  In field events, there were an average of 5.7 automatic qualifiers per event.  In sprints, there were only 4.0 autos, on average.  In the distance events, however, there were on average 9.2 auto qualifying marks per event, with an amazing 27 auto marks in the DMRs (which is the best indication for overall middle-distance strength).  And another 24 marks were within one second of the qualifiers.  And I didn't count anyone not entered in a race, like Fernandez and Rupp in the mile.  This is very much the result of so many races being run at the University of Washington and Notre Dame, which have large, fast tracks beneficial to distance runners.  But it's also likely the result of a general rise in the quality of distance running in the NCAA.

So the real question is, will this year's NCAA meet live up to the expectations set during the season?  I think it could, but that will largely depend on the answers to the following questions:

Click here to read my breakdown of the big pre-meet questions, as well as read my predictions for each event.

IAAF Raises the Bar

You may or may not have read about the new Diamond League that the IAAF recently unveiled.  The plan involves 12 meets working together to create a "season", complete with event-based point scoring and yearly prizes.  Starting in 2010, the IAAF will use this to replace the current Golden League program, in which athletes in select events chase the opportunity to win $1 million.

I've written a new article at Runnerstribe in which I argue the IAAF has raised the bar for track and field, and I discuss some of the current issues in track and field that could be resolved by the Diamond League.  Here's a snippet:

The IAAF has made the first realistic attempt to forge a truly professional track and field season, with guaranteed appearances and competition amongst the world's top performers in their respective events.  In the States, the majority of the discussion seems to be around the fact that 2 of the 12 meets selected are in the US.  I think that's big news, but the real news is that in the Diamond League athletes in all events will be showcased and incentivized to compete, some through the use of centralized contracts.  (Here's an overview pdf.)

Both of these are steps in the right direction.  Elite track and field has more or less become a European phenomenon over the past couple decades, with the world's best athletes rarely venturing westward for competitions.  It's certainly not representative of track as a whole, but here's a trivia question: throughout their careers, how many total non-Olympic US track meets did  Haile Gebrselassie,  Paula Radcliffe,  Hicham El Guerrouj,  Kelly Holmes, and  Yuriy Borzakovskiy compete in?  The answer: Eight.  Six of which were Prefontaine.  In more than 40 combined years of elite track racing, five of the best runners of our generation ran a total of eight races in the U.S.  Eight!

(Just for fun: What's the combined number of meets if we add javelin stud Andreas Thorkildsen, high jump goddess Blanka Vlasic, shotput champion  Valerie Vili and pole vault record-setter Yelena Isinbayeva to the above Eight?  New answer: click here to read the article...

Nate Jenkins puts success and failure in perspective

A great blog entry by marathoner turned indoor trackster Nate Jenkins.  He had a rough go of it at the USATF Indoor Nationals 3000m, but he explains in his blog why he's not losing any sleep over it.  I think we all could stand to be reminded that we need to be judged against our total set of goals at the beginning of the season, not just our expectations prior to one particular event.  Here's the blog post.

Wow, what a weekend!

With so much going on--USATF Indoor Champs, NCAA Conference Champs, World's Best 10k and more--it only makes sense that athletes are getting Mebbed this week.  Let's get right to the most impressive performances.  (As usual, I'm focused on Americans only...sorry Ryan Gregson!)

1. German Fernandez 3:55.02 NCAA record/Junior World Record mile & 3000m double victories at Big-12 Championships (results).  Here's what's so ridiculous about this mile: he won by 10 seconds!  He went out and ran, by himself, the fastest mile ever by an NCAA athlete indoors.  Notice I didn't say "American collegiate".  By any collegiate.  Oh yeah, he doubled back a couple hours later to destroy the field in the 3000m, running 7:57.71.  That's faster than super-freshmen Chris Derrick and Luke Puskedra ran at the MPSF Championships, and they were running fresh on an oversized track and lost.  That debate should pretty much be settled at this point.

2. Jenny Barringer 4:25.91 NCAA record mile at Big-12 Championships (results).  Jenny got Mebbed this week, upstaged by yet another phenomenal performance by Fernandez.  Perhaps the biggest aspect of Jenny's victory isn't the time, but who she beat: 9-time NCAA champion Sally Kipyego.  Barringer is absolutely on fire right now, running NCAA records for 5000m and the mile, and a 3000m time that's way ahead of all but Kipyego in the collegiate ranks.  Even if she goes pro after indoor season, she has made a strong claim for best American collegiate ever.

3.  Rob Myers 3:45.73 1500m victory at USATF Indoor Championships (results).  With Alan Webb and Chris Lukezic in the race, Rob Myers was probably rightly considered the underdog in this race.  But he is a 3-time champion, so the fact that he ran well on this stage is not a total surprise.  Webb isn't in his peak form, but he's improving every race and Lukezic had been on fire early this season.  A big, impressive win for Myers.

4.  David Torrence / Amy Yoder-Begley 3000m victories (7:53.67 / 8:53.27) at USATF Indoor Championships (results here and here).  Both athletes had Olympians in their fields, as well as a decent collection of up-and-coming talent.  Torrance won his with a surprising kick in the last 200m, while Begley opted to grind everyone out with 1400m to go.  She still needed a kick, though, as a fit Sara Hall made a big push for the win, only to be held off by half a second.  This was the first USATF title for each athlete.

5.  Anna Willard 4:17.37 1500m victory at USATF Indoor Championships (results).  I've been on the Anna Willard bandwagon since last year, and this victory has made the ride even more fun.  One of the top two steeplers in the country, Willard has spent her indoor season proving she can run with the nation's best at the mile as well.  This victory came against former champion Shayne "Mom of three!" Culpepper, Sara "Welcome back!" Hall, and Jen "Age catching up with ya?" Rhines.  Now comes the big question: can she beat a dominant Barringer come outdoor season?

Honorable Mentions:

Dorian Ulrey 3:59.77/7:55.56 double victory at SEC Championships. If it wasn't for a certain Oklahoma State freshman, Ulrey would probably be the most talked about runner in NCAA right now.  Not a bad race all winter, and the favorite in the mile if Fernandez doesn't run NCAAs. 

Laurynne Chetelat 9:08.15 3000m victory at MPSF Championships.  She's only a freshman, and she beat some more experienced veterans in Marie Lawrence, Alex Kosinksi, and Nicole Blood.  She's going to be really, really good.

Matt Centrowitz 7:55.90 3000m victory at MPSF Championships.  He beat Chris Derrick and Luke Puskedra in the kick, as well as top Pac-10 runners Mark Matusak and Jake Schmitt (5k champ the night before).

Ryan Hall 43:23 15k victory at Gasparilla.  It's not that it was a bad performance, it's just that A) expectations were really high and B) on the world stage, athletes are running much faster right now.

Shalane Flanagan 32:25 4th place at World's Best 10k.  I didn't expect her to win, but I did think she'd be closer than 73 seconds off winner Vivian Cheruiyot's time.  A rough day for Flanagan, even though she ran faster than most any US woman can.

Galen Rupp 1:49.89 800m at MPSF Indoor Championships.  Pointing this out just because he ran it.  Not many top 5k/10k guys ever experiment with the 800m.  And sub-1:50 ain't that bad.

I probably missed a few, but that's because people were running so well this weekend!  If you think I missed a big performance, by all means let me know in the comments!