Fam and "Win/Win" racing

An interesting blog post by Anthony Famiglietti is stirring up quite the discussion about both him and his racing tactics.  You'll remember he led the first half of the USATF Championships 5000m, and ran a big sprint to move from 8th to 1st mid-race, before ultimately finishing out of contention and not making the USA team.  I've included the video of the race below.

I looked at the race this way.  Fam came in with the top time.  He likes to run from the front and he felt he would be strong enough to hold off enough competitors to qualify for Berlin whether he led or not.  Ultimately, however, the wind took its toll, he struggled, and he didn't qualify.

Fam says he took the approach because it is a "win/win".  He describes it like so:

Coming into the US championships this year with complete freedom and this philosophy in mind I decided to attack the race this year with a win-win approach. I had been training all year at a very high level setting myself up with races and workouts that would lend to a front running style to put me in a position to push from the front of a race and run a great time. I knew the other side of the coin to this strategy would be if their was heavy wind slowing my pace and the field came with me I'd drag the race to a faster time and give the other athletes a chance to kick off my pace making it more competitive. I would become a pace maker for the race so to speak. Unfortunately I personally did not fully achieve what I was aiming for. However, those in the race did run closer to the A standard time on a windy day, one athlete set a junior 5k record and I'm sure there were some nice PRs across the board. It was win-win. I did my part in raising U.S. running a bit. It's a start and I hope others take the cue to do the same from time to time and challenge each other in this way. We'll all benefit as a whole and US running will raise to a new standard of excellence and performance. Hopefully gone are the days of guys chasing A standards and falling short by seconds. I think the future will hold many athletes running well below A standard times here in the US as competition and expectations are raised to a new standard.

I think the post was written on the wrong side of the race, unfortunately.  Had he written something similar prior to the race, he might not be taking so much flack. Genuine or not, his analysis comes off more like a rationalization than a clear-cut motivation.  However, let's take him at his word, because I do believe Fam has been a predominately genuine individual throughout his career.  He puts himself out there, and that's why I enjoy watching him race and why his successes and failures can seem so acute.

I think Fam's overall message is spot-on.  He is a two-time Olympian racing in an off-event, and he felt it was worth the risk to try and do it "his" way.  There's nothing wrong with this at all.  The fact that he didn't qualify might bother his sponsor and it might bother his most passionate supporters (both of whom are no doubt frustrated by his tactics), but success can be about more than just how you perform relative to your competition.  How you performed relative to your own abilities is a perfectly valid measurement of your performance.  I wrote about norm-referenced and self-referenced success at length in The Long and Short of Excellence.

Ultimately, Fam isn't content to settle for norm-referenced excellence (winning races, making teams, etc.).  He's after something more elusive: self-referenced success (running PRs, executing perfectly, realizing his potential, etc.).  Guys like Rupp and Teg are still focused on the former, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.  It's the stage they're at in their careers.  Guys like Pre focused on the latter, but were fortunate to have the norm-referenced success to legitimize their approach in our norm-referenced society.  Fam will no doubt be kicking himself for his poor execution, but I doubt he'll ever seriously question the actual approach.  Good for him.

As for raising the level of US distance running, I'm torn.  He certainly raised the entertainment factor for the fans, which is appreciated.  And he definitely made the race a little more honest.  But I'm not sure athletes are ever going to follow his lead and run pedal-to-the-metal from the gun at championship races.  And I'm not sure they should.  I'll settle for seeing more athletes take more risks in general, however.  I'm tired of seeing people who can't win kicker's races not going earlier, for example.  The ironic thing about Fam doing it is that he's one of the few guys who doesn't need to. 

Fam is still learning.  It's no doubt a big reason he's approached this season the way he has.  It's a journey of self-discovery.  But just because that journey brings out his flaws for all to see, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a valid lesson to teach us all: that losing isn't usually the worst thing that can happen to you.  That would be lying awake at night second-guessing why you didn't give it your all.

Comments

[Steve]

Interesting article. I've been thinking about this. One thing that I think you have to also consider is that Fam has been racing a lot this year. As you said, he had the fastest 5000m time of the year. But he has also been doing a lot of road races. It seems like I hear about him doing another one every week (including the Peachtree road race right after). When this one came around, he didn't have enough gas in the tank. Maybe he's just trying to win a bunch of prize money, but I think this is a big reason he didn't qualify for Worlds, not just because of his racing tactics. I do have to say it was extremely entertaining to watch him surge back into the lead after falling off the pace for awhile. We don't see enough heart in races, so that was great to see. I think the pro athletes get a little too measured in their approaches rather than running with their hearts (e.g., the article you posted today about Barringer). Thanks for an incredible blog. I read your entries as soon as I see them.

[bryan]

Thanks Steve,

I think you may be right about Fam. Many pros have tailored their seasons around the USA Champs (and/or Berlin, depending on their abilities). Fam seems to have started racing early and seems to have no plans to let up. He's run a little bit of everything it seems. So he may have been tired or a little over-raced going into USAs. I guess that's just another indication that he wasn't prioritizing Berlin the way others were.