Optimal Training

New: Men's American Records lens

After Dathan Ritzenhein's AR at 5000m last week, I got to wondering a few things: 

• What are the oldest ARs on the books? 
• Where does Ritz's performance rank compared to other ARs on the all-time lists? 
• How does it compare based on the IAAF Scoring Tables?
• Is there any place I can go to watch videos of AR performances?

Well, there didn't seem to be one place that provided those answers very conveniently, so I thought it was time to create another Squidoo lens.  My newest lens, Men's American Records (you can find it at http://www.squidoo.com/men-ARs) lists all of the track ARs, as well as answers the above questions.  In fact, I even threw in the US all-time top ten lists for each event.

You won't find any field events on there yet, since I haven't decided if I should make a separate lens for them or add them in.  Also, the relays aren't represented, but they will be.  So it's kind of a work-in-progress (as all good lenses are). 

I hope you'll check it out and tell me what you think.  Don't be shy about answering the poll or providing comments!  I'd like to make this a fan-friendly resource, so I'll take all the help I can get!

As for the women's ARs, maybe I'll tackle those next week!

The Class of US Distance Running

It was so good to see Ritz run the way he did last week.  I was a senior in college when Ritz was a freshman at Colorado, and since that time I've hoped he'd be the one to reset our expectations at 5k and 10k.  Recently however, it seemed it wasn't to be.  His classmates Alan Webb and  Ryan Hall, though not always consistent, had made their marks on US distance running, while Ritz had been very good but never great.

In my latest article at Runner's Tribe, I take another look at that Class of 2001, and what those three runners have been able to accomplish.  Did you know that, even though they don't hold the ARs in every distance, they are the fastest American-born athletes at 1500m, mile, 5000m, half marathon and marathon.  And if Ritz could somehow get into a well-paced 10k right now, he might be able to take that one down as well.  Truly amazing.

A snippet:

Nine years ago, in the fall of 2000, Dathan Ritzenhein entered his senior year of high school as the defending Footlocker Nationals Cross Country Champion.  He was the favorite to win again, and the talk was about whether he would be  able to break Jeff Nelson's then two-mile record or Gerry Lindgren's 30-plus year-old 5000m record in the upcoming track season.  He wasn't the only big high school star, however, as a runner from Virginia by name of Alan Webb was returning and looked to be a threat to break the 4-minute mile on the track, if not challenge for the Footlocker crown that fall.

Early that fall, as Ritz and Webb won their races and expectations heightened, a third athlete started making headlines.  Ryan Hall, of Big Bear Lake, CA, broke some well-regarded California course records, and looked to be a potential challenger for the Footlocker title.  The race saw almost unprecedented hype with three potential challengers from three different regions.  Of course, Ritz showed he was the class of the field, just missing his own course record from the year before.  From that race on, the class of 2001 became the great hope for US distance running.

Since 2007, Hall and Webb have gone on to solidify their positions in the pantheon of great American distance runners (though you could argue Webb did it in 2001 with his 3:53 high school mile).  In their respective events, they developed into the class of US distance running.  But it has taken Ritz a little longer.  Which is surprising, really, because back in 2001--and really all the way up until 2005--it looked like he'd have the record books crying mercy in no time.

Continue reading here.

Berlin: The Final Third

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but my recap of The Final Third of the Berlin World Championships is now up at Runner's Tribe (First Third, Second Third).  I not only summarized the last three days, but I also took a look at how the last three days affected some of the major questions in Berlin: 

• Was Ethiopia able to gain any ground on Kenya in the distances medal count?  
• Could the USA regain its mojo against the Caribbean in the sprints? 
• Did the rest of the world mount a challenge to Europe in the field events? 
• And was this championships indeed a success for the US distance squad? 

And I even include graphs!  So here's a snippet of what you'll find, and be warned, it's a long one!

In the men's 4 x 100m relay, the US were disqualified for passing the baton outside of the zone.  They didn't make it out of their semifinals.  Jamaica won uncontested in the second fastest time ever, 37.31 seconds.  Interestingly, it was strangely anti-climactic seeing Bolt not break a world record.  Talk about high expectations!  The US women didn't make it out of the semifinals either.  During a bad exchange between Alexandria Andreson and Muna Lee, Lee injured her leg and went down.  Jamaica again went on to win gold, with the Bahamas taking silver.  It would be an exaggeration to say that the short relays were a microcosm of the World Championships for the US sprinters, but they certainly made one thing abundantly clear: the short sprints were not the US strong point in Berlin.

As you can see from the graph (click to see larger graph), the US won eight medals in the long sprints--those consisting of 400 meters--and just six in the short sprints, despite there being five short sprints and just three long sprints.  On the other hand, the Caribbean islands scored 15 medals in the short sprints and just six in the long.  The US still has a firm grip on the 400 meter distance.  It's the short sprints where we have either lost ground or continue to fail to execute.  In some cases, like with Usain Bolt in the men's short sprints, all anyone can do is grin and bear it.  There was no beating Bolt in Berlin.  The same goes for the US 4 x 400 meter teams, however.  The US is simply too deep at that distance. 

Interestingly, of the eight sprint medals won by non-Caribbean or US athletes, five of them came in the relays.  It should be noted, however, that if the US could find four athletes who can pass a baton around the track in the 4 x 100 meters, and if Bahamas hadn't been DQ'd in the 4 x 400 meters, the number of medals would likely have been just two.  As for the individual medallists, they consisted of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada (silver in the 100 hurdles), Alonso Edward of Panama (silver in the 200 meters), and Antonina Krivoshapka of Russia (bronze in the 400 meters).  

In terms of depth, there are a number of countries with many very good runners.  But sprinting at the highest level has really become the game of one country and a few small neighboring islands.

Read the entire article here.

I should also point out that Runner's Tribe put up an amazing amount of interviews, recaps and op-ed pieces about the world championships, so there is plenty to see and read.  I particularly recommend the articles by Len Johnson, a former journalist who has covered numerous Olympics and World Championships.  His wealth of knowledge and perspective on the sport is always interesting.  Find his articles here.

Berlin: The Second Third

Is it just me, or did the Berlin World Championships really ramp it up there these last three days?  As I write in my second article recapping the meet, The Second Third:

When you look at a distance race, the first third is always about getting out to a good start, finding a good position, and doing so without any major issues.  The last third is about covering dramatic moves and finishing with a bang.  As for the middle third...it can go any number of ways.  Sometimes it's filled with surges, sometimes an athlete goes all Zersenay Tadese on the field and just  starts punishing people, and sometimes everyone is content to just not screw things up.  You can't predict how the middle third of a race will go. 

When I look at this World Championships, I feel like we're seeing something similar happening.  The first third of the meet gave us just what we wanted.  Favorites winning races, some predictable upsets, and a few dramatic moments.  The middle third has been predictably unpredictable.  The fourth day saw a bunch of warm fuzzy victories.  The fifth day was pretty fluky.  And the sixth...well, I think the sixth day thought it was part of the last third, because it got pretty crazy over there.

The article itself covers days four, five, and six, as well as the men's decathlon, more silvers with a silver lining, and gives another update on the state of USA distance at the meet.  We also dabble in ranking the best rivalries in track, ponder why Usain Bolt has me so afraid, and wonder what would have happened had Terrence Trammell's final been on day four instead of day six.

For my review of The First Third, go here.  For the rest of today's article, go here.

Berlin: The First Third

As part of Runner's Tribe's ongoing coverage of Berlin, I've decided to cover the meet at a high level by breaking it into thirds.  My first article on the first 3 days of the meet is here.  We take a look at the most dominant performances, the fluky upsets, the silver medals with a silver lining and of course, USA distance, which was very good but not good enough.  I even rate my top performances in each category, so check it out and tell me what you think!

A snippet:

No other country not named Kenya or Ethiopia has had such a solid representation in the distances thus far [as the US].  We've already had one American Record broken, seen three other "best non-African" finishes, and qualified our top three men into the 1500m final.

The AR was set by Jenny Barringer in the steeplechase.  She ran 9:12.50 to set a PB of nearly 10 seconds and finish 5th in the final.  Unfortunately, she was never really engaged in the race, and even though she ran a scintillating 3:01 last kilometer, it wasn't enough to get her back with the leaders.  It's hard to fault a PB and an improvement in a championship final, but I have to say I was disappointed in this race.  I wanted to see her race like at the Pre Classic, where she went out "too hard" and hung on.  I honestly believe Jenny Barringer may be the best steepler in the world right now, except she doesn't believe it.  Hopefully she leaves Berlin hungrier than ever.

Continue reading here.

Berlin: Women's 10k a Men's Preview?

In case you haven't stopped by to check it out, Runner's Tribe has some excellent coverage of the World Championships in Berlin.  Edward Ovadia is there with press credentials, and he's already posted some great interviews, daily recaps and commentary on the event and life in the city. 

As for me, I absolutely loved that women's 10k race, and couldn't help but wonder, was it a preview of the men's?

For the two of you who might be reading this without having seen it or read any other reviews, at thirty meters out Meseret Defar's body goes into rigor mortis and she basically stops moving.  Meselech Melkamu storms past her for the sure win and eases in the last few meters, throwing her arms up in apparent victory.  All the while Linet Masai, the 19 year-old Kenyan who was dropped with 100 meters to go, never gives up and storms back to get the win at the very last possible moment.  It was awesome.  As far as 10,000 meter races go, the only race that I vividly remember being this exciting was the Gebrselassie-Tergat battle in Sydney. 

Aside from an odd incident at the start where all of the women in the outer lanes cut in too early, the race played out pretty much as one might have expected.  Sure, we Americans and a few Kiwis and Japanese were no doubt hoping to see one of their contingent in the mix at the end, but that was always going to be a low probability event.  If you took out the first and last 30 meters of the race, it went pretty much to plan.  But boy did that last 30 meters matter!

As I watched the race I started to wonder, could this be but a preview of the men's race?  Look at the cast of characters and you see it stacks up pretty similarly:

Meseret Defar = Kenenisa Bekele
Meselech Melkamu = Gebre Gebremariam
Wude Ayalew = Abebe Dinkessa
Tirunesh Dibaba = Sileshi Sihine
Linet Masai = Moses Masai (hey, they're siblings)
Grace Momanyi = Micah Kogo
Lornah Kiplagat = Bernard Kipyego
Amy Yoder Begley = Dathan Ritzenhein
Shalane Flanagan = Galen Rupp
Katie McGregor = Tim Nelson
Kim Smith = Collis Birmingham
Yurika Nakamura = Yuki Sato
Ines Monteiro = Juan Luis Barrios
Elvan Abeylegesse = Zersenay Tadesse

Did I say "pretty similarly"?  I meant, "uncannily"...

You can read the article in its entirety here.  And don't forget to check out the rest of the great World Championships coverage at Runner's Tribe while you're there!

Thoughts on Eric Peterson's dismissal from UCLA

My old coach and friend Eric Peterson was let go from the position of head distance coach at UCLA.  He'd been there for about 20 years, 9 of which with both the men's and women's teams.  My latest column at Runner's Tribe discusses many of the first things that came to mind when I heard he was no longer a Bruin.  A snippet:

[Bob Larsen] was my coach for my first three years [at UCLA].  I now realize that I learned a lot about the physical aspects of distance running during that time.  The importance of mileage, the importance of fast road runs, the importance of rest and the importance of establishing consistency.  I loved everything about being on his team.  When he retired, I was admittedly pretty nervous about having Eric step in as our coach for my last two years. 

Eric was the antithesis of Bob.  Bob floated around quietly, never raising his voice.  (He used a megaphone to call splits in monotone across the track).  Eric stomped around the infield and could be heard shouting splits from Pauley to Sunset Village.  Bob greeted you with a silent hand wave.  Eric was always a firm shake and a "Good morning" that sounded suspiciously like a challenge.  (Sometimes it would just be your name: "Mornin', Coach."  "Bryan.")  In conversations with Bob, you always felt like he appreciated you for who you were.  With Eric, you always felt like he was challenging you to become more than you were.  Finally, Bob obviously loved running.  Eric lived running.

Read the article in its entirety here.

Molly Ringwald on John Hughes and Belief

When I heard that John Hughes died, I thought, "Never heard of him."  Then it came to light (for me) that he was the director of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, etc.  I still don't know that much about him or his life--he apparently became pretty reclusive--but it's been interesting reading the reaction from those who knew him.

One such reaction was captured in a NYT Op-Ed by Molly Ringwald.  It's a great read, and captures a hint of the man that was John Hughes.  (The best, however, was this piece by a former pen pal of his.)  One paragraph in Ringwald's piece caught my eye, however:

John saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself. He had complete confidence in me as an actor, which was an extraordinary and heady sensation for anyone, let alone a 16-year-old girl. I did some of my best work with him. How could I not? He continually told me that I was the best, and because of my undying respect for him and his judgment, how could I have not believed him?

This is probably the best description of the power of "Social Persuasion" to affect an individual's self-efficacy that I've ever read.  As I wrote in my last article Belief and Breakthroughs, there are four ways to increase a person's self-efficacy (aka Belief), and one of them is being told you can do something by someone you trust and respect.

Belief is an important, almost essential aspect of success.  The fact that it can be so easily influenced by feedback from others is both a blessing and a curse.  Choose who you receive feedback from wisely, and when you think someone can use a positive boost, don't be afraid to tell them you believe in them.

(Photo nydailynews.com)

Belief and Breakthroughs

My latest column, Belief and Breakthroughs, is up at Runner's Tribe.  It's a very Optimal Training-esque look at the connection between a runner's belief and their ability to "break through" to another level. 

I had been toying with writing a column on Belief for a few weeks when I read this great post called Magic of the Mind by Ryan at Flotrack.  Ryan did a great job of using the current crop of women's distance runners to draw the connection between an athlete's belief and their performances.  I didn't think I would do any better so instead I decided to write a kind of follow-up to his, where I looked at just how that connection happens and how athletes can strengthen it.

The article looks at three types of Belief, how one can build Belief, how Belief is tied to breakthrough performances, and then a short look at what we can expect in Berlin given what we've seen in Europe thus far.  A snippet:

The mind really does seem magical when it comes to its effect on performances.  Unlike the body, the mind seems to be able to switch from off to on in a blink, and its impact is disproportionate to the amount of time we pay attention to it.  Ryan's comparison to magic is apropos.  For many, even athletes competing at an elite level, it might as well be magic.

With that said, there's really nothing magical about Belief, or the mind in general, when it comes to success.  The mind is equally as trainable as the body, and like an athlete's fitness, their Belief will go through similar ups and downs and plateaus.  Great coaches train bodies to perform, but they also train minds to allow bodies to perform, and often it's the latter that's the difficult task.  So let's take a look at the mechanics behind the magic.

Click here to read the full column.