David Krummenacker Profile: Jan 31, 2003

In 2002, David Krummenacker had the type of season mid distance runners dream of. He won 2 Golden League 800 meter races in Europe becoming the first American ever to do so. He ran 3:31.93 (the #5 time ever by an American) becoming the first American ever to have run under 1:45 and 3:32. He ended the season world ranked #3 at 800m by Track and Field News, and #1 in the US at 1500 and 800, the first American to accomplish this feat in 20 years.

And although Krummenacker had diligently prepared for these accomplishments for years, do not think for a second he took them for granted. Despite having set an American record at 1000m indoors, and having defeated a strong field at 1000m outdoors at the adidas Oregon Classic, the meet director at the first Golden League meet of the year in Paris, almost didn't let Krummenacker into his race. At the premier meets in Europe, lanes are scarce, and Krummenacker was far from a household name. But Mark Wetmore, Krummenacker's agent, convinced the meet director to give David a shot, and he took advantage of it to the fullest by blowing away the field in the final stretch running 1:44.83 for the win.

Krummenacker when discussing his win in Paris, which he called the highlight of his 2002 season, sounds like a kid the night before Christmas, "I couldn't sleep that night. I was just so excited. They give you this huge cup, it's the biggest trophy I'd ever seen, and I was like 'wow what am I going to do with this'. That was a lot of fun."

Although Krummenacker had a dream like year in 2002, was giddy about his Golden League win, and places a lot of importance on 'having fun' and enjoying his running, he definitely is far from satisfied. For David Krummenacker is focussed primarily on one thing, winning races versus the world's best. 2002 gave Krummenacker the confidence that on any given day he can beat any runner in the world. Now he wants to do it on a consistent basis.

At each level of Krummenacker's career (high school, college, and professional), he has never had immediate stardom and has slowly climbed up the ranks building on what has come before.

He originally ran high school cross country his sophomore year just to get in shape for basketball, where he eventually scored 16 or 17 points a game and was a division II collegiate prospect. But in his first cross-country race, Krummenacker was just heading out on the course with the other multitude of runners in the pack, when way off in the distance, seemingly miles ahead, was another runner already coming back towards the finish. It was none other than Alan Culpepper, who later would be US Champion at 5000m, 10000m and cross country.

Krummenacker however would continue to improve, eventually giving up basketball his senior year to focus on track, and would become a state champion in New Mexico in both cross country and track.

In college at Georgia Tech he did not start off as slowly, but he did not reach the top right away either. He qualified for the national NCAA meet at 800 meters his first 2 years, but never made the finals until his junior year, when he not only reached the finals indoors, but won the indoor national title.

Immediate success is not a prerequisite for Krummenacker, and he has been quite content to bide his time throughout his career. "One of the things I always tell people is it takes a little while to get to the top of anything you do. My first couple of years of track in high school I got my ass whooped. My first couple of years in college, I got my ass whooped. I made it to nationals, but I never made the finals the first 4 times, indoors or outdoors. My junior year I won indoors. So you come from someone who never the finals to winning and people are like 'who the hell is this guy'. I always tell people it takes time. That's the story so far. When I got to (the) professional (level), the first couple of years I was getting beaten around by everybody, not running so hot, and now I've made another jump, and hopefully, I'll make yet another jump and get to that medal stand and get gold, silver, (pause) or bronze. I'll be happy with that."

If Krummenacker makes it to the top of the medal stand, he'll give a lot of credit to his new training group in Tucson, Arizona, and his decision to move to Tucson in the fall of 2001, to train under a new coach. After graduating from college, Krummenacker stayed in Atlanta to train with his collegiate coach, Alan Drosky. And although Krummenacker showed improvement and says Drosky is a "really good coach", he failed to make the jump that many never make in their careers, to the top of the professional ranks. Krummenacker however was friends with Patrick Nduwimana of Burundi, formerly of the University of Arizona, who in August of 2001 had run 1:42.81 for 800 meters.

For the last couple of years, Nduwimana had been trying to get Krummenacker to come and train with him under his Brazilian coach, Luis de Oliviera, who had also coached Brazilian Olympic gold medalist at 800 meters and 1:41.77 runner, Joaquim Cruz, and 1:43:08 Brazilian 800m runner José Luis Barbosa. After 2001, Krummenacker was ready to take the chance and uproot himself from the comfortable confines of Atlanta to Tucson to train with Nduwimana under Oliviera. Oliviera had seen Krummenacker race a few times, and was willing to take him on despite the fact he was American. As Krummenacker said, Oliviera usually does not work with Americans because he thinks they have "the tendency to be lazy and want to be babied and those kind of things". But Krummenacker came with a great recommendation from Nduwimana and Oliviera had seen Krummenacker race a few times and as Krummenacker said, saw that he had "the drive to want to do well." So Oliviera agreed to be David's coach and David moved to Tucson in the fall of 2001.

Much has been made of Luis de Oliviera's "unorthodox" training: running backwards, pool running, and running while holding your breath. Krummenacker says while doing some of these things (but not running while holding his breath), his training under Oliviera is not radically different from his training under Drosky. As Krummenacker says of Oliviera's training "I think it's a well balanced approach. If you look at all the different aspects of it, it has all of them sprinkled in."

The biggest difference Krummenacker says is he has more easy days mixed into his training. "There are certain aspects (that are different than in the past) running slightly faster on some days and running easier on other days. Someone was saying yesterday and I thought it was a really good point, that at the end of their career many top runners say they had too many days (of training) right in the middle (in terms of intensity), days with a 6 output, instead of days with a 3 and (then followed by) a 9. So I'm doing more of that now. So on the days I really hit it, I really hit it, and the days where it's easy, (I) really go easy. There aren't so many in between days now."

Although Krummenacker is quick to praise Oliviera for his breakthrough last year, he also gives credit to his new training environment, his training partners, and his coach in the past, Drosky. Krummenacker says his breakthrough was due to a "combination of a lot of different aspects. One important thing is the new coach, that has obviously been a tremendous aid. The coach I had a Georgia Tech, Alan Drosky, was a really good coach also. Part of what has prepared me to handle the training I do now and to make the transition is the training I did with the other coach. Part of it (is due to) the culmination of years of training and getting ready to handle a little bit of a change, a slightly different training regime. And also the (new) training partners (have helped)."

Krummenacker in the past had always trained by himself, but now he is in perhaps the fastest city in the world. On the day we met with him, Krummenacker despite his incredible 2002, was only the 3rd fastest runner in attendance. Krummenacker went on a run with Bernard "Kip" Lagat (world's 2nd fastest man ever at 1500m), Abdi Abdirahman (US 10k champ, 10th at the 2000 Olympics at 10k), Seneca Lassiter (2 time US 1500m champ, including winning in 1997 at the age of 20), Japtheth Kimutai (1:42.69 for 800m), Thomas Opio (former university of Arizona mid-distance runner), and Fidel Baragensabe (1500m runner from Burundi). Lagat, Abdirahman, Lassiter, and Kimutai have a different coach (James Li) than Krummenacker and just moved to Tucson this year, so these guys do not train together every day and did not train together in 2001, but being surrounded by other great runners has definitely helped Krummenacker.

As he said, "The main thing is not to have to do anything yourself. Even last year, Patrick (Nduwimana) and I would come to the track and do different workouts, but it was nice having him out there. If there is someone going through it with you, there is a sense of companionship. It's motivating. You can spur each other one... Even now, we have a lot of fun. (Like a lot of runners) We sit around before we run joking around, talking about different runners, but once we get going all the talking stops, but after the run, we sit around and joke around. It's nice to have people to train with that are your friends, that you can have good times with. That's an important aspect. If you're with a group of people and everyone is very serious, too intense, that kind of takes the fun out of the game."

The biggest thing Krummenacker got from training under Oliviera and definitely from his success last year was confidence that he can run with anyone in the world. As he said, "Coming out to Arizona was a breath of fresh air...When you're doing training and you have the belief that I'm doing the training that these other guys (Joaquim Cruz, Patrick Nduwimana, and José Luis Barbosa) have done and they've run these times (1:41.77, 1:42.88, 1:43.08), and you look at how they're built and how you're built, then you think I have the ability to run whatever they've run....Sometimes I kick myself for not coming out here sooner. But also I kind of believe everything happens for a reason. If I had come out here earlier, I might have gotten hurt or not been able to handle it."

Although much of the talk in track and field focusses on how fast people run, Krummenacker realizes that champions are first and foremost champions because they win races. "When I get to the meets, I no longer have that mentality I'm just going to hang out in the middle of the pack or sit way back and try and catch people at the end, my mentality is going to be, every race I'm in, I'm going to win. There is no reason to think I just want to run a good time, you've got to think about winning, times will come later, if you win a race in Europe, you'll run a good time."

Krummenacker's focus for the 2003 year is doing well at the World Championships at 800 and in the Golden League meets. There is talk in track circles of him breaking the nearly 20 year old American records at 1500m (Sydney Maree 3:29.77, 1985) and 800m (1:42.6 Johnny Gray, 1985), but those are secondary concerns for Krummenacker. "Right now I'm focussed on the 8 because I want to do everything in the 8 I can before I make the jump to the 1500 full heartedly, but I'm still going to run 1500s occasionally...I'm sure at some point in the season, I'll look at my fitness, and a lot of people talk about American records in the 1500 and the 800. Those things are in the back of the mind and of course those things would be nice to get, but I don't really say 'Hey this is what I have to do (this year)'. You go out there and race hard and run with the best guys (in the world) and if you're running and it's fun whatever comes is going to come. Those times are going to come if you're beating some of those top guys."

Krummenacker is definitely a student of the sport, a track buff of sorts, who is constantly learning from the great runners before him and from his own experiences.

Wilson Kipketer (despite not having won an Olympic gold medal) is perhaps the greatest 800 meter runner ever. Krummenacker had raced him once prior to 2002, in Monaco in 1999, and despite setting a pr (1:44:57), was never a factor in the race as Kipketer finished 2 seconds ahead of him (1:42:57).

In 2002, they raced again in Monaco and Krummenacker was running head to head with Kipketer coming off the final turn. Krummenacker was debating making a move against the all-time great whom he greatly admired, but he hesitated for a split second and Kipketer made his move first and held it to the finish edging out Krummenacker (1:43.76 to 1:43.95) by less than 2 tenths of a second. But Krummenacker instead of being too upset, says he learned a valuable lesson, "That was my one lesson for the year, that I'll never hesitate again. Prior to him making the move, I was thinking and that split second hesitation cost me... That's one thing I tell everybody, if you feel it in a race don't hesitate."

Krummenacker has spent many an evening just sitting on his couch watching VHS tapes of old track races and the dominant runners of the past. 2 of his favorites are Said Aouita (who had great range from 800m to 5000m) and Noredine Morceli (arguably the world's greatest 1500m runner ever). "The way they ran and how dominant they were for that time (and length of time) is amazing," says Krummenacker.

Krummenacker is not watching these tapes just for amusement, he's watching them to pick up little tricks that can help him win races. He has talked to Aouita and in particular recalled a 1500m race where Aouita was going for the world record. With 500 meters to go, Aouita was completely dead and said he had nothing left. Instead of backing off to save energy for the finish, Krummenacker told us Aouita said he was thinking "I'm not going to make it and for that split second I closed my eyes and said I've got to fight and right there 500 meters to go I put a surge on and I got my rhythm back (and went on to break the world record)." As Krummenacker said, "It's not human to think of something like that". Then again the champions of the world are often not like the rest of us.

Similarly, Henry Rono, the Kenyan great who held world records from the 3,000 meter steeplechase to the 10,000m, who Krummenacker met when they both lived in New Mexico helped teach Krummenacker about winning races. Rono recounted to Krummenacker what he says was the "most incredible race" of his career a 10k showdown with American Alberto Salazar in 1982. Rono says he was not in great shape for the race, but had been invited to the race so Salazar could set the American record and at the same time beat him, the world record holder. Rono however despite not being in top fitness, says sometimes an athlete must refuse to lose. As Krummenacker recounted the story, "He was telling me 'Sometimes in your mind you have to just do things to convince yourself, to tell yourself I can win this race'". As Krummenacker said, with 200 meters to go Rono said he knew he was completely dead and had nothing left, so despite the fact he knew he was spent he decided to put in a surge and get ahead of Salazar to make him believe he was not dead. Rono believed if Salazar was ahead of him entering the final stretch, Rono would have no chance to win the race. And indeed Rono got ahead of Salazar, and even though Rono had nothing left, Salazar tightened up even more the final 100 meters trying to pass Rono and Rono was able to hold him off by the smallest of margins.

At David Krummenacker's level where fractions of a second can determine the fate of careers, Krummenacker believes these mental lessons are the most imortant ones. "These (the mental things) are the important things to running. Everyone can go out there and train hard, the mental aspect is really important... The little small nuances you don't really think about make such a huge difference when it comes to winning races."

And to David Krummenacker it all comes back to winning races. He may be the second fastest man in his house (Patrick Nduwimana is his roommate), the second fastest in his management group (Rich Kenah the assistant to his agent Mark Wetmore won 2 World Championship bronze medals (indoors and out) in 1997 and ran 1:43:38), and the 3rd or 4th fastest man currently in Tucson, but he's possesses a quality few have, the ability to win races versus the best of the world.

And what an ability it is.

Editor's note: Coming soon, more on David's training, more on his high school career, plus some interesting comments on Alan Webb, plus some more photos. For a preview of David Krummenacker's showdown with Bernard Lagat and Laban Rotich this weekend click here.