LRC Training Talk #6 With Craig Virgin Two-time World Cross-Country champion and two-time American record holder Craig Virgin joined us for Training Talk #6 and talked about a wide range of subjects, including his high school and college training, his time with Nike and Athletics West, racing 3 times in 4 days during a "front-loaded" career, and Jimmy Carter and the 1980 US Olympic Boycott that cost Virgin his best shot at an Olympic medal. Virgin is a true ambassador of US distance running and one of the greatest-ever US distance runners - whether you're looking for training advice, inspiration or entertainment, his stories and opinions are a must-hear.
LRC Nike Indoor Nationals Distance Race Photos With all the other action going on at NCAAs and Indoor Worlds, you can
catch up on the top HS action by enjoying some photos from Boston, where Emily Sisson and Megan Goethals had a record-breaking race in the girls 2-mile, Andrew Kostelac ran 1:50 for 800, and Alex Hatz ran an impressive 2:05-2:00 negative-split mile to beat Kirubel Erassa, who ran 14:19 2 days earlier.
*Alex Hatz Breaks Alan Webb's Meet Record At NIN Mile Sisson and Goethals both broke Jordan Hasay's 10:10 meet record.
Roads: NYC Half Marathon and L.A. Marathon This Sunday
*Always Entertaining: NYRR Does Piece On Famiglietti Before His First Half Marathon
Also, thanks to NYRR, you can read interviews with Haile Gebrselassie, Mara Yamauchi and Deena Kastor.
*Brief Chat With Mara Yamauchi
*Los Angeles: Wesley Korir Story
LRC The Week That Was Last week was an amazing one for track and field fans, as you had World Indoors and NCAAs taking place on the same days. We're not going to recap the meet again,
but instead we talk about interesting tidbits like new world-record-holder in the 1,000m heptathlon - Curtis Beach, unheralded "world champions" from the NCAA meet, -200 degrees performance-enhancing cryotherapy chambers, the drug-free L.A. marathon
(as in you're free to use
drugs), and our performance of the week ... and it's not by who you think it is.
Interesting Reactions To Doha
South
African Athletics Rep: Qatar "Becoming More Westernized" By Accepting
Female Athletes, Female Spectators At Major Sporting Event Interesting observation.
Charles van Commenee Huffing And Puffing About British Failure In Doha - Will Raise Qualification Standards They King Charles wanted 5 medals and got 4.
<<<Paper: Ethiopians Net A Goal On Kenyans At World Indoors The Kenyans had the upper
hand last summer in Berlin but are not
happy to see Ethiopians score a bunch of distance golds in Doha (Kenya didn't win a single event).
Coaches: Show These Articles To Your Runners Who Put Too Much Pressure On Themselves
*Tough To Win All The Time: Isinbayeva May Take A Break Notice in the press that Isinbayeva "failed" and "lost" and "blew it" in Doha. When you're expected to win all the time, the sport can become terribly hard to deal with. Left is a photo of an attempt
that Isinbayeva failed despite clearing the bar by about 2 feet.
*Good Interview With Blanka Vlašić Vlašić, who sooner or later will get the HJ world record, has put together some clutch performances after being seen as a "choker" at major championships.
IAAF And Political Mumbo Jumbo
*IAAF Wants US 2004 Oly 4 x 4 Women's Team Stripped Of Gold
*London, Beijing And Poland Bid For 2015 Outdoor Worlds New York City (NYRR) is trying to get the half marathon champs to the US in 2012.
*IAAF
Organizers Of 2011 Worlds In Daegu Announce
Plans To Get People Excited About Track The plans sound totally ridiculous (announcing the mascot is one of the 3 points). Not to be whiny, but how about having the meet on our side of the planet?
Worlds Coverage
*LRC Recaps: *Day 3 *Day 2 *Day 1 Men/Women
*All-Athletics Lists Formula-Based Top 10 Performances For Males And Females From Doha Jessica Ennis #1 female, Teddy Tamgho #1 male.
*Video Of Lagat's 3,000m Win
*Over-Confident Isinbayeva Contemplating Time Off When you're the world athlete of the decade, you are ridiculed every time you lose. Take a vacation and come back and break the world record.
*Aggressive Jenny Meadows Beaten By Savinova, Who Ran 52.0 This Season Meadows has now lowered Kelly Holmes' indoor record twice and medaled at Worlds twice.
Athletics Kenya - Chill Out!
- Jamaica Not Worried About Only 2 Worlds Medals ... because they're not worried about indoors. This is the team everybody was saying is better than the US just a few months ago.
- Kenya Athletics Boss Irate With Kenyan Peformance At Worlds AK bosses as usual are over-reacting. Kenya could only afford to send 6 athletes to Doha, they still came back with 4 medals, and the organization is talking about changing the whole system and taking more control over the athletes. Ted Williams is the only man in over 50 years to bat .400 and the Kenyans aren't happy with batting .667.
NCAA Indoor Championships: Florida And Oregon! *Day 2 Results *Day 1 Results *Day 2 Recaps Men/Women *Day 1 Men/Women
LRC Men's Day 2: Deja Vu For Wheating, Andrews And Emanuel Saturday was a day for the history buffs, as Andrew Wheating's indoor frustration continued, Robby Andrews' unbeaten streak continued, Lee Emanuel again dominated the mile ... and then there was Dorian Ulrey making history with his first NCAA title. Hats off to the team champions, the speedy Florida
Gators, who won fairly easily over Oregon.
More: Virginia Frosh Robby Andrews Upsets Andrew Wheating And Remains Undefeated
World Cross-Country Is Going To Be A Muddy Mess
Polish National Women Take Nearly Half An Hour To Run Muddy, Snowy 8km World XC Course The best women's XC runners in Poland could barely cover the course that will be used for Worlds in under 6:00/mile.
US World XC Team Officially Announced With Dathan Ritzenhein out, the only realistic US chance for a medal lies with Shalane Flanagan. Check out the rest of the senior and junior teams, as it's a significant accomplishment for all of those folks.
The Runners That Inspire Us ...
- Recommended Read: Pat Butcher Remembers Runner Miguel Sánchez
Miguel Sánchez was one of the "Disappeared" Argentinians, a silent victim of a violent political climate in 1978. Sanchez, a nationally-respected athlete/poet, is celebrated by races that remember his death at the hands of political violence. Writer Pat Butcher reproduces a poem by Sanchez titled Para vos atleta - or, in English: For You Athlete. An artful read. - Sad News: UCLA Olympic Medalist Wayne Collett Dies At Age 60 Cancer took Collett's life.
- Article On Walk On Redshirt Freshman Andy Bayer Of Indiana University Bayer has gone from a walk-on to 3rd place at the NCAA D1 indoor 3,000 by his redshirt freshman year.
... & The Coaches Who Get The Most From Us
Dumble (Arizona State), Johnson (Oregon) Named National Assistant Coaches Of The Year In DI Congratulations to these guys. David Dumble coaches the throwers at Arizona St., including Ryan Whiting, who threw over 7 feet farther than any other thrower at NCAAs and eclipsed the 70' mark. Robert Johnson's sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers at Oregon helped lead the Duck women to a national title, while head coach Vin Lananna had to stay home with medical concerns.
Diamond In The Rough - Videos Of Some Of Henry Rono's Greatest Races
Do Any Videos Of Henry Rono Exist? Thanks to a couple of LRC visitors, you can now watch Henry Rono races from 30 years ago on YouTube in some of the most amazing running performances you will ever see.
*Link To Videos
The Rage - Barefoot Running Discussion
The Science Of Sport - Q&A On Barefoot Running Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 *Part 4 Almost every day, we answer questions from friends and acquaintances about the barefoot running push. Our friends at Science of Sport are hosting a lengthy discussion of the topic.
The Road Back From Injury
Aussie Jeff Riseley Beats Nick Willis At 800m In Front Of Partisan New Zealand Crowd
Nick Willis' comeback from a hip injury suffered in 2009 continues to be up and down, as he lost to Jeff Riseley for the 2nd time in a row, this time 1:47 to 1:48 in front of a home crowd in Christchurch.
Despite Progress And Support, Achilles Continues To Hamper Liu Xiang
All of China wants to see Liu back in top form, but he says he is full of energy except in his surgically repaired foot. Liu managed to make the indoor WC final last weekend.
Latest Track Talk From The Boards
- Bolt Getting $300k to Run 300m
- Solinsky Steeple at Stanford
- Anyone know if Webb is racing this upcoming season?
- Brojos' D1 Bias
We've Been Looking Forward To These All Weekend - Worlds Photos
LRC Day 3 Photos From Worlds 4 x 4 photos, Women's 800, 1,500; Men's Triple Jump, 60h, 3,000, more.
*LRC Day 2 Photos From Doha Men's 1,500, Women's 3,000, much more ...
*LRC Day 1 Photos From Doha Preliminary rounds: see most of the Americans in action.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
*New All LRC 2010 Photo Galleries Displayed Here PhotoRun's photos are usually our favorite visual treat of the week.
A Peek At Upcoming Action
Story Of How Haile Turned Down His Father's Wishes To Become A Runner - Haile Runs In NY This Weekend
Who doesn't love the Haile G story? See him compete in New York this weekend in the NYC Half Marathon against some of the US best (though Meb Keflezighi had to pull out).
Ruben Ramolefi Hopes To Break South African Steeple Record A little press for a steepler pushing the limits.
Also: LA Marathon Is Sunday (Link to our Week That Was where we talk about the LA Marathon) We love the Wesley Korir story but don't like that L.A. has no drug testing.
The Robby Andrews Section
Robby Andrews' Win Gets Nice Article From NJ.com When you're undefeated and you beat an Olympian at NCAAs in your freshman year, you get your own section on LetsRun.com for a day ... Vig, don't let it go to his head.
*LRC LetsRun.com's Take On Robby Andrews/Andrew Wheating Duel We Employee #1 predicted the Andrews win.
*LRC Final Day Recaps: Men / Women *Day 1 Men / Women
*Jason Vigilante Talks About His Pupil Robby Andrews Flotrack
International Wire
LRC: Photos From Yuri Kano's Win In Nagoya Intl Women's Half Marathon
*More Yuri Kano Defeates NYC Marathon Champ Derartu Tulu At Nagoya 2:27 To 2:28 Kano fell in New York last year when Tulu upset Paula Radcliffe.
*Patrick Makau Breaks 1 Hour In Half Marathon For 9th Time, Wins Along With Pauline Wangui In The Hague
*Results From Japanese University Half Marathon Champs It took 63:30 to get top 8.
Both NCAA Mile Champs Hail From Britain Charlotte Browning (UFlorida) and Lee Emanuel (UNM) have both come to the US and thrived.