Rojo Speaks
Rojo Speaks: Support For Ryan Hall And The Role Of A Coach Rojo is back with a column in support of Ryan Hall's coaching
change and he tells you quite a few things. He tells you how many seconds a coach is worth, even talks about Roger Clemens and has some good points. A highlight: "Now that Hall has left the MTC, lots of people are
throwing out names as to who he should get guidance from. I haven't read
a single person mention the name Andy Gerard - the head guy at
George Mason. That doesn't surprise me, as his cross teams at George
Mason aren't all that great. But the fact of the matter is when Gerard
succeeded the masterful recruiter Vin Lananna at Stanford, Gerard orchestrated one of the finest performances in NCAA history. If Stanford had lined up against the entire rest of the NCAA in the
team scoring, the score would have been Stanford 24, Rest of the NCAA
Teams 31."
NYC 1.5 Weeks Away
- Good Read: Simon Bairu Blogs In Depth On NY Times About Wisco, Schumacher, Shalane Flanagan And Training For NYC
- Tim Nelson Talks About Doing 18-Mile Tempo Runs While Training For The 10k, Being Conservative In Races And More On NYC
Vin Lananna Looking For 5th Man: "I feel really good about our top three or four guys."
Sprint/Hurdle News
- Marion Jones Book Tour Begins
In Interview To Pump Book, Jones Still Insists She Unknowingly Took PEDs If that's true, she has to be the dumbest person on the planet. Buy her book here. - Thank Goodness IOC Ignores Jessica Ennis' Request To Space Out Heptathlon And 100 Meter Hurdles So She Could More Easily Double We say thank goodness because her 100m hurdle PR would make her only the 17th-fastest performer of 2010.
- Sally Pearson Will Only Hurdle At Major Championships Crazy to think at age 24, she's that injury prone.
Non Marathon Weekend Action
BUPA 10-Miler: World XC Champ Joseph Ebuya Beats Benson Masya's 15-Year-Old UK Record To Win BUPA Great South Run Benson Masya was one of our favorite runners and used to be featured on the monthly television show Running and Racing.
*Steve Jones-Coached Freya Murray Surprises With 52:27 10-Miler At Bupa Great South Run She's now the 2nd-fastest Scot of all time. She beat the pre-race hyped Stephanie Twell.
Mayor's Cup XC: Jon Phillips And Kate Dicamillo Win 2010 Mayors Cup Cross-Country Races
Rock N Roll LA: 49-Year-Old Linda Somers Smith Wins Inaugural 2010 Dodge Rock 'N' Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon 12,000 runners and a 49-year-old doing a training run for NY got the win by 3 minutes.
Rupp
Now Married & Settled Into New Home, Galen Rupp Hoping Focus On Strength, Not Speed, Will Pay Off Big Time In 2011 LRC visitors should write this sentence down and use it as their only training mantra: "Looking back, I wasn't
doing as much (strength work) as I should have been. I did lots of speed stuff, but without strength it's useless." That being said, many LRC vistiors may be horrified to learn that for Rupp, strength doesn't just mean mileage - it also means weights - and Rupp has gained several pounds of muscle in his upper body.
Update Ryan Hall To Be Self-Coached, Will Train In Various Locations (link fixed) Ryan says over the years he has "developed a keen body awareness, which I will use on a daily basis, as well as advice
from various experts, and prayer
to ultimately shape my training." Ex-coach Terrence Mahon would not comment publicly at this time but may later. *Joe Battaglia: What The Heck Is Hall Thinking?
Random/Interesting Non-Running But Running-Related Sports News
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All The News That Is Barely Fit To Print
British Barmaid Spills Beans On Year-Long Affair With Usain Bolt Apparently Bolt doesn't suffer from the same problems as LaShawn Merritt, as the heartbroken lady says Mr. Bolt was the best lover she ever had.
Ridiculous Read Of The Day
One Of The Most Popular Stories On Kenya's Daily Nation Site Is A Story Entitled "The Secret To Our Happy Marriage" About A Man Who Has A Totally Sexist Constitution For His Marriage The rules insist his wife stick to the traditional roles of "preparing food, washing clothes and dishes as well as farming," that she worship the religion of his choosing and that she not travel without his permission.
Train Smarter
- What is the purpose of 12x400?
- best way to do strides
- Meltdown during a sub 3 marathon try
- More in our training forum.
Recommended Read Fantastic Profile Of Josphat Menjo - The Man Who Soloed 12:55 And 26:56 This Summer Some old schoolers may be horrified to realize their hero credits much of his breakthrough to a weight and stretching regimen.
Detailed Look At Chilean Miner Who Ran Up To 8k A Day To Improve his fitness, he pulled a cart behind him.
Trackfocus: Don't Underestimate Portland - They May Be Nearly As Good As Oregon And Stanford They didn't race one of their studs at Pre-NCAAs.
Good News Berlin Marathon Is Now The BMW Berlin Marathon
Honoring Some Legends Of The Sport
- 42 Years Ago This Week, John Carlos And Tommie Smith Protested At 1968 Olympics The article is the original article that ran in the Guardian newspaper 42 years ago.
- James Fuchs, Former World Record Holder In The Shot Put And Yalie, Dies New York Times Fuchs was friends with George Steinbrenner and invented the slide technique.
Weekend Marathons
Largely Unknown Ethiopian Getu Feleke Runs 2:05:44 In Amsterdam In ideal conditions, Feleke lowered his PR from 2:08:04 to 2:05:44. Wilson Chebet, who was the runner-up at Falmouth in August, was the runner-up on Sunday with the 2nd-fastest debut in history at 2:06:12. Finishing 4th in his debut
at 2:07:29 was Abreham Cherkos Feleke, who ran 12:54 at age 16.
*Bib #3294 Pulls Stunner In Baltimore Declined travel expenses by the race organizers, David Rutoh stunned himself by winning first and $23,000 with a 2:13 win.
*2:10/2:27 Wins In Istanbul
*2:09:13/2:32:09 Wins In Korea
*Michael Aish Wins In Denver In 2:30
Congrats To Alan And Julia
NCAA XC Pre-Nats
Pre-NCAAs Pre-NCAAs is all about one thing: at-large points for teams and with its 4 races, it is super-confusing for XC fans out there. The one thing we're taking away this year is that the top 3 on the Stanford men are very, very good. If you want to know how things stand in NCAA XC after Pre-Nats try this thread or this
one. Results below. More Pre-Nats coverage here.
Results:
Men Blue Team: #1 Stanford Crushes Iona, FSU, Depleted NAU Team
Individual: Stanford's Top 3 Finish Together 1-2-3 Faster Than Anyone Else On The Day
Men White Team: Martin Smith's #16 Oklahoma Chocks #4 Colorado, #8 Portland
Individual: Sam Chelanga Cruises As Expected
Women Blue Team: #3 Florida State Over #6 Arizona
Individual: Risper Kimaiyo Of UTEP Wins By 5 Seconds Over Alex Banfich Of Princeton
Women White Team: #5 Georgetown Over #9 Colorado
Individual: Lucy Van Dalen Of Stony Brook Over Laura Tremblay Of Colorado
Oregon Bill Dellinger *Results And Message Board Thread The Oregon women dominated. The men beat Wisconsin but Wisconsin sat their #1 runner.
*Oregonian Recap
Chile Pepper
LRC Message Board: OSU wins Chile Pepper Invite with first 4 going 1-4! Arkansas and Indiana, both in the top 10, were present.
Penn State: #1 Villanova Women Win *Men's Results
NYC Is 3 Weeks Away
WSJ: It's Time For Women To Run Faster The article looks at how the Boston qualifying times are way softer for women than men.
Better Late Than Never
LRC Week In Review: Geb Vs. Wanjiru This week saw one of the greatest marathons we've ever witnessed with Sammy Wanjiru battling mano-a-mano with Tsegaye Kebede at Chicago for not only the Chicago title but also the $500,000 prize for the World Marathon Majors
title. Wanjiru is the best marathoner in the world in our book and we compare his performances to Haile Gebrselassie's. Plus
a look at the Commonwealth Games and more.
RIP Antonio
Antonio Pettigrew's Death Ruled A Suicide He reportedly took a bottle of sleeping pills. He also reportedly told his wife to pray for him the day before his body was found. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Can USATF Be Trusted To Get It Right?
- USATF Set To Name Man Whose Team Was Next To Last At ACCs As Olympic Coach 18 points over 21 events at ACCs is apparently enough to get Andrew Valmon the Olympic head job. We guess it's not that big of a deal since the US coach does little more than babysit, but it's certainly surprising. In 2009, Maryland scored 21 points, in 2008, they had 54 and in 2007 they had 30.
- USATF Officially Begins Search For Doug Logan's Successor
Week In Review
LRC The Week That Was Ryan Hall's big move, Doug Logan's law$uit and his contract with USATF being revealed, and LaShawn Merritt's ban being handed down. We've got it all covered plus some great quotes from Steve
Jones and Galen Rupp.
LRC NCAA XC Polls
LRC NCAA Super Polls: Stanford And Villanova Reign Supreme On the men's side, Stanford and Oklahoma State distanced themselves from #3 Oregon. On the women's side, Villanova remains the #1 favorite. We break it down and give you the LRC Fans' Conference Predictions.
Bolt
- Usain Bolt Back Training 100% And Healthy (Plus A Picture Of Him Riding A Camel)
- Bolt Book Getting Good Reviews In Jamaica You can buy it here.
Olympic Marathon Medallists In The News
- NYC Marathon Champ Meb Keflezighi Talks About Ryan Hall's Departure And Haile G Meb is more than aware of how good Haile G is.
- 2004 Olympic Marathon Champ Mizuki Noguchi's Comeback Begins She did well her in first race in almost 2.5 years, running 10.5 km in 34:15.
- And Someone Who'd Love To Be A Medallist
After Nearly Missing London Because Of Volcanic Eruption, Mara Yamauchi Going To NY (NJ) Two Weeks Early Someone needs to tell her there aren't any active volcanoes between Albuquerque and New Jersey.
Group Funded By NFL And USOC Donates $1.3 Million To Study Blood Spinning
Random News From Europe
*Nordic XC Champs Recap
*Belarus XC Champs Recap
*Slovenian Prime Minister's Office Issues Release Saying Olympic Hammer Champ Is Back & Out Of Retirement
Weekend Marathon Action
Dublin: Dublin Marathon Goes Sub-2:09 For 1st Time 2:26 won the women's race.
Casablanca: 3 Break 2:10
Korea: Bejamin Kiptoo Throws Down Hammer From 35k To 40k To Win Chuncheon Marathon In Record 2:07:54 Deriba Merga apparently dropped out.
Venice: Fall In Final 400m Determines Outcome Of Venice Marathon The marathon finished with the runners crossing 13 bridges to get in the center of Venice. Wonder if the fatigure from the turns caused the fall.
Beijing: Gena Siraj Pulls Away From Gert Thys In Final Km To Win Rain-Soaked Beijing Marathon In Slow 2:15
Drugs, Drugs, Drugs
- Phil Hersh: Merritt Faces Confederacy Of Dunces: "He can run in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials but not in the 2012 Olympics. It's an impossibly absurd situation that owes to the confusing and conflicting welter of rules and jurisdictions in the fight against sports doping."
- Coe Has No Problems With Banning Merritt From 2012 Meanwhile, banned Brit C. Ohuruohu is the 2008 400 Champ.
- Nine Australian Athletes All Test Positive For Methylhexaneamine It's a recently-banned drug that is often found in nasal decongestants but may have come in some sort of energy supplement this time. *Australians In No Hurry To Reveal Names *4 Rugby League Players Are On List
- Russia Promises "Zero-Tolerance" In Buildup To 2014 Winter Games Given their track record, the promise is almost laughable.
Only In Europe
Seb Coe: "It Is Illegal To Sell An Olympic Ticket And We Will Enforce This Rigorously"
*London 2012 Official Hedging On Promise To Pay For All Athletes And Officials Airfare Now they'll only pay a certain amount, which apparently is going to screw the poor countries.
LRC Exclusives Galore
LRC Exclusive: Doug Logan Sue$ USATF: The Details Of His Law$uit And Employment Contracts The
lawsuit has already resulted in the release of Doug Logan's two employment contracts with USATF and we've got the dirty details for you.
The caviar, the first class flights, the $500,000 offered severance - read all about it (the caviar and first class flights are a joke).
LRC Legal Correspondent Matt Lane: "RULE 45": Is LaShawn Merritt Banned From The London 2012 Olympics? 11-time NCAA All-American and 4th place finisher at the 2000 Olympic Trials, Matt Lane, has graciously shared his legal knowledge with us and takes on the IOC's attempt
to ban LaShawn Merritt from the 2012 Olympics.
Recommended Read 25 Years Later, Steve Jones Still Has British Marathon Record The Welshman isn't happy to still have it as he says, "I'm sad that I've still got the British marathon record because you want to see the sport move on." The article is full of great quotes as Jones rips charity marathoners.
Performance Of The Month - Kara Goucher Already Has Lost 27 Pounds & Will Be Up To 50 Miles A Week Next Week Remarkable considering her baby was born less than a month ago (9/24).
LRC Week That Was: Unspoiled Kenyans, High Mileage Success, Wilson Kiprop And Menjo And The Knights We go behind the scenes to cover the last week in the running world. We take a look at Stefano Baldini's lifetime mileage, our beloved Menjo, Wilson Kiprop and more.
Something We Missed From Last Weekend
9 Break 28:00 In Japan Seven of them were Kenyan, but it's impressive nonetheless.
David Torrence Talks About His 2010 Season Torrence is only moderately satisfied with the year as while he ran 3:34, he failed to run well at the indoor or outdoor USA finals.
Sponsorship News
- New Balance Steps Up and Becomes Title Sponsor Of Falmouth The New Balance Falmouth road race is one of the country's most historic.
- Caster Semenya Finding It Hard To Find Sponsors Apparently a group of fans are trying to raise her $143,600 by December. We can see why shoe companies would be scared - she's controversial and unproven since her comeback.
He Said / She Said: Question Now Is Will Merritt Be Eligible In 2012?
LRC Legal Correspondent Matt Lane: "RULE 45": Is LaShawn Merritt Banned From The London 2012 Olympics? 11-time NCAA All-American and 4th place finisher at the 2000 Olympic Trials, Matt Lane, has graciously shared his legal knowledge with us and takes on the IOC's attempt to ban LaShawn Merritt from the 2012 Olympics.
More NYC News
- After A Busy Year, Meb Still Confident In His Running
- Two-Time NCAA XC Champ Simon Bairu Blogs For The NY Times About His Incredible Life Journey Remembering that Bairu was a 2-time champ makes us wonder how in the world Wisco didn't win more team titles with the likes of Bairu, Solinsky, Tegenkmap, Withrow. Anyone remember when Solinsky was 73rd?
- Mary Wittenberg Says Elites Can Push Through Pain Better Rojo disagrees and thinks they are just in way better shape.
- Blake Russell, Antonio Vega And Rosaria Console Withdraw From ING NYC Marathon
- Tyson Gay Excited To Go Watch Haile G In New York and Party In Las Vegas We're not sure what he'll do in Vegas actually as he doesn't drink and doesn't gamble very much.
VOTE NOW FOR IAAF AOY Christian Cantwell, Bernard Lagat, Tyson Gay and David Oliver are the Americans in the running on the men's side, while Allyson Felix is the only American woman. *Jessica Ennis On Short List For AOY
Merritt
(link fixed) Updated:
LaShawn Merritt Gets 21-Month Drug Suspension, Panel Rules He Was Trying to Have Better Sex,
Not Dope Panel
Rules IOC Can't Ban Him From Olympics 3wiresports.com blog above goes beyond the BBC news story we had up earlier. And you might want to read the decision itself. A 7-11 clerk testified she would sell Merritt lottery tickets and jungle juice and later he would come back for condoms and ExtenZe (a male enhancement product). Merritt gets a 21-month ban.
Different Type Of Running News
- 87-Year-Old Congressman Says If His Opponent Beats Him In A Mile Race, He'll Withdraw Of course he's from Texas. If you're interested in Congressmen and their running, read this separate story. Anyone know what Hall can run for a mile? Email us.
- Army Vet Mike Ehredt Finishes 4,425-Mile Across-The-Country Run, Planting An American Flag Every Mile Mike's blog chronicling his run can be found here.
NYC Is Less Than 3 Weeks Away
WSJ: Meb Excited To Defend His NYC Title As An American *LRC MBoard Talk About Meb Article
*NY Times Looks At Mary Wittenberg's Busy Sunday Routine She - like Wejo - is a former Marine Corps marathon winner.
*Christelle Daunah Sets French National Record 68:34 In Reims As She Prepares For NYC Translated from French.
News You Might Have Missed: NY Times Profile On Ritz And His Preparations For NYC A lot of detail on Alberto's fixation on changing Ritz's stride and the extent Nike goes to keep him healthy. Ritz also smartly downplays his fitness and chances, "I wouldn’t count myself out of winning, but I’m not going to think that
I’m going to win and it’s a failure otherwise."
*Shalane Flanagan A Bit Scared By Marathon Distance Good to see the first marathon scares all the greats except for Rexing and Menjo. New York Times
2010 World Half Marathon Championships *Results/Team Results
Men's Race: Zersenay Tadese Is Human After All His drive for five straight world titles was upended by Kenya's Wilson Kiprop. The 59:33 PR guy defeated Tadese, who got the silver, by 4 seconds. Tadese walked across the finish line and was limping soon thereafter. He had to be helped up the awards stand. The US men, led by Sean Quigley (63:23), were 6th.
*Women's: Favorite Florence Kiplagat Takes Down Dire Tune In Last 800 The US women, led by Stephanie Rothstein (73:37), were 7th.
*Kenyans Overcame 40-Hour Trip To Nanning, China Whoever planned the trip should be fired.
Pre-Race: Men's Race Preview - Tadese Drives For Five
*Women's Race Preview Florence Kiplagat, the 2009, World XC champ, is the favorite.
Interesting Distance News
Jim Ryun Ran High School XC Races Barefoot Including the state meet in snow. Minimalism definitely the key to sub-4:00 miles in high school.
Recommended Read NY Times Looks At Why Tommie Smith Is Selling His Medal
Oregon-Related News
- Andrew Wheating Dreams Big As He Tries To Finish College 13 credits shy of his degree, Wheating will not run indoors this year.
- Rupp Haters Only Wish They Had This When Galen Was In Eugene
Oregon To Wear Pink Singlets To Raise Awareness For Breast Cancer
