We Reveal The $ecrets of the Sport

LRC How To Turn Pro In Track & Field, Part I: Finding an Agent What happens between an athlete’s final NCAA race and their professional debut? From finding an agent to signing a contract, our three-part series tells you everything you need to know.
*MB: LRC Investigates: How To Turn Pro In Track & Field

Related: From The 2018 Archives: LRC Pro Runners’ Salaries: How Much Do Professional Runners Make? We Unveil One of The Sport’s Biggest Secrets

Women’s News of Note

• Foot Locker Champ Zofia Dudek Has Long-Term Vision For Track She wants to be competing in the middle of the summer – at World Juniors in Kenya – but is feeling good after taking 2 weeks off after xc.
• Saitama International Marathon to be discontinued The women’s elite race which was only 5 years old featured a $6.4 million budget but only 1 elite Japanese woman ran it last year as the pros didn’t like it as it was so hilly. Amateurs, however, love it and it may be brought back in 2021 as it’s one of Japan’s biggest races with 20,000 runners.
• What’s a week of training like with Team Boss (Joe Bosshard’s group)? Aisha Praught-Leer shares a week of her training The hard days are hard and include weights and the easy days are easy.
• How Katie Izzo has gone from breaking her tibia and fibula in 2016 to a 15:13 indoor 5000 for Arkansas Her pb for Cal Poly was 16:08
• Olivia Baker talks about her bittersweet 2019 campaign Her first year as a pro saw her finish 4th at USAs but she didn’t have the 2:00.60 standard which would have gotten her to Doha as Ajee won the DL. The Stanford grad now trains in Austin, TX where she has a running book club with Keturah Orji.
• After Making The 800m Final In Doha, Ce’Aira Brown Is Considering Doubling Up In The 800 And 1500 At The 2020 Trials “I’m with the 1500 girls on strength days and the 800 girls on speed days.”

Random Olympic News

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe claims Tokyo 2020 will mark new era for Japan just like it did in 1964 1964 marked the return to the world for Japan after WWII. In the final event of the Olympics, a 19-year old who was born in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb fell was the last person to finish the marathon.
• HJ star Maria Lasitskene lashes out at Russian federation as she’s fearing she’ll miss a 2nd straight Olympics We feel for her but what is the IAAF supposed to do when it came out recently that Russia “forged documents to justify a whereabouts violation by (men’s) high jumper Danil Lysenko.”
• What happens is an earthquake hits the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? The Japanese have a plan.
• It’s an Olympic year and two recent Oregon track and field grads are getting ready for the… 2022 winter Olympics Venessa D’Arpino and Spenser Schmidt have earned spots on the USA Bobsled and Skeleton.

Olympic / Admin News

• This Won’t Get Confusing For Local Viewers: Five Japanese Television Networks Will Take Turns Broadcasting Tokyo 2020, Rotating On A Daily Basis According to Kyodo News, the move is intended to counter the country’s national broadcasting organisation NHK.
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce becomes a brand ambassador for Visa, signs endorsement contract
• Pavel Kolobkov Steps Down From Role As Russian Sports Minister After Entire Russian Government Resigns The entire government resigned after President Vladimir Putin‘s annual state-of-the-nation address where he proposed several changes to the constitution.
  *Russian Government Resignation Throws Spotlight On Putin’s Succession Plans
• Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay to visit town near Fukushima declared no-go zone
• Safety Concerns Prompt Rio Judge To Order Closure Of Olympic Park
• Seb Coe Inaugurates New NACAC Headquarters In Nassau, The Bahamas

Looking Ahead

• February 19: Selemon Barega Announced The 3000m For The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais In Liévin, France Also announced is Orlando Ortega vs Pascal Martinot Lagarde in the 60H.
• The 2020 Diamond League By The Numbers The season will span 147 days, starting in April for the first time.

US Women’s Distance News

• Defending Trials Champ Amy Cragg Thought About Retiring After 2016, But Now She’s Happy, Healthy And Focused On Making The 2020 Olympic Team Cragg was struggling with extreme fatigue and only had two disappointing road results last year and hasn’t raced a marathon in two years. But now she’s refreshed and gotten up to 130 miles a week in training.
• Despite A Disappointing World Champs, Ajee Wilson Is Ready And Excited For The Olympic Year “I’ve matured over the years and my body style is getting used to this level of training. … I’m more passionate about what I’m doing; I’m definitely more appreciative of being able to do what I do.”
• Podcast Interview With Amy Yoder Begley Begley talks to Carrie Tollefson about her time with Alberto Salzar and NOP as well as her position at the Atlanta Track Club, where she’s coaching 7 athletes for the Marathon Trials.
• Shalane Flanagan Teams Up With Dogfish Head Beer To Launch Virtual Running Club

Pro Track Club Roster Additions

• Olympic 5,000m Hopeful Lauren Paquette Joins NAZ Elite Paquette was 4th in the 5,000m at 2018 USAs.
• Marathon Vet Maegan Krifchin (2:32:47 PR) And Recent Georgia Tech Grad Avery Bartlett Join Atlanta Track Club Elite

Shoe News

• Reuters: Why A Ban On The Vaporfly Could Boost Nike’s Bottom Line It would likely lead to an increased amount of sales among amateurs who wouldn’t be affected by the ban.
• Bloomberg: “Asics Runs Into Trouble As Athletes Opt For Nike’s Super-Shoe” Asics stock price has dropped and Nike is taking over areas where they normally reigned. At this year’s Hakone Ekiden 84% wore the Nike Vaporfly and the number of runners with Asics dropped to 7 from 51 a year earlier.
• The Guardian Says Nike Vaporflys Unlikely To Be Banned They report that the World Athletics working group met Wednesday and will announce their findings at the end of the month, but the issue remains under debate despite other headlines saying the shoes would be banned. It’s possible Eliud Kipchoge‘s AlphaFly could be banned, but not the Vaporfly.
• MB: Former marathon star Rob de Castella calls Vaporflys “ludicrous – it definitely needs to be addressed.”

Nike Vaporflys Getting Banned?

Eliud Kipchoge Responds: “It’s the person who is running, and not the shoes.” Kipchoge made the analogy to Formula One and said it’s Lewis Hamilton who does the driving, not Pirelli Tyres. However, we’re not sure Formula One is the best “sport” to compare as just about every aspect of the car has regulations that need to be strictly followed.

Reports Coming Out That World Athletics Is Going To Ban The Nike Vaporfly The issue being discussed is the foam and carbon-fiber sole which acts like a spring; new rules would limit sole thickness and the use of carbon plates. The ban would also apply to Nike’s new running spikes which were worn by Laura Muir to set the British indoor mile record last year (4:18.75). There’s no decision on whether records set before the shoes were banned (like Brigid Kosgei‘s 2:14:04) will be allowed to stand.
*The Times: “Nike’s Record Breaking Running Shoe To Be Banned” (article behind paywall)
*MB: Reports: Vaporfly to be banned

Better Running Shoes

LRC The 10 Most Popular Running Shoes On LetsRun.com Before we do our final call of shoe reviews in 2019, we decided to take a look at what shoes are the most popluar on LetsRun. Four shoe lines dominant, the Nike Pegasus, the Brooks Ghost, the HOKA Clifton and the Saucony Kinvara. These four might be a great place to start when looking for a new pair of shoes.