March 19, 2020 | LetsRun.com

Mike Smith Lifts The Veil On Galen Rupp’s Training

LRC Mike Smith Q&A Part II: On Choosing To Coach Galen Rupp, “Defending The Process,” & Rupp’s Human Side Smith said that he was careful not to let preconceived notions cloud his judgment when deciding whether to work with Rupp. “The second we abandon our critical thinking or our process with this stuff … I worry about that.”
*MB: Mike Smith Part II: Smith explains why he agreed to work with Galen Rupp

LRC Mike Smith Q&A, Part I: On Galen Rupp’s Commitment, Restructuring His Training & That 24 X 400 Workout
*MB: Mike Smith lifts the veil on Galen Rupp’s training and talks about what makes him great

IOC – Please, Do NOT Panic and Cancel Prematurely

Virus, what virus? Tokyo Olympics organisers under scrutiny over their unwillingness to either postpone or cancel the summer Games in response to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world. We’re glad they haven’t panicked. There is no reason to prematurely act when it seems likely the coronavirus will be very much on the downswing worldwide long before the Olympics. Today, less than 2 months after the Wuhan quarantine was enacted, there were zero new cases in Wuhan.
Seb Coe says no decision on Olympics needs to be made now but admits”anything is possible” We’re agree with Coe – there is zero reason to make a decision until the end of April. It would be very uplifting to have the world unite in July after so much sadness.
Sport Ireland CEO And Former Olympic Medalist John Treacy Calls For Tokyo 2020 To Be Postponed Treacy points out that for athletes who haven’t already qualified, they might not have a chance to and it’s hard to plan their peak. He calls the situation “ridiculous.”
Under what grounds could the Olympics be cancelled? The IOC can withdraw the organisation of the Games from the host city “if the safety of the participants is seriously threatened”.
Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister claims Olympics are “cursed” every 40 years He’s got a good point as the 1940 Games were cancelled, 1980 games were boycotted and now Covid-19.
Olympic flame officially passed to Tokyo 2020 in Athens Swimming Olympian Naoko Imoto received the flame on behalf of Tokyo 2020 at a shortened ceremony in Athens.

European News

Apparently Two-Time Olympic HJ Champ Blanka Vlasic Isn’t Retired Yet She hasn’t competed at all since winning Olympic bronze in 2016 due to Achilles tendon problems, but says she still wants to make a comeback, although it won’t be for Tokyo 2020.
European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen Hospitalized With Stroke He’s in the intensive care unit at a local hospital.
*Seb Coe Expresses Concern For His Longtime Colleague And Friend, Svien Arne Hansen
Greek Javelin Thrower Loannis Kyriaziz Gets 4-Year Doping Ban Slovenian javelin thrower Martina Ratej also got a provisional suspension based on re-testing from the 2012 London Olympics where she finished 7th.
European Athletics Looks Back At The Inaugural European Indoor Championships In 1970 They were held in Vienna in March.
Dina Asher-Smith Wins British Ethnic Diversity Sports Award

Will There Be A Tokyo 2020?

IOC Rules Out Staging Tokyo Olympics Behind Closed Doors A couple of inside sources said that having the Olympics without spectators “is not an option.”
Australian Track Coach Nick Bideau Predicts That The Olympics Will Be Postponed Because The World’s Athletes Won’t Be Ready He says athletes in every sport won’t be able to compete in a full season leading up to the Games and many athletes won’t even had a chance to qualify. Bideau predicts a 12-month delay. *2nd Article
Sports Illustrated Opinion Piece: Staging the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as Planned Seems Unrealistic Michael Rosenberg makes some good points about why it’s going to be very hard to actually pull off.
British Mid-D Runner Guy Learmonth Calls On IOC To Postpone Tokyo 2020 “We have no idea how bad this is going to get, and what we have seen so far might be the tip of the iceberg.”
John Coates Says There Is No Deadline For Olympic Decision, Despite Earlier Statements By Dick Pound Saying The IOC Must Make A Call By May
IOC To Hold Teleconference With International Federations To Discuss Coronavirus Pandemic The topic at hand is how coronavirus is affecting the actual qualification for the Games across all sports.
IOC Member John Coates Says The IOC Is Not Downplaying The Coronavirus Challenge Coates said he himself is self-isolating for two weeks.
Japanese And British Prime Ministers Agree To Cooperation Over Coronavirus

Not Cancelled … Yet

The 2020 Olympic Trials Are Still On For Hayward Field In June, But Ticket Sales Have Been Suspended Some tickets have been sold and if the event is cancelled, those will be refunded.
*USATF And TrackTown USA Statements
Drake Relays Still On Schedule …For Now The meet and Grand Blue Mile are still scheduled for April 22-25.
No Decision Yet On The Penn Relays

Caster Semenya Shooting For Tokyo 200m

Caster Semenya Switches To The 200m In Bid To Qualify For Tokyo 2020 Semenya’s PR is 24.26, but she did run an unofficial 23.49 at a low-key meet on Friday. The Olympic qualifying standard is 22.80.
*MB: Semenya switching to the 200
*Previous MB: What event/sport will Caster Semenya be competing in at Tokyo 2020?

Caster Semenya Says She’s “Supernatural” As She Pursues 200m Olympic Qualifying Time “We are chopping the times and I call myself supernatural. I can do anything I want.”

No NCAAs In 2020

MB: NCAA Cancels Indoors AND Outdoors

NCAA Cancels Remaining Winter And Spring Championships Due To Coronavirus Concerns This page is updated with the latest official coronavirus news and announcements from the NCAA.
Arkansas “Stunned” By NCAA Cancellation Arkansas men’s coach Chris Bucknam said, “It’ll sink in, I’m sure, in a few more hours. Right now I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around it.”
Mt. SAC Relays Canceled, But There Still Could Be A No-Spectator Elite Meet
Texas Relays Cancelled
The Oregonian: Coronavirus Scrubs Oregon Senior James West’s Hopes For NCAA Champs West had big hopes for NCAAs after breaking the 1,500m collegiate record two weeks ago, but now is afraid he may have run his last race for Oregon.

Coronavirus Talk

Podcast: Cancel Everything Running Related?! Listen to the best track and field running podcast on the planet which was recorded Wednesday before everything was actually cancelled.

Coronavirus Cancels Two Big HS Meets – 1 In Jamaica

US HS NBIN Are Cancelled
Coronavirus Strikes Again: Jamaican CHAMPS Are Cancelled After Country Sees Its 2nd Positive
Scientist Explains Why Running A Marathon Will Increase Your Odds Of Getting Coronavirus After a marathon, your immune system is compromised for a short while.
More Important Administrative News Seb Coe And World Athletics Gets Tough With Russia – Fines Them $10 Million, Says Only 10 Neutral Athletes Can Compete In Tokyo

More Shoes / Trials

Rojo Speaks It’s Official: Nike’s Vaporfly Shoe Technology And World Athletics’ Shoe Rules Have Ruined The Marathon (At Least Temporarily) The Olympic Trials and the first 3 super-elite marathons of 2020 show one thing: shoes really matter and they are creating an uneven playing field in the sport.

More LRC Exclusives

Our Weekly Podcast LRC Coronavirus Shuts Down Racing, But Not The Running World Podcast Listen to the best track and field running podcast on the planet and find out how much Wejo got paid to pace Paula R to her WR, who will do better under their new coach – Tom Brady or Galen Rupp, and learn how Covid-19 will impact the marathons. Could it actually result in Scott Fauble or Jared Ward winning a major?

Our Weekly Recap WTW The 2020 Boston Marathon Is Going To Be HOT, Caster Semenya Vs. Luke Wilson, And Will The Coronavirus Result In Eliud Kipchoge Debuting In New York This Fall? This week we take a look at Covid-19’s impact on the running world and wonder how hot it will be Boston and wonder if it might actually result in Eliud Kipchoge debuting in New York this fall. Plus what do actor Luke Wilson‘s HS track exploits tell us about Caster Semenya‘s Olympic 200 dreams?

The Latest Covid-19 Related News

Des Moines Register: Drake Relays director Blake Boldon is still optimistic the 2020 Drake Relays can be held despite postponement “What I know is that the Olympics are currently planned the U.S. Olympic trials are currently planned along with many national championships around the world with the hope of preparing athletes for international competition. So, while that hope still exists, I have confidence that there are athletes that are training at more than 250 Division I schools across the country with the hope of competing. And if we are able to provide that opportunity, it will be a tremendously exciting and historic day at the Drake Relays.”
NCAA Athletes Unlikely To Receive to Receive Extra Year of Indoor Eligibility Seniors in the spring sports are expected to get an extra year of outdoors.
*USTFCCCA Calling For Winter/Spring Eligibility For NCAA Athletes They also don’t want these students’ scholarships to count against a school’s limit.
Ciarán ó Lionáird: An Open Letter To Runners During The Covid-19 Pandemic His free training tip, “Through my career, I learned that healthy repetition is the greatest single determinant of long term success in endurance running. Find what works, then do it again, and again, and again.”
Athletics Australia cancels all competitions until May 1st
Dyestat profile of Rebecca Mehra – the 2:02/4:08 runner who went viral – after buying groceries for an 80 year old couple scared of Covid-19
And A Good Non-Coronavirus Story RR Running store manager reflects on her 36 years in the business at Lincoln Running Company “We have seen so much change at the store, it’s crazy. It used to be we’d come in, we’d open the doors, people bought shoes. And they’d train, show up at a race, eat a banana and head home. Now, we are always having social events for our customers. Today’s runner is more of a social one.”

Free Book Chapters – Purchase Your Autographed Book From Craig Virgin Now

LRC “Virgin Territory” Chapter 17: Front Runner Inc: When Pro Runners Had To Pretend They Weren’t Pro Hard to believe guys in their 60s now had to pretend they weren’t pro runners.

LRC “Virgin Territory” Book Excerpt, Chapter 1: Playing It Risky – Craig Virgin’s 1980 World Cross-Country Win Read about Craig’s win at World XC. Coming tomorrow chapter 17 from the book.

Some Actual Results!

South Africa’s Akani Simbine Runs The Fastest 100m Ever By An African On African Soil With 9.91 At The Athletics Gauteng North Championships Clarence Munyai won the 200m in 20.48 after clocking 20.23 in the semifinals and African U18 champion Prudence Sekgodiso won the U20 women’s 800m in 2:02.16.
MB: A USATF National Championship was held today: Tim Tollefson and Ashley Hawks Win USATF 50 Mile Trail Champs
China’s Two-Time World Shot Put Champion Gong Lijiao Throws A World-Leading 19.70m Shot Put In Beijing
World Athletics Recap: The Asian 20k Racewalking Championships Become The Japan Racewalking Championships As Koki Ikeda And Nanako Fujii Claim Titles And Olympic Spots Coronavirus didn’t cancel the race completely, but it did make it a national instead of international affair.

If You Have To Ask, It’s Probably Cancelled

Carlsbad 5,000 Postponed Until September 19
Kenyan Headline: Billions Lost As Fans Denied Kipchoge Vs. Bekele Clash
Two Oceans Marathon Latest Event To Be Cancelled Over Coronavirus The South African ultra was scheduled for April 11th.
Queensland Track Classic In Australia Postponed, Date TBD
IOC Tells Staff To Work From Home And Closes Olympic Museum
Manchester And Brighton Marathons (Scheduled For April) Also Postponed
Multiple US Olympic Trials Including Rowing And Wrestling Have Been Postponed
WSJ: Olympic Swimmers Searching For A Place To Train

More Coronavirus News

Haile Gebrselassie Says It’s “Heartbreaking” For The Athletes Who Have Trained For All These Cancelled Races “Many of our athletes were prepared for those races. As a retired athlete, when I look back at my time, [if] someone told me after my long preparation that this race is cancelled, just imagine. It’s really heart-breaking.”
Chicago/Boston Marathon Champion Lawrence Cherono Is Wary Of The Extended Effects The Coronavirus May Have On Athlete Careers Cherono says it will be difficult for athletes to prepare for the Olympics with so many races being cancelled and the uncertainty over Tokyo 2020.
World Athletics Racewalking Team Championships Postponed These championships were scheduled for May 2-3. World Athletics also commented on how they are having their staff start working from home.
Tokyo Governor Says Torch Relay To Continue With “Thorough Infection Measures” This despite the Greek leg being cancelled yesterday.

One Final Look At The US Olympic Marathon Trials (Sponsored By HOKA)

LRC How Did The HOKA Athletes Do At The 2020 Marathon Trials? 17 HOKA athletes took the Trials, led by Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won the Trials! How did everyone else do? Pretty darn well as HOKA put 3 in the top 8 for the women and 3 in the top 25 for the men.

2020 NCAA Indoors Are Fri. / Sat. But W/O Fans Schedule & Entries TV & Streaming

LRC Women’s Mid-D/Distance Preview: Dani Jones Chases Audacious 800/Mile Double We don’t expect her to pull it off as we think Nia Akins will win her first NCAA title in the 800, but if Jones wins just 1 NCAA title she’ll join Jenny Simpson and Adam Goucher for the most in CU history. Plus can Whittni Orton win her first in the 3,000?

LRC Men’s Mid-D/Distance Preview: Studs Galore & Wide-Open Races We break down the men’s distance action for this weekend’s NCAA Champs which are LOADED with 11 guys under 3:58, 12 guys under 7:50, 4 under 13:30 plus the fastest DMR team in NCAA history.
*MB: 2020 NCAA Indoors men’s fields are LOADED. Who you got?

NCAA Bans Fans From NCAA Indoors And All Winter Championships Some family members may be let in. If that’s the case, not much may change as most of the fans are family.
MB: Harvard scratches all runners from NCAAs against their will
Men’s 400 #7 Seed Elija Godwin Of Georgia Was Nearly Killed After Being Impaled By A Javelin Last Year “I realized a javelin was in my back, and right after that I started coughing up blood.” The javelin had pierced his left lung. “I’m thinking about movies – any movie I ever watched where a character is coughing up blood, they usually die.”
NCAA’s #1 Man At 400 – True Frosh Randolph Ross Of North Carolina A&T (45.44) – Is Thriving While Running With His Dad As The Coach He has already improved a ton from HS. In HS, he ran 21.25 and 46.60 and now he’s run 20.85 and 45.44.
South Africa’s George Kusche Of Nebraska Went For Win At Big 10s – Will He Do It Again At NCAAs?
Good Read: 6 Years After Running 1:48.97 In HS, Western Oregon’s Derek Holdsworth Will Get His 1 And Only Chance For An NCAA Title This Weekend At D2 Nats

LRC Book Review

LRC Book Review: “Sporting Gender” Offers Much-Needed History And Context On A Challenging Topic Written by medical physicist Joanna Harper, the book is part scientific explainer, part history lesson, part personal story and attacks a tricky subject from multiple angles.

More Races Cancelled/Postponed

Drake Relays Postponed Indefinitely Due To Coronavirus Pandemic They say that they are going to work to reschedule the event, but there is no timetable for that decision. Just last week, they had made a statement saying the meet was still on.
No Finisher At The Barkley Marathons Again This Year (Also, No Race) The notoriously difficult ultramarathon in Tennessee was cancelled due to the coronavirus. A runner hasn’t finished the race since 2017.
2020 Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Cancelled; Free Virtual Race Planned The event will be offering free refunds (unlike some other races), but encourages runners to donate their entry to the race charity.
UK Race Organizer Ask Runners To Compete Virtually In Bid To Save Business They have called off 19 races and people aren’t signing up for their Junes or later races either.
USATF’s Latest Coronavirus Statement All USATF Championships are cancelled for the next 30 days as well as the 2020 USATF Masters 10 km Championships set for April 26th.
Parkruns Cancelled Across UK Through The End Of March
*Their Headline From Two Days Earlier: Parkrun Numbers Stay Healthy As Runners Remain Undeterred By Coronavirus
CNN: They’ve Trained For Months, Then Their Marathons Got Cancelled Runners not only lose months of hard training, but take a financial hit via the lost money spent on travel and entry fees when the race refuses to refund them.

More Virus News/Cancellations

RRW: First Three Meets Of The 2020 Diamond League (Doha And Two Events In China) Will Be Rescheduled Due To Coronavirus With the new schedule, Stockholm would be the first meet on May 24th.
*Previous Daily Mail Article
2020 Penn Relays Cancelled Due To Coronavirus; Will Look To Host A Substitute Track Meet At A Later Date The meet later in the year would be much smaller in scope with just one day of events.
Eliud Kipchoge Urges Athletes To Remain Positive “To the thousands of runners who with me, have devoted the last months of our lives towards this goal I would like to say: Be proud of the work you have put into this journey, keep smiling and seek your next goal on the horizon to continue running in a smooth and positive way. I hope to share the starting line with you again soon.”
Hong Kong Hurdler Vera Lui Lai-Viu’s Olympic Hopes Hurt After Queensland Track Classic Cancelled She was hoping to hit the qualifying time at the meet, but now she is running out of time and not sure where she’ll attempt to do it.
Athletics South Africa Postpones All Events Due To Coronavirus Includes the SA championships.
TC 10k In Victoria, Canada Cancelled

More NCAA Cancellation News

NCAA To Give Another Season Of Eligibility For Spring Athletes; Discussing Winter Athletes Who Missed Conference/NCAA Championships There are some issues that have yet to be settled with this including increases in scholarship counts for spring sports.
*MB: NCAA Extra Year Given
Arizona Daily Sun: NAU Indoor Title Aspirations Abruptly Stopped Due To Coronavirus Cancellations NAU was looking forward to a historic moment in the program’s history as the men were coming into NCAAs ranked second in the country.
Runner’s World: Athletes And Coaches React To The Last-Minute Cancellation Of NCAA Indoor Champs BYU coach Diljeet Taylor: “I used to think that the hardest thing about coaching was when your athletes work really hard and they fail or their dreams don’t come true. But today proved to me that the hardest part about coaching is not even watching your kids have the chance to chase their dreams. That was tough.”
Ken Goe: Athletes Grapple For Perspective As Stadiums Go Dark
Oregon Coach Robert Johnson: “The competitor in me wanted to get out there and compete. But I guess you have to look at it from a health standpoint. You don’t want anybody to get sick.” He said it would be a “welcome headache” if UO seniors decided to return to use their eligibility in 2021 and they had a super-large squad.
PAC-12 Cancelling All Sports For Remainder Of The Year They also said, “all organized team athletically-related activities” are prohibited until at least March 29, when it will “revisit this decision.”
Big 12 Cancels All Spring Sports Competitions All team activities suspended until March 29 and will be re-evaluated at that time.
Big Ten Suspends All Organized Team Activities Through At Least April 6th
2020 Florida Relays Cancelled

Some Non-Coronavirus Negative News

Disturbing: NCAA Champ And Olympian Erin Aldrich Syas Coach John Rembao Penetrated Her On A Flight When She Was 18 Aldrich and two other women filed a class action suit against “the NCAA, the NCAA board of governors and Rembao for what they allege were dozens of incidents of sexual harassment and sexual abuse when Rembao recruited and coached them.” The statue of limitations has passed for their cases.
World Athletics Scraps The Continental Cup After 43 Years No, this isn’t a coronavirus thing. World Athletics has just decided to discontinue the continent vs continent meet that was first held in 1977.
1952 Olympic Javelin And Wife Of Emil Zatopek Champion Dana Zatopkova Passes Away At Age 97 Zatopkova won the gold on the same day her husband won the 5,000m. *World Athletics Tribute

Boston And London Cancelled

The Boston Marathon Postponed Until September 14th Due To Coronavirus

London Marathon Postponed Until October 4
*BBC Article

New Dates Agreed On For China World Indoor Championships The championships were due to be held this week, but will now are March 19-21, 2021. The same weekend as World XC Champs.
Donald Trump Says It Would Be Better To Postpone Olympics Until 2021 Rather Than Cancel We agree but no need to do anything now and Trump now says there are lots of options available.
Prefontaine Classic Suspends Ticket Sales Because Of Uncertainty Over Coronavirus Tickets were to go on sale Friday, but the meet decided to delay that until the situation is more clear.
NY Times: Twenty-Four Hours When Sports Hit The Halt Button Andrew Keh writes, “Professional basketball disappeared first, then the college game followed; hockey melted away; baseball went on indefinite hiatus; and soccer took leave, as well.”
Greek Leg Of Olympic Torch Relay Cancelled Over “Unexpectedly Large Crowds” Despite recommendations for the public not to come out for the ceremony, there were crowds when the flame visited Sparta Friday morning. Actor Gerad Butler (who played King Leonidas in 300), got to carry the torch before the relay was cancelled.
*Olympic Torch Lit At Olympia Includes photos/video. *2nd Article
AFP: Worldwide Sports Collapse Piles Pressure On Olympics
Tokyo Governor Says Cancelling The Olympics Is “Unthinkable”
USATF Coronavirus Update

Our Weekly Recap And Podcast

LRC WTW: How Did Rupp And Tuliamuk Win? How Did Kipyego Hold Off Linden? USA Drug Cheats And Japanese Marathoning We take a deep dive into the splits of Galen Rupp‘s and Aliphine Tuliamuk‘s wins at the Trials and see how Sally Kipyego held off Des Linden.

LRC Weekly Podcast: NCAA Indoor Preview + Cancel Everything? We get your ready for NCAA Indoors and rejoice in the good news that the NCAA Indoors and Boston and London Marathons are still on – for now. It seems as if the next few weeks are a critical test for Boston/London. Will they show they truly care about the elite race like Tokyo? Or are they nothing but glorified fun runs?
*LRC Aliphine Tuliamuk Podcast
*LRC Ben Rosario Bonus Podcast