March 29, 2020 | LetsRun.com

Seb Coe Speaks

Seb Coe Says Having The Olympics In The Spring Would Not Be Ideal Coe pointed out that it would be difficult for track athletes to peak in April and May, but that they would remain flexible, saying, “At this stage it’s fair to say nothing is on the table, nothing is off the table.”
*MB: Renato Canova: Olympic organizers are considering holding next spring. Personally I don’t think that one can be a real opportunity.
*MB: If the Olympics are held in spring of 2021, when and where should USATF hold the Olympic Trials?
Seb Coe Writes Open Letter To The Athletics Community “In sport we have a unique opportunity not to tip toe around things and tweak at the edges. We have the chance to think bigger, to rip up the blueprints and banish the ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’ mentality.”
Seb Coe Says Eugene World Champs Could Move To 2022 Coe said it would still be possible to have a 2022 and 2023 Championships back-to-back.
Seb Coe Says Athletes Who Are Currently Qualified For The Olympics Will Keep Their Spots Coe says that accounts for half the places at the Tokyo Games. This policy will go for all sports (6,200 total athletes are already qualified). *2nd Article
Seb Coe Says Olympic Qualification Process And Late Season Meets Being Studied World Athletics hoping to offer a series of meets beginning in August and running through October.

RIP: Coronavirus Strikes Former Track Greats

MB: RIP: 1980 NCAA 110H runner-up and ex-NFL player Orlando McDaniel has died of Covid-19 He was 59 years old.
Spain’s Former World XC Medalist Santiago Llorente Dies At Age 61 From Coronavirus

Will There Be A 2020 Diamond League?

World Athletics Postpones All May Diamond League Meets Stockholm (scheduled for May 24), Naples/Rome (May 28) and Rabat (May 31) are all postponed. An alternative calendar for the 2020 season will be announced in “due course.”

European News

European Athletics Asking Paris 2020 Organizing Committee To Look Into Rescheduling This Summer’s European Championships Euro Champs are scheduled for late August. European Athletics also announced its U18 championships, scheduled for July in Italy, are cancelled.
Bulgaria’s Dobromir Karamarinov Named Interim European Athletics President After Svein Arne Hansen Suffered A Serious Stroke Last Week Hansen is recovering and it is not known when/if he will return to his duties as president.

Athletes Support Olympic Postponement

Irish Sprinters Thomas Barr And Phil Healy Say Tokyo Postponement Is A Relief Barr said, “There was still talk of it going ahead and that the decision might take four weeks, but that would have been four weeks of awkwardly trying to train and putting ourselves, our squad, our coaches at risk. To hear it’s been pushed on a full year really does take the pressure off us.”
Sandi Morris Was “At A Loss” What To Do With Nowhere To Train Before the Olympics were officially postponed, she was considering packing up and driving 14-hours to join a training group in Atlanta that has access to a private facility.
GB Athletes Unite In Support Of Olympic Delay Triathlete Alistair Brownlee: “It is one of the oldest adages around that athletes have to be super cut-throat and very selfish, and that is true. But right now all the resources that can possibly fight this virus must be used for that and not on a sporting event.”
BBC: Tokyo 2020: How Athletes Reacted To Olympic Games Postponement

The Olympics Are Officially Postponed Until 2021

RRW: 2020 Olympic Games Officially Postponed
World Athletics Was Already In Discussion With Oregon21 About Rescheduling The 2021 Championships In Eugene
No Plan To Change Olympic Marathon Location From Sapporo, Even With Delay Of Games
The Tokyo Games Will Still Be Called “Tokyo 2020”
World Athletics Welcomes Olympic Postponement – Says It Will Continue To Do Whatever It Can To Preserve And Create A 2020 Outdoor Season of One-Day Meeting Starting And Ending Later Than Usual Also considering Eugene 2022.
The Telegraph: What Does This Mean For The Olympic Games And What Happens Now? The IOC has about $824 million in reserves in case a Games is lost and had spent about $23 million on insurance to cover most of the investment.
The Telegraph: “Olympics Postponement Is No Disaster, It Is Delayed Pleasure”

Doping News

UK Anti-Doping Criticizes UK Athletics Over Handling Of Alberto Salazar Report UKAD is unhappy that UKA hasn’t complied with repeated requests to hand over the entire 2105 internal review into its relationship with Salazar. UKA has only handed over a summary and has so far refused to give the full report.
*The Telegraph: UKAD Demands Full Copy Of UKA Salazar Report
MB: US Anti-Doping Official John Gleaves Caught Doping With Multiple Drugs Considering the 36-year-old is a professor and doping researcher, it’s amazing he screwed up enough to fail a drug test at the US cycling track champs.

How Are Athletes Coping?

Ken Goe: While Wary Of The Coronavirus, Pete Julian’s Elite Runners Continue To Train For The Olympics Julian said they’ll have to find a way to “sharpen these athletes in practice” since they won’t have many racing opportunities.
Training Under Lockdown, Italian Athletes Aiming To Keep Upbeat And Focused Gyms and indoor tracks are closed, but elite athletes still have access to outdoor tracks and have started doing their weight routines outside on the track or in their homes.
Video: Paul Chelimo Jokes He’s Using Soap And A Bathtub As A Makeshift Treadmill
*MB: VIDEO: PAUL CHELIMO DOESN’T HAVE A TREADMILL SO HE’S TRAINING IN A BATH TUB

More Calls For Olympic Cancellation

Renato Conova Calls For The Postponement Of The Olympics “Personally, I don’t see how Olympics can start at the end of July … I want only to say that, every solution we can adopt, we can’t solve the problem in short time.”
GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson Criticizes IOC For Olympic Preparation Advice “The IOC advice ‘encourages athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games as best they can’ with the Olympics only four months away, but the government legislation is enforcing isolation at home with tracks, gyms and public spaces closed. I feel under pressure to train and keep the same routine which is impossible.”
Polish Discus Thrower And Two-Time Olympic Silver Medalist Piotr Malachowski Calls For Olympic Postponement “If these games get postponed and will take place this year in November or December, this will definitely be much better for athletes. They’ll be able to prepare.”

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.

More Cancellations, Will The Season Start Late Summer?

Ken Goe: Coronavirus Has Delayed The Trials And Pre Is Unlikely, So What Meet Opens Hayward Field? Goe writes, “It’s hard to know what meet will serve as Hayward’s grand reopening. I continue to hope for some sort of elite meet, be it a delayed Pre Classic, an abbreviated national championships, or even a regional meet that would include the many elite athletes who live and train on the West Coast.”
MB: Western States cancelled
OTC Elite Athletes Hoping For Late-Summer Meets The Register Guard talks to OTC members Ben Blankenship and Hanna Green about how they’re dealing with the cancellations.
Nairobi Athletics Meet, The First Leg Of The World Athletics Continental Tour, Is Postponed Until September The meet was scheduled for May 2nd.
Jamaica Invitational Postponed Due To Coronavirus The meet was scheduled for May 2nd.
2020 Paris European Championships Organizers Remain Hopeful They Will Still Take Place The event is scheduled for the end of August.
*European Athletics Athletes Committee Happy There Is A Chance 2020 Euro Champs In Paris Could Still Happen

Doping News

USADA Head Travis Tygart Fears Athletes Could “Take Advantage” Of Reduced Testing “People around the world have indicated significant reductions [in testing], in some places it may have shut down entirely.”
Four Russian Athletes, Including Two Former Olympic Champions, Accused Of Doping By The AIU 2008 Olympic HJ champ and 2012 Olympic 400H champ Natalia Antyukh have been charged based on evidence from the McLaren report. So too have 2007 world 1,500m silver medalist Yelena Soboleva and hammer thrower Oksana Kondratyeva.
What A Lunatic: Russia’s 2-Time Olympic Gymnast Gold Medalist Svetlana Khorkina Claims Postponing Tokyo 2020 Is A Punishment From God For Offending Russia She said, “I think this all happened because they shouldn’t have offended Russia, including our athletes. There is a reason why there is a line in our national anthem that says our land is protected by the Lord. … I think this was God’s punishment.”

More Athlete Reactions

The Oregonian: Galen Rupp, Shelby Houlihan, Evan Jager, English Gardner, And Pete Julian React To Olympic Postponement Houlihan: “Safety should definitely be the No. 1 priority. But it does suck because I was ready for this year.”
Shannon Rowbury’s Nike Contract Is Up At The End Of This Year So She’s Hoping To Race This Summer To Prove She’s Still Worth Sponsoring 35-year-old Rowbury says she’d like to transition to a coaching or administration role in Pete Julian‘s group.
Justin Gatlin Says He’s Been Inspired By Tom Brady To Continue On For One More Year “It won’t be that big of a difference from being 38 to 39. But, I always said ‘I’m not running ’til I’m 40.’ I was so hard on myself with not running till I’m 40. And now it looks like I’m pushing close to 40, and I’m going to still be running.”
Emma Coburn, Sara Hall, Allie Ostrander And Other American Distance Women Talk About Olympic Cancellation And The Coronavirus USATF spokesperson Susan Hazzard said “it’s possible” they will still have the 2020 USATF Championships at some point, even though the Olympic Trials are postponed.
The Athletics Association (The Organization Started By Christian Taylor) Surveyed Over 4,000 Athletes About Olympic Cancellation 78% of the athletes surveyed thought Tokyo 2020 should be postponed. 22% said it should be outright cancelled.
South African Sprint Star Akani Simbine Has Mixed Feelings Over Tokyo 2020 Postponement

LRC Tokyo Postponement Coverage

LRC 6 Big Questions In The Wake Of IOC’s Decision To Postpone Olympics To 2021 What happens to Eugene 2021? What happens to people with Olympic qualifiers from 2019? Which athletes gain from the postponement and which ones are hurt by it? And a proposal for what to do with the 2020 US Champs.
*MB: Olympics are officially delayed for up to one year

LRC With Olympics Postponed, Sprint Star Noah Lyles Gets A Taste Of Cross-Country Training Perhaps no one has the potential to gain more from the 2020 Olympics than Lyles, but he’s relieved that the Olympics have been moved to 2021 as he’s been forced to dodge dog walkers while trying to train in a local park.
*MB: Sprint star Noah Lyles talks about 2020 Olympic postponement – “Actually seeing it delayed gives me a bit of security.”

Guelph Coach Gets Banned

Guelph Coach Dave Scott-Thomas Banned For Life By Athletics Canada Scott-Thomas has been accused of inappropriate relationships with athletes; the article notes that the allegations haven’t been proven in court.
*MB: Guelph Implodes

Update On LRC Coronavirus Patient’s Condition

LRC Update: LetsRun.com Visitor With COVID-19 Continues To Recover Good news as “justthefacts” condition continued to improve over the weekend and his fever is gone.

LRC What’s It Like For A Runner To Have COVID-19? A Long-Time LetsRun.com Visitor Shares His Story Of Being Infected With The Coronavirus A long-term visitor to LetsRun.com wants to share his story of what it is like to have the coronavirus. He also wants a LetsRun.com singlet when he gets better.
Discussion: I tested Positive for COVID here is my story

Other Assorted Coronavirus News

NY Times: “With The Boston Marathon Postponed, Des Linden Hits The Couch” Two weeks after the Olympic Trials, Linden already put in a 100-mile week and was recovering well in her bid to run Boston 52 days after the Trials. But coronavirus has messed up those plans and Linden says she is “hunkering down” with “a pile of books and a cord of wood.”
Runner’s World: Everything You Need To Know About Spitting During The Coronavirus Outbreak Yes, spit can transfer the disease. Yes, keeping a six-foot buffer on a run can help. If you are hit with spit, wash with soap and water.
MB: Covid quarantine – some french guy ran a marathon on his 7m balcony…. impossible??? Elisha Nochomovitz said, “It was about launching a bit of a crazy challenge and bringing a bit of humour, to de-dramatise the confinement situation.” It took him 6 hours and 48 minutes.
Quarantined? Milesplit Gives Their Favorite Movies Featuring Runners Without Limits and Prefontaine top the list.
Ken Goe: Coronavirus Pandemic Is Causing College Coaches To Operate Without A Road Map Some coaches are starting to worry that even the beginning of the XC season could be affected.
European Athletics Board To Decide Next Steps On Coronavirus Response They will discuss the impact on various European Athletics events scheduled for 2020 and beyond.
IOC Member Prince Albert Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Oregon Meet Hosting

Ken Goe: It’s Unclear How Soon Hayward Field Will Be Ready For Competition The PAC-12 meet was cancelled and they moved the Oregon HS champs (set for May 28-30) as they weren’t sure the stadium would be ready. Now the question is, assuming the meet happens, will Hayward be ready for the June 6-7 Pre Classic?
Organizers Makes Statement That The 2020 Portland Track Festival And Stumptown Twilight Remain On The Schedule The Portland Track Festival starts May 30th, Stumptown is June 12th.
University Of Oregon Decides Not To Host Oregon High School Championships At Hayward Field If the championships scheduled for the end of May even still happen, they’ll be moved to Mt. Hood Community College and Western Oregon University.
With Qualifying Meets Disappearing, Portland Track Will Step Into The Void If Needed Portland Track president Michael Bergmann says they are ready to add more meets to the schedule if people need them to hit the standards for the Olympics Trials.

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

This Week’s Podcast

LRC Coach Sean Brosnan Tells His Cool Story – How He Went From Journeyman Runner To Top High School Coach In 4 Years + Tokyo Cancelled + Greatest American Runner Bracket Brosnan picked the brains of, did workouts with, & ran under many of the greats including Alberto Salazar, Scott Simmons, Joe Vigil, Brad Hudson & Steve Scott.

Non-Olympic Cancellation / Fallout

RRW: 2020 USA Olympic Trials To Be Rescheduled Ticket holders for the 2020 Trials will be able to retain their tickets for the rescheduled Trials or request a refund.
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Worried Rescheduled World Championships Will Conflict They are worried if Eugene 2021 gets pushed back to the 2022 “off” year, then top British stars will skill the CWG.
RRW: Payton Jordan Invitational Cancelled The meet was scheduled for May 8th.
World Athletics U20 Championships In Nairobi Postponed
Athletics Australia Cancels National Championships

Distance News

Recommended Read: Meet Jon Green, The 25-Year-Old First Time Coach Behind Molly Seidel’s Monstrous Marathon Debut Green and Seidel started off teammates and friends, but when Seidel left their club team, Green offered to send her some workouts, with no plans on making it permanent. He didn’t have prior coaching experience, wasn’t certified and only got into the post-race press conference at the Trials on a loophole.
USATF Q&A With Emma Coburn Get to know some random facts about Coburn like pets, her favorite recipe and what she wanted to be when she grew up.

To Help You Through The Pro Racing Drought

LRC Looking For Some Running Content To Watch? On Running’s Chasing Tokyo Series May Be Just For You The series starts in 2019 and follows the On Zap Endurance team through the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. Yes, we had a major sporting event less than 3 weeks ago!