May 13, 2020 | LetsRun.com

The US Women’s American GOAT Talks And We Listen

LRC The Deena Kastor Podcast LRC visitors recently voted Kastor, the US marathon record holder at 2:19:36, as the greatest women’s US distance runner in history. Kastor talks about her amazing career that saw her go from being a pro on a gear-only contract, to one thrilled to be making $12,000 a year, to an Olympic medalist and US record holder.

Yet Another LRC Exclusive

LRC Q&A: Anti-Doping Expert Sergei Iljukov Discusses Doping In Kenya & Russia, What World Athletics Is Doing Right – And How The Global Anti-Doping System Can Still Improve Iljukov recently conducted a study that indirectly suggested the effects of doping were between 2.0% and 3.4% in distance events and points out that 68% of the Russian 1,500 women that ran an elite time at the Russian champs were eventually banned.

Catching Up With The NN Running Team

Ashete Bekere Has Won Her Last 3 Marathons (Including Berlin) But Hopes She’s Only Getting Started At Age 32: “I think one day I can run 2:17-2:18.”
*MB: Super shoes + new coach: Ashete Bekele didn’t break 2:23:43 in her first 16 marathons. Now she thinks she ran 2:17-18
What Are Bekele And Kipchoge Doing During The Covid-19 Crisis? The NN Running team says Kipchoge is reading and watching Formula 1 re-runs with his kids while Bekele is playing video games with his 7-year-old old son.

Free Coaching Tips

A Good Read For All Coaches: Japanese Half Marathon Record Holder Hitomi Niiya Publishes Her Entire Training 100 Days Before Her 66:38 NR And Now Is Doing A Q&A About Her Training If you missed the full publication of her workouts last month, catch up now.
*Part II Of Q&A Lots of 400m reps for a half marathon have raised eyebrows.
2:10 Marathoner Reid Coolsaet Talks About The Long Run And How To Train For The Marathon On Tired Legs One tip. Ignore how you feel on the warmup. “There have been many times when I didn’t think I had a hope in hell of finishing the workout based on the warmup.”
AW: What Common Products / Foods Should You Be Eating? Fermented soy, gelatin powder and boiled eggs make the list.

More Women In The News

Elle Purrier Has Been Training At Home And Helping Out At Her Family’s Dairy Farm During Covid-19 (TFN Sub Required) As for the Olympics, she admits she definitely wants to run the 1500 over the 5000. “I definitely have more fun with the 1500 and the mile. That’s what I would prefer to do, but I kind of just do what Mark tells me to do. So, you know…” Rather than finish the sentence, Purrier breaks into a chuckle. Ask her again in a year.
*Purrier’s Family Gave Away 4,000 Gallons Of Free Milk To The Local Community On Friday
’84 Boston Champ And ’92 Olympic Bronze Medalist Lorraine Moller Talks About The Importance Of Internal Patience And Tells People To Get Off Their GPS Watches The Lydiard disciple has a great quote: “Athletes don’t have the time or head space during a race to check their running data, make a cell phone call to their coach and wait for him to call back with instructions on whether to increase or decrease their pace after downloading it into a computer.”
Mary Keitany Is Injured And Not Training Right Now “I am still nursing a hip injury, which I picked up early in 2019 in London. I had run it off in my preparations for the New York marathon, but it seems it had not cleared completely. I have been advised by the doctors to rest.”
1984 Olympic 3,000 Silver Medalist Wendy Sly Recalls Her Favorite Olympic Moments She recalls watching Ian Stewart kick down Steve Prefontaine for bronze and many more.
Four Running Tips from Former 2-Time Foot Locker Champ Melody Fairchild Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, is coming out soon.
Catching Up With Reigning Olympic Shot Champ Michelle Carter, Who Is Making The Most Of The Covid-19 Crisis “I’ve been doing things I always wanted to do but never had the time to do.”

Interesting Reads / Watches

Doper Jemima Sumgong Calls On Athletics Kenya To Start A “Counseling Department” To Help Convicted Dopers (And Other Struggling Athletes) Cope With Downfall She has a point as the number of top pros who have spiraled out of control from Wanjiru to Kiprop to Rudisha to Bungei is quite high.
1968 Boston Marathon Champ Amby Burfoot Says Secret Vapofly Usage In 2016 By Nike Athletes Was “Absolutely Unfair.” “It was equivalent to letting one group of pole vaulters use fibreglass while everyone else was consigned to bamboo or some other stiff material,” Burfoot told AFP.
Matthew Boling Posts Video Of Him Long Jumping Over Red Solo Cups To Tik Tok And It Has Gotten Hundreds Of Thousands Of Views The video isn’t even that good. People are just bored and SportsCenter retweeted it.
Lopez Lomong, Matt Tegenkamp And Andrew Bumbalough Look Back And Recall Running In The 5,000 Where Lopez Kicked A Lap Early And Still Won (Video)

Random, But Potentially Worth A Glance

The Japanese Continue To Cancel Late Fall Marathons – November’s Yokohama Marathon Canceled
Download Your Track And Field Themed Zoom Background Courtesy Of World Athletics Sadly none of them are distance oriented.
Interesting Read: How A Meeting With Sergey Bubka Helped Turn The Philippines’ Ernest Obiena Into A World Championship Pole Vaulter He got an IAAF scholarship to train in Italy and have improved dramatically because when he was a junior he couldn’t even qualify for World Juniors in Eugene.
What Causes Side Stitches? No One Actually Knows “We have not proved what causes stitches but I am 99 percent confident that it is the (irritation of the) parietal peritoneum.”
85% Of Athletes Targeting Tokyo Paralympics Unable To Train At Usual Facilities

The American GOATs Answered Your Questions Right Here On LetsRun.com

MB: Got a question for our American GOATs Jim Ryun & Deena Kastor? Deena Kastor and Jim Ryun have been answering them this week on LRC.

Willis And Cain Get Signed

LRC Q&A: Nick Willis on Signing With Tracksmith, Skateboarding, & Why the Olympic Standard Freeze Helps Him Nick reveals that he only got his new contract after successfully acing his first job interview in more than 20 years. “[My last job interview was when I was] 15, applying for a job as a dishwasher and salad and food prep person at a restaurant, like TGI Fridays…It’s not a traditional nine-to-five. It’s project-based and they’ll give myself flexibility to also focus on my training. But I want to prove myself. I want to show that I’m worthy of this…It’s fun starting at the bottom again.”

MB: Nick Willis And Mary Cain Sign With Tracksmith The high-end apparel company founded by Wejo‘s old Yale teammate Matt Taylor is getting into the sponsorship game in a brilliant way as they got the NY Times to break the story with Cain. “The company is exploring a new kind of sponsorship in which professional athletes are treated like full-time employees. In addition to competing as a professional runner as soon as it is safe to do so, Cain will take on a role as community manager for Tracksmith in New York City, where she will be tasked with building the brand’s presence in a city chock-full of running clubs.”

Is The Fog Lifting – Just Over 90 Days To Monaco?

RRW World Athletics Releases New Revised Wanda Diamond League Schedule Announced For 2020 Good news track fans, World Athletics has released a new Diamond League schedule for 2020. While there will be no DL points race or DL final, World Athletics is still hoping to have a pro track season in 2020 – starting in Monaco on August 14th and ending in China on October 17.
*Continental Tour dates also rescheduled – 1st one is August 11th
*MB: Track may be coming back!!! World Athletics releases revised 2020 Diamond League schedule. Season to start in Monaco on Aug. 14

UK Athletics Might Take A £2m Hit As The London Diamond League Meet Is Canceled The meet brings in a lot of $$ for the organization who has “seen its reserves drop from £4.5m in 2016 to £2.8m.” Another big problem is its TV deal with the BBC is up this year and the BBC doesn’t want to pay £3m-a-year anymore.

Previous Covid-19 Related Running Links

Covid-19 Provides “Silver Lining” To Allie Ostrander As Olympic Cancellation Resulted In Her Having A Platelet-Ric Plasma Injection Into Her Achilles She can’t run for 6 weeks as a result.
Seb Coe Says Children Will Need More Access To Sport In Post-Pandemic World He’s got a point as obesity makes Covid-19 way worse.
Meet The 46-Year-Old British Twins Who Run Marathons At 2 AM Together To Avoid Crowds During Covid-19 And yet the author of the piece makes them justify exercising for more than the recommended 30 minutes per day by the govt. *Discuss

Non-Distance News

Catching Amy Hunt: The British Teenager Who Is Faster Than Dina Asher-Smith And Shocked The World With Her 22.42 Last Year She’s trying to figure out if she should go to Cambridge.
A Look Back: Edwin Moses And The Greatest Unbeaten Streak In Track History From August 26, 1977 to June 4, 1987, Moses won every single 400m hurdles race he contested.
LaShawn Who? Where Did LaShawn Merritt Go? Still only 33, he’s not retired and is training extremely well after basically missing 2 years with injury, hoping for a 3rd Olympic medal and even more in 2021. “I still want the world record.”
Covid-19 Is A Blessing For Val Adams, Who Is On The Comeback From Giving Birth To Baby #2

A HSer Almost Went Sub-4 In Practice

MB: HSer Ryan Schoppe Runs 4:00.78 Mile in Practice On what would have been the day of his HS state meet, Schoppe, an Ok. State signee, ran 4:00.8 (ht) for a full mile.
*Ryan Schoppe Talks About His 4:00.8 Mile Time Trial (Video Interview)

More Miler News Nick Willis Is Leaving Adidas Per Twitter – Exciting News Is Coming Tuesday

US News

Joe Klecker And Makena Morley Go Pro As Well Instead Of Using An Extra Season Of NCAA Eligibility
Dani Jones Talks About Her Decision To Turn Pro She also reveals her Mt. Rushmore of CU greats.
Dyestat Video Chat With The Hunter Family – Marc, Joan, Drew and Jacob
NSAF – The Org That Runs The HS Nationals – Looking To Future After Parting Ways With New Balance
#IRunWithMaud: Thousands Of Runners Worldwide Pay Tribute To Ahmaud Arbery By Running 2.23 Miles On Friday 2.23 was his birthday. Meb Keflezighi was one of the runners.

Speaking of Studly HS Milers

LRC We Talk To Jim Ryun After Naming Him The Greatest American Distance Runner Of All-Time What a great podcast we have for you this week as we devote the entire show to talking to Jim Ryun, who recently was voted the Greatest American Distance Runner of All-Time on LetsRun.com. Ryun talks about his entire career, including making the Olympics and running sub-4 in HS, breaking the WR as a college frosh (and meeting his wife on the same day), winning Olympic silver, getting tripped in ’72 and much more including what his relationship with Alan Webb and Matthew Centrowitz is like.

LRC’s Jonathan Gault Appears As Guest On Pace The Nation Podcast Gault talks about LetsRun’s origins and the party scene at the Olympic Trials in Atlanta. The podcast is co-hosted by 2012 Olympic Trials 5k champ Julie Culley. Rojo kindly asks that you don’t listen to this podcast as he’s very proud his appearance on the show holds the record for most listened to podcast for them – ahead of even Matthew Centrowitz.

A Special Anniversary Deserves A Special Podcast

Bonus Podcast LRC Chris Solinsky: “I Believe That I Was In Shape To Run Sub-7:30, Sub-12:50, And Probably Somewhere In The 26:40/26:30 Range” Chris Solinsky reveals that the best shape of his life came in 2011, not 2010 when he ran his historic 26:59. Plus he shares his vision for the Florida Gator distance program and tells a really cool story about how Eliud Kipchoge was genuinely happy for him when Chris destroyed Kipchoge in Oslo in 2010 when Solinsky first broke 13:00.
*MB: Chris Solinsky: “I Believe That I Was in Shape to Run Sub-7:30, Sub-12:50, and Probably Somewhere In The 26:40/26:30 Range”

Covid-19 Related News

RRCA Releases Survey Of 10,000 Runners About Their Post-Covid Plans The good news is 90 percent of survey participants plan to run in a race in 2021.
Berlin Marathon Organizers Yet To Make A Decision On Fate Of 2020 Race, Will Decide At End Of June We know it won’t happen in its normal form until after October 24th if it happens as events of more than 5,000 are prohibited in Germany until then.
From Spitting To High Fives: 7 Gross Habits Runners Have To Ditch Because Of Covid-19
Struggling With Your Running During Covid-19? You Need A Short-Term Goal Right Now Feedback creates focus.
Brandon McBride Buys Groceries For 8 Families In Need During Covid-19 Inspired by a book he read in business school, he reached out to a local social worker who gave him the names of 8 local families.

News From Kenya

Over The Weekend, Eliud Kipchoge Delivered Packages Of Maize And Wheat Flour, Rice, Cooking Oil And Pasta To The Vulnerable In Kenya During Covid-19 The food was donated by the Ministry of Sports in collaboration with Eliud Kipchoge Foundation and those receiving it were thrilled. “He’s God sent,” said one recipient of Kipchoge. *Video
Kipchoge Says His Food Initiative Isn’t Enough As 80% Of The Athletes Are Struggling To Make Ends Meet
Kipchoge Still Looking Forward To Facing Bekele: “My race against Bekele is still on.”
Japanese-Based Bedan Karoki Has Changed Corporate Teams In Japan And Still Hungers For Olympic Spot On “Home Soil” Karoki, who was originally an alternate in the marathon, has a new team. He’s part of Toyota’s team and has moved from Tokyo to Aichi prefecture which he enjoys. “I think I like this place more than Tokyo because it is less congested and you can actually train well. There is enough space at the company and we also have a track so training is easier.”

Hope You Had A Good Mother’s Day

Excellent Read: Toni Reavis Remembers His Mom, Who Secretly Worked In The Polish Home Army During WWII And Successfully Smuggled A Machine Gun Past The Germans
Tokyo Postponement Was A Blessing For 2-Time Olympic Marathoner And Mom Jess Trengove Of Australia After giving birth in November, her back was really up against the wall to qualify for a third Olympics.
NBC Takes A Look At Moms Who Could Star At The Tokyo Olympics
Shalane Flanagan Talks About Being A Mom Days Before Her First Mother’s Day As A Mom “It’s overwhelming infatuation. It’s an obsession, for sure.”
Alysia Montaño Starts A Nonprofit For Working Moms On Wednesday, she launched &Mother.
Olympic Delay Has Been Good For Allyson Felix, Who Is Focused On Making a 5th Team In 2021 “I feel more like myself than I have since I had my daughter [in November 2018].”

Track / XC Action Will Return Eventually

News From Europe

He Will Be Missed

LRC Dathan Ritzenhein Hangs ‘Em Up: We Pick Our 5 Favorite Moments From His Career Between a 12:56 American record in Zurich, bronze at World Half and World Jr. XC, two dominant Foot Locker wins, and an NCAA XC title over Ryan Hall, there were plenty of highlights during Ritz’s lengthy career.
*MB: Breaking: Dathan Ritzenhein Retires at 37