Cam Levins quadruples again!

Giant Johnson wrote:

A. You understand that that was during a race in April, not during championship season, yes?

...

C. ... You have no conception of how much running on a track in spikes can take out of your legs. ...

A. It's May, dude.

C. Yes. I do. And I wouldn't be so sure he wore spikes w/o seeing the races, especially the 10.

Not spiked up, see video above.

As the meet announcer, i can tell you that Levins did not wear spikes in the 10k, and as Mr. Rogers noted, he was very invested in helping his teammates in the 5 and 10. Obviously he was pressed in the 800, and the 1500 was actually quite a race, with him and Fitzke changing leads a few times in the last lap, though his last straightaway was far too much for anyone else.

Levins looked great but most of the rest of the SUU guys looked severely flat, having been following this team for a while really expected more out of the rest of them...

whhaaatttt wrote:

A. It's May, dude.

I think the big dick was referring to the Payton Jordan 10k.

Malmo, thanks for the details about Tommy Fulton. I remember reading about that meet and just being knocked out by what he did. That's what you call earning your scholarship...

Was he the guy who ran with a big gold chain around his neck and a headband?

Come on guys.... Gen LaCaze from Florida tripled and won all three. Steeple, 1500, 5k. A little bit more note worthy and exciting. Of course Levins is going to dominate.

Wait wait wait, so this one guy is criticizing Levins for training too hard, saying that if he wants to make the Olympic team he should train easier. But what he seems to be forgetting is that the only reason Levins is an Olympic contender is BECAUSE he trains so hard. He was a nobody until he started doing the very training that you are criticizing him for, i.e. 150+ weeks with high intensity. This is par for the course for him.

I agree. Derrick also ran a balls-out 1500/5000 double at his conference meet, certainly harder than what Levins did. Big guns with full rides are expected to produce points at conference.

And holy sh!t, what a quadruple by Fulton in the post above.

I think it is worthwhile to start a thread over not for the times in themselves but because it is fun to look at how easy he was able to run to get first in the events.

It's fun to think that he scored a lot of points and at the same time he was able to just run tempo pace and get a good workout out of this.

Perhaps this is little more than an example of what is wrong with collegiate track and field in the US. What is gained by running a quality guy like Levins in so many races on one weekend in May? When will people learn that this is a near sure formula to have him either peaking too early, or injured, by time the important races come around.

At Cams level, this is equal to a hard out, there are high school kids who could have done this quad.

It's a great workout for him. He runs 9 miles of tempo (5k and 10k), then works on his speed in the 800 and 1500. I'm sure they treated this as an extended workout, i.e. no tapering or anything.

I was at the meet and have some insights.

The 10000 was slow 5:10 to 5:15 for 4 miles then picked up a bit until the last 600 where Cam made Cosmas Ayabei (29:16 10k) look pathetic. Cam was wearing a pair of Mayflys and was going from the middle of the pack to the back to try and pull his teammates, Nigel Sharp and Ryan Barrus back into scoring position. Between races, Cam kissed his girlfriend and ran very slowly. He was even spotted getting in extra miles at 11:45 PM on Friday.

Contrary to a previous post, the 1500 was not a race. Cam made it look like one by allowing Travis Fitzke to retake the lead going into a 20+ mph headwind. Don't get me wrong, Fitzke is good at 3:46 but Cam is much better. Cam took off in the homestretch while Fitzke almost faded to 3rd.

Cam had won the 800 indoors against the same people and was expected to do it again. Jake Schneller (eventual winner) and Banks of ORU were out hard in 52.xx for 400. Cam was sitting in the main pack with everybody else about 2 seconds back. Banks led Schneller by 5 meters going into the homestretch but he was toast. Cam and Casey Shade kicked together with Shade beating him but both unable to catch Schneller.

The 5000 was out in about 15:10 pace for half way and then Cosmas took over. He pushed the pace a little bit and it was down to him, Cam and Clinton Rhoton also of SUU. Rhoton was clearly struggling and Cam was trying to encourage him. Cosmas pushed the pace at 400 to go and Cam took over at 200 to go and changed gears hard at 150 to go. He glanced back and stopped accelerating with 50 to go but the damage was done.

cmurph wrote:

Wait wait wait, so this one guy is criticizing Levins for training too hard, saying that if he wants to make the Olympic team he should train easier. But what he seems to be forgetting is that the only reason Levins is an Olympic contender is BECAUSE he trains so hard. He was a nobody until he started doing the very training that you are criticizing him for, i.e. 150+ weeks with high intensity. This is par for the course for him.

I'm not saying he should train easier, I'm saying he should train smarter. Anyone who doesn't recognize that it's unsustainable to do 150+ mile weeks with 4 workouts a week has their head in the sand. We just saw the same thing with Solinsky. 140 mile weeks piled upon 140 mile weeks at high intensity by a guy who seemed immune to injury. He had great results for a while, and if anyone had said "He's doing too much" they would have been laughed off the boards. Where is Solinsky now? He'll probably never be the same.

I know you love this whole "average runners can be elites too if they train hard enough" myth, but Levins is not just an "average" runner. He is a huge talent. He could be extremely good without 150+ mile weeks with 4 workouts a week. It wouldn't be as immediate, but it would also help prevent him from ending up ridiculously injured within the next year or two. You people saying that this past weekend sounds like a "good workout" are insane. Smart workouts do not look anything like what Levins just did. This was a stupid attempt by the coaches to rack up points at a meaningless conference meet, nothing more.

I don't care how if he did 90 mpw with 2 workouts and a long run every week for the next 5 years, I doubt that would ever get him to the level he is at now. Levins has shown that his key talent is his ability to respond to train at an extremely high level. If you take that away he's probably just another good D1 guy, fighting for an all-American spot. I agree that the vast majority of athletes shouldn't do this kind of thing at a meet, even if they are substantially better than their competition, but most athletes can't train like Levins.

The way I see, he can train like an animal, run like 13:10 or 27:20 or whatever, make the olympics, win NCAAs, etc., and maybe burn out after a couple years, or he can "train smart" and run like 13:30s until he's 30. I made those numbers up but you get the idea.

Levins was obviously just doing a workout with these races, that's been established. Time will tell how the program does without him versus a young, incredibly talented Northern Arizona squad in the Big Sky. Judging by this weekend they could be in for a long long year without Cams star power

Two things:

1. It could be argued that Solinsky's hamstring injury was non-running related.

2. Don't forget that Cam never even broke 4 in the 1500 in high school. He was by no means considered a vast talent at the time. Who's to say that he's even any more "talented" than the average runner out there. His success is attributed to consistent and progressive mileage in the last 4 years.

still a sick azz workout though, even if he didnt crush any ridiculous PRs. there are few people than can do a workout like that.