Do you feel bad for Cam Levins?

andy dufresne wrote:

That's weird that this hasn't been posted and discussed before, considering how NOP-mad letsrun is.

It has. A lot. Pay attention, man!

"I kept getting urged to go faster...that's why I died."

Seems pretty clear-cut what happened and how Cam felt about it.

NOP training seems to be going well for him, but in this case (as with many NOP runners like Amy Begeley) he was told to run less than his optimal race to support one of the "core" elites.

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

andy dufresne wrote:

That's weird that this hasn't been posted and discussed before, considering how NOP-mad letsrun is.

It has. A lot. Pay attention, man!

"I kept getting urged to go faster...that's why I died."

Seems pretty clear-cut what happened and how Cam felt about it.

NOP training seems to be going well for him, but in this case (as with many NOP runners like Amy Begeley) he was told to run less than his optimal race to support one of the "core" elites.

That is basically the idea behind the project. They want to do what they can to get medals at championships and win U.S. titles. If you feel bad for the "lesser" athletes that get in these situations, feel bad for them not understanding what Salazar is out to do. He wants to have the top in the world and U.S. He is not going to sacrifice that so they can get their P.R down or be ranked top 20 in the world or top 5 in the U.S. That is not the mission he set out for. The turnover with the non-core athletes is fairly high probably because they think they are mistreated, but it is because that is the mission of the NOP. I doubt Salazar is going to come out and say "you are going to be a rabbit for so and so." He probably hypes them up without them realizing it isn't them he is focusing 100% on. Moser, Cain, and Rowbury is a good fit, but i'm sure the focus is on Cain.

... The problem was that the rabbits didn't do their job. They apparently fell off the predetermined pace at 2,600 meters (one even before that). But still, Levins only took the lead for a little more than 800 meters. Rupp took off on his own (serving as Chelanga's rabbit) at just beyond the 3,400 meter mark.

The problem for Cam was that, when Rupp and Chelanga accelerated, he couldn't do it. And he quickly found himself in no man's land. Therefore, as they picked it up, he even slowed down a bit.

Nothing wrong with that - call it an "internship." 4 years ago, Rupp set the US indoor mark at 13:18 - just a second off of Levins's time - and look where he's at now. I'd say it's mutually beneficial. It's a much better situation than Rupp's "schooling" behind Lagat for all those years.

Cam was performing better when he was racing an "unhealthy" amount like Yuki Kawauchi.

Cam was a year or two away from being done for his career. Salazar was like Cam in college and post-college and burned bright for a year or two and then disappeared. Cam is doing the right thing right now.

I didn't feel bad for him not winning/sticking with the leaders. The dude broke the Canadian record and is doing his cooldown solo while Rupp is signing autographs, taking pictures, doing interviews, etc.

Now certainly: A. you're in America and B. the AR is faster than the CR so that might explain some of it but I wonder if a Canadian reporter was even there to bring word back to the Northland(?)

sandybeaver wrote:

Randy Oldman wrote:

He smashed the national indoor record by 6.5 seconds.

Still working on that college PR though.

Um no, his college outdoor 5k pr was eclisped last year under Salazar. This is obviously an indoor pr, but the fact that you're wrong on multiple accounts shows how dumb you are.

Tryon Creek wrote:

The problem for Cam was that, when Rupp and Chelanga accelerated, he couldn't do it. And he quickly found himself in no man's land. Therefore, as they picked it up, he even slowed down a bit.

Correct, the rabbits didn't do their job. But the problem came BEFORE Rupp and Chelanga ran away from him. The pace was fine for Cam until there was no more rabbit at 2500. It was only after he was alone in front and forced to run faster than AR pace (the race was a fair-sized negative split overall) to pace Rupp that he got in too deep.

Levins running for Levins would have laid off a bit once Rupp needed to roll for the AR. Levins running for Salazar and Rupp's AR had to run from 2500 to 3500 or so WAY faster than he should have for an optimal performance. He obviously knows this and it was reflected in his interview.

But really, this is nothing compared to the Begeley debacle.

"Levins running for Levins would have laid off a bit once Rupp needed to roll for the AR. Levins running for Salazar and Rupp's AR had to run from 2500 to 3500 or so WAY faster than he should have for an optimal performance."

He didn't get a faster time, but running faster from 2500

to 3500 plus the post race workout may be a greater stimulus

for supercompensation.

fred wrote:

He didn't get a faster time, but running faster from 2500

to 3500 plus the post race workout may be a greater stimulus

for supercompensation.

POD

Cam should be like Yuki wrote:

Cam was performing better when he was racing an "unhealthy" amount like Yuki Kawauchi.

I don't even know how to respond to this post.....

RunWild wrote:

Cam should be like Yuki wrote:

Cam was performing better when he was racing an "unhealthy" amount like Yuki Kawauchi.

I don't even know how to respond to this post.....

You mean you don't remember Levins racing over 10 marathons per year?

Zat0pek wrote:

well.... wrote:Sounds like Al Sal used him to make the golden boy shine.

Ya think? If there was any doubt about how Salazar views anyone outside his absolute top stars (Rupp, etc.), take a listen to this interview with Amy Begley, starting at the 35:28 mark into the interview:

http://cloud259.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/amy-begley.mp3

How would you like that from your coach after you just made the Olympic team?

wow. thats f***ed up

Don't worry. He just needs to get used to that good NOPe dope.

Jesus, the guy runs his first race since World's in Moscow, and runs a "rusty" indoor 13:19 and people are acting like his future is done. Give me a break, watching Levins hand Rupp a beating in the practice after the race on Thursday was impressive...they did 800 (2:00), 400 (55), 800 (1:58), 400 (54.2), then 4 x 400 in 54s. Rupp had to bail after 3 and Levins looked amazing on his last interval. With the race and workouts like that, Levins will run equivalent sub-13:10 indoor, and will be near 13-flat outdoor. Give him two more years with Salazar, training with Galen and Mo, and Levins will be in there for the kick in Rio-2016.

cam is in a great spot.

looks like he's overcome serious lung infection issues that have kept him down since the last OG.

cam working out with rupp is like rupp working out with farah.

would you want to be running endless 408 mile repeats alone???

no.

when cam has his A-game going, he won't be pacing rupp, that is for sure, he'll be going for the win.

aslan wrote:wow. thats f***ed up

Ya think? That incident speaks volumes to me.