Junior World Track and Field Championships - Day 1

Here at Hayward Field, home of Nike, the official gear for the first US-based world championship since 1996, is provided by....

adidas.

Interesting. adidas (lowercase, if you please) is the main sponsor for international track championships, so Nike had to swallow this one. All the same, it's very odd to be on this hallowed track while wearing something other than the Swoosh.

At the Monday morning practice meet, it's time to work out all the bugs. Five events, with world leaders in each event according to the announcers. Problem is, every kid looked suspiciously like a Eugene teenager...

but with apologies to Allen Iverson, "we're talkin' 'bout PRACTICE."

In the dining hall, a Chinese girl, maybe 18, eating a plain hamburger bun. With chopsticks.  

And here's her friend...a bit overdressed for breakfast, one might say.

As is my little tradition, I arrive at the venue well before we are due, just so I can inhale the atmosphere of a peaceful, quiet track.

Somebody sprung for some nice, shiny new hurdles...

 

Since they will be obsolete after this meet, will they let me take one home for my living room?

Other stuff hidden under the bleachers...

 

Nice, dry warmup track beneath the West Grandstands...

Yes, those are gymnast rings....don't ask me what they are doing here!

Near the steeplechase pit, a cameraman has his gear set to capture the field events. I ask what network he's working for.

He shrugs. Huh?

No really, I say. "Who is broadcasting the event?"

He replies, "I don't know."

He's simply the raw materials supplier. A broker of some sort will determine where his video feed goes. The uncomplicated Amish way of life is looking better and better.

During one of the practice events, I notice all the media and meet operations folks on the infield, computers and electronics everywhere. What happens then?

Time to water the lawn!!!!! Those people moved a lot faster than I thought they could.

Other sights around the track:



Me and the Ugandans; their PRs are probably a bit tighter than mine...

Teams getting accustomed to the track:

One of the 200 or so flag poles....

Jamaicans...

Italians...

In the cafeteria, an adorable Chinese boy of about two years, walking around with a piece of fruit and talking to everyone.

Irish athletes in the dorm elevator carrying big bags of ice. I asked, "sore muscles?" They said, "no, dead bodies." Not nervous at all, those three..

After the practice meet, I go over to the IAAF press conference just for kicks. And who do I see there?

One of my childhood heroes, Sebastian Coe...the only person to win back to back Olympic Gold Medals in the 1500m race. I first watched him in 1979 when he destroyed the mile world record and a very experienced field. He muffed the 1980 Olympic 800m, his best event, and was dubbed a failure by the British press. He came back in the metric mile and ran like a man possessed, sprinting the last 100m in 12.1 seconds.

Today, he was standing next to me. That's one big one off the bucket list!!

Oh, and the next guy to walk past? Sergey Bubka, first man to pole vault 20 feet, and holder of the world record for over 20 years.

I love track.

2014 Pole Pedal Paddle

Seems like last year we had months to prepare for the PPP; this time, it was about two weeks. Fortunately, we’ve got a good template to follow: take what we did last year, then wash/rinse/repeat.

I decided not to mark the run course on Friday night. I’d still have to verify everything on race morning, and I didn’t want the local hooligans having a chance to mess things up. So I had an extra glass of wine and went to bed early.

Race day, around 0530; I hope Molly’s prediction of 73 degrees comes to pass, because it is positively frigid right now. But it sure is pretty in Farewell Bend Park; clear, crisp, and oh so quiet. All that will change shortly.

  

 The Aid Station food delivery arrives, and what do I see? The entire Evans family wearing Vibrams on their feet. First big smile of the day!

It didn’t take long for me to mark the course (or to experience the first injury of the day). Evidently, I’ve forgotten what every kid knows: be careful when using chalk on pavement.

Is there anything better than coming across a pristine PortaJohn and being the first to use it?

One of my run course volunteers, brand new to town, just finished a night shift and came straight out to the race. Volunteers are awesome!

While riding the course on my bike and making sure things are set, I come across this couple; Austin and Renee. They run an athlete recovery lounge in town; I might need to go there later. And Renee is a professional runner. Later, I see her absolutely destroying the course with something like a 5:15 second mile. Serious wheels!

I really don’t know what to say about this guy

 

Under the Healy Bridge with a mile to go in the run, there’s a string quartet playing Irish folk music! I swear, Bend is the best place in the world to live.

Here’s German guy Rolf: two years ago, he was starting the run long after course marshals told us the race was over. See, Rolf had finished the bike leg, then ducked into a pub to see the results of the European soccer championship. When the match went into extended overtime, he stayed at the bar while consuming multiple beverages. Then he finished the race in dead last, but with a big smile on his face.

Best dressed support staff EVER.

 

A fairly straightforward day, as evidenced by my car at 3pm. Contents include extra lunches and t-shirts for volunteers, course signs, orange duct tape, chalk, flour course marking, emergency phone numbers, and who knows what else.

 

Everything a good Sherpa needs!

Recovery in Style...

What do you do when the legs are sore or fatigued, and you're in the middle of an intense training cycle that's only going to get more intense?

I know: you wear your compression socks, you put your feet up, you try to sleep more, and you hope like hell that you feel better in the morning.

That's what most people do, because it's all they CAN do.

But what if there was a place you could go? A self-service kind of place that gave you a range of options, not to mention every recovery tool on the planet?

Some might call such a place Fantasyland.

In Bend, Oregon, we call it Recharge.

The brainchild of Austin and Renee Baillie, this concept is so brilliant that it makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Walk in, pay a nominal daily fee or a monthly/annual membership, and go play. Virtually everything you could possibly need to force the lactic acid out of your body is located here. 

For starters, they have a nice array of nutritional products, from Picky Bars to Pocket Fuel to Honey Stingers and much more.... they also have some homegrown Paleo Bars that hit the spot so perfectly after a depleting workout.

Then there are the toys...pretty much every device you'll need to coax your body back into shape. You'll recognize some of the items here: medicine balls, kettle weights, balance boards, and more.

There are two devices in particular that deserve extra notice. One is the vibrating (!) roller; oh man, this thing is amazing. More stimulating than a standard foam roller, you'll get much deeper into the muscle tissue. You should see the face of someone using this device; it almost should be done behind closed doors.

The other toy is the white clampy-looking thing in the picture above, hanging on the black mat in the upper right. It's called an R8 Roller, and it is simply amazing. Essentially a spring-loaded C-clamp with skateboard wheels, you open the jaws and put it where things hurt. Think of a stick roller that is fourteen hundred times more powerful and takes a tenth of the effort to exert force. The R8 is that good.

Pure genius; I've worked up a sweat using standard rollers and without getting very deep into the muscle. This R8 does all the work for you....I can easily roll it across my quads and hamstrings with one hand. Brilliant concept: designed by Jeremy and Adriana Nelson in Boulder (friends of Austin and Renee), this device is possibly the single-best recovery aid I've ever used.

And then there are the boots....

Yes, I know: that's what certain industries call 'the money shot.' The bread and butter.

Many endurance athletes are familiar with these bad boys. Basically, it's a blood pressure cuff on steroids; there are sleeves that will fit your legs, hips, shoulders, whatever hurts. You hook up an air supply from a control unit about the size of a lunchbox, and the boots cycle through compression and release, compression and release.

 I cannot stress enough how incredibly effective these boots are. And relaxing, too: it is SO easy to fall asleep while getting squeezed by the leg sleeves. Then you'll wake up feeling like your body is on the way back. Recharge even has a version that circulates ice water through the boots along with the compression; we call that "the squeeze and freeze."

Renee, a professional marathoner, actually carried the boots while traveling and set up shop right in the middle of Newark Airport while waiting for a flight. Hey, we runners are used to getting funny looks shot our way...

The piece de resistance is at the back of the lounge. First, an infrared sauna that heats you from the inside out. More effective than a standard dry-heat sauna, the IR penetrates the muscle tissue more effectively with less dehydration.

Then, after a quick shower in the adjoining locker room, it's into the tubs (Renee is sitting on the red tubs in the shot below). Cold and hot contrast tubs, side by side. I have a serious love-hate relationship with these two; the cold, while 'only' 55 degrees or so, will elicit every four-letter word in my vocabulary upon entry. Five minutes later, the move into the hot side is blessed relief.

I'll typically repeat that cycle two or three times; after a half hour, my legs are tingling and alive. It's an addiction, I tell you: my drug of choice. And as you can see in the picture, the lounging area can be a social hotspot of sorts. A person in the boots or the tubs is a captive audience, and it's really nice to trade ideas and listen to the way other people train.

I would be remiss without mentioning the other huge benefit of Recharge, and that is the amazing hands-on repair courtesy of Austin Baillie. A former collegiate runner at UC Boulder (no further cred needed), he is a certified massage therapist who counts something like 25 Olympians as his current or past clients, including two-time Gold Medalist Mo Farah.

Austin is a master of leverage and technique: with my eyes closed, I'd swear he weighs 300 pounds and holds a grudge. He'll go to any level you want, and HE WILL FIX YOUR BODY. I went to him with a calf strain and a marathon in seven weeks; three days after he worked on me, I ran 18 miles with no discomfort at all. The man knows his stuff.

After having opened Recharge just last August, their business has been booming. They are in the process of remodeling a much larger space nearby that will include all of the above plus room for cardio, yoga, etc... And they have licensed their business plan to a new location near San Francisco: some cyclists who came into town for a race fell in love with the concept and begged the Baillies to share their brilliance with the world.

I've told friends in faraway places about Recharge, and they practically cry with jealousy at the genius of the concept.

Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on life. Then I go to Recharge, and everything makes sense again.

2013 Portland Marathon

When Frank Shorter won the 1972 Olympic Marathon, he said that the highest gratification was that "I finally got one right."

Well, I finally got one right.

But when people ask if I qualified for Boston (sub-3:25), I can truthfully say...

 

I'm not sure.

 

• The clock at the finish was reading 3:24 and change.
• My watch read 3:24:53: I started the watch 10 sec before the start to ensure proper operation (if the watch malfunctions, I don't cross the starting mat until I have it working). Therefore, my watch's clock time should have been conservative
• The unofficial race timing had me at 3:25:23, 24 seconds slower than my Boston standard.

I've asked the timing company to revisit.

 

The other strange thing: the 5k timing mat had me at 7:27 pace. My Garmin splits below have me at 7:45. No way should there be that big a discrepancy! Almost 200 yards??? Regardless, my biggest issue is the elapsed time.

 

However, even a 3:24 doesn't get me to Boston because this year's cutoff was about 90 seconds faster due to the number of entries. No big deal; I'm very happy with my race.

 

 

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	3:24:54.0	26.22	7:48
1	7:55.5	1.00	7:56
2	7:43.1	1.00	7:43
3	7:49.0	1.00	7:49
4	7:41.0	1.00	7:41
5	7:48.3	1.00	7:48
6	7:59.2	1.00	7:59
7	7:37.6	1.00	7:38
8	7:47.8	1.00	7:48
9	7:47.4	1.00	7:47
10	7:37.5	1.00	7:38
11	7:55.8	1.00	7:56
12	7:48.0	1.00	7:48
13	7:47.1	1.00	7:47
14	7:46.2	1.00	7:46
15	7:57.4	1.00	7:57
16	7:42.9	1.00	7:43
17	8:12.5	1.00	8:13
18	8:05.1	1.00	8:05
19	7:35.7	1.00	7:36
20	7:54.5	1.00	7:55
21	8:07.0	1.00	8:07
22	7:28.2	1.00	7:28
23	8:14.9	1.00	8:15
24	7:46.1	1.00	7:46
25	8:04.3	1.00	8:04
26	7:10.4	1.00	7:11
27	1:31.4	0.22	6:47

 

Mile 17 was the bastard uphill to the St. John's Bridge; I pulled back on pace and kept effort level. That's the first time I've been able to climb that hill without walking.

 

Finally, a solid finish!!! Check out my last 1.2 miles. I was running scared, trying to catch the pace group. My hamstrings were sending warnings for the last 8 miles, so I stopped a bunch of times to stretch them. At about 39k, I went all in and decided it was time to gamble. Up until then, several times I was only steps away from complete hamstring seizure. Lots of pace jockeying to keep legs in check; aerobically I had plenty of capacity.

 

My last 10k was right at 7:49 goal pace. Thrilled with that! After I stopped to stretch each time, my pace was very snappy as I caught back up. Felt smooth. All I need to do is get more core strength so I don't need those pauses, and that's an immediate 2 minute aggregate gain.

Takeaways:

• The Tuesday night speed workouts are huge. Keep doing them, and develop a better high end
• Core and posterior chain work helped a ton. Hamstrings were threatening but never seized. And my last 10k was solid.
• I had a larger breakfast earlier in the morning, and stomach was really full. Back off a bit.

Plan:

• Recover
• Continue with Tuesday night group speed work (invaluable)
• 20 miles a week or so thru winter
• More intensive Plyo/Core work
• Get back in the pool
• next year, run a fall marathon (PDX or Marine Corps) and get 3:19:59. That will get me into 2016 Boston; that year, I'll be 50, so my qual time will be 3:30. The 3:19 will get me into the Sub-10 minute group that can sign up before the masses who sneak just under the radar.

 

couple other things:

• I ate a little more breakfast than usual, 3.5 hrs prior. Stomach was uncomfortably full the entire race. Only took 2 of my planned 6 gels, and 4 of six salt caps. Didn't want to upset stomach further
• Crimson urine afterward. Kidneys? Nah, just beet juice powder at breakfast
• drove home 3 hrs solo afterward, then ran a mile to flush the legs. Today, I'm feeling the least damage I've ever experienced after a marathon.

discovered that Emergency has a lot more electrolyte than salt caps. Been drinking that every morning.

 

Glad that one's in the books! Come a long way from my debut 4:35 of 3 years ago.

 

And my resting pulse is 48!

2013 Prefontaine Classic

I'm excited. Thrilled. Beyond psyched.

Why?

Because it's my first track meet of the year when the sun is actually shining! So far this season, it's been cold, rain, wind, some snow. No more.

Pre-game at Hayward Field
 

And, BTW, this is the best meet of the year. Anywhere.

After arriving in town on Friday, I went straight to the Hilton to meet up with NC track blogger Pat. Instead of seeing tons of runners, the first mob I see is attending the hotel's tattoo convention.

I don't make this stuff up.

Pat and I take a 5 mile stroll along Pre's Trail. Not as many tattoos out here: not at 8 minute pace, anyway.

The meet organizers gave up some great Dry-Fit polos to wear this year. Never enough DF for me.

Another gem for my wardrobe...

Friday afternoon, sun is warm. A fellow official, noticing a very large female Chinese shotputter near the equipment building, says to her, "Beautiful day today!"

She replies, "Thank you very much."  In perfect English, no less.

I love track.

China also sent a high jumper and pole vaulter. Never seen an Asian vaulter before. Times are changing.

Friday night, men's 10,000m. Italy has a guy in the race, and he's easily the second-best looking guy on the track. By halfway, he had dropped back and was struggling. He needs to stop the suffering and call a modeling agency.

Hey Daniele, Calvin Klein wants you...

Saturday morning: I arrive early and start taking notes. Out on the warmup track, there's Kim Conley, who squeaked onto the Olympic team last year with a hellacious kick in the 5000m. Her Olympian status earned her tons of race invitations in Europe, and she has been making waves.

some guy with Kim Conley

Right before we walk out onto the track, I go make a final pit stop. There's a long line; hurry up, people. As I'm finishing up, I hear the national anthem. Oh no: I'M LATE!!!! We're supposed to be at our stations for the singing.

Relax, Campbell: the vocalist is merely warming up in the weight room. My cardiac patterns recover quickly.

The singer is a tiny, tiny woman with big pipes. And she doesn't have to force the high notes. There's an author who says you can run better if you inhale for three steps and exhale for two; maybe this singer is also a proponent.

I'm stationed in front of the men's pole vault; great competition. Brad Walker, American Record Holder is here. Not sure if he's more famous for his record jump or for the number of hairstyles he has worn.



Brad, Part 2

Brad, Part 2

 

 

Not Brad, but good hair...

Anyone remember House Party?

 
Blogging makes me crazy sometimes....

Also here is Renaud Lavillenie, Olympic Champion. He looks like actor Keith Gordon.



  

Actor

Vaulter

 
                               
The actor-wannabe wins with 19'6", big jump. Every time he cleared a big height, he pumped his fists and celebrated. ON THE WAY DOWN! Very cool.



 

Party time on the ride down!
 

And his footwear: oh my. Lime-green neon with Velcro straps that look a lot like cycling shoes. Looks like he's thinking about riding the Tour de France in his spare time.

His shoes are louder than mine

 Women's 5000m: Olympic Trials foes Conley and Lucas are off the back in a hurry. Not hard to do with all the African gazelles in the race. I do the math and realize Conley is running steady, looking for a 15:18 that will qualify her for Worlds in Moscow. At 4k, she's at 12:13 with a solid shot. Then she blasts a 2:56 final kilometer to finish at 15:09, well under the standard. That's 10 seconds faster than she ran here last year, and a 5 second PR over her Olympic run.

Nice job! All she has to do now is place at Nationals without having to worry about setting the pace. Big load off her shoulders.

Men's High Jump: Skinny Guy Barshim from Qatar goes 7'10", highest jump anywhere in the last four years. Somebody please feed the boy; I can practically see his aorta. Then I notice he was born on 24 June; that was one of my favorite days in last year's Olympic Trials.

(the starting list that our head umpire distributes includes lane #s, country, personal/season bests, and date of birth). Then I do a search and find two guys in the 10,000m with the same birthday. A lot happened on 24 June, I imagine.

The Ethiopian kits are black shorts on hunter green singlets. Looks a lot like UO colors.

Women's 1500m: Kenya's Helen Obiri runs 3:58, fastest ever on American soil, and breaks Mary Decker Slaney's 1988 record. Mary was a beast of a runner, all five foot nothing of her. And to hold a distance record for 25 years?

NBC is televising live. How cool is that? NBC (me) on NBC! The network has these great self-leveling mobile cameras; the unit does not bounce as the cameraman walks along, so the picture is very stable.

Trivia: from where did this technology emerge?

Answer: Sylvester Stallone. No joke. When he ran up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps as Rocky, his crew had to develop a camera that wouldn't make viewers car-sick.

I have tons of useless trivia stuffed in my head. Other examples: I know the year the US Naval Academy was founded (1845), and I know how to start a nuclear reactor from cold wet layup without creating a radiation hazard.

Alex Trebek needs to call me.

Jamaica's Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce adds to her collection of two Olympic gold medals in the 100m, while Justin Gatlin wins the men's event. Sprinters have two muscle groups: quad and butt. Makes them run fast and walk funny.

  


I'm watching Florida runner Tony McQuay in the 400m. At the halfway mark, he's way behind everyone, so I write him off and start watching the battle up front. Turns out Tony was biding his time and later snuck into third place. Guess I need to pay closer attention.

High School Junior Mary Cain runs the 800m with the big girls, and doesn't do much except become the first prep runner ever to go sub-2:00! Girl has no fear; none. During the post-race interview, she says, "I really didn't think; I just ran like an animal!"

The crowd roared. You go, girl.

WR Holder and Olympic Champ Ashton Eaton and his Olympian fiancée Brianne do a ceremonial victory lap. I break from my stoic umpiring protocol and slap him five as he passes. I hope that outburst doesn't get me banned from the track.

Here's 2x Olympic winner Mo Farah for the men's 5000m. World-class goatee.

 

I mentioned the sprinters are all quad/glute. Mo has none of that, and no calf muscle either; just lots and lots of hamstring. Like cables.

Galen Rupp is here, too. The boy ran here at UO, then gets an Olympic silver medal right behind his buddy Mo. Galen's shorts are horribly wrinkled, but he gets the biggest ovation anyway.

Their coach Alberto Salazar is on the infield wearing a black and red outfit with a cool red webbed pattern. I think Spiderman is now designing Nike clothes.

Speaking of birthdays, Australian's Ryan Gregson was born on mine, but 25 years later. He honors me by running next to last in the Bowerman Mile.

A pleasant 130-mile drive home, only to return in three days for NCAA Championships.

Did I mention that I love track?

 

2013 Eugene Marathon

Hmmmmm...

Getting closer to Boston, but more issues to resolve.

Good warmup, good breakfast, all gauges in the green. I'm ready for this sucker.

Last race was Portland and a 3:37; lots of the usual hamstring cramps in the final 8 miles coming off the bridge. This training cycle went better, and I was hopeful that I've figured it out.

Back in February, I suffered a mild calf strain. Seems like my calves are the biggest issue during hard training; definitely my Achilles heel. So to speak....

Because of the calf thing, I backed off on long tempo runs in the last couple of month and was hoping it wouldn't be a problem.

Started the race slow. My standard plan is to let the pace group go for about the first 5 miles, then slowly reel them in. Done.

Approaching 8 miles, I steel myself for the 19th Street Hill. I've taken a beating on this slope before, really going anaerobic way too soon, then suffering the rest of the way.

This time, I rocked it.

I crested the hill with the pace group, then freewheeled on the way down. And smiled.

Near 10 miles, some idiot woman in front of me sees a spectator friend with a camera. The runner slows and poses, right in the middle of the road.

And right in front of me.

I'm locked and loaded, just focused on the task at hand. No bozo is going to distract me. Nor will she slow me down; I put a forearm in between her shoulder blades and keep rolling. She apologizes; I don't acknowledge.

But the running gods took notice.

I realize that I'm working fairly hard  to maintain this pace, and I'm not halfway yet. This could be trouble.

13.1 miles in low 1:42. Right where I need to be; the problem is that I don't know how long I can hang on.

Did I mention the hamstring tightness that began at 8 miles?

Couldn't believe it. 8 lousy miles???? That's definitely going to be trouble.

and it was.

At 16 miles, I begin to drop back a bit, trying to baby the leg. Once the legs seize, there's no unlocking them. That's experience talking.

I was carrying a larger than normal load of salt caps, so I start pounding them. And my stomach felt fine, so I jammed all the calories I could down my gullet.

Didn't matter; the legs locked at 21 miles. But at least I wasn't hungry!

The last 10k wasn't horrible like in years past, but it wasn't much fun, either. I couldn't open up my stride for very long, and I was also getting winded. But I still kept hoping my quads would relax, and I kept an eye on the clock.

With 2 miles to go, passing Skinner's Butte, I need to run better than 5:30 miles to the line. Not going to happen.

I run a respectable last mile, and the last 400m was at 7:26 pace. Decent finish, just under 3:32. Will have to re-evaluate my training.

Once I got out of the car after driving 130 miles home, my hammy locked big-time. Had to stand in the garage for 5 minutes immobile before it loosened.

 

Remind me again why exactly we do this?

a

With a somewhat disappointing day behind me, I needed some way to regain my self-respect.

 

Light bulb goes off. I grin.

 

After 3 glasses of wine and a huge dinner of lasagna, know what I did?

 

Yup. Ran a mile.

 

Wow. It really hurt. The first 300 meters, I had a complete loss of motor control. Literally staggering. Once my legs loosened a bit, all that food and wine in my stomach became a larger issue. Ugh.

 

The good news is that my recovery the next couple of days was much better than ever before. That one lousy mile made a big difference.

 

But I know what I need to do: spend Tuesday nights with the Footzone running group. It's a series of speed workouts that will really help me develop some more gears.

Gonna get me some new wheels and bust this sucker.