Strength Coach

Just finished End Zone. Very funny. The coaches are nuts. And abusive. Such was my experience, and portrayed so in fiction, film, and fact. I’ve known scores of running coaches. Not one was abusive. I think I know why. Running is tough stuff. Runners will not tolerate asshat coaches.

Athletic destiny not set at birth. “Muscle fibres can adapt to the demands you put on them.”

Finding It Hard to Focus?

Footnote on my football career, 12 weeks at Anaheim High School, 1960. Practice was in full uniform, daily, 2:30 to 5 or 5:30. In September, it was quite hot. We were allowed no water. None! No sitting. Ever. Done to make us tougher. There was a huge bottle of salt tablets for all, and we were encouraged to take as many we could tolerate.

National Geographic: Sleep Science: In the Era of Screens, Rest is Crucial

The net is full of Elon Musk. Can’t sleep. Nuts?

Recently finished Scott Jurek’s North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail. He had to average 50 miles a day to get the record. In the latter stages, because he was slowing down, he had to walk and run 18 hours a day or more. Way short on sleep. Meanwhile, he began to stink like apple cider vinegar, the sign his intake was insufficient for his energy needs, and his body was burning itself up. An unsustainable situation, to be sure. …Spoiler. He broke the record. But set no record in getting the book on the market. Three years. His AT record has been broken twice.

Jen A. Miller/NYT: Are You Ready for Fall Marathon Season? And other stories.

Protein in Meat Linked to Premature Death

Birmingham results

Colorado State University’s Newly Renovated Track No Longer Open To The Public Or Non-Track Athlete Students. Story. Open/closed hours with rules appears to be a fair and obvious solution.

Jerry Miles. …I like my Fitbit, about steps, but time on my feet is the more important measure. It all counts.

Is TrackTown still TrackTown without Lananna?

About Soft People

Obesity in America. Seems to be because we’re stupid and easily hoodwinked and don’t realize what, how much is wolfed down.

Trash Runners! Recommended. We live on a cul de sac, ending at a trail head for the Willamette River trail. It used to get a lot of litter. Now not so much as we pick up litter there and on the rest of our street and other places as needed. A small investment of time, especially when retired, but folks get the idea littering isn’t normal. …Reminds me. Long time ago. Santa Clarita Runners would pick up every scrap of litter at the high schools. Strangely, after a few years of that, the schools did their own pick-ups. We then did pick ups on all the river trails. Anyone doing that now?

Week That Was. Must reading about Jakob Ingrebrigtsen, 1500 and 5000 meter gold medalist at age 17. Two words. Threshold intervals. …1500 race video

Good news for you!!! California might decide coffee does not cause cancer.

Defining the Upper Limits of Fitness

How To Improve Your vo2 Max

An Analysis of Eliud Kipchoge’s Training Before His Berlin Marathon Victory

Memories of Hayward Field abound for high school coach

Free will? Q&A with philosopher Galen Strawson. Were you really born to run? …A fully informed, completely rational decision?

Tim Duncan “was the most coachable great player of all time. …That was always our secret weapon, to me: You see this all-world player…and here he is in practice, willing to be coached like he’s fighting for a spot on the team.” ~Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs

John Wooden “impacted me so much in so many different ways.” ~Jamaal Wilkes
…More.

the morning shakeout

USADA’s Athlete Perception Survey On Doping

NYT: How Body Type May Determine Runners’ and Swimmers’ Destinies

Free climber Alex Honnold on fear and risk

What Muir Really Meant by ‘the Mountains Are Calling’

Why it’s okay for high art to be unpopular

Video: The Lodi Mile elite women’s race. What’s your current mile time? …Dare ya.

On Bullshit

Do young athletes need routine heart screenings? Opinions are mixed.

Enjoying Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France. Geraint Thomas, in 2007, missed the Lanterne Rouge by six minutes, finishing 140th of 141 finishers. … And won the 2018 Tour.

In other cycling news, Jan Ullrich, 1997 Tour de France champ, seriously messed up.

The greatest reader alive died.

Just finished Max Leonard’s Higher Calling. Loved it. Very quirky. …Review. There’s some fun stories about George Mallory II, the grandson of George Mallory who died in 1924 in an attempt to be the first to climb Everest. Mallory II is a nut about fitness and training on stairs and doing so while holding his breath. His PR is, on one breath, ascending six -and-a-half stories. And then passed out.

Today we will start reading Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France

Our friend Tim Lynch and some buddies are cycling the Oregon coast, Astoria to the California border. Hope to see them tomorrow in Florence. …From yesterday’s ride on 101 here

Jen A. Miller/NYT: Best swag in the bag, and other matters

OTC 5K results. About 90 degrees at race time. Too hot for Don, but not Don’s rival, David Elliott, the best 70+ racer in Oregon.

About fake toughness. See here and here.

What’s going on with Oregon track and field?

In Pro Cycling, Men Race Longer But Women Race Harder

The Lodi Mile. Every town should have a short street race. Santa Barbara has a good one. When Nick Symmonds was in town, he was the ramrod behind the Springfield 800.

How to Explain Your Running Habit to a Kid

The rules of our running group is that if I collapse, you make sure I’m dead before you call 911. ~George Etzweiler, 97 …Video

Track and field will remain stagnant if we continue to hide in a tiny Oregon bubble where we feel comfortable, nobody asks any questions, and we can so easily delude ourselves… Eugene is an anomaly, built by the Nike neighbors up the street. More.

Ken Goe reports on elite athletes leaving the tiny bubble. Story. …In Comments, some guy writes: I’ve never met a runner who isn’t self-centered, ego-driven and toxic. Want happy people? Look elsewhere.

Everesting? For cyclists. But what about for runners? If reading this, you probably know The Beast (Santa Clarita) or Spencer Butte (Eugene). The net climb for each is roughly 2000 feet, about 15 round trips on no sleep. …Now reading Higher Calling: Cycling’s Obsession with Mountains.

Kilian Jornet Summits Everest in 26 Hours

Whitney Has Turned Into an Overcrowded Catastrophe

Mega study says fish oil will not save your life.

Maybe you should let your kids play more video games. More.

Q&A with Courtney Frerichs