Author Archive

Tuesday, 9/18/18

Hutchinson on Kipchoge. What did we just see?

More expert commentary …And here.

And This Woman Just Biked at 184 MPH to Smash the Bicycle Speed RecordVideo

Like: Dave’s Killer Bread

Q&A with Ian Brown

Ian Brown, 56, unmarried, is the new coach for the OTC Masters Tuesday night workouts. He was born and raised in Seattle. He attended Central Washington University, earning a degree in education. His 5000 PR is 15:20.. For love and money, he has worked as a teacher, track and cross country coach, and running a small business. Now residing in Springfield, in addition to his coaching us to greatness, Ian runs a window and gutter cleaning business.

1. Why do we need a coach, especially us older boys and girls?

I see how we all benefit from in our Tuesday night group. My coaching is about structure, accountability, motivation, knowledge and fun.

2. Where, when, and and how hard? Appropriate for all levels of ability?

Our default meeting and workout spot is the South Eugene High School Track at 5:30 PM on Tuesdays. On Monday evenings, I post the workouts on on Facebook and indicate of any we are meeting at a different place. All levels and abilities are welcome.. Join us! The more the merrier.

3. A typical Tuesday night workout? How does it differ from your high school workouts?

A typical workout for Tuesday nights would be a warmup, drills, then 12 x 400 meters at 5k pace with a 90 second jog between repeats. The first six on the Amazon chip trail to minimize pounding and the second six on the track to maximize speed. I have more than once done this exact workout with high schoolers.

4. I confess, if doing an easy day on the bike path, I walk to the trail head and just start running. What’s the problem?

I see no problem. If an easy day, relax, enjoy the scenery. If you are not running hard, no need for a warm up or drills. I would suggest running on soft surfaces on easy days as resting from the pounding of hard runs is a large part of the process of rebuilding for the next hard run. Easy days are also a good time for some extra core work and stretching.

5. Do you critique and coach your runners’ form?

High schoolers a lot. I try to keep the focus not on what they are doing wrong but on how to get more efficient, providing more speed with less effort. With the younger runners, we do a variety of form progressions and drills, lots of core and balance exercises, and watch videos of world class runners, male and female, so every one has a model of good form to emulate. With older runners,, such as our Tuesday OTC group, the drills and speed work will help with running form. More focused individual or group running activities aimed at efficiency is always available if requested or, sometimes, obviously needed..

6. Quotes you live by, or quote often?

At Ellensburg High School, I have been the distance coach for past 15 years. We have a team meeting at the beginning of practice, and at the end of that meeting we have a tradition of words of inspiration, wisdom and/or quotes. One of my favorites that I deliver at the beginning of the season is “The tree with the deepest roots withstands the strongest winds.” This is especially relevant as Ellensburg is very windy during track season.

7. What special moment or insight caused your devotion to running?

As a kid, I loved sprinting but did not enjoy distance running . At ten years old, and participating in the Cub Scout Olympics, I remember thinking when doing the 440 yard run, “I hate this distance running stuff.” Later that year at a grade school championship meet, I ran what would be the fastest time of the day in the 100 yard prelim. In the final I took off like a maniac, instantly in the lead, but then the gun fired again. The scary and stern starter pointed at me and yelled, “Do that again and you are out of here!” After this experience, I developed an aversion to sprints and began to see the beauty of distance running.

8. XC teams lose by the closest of margins, often because one or more on the team didn’t finish with their best effort, drifting through the final 50, or 20, or even last few yards. How do you coach them to give it their all, on their backs and toes up just beyond the finish line?

I tell runners that sprint muscle fibers are different from distance running fibers. At the end of a race when you feel about to drop, the sprint is usually still there if you stay relaxed and go for it. At the finish of a hard workout, during the last couple repeats, we learn when to kick and how fast the finishing kick can be.

9. What did you have for breakfast? Usual breakfast time?

I usually eat breakfast at around 7:30 after a quick cross training workout at the gym. Breakfast this time of year usually consists of some home made blueberry pancakes and grazing in my garden for whatever is ripe and fetching, such as raspberries, nuts, carrots, and beans.

10. Three things that make you grumpy?

Little dogs that bark nonstop (one lives next door), the wind (Ellensburg), and getting caught in traffic.

11. What possible advice could a 73 year old runner (Don) give to younger runners?

I would guess you have a lot of good advice to give on how to make running an enjoyable and positive lifetime activity.

Monday, 9/17/18

Kipchoge jogged to and from school. Story

Kipchoge defies logic to push limits of human physiology

Ditto Kevin Mayer

Low-dose aspirin?

King of the Manhattan Lap

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

Teens Are Protesting In-Class Presentations. …Isn’t overcoming anxiety educational, a basic life skill?

Yesterday I ran this. But way slower, 105 minutes. 15,253 steps. 1650′ elevation gain.

How Sports Became Us

“It’s easy to say, ‘I love God,’ but put on your boots, get your hands dirty” said Jim Pennington, the senior pastor of Temple Church in flood-sunken New Bern, N.C.

Fun story about Kipchoge’s Drinks Guy

2:01:39!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eliud Kipchoge Crushes Marathon World Record

Female Athletes Face Crazy Expectations. They Can Be Overcome.

About Steens Mountain High Altitude Running Camp. …It’s raw, remote, a bit unreal. Like no place you’ve ever been. Check the photos.

Kipchoge training

Saturday, 9/15/18

Who Wins in Berlin?

Eliud Kipchoge Is the Greatest Marathoner, Ever

Find a treadmill that goes 13.1 miles/hour, and then try to hang on for a minute or two. That’s is what this guy is capable of doing for 26.2 miles. ~Scott Cacciola

Advice to the Next Generation: Nap When You Can

What does your morning coffee have in common with a bike?

Why We Need More Female Coaches

Speaking while exercising? Not if you want to get fitter

Jen A. Miller/NYT: Getting in Our Miles. And lots more.

66-year-old bombshell can do 37 burpees in a minute. …Three years ago, 250 in 19:31

Friday, 9/14/18

The Morning Mile Gets Kids Running Before School—and Loving It

Alex Hutchinson: How to Strengthen Your Ankles and Run Faster

For the real cyclist: The Rules …Especially Rule No. 5. What woefully weak, whiny, wimpy, wasted, wastrel wussies we be.

Running, on the Way to Personal Recovery

Thursday, 9/13/18

Bananas!!!

White People Food?

NYT obit: Diane Leather, 85, First Woman to Run Mile in Under 5 Minutes. What a story! I’ve been a track fanatic all my life, and I’d never heard of her until now. In my high school track days, the fact that a female had run a mile faster than us… Inconceivable.

Sue Johnston Is an Ultrarunning Pioneer

We’ve come a long ways, boys and girls. Video: A Journey to the Top of Mount Olympus.

Harvard Business Review: Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. In business and in sports as well.

Do Not Waste Good Time.

Bob Hayes, 91, ultrarunner dies at 91. Story.Movie.

Wednesday, 9/12/18

Not the usual fare:

Change a Word—Change Your Life

Can we choose our own identity?

Every Sunday in the New York Times, Kwame Anthony Appiah waxes wise in The Ethicist

Why women live longer than men

A Trip to Tolstoy Farm

Oregon’s first confirmed fatal wild cougar attack.More. Aside from a sense of being stalked a few times (rustling in the bushes), Don had a stare-down with a mountain lion near the entrance to Mentryville. No. 1 son had an encounter with three mountain lions in Mt. Pinos area, duly recorded on his gizmo.

Tuesday, 9/11/18

Remember. … 2,997 flags in Malibu, Calif., to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks on this day in 2001.CreditCreditFrederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Check out the Nike ad on Caster Semenya. Yes, it’s touching, but were those really Semenya’s touching words or that of a copy writer? But more to the point, how do the other 800m runners (many being Nike sponsored) feel about it?

Ato Boldon reflects on track and field season breakouts, looks to 2019

5 training tips for the older runner

Walking Might Be the Best Exercise There Is. If so, gardening might be second best. …Now harvesting grapes, corn, pears, apples, plums, tomatoes…

Consider The Other Path

“It has long been our desire to see cross country running back in the Olympic Games,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe. More.

Monday, 9/10/18

Alex Honnold Climbs Halfway Up a New Jersey Skyscraper

Alex Hutchinson: How to Time Your Exercise to Maximize Sleep

Jenny Simpson’s pillars of success. …Must see: Jenny yesterday at the Fifth Avenue Mile.