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Is Endurance Training Killing Your Strength?
Most Important Health Lessons of 2017
Pro tips from The Harvard Business Review: To Get People to Change, Make Change Easy
NYT: Running: Fitness Trackers, Body Shamers and Salad Eaters
Tianna Bartoletta (seven gold medals in international competition): What I look for in a coach
When I first came here we had four kids breaking five minutes in the mile. Now we have 27. … That’s what I love about (coaching). To see the kids who, for three years, are busting their butt every day to break five minutes as a senior. That’s what makes it worth it. ~Tim Broe, Olympian, now coaching high school track and cross country. More.
How running the 800 has changed. When did you last race the 800? A while, I’m guessing. And then there’s the mile. Same question. (I do one mile race a year.) …Consider.
Consider what American Buddy Edelen did the week before breaking the world marathon record. See here.
Pabst is selling a 99-can case of its Blue Ribbon brew. Merry Chrismas
You say, “I want to win at Olympia.” …If you do, you will have to obey instructions, eat according to regulations, keep away from desserts, exercise on a fixed schedule at definite hours, in both heat and cold; you must not drink cold water nor can you have a drink of wine whenever you want. You must hand yourself over to your coach exactly as you would to a doctor. Then in the contest itself you must gouge and be gouged, there will be times when you will sprain a wrist, turn your ankle, swallow mouthfuls of sand, and be flogged. And after all that there are times when you lose. ~Epictetus, Discourses 15.2-5
Handel’s Messiah on Los Angeles’ Skid Row …Video.
Amby Burfoot: Your Body: “Use It Or Lose It”
Sitting Near a High-Performer Can Make You Better at Your Job. …Running with faster runners…
Semi-Rad: How Do You Define Adventure?
Q&A: Almaz Ayana training insights. …”I have no distraction from social media…” …Her 29:17.45 WR in the 10,000 was almost 14 seconds better than the previous best that stood since 1993. But sez: “My speed is not so good.”
December 21 is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year
NYT: Get Off Your Ass! Or die.
NYT: In an Unforgiving Sport, They Minister to Hearts and Souls Could that work for a high school cross country team? Don and his xc team mates were a bunch of screwballs.
Science sez. Why You Should Keep Running During Stressful Times
Alex Hutchinson (and science) suggests brain zapping.
Check out Ovarian Psycos
Now enjoying Deep South. Paul Theroux amidst “the deplorables” and the poor. He doesn’t pull his punches. Politically incorrect. Very funny. But still empathetic.
Laugh here: The ‘Drop’ That Enraged Pittsburgh
Semi-Rad: How to talk to your family about ice climbing (or running) during the holidays
Bill Walsh’s Four Strategies to Avoid Burnout. Runners can relate. Finally, win or lose, it’s just another day in the office. Move on.
Forget the Vaporfly. All I want for Christmas… Bionic Boots
7 Ways to Get Your Kids into Running
Steve Magness: Long Term Athlete Development: A Case Study of a 9:15 HS 2-miler becoming a sub 2:17 marathoner
Bone injuries/stress fractures in running. …More.
Why are Americans so unhappy and suffering so much pain?
McDonald’s launching the McVegan burger. …We miss the McLean Deluxe.
Oops, we were not on the same southbound… The train accident was on an alternate route believed safe for higher speeds.
Q&A: What It Takes to Climb Mt. Everest
Chris Froome Just Killed Pro Cycling …And then there is Justin Gatlin
Four Illinois Running Icons Remember Competing Against Coach Joe Newton. …”Thousands of Lives Changed for the Better” …That we could all have that on our tombstone.
95% of injuries are the fault of the coach
NYT: The Top 10 Well Stories of 2017
A favorite novel this year is now an audiobook. …I read three times.
While I know my hard workouts will decline, I never want them to go away completely… there’s nothing that can replace that stride sync, mind meld, drunk-on-effort feeling. Forever my drug of choice. ~Sally Bergesen
About “food deserts”
Wow! A 55 year old video about Bruce Kidd, with Lazlo Tabori, commentary by W.H. Auden. Here.
W.H. Auden poen: The Runner
Don witnessed history on the boards on February 10, 1962. With Jim Beatty, Lazlo Tabori, Murry Halberg, and Bruce Kidd. Auden was a no show.
Ashima Shiraishi became, by the age of fourteen, possibly the best female rock climber ever -a Gretzky of the granite
Cardiovascular Guideline Skepticism vs Lifestyle Realism?
Update on anti-aging drugs.
20 days ago we were on that same southbound track where the train derailed this morning.
Boom lands on Froome. Great cycling through chemistry.
.Mike Blackmore, 56, UO graduate, Licensed Massage Therapist in Eugene, head cross country/distance track coach at Linfield College in McMinville, stud racer. Now single (has a girlfriend), no kids, one cat, 7 sub-fours (miles, not marathons), his best being 3:57.46. His 13:37 5000 ain’t too shabby either. As a master, he has won five USATF National Championships on track and trails. In December, 2017, he was third in his age group at the National XC Championships. He has never raced a marathon. And doesn’t apologize for it. We said, on your behalf, we’re OK with that, and respect him notwithstanding.
1. When/how did you get interested in running? After such early success, you gave it up. Why/when did you return to competition?
I started running when I was 12 because my best friend was running. We didn’t really train much until high school. I stopped in December of 1992 because I was tired of fighting plantar fasciitis. After 16 years off of racing and training, I jumped back in because I thought it might be fun. Never thought I would get to the level of masters running I have.
2. Your work/commute schedule is crazy. How often do you run? Training schedule and key workouts? Other strength/cross training?
I try to run as many days a week as I can because I know things are going to get in the way. I try to get in one hard effort every 5-7 days if I can. This fall, I ran a bunch of 1000m workouts to keep things simple. I can usually stay pretty healthy if I don’t get on the track and start running short, fast repeats. I also have an Elliptigo that I’ll use if the weather allows, and hit the pool for deep water running if something doesn’t feel right.
3. A Eugene resident for 37 years, you know all the best runners, boys and girls. Who is especially fun or great and why? Examples, please.
I think the simple answer to that is the incredible job Jeff Hess has done at South Eugene over the years. His kids always race well when it matters, and many of them have gone on to have successful college careers. Paige Kouba representing Harvard in the Olympic Trials steeplechase was great to see. I was also lucky enough to coach Russell Drummond at Churchill to a state title in the 800, and he had a nice career at Colorado School of Mines with a pile of All-American awards.
4. Advice to your younger self at 20 years?
Run your own workout, not somebody elses.
5. Books on your night table?
Coaching Better Every Season by Wade Gilbert. , Brenda Davis’ Becoming Vegan (which won’t happen). Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness.
6. What three running/sports/nutrition books would you like your athletes to read?
I gave my entire Linfield team Shalane Flanagan’s cookbook, Run Fast, Eat Slow this year. Athletes need to learn how to cook and take care of themselves if they expect to stay healthy. Chris Lear’s Running with the Buffaloes is a good read about dealing with adversity to achieve a goal. I think every kid wants to read Pre by Tom Jordan.
7. What did you have for breakfast? Usual breakfast time?
I actually have a hard time eating breakfast unless I’m racing in the morning. Unless you count a pot of coffee. I usually have a snack mid morning if I remember to take one with me, like a banana or a Market of Choice cinnamon roll.
8. What special moment or insight caused your devotion to running?
I played basketball from 4th-9th grade. After I broke my high school 2 mile record my freshman year, I decided it was time to start training during the winter. I still played hoops with my friends, and could dunk a volleyball when I was senior, but my playing days were over.
9. What does your morning and daily routine look like?
Organized chaos.
Read du jour. On legendary biologist, writer, and runner Bernd Heinrich. He’s 77, running the 10K in about 47 minutes, living with another legend, 57 year old Lynn Jennings.
Excellent: Racing the Antelope and Why We Run
Ever wonder about the namesake of the Catholic church on Copper Hill in Saugus, CA? I have. Turns out the writer on the Heinrich story has a book that, in part, tells the story of Kateri Tekakwitha.
Dyestat ranks Mariah Castillo as sixth best in the nation. Here.
Sonia O’Sullivan: Why running the mile is still the perfect distance. …Gut check. What is your current mile time? I’m guessing you don’t know, and don’t want to know. I race the mile once a year, usually on the track at Hayward Field. This year I ran 8:13. Dead last. Mortified and depressed.
Brad Stulberg: Use Your Mind to Push Your Body
Huh. California Warns People to Limit Exposure to Cellphones …More.
NYT: Running
Good reads and video here. Learn about the Stoics and caffeine naps. Yes, you read that right.
Hurricane Harvey Could Barely Slow Down Sabra Harvey, 68
What we’re doing is not working.
Eat your veggies! Fresh, frozen, or canned.
Craig Fowler hiked AT, PCT, and Continental Divide and pedaled Tour Divide, the Colorado Trail Race, and the Arizona Trail Race. Read.
The School Closed. The Players Left. But the Coach Can’t Quit.
Video: Eliud Ngetich Late Evening Fartlek in Central Park 15 x 1:1 hard/ easy.