Month: June 2024

He has such an admirable and amazing communication style. He’s very motivating and inspiring on video when he speaks, and I’d imagine tenfold in person, and I think it’s because it comes from a place of love. I think he has a true love for his athletes and their overall happiness, well-being, aspirations, health, and success. I think his love for the connections with each athlete rivals or exceeds the love of the sport.

I have so many of Smith’s one-liners tucked into the back of my head and I’m absolutely comfortable admitting that I’m going to steal them and use them for my athletes.

Mike Smith is the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at the University of Northern Arizona. You can read his coaching bio on NAU’s website.

And for my money, this is the best short series of YouTube videos that I think I’ve ever watched. Flotrack worked with Coach Smith and the men’s cross country team to produce “Running with the Boys,” which tracks the team’s 2019 season.

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

So much to spectate and digest in this year’s U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials.

Athing Mu, gold medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 800 got tangled up 200 meters into the finals last night and went to the ground. There was a part of me that was hopeful that she’d recover, rally, find some kind of gear, and podium to make the US team, but I’d imagine it’s next to impossible to make up any lost time in the 800.

I’m not going to lie. I started crying when I saw her crying as she crossed the line in 9th place.

Here’s the video of the women’s 800 meter final and Athing’s spill 200 meters in:

And then there was the 5,000 meter final. Oh, lordy. Parker Valby started out vying for some kind of position near the back, and then just decided to punch it early on to take the lead and push the pace. I loved the move because she has every reason to be cocky and to wear her competition down by throwing down a hot pace off the line. I thought she was going to keep putting distance between herself and the rest of the pack. That proved to not be the case and Ellie St. Pierre plowed through to take the lead with Elise Cranny giving her a run for her money for second place by two hundredths of a second.

And I feel terribly because I didn’t recognize Karissa Schweizer until there was maybe 1k left in the race, and she put up a good fight to come in 3rd and make the US Olympic team. And it goes to show that she’s not so sweet and reserved when she tracks Parker Valby at the 12:30 minute mark in the race to take the 3rd place position.

But man, that throwdown between St. Pierre and Cranny in the last 100 meters.

FUN FACT: I’ve done the real deal. This test was done in April 2018. It was a hard series of tests. If I remember correctly, my VO2 Max at the time of this test was 62 mL/kg/min.

Now my Garmin fenix 7 Pro says my current VO2 Max is 57 mL/kg/min.

27:30 minutes in.

“Stacking. It’s no one week. It’s no one workout. It’s the sum.”

I chat with my friend Rebecca once a month via Zoom. She and I are former colleagues and she’s and amazing and highly decorated ultra trail runner who hails from Boulder.

Today she asked me if I’d kept up with the Spring Energy saga. I had no idea what she was talking about. Spring Energy is an energy gel that has historically used whole foods and natural ingredients, and was created specifically for athletes and adventurers who prefer natural and more wholesome ingredients. I went through a period where I used Spring Energy because other products are hard for me to choke down. A necessary evil, if you will, for endurance sports.

I don’t exactly remember when and where it was, but I do remember the day that Spring Energy’s Canaberry didn’t sit well with me at all. I usually have an iron-clad stomach, but that day, the Canaberry burned through that iron and I’ve since sworn off Spring Energy’s gels.

Some astute people on Reddit recently did their own independent testing on Spring Energy’s products and apparently Spring Energy has been duping consumers, specifically around package labeling and caloric content.

Here’s the Spring Energy founder addressing the issue on Instagram:

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