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I’ve read this single, entire article, and if the premise is going to be consistent, I can’t think of a single positive outcome other than advertising and sponsorship revenue.

The gist of the “Enhanced Games” is that it will be much like the Olympics, but athletes can use performance-enhancing drugs that have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, such as anabolic steroids and growth hormones. The idea is to break the records achieved by otherwise clean athletes, and pay the participating doper $1 Million.

Here’s what’s wrong with this whole premise:

• It’s still cheating. An athlete would be achieving some goal in a way that he or she couldn’t otherwise attain without chemical intervention.
• Records would be broken, and that would discount all previous records and attempts. Someone will break Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59:40 in the (unsanctioned) marathon. Someone will break 9 seconds in the 100 meters. But why? Just to say it’s been done?
• It won’t count. Will we need another column in the future record books that shows a real record and a doping-assisted record?
• It glorifies this trend in society where we need it now. What’s the point of months and years of hard, dedicated, consistent work to achieve a goal?
• I could go on and on with this list but, to me, the most important is that it teaches our children something very, very wrong. Kids idolize athletes. If a child’s hero smashes a world record and did it by doping, what does this teach the child?

It’s a disheartening state of affairs when and if an athlete would even remotely consider being rewarded for doping because they need or otherwise feel they deserve the money.

Sha’Carri Richardson makes $50,000/year from winning national and world championships in the 100- and 200-meters, and from brand endorsements. NBA player Stephen Curry makes $50 Million. There’s a discrepancy there. I’ll argue until I’m blue in the face that Richardson works just as hard as Curry. Richardson’s net worth is more than $50k, and Steph’s is more than $50M, and the exact dollar amounts aren’t the point. The point is, one athlete is glorified and earns more than the other for the work, points, time, achievements, and titles. Sha’Carri can’t just up and join the Golden State Warriors so she can earn more money.

But now I guess she could dope, run the risk of destroying her body, and possibly kill herself in the name of a buck.

And why? To break a record and create a spectacle. Investors invest and will want a handsome, fast return from sponsorship and advertising dollars. The rest of the world can sit on our asses while we watch our hometown dopers compete against each other, and be enticed to buy and consume products that make all of our lives “better.”

I’m calling for a boycott now.

I’m not going to get into the intricacies of last week’s race, but Jenny didn’t get the 3:40 in the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon. Part of me is surprised, but I’m also well-aware that the marathon owes you nothing. Jenny was surprised when she realized the wheels were already coming off at the 5k mark, and rightfully disappointed and mad when she crossed the finish 12 minutes past her goal time. She let herself be angry for the just right amount of time, but she didn’t wallow. She told me she’s going to be ready for round 2.

Round 2

This morning I listened to The Real Science of Sport Podcast’s episode “How to Make an Olympic Athlete” with Mark Coogan of New Balance Boston as the guest of honor. I’m not much of a Podcast listener; mainly because I don’t have the alone downtime to pay attention to lengthy talking. And I’m pretty confident that I have undiagnosed ADHD. I’ve tried to listen to Podcasts on base runs, but I’ll invariably get lost and distracted in my own head or by the landscape. I made myself listen to every word of Coogan’s interview today. I’m a huge fan of Mark’s coaching philosophy, but that’s not what I took away from the interview.

My job in coaching is to get an athlete to the start line happy and healthy. The strength, strategy, speed, and confidence are all secondary. We did our job in this 16 week training block leading up to Foot Traffic Flat, but fell short on one (or many) secondary jobs. So now we have to figure out what to adjust and work on.

I like the data that we can get from GPS watches and apps, but I don’t obsess over or rest on that data. However, there were a couple things that stood out to me when I was looking at Jenny’s race data that was captured by her watch:

1. Ground contact time increased steadily and significantly early on
2. Cadence decreased steadily and significantly early on

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert in biomechanics and physiology but to me, the work needs to be on, simply put: fast feet. And my assessment is non-generic. It’s athlete-specific because I’ve watched Jenny train for six months. She nailed every interval, hill, and tempo workout. She got in her long runs. Her weekly mileage was where it needed to be. She stayed healthy, fed, and rested.

The only time I questioned any part of her training was in her interval workouts. I second guessed myself in her prescribed pacing for 800-meter repeats. I don’t think they were too easy for her, but I think she’s more than capable and easily willing to demand more from her legs. She going to need to learn to turn her legs over faster and push harder on toe-off in each stride.

Faster, more intense interval workouts and strides.

Of all things, my takeaway from Coogan’s interview was strides. To open up the stride, slightly over-extend, engage and build fast twitch fibers, and promote recovery; once (maybe twice) per weekly microcycle after finishing a long run.

I love running because we’re literally in flight when we do it; It’s what differentiates walking from running. One foot on the ground versus no feet on the ground. Farther, faster, in the air. You put in the work and you’ll get there.

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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I very much respect and admire Jakob Ingebrigtsen. I first learned of Jakob when he and his two older brothers, Filip and Henrik, paced Eliud Kipchoge in the historic, first-ever sub-2 hour marathon in Vienna in 2019. This video still makes my eyes water.

I respect and admire Jakob because he’s an extremely talented athlete, he works his ass off, and he’s rightfully confident cocky. Nothing’s better in my book than an athlete putting their money where their mouth is.

Last Saturday Ingebrigtsen came in a close second to Josh Kerr in the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic. It was either man’s race…

…and you can just see it in Jakob’s eyes. He lost. He was disappointed with himself.

Five days later, with a chip on his shoulder, he wasn’t going to come in second place again. Even if that meant taking a dive to break the tape in the 1500 against Timothy Cheruiyot in Oslo at the Diamond League meet.

Whatever it takes.

Izac Bauer and I worked together back in April for some portfolio footage through Granada Estates. I had to run 11 miles for this. 😉