Running in the News... Five for Friday

The summers featuring Olympic Games or World Championships are some of the most exciting for Track & Field fans. I've been glued to my television just about every night this past week, watching the World Championships at the famed (and newly-renovated) Hayward Field in Euguene, Oregon.

With that in mind, this week's selection of Top 5 Running Stories is, by default, World Championships-heavy, but not exclusively. I tried to showcase some of the stories behind the scenes that piqued my interest.

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1.

Syndney McLaughlin's youth track coach knew what was coming

Late tonight we all saw Syndney McLaughlin not only break her world record in the 400H, but SMASH it to smithereens. As a bonus, she's also now a World Champion. This article from The New York Times is an interesting Q&A with one of McLaughlin's earliest coaches. A woman who saw her potential from the start.

[Doug Mills, The New York Times]

Lisa Morgan, ...A five-time U.S.A. Track & Field junior national team coach, was also a longtime coach at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. McLaughlin, who grew up in central New Jersey and ran at Union Catholic High School, was a friendly rival and then ran for Morgan on multiple junior national teams.

What was the most important thing you instilled in her?

Believing in who she was. The confidence. Step on that line and believe in you and use your God-given talent to do what you are supposed to do. That is what I instilled in her. You are competing against the world, across the globe in another country and you are competing for your country. You have to ste up. Your team is counting on you to bring back gold for your country.

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2.

Writer Erin Strout gets the inside scoop, for Women's Running magazine, on a spectacular moment captured at the end of the women's World Championships Marathon. 

Splits: A World Championships Marathon Moment Captured—and Adored

A single photo illustrates all those finish line feels.

[photo credit: Kevin Morris]

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3.

And speaking of interesting moments captured at the World Championships... Unless you're REALLY not a track & field fan, you've no doubt heard (or, more likely, seen) the moment when a television videographer stepped right into the path of the men's steeplechase final. I'm still waiting to find/read an in-depth interview with this man to see just what he was thinking (or not thinking) when this happened.

A cameraman became an accidental obstacle in the men's steeplechase.

Whoops.

Credit...

[Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]

Have you ever experienced obstacles in a race?

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4.

Opinion: The Day the Shoes Blotted Out the Sun

Oiselle CEO Sally Bergesen asks: Who are we short-changing when we choose to ignore the shoe tech dilemma?

[Sound off in comments below, please.]

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5.

This 100-Year-Old Vegan Athlete is Still Running and Setting World Records

Defying claims that plant-based diets lack for protein or hinder athletic performance, vegan athletes worldwide have proved otherwise, including some of the most accomplished competitors in the world. The latest to prove the naysayers wrong: Vegan runner Mike Fremont, who turned 100 years old in February and celebrated with a run around Vero Beach in Florida.

Fremont adopted a vegan diet at the age of 69 after receiving a daunting cancer diagnosis. He turned down what his doctors told him was life-saving surgery in favor of switching to a whole food plant-based diet. Now, Fremont, the oldest known vegan runner, holds the marathon distance world records for single-year age groups of 88 and 90.

Make sure to keep scrolling this article to read mini-profiles of surfers, professional tennis players, NFL & NBA players, etc. all of whom are THRIVING on a vegan diet, including ultra-runners Scott Jurek & Matt Frazier and sprinters Morgan Mitchell & Elijah Hall.

Is Walking the new Running?

Ever since I adopted the world's cutest Labradinger (that's a Labrador/English Springer Spaniel mix for the uninitiated) I've found myself doing longer walks and shorter runs. Next month (August 6) will mark Drake's Eight Year Adoption Anniversary or "Gotcha Day."

His Royal Highness, Sir Barks-A-Lot [aka Drake]

Don't get me wrong, Drake was running 13 miles before he was a year old. I was a little leery about running that much with him when he was so young, but he had (and still has) seemingly boundless energy and is whip-smart. He always lets me know if/when he's had enough on any given run (or walk, for that matter). A number of trainers, vets and vet techs, upon meeting him, have said, "Run him. Run him hard!" He needs the mental stimulation and loves the exercise.

That said, he is slowing down a bit. Not much, but enough that our runs have been shortened. But he'll still willingly do a 2-hour, up-tempo walk in all kinds of weather.

I've been a fan of walking-as-transportation since my earliest days at the University of Minnesota. Back then, it was out of necessity – I didn't have a car during college. But I learned to embrace the concept of walking for both exercise AND as transportation for errands, etc. It was a great habit to start early-ish in life and has served me well for many years.

One of the (many) reasons I wanted to adopt a dog was so he would do long walks with me. I really lucked out. This little dude can walk a LONG distance and still have energy left to bark at cats, motorcycles and skateboards. He also loves to "flirt" with everyone. It's fun to have the world's cutest dog, because all he has to do is look directly at people and I immediately see their face melt into a smile. Male, female, young and old - they're all VERY susceptible to this little guy's charms.

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Creative ways to walk smarter...

This article from The New York Times, 6 Ways to Level Up Your Daily Walk, was part of the publication's "Why Not Try" columns. It offers some good advice for creative and well-tested ways to make your walks even more productive.

Any writer who can work the phrase "Embrace the Fartlek" (#6 on the "6 Ways...") into a general-audience article, is a-okay with me. (I'm looking at you, Emily Pennington.) As anyone who has coached high school athletes can attest, the first time you say the term out loud, be sure to pause and wait for the inevitable laughs and smart-aleck comments.

Embrace the fartlek.

Swedish for "speed play," fartlek workouts use a type of interval training that involved a series of high-intensity bursts with recovery periods between them. The beauty of the fartlek is that, unlike in traditional high-intensity interval training workouts, walkers or runners don't have to glue themselves to a watch or a fitness tracker to boost their muscular endurance. Just amp up your gait to a light jog or a power walk for a short stretch to get your heart rate up, slow back down until you feel recovered and repeat.

Have you ever used Fartleks in your workouts? I can tell you, doing them as a team, on a track, is the MOST fun way to enjoy this workout. I challenge anyone who thinks overwise to convince me why that's NOT true. [Feel free to try in the comments below.]

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10,000 steps/day - Marketing hype? Scientific fact?

Speaking of The New York Times and Walking... 

Do We Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day for Our Health?

The advice that we take 10,000 steps a day is more a marketing accident than based on science. Taking far fewer may have notable benefits.

According to Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an expert on step counts and health, the 10,000-steps target became popular in Japan in the 1960s. A clock maker, hoping to capitalize on interest in fitness after the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, mass-produced a pedometer with a name that, when written in Japanese characters, resembled a walking man. It also translated as "10,000-steps meter," creating a walking aim that, through the decades, somehow became embedded in our global consciousness – and fitness trackers.

But today's best science suggests we do not need to take 10,000 steps a day, which is about five miles, for the sake of our health or longevity.

What do you think? Is 10,000 steps/day a realistic goal? [Comments are welcome.]

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Running in the News... Five for Friday

It's been WAY too long since I've posted one of my "Five for Friday" columns (or any TJ's Turf blogs, for that matter). With a number of interesting articles making the news this week, it was the perfect time to reinstate this routine.

The first article came across my desk just as I was trying to decide on a fifth notable article. The Jim Thorpe news quickly made its way to the top of this list.

Before we all hunker down for the weekend to watch the World Track & Field Championships, take a look at what I found remarkable in this week's running news.

1.

Jim Thorpe, first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. 

Just today the Associated Press announced that Jim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon & decathlon – nearly 100 years after being stripped of those gold medals for violations of strict amateurism rules of the time. Read more about it here: 

Jim Thorpe reinstated as sole winner for 1912 Olympic golds

And in this article in The New York Times:

Jim Thorpe Is Restores as Sole Sinner of 1912 Olympic Gold Medals

Thorpe, to some, remains the greatest all-around athlete ever. He was voted as the Associated Press' Athlete of the Half Century in a poll in 1950.

(AP Photo, File)

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Running in the News... Five for Friday

This was a fun week in running news.

• Find out what it's really like to be an ultramarathoner and what motivated Alex Nemet to complete seven races of 100 miles (or more) in just six months.
• A documentary about the amazing Girls on Run organization (Chicago chapter) won an Emmy.
• A Boston Marathon bombing victim gets to wear her favorite high heels again!
• Plus a couple of studies on exercise.

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Alex Nemet of Cleveland calls his ultramarathon races “unbelievable therapy sessions.”

His story is told in "Ultramarathon Runner Embraces Physical and Mental Challenge."

But pushing his body and his mind to their limits, tearing himself down to the core, is what Nemet craves. It is in this state that he finds emotional healing.

[Please click link above to read the entire article.]

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I have a remarkable young cousin who is smart, funny, kind and athletic. She's currently a college student and cross country runner. I need to send this article ("How Intense Study May Harm Our Workouts") to her and see if she's experienced the phenomenon explored in this study.

Tire your brain and your body may follow, a remarkable new study of mental fatigue finds. Strenuous mental exertion may lessen endurance and lead to shortened workouts, even if, in strict physiological terms, your body still has plenty of energy reserves.

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In simpler terms, exercise simply feels harder when your brain is tired, so you quit earlier, although objectively, your muscles are still somewhat fresh.

[Please click link above to read the entire article.]

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Sarah Moshman and Dana Michelle Cook, owners of Heartfelt Productions, won an Emmy [Outstanding Achievement for Human Interest Programming - Program/Special/Series/Feature/Segment (Award to the Producer/Host/Reporter)] at this month's 55th Annual Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards Ceremony.

Their film "Growing Up Strong: Girls on the Run," showcases the Chicago Chapter of Girls on the Run.

This short documentary shines a spotlight on Girls on the Run – Chicago, a non-profit program that inspires girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running. Girls on the Run – Chicago serves over 6,000 girls annually through their after school initiatives. The documentary follows the experiences of these girls as they prepare for a 5K event at Soldier Field.

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This headline says it all: "Marathon bomb victim gets new leg for high heels."

Heather Abbott rarely wore flats before she became one of the many people to lose a leg in the Boston Marathon bombings. She calls herself a "professional heel-wearer" and preferred heels that reached the towering height of 4 inches.              

On Thursday, she showed off a new prosthetic that will help her reclaim a little bit of her personal style: a "high-definition" realistic silicone leg that can be worn with high heels.

[Please click link above to read the entire article.]

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And then there's this gem:

"Exercise in a Pill? The Search Continues."

Ummm.... No thanks. I'll continue to sweat and work my heart and lungs the old-fashioned way.

Two newly published studies investigate the enticing possibility that we might one day be able to gain the benefits of exercise by downing a pill, rather than by actually sweating.

Not all that enticing.

But while some of the research holds out promise for an effective workout pill, there remains the question of whether such a move is wise.

Duh?

And, again, thanks but no thanks!

[Please click link above to read the entire article.]

Kenyan Distance Domination

Leading up to last weekend's New York City Marathon there was great coverage of the elite athletes, as always. But this year's attention focused heavily on Kenyans, with good reason, as you will read.

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This NPR piece – "How One Kenyan Tribe Produces The World's Best Runners," looks specifically at the (relatively small) Kalenjin tribe's domination in world long-distance racing.

Scientists and sports gurus have proposed all sorts of explanations over the years for Kalenjin prowess on the track: from their high-starch diet, to the altitude, to socioeconomics.

All those factors are important, but none of them explain why this particular tribe is so dominant. That left Epstein when he was writing his book exploring a more controversial line of inquiry: Is there something genetically different about the Kalenjin that makes them superior runners?

[Please click on link above to read/listen to entire report.]

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This article in The Wall Street Journal – "Tegla Loroupe's '94 NYC Marathon Win Reverberated in Africa: The Kenyan Woman's Victory Inspired Others to Follow Her, and They Have," looks at how the breakthrough 1994 NYC Marathon win for Loroupe, the first African woman to win a major marathon, was just the kick-off to what would become the African women's turn to dominate distance running on an international scale.

Since Loroupe's victory, Kenyan women have won five of the intervening New York marathons and now own six world records in distance running.

This really interesting article explores some of Loroupe's upbringing and the training that led to her '94 victory.

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire story.]

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And finally, this Sports Illustrated article – "Wesley Korir running for a cause -- and eventually president of Kenya," examines the political strife and violence in Korir's home country that led to his determination in distance running, and motivates him to help bring about real political change in his country.

"I want to use my life experience of how I moved from poverty to prosperity," he said, "and I want to use the same thing -- education and talent, empowerment, talent development -- to make people really use what they have, what God has given them, to better themselves."

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"I always tell people aim for the moon," he said, "you miss it, you land at the stars."

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire story.]

Running in the News...

Five for Friday

Here are five articles I found especially noteworthy from this week's running-related media coverage. Please let me know what you think!

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This very interesting article in The New York Times describes a group of runners training for this weekend's New York City Marathon.

Set for Marathon, Ex-Addicts Find Their Way profiles these addict/runners who live, work and train in Coriano, Italy at San Patrignano, one of the largest drug rehabilitation centers in Europe.

“We are broken vases that have been glued together again,” Floriddia said. “But if we can work and live in a healthy environment, we won’t break again.”

 

Tucked in the northern hills of Italy, San Patrignano is not a typical training ground for marathoners. It has 1,300 residents at its main facility, which doubles as a small farming community. The addicts submit to a four-year rehabilitation program in which they must cultivate their food, clean their rooms and undertake tasks like making cheese, raising pigs and cows, and producing wine.

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire story.]

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I enjoyed reading about an extraordinary northern Arizona high school cross country team in this Associated Press article, Hopi High in Ariz. becomes cross-country standout.

The group of boys head out toward the mesa, setting their feet upon dirt trails that are lined with scrub brush and corn fields. It's the same earth that their Hopi ancestors would tread as they ran in prayer for rain, prosperity and all of mankind.
   
For these boys, the drive is as much about the competitive spirit as the enduring spirit of their culture.    Hopi High School, where they are students, has earned 23 state cross-country titles in a row, and according to its coach, is one of three schools in the country to earn a perfect score at a state meet.    No high school in the nation is as dominant when it comes to winning consecutive championships, and the team wants to make sure the streak continues.

The pressure this team feels is not just for their upcoming regional and state meets, but also from their tribe's long-standing running success.

In the Hopi's story of running glory, there is inspiration that comes from a Hopi man who competed at the 1908 Olympics and earned a silver medal in 1912. The federal government shipped Louis Tewanima off to boarding school, and he rose to become one of Indian Country's most famous athletes, along with fellow Carlisle Indian Industrial School classmate Jim Thorpe. Tewanima's American record in the 10,000 meter race stood for more than 55 years before being broken by Billy Mills, an Oglala Lakota.

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire story.]

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One of the best things about this Well/Phys Ed article in The New York Times: The Marathon Runner as Couch Potato, is the writer's use of the phrase "prolonged sedentariness." But there's some other good information as well.

One recent study reported the average American sits for 8 hours per day. But in a study specifically looking at runners currently training for a marathon, the runners self-reported sitting an average of 10 hours a day – 2 hours MORE than the national average.

In effect, the data showed that “time spent exercising does not supplant time spent sitting,” said Harold Kohl, a professor of epidemiology and kinesiology at the University of Texas and senior author of the study. “It seems that people can be simultaneously very active and very sedentary.”

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire article.]

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This article, Taper madness: Running withdrawal puts many marathoners on edge, appeared in The Washington Post the week before last month's Marine Corps Marathon, but the sentiment applies to just about any runner in the week or so before their marathon.

It’s as if someone stole your morning coffee, every day for two or three weeks. You might not kill him over it, but you’d consider it. Robbed of their favorite pastime, runners brood about losing fitness, gaining weight, injuring themselves and race day weather, to name just a few of their favorite obsessions.

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire article.]

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Speaking of the Marine Corps Marathon, did you hear the organization disqualified the male winner of this year's 10K?

Marine Corps Marathon 10K Winner Crashed the Race: The man has been disqualified

The man, whose name has been removed from the official results list, was from France and won the 6.2-mile race in 32:20 minutes. However, he later admitted he wore a friend’s bib and was not registered for the sold-out event, which drew 10,000 runners. The Marine Corps Marathon now recognizes 25-year-old Stephn Gedron of Massachusetts as the official 10K winner with a time of 33:19.

[Please click on the article link above to read the entire article.]

Cyndi Elias, Kickin' Cancer's Butt

I first read heard about Cyndi Elias last October when I read her story in this "Turning Point" column in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. At that point, she was training for the 2012 NYC Marathon. She was one of the many registered runners who travelled to NYC, only to (almost immediately) hear the marathon had been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.


Cyndi Elias

Fast forward 6 months and 4-time cancer survivor Elias is again featured in "Turning Point." This time she's training for a new challenge, the Million Dollar Marathon Coast to Coast for Cancer.

According to the Million Dollar Marathon website:

On June 21st, The Million Dollar Marathon will begin it’s 4000 mile relay across America. The Team will be made up of all those that Cancer has touched. Survivors, Caregivers, Advocates, all working together to beat this disease. One marathon at a time, the event will cross 15 states and more than 500 communities as the baton is passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

During their journey, team members will run from Mount Rainier to the Great Salt Lake, over the Rockies to the Great Plains, on to the Appalachians and past the Chesapeake Bay. As they run, each day will turn to night and clear skies will fill with storms. Yet through the darkness and rain, their baton will not stop – because these runners know that dawn always follows night and that the darkest storms create the brightest rainbows.

As a member of The Million Dollar Marathon team, [runners] will be dedicating one marathon, one day to the cause. Each day the team will run 4 marathons. In total [participants] will run 160 marathons. During this extraordinary journey, [participants] will take more than l0,000,000 steps. Ten million steps to honor the past and inspire the future. Ten million steps toward a cure.

Elias is hoping to raise $7,500 in pledges. Visit her personal Million Dollar Marathon page for more information.

From Elias fundraising page:

"I’m running the Coast to Coast Marathon for myself, to show cancer that I’m going to keep kicking butt. I’m also running in honor of so many people that I’ve met along this journey, cancer patients who continue to inspire me, and especially those who have lost their battle with this horrible disease. Since we won’t be running through Minnesota, I’m not sure where I’ll run – I think I’ll request the most beautiful, most remote stretch of the course!" — Cyndi Elias