The Week That Was In Running: March 19-25, 2012
To read last week's LRC Week That Was, click here.
By LetsRun.com
March 28, 2012
Last week, South Africa's 800 stars opened up at their specialty with resounding victories and we tell you what their wins mean (which means our incessant update on Nick Symmonds' medal chances), we do the same for Shalane Flanagan's impressive win in Lisbon, plus free coaching advice from Lauren Fleshman (do as I do) and Chris Solinsky (don't do as I do), and quotes from Mo Farah, a happy Nick Willis, an angry Ron Hill and a happy Olympic janitor.
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South Africa's 800 Stars Open Up With Wins - What Does That Tell Us?
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Recommended Reads
*Meet Norway's Full-Time Janitor Who Is About To Be An Olympic Marathoner
*With 4 Titanium Screws Holding His Hamstring To His Pelvis, Chris Solinsky Will Try To Not Overdo It In 2012
After a sensational 2010 which saw him become the 1st white man under
27:00, Solinsky went crazy in 2011 and overdid it. Now he's on the
comeback trail from the 1st significant injury of his career. We almost
certainly will use this as QOD for Thursday.
*Meet Eulace Peacock - The Man Who Owned Jesse Owens Until He Tore His Hamstring
(Note: The dates appear to be off) Even Owens doubted he could beat
Peacock. Owens: "It's going to take a special man to beat Eulace
Peacock. You see, I've already reached my peak. Peacock is just now
reaching his. He's a real athlete. I don't know whether I
can defeat
him again."
*Marc Bloom Asks: What Makes A Great HS Coach?
*23 Years
Ago, Tim Hutchings Got Silver At World XC In Boston & Now
Hutchings Laments Current Bi-Annual State World Cross-Country
Hutchings: "the IAAF have a lot to answer for as they reduced it to a
virtual track race with manicured lawn-like courses around the world
being used for the world championships and the real skills of cross
country - being able to cope with changes in surface and inclines and
twist and turns - being stripped away so that the event has become more
like a glorified road race or even a track race on occasion."
*WSJ India Asks: Should Poor Countries Face the Same Doping Bar in Sports?
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Other News Of Note From The Last Week
LRC Wallace Spearmon Runs 19.95 In March! To Crush Jeremy Wariner No one in the history of the world had run sub-20.00
in the Northern hemisphere
in March until now. Spearmon's Achilles
injury is clearly behind him. Doc Patton ran a 10.04 on a perfect 80-degree day and La Shauntea Moore ran a WL in the women's 200m. *Discuss
FW Star-Telegram: Spearmon: "I'm back." Spearmon trains with Doc Patton, who ran 10.04.
B Of A Shamrock Shuffle: *Results (link fixed) *Discussion Abdelaaziz Atmani won as Abdi was 3rd. Julia Lucas won over Delilah Dicrescenzo.
Austin: Leo Manzano Runs 3:55.98 At Manzano Mile Congrats to Leo on the Texas state record, which was in essence a solo effort with rabbits. *MBoard Thread
Another New Doping Scandal Emerges
Spanish Police Secretly Arrested 10 People 2 Months Ago In International Doping Ring That Is Linked To Positive At Beijing Games
The arrests were hidden presumably so authorities could try to catch others as the group is responsible for positives also at the 2010 Vuelta
a Espana, the 2009 Volta a Portugal and the 2010 Spanish
athletics championships. The article says the mastermind is only known as "Dr. Alberto BN." Think Morocco is full of cheats? Well, "the shop is also alleged to have delivered EPO to two Moroccan brothers in Madrid who administered doping substances to cyclists."
*Alberto BN Is IDed As Former Liberty Seguros Dr. Alberto Beltran Nino
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Quotes Of The Day From The Week & Last Week's Homepages:
Note: To see a particular day's homepage, click on the hyperlink of the date on the left. The quote's hyperlink will take you to that particular article - not that day's homepage.
Monday 3/26: "Honestly, I think it's great for American middle-distance running to be where it's at. But at the end of the day, I'm a selfish person. I want to be on the podium, and I don't really care about other Americans getting [there]. I just know that's where I want to be."
- An honest Morgan Uceny talking to the LA Times in this article about the optimal altitude training in Mammoth Lakes. They had a second longer article focusing on Meb Keflezighi and others who take advantage of Mammoth's location to do "high-low" training.
Sunday 3/25: "Houston wasn't only the deepest Olympic marathon trials marathon ever; it was the deepest marathon for American runners, period, including any race from whatever definition of the good old days anyone wants to put forward. Still, the rest of the world is a lot faster. In 2011, the year the marathon went crazy, only Hall showed up in the top 100 in the world, and that was largely due to his 2:04:58 finish in Boston, nearly 2 minutes from the top of the list."
- Parker Morse writing about the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon and where the Americans stand on the world stage.
Saturday 3/24: "I start work (as a janitor) at 6 a.m. and go maybe 5 or 6 hours without a break, and my legs just ache by then. (Then I train) but I have to be back at work by three so there is no time to rest. You can't always have what you want. Maybe it's been difficult but my dream has always been to run in the Olympics and that is about to come true. Even if your body is tired, your mind can be strong."
- Urige Buta, Norway's 2:09 marathoner, talking about the difficulties of being a full-time janitor as well as Olympic marathoner.
Friday 3/23: "You don't ask people, 'Hey, how many 1600s did you run today?' You ask them, 'Hey how many miles did you run today?'"
- Leo Manzano in an interview with Bring Back the Mile answering the question why his event tomorrow is called the "Manzano Mile" and not "Manzano 1,600." The alliteration probably doesn't hurt either.
Thursday 3/22: "Hyper-intelligent athletes tend to gather so much knowledge, but that doesn't always get converted into logical programming."
- Oregon Track Club coach Mark Rowland on the multi-faceted Lauren Fleshman (and a lot of you at LRC). The long Running Times profile was written before Lauren got injured again. Lauren's blog post on her injury has some interesting comments a lot of us can relate to as well: "Why do I live in this God forsaken rain-soaked shit hole?! Why am I doing this stupid sport?!"
Wednesday 3/21: "I saw Ronaldo on TV yesterday and I noticed how fat he has become. I don't want to finish like him, I really do not. So I keep running and competing ... (But) my time is almost four minutes slower than the fastest Ethiopian and no one would accept that I return from London without a medal."
- The great Haile Gebrselassie explaining while he will continue to run and compete, but not at the Olympics.
Tuesday 3/20: "I've been waiting for this summer for four years so I'm going to enjoy every moment and put on a show for everybody around the world ... This year I feel good."
- Usain Bolt resurfacing and talking to Reuters, downplaying fears that anything is wrong with him in this Olympic year.
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