Wheeler Farm Loops

Are you enjoying the Olympics? It's hard for me to tell based on your talk and with only 3 links today :)

I upped it to 4 links. But I'll keep it there. I have about 12 tabs open right now so I could add a lot more!

Yeah the Olympics T&F is sorta okay ;-)

It gives me something to think about other than CIM!

Did you see the 400 meter sprinter with the prosthetic legs? I thought that was pretty amazing.

don't get me started on Pistorius... I'm fine w/ him being at the Olympics, but I'm also glad he didn't make the finals and turn the whole thing into a side-show. Its a great, inspirational story and everything, but in my opinion (and in the opinion of every sports scientist in the world) those things actually give him a major advantage.

You are probably right...I know nothing about science. :) I just thought it was incredibly interesting.

Oh it is very interesting. I mean, its incredible in a lot of way.

I forget that you have only been following running closely for a short time. This Oscar P thing has been a big deal for several years. They have done countless studies at lab all over the world. He was banned for a while, then appealed and got re-instated. If you ever need to kill like 4-6 hours, head over to the "Science of Sport" blog and search for his name. They have been dissecting this story for like 5 years :-)

Great, now everyone is going to be going around chopping their own legs off.

sorry i couldn't make it last week. i couldn't find a ride. next time i'm up though i let you know :)

no worries Mike. I know its tough when you are on vacation, trying to get rides and whatnot.

Almost XC time for you!!

I am with you on prosthetics boy all the way. He is a nice guy and all, but he isn't using up as much energy as the rest of the field who have to burn more fuel in their lowers limbs. End of story.

I woke up and watched the Women's marathon. Crazy. What was crazier was that my hubs who isn't into running at all, woke up and watched it with me! :) Shalane and Kara I feel did very well in such a stacked field. 9th and 11th of 112 very elite, not to shabby!

I thought it was interesting that both Shalane and Kara ran almost exactly the same times they did at the trials. I think their performances were very good... tougher course in London. It would have really taken something special to beat the Africans. Those women are 2:18-2:20 runners. Just a different level. The Russian girl, though, did pull off a really special race. Kudos to her for holding off Keitany and winning a medal. No one saw that coming!

Seems to me Usain should be more afraid of a Cheetah than an Aligator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzF2_AoPBY4

Jake thanks for the link to the article - for me the best part of the piece was this:

"I don't know if you saw the 10,000 meters on Saturday. If you did, I don't know if you watched closely. But at the end, there was a moment that sums up two decades of wishing and dreaming. Farah crossed the finish line first. He was the Olympic champion. His family was in the stands. His nation was on its feet, roaring. And in that moment, Farah did the most interesting and wonderful thing.

He looked back to find out what happened to his best friend on the track.

Rupp was right behind him, as always.

-- John Canzano"

I can only imagine after the hard work and training those guys have done together - to finish 1-2 could not have been a more perfect ending to share. Real life - better than the movies.

That was my favorite part as well, Bret.

They executed something that they had rehearsed for thousands and thousands of miles in training. Rarely does it go that way in real life, when the pressure is that high, on the world's biggest stage.

bolt vs. phelps: james has equations for this.

Nice PM tempo. It is funny how your body is still locked in to that pace. Not bad for a hobbyjogger!

I'm rooting for the Algerian in the 1500 finals. The only guy on the track with decent colored shorts.

and EPO oozing out of his pores

Man, you'd think they could test for that!

They claim they are!

He seems very "rashid ramzi" to me... Hopefully I'm wrong

Nice tempo Jake! Very impressive that your legs are able to dial into that pace so easily.

Jake, on the 4 x the distance - I've thought about this: why don't you try a couple of the more serious Canova special block sessions? You've got the miles under your belt and the pace with your 10,000m from the track; you just need to funnel them, bring them in together. I'm sure you'd cope with them and in fact, I think it's what you might need to get you down around the 2:15 - 2:17 mark.

You've probably got all his stuff from LetsRun but if not, I can send it ot you.

I plan to do that in the fall... step my game up in October and November. I did the "boy scouts" version of some Canova special blocks in the spring and found them to be very beneficial. I can handle the double hard sessions pretty well.

CIM is 100% now... I registered!

Here's how I figure I stretch that out X 4 this time around for TOU...

-It won't be 95 degrees outside (PLEASE!!!)

-I won't have a thousand straight 20-30 mile days under my legs

-I'll actually do some real workouts in the next month

That should get me to 30K. Then some new shoes should take care of the rest :-)

I agree with you about Pistorius.

Bolt was amazing, he looks like he has bulked up quite a bit. The 200 will definitely be fun to watch!

Jake,

The article was great. I agree with what others have said about the end being the best. The teamwork is great to see. Even if they weren't on the "same team". Nice 10K, it is good to hit target pace without being glued to the Garmin.

There's been some interesting articles the past couple days about how the Bekele brothers, as well as Athletics Kenya, have tried to get Alberto Salazar to be their coach. But he's forged a strong alliance w/ Ian Stewart and the UK. Its a fascinating display of teamwork b/w countries.

I think the Kenyans might work as a team in the 5000m. Their only chance is to burn off the kicks of Farah, Rupp, and that guy named Bernard Lagat - who has a decent kick himself! :-)

I don't plan to use my Garmin for TOU. Marathons really have to be run on what feels right. If you practice it enough, you definitely get a good sense of what the right effort level should be.