My Intersection with Alberto Salazar

As most of you know I spent 12 years working at Road Runner Sports. During that time I was afforded the opportunity to build good relationships with many in the running and running shoe world. One of those relationships was with a running hero of mine, Alberto Salazar. The first time I met him he came to RRS for a Nike event with our very large sales staff. I was asked to give him a tour of our facility which was one of my favorite things to do. He was a regular customer of ours and it was fun to show him where his packages were put together. He bought some training/recovery things from us that Nike didn’t make or that he couldn’t buy in Portland.

Not long after that we took a trip to Portland to visit the Nike Campus. It was his time to give us a tour. We spent the day with Nike product team and either before or after dinner we drove out to the Altitude house. By this time Alberto was starting to have some success coaching runners. Through was is today the NOP (Nike Oregon Project) he bought a house. He had each bedroom in the house set a different altitudes. He prescribed for his athletes which altitude they should be sleeping in. The idea was the well known method of sleep high, train low. An athlete slept anywhere from 5,000 feet elevation to 10,000 feet elevation. These were not altitude tents these were completely sealed rooms.

As we walked into the kitchen we saw a runner running on a treadmill that was submerged in the pool in the back yard. Alberto walked us out and introduced us to Galen Rupp who was I believe a Junior in High School at the time. Galen was dealing with an injury and was just coming back to running. The treadmill in the pool took the pounding away. Galen was running 12 miles that night. After his run we spent a good while talking to Galen in the kitchen.

These three stories tell us quite a bit of what we are hearing today. The purchases from RRS were for his athletes to help them recover from the training. The altitude house was created because the competition was living in Eldoret, Kenya situated at 5,000 feet above sea level. The treadmill in the pool was the precursor to the treadmills today that suspend you so that maybe you are running with only 50% of your body weight at foot impact. Alberto from day 1 was constantly looking for that edge that let his runners recover better so they could push harder during training. It’s fairly simple to understand.

There is a story from today where one of the doping agencies is quoted saying “no coach in our history has ever called us so much to make sure he was doing things legally”. That very fine edge of just being on the right side of the doping line. At some point during all of this according to the recent ban, Albert crossed the line and went from the right side to the wrong side. It’s a really sad tale for the sport of running. It’s a story we’ve seen too much. Some success breeds the need for more success. The IAAF (Track and Field) and the UCI (Cycling)  are full of these stories.

This is not over. The fall out of this one event this past week will go on for years. Mo Farah and Galen Rupp went 1-2 in the Olympic 10,000 in London. They were training partners working with Alberto. This week at the World Championships Sifan Hassan set the track on fire. On day one she won the 10,000 covering the last 1500 meters in under 4 minutes. To put that into perspective only 9 women this year had run the 1500 in under 4 minutes. Then this past Saturday after two qualifying rounds of the 1500 Hassan pulled 8 runners under 4 minutes. She won the 1500 in an astonishing 3:51.95. The 10,000/1500 double is unthinkable. The two races are completely different disciplines and then there are the qualifying rounds of the 1500 to deal with. That’s 4 races in less than a week. On the surface we should celebrate the greatness but Hassan is part of the NOP. There is a forever could over her double this week.

This is just another reason to respect performance but not worship. I met my running hero only to be disappointed. I once road bikes and had dinner with Lance. At the time he was a brash, gifted athlete on his first continental cycling team. He was just a guy. Many in the world hero worshiped him and look how that ended.

Big Weekend
I wrote my wife’s training program on a single sheet of paper. She signed up for the Marine Corps 50K which takes place at the end of October as part of the Marine Corps Marathon. In August she burned her foot really badly while she was off volunteering in Lebanon. She had to take a great deal of time off running. Her only request was to have at least one run that was 4 hours. She wanted the confidence. I built her plan to load up running on the weekends. Last weekend she had a 1 hour run on Friday, a 1 1/2 hour run on Saturday and 4 Hours on Sunday. She killed it. She ran 22 miles on Sunday in that 4 hours. She’s still nervous about making the cut off. Oh the coach-athlete relationship.

It’s a good life.....

Running Shoe Wear Testing

I was contacted by a company to test a new race flat. I put them on the faster Jewell for some testing.

I will let the brand announce them when they are ready.

 He's suffering from a major cold which explains the Breathe Right Nasal Strip. 

 All the boys running a metric mile time trial. 

 Lap #1 is done

Those are some strong legs.

It's a good life.....

The High School Runner: A Conversation about Ego

Names have been changed to protect the sanctity of the message: 

Marco: I hope Jim doesn't run the mile tomorrow

Me: Why because he'll be in your face about it? 

Marco: Yes, he wants to run 4:40 and course he will shove it in my face. 

Me: You said he was way behind you in the 400's yesterday

Marco: He was. 

Me: So if Jim runs 4:40 and you were ahead of him yesterday feel confident that even with a cast on you could run faster than 4:40. 

Marco: Maybe but that won't help when he's in my face. 

Me: You know how I deal with the big egos in my face talking about how great they are? I smile and say nice job. 

Marco: Rolling his eye's yeah right. 

Me: Try it once. Tomorrow when Jim or John get in your face about how fast they are running, just smile and say "Nice Job". You will stop them cold, they won't know what to say next. 

I would never have been able to do that at 15. I'm confident Marco can do it. It's the only way to quiet that ego in your face. 

It's a good life….

Rambling on in this Life

 It's been a rough three weeks. Travel to China is always a challenge especially when things don't go the way you expected. With the trip and the rough days at the office sleep was a challenge. The best sleep I got was 5 hours on the plane from Bejing to Chicago. Then it was off to Chicago to drive some business and see the family for a short time.

1. 5 hotels
2. 2 Overnight flights
3. 16 hour time change one way 2 hour time change the other
4. 30 hours on a plane

 By the time I got home I was wasted. I should have taken time off from work but the things in China caused me to push on. Finally on Friday I slept. 9 hours straight and it felt great. I've found over the years, Sleep is the biggest problem. When I don't sleep well, I get cranky. The people around me should know when I don't sleep well. I get mean. When I sleep well stress melts away. As my friend Chris says, excessive time change travel and a lack of sleep is a sure path to an early grave. It's a good thing I slept really well for 6 weeks before this travel and that I'm now back on good long sleep again. Minimizing the off sleep days is a big goal. I did not do so well this time around. But move on I must. 

The day I started running at the age of 17 I was sitting on my couch stuffing my face with Oreo cookies. Now Nabisco has invaded my Kindle and is tempting me with more Oreos. I haven't had one in 20 years and I don't think I'll start. Nice try Nabisco. Running over Oreo Cookies any day. 

The day before my trip to China. Marco the Runner broke a small bone in his hand. It's the one that allows our thumb to work properly and it's a bitch to heal. So little Marco is in a cast for 3 months. The great thing is against doctor orders he's still running. 3 days a week he runs 3-4 miles on the track. Last Sunday he and I ran 40 minutes side by side down the coast highway. Even with the cast he simply floats when he runs. It's so much fun to watch.

With a full cast on his arm he's not able to participate in the track meets. Thursday marked the first track meet at SDHS in years. The new track is beautiful and it was awesome to watch a track meet there. He'll get many opportunities to run here but even I was bummed that he couldn't run on this day. 

Snoopy here is my brother Bob's dog. Snoopy about says it all in this picture. Bob is not doing well. My only other experience with ALS was with John Blaze. John was able to do the Ironman World Championships with ALS. My brother Bob went from diagnosis, to Wheel Chair to Hospice Care in less than a year. He can't do anything without help and it's sad. His family is hurting, he's hurting and Snoopy here is struggling. ALS sucks, there is no cure and it's just a matter of when. I love my brother and it's tough to get through each day knowing that I'm able to do what I love and he sits in his chair waiting. His faith is strong and I'm glad he has such a supporting wife and son at home. There will be more trips to Chicago in the near future.

It's not very often that you randomly pick up the Wall Street Journal and find one of your products listed.  It was fun to see a running shoe I worked on show up in a feature article. This feature though was funny. They were putting the best of the best triathlon gear in this section and the retail price tag for all of it was $21,000. Not a motivator to jump into the sport.

Travel to China, Chicago and wherever else I have to go is always ok as long as I get to come home to this. This picture was taken at 11:00am this past Saturday. Not a cloud in the sky 75 degrees and the bright blue Pacific in the back drop. This never gets old and it's such a great place to call home. 

I hope everyone has a great week. You may not have Cardiff by the Sea but there are things to be grateful for. Find them and some sleep and maybe like me you can melt the stress away.

It's a good life....

More Failure

What an adorable boy. He's a bit older, a bit wiser and a great deal faster. The learnings are still the same. The Track does not lie. Failure on the track is yours and yours alone.

***********

This Photo 2 years ago this month. 

I've spent quite a bit of time at the track these past few years. There is something very special about watching  distance events. I wish that life was more like a distance event. If you fail on the track because everyone sees it (you are fully exposed) it's your "fault". In much of life if you fail you point out that it wasn't you. I suggest we all act like distance track runners. Put it all out there on the track and let yourself go. If you fail at least you know you failed going after it. 

Angry Runner

I listen to a podcast called the Angriest Trainer I like it because he has a strong point of view, has good guests, is funny and has flaws. He says he's the Angriest Trainer "because your good intentions have been stolen" and he speaks out against all the health/training fads and sticks to his point of view of No Sugars and No Grains which I aspire too as well.

I'm stealing a bit of his energy to say that I am the Angriest Runner. I'm angry because if you are a runner and you spend anytime looking for a running shoe, there is so much misinformation it pisses me off.

Running is the most pure, easiest sport in the world to do. You don't need anything but a pair of shoes and your head. But the information out there would say something else. Who's spreading this information?

1. Writers, Bloggers and more. Christopher McDougall is the biggest name in the misinformation. Read his book Born to Run, it's simply a great read. But don't believe his talk about shoe companies and barefoot running. It's pure bullshit. Yes if done properly some people can run barefoot. Yes, shoe companies are in the business of staying on trend and making money. But to blame shoe companies for all the injuries is stupid. 
2. Shoe Companies - We are in business to make money and sometimes we jump on trends. We are also responsible for overbuilding shoes to make them appear worth the price tag. There are also some who truly believe their own story that a shoe can put you in proper form. 
3. Running Stores - We (I'm still a retailer at heart) are in the business to make money and do more year over year. Sometimes we jump on trends to do just that. 
4. Trainers/run form trainers - I don't even know where to start here the license does not give you the right to cloud the mind. 

I promise this, I'm going to continue to write about running and how to stay injury free. My hacking of my running and my ability to stay injury free speaks for itself. My thirst for knowledge on the subject should also help clear the misinformation. I am going to tell you about the best running stores. They are the real experts on the field of running shoes and deserve notice. I'm going to talk about the best coaches and trainers on the planet. And I'm going to talk about the most pure runner I know, my son. He doesn't read about running, running shoes or injury prevention. He listens to his coach and he runs. I'm going to talk about how running shoes are made, what I believe are the great shoes on the market including the shoes my company makes. 

Time to run. 

It's a good life...

Time: Take Time to Fix Your Body

This is the 604th Blog Post on this Blog. This may be the most important post ever. In the last 2 days I've talked to 10 runners or so. Virtually every conversation was about Injury. Not mine but theirs or at least someone they know. What makes me the magnet to all of these injured runners, I'm not sure but there is a history here. Not to long ago I worked at Road Runner Sports. In the late 90's or early 00's a magazine was started for the very large Run America Club. One of the Publishers (Bob Babbitt) asked me to host a column in the magazine that would be a Q & A. He said, "it will be great, they will send in questions about running shoes, and you'll answer them, we'll call you Super Dave." I was not super excited about the idea but I've always been proud of the fact that I'll do what it takes. So the magazine went out and the questions rolled in. But 70-80% of the questions had nothing to do with running shoes. They were all questions about running injuries. Using my spare time like I do here I researched every injury and tried to answer the questions. The feedback was amazing, people used what I said and liked it. I still have all the questions and answers and by the time the magazine stopped publication there were over 5,000 injury questions that had been answered. So although I'm not a doctor, a coach or anything but a shoe guy, I've got some experience with injured runners.

Here's what I found out:

1. Running hurts runners - Running too fast, too soon, too long or too stupid injures runners. 
2. Running shoes won't cure it - Not even those Moon looking running shoes that all the old guys are swearing by right now. Because of #1 even in those shoes Runners will get injured. 
3. Once you are injured it sucks and it's hard to get rid of it. 
4. The best way to stay injury free is run smart and spend the extra time on your body. 

The subject of this post is Take Time to Fix Your Body

Here's the short list.

1. A good chiropractor
2. A good Massage Therapist
3. A good strength/balance trainer if your are not in balance
4. Becoming a Supple Leopard

I was first introduced to Dr. Kelly Starrett on the internet. He does these great videos called MobilityWOD. I have written about them in the past. His belief that comes from years of working with athletes in his gym and around the world  is that if you spend 15 minutes a day working out the kinks you will become much more adept at doing the things you love. If you don't work out the kinks and spend time running too fast too soon, too long,and or  too stupid you will get injured. Just recently Kelly released a Book about all of this. Go to your local book store and buy it. It's the best $58 you'll spend on your running.

The book works like a home repair book. You find the body part that is stiff and let's face it you are a runner or a triathlete it's most of your body, and you'll find a description of your pain, a description of what you should really feel like and then a progression of work you can do on the stiffness. I have a standard set of parts of my body I work on. I've done it since I met MobilityWOD. But now almost daily I notice something else and I go to the book, look it up and add it to my routine. I also use many of the techniques before I run and swim. Especially on my feet. It works wonders to make those first 5 minutes of either effort so much nicer.

If this post helps one person stay injury free this year than it's been a wild success. 

1 thing you need to know to Run Fast

Watch Mo Farah run and emulate it. I had the honor one day of talking to Mo over the phone. I know my phone skills are challenged and he is a soft talker and it doesn't help. But anyway I was in China and he was home in the UK. We knew then that he was a star in the making. I don't think any of us knew he would be this good. Are you kidding me. He ran 2:23 for the last 1K and ran 53.2 over the final 400. Just go out on the track and emulate that running, you will run faster.

High School Runner: One to Remember

Remember this name: Mary Cain

It's a good life.....

The High School Runner #4 Running with an Olympian

The right place, the right time, memories for a lifetime. Olympic Silver Medalist Javier Gomez and The High School Runner went for a 60 minute run. When they got back Javier simply said "He's Fast, I couldn't run that fast when I was his age" The ran 3:50/K on the way back.

All the things the High School Runner does makes me proud. But believing that he's mature enough and humble enough to run with an Olympic Silver Medalist makes me smile.

It's a good life...
Dave

The High School Runner #1

Quote of the Day: "I have to remind myself he's only 14" - David Jewell


Stats
800m: 2:27
Mile: 4:59
2 Mile: N/A
Long Run: 11 Miles

Last night we were talking about running the 2 Mile. The coach has given him 10:45 as the target. Saying "you run that and we'll call it a success." The fact that he's even wanting to talk about it makes me giddy.

It's a good life...
Dave