Run to Win

Last night at the Golden Gala track meet in Rome, Asafa Powell pulled up in the 100 meters with a groin injury. He is the former world record holder and is one of the favorites in Beijing next month.

“He’s OK, but he felt his groin cramp up and stopped running as a precaution,” said Powell’s manager, Paul Doyle. “He’s not going to take any chances. It’s an Olympic year.”

(More Info: Golden Gala - ESPN)

It was not too long ago that Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters that any human has ever done. He had the assistance of a good tailwind, which will keep him out of the record books, but that is still impressive none the less.

Even so, he is stronger in the 200 meter distance than in the 100 meter distance, and was one of the favorites to challenge Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell at the Olympics. Unfortunately, he pulled his hamstring during the Trials and so he won’t be competing.

“Before I went out on the track I felt a little tightness in my hamstring. So I had kind of a bad feeling. When I came off the curve the first two steps were fine, and then I felt it, sort of a pull, about 40 meters in. Once I was on the ground it didn’t hurt as much as when it happened.”

If you haven’t seen Tyson Gay’s fall yet, here’s a video:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Usain Bolt has proven to be the first person to break Asafa Powell’s mark of 9.74 seconds in the 100 meter race on a track.

He was up against American sprinter Tyson Gay (9.85 seconds) this weekend at the Reebok Grand Prix, and was aided by a false start that wasn’t called back until the runners were 20 meters down the track.

“I was glad for the first false start,” Bolt said. “My first start wasn’t that good. I knew if I got Tyson on the start, I’d get him.”

Gay said he knew it was over after he saw Bolt push out.

The Olympics this year should provide some great competition, which is as it should be.

Bolt is normally a 200m/400m runner, but his recent successes almost guarantee that he is going to stick with the 100m as his signature race in Beijing.

(Photo Credit: Victah Sailer courtesy of Runner’s World - More Info: AP)

Update: I crunched a few numbers about how fast Bolt was moving:

This week last year I wrote the counterpoint to my intervals FAQ by describing answering questions about tempo runs. The tempo run is not a very well defined term and can mean different things to different people, so sometimes it helps to have a definition of what somebody means when they are talking about them when you first run with them.

In running news, there were 2 big stories. The first was that Asafa Powell had recovered from his tendonitis and was back on the track and ready to compete.

The other big story that broke was about the proposed IAAF ban on prosthetics in international competition, which was a ruling made specifically to address the case of Oscar Pistorius. I ultimately decided that prosthetics should be banned, a decision that the IAAF ultimately agreed with but then had to overturn in appeal over the past year. Now a year removed from when this whole situation began, I feel that Oscar probably does have an advantage over able-bodied athletes due to his prosthetics, but I highly doubt that any advantages he has outweigh the huge disadvantage of not having any legs or the additional blood volume that having legs would allow him.

This week 2 years ago I ran The Vermont City Marathon, followed a few days later by the Back Cove 5k.

This week last year and two years ago was a busy one. This week this year I am on my way to Rhode Island to run a marathon. Have a good weekend!

• This week last year, I finished up the series on Mind Games by discussing how how your body controls your thoughts. In a reversal from what you usually hear, it’s matter over mind.
• I also asked how well you can you can estimate the duration of your runs when you head out the door. Getting lost is not such a bad thing, but it can be stressful for your loved ones when you don’t come back when you are supposed to.
• Asafa Powell came down with tendonitis and had to miss a few weeks of racing. This year hasn’t shaped up to be very good for him either, as he is out right now with pulled muscle in his chest.
• In other running and track news, Justin Gatlin worked out for the Buccaneers in an attempt to turn his track speed into NFL speed.
• I described (and showed a video for) how to do the “300″ workout, which was a right of passage for the actors in the movie. Very tough, and not something that you’d want to do regularly.
• This week two years ago, I continued my animated workout series with instructions on how to do a swiss ball bridge, continuing the discussion on swiss balls throughout the week with why you would use a swiss ball in the first place and the difference between balance boards and swiss balls. Discussion about the Coast to Coast book continued, with a few reminders about the contest to win a free copy as well as a review of Coast to Coast. There was also the first guest article here at Run to Win, written by the photographer on the Coast to Coast relay. I continued my thoughts on the New Rules with the sixteenth and seventeenth rules.

Photo by Jonas WittDespite a bout of tendonitis earlier this year, Asafa Powell has set a new 100 meter world record this weekend in Rieti, Italy.

He won his heat in 9.74 seconds with a 1.7 m/s tailwind, which falls inside of the guidelines set by the IAAF, Track & Field’s international governing body.

“I was nervous in Osaka because I did not compete much this season (before the champs). I forgot how I should have run in the last 40m of a race.

“I will not say today was a revenge after Osaka. There the expectations were too high. I thought too much about the World record, but I have have done a lot of work in the last two weeks. I learnt again to run from the start and to be more relaxed.”

I am happy to see that my prediction on May 30^th this year came true and that he did set a new record this season.

(Sources: IAAF - BBC - ESPN)

This week last year I was still on my honeymoon, so half of the week was spent wrapping up my shoe care tips that I had written before I left. I did discuss when it is appropriate to eat a midnight snack, though.

• The second half of my shoe maintenance series continued with a discussion on rotating your shoes, which can make it necessary to label your shoes. I suggested that you seek help when first choosing shoes, offered some advice on making sure your shoes fit when you purchase them, and recommended that when you find shoes that you like, stick with them! I described the differences between the eight categories of running shoes and suggested the circumstances under which you might want to replace the insoles of your shoes. The series ended after I got home from my honeymoon with a summary of all of the articles that I had published over the previous week.
• In running news, Asafa Powell equaled his own 100m world record (again). I was right about Justin Gatlin losing his record, but I was wrong when I thought that Asafa Powell was going to manage to run under 9.77 seconds. Nobody has managed to do that yet.
• I reviewed a movie called The Long Run, which is about a coach that tries to live vicariously through his athletes. The movie centers around the Comrades ultra marathon in South Africa.
• Two years ago this week, I predicted the record chase between Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin. The Marathon at the World Championships in Helsinki was also run as the meet wrapped up.

This week last year, just like this week this year, involved a lot of preparation for and the running of the Beach to Beacon 10k. At least there was not nearly as many doping scandals this week last year as there were two years ago.

• The Beach to Beacon was won by Tom Nyariki last year, edging out Gilbert Okari, who had won for the three years previously. I did get out of my rut of running the exact same times on the same courses two years running, though.
• After the race, I (re)learned an important lesson about how important it is to hydrate yourself after a race as well as before and during the race.
• I went into quite a bit of detail after being asked, “What is a taper?” I also don’t believe that I have sufficiently revisited the topic and will need to get around to writing more about how to decide what sort of taper is appropriate…
• I reviewed the movie Running on the Sun, about the Badwater ultramarathon. It’s a good watch if you have some spare time. Ultramarathoners are an interesting crowd, which I am getting to learn a little more about now that I am associating with a few of them (and may soon join them.)
• With Justin Gatlin out of the sport for another year, I still wonder if we will ever see two athletes under 9.77 in the same 100m race.
• Two years ago, there were a lot of doping scandals. In business news, Adidas announced that they were going to purchase Reebok.