In this week’s episode of the A to Z Running Podcast, we continue the conversation about how to get the most out of our running by talking about the science. Physiologist Dr. Todd Buckingham explains the science behind gaining fitness. Todd dives into what adaptations are and how we can gain fitness over time.

INTRO

• • • Follow and Subscribe (on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform)
    • Listener interactions on our post about how the watch is lying to you.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by A to Z Running (@atozrunning)

• Episode Sponsor: Roll Recovery
  • This episode is sponsored by Roll Recovery. They are well known among athletes for their R8 which we have had the opportunity to add to our own recovery. We were fortunate to get the lowdown straight from Roll Recovery’s Louis Falland. Tune in to hear more!

World of Running

WHEN: Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30

WHERE: Chorzow, Poland

WHAT: European Team Championships (full results here)

• Poland defended title to win the team victory over Italy (2nd) and Britain (3rd)
• Few Olympic standards in the men’s 5000m

WHEN: Saturday, May 29

WHERE: Boston, USA

WHAT: Platinum PT Qualifier

• One new olympic standard in the women’s 5k – Britain’s Amy-Eloise Markovc who runs for the Reebok Boston TC
• It was rainy and cold, though, so times weren’t there for most

WHEN: Friday, May 28 and Saturday May 29

WHERE: Portland, USA

WHAT: Portland Track Festival

• Previous podcast guests:
  • Sam Chelanga 5k, improved season best
  • Kendra Chambers, 800m, hit OTQ
  • Emily Oren, 3k Steeplechase, hit OTQ 
• Highlight of the event: men’s 1500m
  • 18-year-old Hobbs Kessler ran crushed the Boys High School 1500m record in 3:34.36
    • The previous record, 3:38.26, was set by Alan Webb as a 1500 split en route to his legendary 3:53.43 high school mile record at the 2001 Prefontaine Classic.  
    • Kessler’s time is also faster than Jim Ryun‘s US U20 1,500 record of 3:36.1 which had stood since 1966.
  • Craig Engels won in a personal best of 3:33.64, previous 3:34.04
  • 6 men ran the Olympic standard (3:35)
• Women’s 3000m steeplechase
  • 4 women under the olympic standard
  • Very strong showing by Courtney Frerichs of BTC
• One more small thing…
  • 2 heats of men’s hp 10000m
  • Suguru Osako of Japan won the first heat in a strong time and even stronger finish
  • But then… minutes later, he ALSO jumped in the second heat… and NEARLY one that one too! (a minute slower)

WHEN: Friday, May 28

WHERE: Doha, Qatar

WHAT: Diamond League – Doha

• Handful of new world leading performances:
  • Men’s 800m: Wycliffe Kinyamal of Kenya in 1:43.91
  • Men’s 1500m: Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya in 3:30.48
  • Women’s 3000m steeple: Norah Tanui of Kenya in 9:00.67
• Women’s steeple was the hot event
  • 7 times faster than previous world lead (10 new top 20)
  • Including 2 new national records
    • For Ethiopia: Mekides Abebe Demewoz in 9:02.52
    • For Slovakia: Maruša Mišmaš-Zrimsek in 9:16.82

General notes:

• Women’s steeplechase top 20 blew up with 14 new entries
• Men’s world top 20 list also just blew up – with 12 new entries or improvements…
  • 5 from Doha, 7 from Portland
  • Hobbs Kessler is on that list – world 16th fastest performance this year!
• Athing Mu, her regionals quarterfinal for the 400m ran a new NCAA RECORD
  • 49.68
  • Fastest USA U20 as well
  • 4th in the world this year
• NCAA regionals finished up, and while we’d love to talk for another hour about all the runners to watch for (and the upsets!), we’re running low on time
  • We’ll offer more dynamic coverage of the NCAA championships NEXT week!
  • Here’s a list of all the qualifiers for the champs
  • Just a reminder that if you’re looking at the qualifier lists, it isn’t showing the fastest time by the athletes this year but rather showing their regionals performance