The world has seen many new historical races recently; records are falling! In this episode of the A to Z Running Podcast, Andi and Zach discuss new records in the world of running as well as continue the conversation about fueling. 

INTRO

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    • Continued conversation about fueling thanks to listener comments and questions.
    • AtoZrunner Karl gives insight into his 20min marathon PR
      
      • Episode sponsor: Roll Recovery
        • Check it all out at rollrecovery.com where you can build your own R8 deep tissue massage tool.
        • Not convinced? Tune into the episode to hear from Louis Falland of Roll Recovery to talk about why recovery matters.

World of Running

Local shout out: Diemer Run in Cutlerville, MI

• Andi and Pete ran it.
• Winner Catherine Mwanzau gave us a few words.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 8th – Saturday, June 12th, 2021

WHERE: Hayward Field, Eugene, OR

WHAT: NCAA National Championships (results)

400m

• • Athing Mu wins in Collegiate record time of 49.57, breaking her own record

• MEN- North Carolina A&T sophomore Randolph Ross ran a blistering 43.85 to win the 400m. 
  • #3 time in collegiate history
  • Father is Duane Ross, Olympian, world championship medalist, coach, and current director of track and field programs at North Carolina A&T

Speaking of Athing Mu….

4X400

• Athing Mu runs 48-second anchor leg as Texas A&M sets 4×400-meter collegiate record
• 3:22.34

800m

• MEN- USC’s Isaiah Jewett won the men’s 800m with a 1:44.68 in a beautifully executed race
• WOMEN- Michaela Meyer ran a 2:00.28 to win the 800m

1500m race

• • Freshman  Cole Hocker from Oregon wins in a personal best time of 3:35.35, just edging out collegiate record holder Yared Nuguse.

• RACE on YouTube
• WOMEN- Anna Camp won in a classic race strategy of passing on the final curve running away with the championship title in 4:08.53 which is a personal best time for Camp.

3,000m Steeplechase

• MEN – Middle Tennessee State’s Kigen Chemadi won a tactical race in 8:28 (Ryan Smeeton from Oklahoma State was closing hard as well but fell on the final barrier and ended up in third)
• WOMEN- Mahala Norris of Air Force won the 2021 NCAA women’s steeplechase with a time of 9:31.79, 6 sec PR… just barely beating Auburn’s Joyce Kimeli by .05 seconds.

5,000m

• • Men’s Oregon’s Cooper Teare won in a personal best 13:12.27, which was also a meet record by more than 6 seconds.

• Teammate Cole Hocker was 4th
• WOMEN- Elly Henes wins in 15:28

10,000m race

• WOMEN- Oregon’s Carmela Cardama Baez win the 10,000-meter title in front of a home crowd, upsetting the reigning NCAA cross-country champion, Alabama’s Mercy Chelangat.
• MEN- Patrick Dever of Tulsa surprised the field and won the 10,000 meters in 27:41.87 

WHEN: Thursday, June 10th, 2021

WHERE: Florence, Italy

WHAT: Diamond League – Florence (additional coverage by Letsrun here)

• • Men’s 5000m: big names throw down!
    • Jakob Ingebrigtsen crushed it with a 12:48 win good for a Norwegian national record and a 21-year old European record and 12th all-time
    • Jakob won over some of the world’s best in a near-perfectly executed race like 
      • Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet (3-time world/Olympic medalist) and Muktar Edris (2019 champ), 
      • Canada’s Mo Ahmed and Justyn Knight,  
      • And of course Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, current World Record holder
    • Mohamed Katir set a new Spanish national record in 12:50 for 4th

• Women’s 1500m: Sifan Hassan can’t quit!
  • 4 days from a 10000m world record, she’s back at it showing her speed
  • Hassan won in 3:53 for a new world lead (and meeting record)
  • Faith Kipyegon of Kenya finished second in a Kenyan national record 3:53.91
  • Laura Muir finished 3rd in 3:55, a very strong run for her as well
  • All three bested the previous world lead
  • 7th place Elise Vanderelst ran a new Belgian national record in 4:02.63
• General Notes
  • World leading performances in…
    • Men 5000m (noted)
    • Men 3000m steeple (Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco in 8:08)
    • Women 1500m (noted)

WHEN: Thursday, June 10th, 2021

WHERE: Central Park, NYC

WHAT: Mini 10k

• About the event: The Mini 10K began in 1972 as the first women’s only road race, then called the Crazylegs Mini Marathon. 
• Sara Hall won her second consecutive title in 31:33
  • Fastest time by an American in the 49-year event history
• Runner up was Kenya’s Violah Cheptoo in 31:39 
  • the younger sister of five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat

WHEN: Tuesday, June 8th, 2021

WHERE: Hengelo, Netherlands

WHAT: Ethiopian Olympic Team Trials 

• Why Ethiopian trials in the Netherlands? To try to get fast times (in Ethiopia, would have to run at elevation, likely slowing the times a bit)
• Competed 800m through 10,000m, including 3,000m steeple
• Ethiopia announced that athletes could only compete in one event and would not be doubling at the games… but they also announced that despite there being a trials, they might still make separate determinations on who actually goes…
• 10,000m women
  • Have to start with this one… because remember that Sifan Hassan WR last week? TWO days later, Letesenbet Gidey (WR holder in 5,000m) BROKE IT AGAIN!
  • Ran 29:01 for a new world record, 5 seconds of Sifan’s record
  • Ran a blazing negative split (her preferred approach): 14:42 to 14:18
  • Solo for about second half
  • The interesting question: why did Sifan and Letesenbet… who both have the same agent run separate meets in the same place two days apart instead of racing each other?
    • Foremost: give them both a chance to hit the time and get a bonus
    • Additional: extend anticipation between them for the Olympics!
• 5,000m women
  • While no world records, dominant performances continued
  • Gudaf Tsegay, WR 1500m indoors, won it in 14:13, a new world lead as well as 5th fastest all-time
  • 2nd and 3rd made it a race though, Ejgayehu Taye and Senbere Teferi ran 14:14 and 14:15 respectively, clocking the 6th and 7th fastest performances all-time
• 800m women
  • Werkwuha Getachew won in a national record and new world lead 1:56.67
• General reflection:
  • Because Ethiopia is saying their athletes will not be allowed to double, many felt the trials was an interesting dynamic…
  • Athletes often raced outside their seemingly preferred or likely event
    • Getnet Wale ran 5000m instead of steeple
    • Gudaf Tsegay ran 5000m instead of 1500m
    • Selemon Barega ran 10000m instead of 5000m
  • But we need to remember that just because Ethiopia said those were the likely dynamics, they also indicated that they may still make changes… so we’ll wait and see

• World top 20 boards have been all but rewritten this week in nearly every distance event
  • Everything except women’s 800m and steeplechase had 7 or more new additions to top 20
  • Women’s 1500m takes the cake with 14 new additions to the top 20 list this week alone
• Oliver Dustin of Great Britain ran a new world leading 1:43.82 800m in Nice, France

Shelby Houlihan banned for 4 years failing drug test 

• Anabolic Steroid called Nandrolone.
• Pork, which Shelby had eaten the day before, has high levels of nandrolone.
• Shelby took a polygraph test, submitted hair samples, and her appeal was not accepted.
• WADA agreed that the test proved there was no build up of this substance in my body.
• Shelby assures her fans that she has never taken any performance enhancing substances and she is devastated.
• Nandrolone is very easy to detect.
• She tested at the very minimum, whereas other athletes were caught with 100x to 1000x the limit (according to Sport Law).
• While we are not going to claim to know the answer on this, it evidence does not point to Shelby using Nandrolone as a performance enhancing substance.