Kind of a marathon weekly wax…the Olympics will do that…lots of running talk here, folks.

The week that was for me

I’ve been battling some sort of respiratory illness, as well as pink eye, for the last week. It hasn’t eliminated my training entirely, but I’ve definitely had to limit myself. While I’m thankful to not be completely bedridden, it’s been frustrating to feel as though I’ve taken a few steps back, fitness-wise, in the last month.

Prior to leaving for Minnesota, I was notified that I received a comp elite entry into the Pikes Peak Ascent. At the time, I’d just completed some of my best uphill workouts on Vail Mountain and around Leadville. Pikes has been a bucket-list race for the last couple of years. I categorize it like the Birkie, however, in that 1) it’s expensive and 2) one’s experience is largely dictated by wave placement.

Thus, the news that I got in as an elite was a meaningful thrill. With almost two months to really dig in, I felt exhilarated scheming up a proper race build-up, which I haven’t executed with diligent devotion since basically the 2017 Colorado Springs Marathon.

I had visions of grandeur — scouting out Pikes and also hardening myself on various local uphill challenges. At the very least, I hoped to throw down a few huge blocks of work — in any modality — before going home, where I figured my brother’s running club, Lake Effect, would push another side of speed at sea-level while I was in Duluth. Then, I could diversify/recover at the lake cabin through swimming and rollerskiing the following week.

Instead, I limped through the last week in Colorado, limiting myself to one bike ride a day — in which I didn’t elevate my heart rate to above 100 bpm. My body felt better when I got to Duluth, but I had so much crap in my lungs, I could barely breathe. The vegetation aggrevated my allergies and the heat and humidity exasperated everything.

I wound up embarrassing myself as I coughed up a lung during a fairly easy threshold session along Park Point with the boys. By the time I was back to normal, we were ready to go home. Upon our return to Leadville, things were normal for a day, and then I slid back to a similar condition as when I’d left.

I think I’m climbing out now.

This has also limited my podcast production, by the way (we know you missed it!). I endured a fairly brutal sore throat in the late-July illness and am hoarse again this week. We’ll see if we can get a podcast up — maybe by Thursday.

That being said, I have a few thoughts on endurance sports happenings from the last few weeks….

Let’s talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics

I know many are here for the ski takes, but you should know by now that during the summer, we happily drift towards Diamond League track and field and distance running topics. The Paris Olympics might be old news, but being that I was sequestered at Bad Medicine Lake with no cell phone and very sketchy internet service, my chance to weigh in on everything has been delayed until now.

Let’s dive right in.

A rocky start

A lot has been said about the opening ceremonies. Some thought they were great — others thought they were terrible. Some thought they were inclusive — others thought the opposite. Some felt certain scenes were beautiful — others found them offensive.

Needless to say, everyone can probably agree the Olympics got off to a rocky start, at least from a public perception point of view. Heck, NBC pulled the original opening ceremony off of Peacock, as did the IOC. There were rumblings of fans ‘boycotting’ watching the entire event, which is not something I’ve ever heard before. Let’s just say, I’m sure the PR department couldn’t wait for the actual competitions to start.

Once they did, things really took a positive turn. The Olympic magic was back.

Still, some of the storylines were a bit nauseating.

Is Biles the GOAT?

This was one, at least for me…and I like — no, love — gymnastics. Still, the one thing that gets a little old with every Olympics is how producers really try to ‘make fetch happen.’

Swimming is always big. Gymnastics usually is, too. This year, it was really all about the ‘redemption tour’ of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, Biles in particular. The GOAT claims were being tossed back and forth with such authority, on one evening, I just had to Google the all-time Olympic medal list for women’s gymnastics to check my sanity. At the time, Biles was like 8th on the list. (She’s now third).

So, is she actually the obvious, undisputed GOAT? Quick answer: No.

The most decorated gymnast in Olympic history is actually the Soviet Larisa Latynina, who won 18 olympic medals (to Biles 11). Latynina also has 9 golds (Biles has 7). I know Biles has a laundry list of U.S. and World titles, and perhaps there’s a good argument that those accolades are what make her the best ever, but to me, if you basically lay an egg at one of your Olympics, you can’t be considered the GOAT of the sport.

Biles probably would be above Latynina had it not been for her disastrous Tokyo Games. But, she had a disastrous Tokyo Games….and so, she’s not the GOAT. Simple as that.

The 1500-meter final for the ages

This race was one I actually did watch live.

Because it coincided with the 3,000-meter women’s steeplechase final, which I needed to cover for the Vail Daily, I went over to my cousin’s cabin to watch and write in the middle of the day while I was at Bad Medicine Lake

In case your interested, I then went on a total internet/news blackout for 8 straight days in order to be able to binge-watch the Olympics when I got back to Colorado. Pulling THAT off in 2024 might actually be the most impressive thing an American has ever done in Olympic history.

Anyway, the morning of the race, my dad biked with me while I ran. Over the course of 75 minutes, I caught him up to speed on all the elements of this race, which had been building for three years. It took me the better part of 5 miles to explain all the Josh Kerr-Jakob Ingebrigtsen drama alone. Nearing the end of the session, I subtly pointed out that Cole Hocker was actually my dark horse favorite.

“If he’s there at the end,” I said. “He might have the best chance to win, especially if Kerr and Jakob are totally zoned in on each other.”

I’m usually pretty worthless when it comes to predictions, but man, did I nail that one. What an incredible race.

I’m sure at this point, you’ve heard all of the obvious takeaways, so I’ll try to be at least somewhat unique.

First, if Tom Sederquist is reading this, let’s settle this long-standing debate right now. Even if you’re the fastest guy in the field, it doesn’t work — at least in an Olympic final…and especially in the 1500 — to just time trial for the win.

Ingebrigtsen came in with the fastest seed time by a lot. Granted, I think everyone knew Kerr was probably closer to 3:26 shape than his PB suggested, but still, on paper, Ingebrigtsen was the top seed. In the final, he did exactly as my brother has always suggested for favorites in distance races: just go out and run your PB.

Well, Jakob listened, he held world record pace — and the lead — right up until the end. And then he got passed.

Valiant? Sure…

Effective? Not this time…and it usually isn’t. (My belief is that in most events, you have to be way, way, way better than the field to make this strategy work.)

Why?

Pacemakers make it easier to run faster. This why most PB’s aren’t set in solo time trials at the local junior high track. They block the wind, they take away the mental load of leading, they do something magical that allows humans to stretch themselves a little more.

So, can the Norwegian still win this event? This is the big debate raging right now the in track and field world.

I’ve always seen it as a moot point. His best event is the 5k or 10k!

The last string of World Championship losses only affirms this take.

I think it’s possible for him to win a global final in the 1500, but it’s going to be way more dicey. He just doesn’t have the pure speed and acceleration of Hocker and now both Hocker and Kerr have proved their distance strength is pretty good, too.

Here’s the crazy thing though: I think of the three, Jakob is the most likely to break the WR. And it will happen — by somebody. Super shoes, the level of competition, the ‘Jakob’ effect of everyone chasing these fast times — it’s going to lead to a super-ultra fast race either this year or next. Jakob, with his front-running style and willingness to race hard/fast a lot, is the most likely to dip under Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:26.00 first.

But, if you asked me who I think has the potential to run the fastest time of the three, I’d have to think a little harder. I don’t think the answer to that question is Jakob.

Kerr’s world-record indoor two mile and Hocker’s sub 13-flat 5,000-meter are pretty similar in terms of comparing their relative strength. I think their top-end speed makes them the current favorites (and maybe Neguse, too) to set the lowest time. Because Kerr so authoritatively dismantled Ingebrigtsen at the Pre Classic in May — beating him at his own game in a very fast race — I think he’s probably the best bet. I just don’t trust Hocker to time trial anything at this point.

How crazy would it be, though, if Ingebrigtsen set the world record in the 1500 and then went into the 2025 World Championships as basically the underdog?

It’s a real possibility. That’s where this event is at now. It’s the most exciting in track, for sure.

A couple more threads from this race and the distance performances in general:

• The craziest run was Hocker’s — he won gold in a stacked field in the glamour event of the Games — but a close second was Kenneth Rooks in the men’s steeplechase. If he’d won the thing, you could make a good argument it’s the greatest upset in Olympic history. Soufiane El Bakkali has owned that event globally for the last four years and Rooks…well, he couldn’t even cut the top-7 at BYU like two cross-country seasons ago. Regardless, here’s something I KNOW to be true: this HAS to be made into a movie.
• KENNETH ROOKS MOVIE DEFENSE: This could deserve an entire Weekly Wax, but, we’ll give it a hardy bullet point instead….
  • How many of us runners were inspired to greatness by those Steve Prefontaine movies? Come on….you know we all watched them on the way to and from every single middle and high school cross-country race that went past Detroit Lakes…..Probably one of the hardest things to reconcile as a maturing runner is realizing that Pre really wasn’t that good. But his story was captivating anyway. It was about more than sheer results and dominance. It worked as a movie and thousands of runners were inspired by it. Now, let’s take a look at Rooks and this race.
  • It’s PERFECT for Hollywood. The last 200 meters alone has enough drama and action to captivate even the hardest film critic for easily 20 minutes. You’ve got the Lamecha Girma fall — I mean, I don’t know if Tom Cruise would even be willing to stunt-double that — then, Rooks takes the lead into the homestretch with the defending olympic gold medalist and two-time defending world champion on his back. Just for good measure, the bad guy is like 6 feet 4 inches tall and the American looks like he could be a server at Dairy Queen. Finally, he doesn’t win the gold medal, which is sort of the classic ‘Hollywood’ twist film academics love! Bottom line: we need more cool running movies. Start here.
• For once, the American men outperform the women. For most of my life, endurance sports breakthroughs have come (or at least been celebrated) only by female stars. This is especially true in cross-country skiing, but I would say even in running, I generally feel better about our medal chances in women’s races compared to men’s. Well, at this Olympics, the tables were turned dramatically. Grant Fisher walked away with not one, but two bronze medals in the 5k and 10k — probably the single-hardest events for an American to overcome the East African power. You had Rooks’ silver and then of course, two medals in the men’s 1500. The American women did not find a medal in any events longer than the 200-meter dash (except for the 400H).
  • Quick take: I think this speaks more to the rise and current state of the men than a decline for the women. In watching the U.S. Olympic Trials, I saw more than enough old and young talent to feel like there’s plenty of hope on our women’s team. This was just a bad showing…
• I don’t think Val Constien’s performance was a disaster at all….
  • Coming into this race, Val knew it would either be slow/tactical (which she would have liked) or very fast (which it was). In the latter scenario, I think her plan was to just run with the leaders for as long as possible. That’s what she did. If you’re a 9:03 runner, than anything under 3 min/K is going to feel like a hard-nosed paced. Even though Val closed in sub-3 at the Trials, that’s a lot different than going out in 2:54 to open up a race. I give her a ton of props for running like a contender and running to get a medal…there’s no shame in that result. I do wonder if the post-Trials COVID + the length of her season just made it hard to nail her peak perfectly. I do believe Constien was at sub-9 shape at some point in this build, but I’m not convinced that point was in the first week of August.

Is Sifan Hassan actually taking the ‘easy’ way out?

People are too enamored by Sifan Hassan’s triple (bronze in the 5k, bronze in the 10k and gold in the marathon).

First of all, I was annoyed at broadcasters’ equivocation with Zatopek, who won gold in all three of those events at the 1952 Olympics. There’s a massive difference between three golds in those events and three medals (even if there’s also a massive difference between the level of competition in 1952 compared to 2024….I’ll grant that, to a degree….)

Regardless, I’d like to posit a question I haven’t heard anyone ask: is Sifan Hassan hiding behind the ‘challenge’ of crazy triples in order to skirt competition and avoid the fear of losing? Does the triple offer a built-in excuse in case she doesn’t win or even medal in her primary events?

This idea reveals a sort of a dark underbelly distance runners don’t often want to talk about. If you’re the best 3,000 meter runner in the conference, it’s way harder to show up at the championships and JUST run the 3,000 than it would be to double in the 1500 and 5k. If you tack on the DMR, you can definitely skirt the issue by saying you’re trying to carry points for the team.

It takes more guts to just line up and go for the win in the event you have the best chance at winning. Doubling or tripling is obviously more challenging — physically — but it’s not necessarily more courageous.

With Hassan, I think you could still argue her best chances for gold are either by doing the 5k/10k double or by just doing the marathon. By doing all three events, I would argue she relinquishes some pressure attached to the faster stuff — because she can hide behind the fact that she’s been ‘training for the marathon’ all along — and she totally eliminates pressure in the marathon (because she’s coming in on tired legs.)

I will say, some athletes actually do thrive on this kind of physical overload. They know that if they sat around in Paris for 15 days to race one event, they’d drive themselves crazy and implode. I’m not certain this is the type of person Hassan is, but I would say, at least lately, she seems more enamored by just trying to run a bunch of events as opposed to win.

I’m still impressed by Hassan, and personally, I resonate with her approach, but I don’t think it’s as amazing as Zatopek’s triple.

Speaking of triples….I think a more amazing (or at least rare) triple would be if Faith Kipyegon tried to do the 800, 1500, and 5k triple. I think she’s actually the best at all of those events already…it would just be a matter of surviving.

On the guys side, I’m a huge proponent of Jakob attempting something completely different: 800, 1500, steeple, 5k, 10k and marathon….all at a single games. At this point, why not? Be the first….

Who was the MVP of the Olympics?

Letsrun.com posited the question during their recent recap podcast. The choices for the women were:

• Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone – 400-meter hurdles gold and world record + 4×400-meter gold (with insane 47.71 split on the second leg)
• Sifan Hassan – 5k and 10k bronze medals + marathon gold
• Beatrice Chebet – 5k and 10k double gold
• Gabrielle Thomas – 200-meter gold + 4×400 gold and 4×100 gold

I love the guys at Letsrun, but I think in choosing Hassan — which I think all of them did — was a miss. I’ll use their logic to prove why someone else is more deserving.

The Letsrun hosts brought up the fact that Hassan might be the greatest female distance runner of all-time. One reason is her range — she’s been at the top from the 800-meters all the way up to the marathon. For most of her career, however, the 1500, 5k and 10k have been the sweet spots, and because she has both strength and speed — and great tactics — I would say the 5 and 10 in particular are her true wheelhouse.

So, picture the Olympics as an NCAA or conference championship. If your rivals have the best distance runner of all time, and there best events are the 5k and 10k — and then someone from your team beats that person and WINS both of those events…woudn’t THEY be the MVP? We have that here with Chebet.

Chebet has two golds to Hassan’s one, and even though Hassan would later run a third event, both runners were the same degree of freshness for the 5 and 10.

Personally, I don’t believe Hassan is the GOAT. I think Faith Kipyegon probably is. She became the first 3-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1500 meters at this Olympics, she’s the WR holder in that event (3:49.04) and the mile (4:07.64) and held the 5k world record (14:05.20) until last season. She’s also won 1500-meter World Championship golds in 2017, 2022 and 2023 (where she completed the 1500/5k double).

Consider this: Kipyegon was also in the 5,000 meters in Paris…and she lost to Chebet, too!

So, Chebet took down the two greatest female distance runners of all time in the 5k, and then returned in the 10k and slayed one of them a second time.

All that being said, I think the actual MVP is still McLaughlin-Levrone. Her 400-meter hurdles performance cemented her place as perhaps the greatest track and field athlete to ever live, at least in terms of relative in-event excellence/dominance. Plus, even though her second gold was not in an individual event, it might as well could have been. Her second leg was the decisive moment in the relay and secured gold for the other three athletes.

The men’s choices, if I’m remembering correctly, were:

• Rai Benjamin (400-meter hurdles gold + 4×400 gold)
• Letsile Tebogo (200-meter gold, 4×400-meter silver)
• Armand Duplantis (Pole vault gold and WR)

Once again, the Letsrun guys missed this. After rightly dismissing Duplantis, they selected Tebogo — who was brilliant — over Benjamin. Here’s why Benjamin is actually the surefire choice.

First, Benjamin’s individual gold was much more significant. He defeated the charismatic world-record holder and defending Olympic gold medalist (Warholm) and the defending world champion (dos Santos) — both of whom are at the peak of their powers.

Tebogo’s 200-meter win was devalued by the fact that pre-race favorite Noah Lyles was competing after suffering from COVID-19. While, the American very well might have been overmatched — even at full strength — by the Botswanan’s 19.46 effort, that’s something we won’t know. Lyles’ best time is 19.31.

Now, let’s say you think both of those wins are pretty much equally impressive. That brings us to the 4×400-meter relay, where Benjamin and Tebogo faced off in an anchor leg for the ages. Benjamin got the baton first, but not by much. Tebogo may have almost had an advantage in that he could draft off the American. I don’t know about you, but I would have been shaking a bit if I was an American — with everything to lose — and I had the 200-meter gold medalist tracking me down for a full lap.

But Benjamin was clutch. He held him off. True MVP’s come through in the big moments, and Benjamin did that.

How about a little skiing news

Alright, we have to talk about skinny skis at least a little. I was checking out the Lysebotn Opp results and video and was struck by a couple things: 1) it’s amazing how fast the DP winners go compared to the skate skiers and 2) Helene Marie Fossesholm is back, baby!

Plus Sophia Laukli is hanging up her trail shoes, I think.

Her Instagram post seemed contradictory to this article I found, but maybe it’s much ado about nothing.

Either way, I’m out of time, so I’ll have to save some of that for the podcast.

Hope you made it to the end…sorry for all the running chatter (or maybe, you’re welcome, depending on your tastes).

Keep on striving. Keep on skiing.