Midnight Marathon - The Ultimate Test

Carrie Dimoff finishes 13th in the midnight marathon in Doha. Photo by Kevin Morris (@kevmofoto)

By Jessi Gabriel / TrackTown USA

DOHA, Qatar – The mantra of long-distance runner Carrie Dimoff’s team, the Bowerman Track Club Elite, is “Not professional, but not unprofessional.”

After a 13th place performance in the women’s marathon at the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019 on September 27 (and September 28), it would be hard to consider Dimoff anything other than a world-class professional athlete.

A mother of two and a full-time employee at Nike, where she works as a Footwear Innovator, the 36-year-old Dimoff may not have had the fastest seed time or the accolades of some of her competitors. What she did have, however, was the knowledge that she had prepared meticulously for the exceedingly difficult conditions presented by a marathon in Doha.

“Preparation is 95 percent of the success of a marathon,” said Dimoff. “I showed up at the start line the most prepared I’ve ever been.”

That preparation came in many forms. Dimoff and her coach, Elliott Heath, knew that the biggest factor over the 26.2-mile course would not be the other women racing. It would be the weather.

At 11:59 p.m., the starting gun went off. The time was chosen to ensure optimal environmental conditions. According to the local organizing committee, the air temperature at that time was 32.7 degrees Celsius (90.86 degrees Fahrenheit); the humidity was 73.3 percent.

The Doha city skyline as seen at 3 a.m. following the women’s marathon at the 2019 IAAF World Championships. Photo by Jessi Gabriel

To get ready for the brutal conditions she knew she would face during the race, Heath and Dimoff created a plan that included bouts of heat conditioning in the environmental chamber at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, OR.

“Really, the most important thing we did was heat conditioning,” said Dimoff. “We knew heat was going to be the biggest factor. We used the environmental chamber at Nike. For the first block, I ran eight straight days training in there and progressed from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. We set conditions for what we thought it would be like here [in Doha]. It was definitely a good exercise in one, understanding what it would feel like, and getting to know the discomfort, and two, learning my sweat rate, and how much I should be drinking, and how we could best train me to hydrate.”

Essentially, the chamber created conditions similar to Doha, and by training in it, her body began to learn how to perform in such extreme conditions.

Dimoff also practiced hydration, getting to the point where she could consume 2 to 3 liters of fluids on a run without too much discomfort.

“We practiced drinking as much water as possible,” said Dimoff. “It really helped because my body was used to taking the fluids.”

In addition to teaching her body to adapt to heat and hydration, Dimoff also spent a month training at altitude in Park City, Utah. It was her first altitude stint, and she felt she reaped the benefits of the trip. She still worked remotely, but Nike was supportive of her decision to do whatever she could to go into the World Championships marathon as prepared as possible.

In Park City, Dimoff was able to go for 2.5-hour long runs, putting in work with members of the Bowerman Track Club. While altitude camps are now relatively common for professional distance athletes, with two kids and a full-time job, dropping everything to “just train” for four weeks hadn’t been a realistic option for Dimoff before her build-up to the marathon in Doha.

“Ready as I’ll ever be to take on the heat and humidity and the 26.2 miles of the Doha World Champs marathon course,” Dimoff wrote on her Instagram prior to racing. Photo by Carrie Dimoff (@fastcarrie)

Finally, in order to be physically able to run a marathon at midnight, knowing she would likely be running for close to three hours, Dimoff worked to prevent her body from adjusting to local Doha time. Along with her husband, John, she kept her sleeping schedule in line with Portland-time, 10 time zones earlier than Doha.

“We got in Tuesday, slept all day, and stayed awake all night,” said Dimoff. “It was pretty anti-social. We would wake up at 7 p.m., we ate breakfast at dinner time. The waitress got to know us really well because we were the only people ordering coffee at that time of night. We would watch the sunrise… and go to sleep at 8 or 9 a.m.”

Still, all the planning in the world doesn’t guarantee that you will be able to execute on the day. Heath knew there would come a point in Dimoff’s race where the reality of the conditions would take its toll.

“She prepared as well as she possibly could, but it’s hard to prepare for how you’ll feel 20 miles into an insanely hot, humid marathon,” said Heath.

Dimoff’s goal going into the race was to place as high as she could. Not knowing how she would feel, and not truly being able to predict what pace she would be able to run, she focused instead on place.

She had a bag of ice cubes with her in the call room and wrapped them in a towel when it was time to go to the start line. She ditched the towel before the gun and was able to start the race with ice cubes in her hand. Once the race got underway, Dimoff felt pretty good.

“It wasn’t hard at the beginning,” said Dimoff. “We tried to keep controlled for the first half. But people kept telling me my position and it kept going up.”

Her pacing was helped by U.S. teammate Roberta Groner, who ended up finishing sixth. Groner, a fellow mom with a full-time job, and Dimoff had competed against each other on several previous occasions, and knew they likely had similar fitness levels.

“It was pretty natural for Roberta and me to run together,” said Dimoff. “We went through halfway together. Chatting with her was a good gut check on how we actually felt.”

Dimoff on the marathon course with Team USA teammate Roberta Groner, who ended up finishing sixth. Photo by David Watkins

Having someone else there to gauge where they were each at physically and mentally made the first half of the marathon go by without too many issues.

“After halfway, it started to feel hard,” said Dimoff. “Which means I ran the entire second half feeling bad… I literally couldn’t drink enough to keep cool.”

Dimoff had 4.5 liters of fluids on the course, and she drank pretty much all of it. She estimates she ran nearly 20 miles of the race with a water bottle in her hand. Her stomach felt full, but she felt coolest when she was drinking.

People were pulling out of the race in front of her and behind her. Ambulance golf carts were shuttling those runners off the course, away from the oppressive heat and humidity. Still, she personally never considered not finishing the race.

“I didn’t really think about dropping out,” said Dimoff. “I was in 10th at halfway, and I felt engaged…once you got into the final lap, you struggled or slowed down, but at that point it wasn’t a decision.”

The majority of spectators that had been along the course eventually tired. There were stretches of the road where there weren’t any people around at all.

“It felt lonely; it felt like I was in last place,” said Dimoff.

For context, of the 68 women who started the race, 28 dropped out. The winner of the race, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich, came into the race with a personal best time of 2:17:08, set in January of this year in Dubai. Her finishing time at this marathon? 2:32:43. She won by over a minute.

Dimoff’s time was a solid 2:44:35. Her personal best is 2:31:12.

“I was so excited to see the finish line,” said Dimoff. “I did it. No meltdown.”

Everything ached when she finished. She lay down on the floor in the recovery room with her feet up on a bench. But for a woman who makes her living trying to reach the greatest possible footwear solutions for athletes, and who works with a team charged with constantly developing, experimenting, and exploring, it was a successful experiment.

“This was such a test,” said Dimoff. “You’re never going to have to step up to a line to these kinds of conditions again.”

Price Claims Historic Gold in Hammer Throw at Doha 2019

DeAnna Price celebrates her victory in the women’s hammer throw at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships. Photo: Jake Willard/TrackTown USA

By Jessi Gabriel / TrackTown USA

DeAnna Price knew coming into IAAF World Championships Doha 2019 that she had a good shot at the podium in the women’s hammer throw.

But knowing that and executing on it are two different things. Crazy things happen at championship meets and the form-charts don’t always pan out. So even though Price came into the event with the year’s world-leading mark (78.24m – the American record, set at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships), nothing was guaranteed.

“It’s never a sure thing,” said Price. “You just have to go in and give yourself the best chance you can.”

During Friday’s preliminary round, she launched just one throw (73.77m), hitting the automatic qualifying standard in her first attempt and securing her spot in the final.

The 26-year-old, who was a decorated student-athlete and multi-time national champion at Southern Illinois University, entered the final as the favorite.

She left as a champion.

DeAnna Price answers questions during a press conference at the 2019 IAAF World Championships. Photo: Jessi Gabriel/TrackTown USA

Her first attempt in Saturday’s final proved enough to earn her the title – she threw 76.87m. The only competitor able to better that mark was Price herself, who managed to improve to 77.54m in the third round.

When her victory was confirmed, Price celebrated with her fellow medalists, overcome with emotion.

“At that moment, knowing that the season was done, and coming away as World Champion, it was thankful tears for the support I get from so many people,” said Price. “Like I say whenever I compete, whenever I throw: it’s never me, it’s we.”

Her gold medal is the first global medal of any kind for the U.S. in the women’s hammer throw. The United States is in the midst of a renaissance in the women’s hammer, with Price, Gwen Berry, and up-and-comer Brooke Anderson leading the charge. All three women are ranked in the top 10 of this year’s IAAF World Rankings and sit in the top three on the 2019 performance lists.

When asked what advice she might have for high school or collegiate throwers contemplating a future in the hammer throw, Price was encouraging.

“Keep going, keep driving” said Price. “You’re meant to shine, to be bright, to be beautiful, to be bold… I look forward to the next female to break my record, because I guarantee it’s going to happen.”

There is no doubt that her performance in Doha makes Price a medal contender for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Fans at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials will be able to watch the qualifying and final rounds of the hammer throw during a free session at Hayward Field on Wednesday, June 24, and will be able to cheer Price on as she begins her journey to Olympic gold.

Alexi Pappas: Gaining Perspective at Maclaren Marathon

Alexi Pappas reflects on how a change in perspective can refresh your approach to running. Photo: Alexi Pappas

By Alexi Pappas / TrackTown USA

For many runners, from professionals to enthusiasts, our sport becomes something to complain about. We moan about the weather, crowded trails, old shoes, aching muscles, past injuries – it’s easy for us to focus on the negatives rather than relish in the positives. It’s only natural. After all, running is a sport that attracts perfectionists – we are always striving to improve ourselves – and it’s our instinct to focus on what we want to change and improve. It’s easy to blame external circumstances for poor performances or bad workouts, but the truth is, for most of us, the only thing limiting our running is ourselves. It just sometimes takes a change in perspective to realize it.

Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to meet a group of runners who completely refreshed my perspective. For them, running is the ultimate privilege. These runners were inmates at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility outside of Portland, OR, a prison for boys in their teens and early 20s. For these kids, running is a privilege they earn. Not everyone is allowed to run – it must be earned through good behavior. For those few who earn the privilege, running is a small taste of freedom in an otherwise restricted existence.

Here’s how it works: MacLaren offers rehabilitation programs, from barber training to mechanic classes to journalism courses, and one of those enrichment programs is the opportunity to train for a marathon. The entire marathon is run within the confines of the prison grounds with an interior circumference of a little over a mile. Most runners I know complain about running small loops – I myself have been known to get “tired” of the one-mile Amazon loop in Eugene I’ve come to know so well in my own training – but these young men relish the opportunity. Many of them actually know nothing about running when they sign up, but they do know it is something different and something, presumably, freeing. When they take up the opportunity to run, they learn quickly – in fact, the Eugene Marathon’s own Ian Dobson was a volunteer coach at the program, introducing the inmates to the fundamentals of training and recovery.

Ian was actually coaching me for the 2016 Rio Olympics during the same time that he started volunteering as a coach for the MacLaren marathon program. At the time, my focus was completely on preparing for the Olympics – fine-tuning my performance at the absolute highest level. At that elite level, you’ve got to focus in on “first world problems,” like making sure you’re using the absolute best equipment, training in the ideal conditions, and fueling in just the right way. I remember Ian telling us why he couldn’t be there for some of our weekend training, because he was coaching at MacLaren an hour away in Woodburn, but I didn’t think much more about the program at all. I assumed that all of my energy should be on my own Olympic preparation and I never took the opportunity to go with Ian and help out myself.

But now I understand what Ian got out of his trips up to MacLaren to work with the inmate-athletes: perspective. Transitioning from an environment where elite athletes are paid to run to a situation where kids are grateful for the chance to run circles around a fenced-in yard is a powerful dose of reality. It’s a reminder of why we love to run in the first place.

I experienced this firsthand during my own trip to the MacLaren prison marathon. The running program in the prison culminates in an actual 26.2-mile race around the prison grounds. I was there with a camera crew from Vice, who was creating a short documentary about race day in the prison.

The first thing I did when I arrived was get introduced to the athletes. I expected to meet driven, focused youth, but my expectations were exceeded when I met one kid in particular, Johnathan. I remember the first thing I noticed was the book Johnathan carried under his arm: Mastery, by Robert Greene. This is a book one of my coaches once handed to me and I still reference it today. Johnathan explained to me that one of his fellow MacLaren-mates, a mentor of his, passed the book along to him. He told me about this tradition of some of the boys sharing resources like this, in hopes of passing along the skills and leadership – and hope – that might help them succeed when they re-enter the community. Johnathan and I instantly connected over having similarly profound experiences with this book and I also fundamentally appreciated his desire to be a role model.

Johnathan told me how he spends time training young inmates in the gym as a personal trainer, and then we actually went to the gym together and shared with each other our favorite routines. I felt lucky to learn from him and I am so confident that he will help many people when he re-enters the community.

For Johnathan, this was not his first marathon – he considered himself a “seasoned” marathoner, having competed in the last two editions of the MacLaren marathon program. Out of the other six inmates competing, only one had completed a marathon before. We had a pre-race pasta dinner together which was as surprising to me as it probably was for them. I expected to be surrounded by prerace nerves and anxiety. But what I found was a table full of confidence. For these boys, there was no question as to whether or not they would be able to complete the marathon distance. They expressed to me that compared to the experiences they’d had in their lives, a physical challenge like this – something as simple as running – seemed entirely possible.

Still, the boys looked to me for pre-race advice. So I shared the only tidbit that I thought might be helpful: I told them that I was not necessarily “meant” to make the Olympic team. I told them how I used to be the worst runner on my college team and slowly improved year by year, learning from mentors and teammates around me. Nobody expected me to ever break the top 10 on my team, let alone qualify for the Olympics. I think this was surprising to Johnathan and the others: our circumstance now is not forever. We can take control of our future if we choose.

Then the marathon happened, and Johnathan was the athlete who cheered on everyone around him even when he was in pain. He himself was one of the slower runners, but he eagerly supported when his teammates lapped him. I walked the last five miles with one of the athletes, for whom marathon cramps set in late into the race. While walking, he told me that he will be finished with his sentence and re-enter the community in a few short months. The first thing he wants to do when he leaves: go camping for the first time. For him, running has been the best way to engage with nature while in the facility – something I take for granted when it’s pouring rain and I would rather not go outside to train. The next time I even consider staying inside because the weather isn’t perfect, I’m going to think of Johnathan and get myself out the door.

All of the athletes completed the marathon, even if it meant walking the last five miles with me. Johnathan and the other inmates helped me understand how grateful he was to run – an activity I now understand he sees as a privilege, not a right. I think about running differently now that I have met Johnathan. Johnathan’s goal is to one day compete in the Eugene Marathon and I hope I am there to cheer for him when he does.

During training – whether we’re building up for a 5k or a marathon or the Olympics – it’s easy to fall into a trap of non-gratitude. We focus on the minutiae and obsess with how we can maximize each little bit of our training. But taken too far, this leads to resentment and bitterness. Nothing’s worse than a bitter runner. So every now and then, it’s good to reconnect with what made us love running in the first place. Maybe it doesn’t require a visit to a prison. But seeing those young adults feel free – even as they ran in circles around the prison yard – made an impression I’ll keep with me always. It reminded me to be grateful for every step.

TrackTown Tuesday Season Finale Looks Toward the Future

OTC Elite star Sally Kipyego (right) shares a laugh with the TrackTown Tuesday crowd. Photo: Jake Willard/TrackTown USA

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

The last TrackTown Tuesday of 2019, held at the Downtown Athletic Club on June 4, looked toward the future of track and field in the community.

OTC Elite’s Sally Kipyego headlined the event, showcasing her vivacious personality to the crowd. Kipeygo, a prolific distance runner with a 2012 Olympic silver medal in the 10,000m to her name, has since made the transition to the marathon. That journey has brought both triumphs and challenges. One of those successes was a runner-up finish at the 2016 New York Marathon.

“I remember crossing the finish line in New York and coming in second was amazing,” said Kipyego. “You can’t replicate that. I love the marathon, but I have a hate-love relationship with it. But it’s more love.”

She also shared a story of how, while was driving a car in Kenya, young girls were shocked to see a woman driving on the road.

“Children need to see people like them doing great things for them to believe that it is possible,” said Kipyego.

That experience stuck with her as she noticed the impact athletes can have on young children. In 2014, Kipyego partnered with Shoe4Africa, a foundation that builds schools and hospitals in Kenya. In collaboration with that organization, her alma mater primary school has since been rebuilt and renamed after her.

As she prepares for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, Kipyego is focusing on developing her mindset.

“I say to myself: I have achieved this before and I have run this race before,” she said. “I have been successful at this before, so I can do it again.”

University of Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens was also a guest on the show, sharing information with the crowd on Duck athletics and Hayward Field. According to Mullens, the development of Hayward Field is crucial to the sport of track and field.

“Hayward is so unique – not only what it does for UO track, but it is the epicenter of track in this country and even for the world,” said Mullens. “I was really struck when I arrived here that this was a really unique community gathering spot.”

University of Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens talks about the vision for the future of the Oregon athletics department. Photo: Jake Willard/TrackTown USA

Mullens oversees the entire Oregon athletic department, and he discussed the common thread throughout all the programs in regard to recruiting and attracting athletes to Oregon.

“We look for people who are a great fit,” said Mullens. “We keep things simple: we want a culture of excellence in everything that we do. The foundation of everything is providing an exceptional student-athlete experience.”

Prefontaine Classic Meet Director Tom Jordan tested the crowd with trivia on athletes who are set to compete at the Pre Classic on June 30 in Stanford, CA. Jordan acknowledged that the Eugene fans are still the best track and field supporters in the country.

Prefontaine Classic Meet Director Tom Jordan gives a preview of this year’s event. Photo: Jake Willard/TrackTown USA

“One of the things that was special is to see the kind of loyalty and appreciation that the fans in this area have for the Prefontaine Classic,” said Jordan. “In return, I have appreciation for you all because I’ve been to a lot of track meets around the world and I think the fans here are the most knowledgeable in the world.”

TrackTown USA CEO Michael Reilly gives the crowd a first look at 2020 Olympic Trials ticketing information. Photo: Jake Willard/TrackTown USA

TrackTown USA CEO Michael Reilly concluded the show by revealing ticket information for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field. Tickets will go on sale to the public on July 25, 2019 at 9 a.m. Pacific. More information on Olympic Trials tickets can be found at TrackTown20.com.

OTC Elite Veterans Highlight TrackTown Tuesday

Hassan Mead and Ben Blankenship (left to right) share stories with the TrackTown Tuesday crowd.

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

Long-time teammates and Oregon Track Club Elite stars Ben Blankenship and Hassan Mead headlined TrackTown Tuesday at the Downtown Athletic Club on May 7.

The duo shared stories and laughs with the crowd. They discussed their recent successes as well as detailing how they have grown throughout their professional careers.

Since joining OTC Elite in 2012, Blankenship is still evolving as a runner. He pointed to his victory at the 2018 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships as an example of this evolution.

“I just wanted to go out there and enjoy running,” said Blankenship. “Every day we step out on the track and are judged on how we perform. I wanted to retool myself in a different way.”

Mead recognized the importance of adaptability in tackling the 5,000m and 10,000m.

“We train for across the field,” explained Mead. “That way, when we want to race, we will be prepared for all of them. In 2017 we went for the 10k and I got the title for the US. You have to be ready so in case one event doesn’t work out, you can be prepared for the other.”

The Oregon track & field program was represented on the TrackTown Tuesday stage by Associate Head Coach Curtis Taylor along with sprinters Cravon Gillespie and Venessa D’Arpino. According to Taylor, the foundation for Oregon’s success moving forward is in the overarching culture of the program.

Cravon Gillespie, Venessa D’Arpino, and Coach Curtis Taylor (left to right) talk about their preparations for the upcoming Pac-12 Championships.

“The most important thing is to find people who fit with Oregon and want to stay at Oregon,” said Taylor. “We want people who want to be here and Be Oregon…these guys (D’Arpino and Gillespie) are the definition of that.”

D’Arpino reiterated that same philosophy as she described her motivation behind transferring to Oregon from Oregon State.

“It’s always been Oregon,” said D’Arpino. “I’m Oregon-born, Oregon-raised. I wanted to represent the state where I came from. That’s always been the goal.”

Gillespie also reflected on his journey to Oregon, which began in Pasadena, Calif.

“Coming from Pasadena, I have a lot of friends that have a lot of talent but made the wrong decisions and went down the wrong path,” said Gillespie. “My thing is to stay focused and stay humble. When I got the opportunity to come here, I took it and wanted to make the most of it.”

Next up for the Ducks are the Pac-12 Championships, May 11­–12 in Tucson, Ariz.

Nike Running Insights Director John Truax, a University of Oregon alum, has been working at Nike for nearly 30 years, and shared some of his proudest accomplishments from that time with the audience. That included helping to establish and name a running trail on the Nike Campus after his colleague and mentor Geoff Hollister.

Truax credited Hollister for instilling in him a sense of the importance of giving back to the running community at large.

“I think giving back to the sport is what we should all be doing,” said Truax.

Sasha Spencer Atwood asks John Truax about his proudest accomplishments in his 30 years at Nike.

Truax also described his connection with University of Oregon student Justin Gallegos. In October, Truax presented Gallegos with a Nike contract, making Gallegos the company’s first professional athlete with cerebral palsy.

“With Justin, he is a passionate kid,” said Truax. “That’s what drew me to him – his love for the sport…He inspires a lot of people. Nike has a lot of great athletes around the world and sometimes they are hard to relate to. But for Justin, anyone can relate to him.”

The final TrackTown Tuesday of the year will be at the Downtown Athletic Club on June 4.

TrackTown Fitness Concludes Most Successful Season

Participants gather on Pre’s Trail to cheer after the final TrackTown Fitness session of the season. Photo: Jessica Gabriel, TrackTown USA

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

EUGENE, Ore. – The final TrackTown Fitness session of 2019 was held along Pre’s Trail on Easter Sunday morning.

Now in its fifth year, the free community program had its most successful season ever with a total attendance of 1,707 over 13 weeks for an average of about 130 runners and walkers each session.

With Hayward Field currently under construction, TrackTown Fitness utilized three different venues this year: Autzen Stadium, the Moshofsky Center, and Pre’s Trail. In addition, PeaceHealth enhanced the program with its weekly “Run with the Doc” initiative in which runners and walkers were encouraged to chat about a healthy, active lifestyle with participating doctors.

Dr. David Saenger, a PeaceHealth cardiologist, had this advice for those who wanted to develop a healthier lifestyle.

“Exercise should become a habit you have to do every day,” Dr. Saenger said. “I always tell people it is like brushing your teeth. You wouldn’t go a day without brushing your teeth, so you shouldn’t go a day without exercise.”

Dr. David Saenger, a PeaceHealth cardiologist, was on hand at the final TrackTown Fitness session of the season. Photo: Jessica Gabriel, TrackTown USA

One person who embodies those habits is local marathon runner Kathy Ward. She served as a Run Hub pacer at the Eugene Marathon on April 28 for those targeting a 4:20 finish. Ward, who has completed six marathons, said she enjoys the relaxed running of pacing versus the grind of competing.

“When I finished Boston, that was my fifth marathon when I crossed the finish line, and I said ‘I’m never doing another marathon,’” Ward said. “But for pacing, I meet people from all around the country and they would be talking to me. It’s just so fun to meet people and find out where they are coming from.”

“I’ve become friends with all these kids because they are in their 20s and 30s and are asking me for advice,” she added. “We just talk the whole way. It’s been so much fun training.”

Kathy Ward, a TrackTown Fitness participant, holds up her pacing sign during the Eugene Marathon. Photo: Eugene Marathon

Ward’s training, of course, has included TrackTown Fitness on Sunday mornings since moving to Eugene four years ago.

“Some of the people here have been here since the first time I came,” Ward said. “It’s been so fun and now we all go to TrackTown Tuesdays. The running community in this town is awesome.”

That running community was out in droves for the Eugene Marathon weekend, with packed races for the Duck Dash and 5k on Saturday, and the marathon and half-marathon on Sunday. Participants crossed the finish at the 50-yard line of Autzen Stadium, then enjoyed the post-race festival in the stadium concourse, the site for the majority of TrackTown Fitness sessions this season.

Although TrackTown Fitness has finished for the year, the next TrackTown Tuesday will be May 7 at the Downtown Athletic Club.

Alexi Pappas: Be a Good Teammate to Yourself

Photo: Alexi Pappas

By Alexi Pappas / TrackTown USA

With the track and field championship season coming up, hand-in-hand with final exams for high school and college athletes, it’s important to remember to be as kind to ourselves as we are hard on ourselves.

High school and college are hard enough. Studying for finals, competing in championships, memorizing your lines for the school play – all of these tasks are “hard enough” on their own. We’ve all heard the advice about how to best tackle multiple goals: make a to-do list, stay organized, plan ahead, and so on. But what I’m here to tell you is to remember to be kind to yourself.

What I mean by this is that as you juggle multiple commitments, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and build up stress and resentment, which will decrease efficiency, lead to more stress, and spark a negative feedback loop. But if we can positively manage our feelings and be kind to ourselves no matter how overwhelming our schedules might seem, we’ll be more effective at getting our tasks done and accomplishing everything on our plates this spring.

The first step is to recognize that it is challenging to balance school commitments with athletic commitments. Embrace that it’s hard! It’s okay for things to be hard in life. Recognizing that you have a hard set of tasks ahead can be invigorating and inspiring.

I find that the best way to maintain this perspective is to remember that everything you’re doing is a choice. You’ve chosen to be an athlete. You’ve chosen to be a student. So, during those weeks when you have less free time than your friends who aren’t athletes, just remember that you chose to be in this position.

For me, that’s a very empowering thought: when I’m in the library while my friends are out socializing, I remember that it’s my choice. I’ve seen some teammates feel like they’re victims for being “stuck” in the library. But that’s a negative perspective – they’re forgetting about the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that they’ve made a choice to be student-athletes, and there are only 24 hours in a day, so of course they’re here in the library when their non-athlete friends aren’t. With that perspective, being in the library becomes a pleasure. It’s something you’re doing to earn your life as a student-athlete, just as much as showing up to practice and working out. Getting into this positive headspace of choice rather than sacrifice is the most important step towards being kind to yourself. I specifically recall one midterm exam period at Dartmouth when a bunch of my cross country teammates and I decided to post up on a Friday night in the otherwise empty library. We chose to do this together and even though it wasn’t a party in the traditional sense, it felt like a party to us.

The next step is to take a close look at the hours in your day and determine if you’re using them well. I think of my time in 30-minute intervals, usually just enough time to get one small task done, and it amazes me how many “intervals” I discover in my day when I’m thoughtful and disciplined. Instead of checking my phone while I’m sitting on the bus, I’ll open my computer and get some work done. If I’m feeling worn down and I need a break, maybe I’ll spend that 30-minute interval on social media instead of getting work done, but usually if I’m being honest with myself I know that ultimately I’ll feel better using my spare “intervals” to cross things off my to-do list. I like to treat the time intervals the same way that I’d treat an interval of running: once I commit, I’m in it until the interval is over. This makes it easier to focus when I’m working and it also makes it easier to let go and relax when I’m not.

Another strategy I use is to determine exactly what I have to do and what I don’t. This doesn’t mean that I skip things, but it does mean that I try to work smart. I prioritize my tasks, and usually the first line of defense is saying “no” to opportunities that take up time in the day that aren’t directly related to my immediate goals. For a student, this might mean turning down social opportunities during championship season, or dialing back involvement in other clubs just for the few weeks of spring competition. Or it might even mean asking your teachers if you can work ahead on your academic syllabus so that your workload is lighter during competition time. It also means taking the time to figure out how you study most efficiently. Some people work better in groups, others make study guides, and so on – the point is that it’s sometimes easy to slip into working how it seems we “should” be working even if that isn’t the most efficient way for you personally.

I understand that all of these suggestions actually seem like more work at first, but really it’s just being proactive so that when competition season comes you’re not suddenly faced with work and commitments that could have been handled in a more efficient way. Even though it takes a bit of willpower to plan ahead and work smart, I see this as being kind to myself because at the end of the day, I know that I’ll sleep better and feel more relaxed if I know I used my time well.

And that is my ultimate self-kindness test: whenever I’m faced with a decision about how to use my time, I ask myself: “will doing X help me fall asleep easier tonight?” Some days, vegging out on social media or going out with friends really is the answer. But most days, making the choice to get ahead of my to-do list is the kindest choice for me.

Being as kind to yourself as you are hard on yourself takes practice. It’s a different mindset than most of us are accustomed to. Because being kind to yourself doesn’t mean letting yourself off the hook – it’s just the opposite. It means that you’re having intention with your day and looking out for your best interests; it means that you’re your own teammate. Teammates hold us accountable, teammates believe in each other, and teammates always want the best for each other. This spring, be a good teammate to yourself.

Bowerman Track Club Stars Headline TrackTown Tuesday

Olympians Shelby Houlihan and Colleen Quigley (left to right) share their journeys as professional runners.

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

The April 2 edition of TrackTown Tuesday featured Olympians, UO student-athletes, and hometown entrepreneurs in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Downtown Athletic Club.

Bowerman Track Club teammates Shelby Houlihan and Colleen Quigley anchored the show, sharing stories not only of their accomplishments but also of their connection as teammates. Houlihan described the competitiveness of being a professional athlete on the BTC squad.

“The team sets a high level of expectation,” said Houlihan. “We had 7 of 8 women on the Olympic team. I was the one who raced last. I saw all my teammates line up and make the Olympic team. I said, ‘Okay, if they can do it, I can do it too.’”

The crowd was treated to videos of wins by both athletes from the past two seasons.

Houlihan’s victory in the 1500m at the 2018 U.S. Outdoor Championships was perhaps her breakout performance. “I always knew I had it in me,” said Houlihan. “I had such a patient build up in mileage. Trusting the process and eventually one of these years it would all come together. Last year was perfect for it. Hopefully it continues to keep clicking and I keep getting stronger.”

Quigley felt her mile victory at the 2019 U.S. Indoor Championships was a long time coming as she had lost to Houlihan the past two years. Laughs were shared with the crowd as Quigley and Houlihan displayed their friendly competition. Still, that race meant a lot for Quigley who has suffered injuries since turning pro.

“Each time I’ve been injured, there’s a low point of thinking I’m never going to be able to run again,” said Quigley. “Then I get into these highs of being able to run and being grateful for running. I am now able to run with a sense of joy and freedom. It’s a constant up and down but I just have to ride those waves.”

Former Stanford track and field standouts turned married entrepreneurs Lauren Fleshman and Jesse Thomas showcased Picky Bars, their nutrition bar company. The idea for the bars was borne out of Thomas’ need for healthy fuel for his training.

Picky Bars co-funders Jesse Thomas and Lauren Fleshman share a laugh with the TrackTown Tuesday crowd.

“I made Jesse energy bars that were digestible for him,” said Fleshman. “Being an entrepreneur was way out of the question. But then I asked, ‘Why is there nothing on the market made with real whole food ingredients and based in sports principles?’”

Fleshman was a five-time NCAA champion at Stanford and a two-time U.S. national champion in the 5,000m. She now coaches the elite running team Little Wing. Thomas, a professional triathlete, has found that his work at Picky Bars has been a good counterbalance to his athletic endeavors.

“It’s been really exciting to have something to sink your teeth into that is intellectual and that you’re passionate about,” said Thomas.

University of Oregon track and field horizontal jumpers Chaquinn Cook and Rhesa Foster were onstage after big individual performances that contributed to their team’s 3rd place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships last month in Birmingham, Ala.

UO horizontal jumpers Chaquinn Cook and Rhesa Foster (left to right) recount their 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships experience.

UO senior Cook broke her own indoor triple jump school record with a leap of 13.83m (45-4.5) to notch a runner-up finish in that event.

“The feeling of just being on the runway and getting the clap going,” said Cook. “Not trying to freak myself out. All eyes were on me and I was able to do something good in the light of everybody.”

Foster also impressed with a fifth-place finish in the long jump at the NCAA meet. On her final jump in the competition, she soared to a mark of 6.31m (20-8.5). The junior is aiming to set her goals even higher this outdoor season.

“In the past, if I set out goals I did not reach, it took a number on me mentally,” said Foster. “I try not to get stressed out now. For the upcoming outdoors, I need to work on my speed and timing and just have fun with it.”

The next TrackTown Tuesday will be on May 7.

Alexi Pappas: On the Benefits of Racing Below Peak Fitness

Alexi Pappas racing amongst her competitors at the Pacific Pursuit 10k. Photo: Alexi Pappas

By Alexi Pappas / TrackTown USA

After racing the 2018 Chicago Marathon, I was proud that I had made major strides since my injury a year earlier, but I also knew that I had a ways to go before I would be ready to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

Building up my fitness meant toeing the line at races I knew I wouldn’t win. I don’t like losing, but racing is a very motivational training tool for me, so skipping out on races until I was “fit enough” wasn’t an option. So after Chicago, my coach and I signed me up for a track race in early February: a 10k in San Diego, where the competitors would be chasing the world standard time. Technically, I had the fastest personal best going into the race by about 40 seconds, but my coach told me honestly that I was “not in Rio shape.” In the past I might have avoided toeing the line in such a situation, fearing losing to women I felt I should beat. But the truth is, I knew signing up for this race was the right thing to do.

Why do we sign up for races in the first place? One, a race on the calendar gives us a certain period of time to commit to, a time during which we are focused on the one goal coming up. Two, upcoming races make us nervous in the good way. Thinking about a race is like thinking about Christmas – you know it is coming and you do everything you can to prepare. You think about your outfit, the meal beforehand, and you can hardly even sleep the night before. But that’s okay because it’s Christmas! Three, competing in a race provides an honest assessment of where you are in terms of fitness and readiness, both physically and mentally. It always provides some kind of honest feedback from which to move forward.

When I ran the 10k in San Diego, I was feeling good. I wanted to celebrate my health and run as hard as my fitness would allow. When the race began I put myself in the front pack, running a pace my coach already told me might be too fast for me to sustain for the entire race. The top few women in the race had just qualified for the World Cross Country team, so they knew they were in good shape. I understood this intellectually, but when the race actually started I didn’t have the heart to reign myself in. I wanted to stick with these girls, who I believed I could beat at my peak, but who were now far fitter than I was.

About 5k into the race, I hit a wall. Thankfully it was not an injury wall, but instead it was a fitness wall. My pace dropped off and I finished the race far behind the lead girls. Coach put it this way: I was 100% healthy and 60% fit.

I was happy, of course, to be healthy. That was the whole point of this race, to test my fitness and confirm my health after the Chicago Marathon. But I still couldn’t help feeling sad at not running faster. “Bravies” were coming up to me to take photos, and even though I was smiling on the outside, on the inside my mind was racing. I was wondering how long it would take me to get fit, if I’d ever get fit again, and have other great runners gone through this?

I gravitated towards one of the women I just raced – Jen Rhines. She is a three-time Olympian and someone I’ve long admired. “What would Jen do?” is a common refrain amongst her teammates and really anyone who has been lucky enough to train with her. That’s because Jen is known to have an even mind, a long career, and the right balance of grit and wisdom. She is a good example for anyone. I met Jen in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., when we were both training at altitude and have admired her ever since.

I worked up the courage to ask Jen: “Have you ever had a race like this? A race where you didn’t run as fast as your peers because you’re not super fit, but you know or hope you’ll get there?”

Jen nodded immediately: YES! She had been there, exactly in my position, and completely understood and empathized with what I was feeling. She was never afraid to put herself on the line and has had her fair share of races like this. I was so grateful and relieved to hear that from her. It would be one thing to hear this from my coach or my dad or anyone else, but hearing it from Jen, who had literally been in my shoes before, meant the world to me. This is what we can offer each other as peers in this running world: we can share our specific experiences with each other, which will help add to the greater understanding of what a running journey can look like. For me to know that Jen had been in my position before gave me permission to believe that it was an okay and even necessary and good part of the process. She made me feel capable. I left the track feeling optimistic and energized instead of sad and scared.

When I was younger, I would have never put myself in a position to race when I wasn’t ready to run my best. But now I understand the diverse functions that racing can have in an athlete’s career. There are races, like the Olympic Trials or the Olympics, when we should show up 100% ready to race. And then there are other races, less high-stakes ones, which help us practice a specific tactic, and then there are others that are meant to show us where we are. I remember going to a race on the Oregon Coast where I was just meant to practice my prerace routine. Then I ran another race where the goal was to work on my finishing kick. This race in San Diego was meant to kick my butt and pump me up for the season ahead.

It is glamorous to show up for a race when you are ready to compete for the win, and it takes grit and bravery to show up when you’re not. It’s better to confront your limits and get your butt kicked than to avoid them. There is a time and a place to race conservatively, and this wasn’t one of those times. That wasn’t the purpose of this race. That being said, it wasn’t easy losing to women I would rather beat. It wasn’t easy running slower than I am theoretically capable of. But it was the truth.

I heard a story about a world-class athlete who had an injury that took her out of competition for a very long time. Luckily she got healthy and her coach was ready to throw her back into competition. But there’s a huge difference between being healthy and being fit. That’s what’s so hard about being injured: you work so hard to fix your injury only to have to work hard again to claw your way up back to your peak fitness, all the while avoiding getting re-injured.

So this nameless athlete, she was finally healthy again, but she refused to show up to races because she said she “wasn’t ready.” Meaning, she was too afraid to lose. She did not want to race and lose to girls she would have beaten before her injury – she wanted to first regain her fitness, thenrace. But here’s the thing: you will never be “ready.” It takes racing – and losing – to regain your fitness and return to the competitive level you were at pre-injury. When you put walls in front of yourself because you’re afraid, you might find that you are never ready. The fear of racing and the possibility of losing became so large that she was never able to race … her career fizzled out and she never competed at the highest level again.

It takes bravery to race because racing is not about always being ready. The point is that we show up, then show up again, then keep showing up until we finally achieve our goal. When you win or run a personal best, that’s fantastic. But when you don’t, you still benefit. You’ve still committed to something and followed through. You’ve gained experience, you’ve gained fitness, and you’ve gained pride. That’s what racing is all about.

Coach Cristobal Headlines Star-Studded TrackTown Tuesday

Oregon head football coach Mario Cristobal talks to the TrackTown Tuesday crowd.

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

An impressive lineup of Oregon-based talent headlined TrackTown Tuesday in front of a crowd of 150 at the Downtown Athletic Club on March 5.

Oregon head football coach Mario Cristobal started the night by reminiscing on the lessons he learned from his time as an athlete at the University of Miami and as an assistant working under Alabama coach Nick Saban. He also walked the crowd through how his staff built one of the best recruiting classes in the country.

“The number one thing is: it’s Oregon. It sells itself,” Cristobal said. “People ask what do you do that’s different? What is the secret sauce? It’s being genuine, passionate and getting after it. To us, working hard doesn’t cut it. You have to be passionate and fanatical about your approach.”

Cristobal emphasized the inclusion and warmth the city of Eugene has shown to his family. In addition, he spoke about how the connection to the history of Oregon football has had a powerful impact on his team.

“Our young men had to recognize the history of Oregon and what Oregon is,” he said. “You have to know and understand those who came before you. What they did, how they did it and why it is so important. We have our guys take a deep dive into history…Your love for a place genuinely grows when you understand all the people that have worn the same shoes you have worn.”

The UO track and field program was represented by freshman Max Vollmer, sophomore Keira McCarrell and assistant coach Seth Henson.

Vollmer, a decathlete, is eager to start his collegiate career for Oregon this spring after an impressive fifth-place showing for his native Germany at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships. He cited former Duck Ashton Eaton as his role model and part of the reason he wanted to come to Oregon.

“Ashton Eaton is the reason why I started doing the decathlon,” Vollmer said. “I like to think about human limits. I’m interested in what I can achieve. Ashton was good in all these events. He was my motivation. I watched all his videos to understand his greatness.”

McCarrell, a javelin thrower who qualified for the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, is focusing on the heptathlon this season. She described the magical feeling she gets from the Hayward Field fans.

“We had our high school state meets at Hayward,” said McCarrell, who attended West Salem High School. “The culture was so contagious. There’s nowhere else in the country that is going to have a community like this. When you’re coming down that homestretch, the energy brings you home.”

UO track & field assistant coach Seth Henson appears onstage with multi-event athletes Keira McCarrell and Max Vollmer (left to right).

Henson, an Oregon native, works with the UO multi-event athletes along with pole vaulters and high jumpers. He explained the balancing act of coaching multi-event athletes.

“You have to be a jack of all and a master of none,” Henson said. “In the multi venture, always trying to juggle their athletic development with the technical side of it…There is a lot of communication in our room.”

The show’s final guest was Sabrina Southerland, a new addition to the Oregon Track Club Elite roster. Southerland is not a new face in the Eugene community – after graduating from Georgetown in 2017, she joined the Ducks for her final year of collegiate eligibility.

Those in attendance were treated to the video of Southerland’s 800m win at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. Southerland remembered the race well.

“I could hear Coach Johnson say ‘Relax! Relax Sabrina!’” Southerland said. “I just had this really strong surge at the end. I was like, why not? I felt really confident at that point.”

The next TrackTown Tuesday will be April 2.

Former Duck Sabrina Southerland talks about joining Eugene-based professional team Oregon Track Club Elite.

Family Dynamic on Display at TrackTown Fitness

TrackTown Fitness participants enjoy the views around Autzen Stadium. Photo: Hannah Clauss, TrackTown USA

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

EUGENE, Ore. – As 2019 rolls on, TrackTown Fitness continues to bring together runners and walkers of all backgrounds on Sunday mornings.

One family, in particular, illustrates the pervasive sense of community that has become the program’s defining characteristic. On Feb. 3, Jim Johnson and his son, Eric, worked to follow the quick pace of Eric’s young son, Holbrook.

“This is me and my wife’s third year of coming here,” Jim Johnson said. “We try to maintain a good base of fitness. She is a master’s track runner, so this fits in really well.”

Jim Johnson’s wife, Mary, was a UO track athlete in the 1980s. Together, they now share the joy of exercise with their son and grandson.

“We just love the community feel of this,” Jim Johnson said. “The people you see coming year after year, watching them progress. This whole feel of being involved. It’s a great party and gets you out of bed on Sunday mornings.”

Eric enjoys the family time that he is able to share with his Dad and his son.

“I grew up running with my dad,” Eric Johnson said. “It’s just about being fit and being healthy – and coming out here and trying to instill that mindset in Holbrook.”

The value of physical activity at every age is an important tenet of the program, and it is often highlighted through the ‘Run with the Doc’ segment. The most recent iteration of TrackTown Fitness on Feb. 10 featured pediatric hospitalist Dr. Serena Black from PeaceHealth Medical Group.

Dr. Serena Black, a pediatric hospitalist with PeaceHealth Medical Group, discusses the importance of physical activity for people of all ages. Photo: Hannah Clauss, TrackTown USA

Dr. Black applauded the effort she saw on display during the workout. “It’s been wonderful,” Dr. Black said. “This is a nice opportunity to interact and see these people in their different stages of training. They are all motivated to be out here, even in the cold…I think that program is a real motivator if you have a plan every Sunday to come out.”

Dr. Black is a runner herself and reminded participants that it is never too late to start a healthy lifestyle.

“I would tell people that I was never a runner or physically active till three and half years ago,” Dr. Black said. “I didn’t think I could do it. I just started with a few miles and gradually worked in to it and it’s been such a liberating thing to realize how much your body really can do. Everybody at different levels should be out there moving and interacting with the environment. Try to set a goal and try to reach it.”

OTC Elite athletes have been in attendance throughout the program to encourage those goals – Nijel Amos, Hassan Mead, Ben Blankenship, Tom Farrell, Sabrina Southerland, Andy Trouard and Vincent Ciattei among them. The elite athletes have been eager to coach, answer questions, and provide support for the runners and walkers week to week.

The next TrackTown Fitness will be Sunday, Feb. 17 at 8 a.m at Autzen Stadium.

Alexi Pappas: Good Idea to Embrace Invisible Tradeoffs

By Alexi Pappas / TrackTown USA

A family member passed away recently and I needed to fly to the east coast with two days notice for the funeral. This is tough news for anybody, but for an athlete, traveling is doubly challenging: when your job is your body, intensive travel takes on a whole new level of costs. I needed to get from remote Mammoth Lakes in California to the east coast, which is not easy in the middle of winter.

For an athlete, traveling doesn’t just mean you’re sleepy the next day, it can potentially throw your entire training cycle off balance, and possibly even lead to injury. Runners love routine – I’ve written about this before. But sometimes, immediate circumstances come up which override all else.

I needed to be there.

Naturally, the upcoming journey felt stressful. I was sad for my family’s loss. As an athlete, I had two training runs and a long run on my original training schedule which I’d now need to somehow figure out how to fit in. To make matters worse, my flight out of Mammoth was delayed and the airline rebooked me on a redeye. I didn’t sleep at all and only had one hour from when I arrived on the east coast until I needed to leave with my family for the funeral. Since I landed feeling quite sleep-deprived, I decided to take the day off. I think most runners in my position would have made a similar choice. In my mind, one day off wasn’t a big deal. I would still make it back home to do my long run the next day.

The weather, however, had other plans. Due to high winds, my return flight back to Mammoth was re-routed to San Francisco. Instead of being at home with my teammates, I was stuck in an airport hotel in an industrial area until the next day. As icing on this terrible cake, it was pouring rain and howling wind and the hotel treadmills were all broken. It was one challenge after another.

Still, I thought, I couldn’t skip my long run – especially since I hadn’t run the day before. I didn’t want to start out my week with a huge mileage deficit. So I laced up my shoes and braved the crazy storm outside along the industrial road.

Within minutes I knew this run was a bad idea. I was in the hurt box, bad. I could feel the exhaustion from the weekend, both emotional and physical, down to my bones. Each step felt like a struggle. Now look – I’ve had tough runs before, and I know that sometimes you just need to suck it up and push through. I’m not one to shy away from hard work. But deep down, I knew that this wasn’t one of those moments. I knew this from experience. Because through my experience as an athlete over the years, I’ve come up with the concept of “invisible tradeoffs.”

An invisible tradeoff is when you need to sacrifice your training for the greater good because of a reason that might not have been intentional at first. In my case, it was not my intention that my weekend would be as exhausting and stressful as it was. Because here’s the thing: your cells know EFFORT. When your body is tired it needs to recover, period. Even though a sleepless night on an airplane will not result in the same athletic benefits as a long run, your body’s need for recovery is the same. If you ignore the invisible tradeoff and try to have both things – the exhausting weekend and the long run – you are taking a serious risk of injury.

Luckily, as the windswept rain crashed into my face, I saw two high school-aged boys merrily trotting along the path ahead of me. They were wrestlers trying to lose weight before a big match. I asked if they were from around here and if I could run with them. And since I was trying too hard to run fast on my own, I knew that going with these boys would not only feel safer, it would be smarter for my body because it would force me to run their pace: in this case, high school wrestler slow.

I tucked in behind them and just ran whatever they were doing, which ended up being much less mileage at a far slower pace. I felt bad for a moment that I was running so slowly, but then I reminded myself of the tradeoff I was making and put the run into perspective.

I made it back to my hotel and promptly passed out until my flight the next morning. The following week, I had one of the best training weeks of my life, including a mile repeats workout that I will never forget. Had I over-trained and under-rested the weekend before – ignored the invisible tradeoff of the travel and stress – I probably would have had a mediocre training week at best, and an injury at worst.

Here’s the thing about invisible tradeoffs: we need to accept that they are real, legitimate things that demand recovery just as much as any training. I imagine that many stress fractures and other over-training injuries could be avoided if more coaches and athletes took invisible tradeoffs into account. As athletes, we either need to have the maturity to accept these changes in plans, or at the very least, tell ourselves: let’s not and say we did!

TrackTown Tuesday Features Oregon Student-Athletes, OTC Elite and Eugene Civic Alliance

Jonathan Harvey and Jessica Hull discuss the Oregon track & field student-leadership team. (Photo: TTUSA)

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

Athletes and advocates alike took the stage at the first TrackTown Tuesday of 2019 in front of a crowd of 150 at the Downtown Athletic Club on Feb. 5.

The night started with a touching tribute to Barbara Kousky, who passed away last December. Kousky was an important figure in the Oregon Track Club and had a long and distinguished career in track and field management.

UO senior and 2018 NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter champion Jessica Hull was joined by her Duck teammate Jonathan Harvey, a hurdler and member of the men’s 4x400m relay. Harvey, a California native, explained his journey to becoming a part of the Oregon athletic tradition.

“Growing up, Oregon was always my dream school,” said Harvey. “I used to follow the football and track team all the time. I ran track when I was a little kid. So it was just destiny honestly.”

Hull and Harvey were selected by their peers to be on the leadership council for the track and field team. That council sets the precedent for what it means to be an Oregon student-athlete.

“We are trying to develop this concept of being a Duck,” said Hull. “Figuring out what that means as an individual and what that means as a collective, day in and day out for practice and competition.”

“Being a Duck to me starts with school,” Harvey added. “Making sure you’re doing the work, going to class and sitting in the front, to be an example for non-athletes and our teammates. On the track, [it means] working hard and showing you are relentless. That you want to get better everyday.”

OTC Elite newcomers Drew Piazza and Vincent Ciattei both made their TrackTown Tuesday debuts. As star distance runners from Virginia Tech, Piazza and Ciattei run the 800m and 1,500m, respectively. What was once a dream to run for OTC Elite turned into a reality when Ciattei and Piazza got the message they had been waiting for.

Newcomers of OTC Elite, Vincent Ciattei and Drew Piazza (Photo: TTUSA)

“A few days before we got the email, we both said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great for us to run for OTC?’” said Ciattei. “I thought that would be the perfect set up. Then we got the email saying that exact same thing. It was just unbelievable.”

Piazza was drawn to the passionate track community of Eugene and the value that is placed on the history of the sport.

“Here in the community, everyone gets it,” said Piazza. “It’s awesome.”

Ciattei spoke of how surreal it has been for him to be a part of OTC Elite and to be training with the athletes he idolized in high school.

“Everyday at practice, we’re training with Olympians that I knew or looked up to,” said Ciattei. “We had something special at Virginia Tech, but this is a completely different level…I even had Nijel Amos as my phone background in high school.”

Bev Smith and Bridget Franek discuss the Civic Park project on behalf of Eugene Civic Alliance (Photo: TTUSA)

Bev Smith, Oregon women’s basketball legend and Executive Director of Kidsports, appeared on stage with Olympic steeplechaser Bridget Franek. They spoke about the progress of the Civic Park project on behalf of Eugene Civic Alliance. Smith stressed the importance of physical activity in the lives and health of children, and the need for the community to provide opportunities for youth sports.

“Kidsports has been in the community for 65 years and it’s founded under the premise that all kids play,” said Smith. “It is a right for these kids to play and improve their development.”

Franek outlined the evolution of Civic Park, which has raised more than $25 million and is still fundraising. The facility will house indoor courts and outdoor turf fields to accommodate all sports in the same footprint once occupied by Civic Stadium.

“We started construction in October of last year and the first phase is set to be completed in spring of 2020,” said Franek.

The next TrackTown Tuesday will be March 5.

TrackTown Fitness Kicks Off 2019 at Autzen Stadium

A crowd of 200 gather in the concourse of Autzen before the first TrackTown Fitness of the year. (Photo: Hannah Clauss)

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

EUGENE, Ore. – The 2019 TrackTown Fitness program started its 13-week journey on a foggy morning at Autzen Stadium last Sunday. An estimated 200 runners and walkers came prepared and eager to set their fitness goals for the year.

Andy Trouard, one of three OTC Elite athletes in attendance, was impressed by the big turnout for the first meeting.

“You don’t get the title ‘TrackTown USA’ for no reason,” Trouard said.

With Hayward Field under construction, TrackTown Fitness is now held at Autzen Stadium. The route along the concourse and perimeter of the stadium stretches 700 meters. The trees mixed with the fog along the northeast side provided a scenic backdrop for the early morning participants.

Vin Lananna, UO associate athletic director, kicked things off with an overview of the fitness program. Lananna emphasized the great opportunity to run or walk at Autzen Stadium and touched on an upcoming session to be held on Pre’s Trail. The overall message was to motivate the crowd to be active during the program and beyond.

Dr. Lorne Bigley, a family medicine physician with PeaceHealth Medical Group, also spoke to the crowd about the vital role of physical activity in overall health. He did so as part of “Run with the Doc”, an engagement made possible by TrackTown Fitness partner PeaceHealth.

Dr. Lorne Bigley of PeaceHealth Medical Group discusses the importance of living an active lifestyle. (Photo: TTUSA)

No experience is required for TrackTown Fitness. The free weekly program is open to all ages and abilities. On Sunday, toddlers, seniors, and those in between were seen having a great time. Runners, joggers and walkers can go at their own pace. The goal is to start the week with a sense of community and exercise, and to carry that momentum forward.

OTC Elite’s Ben Blankenship, Sabrina Southerland and Trouard were on hand to support the runners and walkers. They enjoyed the enthusiasm of the crowd.

“Today was pretty cool,” Southerland said. “Meeting all these people, coming out so early in the morning to walk, run and jog. Really amazing to get to know a lot of the people here in the community and their passion for running.”

The next TrackTown Fitness will be Sunday, Feb. 3 at 8 a.m. at Autzen Stadium.

UO Heads to Razorback Invitational; OTC Elite Eyes Seattle

By Brenten Kelly / TrackTown USA

EUGENE, Ore. – After a solid start to the indoor track and field season at the UW Preview, the Ducks are looking ahead to the Razorback Invitational on Friday and Saturday, in Fayetteville, Ark. Oregon head coach Robert Johnson is bringing a full team to Arkansas for their second meet of the year.

“It’s a step up in competition for us,” Johnson said. “We’re taking a full contingent…all of our cards and everyone we have will be competing.”

Ducks Track & Field Head Coach Robert Johnson previews the upcoming Razorback Invitational. (Photo: TrackTown USA)

Johnson discussed the shortness of the indoor season and what it means for the Ducks to improve every meet.

“Season starts in January and ends in March,” he said. “It’s one of those things that hurries by. You have a few opportunities to see where you are and couple other opportunities to etch your name before you have the conference meet.”

Senior Jessica Hull, the reigning NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter champion, will run in her first meet of the season along with 12 other Ducks making their indoor debuts. She is entered in the distance medley relay on Friday and the mile on Saturday. Hull says this will feel like ripping off a band-aid, but is ready to start.

Jessica Hull will make her 2019 indoor season debut this upcoming weekend. (Photo: TrackTown USA)

“It’s a shock to the system,” Hull said. “I put a few weeks of training here now. Coming off a really big cross season. I’m expecting it to be really hard, but I’m ready to embrace that and hopefully it feels a bit better each time.”

UO junior Tristian James competed in the long jump, triple jump and 60 meters at the UW Preview. James highlighted the scale of the Razorback Invitational and what it means for the rest of the season.

“Going to be a big meet,” he said. “Big name schools are coming. We are going to have a lot of (NCAA) qualifiers not only at the meet, but for the Ducks.”

After the Razorback Invitational, the Ducks will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. for the Don Kirby Invitational on Feb. 8-9.

The Ducks won’t be the only local track and field athletes in action this weekend.

Oregon Track Club Elite will be represented by four athletes at the UW Invitational in Seattle on Saturday.

Hanna Green is entered in the women’s mile, while Harun Abda is expected to compete in the 400 meters. In addition, Drew Piazza and Neil Gourley will be making their OTC Elite debuts in the men’s mile.

OTC Elite newcomers Drew Piazza, Neil Gourley, and Vincent Ciattei (left to right). Piazza and Gourley will make their OTC debuts this weekend at UW. (Photo: OTC Elite)

Abda said he would be using the race as preparation for the USATF Indoor Championships, Feb. 22-24, at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y. Abda hopes to compete in the 600m at the national indoor meet.

“I’ll be using starting blocks for the first time so I’m hoping that goes OK,” Abda jokingly said.

Alexi Pappas: On the Importance of Dynamic Movement

By Alexi Pappas / TrackTown USA

I never knew quite how important dynamic movement was to my health as a runner until after my first major injury when I had to regain all my fitness from scratch. For me, “dynamic movement” refers to exercises that force my body to move and gain strength in non-running ways – specifically, side-to-side and up-and-down movements that don’t strengthen naturally with running alone. While dynamic movement doesn’t directly make you a faster runner, high dynamic strength can be a helpful factor on an uneven cross country course or in a rough track race, and most importantly, having a dynamically strong body increases durability and prevents injuries.

When I was developing as a runner in high school, dynamic movement was a major part of my training, but I just didn’t know it. Competitive soccer (and recreational basketball and other sports) were an integral part of my life until college – what I knew was that it made me happy, what I didn’t know was that playing other sports made me a much stronger and more durable runner.

In soccer, for example, as compared to running, movement is much more lateral and unpredictable. Movement happens in all directions, including sometimes up in the air, and a goal in training is to prepare your body to jump, slide, switch directions, or execute any number of other movements quickly and efficiently. So naturally, the training included more lateral, dynamic, and jumping type movements as compared to my cross country and track training which was much more straightforward (no pun intended).

When I went to Dartmouth, I carried over much of the durability soccer lent me into my collegiate running life. I believe my athleticism sustained throughout my first few years at Dartmouth and likely even beyond, since I did not get any injuries. Perhaps my participation in intramural hockey my freshman year played some role, but in any case, I still felt like an athlete. I went to Oregon for a 5th year and we were trained in dynamic movements by legendary coach Jimmy Radcliffe. Our running coach, Maurica Powell, worked to incorporate Coach Radcliffe’s training into our routines, and many of the movements we did reminded me of what I might have done as a soccer player. I did not feel particularly graceful when doing those routines, but I knew that small doses of athleticism continued to be infused into my training and would benefit me tremendously.

My dynamic athleticism continued into my professional career, where my coaches continued to have us jump, throw, push, and more at practice (outside of our running), but ultimately I got my first serious injury at age 27 shortly after the 2016 Rio Olympics. This injury happened after a series of sudden stresses that I encountered at once, and mainly boiled down to over-training and under-resting as I transitioned into becoming a marathoner. The injury took me out of running for nearly six months. It took me months to find the right kind of care to help my specific injury, and by the time I did, I was completely out of shape. I tried to maintain my fitness through cross-training, but we didn’t want to push my body and exacerbate my injuries through overdoing the cross-training. So, the result was that I not only lost my running fitness, but also the athletic dynamic movement durability that I had built up.

In time, I became healthy and was able to run and train again. Then, just as I was beginning to taste fitness again, I got re-injured. I recovered, started running little by little, and got injured again. I didn’t understand why I was caught in this cycle. What was I missing?

Then I sat down with my physio, John Ball, and his team at Maximum Mobility Chiropractic in Arizona, and discovered the issue. Instead of just looking at my injury in the moment, John traced me back to my athletic roots. When I first found running and started to get really good, I was coming to the sport as an athlete. I was already playing soccer, basketball, and softball – and this athletic background provided the foundation for my transition into running. As I was running more and getting faster, I was doing it with an athletic body that had a built-in durability. Now, here I was trying to come to running from zero. It was like I was trying to paint a wall without putting the primer down first. None of the paint could stick. I understood that as I worked to slowly regain my running fitness, I also needed to work on regaining my athleticism. I needed to jump, leap, and move sideways. I needed to incorporate dynamic movement into my training.

Only this time, I would do it right. Instead of racing to reach 100 miles a week, I ran 4-5 miles a day and took high intensity interval training classes to help me become the durable athlete I needed to be. I dedicated time each day to working on my dynamic movement, pulling together my favorite exercises and drills into a “circuit” every day. At first, I almost did more dynamic movement work than running. Then, in time, I was able to incorporate more and more running. I started to recognize myself again – I started to feel the connection between my body and mind that I was familiar with, but hadn’t felt in a long time. Now, I run more miles than I do explosive jumps, but I will never completely phase out athletic movement in my training routine. Just yesterday, I picked up a basketball and dribbled it around the gym after weights practice, and I knew it was a good sign when I still felt somewhat natural going for a layup.

As a special addition to this story, I wanted to share more specifics about the dynamic movement “circuits” I created for myself. The inspiration for my circuits came from Dr. John Ball, Coach Jimmy Radcliffe’s book, and Sarah Whipple, a former UO teammate and a High Intensity Interval Training designer.

You do not need to do a circuit every day. They should be incorporated into your weekly plan as it makes sense, perhaps only doing circuits on easier running days. As your mileage increases, perhaps one circuit a week or on an off day is the best plan to avoid overtraining.

Now let’s get to the specifics. In total, one “circuit” takes me about 18 minutes. The 18 minutes are broken down into three 6-minute sets, each comprised of two different movements which I alternate back and forth (for a total of six movements). I like to do 40 seconds “on” followed by 20 seconds of rest, rotating between two different movements three times each. So the entire circuit looks like this:

In terms of what each of the four “movements” are, I follow these general guidelines: 1) something sideways, 2) something vertical, 3) something core, and 4) something where you “explode.”

Some specific examples: a speed ladder is great for the “sideways” circuit, step-ups on a low block work well for vertical, deadbugs are great for core, and med ball 180 turns are great for the “explosion” movement.

There are unlimited resources online for dynamic movement ideas, and it’s up to you to categorize them and build your own circuits. I like to switch it up – I never do the same circuit twice! This is important, since the whole point of dynamic movement is to constantly change things up and keep your body guessing. I have a trove of dozens of movements that I mix and match when I design my circuits.