Doping Wars - Enter Distance Running

I used to think that distance running was immune from doping. But after reading the news this last month, it appears my naiveté has been exposed.

Apparently Alerto Salazar, former University of Oregon star, three-time winner of the NYC marathon and current head coach of the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), has been gaming the system. In this article by Pro Publica and the BBC, Salazar is accused of pushing a doping rigged training program on his athletes with a “win at all costs” approach to coaching.

I won’t go into the details here because they are well laid out in the article. There are also interesting interviews and comments from former coaches and athletes of the Oregon Project, including this interview with former NOP coach John Cook, who describes the sport as essentially tainted and beyond repair. He thinks the honest coaches are "fooling themselves" if they think they can outwork the doping plague with old fashioned hard work.

Seems Nike is in the middle of all of this. Wait, who was Lance Armstrong’s biggest sponsor?

Motivation

It was a sweltering day, 15 years ago. Alone on a steep hill, I climbed. But just as fast as the sweat pored off my skin, guilt was drowning my mind. With a budding career weighing on my shoulders, I asked myself, why am I out here? And just like that, I succumbed.

Motivation. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. It’s the reason we keep going, through thick and thin, fatigue and frustration. It's how we overcome life's many challenges. Motivation comes to us in different forms and from different places. It is intellectual and emotional. It is in our head and in our hearts. Without it, we are hapless souls, trudging in and out of life's bland encounters. With it we are colorful players on the field, ready to take on the greatest opponents our minds can throw at us.

But where does it come from? Motivation. Are we born with an innate supply of it? Do we learn to "become" motivated through life's experience? This may well be forever unknown. What is known, however, is that motivation comes in different forms. Intellectual motivation, for example, is different than emotional motivation.

Like everything linked to the mind, intellectual motivation comes to us through rational thought. The desire to win trophies, gain kudos from friends and peers, or to be "known" as an athlete. These are all intellectual "motives" to which we often succumb. They are motives of the ego. But are these motives long lasting? Will they get you though the most grueling and challenging times? Unfortunately, they will not. Just like sugar, they'll leave you high one moment, and low the next.

Emotional motivation is different. It runs through your body. It comes from your gut, enters the spine, then without warning seeps through your skin. Before you recognize it, it will give you goose bumps. Wherever its starts and ends, you can feel it. And what's best, it doesn't even have to make sense!

What I've learned is that, unless I can really feel the motivation to do something big, I'm better off not even attempting to do it. The fact is I've been motivated by my ego to beat my marathon PR that has stood for 16 years, but I am yet to feel that I can do it. Can I still do it at 46? I'm still waiting for the goose bumps. And should they come, my ego will be anxiously waiting.

Running The Grand Canyon -- A Video

Here it is folks! Click on the link above to to view the video of our rim to rim to rim run in the Grand Canyon. This was an incredible day, with amazing scenery, unbelievable terrain, and great camaraderie. The video is 15 minutes long. Enjoy!

Why Music Matters To a Runner

There is something about music to a runner. At least this runner. I can run without music, and often do. I enjoy the natural sounds in the space around me. Yet a song, be it piercing or rhythmic, mystic or haunting, can pull my energy back from the arms of fatigue. The right song, at the right moment, can, even if only for a moment, overwhelm my exhaustion with euphoria. Bring a shiver to my soiled skin. Even relax my tense muscles.

One early morning last year I was getting dressed and ready for the Helen Klein 50 mile run. A song came into my head. It was Kid A by Radiohead. I don’t know why, but I just started humming the tune, its austere, serene rhythm. I quickly picked up my Ipod and searched for the song. I found it. As I walked toward the starting line of the race I was listening to it over and over. Normally I’m very nervous before a race, but at this moment I remember feeling a sense of calm, a stillness that seemed to come from the music.




Late in the race, as my legs were growing weary, I played a song list that I had prepared for that moment. These songs exude energy and carried me during earlier runs: “Crush” by Paul Van Dyke (one of my daughter’s favorites); “Harvey and the Old Ones” by Banco de Gaia; “Next is the E” by Moby; “Amo Bishop Roden” by Boards of Canada; and the ever-lifting “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters. I crested the last hill at mile 49 and could see the turn to the finish line. Every muscle in me was screaming to slow down. Somehow I didn’t. I made it to the finish, 10th place overall, a mere 5 seconds ahead of the next runner.

As the WS 100 mile race approaches another song enters my mind. It’s “Nude” by Radiohead, one of my favorite songs. I visualize myself coming through the finish line, stronger than I’ve ever felt as a runner. I clinch my fist in the air. Could this be? To finish WS 100 mile run through the mountains feeling on top of the world? Then I hear Nude playing in my head, I notice its tenderness, and the gradual, escalating tenor of Thom York’s piercing voice as he delivers the final lyric—“you’ll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking”.

A chill runs down my neck.


Control Click the Link below to play the Song “Nude”:


http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.17739336&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=