Blogs : Nate Jenkins

My favorite runners

   I am a professional runner but I am also a huge fan of running so I thought I would do a little blog on my favorite runners and why I think you should check them out and cheer for them too.  I will mostly focus on the runners who you might miss.  I’m assuming if you are reading this blog you already have an opinion about alan webb or paula  radcliffe, so I’m going to skip over the big names for the most part,  with some notable exceptions.

  Just to give you fair warning I’m rushing and didn’t bother capitalizing or proof reading. Without further ado..

American men

Josh Moen- I jokingly refer to Moen as my hero quite a bit.  Just a tough pure road runner.  This guy is legend in Peoria, Ill as he has rocked the steamboat every year for a while including a incredible second place finish in sprint to the finish against the great John korir.  Also a sub 30 clocking at last years peachtree sticks out as well as being a consistent top 10 guy at usa champs and major road races.  I like josh for the same reason every Kenyan road runner knows him, he is tough go to the front and fight till he can’t fight no more kind of guy.  He improves every year and I think he is going to really turn heads over the next five years.  Also he only ran like 10:0’s in hs for two miles. 

Steve Sherer- trains by his own rules (rules which I agree with almost completely) has stuck with it through tons of down times when I can’t imagine anyone was telling him anything but that he should give it up.  Anyone who can fly even under my radar until they run 3:56 is someone who has gotten no respect and now deserves as much as they can get.

Blake Boldon- the usa’s premier road mile specialist. A Saucony athlete.  Already the second man from Iowa on the list, blake is an all around good guy and another under the radar fellow who ran in the low 4:30’s in hs and has a sub 4;00 to his credit now.  Met him in Ireland and along with Thomas Morgan, who is also on this list, and a good group of others and had one hell of a good time. 

Matt Tegenkamp- a big name yes but a totally underrated runner in the US.  This guy was 4^th at worlds last year.  But somehow people complain, oh he has only run 13:04, yes because he focused on place not time last year!  He has run consistently in the mid 7:30’s and has a killer 8;07 two mile to his credit.  The man is a monster and has a damn good shot to become the first American born athlete to medal at  the Olympics at 5000m since bob shul and bill dillenger in 1964.  In fact his 4^th last year at worlds, .03 off a medal,  was closer then any American born athlete has come at a world or Olympic champ since then, closer then Pre, closer then Baby fat bob (who didn’t have to deal with the Ethiopians who sucked other then geb in the 90’s, or the Kenyans running for Qatar and Burundi either)

Thomas Morgan- the number one reason to join Zap fitness.  Just about as nice a guy as I have ever met and he has pretty much got a PR every year.  Already a 13:27 this year.  When I was in college that would have made him a big time pro but in this badass new world of American distance running he is still working his way up.  But lookout for this guy I’m saying 13:0’s or better by 2012, think I’m crazy?? Well maybe I am but he has taken 5 to 10 seconds off every year since college and I see no reason for him to stop now.

Brian Sell- for the same reasons everyone else does, 9^th at worlds(way more competitive then any major marathon), made the toughest usa marathon team ever, 6^th at Chicago, 4^th at boston, wins hamburger eating contests at will

Mike Morgan- the funniest man in the hansons crew.  His 2:23 at worlds flew completely under the radar, people everyone who broke 2:18 medaled and there were about 20 sub 2:08 men in the field.  A monster run by any standard.  You want to know who is the next 2:12 or better man at hansons, look no further.  One caveat don’t do a pre race am shakeout with this guy, he has one speed and its way to fast for warm ups or shakeouts.

Scott Bauhs- an American kid with the alltime ncaa div. 2 record for 10k, I’m pretty much bound to love this guy but even before that he had won me over showing up and racing Nicadimus Naimundo (pretty sure that’s misspelled) in the 10k he had a qualifying time 50 something seconds slower but he ran fearlessly and ended up becoming the first and only d2 kid to beat him.

American Women

Molly Huddle- runs for Saucony, has run 31:25 which a few years ago would have made her one of the biggest stars in the sport but right now it leaves her often just outside the limelight.  Trains in Providence, which has ****ty winters and is in New England.

Amy Mortimer- another lady training in Providence, a tough put your nose in it and no complaining type of runner, ran 4:07 and change like a million times this year with no complaints (Olympic A is sub 4:07)

Samia Akbar- Great range, ran for American college which would be on my short list for favorite college teams. As beautiful and nice a women as you will ever meet.  Looks nothing like Nikiya Green.  Is a sub par password player but makes up for it in her ability to move seamlessly from the track to the roads and back again.

Tera Moody- seeded 152 at the Olympic trials marathon she finished 5^th.  As an underdog lover you can’t help but cheer for this lady.  Tough competitor who had just a real bad go in college after a stellar prep career and has found her stride, big things to come from this girl.  Also she is almost as bad of a hypochondriac as I am, which endears her to me greatly.

International runners

Sergi Lebid- a pure xc man who can when at the top of his game battle anyman except maybe bekela over the purest form of our sport.

Stefano baldini- the Olympic champ and a man who has run more world class marathon performances then probably anyone in history.  His career is winding down but in all seriousness it is among the finest ever and even though he was Olympic champ I don’t think he gets nearly the credit he deserves.

Victor rothin- don’t know who he is? Your not alone but he has run 2:07, won and set the course record at the Tokyo marathon which is as big and bad as the major’s.  Bronze at the world champs last year.  Silver to Baldini at the Europeans.

Mubarak Shami- silver at worlds with a hamstring injury, a couple of big wins and 2:07’s to his credit as well as a world half runner up spot and 7^th at the brutally hot world cross champs in Mombassa.  I’ll be cheering for Hall to win at the Olympics but when I discount what I want to happen this man becomes my favorite for the gold medal.

Japanese Marathoners men and women- so many pure marathoners with no solid track times who continually bang out great performances in the half and full marathon’s and get no respect outside of asia.  Half a dozen men sub 2:07, dozens sub 2:10.  More sub 2:30 women then the rest of the world combined.  Hard work and the kind of anal retentiveness only they are capable off have paid off in a big way.  Who has the most Olympic and world champs medals in the marathon?  Is it Kenya? eithopia? Finland? One of the other European nations that have sent full squads  since the games began 112 years ago?  No all around it’s the Japanese, they also have the most top 10’s these men and women and there coaches know the marathon inside and out and know championship marathoning better  then anyone.

read this for motivation

4:50 PM, August 1, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

http://www.smh.com.au/news/latest-news/twist-of-fate-has-troop-flying-for-birds-nest/2008/07/31/1217097434380.html

thanks

5:00 PM, August 1, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

nice article

Untitled Comment

9:07 AM, August 2, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Hi Nate,

I really enjoy reading your blog and appreciate that you make your training and the specifics involved this accessible to the public. I think you will soon get over this lull in training and competition you are experiencing. I was just wondering how you log your mileage. If it is all on measured loops or if you use GPS or just estimation. If it is an estimate do you tend to be conservative with the distance? Thanks in advance

run measurement

11:37 AM, August 2, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

I use sort of a mix of measurements for the runs I do, when i travel almost everything is just based off time and I just guess at it making a point to be conservative, ie easy running i figure at 8 min pace anything faster is figured at 7 min pace. Some loops I use are from college, most of those are short, like you might see a note for woods 10, well thats like 9.4( I think, kevin alliette measured it with his bike once) anyway I have just made little add-ons to those loops so that I feel comfortable that they are at least the distance stated. Next I measure a lot of loops using the computer maping stuff, mostly g'maps-pedometer, I've tried some of the others but frankly they don't allow the level of anal retentiveness I like to use when measuring. I want to make this part clear those computer things can be hugely off if you don't really zoom in and do a good job, they really are only as good as the person using them. Lastly workout loops are measured the old fashion way with a wheel, this sucks it takes forever and if your not careful can be pretty inaccurette as well( go to fast and wheel bounces around or your letting it kind of zig zag a bit ect..) The nice thing is that I have found that most of my computer loops(when searching for a new workout loop I do it on the computer first then go and measure it with the wheel) are very close to on within 1/100th of a mile per mile. Now the next thing is that loops are rarely exact so if I list a loop as say 12 that means it is at least 12.0 and less then 13.0 if i put a 12+ that means its more like 12.5, if I put a 12++ that means it is very very close to 13. Other then that I do 120 yard, roughly 109m, strides on the football field with jog back rest. Now always add a mile for these, I do 6 to 10 of them, 80 to 90% of the time I do 8 which would be just a shade over a mile, but when I'm doing 6 its less but I basically trust that enough of my runs for the week will be a bit long to make up for it.
I think that covers it all, thanks for the question and thanks for reading the blog.
nate

learning from your mistakes

3:34 PM, August 2, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

generally what did you change in your training that led to your breakthrough that you werent doing previously.you do a great job of detailing your current training and philosophy for us out here who look up to you and hold alot of respect for athletes like yourself but for the sake of comparison it maybe helpful to hear what were your major errors when you were plugging away without any recognition.cheers

spectacular question!!

6:54 PM, August 2, 2008 .. Posted by nateruns

I've been trying to come up with some new blog ideas lately and I can't believe I didn't think of that. All the screw-ups and mistakes I made and how I ended up here, it be more a book really, but I'll do it, post on here or on flotrack. But I think your looking for the really big ones and the sort of big picture mistakes so I'll do that quick right here but again great great question, thank you!!
So when I got out of college i was really obessed with Lydiard and the belief that he had training exactly right. I felt that most colleges didn't use it because it didn't fit the 3 season system but that overall it was the way to go. So I went after it. The problem was the hill phase specifically the downhill sprints, these really agrivated my IT band. Now I got to this point 3 or 4 times each time doing less down hill sprinting but each time agrivating the IT, I should have just cut them all together, another mistake, but I didn't. Overall this wasn't bad but the big mistake I would make is that I wouldn't be able to run for a week or two and then i would say oh well my fitness is all gone and I would start back at my base from week one. What ended up happening is that I avg. close to 140 miles a week for a about 18 months then hurt my IT again but decided after about 5 days off in a light period of about 2 weeks till it felt better that I would just run a season like I had in college xc. The thing was I hammered way too much during this season. Because I was doing some workouts I was racing better then I had in my races (about 1 a month on avg.) during my long base phases over the previous year and half, but i was still pounding out a 120 plus a week and a workout or two a race and a long run, nothing wrong with that but it killed my consistancy and I kinda hit the wrong races. I ran like **** at a cross race at van cortland against good competion but ran well in local 5 mile the next weekend, then ran ok in a half marathon which was the only good race I had in a good race, I ran ok at mayors cup, great in a **** little 5k on halloween, ok at USATF-NE xc champs and like total **** in the race I was trying to peak for, I just screwed up the taper and should have driven out 2 days before instead of the night before, it was a 9 or 10 hour drive. So I was about to pack it in and start looking for a real job, but my degree is in education and it was mid school year and so I kinda new I would have to ride out the school year in my ****ty shoe store job, which I hated cause no one ever came in the store and it was real boring.
So I was broke, like always, and the weekend after club xc which was real early that year I ran a 6 mile xc race on a real flat race that paid like 100 for the win but 150 for a course record and the course was pretty new so the record was 30 flat. But a couple of days before the race it snowed, so they plowed the course, except the last 100 which was in a field but it left the course with a half inch of crunchy snow/ice covering it. so I put on the spikes and decided to give it a go anyway. Well I ran great, just locked into a rythm, was away from the field in the first half mile and just rolled, other then pushing too soon in the last mile and getting myself in a little trouble, but I ran 29;00 for 6 miles( about a 30:00 or just over for 10K) and it less then ideal conditions. This kinda rallied my spirit and made me realize I had just messed up my taper.
So Gary told me I should do a winter marathon, cause there aren't a lot of spring ones and the trials window was opening on Jan. 1 and it would give me time to take more shots at the trials time if I didn't get it first time out.
I did some searching and the austin marathon was paying to bring in any american who had like a sub 1:08 half or sub 2:26 something like that, then if you ran the time they would toss you some cash. So I jumped at the chance. I was working with this guy from Austin at the time, great guy, and he called some friends and got the 3M half marathon to bring me and Casey Moulton in as well, like 3 weeks before the marathon, plus he found a friend, Gilbert who has a popular book out now and is the only guy as nice as Sammy I ever met, to drive us over the whole course while we were there. Then sammy planned his visit home the same weekend and ran the half so he could help pace us, it was awesome, except sammy wrecked on some ice a few days before and running the half on his sore hip set him back a good bit.
Anyway I had like 14 or 15 weeks to get ready and I knew Lydiards guys hadn't quite run as well in the marathon (in terms of time) as in the shorter stuff so I decided to do a lydiard base but use someone elses specific, I looked at a ton of stuff but it came down to Pfitzinger or Canova, I went with the later. The stuff wrecked me, I did a bunch of things wrong, the whole phase was a cluster but I was consistant as hell with it and i ran 1:03:44 at the 3M half and beat some good guys, the course ended up being 160m short so it was like a 1:04 low but still it was a huge PR, I had run like 1:07:28 or something like that at BAA the fall before which was my best at the time. So I adjusted my marathon goal, and we had a great day, weather pace help a group of us running together, a super fast course and we hit it. I ran 2:15 and was pretty much committed to running through the trials no matter what.
Now that's all sort of clustered but to sum up big mistakes, getting a bit hurt and then going back to square one, doing down hill running which got me hurt every time. Training too hard when important races were happening. Not doing more long tempo's and progression runs and threshold running this type of work does wonders for me and I needed it.
I won't go into another long story but the only big mistake(there have been lots of little ones) that I made after austin and before the trials was trying to do too much around running, i was working and dating and coaching and what not and I just kept breaking down, I'd got hurt, I got mono, it was set back after set back finally Gary and my x-fiance, we weren't x at the time, talked me into quitting my job to get ready for the trials. That made a huge difference.

cheers

7:31 PM, August 2, 2008 .. Posted by wysiwyg

thanks for the lengthy reply, explained exactly what i was been nosy/curious about.
about the downhill lydiard sprints: when i used to cycle alot i never rode hard downhill having seen numerous nasty accidents while training, when asked why i would get dropped on the easy part i would say "nobody ever got fit flying down a hill, if you wanna go hard, go up it."
the lee troop link was interesting i thought, thats the kind of determination/single mindedness you have to possess.and at 35 it has all paid off.inspirational really.