Fast Women, January 28, 2019, Issue 4

Heather (Dorniden) Kampf of Minnesota (right) competes in the 800m at the 2008 NCAA Track & Field Championships. Read on to find out how she made news last week.

Elle Purrier’s pro career is off to a great start  

She didn’t win the mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday, but Elle Purrier came close, finishing second to Canada’s Gabriela Stafford, 4:24.80 to 4:24.88, in a thrilling race. (The results are here.)

The fast-paced race produced Canadian (Stafford), Swedish (Yolanda Ngarambe, 4:28.30), and Irish (Ciara Mageean, 4:28.31) national records. While Purrier’s time wasn’t an American record (that’s 4:20.5, held by Mary Slaney), it was a personal best.

Purrier, the 2018 NCAA Indoor mile champion, distinguished herself in a quality field, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s ahead for her. If you don’t know much about her background, here are two good articles about her.

There were some stumbles in the pack. Hannah England lost a shoe and dropped out, and Emma Coburn ended up with an ice pack on her ankle. Coburn said she took her training partner Aisha Praught Leer out with her. Cory McGee, who now trains with Coburn and Praught Leer (and used to train with Purrier) had a strong race, finishing fourth in a PR of 4:28.07.

Jenny Simpson had a rough day in the 5,000m and couldn’t match Konstanze Klosterhalfen’s pace change in the final mile, though it was nothing Simpson wouldn’t have been able to handle on her best days. In this post-race interview, Simpson said her performance was “borderline embarrassing,” and that she was surprised she had that much trouble changing gears.

It was interesting to hear Simpson avoid saying much when asked about Klosterhalfen. It could be that I’m reading too far into it—it's definitely subtle. You can watch for yourself and make your own call. Klosterhalfen recently moved to the U.S. and is training with the Nike Oregon Project. The group has been under investigation by the U.S. Anti Doping Agency for years.
 

Katelyn Tuohy breaks the high school 3,000m record

Competing against professional runners, Katelyn Tuohy broke the high school indoor 3,000m record on Saturday, running 9:01.81 at the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge at NYC’s Armory Track & Field Center. Tuohy ran an aggressive race, leading some of the middle laps, but she was ultimately outkicked by professional runners Amanda Eccleston (8:56.68) and Heather Kampf (8:56.87).

Mary Cain held the previous record of 9:04.51, but she set it en route to her high school two-mile record of 9:38.68, which converts to a sub-9:00 3,000m. In other words, Cain’s two-mile is still considered to be superior, but both are blazing fast.

The race was televised, for a fee, on USATF.tv, and if you subscribe, you can go back and watch it. It was interesting to compare Tuohy’s racing style—stay on pace!—with Eccleston and Kampf’s—chill then kick. Being able to use a variety of tactics isn’t always necessary for success at the high school level but becomes more crucial at the college and pro levels. (In Eccleston’s post-race interview, she says one of the valuable things about running in college, versus going pro right away, is learning racing tactics. Tuohy says that she’s already learned that she needs to be more aggressive to get on the rail.)
 

Ruth Chepngetich and Worknesh Degefa become the third- and fourth-fastest marathoners of all time

Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya won Friday’s Dubai Marathon in 2:17:08, which makes her the third-fastest marathoner of all time. Behind her, Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia ran a national record of 2:17:41. The Dubai course is known for producing fast times, but this was still surprising. Chepngetich won the Istanbul Marathon in a four-minute PR of 2:18:35 less than 11 weeks earlier, which makes her performance an even greater feat. (This article discusses why Chepngetich’s performance wasn’t a surprise. But the existence of such an article is evidence that this was obviously a surprise to some.)

In the past, whenever anyone has broken through this dramatically, there’s been talk of performance-enhancing drugs. Now there’s more talk about performance-enhancing shoes (Nike Vaporflys). But LetsRun.com notes in that article that while Chepngetich did wear Vaporflys, Degefa did not.

A new story about an 11-year-old race

You’ve seen the viral video of Heather Dorniden (now Kampf) falling in the 600m final at the 2008 Big Ten Championships, but getting up and winning the race, right? Last week, LØPE Magazine published a fantastically researched and written article about that race, by Liam Boylan-Pett and Nicole Bush. I’d really like to say more about it, but to go into detail would spoil the article. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed reading anything about running that much.

The catch is that LØPE Magazine put up a paywall as of last week, so if you want to read the article, you have to subscribe to the online publication, which costs $20/year. LØPE is a relatively new venture from Boylan-Pett, who says he was having trouble finding homes for many of the stories he was working on, so he decided to start his own publication, focusing on a niche audience. Right now, he’s only publishing one article per month, but the more subscribers he has, the more content he’ll be able to put out.

The link to the article is here, but to read it, you’ll want to subscribe here first. (I am pushing this purely to spread the enjoyment.)
 

Lindsey Hein gets the scoop on Shalane Flanagan

Lindsey Hein interviewed Shalane Flanagan on this episode of her I’ll Have Another podcast last week, and got some news I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Hein is interesting in that she comes at this as someone who didn’t previously have much knowledge about the pro side of the sport going in, but she is learning as she goes. As a result, she seems to serve as a bridge of sorts between more casual running fans and the pros, and her large audience is learning along with her. She also has the ability to get pros to open up about things that they wouldn’t necessarily talk about with a reporter.

Flanagan talks about her injury/comeback status, says she’s figuring out what her athletic goals are and whether she has any, and she’s currently doing what she calls a coaching “internship” with the Bowerman Track Club. Flanagan says a personal goal for this year is to “become a mom in some capacity.” She and her husband, Steven Edwards, are actively working to adopt a child—they’ve completed much of the paperwork and are now going through interviews and a home study. She’s leaving the door open to having a biological child, but she says they’re planning to go the adoption route first.

That’s just one small glimpse at what Flanagan and Hein discussed; listen to the interview for much more.
 

A must-read article from high school senior Maya Stovall

MileSplit intern Maya Stovall, who will run for Carleton College next year, wrote an excellent article about her experience as a growing and physically maturing athlete. I hope her article will become a valuable resource for other girls in years to come.

She writes, “The media was wrong, and it needs to shift its narrative on growth in high school girls. We need to realize that while we may encounter slumps, periods of declined performance don't necessarily mean a failed career, they mean we are growing into faster and stronger people.”

It’s common to hear about girls who fly to fast times in their teens but can never match those times after going through puberty. But what if, along the way, more of those girls had people coaching them through the process, assuring them it’s only a temporary situation, and showing them what it takes to come out stronger on the other side? 
 

In other news

• Emily Sisson did a live chat with FloTrack last week. She said she’ll run the 10,000m at the Stanford Invitational at the end of March. She plans on running the 10,000m at the 2020 Olympic Track & Field Trials no matter what, and she’ll decide about running the Olympic Marathon Trials after she sees how her debut marathon in London goes.
• Emily Infeld opens up about her injury and recent surgery (and here’s part two).
• Kate Grace was recently on the Running Rogue podcast, where she said she didn’t consider professional running until Oiselle’s Sarah Lesko (also a Yale graduate) approached her at a Yale track event and told her she needed to run the USA Championships. I liked Grace’s take on training with someone who is faster in her event than she is—you either find out now, or you wait and find out on race day. The interview also features a fun cameo from Colleen Quigley. Jump to the 17:45 mark if you want to skip the intro.
• Tatyana McFadden, 17-time Paralympic medalist and 24-time World Marathon Major champion, was great in this episode of Ali on the Run. She tells her story of living in an orphanage until she was six years old, not being a good athlete as a child, and advocating for herself and others throughout her journey, despite having to stand alone at times. Resilience is a common theme throughout her story, and it’s hard to believe she’s only 29 years old.
• On Friday night, the Stanford track & field team’s bus caught on fire en route to the University of Washington. It looked pretty dramatic, but everyone was able to get off the bus safely. NCAA javelin champion Mackenzie Little was taking fans through a typical travel day on NCAA Track & Field Instagram stories at the time, when the day took a not-so-typical turn.
• FloTrack confirms that Allie Kieffer and Emma Bates have officially signed with Asics. Bates has signed a footwear and apparel deal, while Kieffer has signed a footwear-only deal, presumably because she already has an apparel deal through Oiselle. The Nike Vaporfly hype is growing by the day, and people are speculating about whether athletes like Kieffer and Bates, who have previously worn Vaporflys in their marathons, will now be at a disadvantage in not being able to wear them.
• Apparently that fear was great enough for Herpassa Negassa, who appears to be an Adidas-sponsored athlete (or at least was), that he wore painted over Vaporflys at the Dubai Marathon on Friday, where he finished second in a huge personal best of 2:03:40. I don’t have the full story here, so I don’t know for sure that he had an Adidas deal, but that would explain the attempt (albeit a weak one) to disguise the Vaporflys he’s wearing in the photo.
• In other signings, Brooks announced that Marta Pen Freitas, the 2016 NCAA 1500m champion for Mississippi State and a 2016 Olympian for Portugal, has joined the Brooks Beasts. Michele Lee, who ran for Wisconsin and finished fourth at the 2018 California International Marathon in 2:30:32, has joined Hansons-Brooks.
• This article from Track & Field News has more detailed updates on Jordan Hasay and Shannon Rowbury than anything I’ve seen in a while. It includes the detail that Rowbury will be running next weekend’s USA Cross Country Championships with hopes of qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships.
• Aisha Praught Leer was recently on Stephen Scullion’s podcast, where she talked about getting along “freakishly well” with training partner Emma Coburn, the specific changes she made to her training that led to stronger performances, and how giving up dairy (because she’s lactose intolerant) also helped her to break through.
• This “Dear Younger Me” from NCAA 1500m champion and cross country champion Dani Jones includes a lot of wisdom. This was my favorite section: “Stop looking ahead, stop looking behind, and stop looking at everyone else. Focus on what's happening now, take one day at a time, and one run at a time. When no one takes a cookie at NXN, take two (because I know you want to). When she says her runs are faster and longer, don't resent her or question yourself. Be happy for her and trust your own progression. When you fall short, don't fixate.”
• If you appreciate a good marathon improvement story like I do, you might enjoy this Rambling Runner podcast episode with Julie Hartenbach. She started out as a 3:43 marathoner in 2009, got down to 3:07 by 2017, and then just lowered her best to 2:48, coached by Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Sarah Bishop.
• Malindi Elmore, a 2004 Canadian Olympian, then a triathlete, and now a marathoner, talks about her surprise 2:32 Houston Marathon in the first half of this podcast.
• Here’s a Q&A with Iowa State graduate and Team USA Minnesota runner Katy (Moen) Jermann. She ran 2:33:41 in her marathon debut in Houston, with a 1:18/1:15 negative split.
• The University of Oregon is looking for a Creative Director for Track & Field. The U of O’s track & field program is probably one of the few (only?) programs that can afford to have such a position.
• Devin Yanko writes about her 2:39:38 at the Houston Marathon.
• Courtney Frerichs follows up on the Runner’s World piece about her and says the biggest change she made to her mental approach last year was getting rid of the idea of perfection.
• Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer provided a brief update on Instagram about being caught in an injury cycle and making her way back.
• Hailey Middlebrook wrote an article about Beatie Deutsch, who took up running approximately three years ago and recently won the Tiberias Marathon in 2:42. Because she’s an Orthodox Jew, she races in a knee-length skirt and long-sleeved shirt (and Vaporflys). She hopes to represent Israel in the Olympic Games, and you can follow her ongoing story to see if it happens via her Instagram account.
• Middlebrook also wrote about Tina Muir’s journey back to competition after having a baby. (She just won the Disney Half Marathon.) Muir also just published a book called Overcoming Amenorrhea: Get Your Period Back. Get Your Life Back.
• Fred Thompson, who founded the Atoms Track Club for girls and young women in 1963, passed away last week at 85.
• The Wall Street Journal writes about the pressure on women to wear makeup while working out.
• 2016 Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong’s doping ban has been doubled to eight years, after she was found to have lied and falsified documents. This keeps her out of competition until April 3, 2025, when she’ll be 40 years old.
   

Upcoming

The USA Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday (2/2) in Tallahassee, Florida. While cross country hasn’t received a ton of attention in the U.S. in recent years, this is a World Championships year, so next weekend’s races will decide the U.S. squads. If everyone who is currently entered shows up, it should be a really good race. The event will be aired live on USATF.tv.

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That’s it for this week. Please share any corrections, additions, or feedback by responding to this message. And if you’re enjoying this newsletter, please help spread the word! If you’re reading this and aren’t already a subscriber, you can subscribe here.

Alison