Wilson Kipsang in Town for Clinics

What a thrill having Wilson Kipsang at the store this evening. Quite the Q and A, and lots of great quotes. 

— GEAR Running Store (@gearrunning) November 5, 2015

Kipsang and Team USA Minnesota's Dennis Barker will be a part of clinics sponsored by Warrior Edge Athletics on Saturday and Sunday. Information HERE

News:Garrett Heath, Mudder; Bill Miles' COY Interview; Rombough; Economics of College Basketball; Compression Clothing

Want to beat the Kenyans? All you need is mud... http://t.co/YiKTcKgInY @_garrettheath @Great_Run pic.twitter.com/rvw7hxiNDJ
— SPIKES (@spikesmag) January 15, 2015

USTFCCCA interview with HS boys' XC Coach of the Year Bill Miles HERE.Sun Sailor story on Miles is HERE.

Rombough Named to WCCCA Hall of Fame http://t.co/hFbr8ViJ0F
— UWRF Athletics (@UWRFFALCONS) January 15, 2015

An interesting look at the economics of the major college sports--in this case Kentucky basketball--HERE.

Can compression clothing aid your workout HERE?

News: LA Prepping for Marathon Trials; Preventing Injuries Through Science; Lornah Kiplagat

The LA Marathon staff are preparing for the 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials HERE.

Sports Illustrated story on attempts to prevent injuries using sports science HERE.

Some of you might remember Lornah Kiplagat, a top Kenyan distance runner, who this year launched a women's sportswear line.  The online catalog is  HERE.

News: Underreported Stories; Stress Fractures; Kenyans; Ron Hill; Fatigue

Stories on Alysia Montano and Tatyana  McFaddin, one pregnant, the other continuing her dominance.  Both under reported during 2014 HERE.

Journal paper on stress fractures, what causes them, how to heal from them, manage them HERE.

Physiology isn't the only reason for success by Kenyan runners HERE.

What have you done every day for the last 50 years?  The UK's Ron Hill has run at least one mile HERE. Hill finished fifth in the 1975 Boston Marathon.  Can you name the Minnesotan who finished three places in front of him?

It was the Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi who is credited with the quote: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."  Scientific studies has shown that a bit of motivation can counteract that fatigue HERE. the power of positive thinking.

News: Gophers/NCAA; Michael Van Voorhis; NCAA DII regions/UMD; HS, Kenya; Indoor Running Options; Snowboarding Grandma

Minnesota Daily NCAA Championship preview HERE

St. Paul Pioneer Press story on St. Paul Central grad Michael Van Voorhis, who will be running for Wisconsin at NCAA's is HERE

NCAA DIII men's preview is HERE, women's HERE.

 Northland News Center Preview of UMD's men and women's teams at the NCAA DII Regionals HERE.

Perham Focus on Perham's Billy Beseman signing letter of intent to attend the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota HERE

More studies on Kenyan runners searching for clues to why they have been so successful HERE and HERE.

MDRA listing of indoor running options for the winter HERE.

I know this isn't running, but it's inspiring, snowboarding Grandma HERE

Updated News: HS; Gopher Midwest Regions Preview; NCAA DIII Preview; Club Cross Champs; Hamline Give Back Program; Criminalize Doping

Stillwater Gazette story on Stillwater boys at NXN Heartland Regionals HERE.

Perham Focus on Perham HS coach Jeff Morris being awarded High School DII co-coach of the Year

Worthington Daily Globe report on Big South All Conference team HERE. Worthington team awards HERE.

Sun Sailor report on boy's Class AA race HERE.  Wayzata  girls win HERE

Sun Current report on the Edina girls HERE. Boy's All Lake Conference team HERE, girl's HERE.  Bloomington Jefferson All Metro Conference Award winners HERE.

Edina's Maddy Lawler interviewed after NXN Heartland Region Black race win HERE.

Gopher women's preview of the NCAA DI Midwest Regions is HERE.  Gopher men's Region's preview HERE.  Minnesota Daily Regions preview HERE

NCAA DIII Regionals previewed HERE(men) and HERE(women)

Radio preview for the Club Cross Championships HERE.

MIAC Friday Feature on Hamline's give back to the community efforts HERE.

2012 Boston champ Wesley Korir, who is also a member of the Kenyan Parliament will propose legislation to criminalize doping in Kenya and prosecute those who dope and those who assist the dopers.  Legislation to criminalize doping is also being proposed in Germany.  Both Italy and France already have laws that make doping a criminal offense. Korir story HERE.

News: HS Results and Photos; Tufts 10K, NCAA Rankings; MIAC AOW; NSIC WIR/AOW; Kenyan/East African runners; Wottle/Pre

St. Paul City Conference results are HERE(girl's) and HERE(boy's)

St. Paul Suburban East team results are HERE, individual girl's results are HERE, boy's HERE.

Big South Conference meet boy's results are HERE, girl's HERE.

Metro East Conference results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's)

Central Lake Conference results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's)

Big Nine Conference results are HERE.

Hiawatha Valley League Conference results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's).

Three Rivers Conference Championship results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's)

Tri Metro Conference results are HERE.

Granite Ridge Conference results are HERE.

Mississippi 8 Championship results are HERE.

Wright County Conference results are HERE.

Chaska Herald on Chaska HS's sweep of the team titles at the Metro West Conference Championships and Joey Duerr's return to XC competition is HERE. Full results are HERE.

Shakopee Invitational results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's)

New Prague 3K meet results are HERE.

Dundee Invitational results are HERE.

Watertown Invitational results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's).

Lakeshore Valley News story on Wayzata sweep of Lake Conference team titles is HERE.

Prior Lake American on Prior Lake High School's boy's team HERE and girl's team HERE results from the Southwest  Suburban Conference Championships(SSC). Prior Lake boy's photos HERE, girl's HERE.

Facebook Photos of the Burnsville girl's HERE and boy's HERE at the Southwest Suburban Conference Championships.

Shakopee Valley News on Shakopee HS results at the SCC Championships are HERE.

Eden Prairie News on Eden Prairie HS results at the Victoria Lions meet are HERE.

Chanhassen Villager story on the team's results at the SCC meet is HERE.

Jordan Independent story on the Jordan boy's team win and girl's results at the Minnesota River Conference Championships is HERE.

Savage Pacer story on Burnsville's   Faysal Mahmoud is HERE.

Mid State Conference Meet results are HERE(boy's) and HERE(girl's)

Park Rapids Enterprise report on the Perham Invitational HERE.

Tufts 10K results HERE  Look at places 60 and 61

Finishers 61(left) and 60(right) in Tufts 10K

MIAC Athletes of the Week HERE(women) and HERE(men)

NSIC Week in Review and AOW HERE(men) and HERE(women).

NCAA DII regional rankings HERE, DIII  HERE.

Sports scientist Ross Tucker on Kenyan runners, the sub-two hour marathon HERE.

Wottle vs Pre in 1973 in Eugene HERE.

For Kenyan Family, Success in Running is a Tradition

Duluth News Tribune story on the children of Richard Kiplagat Leting and his wife, Marsalina and their running success is HERE. 

Kenyan Running Advantage: Connective Tissue Elasticity

This will be "science day" on Down the Backstretch.  Two sports scientists I've met while visiting Chicago are South African natives Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas.  Both studied under Tim Noakes in South Africa.  Jonathan works for a South African company in Chicago.  Ross consults for various sports teams and writes from his base in South Africa.

Several decades ago I wrote a piece for The Runner on the Achilles tendon.  The thing that stuck with me from the research for that article was how little we know about connective tissue and its role in sports performance as compared to muscle fibers.  That hasn't changed much, but every now and then an interesting research project gets published.

One of those studies was published recently and Amby Burfoot included it in one of the Twitter links he often posts on sports science research.  A conclusion of the study was that Kenyan runners may have more elastic Achilles tendons, which may help them run faster.  This coincided with something I had noticed in my own running of late.

I would run a loop on the five mile course I do normally four days of the week and discovered with the same effort--perceived exertion--I would be running significantly faster--sometimes ten to twenty seconds a mile.  The only theory I could come up with that made any sense was that is that the amount of force I was generating with each stride had increased without an increase in perceived effort. My respiration stayed the same.  No major stride changes or application of force that I could feel.

Somehow I was generating more power with the same amount of perceived effort.  When I read the abstract that Amby linked to regarding tendons it noted that one of the findings was that connective tissue--the Achilles tendon in this case--was found to generate more force without utilizing more oxygen.  In other words, an athlete could go faster without breathing harder or feeling the stress the same way it would if the muscles were working harder.

I sent off the article Amby had sent me to Ross and Jonathan.  Today Ross wrote a piece on their blog about the topic.  You can find it HERE. As with most science the paper creates more questions than answers, but it does appear to show that tendon elasticity is an important component in elite athlete performance.  The questions it raises is whether or not the elasticity of the tendons is a genetic trait or whether it is merely an adaptation to training.

Does it help explain why East Africans, Kenyans, are more successful in elite distance running?  Or, stated more simply, is it something you are born with or can any athlete develop this adaptation with the right training.  All interesting questions waiting for answers.