the morning shakeout | issue 506
Remembering Coach Vigil, Amanda Anisimova on reframing failure, a key long run for fall marathon training, and a lot more.
Good morning! Back in 2012 I was at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, covering the event for Competitor magazine/.com. It was a long meet, spread out over 11 days, I believe, and Tuesday, June 26 was the first of a two-day break in the action. There was a Starbucks right outside one of the main entrances to the U of O and I went there that day to get a coffee and catch up on some of my coaching work. At the time I had a group of women that I was coaching back in San Diego and a handful of individual athletes I was working with remotely. One of those athletes, César Lizano, was less than two months out from the Olympic Marathon and I had just finished writing his training schedule for the following week. As I packed up my stuff and got ready to leave I did a double-take: Joe Vigil, one of the greatest distance running coaches in the world, was standing in line to get a coffee. I hate bothering people and convinced myself to walk out of there without saying a word, which is exactly what I did. Less than a minute later, however, I forced myself to go back in and clumsily introduced myself to Coach Vigil. I told him I was a young coach and just wanted to thank him for all the knowledge he’d shared so openly over the years. He shook my hand, asked me if I had anyone competing at the meet (nope!), and then insisted on buying me a cup of coffee. We sat down and talked for 45 minutes or so. I hung on his every word, which he delivered with incredible clarity and conviction. He spoke to me about the importance of character and aiming for excellence, both in coaching and in life. We talked marathon training and he gave me some specific advice to help César prepare for the London Games. He encouraged me to never stop learning and shared how he still woke up at 4 AM every day to read the latest research. He told me that coaching is an art and a science, and that the art is being able to apply the science. He also asked me about my athletes, my own running background, and what I believed in as a coach. When we finished up he gave me his email address and told me to stay in touch. The entire experience blew my mind. Here was one of the best coaches in the world, who doesn’t know me from the next person walking through the door at Starbucks, paying for my coffee and taking time out of his day to answer my questions without ego or agenda. As Deena Kastor, who Vigil coached to an Olympic bronze medal in the marathon in 2004, told me years later on my podcast: “He has no time at all but he will give it to anybody.” As we parted ways I tried to give him a few bucks for coffee and his time but he wouldn’t let me. “Pay it forward,” he told me. “What good is knowledge if you don’t share it?”
I’m sad to share that Coach Vigil passed away this past Saturday at the age of 95. The term “legend” gets thrown around a lot these days but Coach truly was one. His resume is unmatched. His greatness, however, isn’t measured in wins and records and medals, or in how his research on the physiology of running helped revolutionize how we think about training today, but it manifests in the generosity of his spirit and the impact he had on peoples’ lives. That’s what made him a great coach, a special human, and an example worth trying to emulate.
In the years since that first encounter in Eugene, Coach and I stayed in semi-regular touch, mostly via email. He was always willing to answer whatever questions I had for him, and whenever I’d run into him at an event he always had time to chat over a cup of coffee. One of my greatest regrets is that I was never able to get him on my podcast—we tried remotely a couple times and had technical issues, and I never made it to his home Arizona—but I did get Deena Kastor (starting at 33 minutes), Brenda Martinez (starting at 14 minutes) and Terrence Mahon (starting at 45 minutes) to speak about their relationships with him at some length, and I’d encourage you to go check those out when you got a chance. His influence is undeniable: the lessons and principles his athletes live by, the stories they tell (Mahon recalled how Vigil would say to him, “Terry, get in the car, we’re going to coffee!” and then would proceed to talk his ear off about training and such), and the reverence with which they all speak about him. I think Martinez may have summed it up best a couple days ago on Instagram: “He led with compassion. He believed in people before they believed in themselves. He changed lives—mine included,” she wrote. “We will do our best to carry your legacy forward, Coach. Your impact will live on for generations.”
Rest easy, Coach. And thank you. I will continue to pay it forward.
Quick Splits
— I love July because every night while eating dinner we watch the replay of that day’s Tour de France stage. One of my favorite riders to root for year in and year out is Mike Woods, a one-time sub-4 minute miler and one of the older guys in the Peloton. At 38 years old the dude is still bringing it! As of this writing, he’s sitting fifth in the mountains classification, and I think there’s a good chance he pulls off a stage win in the mountains this week. On that note, Woods recently wrote this great post about the emotional toll of finishing far down in the general classification and the “massive gamble” that breakaway riders take, i.e. being willing to bet it all on the hope of winning a stage for the privilege of being able to call yourself the best rider at the Tour that day. “Banking on breakaway glory is a massive gamble,” he writes. “If you win from a break, to those same people—who were concerned about your 143rd place on stage 2—you will be seen as the best cyclist at the Tour de France that day. You will be regarded as a ‘great cyclist,’ and the gamble of sagging most days will have paid off. However, if you miss the right break, or you get in a break that doesn’t win, or you just don’t have the legs on the day you get in the right break, not only have you not won at the Tour de France, but in the only race that most people you know watch, your performance will be defined as being the 88th best cyclist in the Tour. And that just doesn’t sound good.” (n.b. Woods has been updating his blog more days than not throughout this year’s race and it’s a great “rider’s commentary” companion to all the action. I appreciate it for its honesty and insight.)
— As a follow-up to “the bottom line” from last week’s issue, this article from The Athletic on Amanda Anisimova reframing failure after losing 6-0, 6-0 in the final of Wimbledon felt timely and relevant. Every second of Anisimova’s post-match interview, which you can watch here in its entirety, is courteous, courageous, and classy. She began by congratulating and praising her opponent, then spoke candidly about gratitude: for the chance to compete on such a big stage, for the people she loves who helped her get there, and for the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience. No beating herself up for her performance. No excuses. No regrets. Her poise and perspective is impressive, especially for a 23-year-old who just competed in her first major final as a pro. “I know I didn't have enough today, but I'm going to keep putting in the work,” she says near the end of the interview. “And I always believe in myself, so I hope to be back here again one day.”
— Josh Kerr is a hard-nosed competitor who’s fun to watch race. But I think what I like and respect most about the 2023 world 1500m champion and two-time Olympic medalist is how candid he is about, well, everything. He pulls no punches when talking about his competitors, he’s assertive when he makes a move on the track, and he seemingly has nothing to hide about how he does things, as highlighted in this thorough profile on him by Matt Lawton of The Times. “The job’s too hard, man,” he admits. “If you’re bad at what you do outside of this job, it makes your life so much more difficult. I mean, if you’re not fed properly, watered properly and had the proper amount of sleep, then you’re just going to get humbled, dropped. It’s what we’re about as a team. It’s why I’m leaving Brandon that message. It’s a bit of fun, but you can’t just roll out of bed, have a bit of breakfast and get to the track. If we’re training at nine, I need to be up at five to prepare. It’s like, how can we elevate each other in the best way possible? I would not have been able to do that today without those guys.”
— It was announced late last week that Kenya’s Ruth Chepng'etich, the marathon world-record holder and the first/only woman ever to run under 2:10, has been provisionally suspended by the the Athletics Integrity Unit for testing positive for Hydrochlorothiazide during an out-of-competition drug test on March 14. HCTZ is commonly used as a masking agent and Chepng'etich had 190 times the allowable limit (not a typo) in her system at the time of the test. What this means exactly remains to be seen but what I do know is that a lot of people are pretty pissed off about it, and rightfully so. I don’t have much else to say about the situation so I’ll just reiterate what I wrote in Issue 466 after Chepng'etich ran 2:09:56 in Chicago last fall: “There’s part of me that’s awestruck by a woman breaking 2:10 in the marathon for the first time in history. Honestly, didn’t think I’d see it in my lifetime. At the same time it’s hard not to have reservations about it. The record itself has taken a head-spinning nosedive in recent years, Chepng'etich’s progression is an interesting one, her association with agent Federico Rosa is unfortunate, and the current doping crisis plaguing Kenya is hard to ignore. Sitting with this tension sucks but it’s the harsh and complicated reality of being a fan of the sport in 2024.”
+ A few more words on Rosa: How he hasn’t been banned from the sport or at the very least suspended is beyond me. I wouldn’t trust the guy to water my garden while I’m away on vacation, much less manage my running career at this point. His roster of high-profile doping positives—two-time Boston Marathon winner and WMM Majors champion Rita Jeptoo, 2016 Olympic Marathon champion Jemima Sumgong, sub-59 minute half-marathoner Mathew Kisorio, three-time world champion and Olympic 1500m gold medalist Asbel Kiprop, and Chepngetich, just to name a handful—is unmatched. Christopher Kelsall wrote a column about Rosa for Athletics Illustrated after Chepng'etich got popped and it’s worth checking out.
— Shoutout to my former colleague Adam Elder for sending me this video of the late, great Biz Markie covering the legendary Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets.” Admittedly I was a little skeptical going into it but I couldn’t hit the replay button on YouTube fast enough when it was over. Biz kicks off the performance by saying, “I like to do this classic rendition my own way,” and man does he ever. It almost feels like he’s singing karaoke at his neighborhood bar and just enjoying the hell out of himself. If you need a smile today, this should do it for you.
— From the archives (Issue 454, 1 year ago this week): Nick Tiller will not tolerate your pseudoscience bullshit (even if, or especially if, you’re an Olympian that’s pushing it). In his latest feature for The Skeptical Inquirer, Tiller, an exercise scientist, dissects the evolution of Olympic superstition and pseudoscience, pulling out numerous examples of products, strategies, and interventions many of the world’s top athletes credit for their success that, eventually, trickles down to the masses who believe that it, too, is the missing piece of their performance puzzle. The problem? Few of these things are backed by science or have actual evidence to support their efficacy, meaning athletes are being misled at best, taken advantage of at worst, ultimately resulting in a wide range of outcomes from wasted time and resources to unsafe training practices, to physical injury (or worse). “In a world where athletes are groping for a semblance of security, pseudoscience offers something that science cannot,” he writes. “As Isaac Asimov wrote in his 1972 Guide to Science: ‘Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket.’” To that end, I’m glad that Tiller called out the need for better science communication in general, as much of what’s available today, no matter how valid the information is, is inaccessible and/or hard to understand/interpret. I also appreciate that he’s leading the charge to change that through his position as an associate editor at The International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, launching what they’re calling the the “Non-Technical Summary,” which is essentially a 1,000-word plain language summary of studies geared toward scientifically illiterate people like me. This is important, as Tiller notes, for “reducing the public’s dependence on flawed third-party scientific interpretations and rebuilding public trust in scientific institutions.” (Which is no small task!)
Looking for a fast non-carbon plated shoe to rip around in this summer? Take a peek at the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v5. I’ve run in every iteration of this shoe and it’s my go-to for faster workouts on both the track and the roads. This latest version is no exception. As fast and fun as carbon-plated shoes can be, it’s important not to be overly reliant on them for all your track sessions, fartleks, hills, and tempo runs. The Rebel allows your feet to do what they want to do while providing plenty of protection underfoot when you’re putting a lot of extra force into the ground. The new blend of PEBA and EVA foams in the midsole provides a snappy ride underfoot, helping make the miles go by quickly. The FuelCell Rebel v5 is available on newbalance.com (men’s sizes here, women’s sizes here) and at your favorite local run specialty retail store.
Workout of the Week: The “2 By” Marathon Long Run
The fall marathon season will soon be upon us and improving your ability to run for longer at goal race effort/pace is probably top of mind. The “2 By” marathon long run is one of my favorite ways to introduce some running at goal race effort/pace into the mix and then extend the amount of time you spend there over the course of a 12-16 week cycle as fitness and confidence both improve. Here are the details.
The bottom line.
“Get up in the morning and live right.”
— Coach Joe Vigil in Chasing Excellence, a biography about him by Pat Melgares, one of his athletes at Adams State
That’s it for Issue 506. If you’d like to support the shakeout, please forward this email to someone who might enjoy it or post the web link in a high traffic area of the internet where others can check it out. (And if you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time and want to receive it for yourself first thing every Tuesday morning, you can subscribe right here.)
Thanks for reading,
Mario
I love your opening story. It reinforces the importance of introducing yourself to someone you’d like to meet. My hunch is that people do that less and less these days.
Lovely anecdote about Vigil - coaches change lives!