Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry at http://ryanhall.thefinalsprint.com/
As I laid awake last night trying to fall asleep, I did what I have a tendency to do once training is clicking well and I feel my legs beginning to feel “alive” again after the initial callusing is complete from the first month of marathon training; I began the countdown. Only a little more than two months until I run in the Olympic marathon.
Countdowns are nothing new for me. When I was a little kid my siblings and I used to fight over who gets to open the next day’s door on a Christmas countdown board. I am not going to lie, it was the chocolate behind the door that we were really fighting over, but it did make Christmas all the more special once it finally arrived.
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry at http://ryanhall.thefinalsprint.com/
Eleven weeks to go. I go back and forth between thinking I have too much time before the games, and then feeling like there is not enough time. Eleven weeks sometimes feels like a long time to train at the intensity that I am now daily putting forth, but then when I think to myself that in two months I will be heading out to Beijing, I wish I could sneak in a few more weeks at altitude before then. I have found that it is usually a good sign to feel like I wish I had one or two more weeks of training. It is a sign that I am still fresh, still hungry, and still moving forward. Contrast this with my first marathon run at the 2007 London Marathon when I had been hanging on for a month after training for what seemed like an eternity.
Today I will be repeating the same workout I ran two weeks ago before I left for Bolder Boulder—a ten mile tempo run. Last time out it didn’t go so well. Waking up to snow was my second sign that I was going to have a tough day, with the first sign being my cranky ankle that had been bothering me after doing an hour and a half run on a rocky—yet beautiful—single track trail in Big Bear. So between my cranky ankle, snow falling, and being out there all by myself without my shuffle (which I forgot at home) I set myself up for a long day. Let’s not get too much into the specifics; we can just leave it at that I went out slow and came back even slower. Not to mention picking up my bottles off the ground didn’t seem to speed things up any. I left for Boulder concerned.
Read the rest of this entry »
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
- Lance Armstrong
Today, it was announced that Oscar Pistorius has made the 2008 TIME 100, the annual list published by TIME Magazine, which identifies the 100 most influential people in the world. Oscar is in good company, including the Dalai Lama, Lance Armstrong, Nelson Mandela, Vladimir Putin, and Al Gore.
While TIME refuses to rank the 100 in importance, but does create categories – Oscar is listed third in the Heroes & Pioneers list, just after Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Oprah Winfrey – the magazine also conducted a poll amongst its readers to hear whom they thought should be on the list, and Oscar placed 19th.
Just one year ago, very few people in the world were aware of this young South African bilateral amputee who may very well change the history of sport because of his resolve and determination to compete on equal ground and without apologies against able-bodied athletes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has finished his first Boston Marathon in a very respectable 2:50:58, good for 488th place overall. Lance reached the halfway split in a conservative 1:26:52 before running an impressive negative split on the hilly second half of the course. The effort was Armstrong’s third marathon and followed his 2:46:43 clocking in New York this fall.
Leading up to this race Armstrong was a bit apprehensive, noting a lack of training and a few nagging injuries. Nonetheless his performance was solid and bodes well for his planned attempt at 2:30 this fall in New York. Lance ran Boston to raise money for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, a charitable organization that actively contributes to cancer research.
For more news, analysis, interviews, videos, and results from the 2008 Boston Marathon and USA Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials, please visit:
Lance Armstrong plans to extend his marathon career by running the 2008 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today. It will be his third marathon; he ran the ING New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007.
In a press release the B.A.A. took care to explain that Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, had actually qualified for the race like any other runner by running a 2:46:43 at New York last November (the qualifying standard for men 35 to 39 is 3:15:00). Most of the 22,473 runners who entered Boston last year had to qualify, although some were granted entry through charity groups or other special entry programs.
As in his two previous marathons, Armstrong will be running to raise money for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, which pursues an agenda focused on cancer prevention, access to screening and care, the improvement of the quality of life for cancer survivors, and an investment in research. Armstrong survived testicular cancer which was diagnosed in 1996.
Read the rest of this entry »
2007 Jesse Owens Award winners Allyson Felix and Tyson Gay are finalists for the 2007 United States Sports Academy Athlete of the Year presented by USATODAY.com and MSNBC.com. Last year, the ballot attracted nearly half a million votes from around the globe.
Votes will be collected online from November 30- December 24. The ballot will be located on a website hosted by the Academy, which is currently available through a direct link from the USA Track & Field website at www.usatf.org.
At just 21 years old, Felix became the second woman in history to win three gold medals at a single World Outdoor Championships with her triumphs in Osaka, Japan. She first won the 200m in a personal-best 21.81 seconds. It was the fastest time by a woman since 1999 and was the largest margin of victory in World Outdoor history (.53).
Read the rest of this entry »
Lance Armstrong ran a consistent, progressively faster 2007 New York City Marathon, finishing in a time of 2:46:43. His time beat his 2006 time of 2:59:36 by a huge margin of 12 minutes and 53 seconds. Here’s how his race progressed:
Split, Time, Pace
5k, 0:20:01, 6:26
10k, 0:40:08, 6:27
15k, 0:59:54, 6:25
20k, 1:19:27, 6:23
Half, 1:23:41, 6:23
30k, 1:58:40, 6:21
35k, 2:18:00, 6:20
40k, 2:37:47, 6:20
Finish 2:46:43, 6:21
Read the rest of this entry »
In a running interview with Runner’s World Editor-in-Chief David Willey, Lance Armstrong said he is aiming for a 2:50 finish time this year. Although he trained more this year, Armstrong didn’t sound too confident (despite looking far more comfortable this year than last).
It should be noted that Armstrong does not have what Willey called a “entourage”, or pacers, this year. Last year celebrity pacers like Alberto Salazar ran portions of the race with Armstrong; Undoubtedly helpful for a first time marathoner but also something that drew a plethora of criticism.
This year, with no marathoning legends of Hall of Fame runners in sight, Armstrong is all by himself this year - well other than the runner with green hair who is currently beside him. Ya’ gotta’ love NYC.
Best of Luck Lance.
***** ***** *****
Follow along with TheFinalSprint.com’s LIVE coverage of the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, listen to interviews, watch press conference videos, and much more at:
http://newyork.thefinalsprint.com
***** ***** *****
What: Lance Armstrong, Paula Radcliffe and several other elite Nike runners are in New York City this week to prepare for and compete in the marathon and the marathon Olympic Trials. Throughout the week they will take part in a variety of events open to the public and the press.
Why: For Radcliffe, the marathon marks a return to racing following the birth of her daughter. Other elite runners, like Abdi Abdirahman and Meb Keflezighi, are in the Big Apple to compete in the marathon Olympic Trials for a chance to represent the U.S. at the Beijing Olympics. For Lance Armstrong, the marathon is an opportunity to continue his love affair with New York and its residents, as well as celebrate Nike’s commitment to Lance’s new LiveStrong collection.
Who: The following Nike athletes will be appearing at a variety of events throughout the week to meet other runners and talk about their passion for the sport:
Lance Armstrong - Record 7-time winner of the Tour de France
Paula Radcliffe - World record holder for the women’s marathon and previous NYC marathon winner
Abdi Abdirahman - Olympic trials runner up in 2004, 5th place at NYC Marathon in 2005
Meb Keflezighi - 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist; 2004 NYC Marathon Runner-Up
Dathan Ritzenhein - First competitive marathon was NYC in 2006
Alan Culpepper - Won the Olympic trials in 2004
Read the rest of this entry »
From time to time TFS will try and highlight other stories that you might find of interest:
Out of Lance’s Slipstream, a Trainer Reinvents Himself — NY Times
10 training rules for running/walking a marathon — Gary Moller Online
Sell still chasing Olympic dream — Washington Post
Quick, Do You Know Your B.M.I.? – NY Times
El Guerrouj to support […]
The Telstra Zatopek Classic’s 10,000m event in Melbourne, Australia has featured victories by legends like Ron Clarke and Craig Mottram. This year, it was won by two international stars: American Galen Rupp, the 20-yr old standout from the University of Oregon, and New Zealand’s Jessica Ruthe (33:04.52).
Rupp had hoped to run the event in […]
Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete, the 2003 and 2006 Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion, a bestselling author on performance nutrition and the creator of an award-winning meal replacement and energy bar formula called Vega.
I had the luck of meeting Brendan at the ING New York City Marathon Health & Wellness expo this past […]
Champion athletes are [BOTH] born AND made.
Lance Armstrong is arguably the greatest endurance athlete of all time. Edward F. Coyle, professor at the University of Texas, has tested him in his laboratory several times over the years. (Journal of Applied Physiology, March 17, 2005). We can be certain that Lance has extraordinary genetic attributes.
A […]
Believe it or not, there were actually celebrity athletes other than Lance Armstrong who competed in the 2006 ING New York City Marathon.
The amateur runners in this year’s race who have competed professionally in other sport included: the 7-time Olympic medal winning gymnast, and Ed Viesturs, one of the world’s premier high-altitude mountain climbers.
It seems […]
Lance Armstrong has done it - completing his first ever marathon in 2:59:37; coming in 824th place among the male finishers and averaging a 6:51 min/mi pace. Armstrong looked strong throughout the marathon; often pushing his pace team and successfully achieved his goal of breaking 3 hours (although just barely). Only at the […]
Marilson Gomes Dos Santos of Brazil still leads the pack at Mile 25. He is on pace for a 2:10 finish.
Paul Tergat, the world record holder, is using his speed to keep him in second, but seems unable to catch up with Dos Santos. Stephen Kiogora is in third and very close behind […]
After a little more than 15 miles, there are still nearly 10 male runners in or near the lead (including all of the predicted favorites). However, Ramaala has started to push the pack and increase the pace.
With a somewhat conservative time (1:14:59 at the 15 mile mark) and so many men in competition - […]
Lance Armstrong skeptics who believe that Amrstrong will be unable to break 3 hours consistently state how different riding a bike is as compared to running.
Although running is much harder on the body (Just ask Lance who has repeatedly said that “gravity” makes running much hard on his joints), Armstrong has now done […]
I am proud to report that The Final Sprint will be covering the ING New York City Marathon LIVE!
In addition to the race itself, we will be giving you the run-down on all of the “Marathon Week” events. This includes the press conferences at the world-famous Tavern on the Green in Central […]
© 2006-2008 The Final Sprint, LLC | Privacy Policy | Design by The Blog Studio
The Final Sprint, LLC is owned and operated by Adam Jacobs
The Final Sprint