Chris Solinsky suffered a horrific hamstring injury in late-2011, leading to an entire 2012 season away from competition… and one of the most remarkable comebacks in recently memory. An 8:05 3000m indoors showed he had solid fitness once again, as he cruised to the win, going away. Then he entered the Stanford Payton Jordan 5000 with questions swirling about how competitive he could really be. A very strong 13:23 answered them and put him within striking distance of the World Championships “A”-standard of 13:15, a mark at which he will take aim on Friday at the USATF Occidental High Performance Meet.

Before flying to LA for the meet, he took to Twitter to answer some questions. Read the full article

Here’s a nice (older) Q&A you may have missed with Ms. Emily Infeld, the newest member of Team KIMbia. In it she talks with Runner’s World about her race at the US Cross Championships and adjusting to being in a professional group — including her first stint at altitude:

I’m not the best pacer. The first time, when we were doing mile repeats, I was supposed to be doing 74-second quarters, and I went out in 31 seconds [for 200 meters], which is what the boys did. A hard lesson learned; the rest of that workout was really painful and the rest of that repeat was really painful. I think it’s just knowing your body and not getting too antsy, and also thinking to take a little more rest between repeats. During tempo runs, I’d start out thinking, “I’m felling great, I feel like I’m going really slow,” but toward the end, I wasn’t picking it up too much. [The effect of altitude] was definitely building in my legs. I definitely did the hardest workouts I’ve ever done there.

Anyone who has run at altitude, recognizes this awareness as key, sage advice. Infeld, of course, would go on to place 21st as the 2nd American on a team that missed a bronze medal by just 17 points. Now she looks to make another world team, this time on the track. The US Championships kick off June 19th in Des Moines.

Lots more in the full interview, here.

The number three American performer at two miles indoors is now Andrew Bumbalough, after he ran 8:13.02 at the Millrose Games on Saturday. Teammate Evan Jager ran 8:14 to grab #4 on the US all-time performer list, while Lopez Lomong won the Wanamaker Mile in a facility (and meet) record time of 3:51.26, making him #8 all-time in the world. As a Georgetown grad, Bumbalough feels a strong connection to the east coast and loves New York, and here he talks about the experience this past weekend.

What stands out about coming to New York to compete?
Flying into NYC is always exciting. The lights and buildings of Manhattan sparkling as the sun dips beyond the western skyline. I love this city and I especially love competing here.

Coming into Millrose, what were your expectations for the race?
There is an undoubted energy that surrounds this sport in the city that never sleeps. You feel it is almost your duty to go out and give a good performance because the fans give you so much back. The 2 mile set up to be an awesome race at Millrose. A record attempt certainly meant a quick early pace and so I was ready to hurt early.

How do you remember it playing out?
We came through the mile in 4:06, a pace for which I felt Read the full article

Two-time Olympian Lopez Lomong broke the tape in the Wanamaker Mile at Saturday’s Millrose Games, and joined the ranks of the accomplished athletes who have won this prestigious race. Below, he shares some thoughts on the experience:

When did you know you had the race won?
I [only] knew I won when I crossed the finish line. I was well prepared for the race and knew who the big players were and had a plan in mind on how to win. I talked with my coach [Jerry Schumacher] a lot about the race plan and felt good. Even having said that, I never assume a win at any point until the race is finished.

What was your New York City experience for Millrose like?
The experience was fantastic. New York City always thrills me — it is so full of life and culture and so many people love the sport of track and field. It is always a great honor to run in front of a crowd like that. I feel even more blessed that it was a chance to go home and run in front of so many hometown fans.

Who in the field were you trying to prepare for, strategically? And how? Read the full article

On his blog on September 20th, Simon Bairu announced the difficult decision to withdraw from this year’s Toronto Marathon, owing to what amounted to accumulated fatigue. The Canadian Record-Holder at 10,000m wrote, “As much as I would have loved to run in Canada in front of my friends and family for an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics I had to make the decision based on the fact that me at 75% isn’t gonna cut it against the clock and against a very accomplished field.” We spoke to Simon to hear more about what went into his decision, and how he thinks the race will play out.

When did you and Jerry start having an inkling that racing Toronto might not be in the cards?
The first inkling for me was after I DNF’d at New Haven, but [my coach] Jerry [Schumacher] wasn’t ready to hit the panic button just yet so we waited to see how my workouts went after the race. The workouts started to take a turn for the worse and so last weekend we decided Toronto wasn’t going to happen for me this year.

Have you experienced anything like this accumulated fatigue before? And how do you think you got there, and how did you recover?
The last time I experienced something like this was fall of 2009 as I was preparing for my marathon debut in NYC. At the time I was starting to run 120-mile weeks consistently for the first time in my career. It was a shock to the system and training started to suffer a bit because of it. We decided to scrap NYC but I did go on to have a great 2010 year! I think it’s a similar situation this year. I was tackling 130-mile weeks for the first time and now only time will tell if this is the launching pad to a great 2012 year!

What do you think is the takeaway from this experience, as it applies to runners of all abilities? The need to schedule rest into one’s training? Listening to your body?
I think the biggest take away from this is to make sure to incorporate easy days into one’s training. But most importantly don’t wait till you’re forced to take an easy day.

Now that you can comment objectively, who do you think is the favorite going into the race?
I’m friends with all the top contenders in the race and I wish them all a great race but if I had to pick one favorite it would probably have to be Reid Coolsaet. He ran 2:11:27 last year at this race so he knows the course well and he’s had a great build up this fall. I think it’s gonna be close but he’s a tough runner and I think he’ll get the top spot.

Do you have a plan yet for next year, and if so, what might that be?
Right now my only focus is getting ready for my next marathon. I’m not sure if that will be in December or early next year but that is the only thing on my mind right now.