Running Shorts

Alright. It sucks to write about this stuff. If you're a runner, you've probably heard about this by now. If not, here's the brief (real brief) synopsis of the report that's rocked the sport in the last couple weeks: basically, Alberto Salazar, Galen Rupp, and the Nike Oregon Project have been accused of various levels of doping over the past decade-plus. David Epstein wrote an article in ProPublica here , and the BBC produced an hour-long documentary which is on YouTube . If you haven't read or watched those yet, do it. Salazar and the NOP have long been known for using every resource at their disposal to get the best results out of their athletes: underwater treadmills, anti-gravity treadmills, team houses fit to simulate altitude, the best coaching staff that Nike can pay for (and Nike has a lot of money). However, in elite running circles, there have long been rumors swirling about NOP using drugs and supplements in ways that push the boundaries of the rules...

Step 1: Start racing. Step 2: Finish the race. Step 3: Just kidding. Keep running, slacker. All joking aside, I had my first race of the spring season this past weekend. I went down to Louisville and ran the Anthem 5k, finishing 4th in 15:24. Not the greatest time ever, but off of a winter of base training that's about where I expected to be. Plus, I came home with $125, so that made the trip worth it. After the race, as you may guess, I did a workout: I changed out of my uniform and ran a 20-minute tempo, averaging about 5:15 pace for the post-race session. I got some weird looks from people who were still in or just finishing the race, especially since I stayed near the course so I could get mile splits. Of course, I'm not the only person doing this. The elites have been doing post-race workouts for a while now; Galen Rupp and the Nike Oregon Project recently received a lot of attention for the workout completed after he set the American 2-mile indoor record this y...