The Longest Race

I definitely remember watching Kara Goucher racing in her first Boston Marathon in 2009. In fact, I always played a video of how her running style was different from Salina Kosgei and Dire Tune when I was giving talks on running technique.

Picture by Tim Kelley from Flickr

The trio ran shoulder to shoulder from Kenmore Square to the final right turn on Hereford Street. Kosgei and Tune broke away from Goucher, and sprinted down Boylston Street. Kosgei was behind Tune before hitting the finishing tape one stride in front, timing her kick to perfection. Goucher finished third, 9 seconds back in 2:32:02 hours. She was sobbing visibly and no one could have guessed what she went through for that podium placing.

I bought a copy of her just released autobiography "The Longest Race" as she reveals her experience of living through and speaking out against the secretive and lavishly funded " Nike Oregon Project" - one of the biggest scandals in distance running.

She revealed for the first time in the book that her Nike Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar sexually assaulted her twice while massaging her. He also sexually harassed her while flying to competitions (twice he had been drinking and taken Ambien). Salazar is currently banned for 4 years by the US Anti-Doping Agency and permanently banned by the US Center for SafeSport for sexual misconduct.

I was horrified (but not surprised) after reading the details Goucher shared about the sexual assaults since there were earlier stories from other athletes like Mary Cain and Amy Begley. They told of  the physical and verbal abuses they received from Salazar after they came forward earlier while training together.

Throughout the book, a group of men at Nike fostered this misogyny and abuse. Then Nike CEO, Mark Parker, John Capriotti (VP of Nike Track and Field), John Slusher (executive VP of Nike Marketing), Darren Treasure (Hired as Oregon Project's sports psychologist, but never licensed) and Alberto Salazar.

Goucher describes going to the Nike venue 11 days after giving birth, wearing "two sports bras and a diaper under my running tights while completing a timed mile on the track." She felt pressure to get back to training immediately since Nike had suspended her contract when she was pregnant since clauses mandated how often she had to race to receive payment. 

Slusher confirmed that Nike would dock Goucher US$325,000 in pay even though she had made many appearances on behalf of Nike during her leave from competition. Nike even timed her pregnancy annoucement for maximum marketing effect.

Meanwhile, USA Track & Field, governing body of the sport (whose funding is controlled by Nike) had cut off her family's health insurance because her marathon ranking had dropped while she was pregnant.

I already know this is common practice thanks to Olympians Allyson Felix and Alysia Montano (pictured below) who shared similar maternal experiences with Nike while pregnant. If Allyson Felix, winner of seven Olympic gold medals and 14-times World Champion in athletics cannot secure maternity protection from Nike, who can?

After reading what happened, who was involved and how the biggest brand in sports allowed this to happen to the their country's top athletes, I'm wondering if we should still be buying that pair of Nike shoes or any Nike merchandise?

How about female athletes in Singapore? I'm hoping that none of our female athletes go through this. We need to make sports safe and fair for everyone.

Reference

Goucher K  and Pilon M(2023). The Longest Race: Inside The Secret World Of Abuse, Doping, And Deception On Nike's Elite Running Team. Gallery Books. Simon & Schuster Inc. New York..

*The 127th edition of the Boston Marathon takes place tomorrow on 17th April, 2023.

Where The Streets Have Allyson Felix

I've written about Allyson Felix before previously and I hope she will still be a force to reckon with at the Tokyo Olympics. Being Nike's poster girl previously, I admired how she spoke up when Nike were unfair to their sponsored pregnant athletes.

As you can see from the article above, she still found a way to train when stadiums were closed during the lockdown after getting her coach to use a measuring wheel to mark out distances "on literally the street in front of her door". 

What a sight it must have been for her neighbors to behold when a six-time Olympic Olympic gold medalist, 13 times World Champion comes sprinting down the road at full speed. Along with her coach yelling encouragement at the top of his voice. 

Instead of complaining about what she can't do, I love the way she and other athletes resorted to unorthodox ways to train so they can be ready to compete when they can. 

I know too, that our Team Singapore athletes have resorted to ingenious ways to train too, chapeau to them. 

Let's see how she fares if the Olympics does go on.

Do Compression Garments Help While Exercising? Or Only With Recovery?

Picture I retook with my iPhone 6 from Alex Hassentein/ Getty Images

Allyson Felix just missed another gold medal in Rio earlier in the week, finishing second in the 400 meters after losing to a dive by Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas.

Last night, she just won her 6th gold medal at the Olympics in the Women's 4 x 400 m relay, the most ever by a woman in track and field.

Five of her gold medals have come in relays. Her individual gold came in the 200 meters in 2012.

Why am I writing about Allyson Felix? Other than being one of my favorite runners, she is also one of many athletes in the Rio Olympics wearing compression sleeves (see picture above) while competing.

You too would have seen many athletes wearing them while training or racing. I've written about compression garments before way back in 2009.

Newly published studies suggest they definitely do help muscles recover significantly after exhausting exercise. The compression garments can aid the the movement of blood through muscles after exercising, when blood flow would otherwise be slow.  This increase in circulation may help reduce inflammation and muscle aches.

To provide such benefits, the compression garments must be quite tight, which some people may find uncomfortable. They must be also be worn for several hours after exercising/ racing, even if they become unpleasantly damp and stinky.

However, they do have certain downsides that may cause some of us not to wear them. Most recent studies indicate that compression garments do not boost blood flow through muscles during exercise, most probably because the movement of blood when we are exercising is already at its peak.

Even though many athletes report that exercise feels easier when they wear compression garments, these athletes performed similarly whether they wear the compression garments or not.

The authors concluded that compression garments has small effects on short duration sprints, running at VO2 max, as well as time trial performances (Born et al, 2013).

Like I wrote before  I've never raced with compression garments, I've only worn them after hard training so I can recover and train again the next day.

Maybe Allyson Felix didn't have to wear her calf compression sleeves after all ......

References

Born DP, Sperlich B et al (2013). Bringing Light Into The Dark: Effects Of Compression Clothing On Performance And Recovery. Int J Sp Physiol Perf. 8(1): 4-18. DOI: 10.1123/jisppp.8.4

Engel FA, Holmberg H and Sperlich B (2016). Is There Evidence That Runners Can Benefit From wearing Compression Clothing? DOI: 10.1007/s40279-016-0546-5.

*Here's another look at Allyson Felix's compression sleeves - took the picture with my iPhone 6 from the original by Cameron Spencer/ Getty Images.